"ZeeZee Sleep Over!"

We lost count of how many times she said that on Friday.

When Lissy was a tiny baby, I remember Kenzie saying, "I can't wait til she's old enough to walk and talk and really play with me." Well, the time has definitely come!
Kenzie spent the night this past Friday and those two cousins had SO much fun. They snuggled on the couch, watched Nick Jr., and Kenzie even taught Lissy how to play Ring Around the Rosie. Good times. I was able to capture quite a few of them on camera for your viewing pleasure. ;)

She is getting SO big. It is bittersweet. More sweet than bitter, though, I think. She is EXTREMELY interactive, has a massive vocabulary, and absolutely nothing gets by this kid. Smart as a whip. Still has a good appetite, too. I guess it's not too surprising that she LOVES black olives (just like Daddy) and is a major chocoholic (just like Mommy). That's our girl!

I cannot believe our baby is gonna be two in just two more months!!

At the Car Wash...At the Car Wash, Yeah!

Daddy decided to wash the Charger on Saturday and guess who reeeeally wanted to help?

Comings and Goings

That's what I've been doing lately - coming and going, coming and going. I like keeping busy. Not so busy that I don't have plenty of time to chillax (how do ya like that word?!), but busy enough that Liss and I don't get stir crazy on weekdays while Daddy's at work. Balance in all things, I say. Not big on astrology, but Libras are all about balance.

My laptop has been running pretty sluggishly, which is part of the reason it has once again been awhile since I wrote in this here blog. Getting pictures ready to post on here (editing and resizing them) takes half of forever, but today I finally took some time to do it. First, some pictures of Mom, me, and Liss. As you can tell, we had some fun with the distortion "lenses" of my webcam. Mom looks like John Goodman, doesn't she? And the one of me--that's what I would look like if I weighed 600 pounds. Suddenly I'm REALLY jonesing to go to the gym.

And the last two pics are....well, the first one is self explanatory. She IS spoiled rotten! And the last one is from last weekend when she and Daddy were sharing fishy crackers (the flavor-blasted kind, even!). Those two love to sit on the couch and eat.

Hopefully I'll write again soon!

Bubblllllles!

It's a gorgeous day today. Finally feels like summer! Lissy loves bubbles!
I even planted some fl'ers out front today. I never plant fl'ers but I planted fl'ers! Now I want more fl'ers so I can plant some in the back, too!

Cutie

I just had to post this picture of my girlie in the cute outfit she wore today. Isn't it so cute?! I love having a girl!

FINALLY!

For days, I could not get into my blog! Blogger.com would not accept my user name and password, no matter what I tried, and when I tried to have them send my password to me via email that didn't work either! ARRRGGGGHH! Blogger.com is VERY confusing sometimes.

At any rate, here I am, FINALLY writing. I hope you haven't given up on me!

I have no clue why it's underlining everything.

So, what to write about? I'm going SHOPPING tomorrow with half of our stimulus money!!! I cannot wait!!! Tonight I'll probably dream about clothes and sandals and purses and Bath & Body Works stuff. I just cleaned out my closet and filled two huge bags with clothes for goodwill - stuff that I know I'll never wear again cuz it hasn't fit since I was 18. Seriously. It will feel GOOD to get rid of all that clothes that just took up space in my closet. And I even made a list of what I want to buy (summer shirts, jean shorts, khaki shorts, a pair of jeans, sandals, summer jammies, etc). Speaking of summer jammies -- I think my hubby will be pleasantly surprised when he notices that I finally PITCHED all my ugly, stained, misshapen pajamas! They are in the trash can as we speak. Tomorrow I plan to buy very cute summer jammies, which I plan to wear all summer. Just because I'm an old, married mom does not mean I have to look like a frump every night when I go to bed. Oh, tomorrow will be SO much fun!!

Liss has been doing GREAT. She's talking. And talking. And talking. And talking. I think she loves to hear her own voice. It's very entertaining and (usually) very adorable. She LOVES the kids' room at the gym now. She looks forward to going and as soon as I set her loose in there, she runs around and looks right at home. She even waves when I leave the room and says, "Bye bye, Mommy!" That is AWESOME, because I'm usually there for an hour and 15 minutes each time...and it's wonderful to know she's having fun with the kids and the toys in there while I whip my jiggly buns into shape. I love that place. Love it. Have I mentioned that I LOVE that place?

However, I tried on like twenty pairs of shorts tonight and the vast majority of them were tooooo small. Depressing. Very depressing, indeed. But, like I said, a lot of those clothes have been around since pretty much caveman days. Being a wife and having a baby do things to one's body. Gravity-type things. So I will be buying plenty of shorts tomorrow.

Okay, this entry is so boring I'm yawning. I guess things have been pretty same-old, same-old since my last entry. Either that or I'm too lazy to think hard about what else to write about. Transcription has been going great. I've done four projects so far. Baking is going well, too. I'm baking Charlie's birthday cake this weekend and three different kinds of biscotti next Monday. I baked cupcakes just for us this past weekend, and come Monday I threw several of them in the garbage. They were delicious, but the problem was - I was EATING them.

I am currently reading Debbie Macomber's newest novel, Twenty Wishes. Loving it. She is bar none my favorite author, followed closely by Karen Kingsbury and Robin Jones Gunn.

Well, I gotta rest up for tomorrow's spree, so without further ado, please enjoy these recent pictures of the love of my life.

I showed her how to put a crayon up her nose. Very mature. And very safe. Well, I'm still the crazy weirdo I've always been, so......

Took this one just a little while ago, cuz she just looks so stinkin' cute today.

And this is from this afternoon when her best buddy, Charlie was over. Two peas in a pod. A storage bin, rather.

Slacker, the Sequel

So, I kinda go through phases where I don't feel like blogging and then phases where I do. Thus ends (hopefully) the phase where I don't.

Lissy got her first "real" owie yesterday. We were up in Green Bay at Betsy's wedding and Grandpa was playing with her in the church nursery. They were having a grand time, when all of the sudden the little thing she was riding in tipped over and sent her face first onto the floor. As you can see, she scraped her nose pretty good. It's also red and sore under her nose, due to the snot that has been running freakishly quickly out of said nose. I did not know it was possible for one small nose to produce such abundant quantities of snot. I don't think she has a cold. There are no other symptoms. But this poor girl has her Mommy chasing her around with a wad of Kleenex during her every waking minute. Hence, the red undernose. I've been calling her "Rudolph."

And in other news, Uncle Terry visited this past week from Michigan. This was the first time she met him and she took to him very quickly, as if she knew right away that he was family. He got bonus points for sharing his glass of ice water with her.

During that same visit, she wanted to walk in Grandpa's shoes and was surprisingly successful in doing so. What if her feet were really that big? She could make us millions by being a carnival sideshow.

Hmmm....what else? I've been working out at Cardinal Fitness 4 times a week and I just LOVE it! I haven't noticed any weight loss yet, but I'll keep plugging away! I think I have a love affair with the elliptical machine. And I'm extremely fond of the weight machines that work my abs. Hopefully the elliptical isn't jealous. I still think it is SO motivating to work out among several other people who are working out. As for the handful of guys who sound like they're trying to pass the world's largest turd while they lift hundreds of pounds of barbell weight, well - they're just weird.

Only one transcription assignment so far, but I hope to get at least one or two good ones this week!

OH! I got a new VACUUM today!!! FINALLY!! A Bissel. I am truly thrilled, because this house needs some SERIOUS work. It is a PIT. We gave Toskey to a new family so we are blissfully animal-free. Our poor house has smelled like a pet store for months - I am so serious. I cannot wait to get all the last traces of litter OFF of my laundry room floor and vacuum all the last traces of long cat hair!! Maybe someday when we have a bigger house and there's more room for air to circulate and a better place to keep the nasty litter boxes, we will have another cat. Maybe.

Bunco is fun.

Sandals

Summer's coming, and that means it was about time to buy some wee little sandals. Aren't they cute?! She has the cutest little toes.
I love having a girl!!

And the title of this one is "I eat M&M's like I MEAN it."

Slacker

So yeah, I've been a pretty huge slacker lately with my blog. But I haven't been slacking in other areas. I don't think I've written about Cardinal Fitness yet. It's a small gym in a strip mall
and they're popping up all over. I joined about three weeks ago and I tooootally dig it!! I go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning and sometimes one more time during the weekend if I can fit it in. The staff is really friendly and Liss is even starting to really like the kids' room! That's one of the things I love most about this place - the kids' room is wonderful. It rocks to be able to let her play in there while I work out!
I usually warm up on either a bike or a treadmill, then jump onto an elliptical and then I spend about half an hour on the weight machines. I love, love, love it!! It feels beyond incredible to be getting back in shape again! There's one by my mom's house too, so I can go to that one when I'm down there. I can tell it's a popular place cuz when I go at 9:00 in the morning, it's packed. And ya know, I find it very motivating to be working out in a place where there are so many other people doing the same thing. HUGELY motivating. So mama's gettin' buff! : P

In other news: I got a work-from-home transcription job!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!! For months I've been wishing for a part-time job where I could work from home doing something that would bring in somewhat significant income. After testing for two different transcription companies and being offered positions at both, I chose the one I feel best about. And I am sooooo thrilled!! For those of you who aren't sure what transcription is - it's basically listening to audio and typing what you hear. Sounds simple, but it can be complicated. I did medical transcription for three years back when I worked for Dr. Stough in Winfield. The experience definitely helped me score this job. I'll be doing transcription work for DBS (Domenichelli Business Services) about 15 hours a week or so. I looooove to type, so this is truly perfect!!!

And before I go, here are a couple recent pics of my precious one. The first one is her in her new "spring" jammies, and the second one was taken this afternoon. Grandma brought her a little table and we went to Menard's to get a couple little chairs, so now she can color at her own little table. She loves it!! Her newest thing right now is coloring.

We are so happy that spring is here and hope you are too!

Easter

My girl had a fun Easter! We spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's house and she was digging the Easter egg hunt. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

"Daddy, I found my very first Easter egg and it's LELLOW!! Will you help me open it?"




"Ooh, animal crackers! I'm gonna shove them ALL in my mouth at once!"

"Kenzie, help me put on these cute pink sunglasses!"

"I love Auntie Bop Bop!"

"I'm still on the hunt!"

"Yeah, I'm Somebunny Special, alright. And I already drooled chocolate on my new Easter bib!"

"Here's an Easter kiss for you, Papa."

"Grandma, I LOVE my new duckie chair!!!!"

"Oh my gosh, ZeeZee, it is really an ELMO PURSE?!?! Does life GET any better? I'm LOVING this Easter business!"

One for the Baby Book

Her hair has just been OUT of control - I wet it and comb it and wet it and comb it and brush it and even put styling foam in it. But nothing helped - it still stuck straight out from her head!

So I bit the bullet and gave her her first haircut today. I didn't wanna do it myself - I was rather terrified. But hey, lookie here - I did an okay job, don'tcha think?? It's pretty short but it'll hopefully grow back out thicker and easier to manage!

Housebound Again

So we had to take the Durango in for repairs AGAIN because they couldn't find the problem last time. We won't have it back til Thursday at the earliest. So, since I knew we couldn't go anywhere today AND it's a gloomy day outside - Liss and I decided to pull out the hide-a-bed in the family room. I put sheets and a quilt on it and it's so comfy! And Liss loves having a "bed" in the family room!

She holds my hand!!

She's been walking for over six months now, but every time I'd try to hold her hand and have her walk with me she would push my hand away. :(

But today we were walking in the Wendy's parking lot and I put my hand down to her and she grabbed it and held it the whole time and we walked together! I about wet myself - it was SO SWEET!!!!!!!!! Then she held Grandma's hand the whole way back to the car.

Not that big of a deal, I know..... But it was by far the highlight of my day!!! No, it was the highlight of my week!! She is getting so big and is TOTALLY not a baby anymore. She is most definitely a little girl. My little girl. And she makes my world go 'round still! And I look forward to lots more holdin'-hands!

Cereal

Do you love cereal? I do. I eat if for a snack almost every night around 9:00. Used to eat cold cereal for breakfast every morning but now I try to eat oatmeal every morning instead. But I just crave cereal so often. Yum. And if you eat the healthy kinds and not Froot Loops or Cookie Crisp, then it's actually a really nutritious snack.

Don't you sometimes wonder.....

....how many people actually read your blog? I do! : P
I like to try and keep up with the ones that I have linked over on the top right of this page. And sometimes I read but don't have time to comment, and that makes me feel bad. Because I don't want any of my buds to think nobody reads their blogs! I do read them. I promise! And it is super fun.
The comments on this here blog have been pretty far and few between lately for some reason. I'm assuming a lot of people are like me - they read but don't always have time to comment. Comments are so fun. I hope you'll leave them once in awhile so I know you're reading! *smooch*

Tigerrrrrrs

Those Target execs ain't no dum-dums. They have a little "Live Reading of Dr. Suess" event and afterwards the toy aisles end up packed with parents. It was so nice to get out and have some fun as a family today, though! Here is a little photo diary of our trip to Target:

Lissy's paternal grandma has some Irish in her, so I guess this kindof applies.




She actually sat and listened to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Oh, The Places You'll Go" all the way through. It helped that a lady gave her a little bag of fishy crackers as soon as we got there.

Then, as daddies will do, Scotty found two big stuffed tigers in the toy section and gave them to her. It was LOVE at first sight. She gave the white one a big smackeroo right on his plastic nose.

And she would NOT let go of them. She hugged 'em both during the ride home. Her little face is in there somewhere.....see it?

And as soon as we got home, they became her new favorite playmates.