Week of Firsts

So this week has been somewhat eventful which makes me happy because I actually have something to blog about! Well I am cheating in a way because it is a picture post, but I have not put up any pics in a long time so I figured that canceled out my lack of blogging. Anyway here you go!

Samantha and her first swimming suit and lesson. I have a thing for animal print on little girls so hence the 6.99 bathing suit :)


Here is Julia today going on her first ever field trip to meet her high school pen-pal. She picked out her outfit since I am not allowed and wanted to take a shower in the morning so her hair would be straight. I don't know where she gets all this from. Couldn't be me...



And my first bout ever with strep throat is officially over thanks to strong antibiotics! No pic of me- figured I can not compete with the cuteness above.

-Amanda

Happy Memorial Day!

Weather here is terrible! Last year we were at a BBQ and swimming. This year we are inside, with the heat on, and sick :( I just got back from urgent care because I woke up this morning and seriously could not swallow. I have never had that much pain in my throat before. Well its strep so I have been banned to the upstairs portion of my house while the paranoid hubby cleans and disinfects. So I thought I would jump on the computer and blog about it :) Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying their day off and having something good to eat today!!

-Amanda

Rain

Rain sucks when you have 2 kids.

-Amanda

Random

YES I am one of the 3 people in American that didn't watch American Idol at all this season. In fact I think that I haven't watched it since the first time. It is my belief that is should be like Miss. America and only come once a year that way we don't get sick and tired of it. That is my feeling about all other reality shows too, expect for "The Hills"- can't get enough of those girls!

It hailed and is thundering at my house as we speak. Cool huh? Maybe. Except it is a Stay at Home Mom's worst nightmare. There is only so much coloring, playdo, and "Hannah Montana" I can take!

So my cousin called off her wedding. And the best part it was at her actual bridal shower. I will not go into details (if you want that them you can email me) but we will just say that I am so happy that she realized what kind of a situation she was getting herself in. So hey if anyone needs a HUGE bridesmaid dress let me know.

My child can read! I am so impressed. It actually kinda freaks me out because it means she is not going to be my baby anymore. More grey hairs to come for me. Oh well I like getting my hair done anyway.

ADDICTED to Scrabble on Facebook. If you have one let me know and we can play. I suck at it, but I figured its good for my brain.

Ok that should be enough for now. I am getting better at updating I think. Now if only I had something cool and nifty to write about :)

-Amanda

RIP SpongeBob and Mater

Well I found out last night that all my efforts with the frogs didn't work. They were both dead by 9 pm that night. It was either the trama of being out of water or I did something wrong. Luckily there wasn't too much drama surrounding their death because they were replaced by goldfish the next day. So I will forever be known as the frog killer amongest my friends eventhough its Sam's fault :)

-Amanda

Green with Envy

Yes it seems there is a ton of crazy thoughts going through my head this week. Well today I am living one. As we speak I have 3 children, one who is crying in her bed because she will not take a nap, another who is in her room jumping from her bed to the floor and shaking my entire house, and the other is my friend Robin's little boy who I will be watching for the night. Her oldest son comes after school in about 2 hours. As I watched Robin leave all totally dressed up for her 4 day trip to Vegas with her hubby I was sooooo jealous. Yet I know am being a good friend and that always comes back to you 10 times over, but damn how much would I love to be her right now. Oh well, maybe someday I will be the one dropping my kids off, looking all hot, and saying "Call me if you need me" One can hope right?

-Amanda

UPDATE: So this afternoon turned out to be called "The Frog Incident" We go to my friend's house to wait for her babysitter to show for the rest of the night. I have to go outside really quick to turn off their hot tub that the kids were using. I come back in the house and Samantha is screaming. I run to see where she is and I looked down and she had totally knocked down their aquarium on to the carpet. There was water, rocks, and little frogs everywhere!! I freak out, she freaks out, Julia, freaks out, Jake freaks out, but Luke the older one tells us to stay calm. We ended up catching one frog right away and most of the others were under the couch. We waited and they all came out and we caught them. Then I had to clean up glass, rocks, and water all over their carpet. Then we all made the trip to PetCo to replace all the stuff. I just didn't want to responsible for the frogs death. Mind you all this happens within a 40 min time period. Luckily when we get home frogs are still living and I re-did their tank and they seemed happy. If that is not an excuse for a beer then I don't know what is!!

Crazy Thinking

I actually Googled 5K races in my area. I have never thought about doing anything like that. Yes I know its only 3.5 miles, but for me to actually think I can do that is a big deal for me. I did it yesterday on the treadmill so maybe I will get enough courage to actually do it. Who knows, maybe a marathon is next. (Come on Summer lets do it!!)

-Amanda

Mothers

When I was little I used to play with my Barbies a lot. One would always kind of end up being the "loose" one of the group, one was always the "best friend" or "teacher", but the prettiest one I would always make the Mommy. I remember that I would stuff a piece of Barbie clothing or a cotton ball into her dress she it looked like she had a tummy. So when I look back I think I always wanted to be a Mommy. My my Mom worked and did not stay home and I remember thinking that I want to be the mom that drove on field trips and made cupcakes for the bake sale. No offense to my Mom because not only is she my role model, but she is the best Mom is the whole world! I just knew that I wanted to be the Mom that was there all the time. Don't get me wrong, I have moments where I wonder what in the hell was I thinking, but for the most part I love it. As the girls get older it gets so much easier and so much more rewarding. Today I got a bag full of pictures that Julia made for me. There was about 10 in all. Each one was a moment she remembered about us. Of course there was a picture of us shopping, which honestly is a really good memory I have with my Mom. It just made me feel so special that a 6 year old remembers 10 really good things about me. I have some friends and of course my Sister in Law to be that are celebrating their first Mother's Day. I don't really remember my first, but I am sure I felt pretty blessed. And then I have my other more experienced Mom friends who are used to getting the attention for the day, but that feeling of being blessed never goes away. So I am going to make sure I always feel that way when it comes to my girls. Even when the going gets tough :)

So Happy Mother's Day to all the awesome Moms out there! You deserve every once of respect and love that I can give!!

-Amanda

Where the Hell Have I Been??

I am here- not dead. Busy in the The Mommy Files household. First it was my birthday which was pretty uneventful. Got a facial, pedicure, waxed- the usual pampering. Next it was Julia's 6th birthday (holy cow!!) and we spent that at the "American Girl" store in Hollywood, CA with my niece, SIL and BIL. If there was ever a place where a girl could be a girl that was it. I was in the bathroom while we were there and there was this little girl bawling her eyes out and I thought to myself "Of course in a place full of girls there would be one crying in the bathroom". But all in all it was amazing. The store was awesome, the cafe was great, and Julia is in love with her doll that looks just like her. I will not even go to how much this birthday cost, but it was worth it! Even saw Jared Leto (aka Jordan Catalano from "My So Called Life) and Patrica Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond") which is a good thing for my celebrity obsessed brain.

In other news, I applied in January for Julia to go to the new magnet school in our area after hearing about it through the school district. Now I may have never mentioned this, but Julia is a budding artist. There is not a day goes by that she is not making something. Yesterday she took the stuffing out of one of her stuffed animals and used it as hair for a picture for her Nana. Of course I couldn't get mad because it was very creative :) So anyway, I got the call that she was accepted. We are very excited! And the best part is it is free because it is a public school :) I was told that they play classical music during recess and lunch time so we will see what how this new adventure goes. My parents never encouraged any talents that I may have had as a child so it makes me happy that I can do that for mine.

As for the 2 year old in my life who said to me today "I want a diet coke" she is just as cute as can be, yet as mean as they get :) Well not mean, but she is 2 and full of drama. I mean the girl can cry and scream over nothing (which she likes to do every 15 min or so) and we have all become very immune to it. Thats the only way we can deal :) But of course she has her awesome moments like when she sits at the dinner table with her head on my shoulder. So I will take it all just because she is my Sammie.

I have been doing my workout out 4-5 times and week and I have been become quite a regular at the gym. The instructors even know my name. I feel awesome about myself and that is what matters to me the most. I am not a good dieter, but I am still buying smaller clothes. And my bridesmaid dress has to be taken in 4 inches which made me very happy! So whatever I am doing its working :)

So there you are- updated and informed. I totally suck lately at this blog thing lately. I will try hard to post some pictures soon too :) Thanks for still reading :)

-Amanda

You Know When...

You know when you are having trouble with you diet when you start dipping parts of a Hershey bar into the low calorie peanut butter and thinking "Well the PB is diet food."

-Amanda

Finally

My Big Bro will hopefully be a first time Daddy today. His girlfriend is 8 days overdue and she was induced this morning. Let's pray that little Cole makes it here today! I can't wait to see my new nephew!

-Amanda


**Update- Baby Cole arrived on April 8th at 3:59. He weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz. Is in the NICU because his little lungs were full of fluid, but it is doing fine now.

32 and counting...

"I want a party with room fulls of laughter
Ten thousand tons of ice cream
And if I don't get the things I am after
I'm going to scream!"

-Veruca Salt from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"

The Wobbler

The other day Jon and I decided that we could keep a chart of how many tantrums Sam throws in one day- from morning till bed time. She has these little freaks outs where is there is full tears, the loudest scream and cry you have ever heard, and stomping of her little feet. They last about 45 seconds and then she is fine. We call them wobblers- its just enough to drive you crazy! Anyway, I guessed 25, Jon said 30, and Julia guessed 10 because honestly she does have a lot in one day. Those were just nice estimates :) Well at 8 pm when we put her to bed, there were 17 little tick marks on the chart. 17!! Jon and I laughed, but at the same time all I could think was is it going to worse? Also, she has learned to cross her arms and say "I don't want to" whenever you ask her to do something. I guess I just forgot how it was to have a 2 year old, but man I am making up for lost time. Thank god for Advil and "The Hills" coming back on TV (and maybe a little cocktail now and then) or I don't think I would make it!

-Amanda

The Two year Old in My Life

Today Samantha is two years old!! And she woke up in bad mood, seeing that her job as a two year old started about a month ago. I have never been yelled at so much in my life!!! She is very demanding, moody, in love with her daddy, and yet you see the face a curls and you melt. So Happy Birthday to my last little one. Mommy loves you and are happy that you are the way you are :)

Love,
Mommy

Sick to my Stomach

Yesterday I recieved a phone call from the principle of Julia's school, informing the parents that a boy was almost abducted not even a mile from my house. He actually had to run to someone's house because after the man told him to get in the car, he followed him. The mintue I heard the story I started to tear up. Our neighborhood? What the hell??? It makes me want stay in my house at all times or patrol my neighborhood with a bat looking for this car. I remember my mom saying "Be home at dark" and we would ride our bikes for miles and never had a care. My daughters will never feel that freedom because of things like this. I don't feel safe anymore and that is not something I ever I thought I would feel in my own neighborhood. What is this world coming too??

-Amanda

For My Summie

Well he is here!! Summer had a baby last night- 43 mintues of labor- you go girl!! I really don't know much deatils, but he weighed 7.5 lbs. Congrats my BFF- I love you and I can't wait to see the new little guy in the family!

-Amanda

For Summer #2

Well looks like the home stretch- please go show her some love. She needs it bad :) I love you girl and I can not wait to meet the new addition to your family!

-Amanda

For Summer

Hey you- yes you- my BFF. Instead of texting me that you are not in labor- call me! You are making more anxious then if you were actually in labor! Maybe my prediction of March 5th will come true! I will keep my fingers crossed. I love you!

-Amanda

PS 2 cm and 100% effaced, 11 days till her due date- what do you guys think? Any time right??

Note to Self

When you volunteer in your daughters class room- DO NOT go on a day when the teacher is sick. I had to run a class room full of kindergarters today. Sucked! I don't know how teachers do it! I am not good at being mean helper mom and I had to be :(

-Amanda

My Latest Obsession

JEANS!!! Now that I have gone down two sizes I can not find jeans that fit. The are either too big in the but and thighs, or too low waisted so I have a so called "muffin top". And since I am short, I have to have a short length, but I am willing to go get them altered. I tired on at least 15 pairs today and none of them worked! Anyone have any good suggestions on a brand of jeans that they love? I am can fit into the Gap and Old Navy, but I want like a nice pair that I could use. Please help!!

-Amanda