I'm Still Here!

So, it looks like it's been a while since I've updated this thing.  I promise I haven't forgotten.  I actually think about it quite often, I just keep telling myself I'll do it tonight or I'll do it this weekend.  And quite honestly, until I just looked at the date of my last post, I had myself convinced that I posted sometime last week.  Long story short... I promise to post something worth reading sometime soon!!!

Houston, we have liftoff!

Just a few days short of 11 months, Leah FINALLY crawled.  Not just the one or two strides she's been doing for the past week, but full on crawling.  She's been able to get up on all fours for a while and she's been able to move around really good for the past couple of months, but she's now completely mobile. Not sure yet if this is good or bad... but this should make things a little more interesting between her and Maddy.  This also means I definitely need to go around the house "baby-proofing".  That girl LOVES to pull the charger cord out of the laptop.  Not only is she crawling, but she's also making more babbling sounds... all of this just within the past day!  For the longest time she's been saying "Mamamamama" but I swear this morning I finally heard a Dada and a few other sounds.  Crazy how fast things are starting to change with her.

So, this morning I accidentally left my cell phone ringer on when I got to work.  I even told myself when I got in that I needed to put it on silent and what did I do?  COMPLETELY forgot to put the phone on silent.  The funniest part about this is yesterday I figured out that you can record video on my phone and save it as your ringtone.  I thought it would be hilarious to have Maddy sing a few different songs and make them my ringtones (one for the main ringer and a couple others for certain people).  Go figure, about 10 minutes after I sit down at my desk, I start hearing what sounds like Maddy singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star from my bag.  I also recorded her saying "You're crazy Dad!" so that every time Tom calls, that's how the phone will ring.  It's the little things in life!

I'm Back!

Day in the Life of a Gravy has changed quite a bit in the past week and a half-ish.  I've gone back to work (well, temporarily for now) which means the girls are back to the babysitter.  My job is only for about 10 weeks... I'm doing graphic design for the U of I, but I'm covering for a girl on maternity leave.  It's been a HUGE adjustment for me, but not necessarily a bad one.  As much as I love being home with the girls, I really wanted to get back into doing at least part-time design work.  I was doing some freelance from home, but I'm the kind of person that needs to be around other people sooo.... back to the office it is (well, for 10 weeks at least)!

So right now Tom's out in California all week for work.  Love him to death, but I really actually kind of enjoy the week being just us girls.  We have our traditional crappy eating night which use to mean we went to the grocery store and bought pure crap like pizza rolls and french fries for one of our meals.  The past couple of times he's been gone I've changed it up, though.  Now we go out to Monical's for dinner... a yummy alternative without the mess of having to clean up dinner dishes!  Last night I told Maddy that we were going to have pizza for supper and asked her whether she wanted to go to the restaurant and eat or pick it up and eat at home.  Of course she wants to go to eat there.  Well, last night Maddy decides she wants to be anywhere BUT in her seat (no pun intended!).  She's climbing under the table to pick up toys that Leah dropped or crayons that rolled off the table.  Then she goes down another time and comes up with a handful of garbage.. I'm talking wilted lettuce, crumbs, and straw wrappers.  I about lost it.  GROSS!  Other than that, it was fun to be out on a dinner date with my girls and some lady next to us even commented on how cute they were.

On that note, wish me luck the rest of the week until Tom gets back... it's exhausting getting two kids ready and out the door in the morning by 7:30!!!

Sickness and Broadway

So much to catch up on from the past week.  I'll start by saying that I've probably done laundry all day, every day for the past week.  It started off two Fridays ago with Maddy getting the flu.  Thankfully it only lasted that day.  She was definitely feeling much better by Saturday.  So, after a few days of no one else getting sick, I'm thinking we dodged a bullet.  Of course it was right about then that Leah starts puking.  As if that wasn't awesome enough, I woke up sick last Friday morning.  Normally, not a big deal.  BUT... I had my interview that day for the U of I.  So here we are, Tuesday, and now Tom is sick!  Hopefully it's quick moving through him like it was for me and Maddy (Leah is still struggling with a puke every now and then).  Ahhh... the joys of kids and sickness!

On a brighter note, Maddy went to her first Broadway play last Wednesday night.  We went to see The Wizard of Oz at the Assembly Hall with her cousin, Emily, Aunt Christie, and Granny.  I was a little nervous about it, but Maddy did really good.  Besides closing her eyes for a few minutes (for being tired, not because she was scared), she stayed awake for the whole thing and really seemed to enjoy herself.  Every once in a while I would catch her dancing around a little in her seat.  I'm sure the Twizzler's and smoothie we bought her during intermission helped a bit, too :-)

Ever since the show, Maddy has been singing Wizard of Oz songs around the house.  You really should hear some of her singing... she's a pro.  My favorite is "We off to see the Wizard.  I wonder who could be?".  American Idol, here we come!

Easter!

Before I start this post I just want to say... WELCOME BACK BASEBALL!!!  I can't tell you how much of a mood lifter it is when the sun is shining, the weather is warm, the windows are open and baseball is on tv.

Well, we had a great Easter this year, although I should definitely have been a little more prepared the night before instead of waiting until Sunday morning to pack bags for the day, etc.  There's no way I would have gotten everyone out of the door without Tom's help.  One minute I'm showering and getting ready and the next minute I can smell bacon and pancakes.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to sit down and eat.  I ended up wrapping the bacon in my pancakes and shoveling them in my face as I walked out the door. 

I should have gotten up earlier so we could have done our egg hunt without rushing, but anyone who knows me knows I'm always running late for everything and I have a hard time managing my time.  I'm sure someday we'll look back on the video we made that morning and laugh, though.  Maddy found a few eggs on her own, but we were really running out of time so there was a lot of pointing and directing to find the eggs. 

All in all, it was a great day.  We weren't late for church, Easter lunch was great and it was nice seeing the family.  It was one of those days that I wished lasted a little longer than it did!

Puke-tastic!

Well, I can definitely say that I never, ever thought there would come a day where I would be blogging on a Saturday night.  I can also safely say that I never thought I'd be blogging and watching a Lifetime movie with my husband on a Saturday night.  But, here I am. 

So, we definitely had an interesting Friday yesterday.  The girls and I were having lunch with my old work friends at Hessel Park when right in the middle of my turkey on rye Maddy sits up and barfs all over her and I (is that correct grammer?)  It took everything I had not to yak myself.  I should have known something was wrong before she barfed.  She was all excited to play at the park after we ate, but as soon as we got to the picnic table to eat lunch she just wanted to lay on the bench.

She rode back home in only her diaper, and as soon as we got home I put some clothes on her and put her to bed.  Of course a few minutes into the nap, I hear puking and crying.  That's pretty much how the rest of the day went.  Puke, change clothes, clean her up and try to give her a little water.  Throughout the rest of the afternoon, I washed 3 pillows, 2 comforters, 2 blankets and countless outfits.  I can also say that I've definitely mastered my cat-like reflexes and hand-eye coordination.  It takes pure skill to be able to run across multiple rooms in time to put a puke bucket under a sick kiddo.  The girls have been really healthy so far, so I guess I really can't complain... just hope we don't have a repeat any time soon!

We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, so thankfully Maddy seems to be feeling much better.  She's still not eating a whole lot, but I'm sure she'll be back to her old self in a couple of days. 

Happy Easter Eve everyone!

Eggs, Cookies and Meltdowns

The Gravy ladies had a great day yesterday... we invited a few friends over to dye Easter eggs and bake cookies.  Nicole came over with her two girls, Kyla and Isabelle and Maddy and Leah's cousin, Emmy Jo-Jo (aka Emzaroni), came over, too.  Thankfully it was a nice day, otherwise I'm sure I would have gone crazy.  There were eggs dropped and cracked, a whole cup of dye spilled, and a couple of melt downs.  All in all it was good times but my caffeine-induced high definitely wore off by the end of the day. 

I'm not sure, but that might have had something to do with me attempting to put 4 girls down for a nap by myself.  For the record, not a smart move to let two 2-year-olds and a 4-year old sleep in the same room.  I can say from experience that it will almost never end well.  I ended up moving one girl to the couch in the living room, one across the hall to the guest room and Maddy stayed in her own room (that was the original plan that I should have stuck with in the first place).  After Maddy had a meltdown and woke her sister up, the only one left napping was Emily.  Needless to say bedtime came a little early last night.

My Secret

I've been feeling guilty about this for a while, now.  I finally admitted it to a friend yesterday and I think it's time I just put it out there.  I bought the girls a bunch of candy for their Easter baskets a couple of weeks ago and I've eaten almost all of it.  Well, except the chocolate.  As if that wasn't bad enough, I bought more candy today and opened a couple of those bags, too.  I think I'm going to fill the plastic eggs and baskets tonight and then put them away until Sunday so I won't eat anymore.  I'm horrible, I know!

My First Post

I'm not promising an interesting read and I'm not promising to keep this updated as often as I should. Hopefully this will help keep those of you far away updated on what's going on here with us Gravies :-) Here's to my first ever blog!