Week in Review ~ 2/19

First pieces of Oreos (that Mama is aware of).

Enjoying her Valentine school bus.

This week we spent our time getting well and staying well. I was still feeling a little weak Sunday so we stayed home from church. We needed some food in the house so we all took a trip to Walmart. By the end, I felt like I needed one of the motorized carts! We spent the rest of the day at home.

The big news of the week was that the kitchen was finished on Wednesday. We celebrated by going out to eat! I refused to buy much food while they were working because it kept going to waste, and I try my hardest not to go to the grocery store during the week. Avery and I did stop Thursday afternoon to get a few things so that we could do breakfast for dinner. Thursday we came home to a clean house which was a nice treat after having so many people in and out.

My sinuses were horrible for the second week in a row. Avery's appetite returned, and Ned dodged the bullet on the virus. I averaged 2-3 students out each day with the flu or the stomach virus, and there were a few sick at the sitter's. We're trying our best to stay well.

I finished a Kelly's Kids catalog show and earned $90 in free clothes just by taking a few orders. I wanted so many things, but most were one-piece bubbles. With potty training getting started (several more poops on the potty this week!) I don't know that bubbles will be the best choice for summer. I limited myself to two. I know that this is probably her last summer in them and I just can't resist.

On Saturday my mom and I were finally able to go shopping. I had a random list of things that I needed and got everything accomplished except for a case for my phone. I bought a few things for myself and stuck to my list for Avery with a few on-sale exceptions. Both of those things are big for me. I even managed to control myself in Babies R Us and only glanced at strollers, cribs, and swaddlers. I went back to my parents', and Avery and Ned came over after her nap. She showed up with a black eye that somehow occured in her crib before her nap. We went with my parents to a seafood dinner that our church did. We then went back to their house to celebrate Ned's birthday a little early. We came home enough cake to last us until his actual birthday on Wednesday.

We have an exciting and busy week coming up with a day off Monday, Ned's birthday, a weekend trip for Ned and I, and a big step in the house department.

Happy Love Day

Happy Valentine's Day from our little hoot!

It was a great day for the Lankfords even though we were apart for much of it. Avery doesn't quite understand Valentine's Day but thinks sugary treats at the babysitter's are always worth celebrating. We enjoyed dinner at home and then gave Avery a few Valentine's gifts. She got the book Where is Baby's Valentine? and a Fisher Price school bus. That girl is obsessed with a bus and can spot them a mile away in the mornings. I missed out on ordering her the chair backer from PBK but will certainly order early next year since it is small and doesn't need too many goodies to fill. I can hardly wait until she understands more about the day and I can make it special in little ways like heart-shaped sandwiches.

Ned and I don't do gifts on Valentine's day, but we do have 2 new phones arriving in the mail tomorrow which will be a nice treat this year. I don't think we ever really go out either, but we have a weekend away coming up. We'll combine Valentine's Day and Ned's birthday then.

I worked way to long on an assignment for class tonight, so I'm off to watch some crazy love on The Bachelor and perhaps enjoy a few Girl Scout cookies. Nothing says love like a Tagalong!

Week in Review ~ 2/12

Key words for the week: house, school, sickness. And to further simplify: crazy!

Our kitchen is coming along s.l.o.w.l.y. As in, I've lost count of how many weeks I've been without overhead lights. This week it was painted a lighter shade of green that we had gotten for our office and never used, and the paint looks great. However, when they painted the ceiling, it became apparent that the texture in the spot they repaired did not match the rest of the ceiling. It pretty much screams, "Something fishy went on here, potential buyers." So instead of painting trim on Monday and being done, we've got to have the whole ceiling retextured. I'm hoping that by Wednesday they'll be done and the whole house can be cleaned. The house just feels like it's in shambles with kitchen stuff everywhere. We have so much to simply straighten before we can put the house on the market, but there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day. Plus, Avery and straight are not synonyms.

Both schools, where I'm the teacher and where I'm the student, are hectic. My class isn't too hard, it's just a 45 hour class crammed into 6 weeks. I really have hopes of getting my master's and getting out of the classroom, but this has been eye-opening. And in school, we are inching closer to spring testing, and each day it seems as if I'm speaking the wrong language. There is so much going on, I don't feel like I'm giving 100% to anything in these areas. And when I do have a free minute, I don't want to give it to school or class. Class is almost half over, though!

And finally, oh the sickness that has plagued our house. Ned and I both have had terrible sinus problems this week. He has had more congestion, and I had more headaches. Since I'm on blood pressure medicine, I can't take anything cold/sinus related that has a D (decongestant) in the name. Without that, there's really no point. On top of that, the stomach virus is running rampant around here, and Avery had her first experience Wednesday morning. Luckily, we had not gotten to the car. Ned kept her home, but other than a decreased appetite and being a little tired, she was fine. The germ reached my body Thursday night and was not as kind. I'm still waiting to be able to eat more than a few bites at a time without feeling bad.

We did make it out of the house Saturday night and met Lolli for dinner close to her house. We had a Boston butt to deliver to her and had dinner since Poppa was working. I think I managed about 5 bites of my sub, but it was good to get out of the house. Other than that, we had a pretty lazy day at home. My mom and I decided to postpone our shopping trip until I was feeling better, and that was a good decision. We're hoping to go this Saturday.

This too shall pass! These are definately just minor bumps in the road compared to what some are going through. Soon we'll be able to look back on these weeks and laugh.

And Then There Was Poop

Avery pooped in the potty yesterday! I have to say I think it was very much a coincidence. Jennifer realized she hadn't gone much when she went to change her, sat her on the potty with some books, and ta-da! Jennifer said there was a BIG celebration with lots of cheers from her and the older children. About an hour after hearing this story, it dawned on me.

I missed it.

I missed the moment, the picture opportunity, the cheers, and the 2 M&Ms reward.

This is the first milestone that I've missed. Technically, I missed her crawling for the first time, but I was just in the other room and she did a repeat performance for me. To make matters worse (to me) I didn't even pick her up yesterday because I was sick. Lolli got to hear the good news from Jennifer.

The reality is that I work, and Avery spends a good deal of time away from me. I'm not interested in conversations concerning whether we could scale back, whether I'm ruining her, or whether SAHM or working moms have it harder. The fact is that I work. I'm well aware that these firsts can be missed by those SAHM when the child is in the nursery, with grandparents, etc. I'm also WELL aware that there will be lots more poop in the potty and in diapers. But, sometimes missing a first reminds me of all the seconds and thirds I'm missing throughout the day, and that's a lump in my throat that doesn't easily go away.

On the bright side, I didn't have to clean the potty :)

Checking In

Here's what's been going on in the life of the Lankfords this week.

You may remember that in a previous post I listed a collection of very random items that Avery gathered up and stored in some Vera. Apparently, she can house her treasures in just about anything.



On Monday afternoon, her chair was still on the floor from where we took it to Lucas and Kristin's the night before. That made the perfect storage spot for all her farm members, hand lotion, Giraffi, and Febreeze plug-ins. Perhaps the hoarding gene has been passed down.

This dress was in the running for Avery's Easter dress last year but didn't make the cut. So, I was happy to spot it again this year.



I read lots of bloggers that they find very nice children's clothes on eBay, so I've been checking things out. Imagine my surprise when I found the exact dress in Avery's size. The seller said it had only been worn once for portraits, which was very believable to me since Avery has several outfits that fall into that category. I scored this dress for $29.99, including shipping. Online, the dress alone was $60. It arrived yesterday and looked just great. I'm tempted to sort through Avery's things and do some selling, but since Ned seems to have Duggar aspirations, I guess I'll hold out. I will continue to check out my favorite brands on eBay, though.

This arrived in the mail also...



...and to say that Avery is obsessed is putting it mildly. She needs to "peeeeee" 30 times a night, but has not actually peed. I think she's too young, but our sitter has been letting her sit on it so I thought I better have some consistency. Now if I can just keep her from standing in the "collection" area when she is done.

Now I'm waiting on this.



I remember very clearly telling at least one blog reader that I wasn't important enough to have a smart phone. Don't worry, I'm still not, and neither is my husband with his BlackBerry that I routinely threaten to stomp. However, it's time for me to join the "family" at Lankford Insurance, and if they pay for everyone else's phone, they can pay for mine as well. I'm really not an Apple lover, and may have laughed when the last phone came out and people waited in crazy lines to buy a phone that kept dropping calls. But, we both had to get new phones on our new plan, and Ned was determined to have the iPhone. I had fears of it being better than whatever I chose and me coveting his for two years.

I'm home today with the stomach virus. I'll spare the details, but only I would come down with it after eating my most-favorite food. Avery seems to have shared more germs than she actually took in, because she bounced back WAY more quickly than I am.

I'm hoping to be better by tomorrow, since Lolli and I have plans to shop. She has picked up on the fact that my life is beyond crazy at the moment, and has vowed to treat me to breakfast, lunch, and something pretty.

I think I can, I think I can...

Week in Review ~ 2/5

I felt like last week I complained wrote enough about the week, so I didn't do my week in review. I did miss out on recording our day Saturday at an oyster roast, and I want to make sure I have a reminder for next year to wear more clothes. Lolli came to keep Avery and we traveled across the state line mid-afternoon. I don't eat oysters but they did have other seafood that was good. I also do not drink beer, and feel like I noticed the cold way before anyone else. The forecast for 55 degrees had me fooled and I needed some additional layers. We got home while Avery was eating dinner. She had of course had a wonderful time, and I was happy to be home to put her to bed.

We went to Sunday School Sunday, and Avery continues to do well in her class. I think it's the snacks that the teacher whips at as soon as we walk in the door. We ate dinner with Mimi that night, and I came home with the intentions of doing school work, but TV, internet, and Kindle won out.

It was a crazy week at school with early release Monday and Tuesday and no school for students Wednesday. We had a professional day and all craved time to work in our rooms, but that usually doesn't happen. On Friday we did ice cream sundaes as a reward for learning the times tables. Ten of my 20 students mastered all the way to the 10s times tables and had a nice looking sundae. We strategically placed this at the end of the day so that they would go home to their parents nice and sugary.

Avery had a good week as well. Her eyes were watery when I picked her up Friday, and Jennifer said she had been sneezing. She ran a little fever that night, so we decided to order in Mexican instead of going out. The kitchen was filthy from where they had finally started working that day, but I hated to take her out in the rain. I was able to do some cooking at home this week, and it was nice for the 3 of us to sit at our table together.

Avery stayed in her bed Saturday morning until 8 am when I made Ned go in and get her. She looked much better and seemed to feel good. It was a rainy day so we tried to get some things done around the house. Ned and Avery went to Lowe's before lunch, and I went to Walmart after her nap. I bought no food to cook meals this week and still managed to spend $100. The Walmart bill is driving me crazy and my goal is to work towards cutting it down. Lolli and Poppa came to visit before dinner, and we took them to FoSho. Avery went straight to bed when we got home, Ned worked on hanging blinds to replace one's Felix had chewed (I think we're at 8 sets now) and I was unproductive instead of doing work for my class.

It should be another busy week. We're going to Lucas and Kristin's to watch the Super Bowl until Avery's bedtime. I have parent-teacher conferences this week and Ned has a DU meeting to begin planning their banquet. They come to sand the drywall Monday, which I'm not looking forward to, but I'm hoping to have a completed kitchen by mid-week.

In Need of Bullets

Here are a few random thoughts popping around in my head this week:

**I made a point to watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition Sunday night. They built a new home for the family of Alex Brown, who lost her life in a car accident because she was texting and driving. As a mother, I felt the sadness of their loss coupled with the enormity of the job we have as parents to instill in our children the ability and desire to make safe, smart decisions. Please don't text and drive!

**I follow a blogger who routinely posts prayer requests. I don't click on all the links, partly because it is easy to become overwhelmed with sadness. I have been following the stories of a few lately, and found that little Jacob touched my heart the most. I can't imagine seeing my toddler go from active and noisy to still and quiet. Prayers are working, so I'm sure yours can help too.

**I'm loving my Kindle. It arrived on my very horrible day last Monday. I finished my first selection in two nights.



Now I'm working my way through this. If only school and class didn't get in the way!



I'm way behind on this book, I know. I'm following another blogger who does great book posts, so I've got a long list to keep me busy. Kindle will not replace all books in my life. I'm still working through Boundaries with Kids and The Happiest Toddler on the Block. I feel those type of books are best to keep handy for quick reference. I will continue to buy my Nicholas Sparks's books so Avery can tote them around, and I'll still buy books for the beach. Sticky sunscreen legs and sandy Avery fingers don't sound compatible. But, I'm really enjoying it, and it scored a few more points tonight when I realized I could read and eat a bowl of ice cream.

**I wanted to do the 40 Bags in 40 Days for Lent, where you clean 40 bags of junk or things you aren't using out of your house. With things up in the air with our house, I've had to start a bit early. I got a few bags of trash from cleaning our office and the closet in the office last weekend. I hope to tackle a few more rooms or areas this weekend. I just don't think I can hold off until Lent. I need to give up Pepsi/soft drinks then. I wouldn't hold your breath, though.

This week I learned:

**You can pick out know-it-alls in an online class just as easily as you can in person.

**What people don't do and don't say is much more telling than what they actually say and do.

**Think about selling your house, and a pipe will burst. Continue to think about it, and the little old man across the street will put his house on the market and get a contract in about 3 seconds.

And finally:

**I may have mentioned that last Monday was a bad day. When I was getting ready for bed, I noticed a cabinet lock on the bathroom was missing. I started poking around in the bathroom and finally looked in the tote bag hanging on the door. In it I found the missing cabinet lock, a pair of Avery's pants that had been in the bathroom trash, books, my electric razor, travel-size baby bath items, Neti Pot packets, rash cream, and a sample packet of baby lotion. I'm not sure if she's planning an escape or has big plans for an invention. I laughed until I cried, then took it to Ned and laughed some more. Avery knew I needed to smile. Her stash reminded me of E.T. dragging his collection of treasures, including the Speak and Spell and flower, around. He came up with something pretty good, so I'm sure she will too.



Happy Thursday!