Dress

So my dress I ordered from Etsy.com came in today. I absolutely LOVE IT! Its a tiny bit long, but when I walk, I don't trip over it, so I don't think I am going to hem it. Last night, I was online looking at the you tube videos of all the different ways of wearing the dress. Ian fell asleep on the couch waiting for me to go to bed....sorry Ian! I couldn't help it, Ive been waiting for this dress for a month...

We heard back from the Butler house...we can move in on the 27Th of May...I'm so excited!!! I think today, Ian and I are going to drive up there to see how traffic is when he gets off of work, this way we know how long it will take for him to travel home. Hopefully it isn't any longer than a half hour.

I know its early, but Ive been looking online for ideas for Joanna's 2ND birthday cake....I found it. Its a Dora themed cake. She was really big on Elmo, but lately she has been a big Dora fan. Cant wait to make another fondant cake... now I just need to find a theme or idea for Taylor's 1st birthday.

Been busy the past few days trying to get things together for the garage sale next month. I'm going through all closets, boxes, and storage containers trying to find things to sell that we just don't need anymore.

My sister-in-law and her family are coming to Pittsburgh for the marathon this weekend. Abigail is SOOO excited to see her cousin Cooper. Every morning during breakfast, she says...."Mommy......Cooper is coming!!!" then she smiles really big. When I ask who else is coming, she says "Unkie B.J. s coming!!" Last time Uncle Bj came, he must have made a lasting impression on her, because she was always asking where he was, when he was coming back, and she even named one of her stuffed animals after him... Look out Uncle Seth Uncle Alex and Uncle Sal, I think you have some competition for favorite Uncle.....

Garage Sale

I just read online that our community is having a garage sale mid next month. Ive been trying to sell some baby items online at craigslist, but have not had much success. A few things were sold, but I still have a ton of clothes. My last chance at selling them are at this garage sale. I'm glad it is before we move, because Id hate to have to bring everything to our new home. I'm trying to organise everything to get ready to start packing early next month.

Taylor has been sick the past day and a half. She has croup. I feel so bad for her. Last night, she was coughing and whimpering...she even got a "MA,MA" in there, but it sounded as though it were a "ma, ma, I need you" It broke my heart!! Abigail woke up this morning coughing, but I haven't heard anything since she got out of bed. Joanna is still asleep, so hopefully she doesn't have it. Unfortunately, it is contagious and I'm not sure how to keep everyone from getting it. My throat this morning is a little sore and I'm slowly losing my voice...that is all I need. My back pain is the WORST when I cough, so I'm praying I don't catch it.

Soap Opera

Wow, has it really been almost a week since my last post? Sorry, to those of you following my blog like a soap opera story. Well, lets see....been pretty busy the past few days cleaning house, looking at houses to rent, and taking care of the girls. Ive cleaned out closets and then took pictures of all the girls clothing that I no longer need. I then posted them on craigslist to see if I can make some money selling them. That took quite a bit of my free time, since I had to sort them all by size then get a nice photo of them, thus, resulting in not much Internet time.
Still searching for a house to rent. We went and saw 4 this past weekend, although, none are coming even close to the one we saw in Butler. We took an application up to Butler this weekend to at least get the ball rolling on that one. They have to do a credit check before we know if we are even capable of getting the house. I'm sure our credit is fine, since last time we checked, it high...but that was before the business....well, I guess we will find out... Until we hear back from them, we will continue our search for something maybe a little closer to the office. If not, then Butler here we come.
The past few days have had nice weather, so we took the girls to the park a few times. They LOVE going there. I love it too, because they usually go to bed without a fight. Although, Abigail is now telling me... "Mommy, its dark outside...time to take a bath, and THEN night night." I'm glad she knows... although, what will I do when it starts to get dark LATER in the day?!?!?! :) Well, my youngest is letting me know that she is hungry....I'm surprised the windows have not shattered yet with her high squeals... Until next time!

Spring cleaning

Well, its that time of year, when we dare to go through boxes that have been stored away, hoping to find something that you can get rid of... Next month, I start packing. I want to have everything in its place and get rid of all the junk...yet, when I go through items we have stored away, I cant get rid of anything. I'm hoping to find a spot for them in our new home, yet if I liked them that much, how come I haven't displayed them in this one? There is a ton of Ian's things stored away. Id really like to just put all his boxes in his closet, so that our tower of things stored doesn't look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. My goal is to go through everything, get rid of what I can and part with things I haven't used or displayed in the past year.

Abigail had spent the night at my parents house, so I used the extra time I had in the morning to clean the carpets. When she came home, she said "Mommy, my feet are ALL WET!" funny, because when Ian came home for lunch, he said the same thing. It didn't last long, because during lunch, Joanna decided to throw her spaghetti on the floor....

House search continues. We saw two more this morning on Craigslist that we are going to check out. I know Ian would like to find a place a little closer to the office, but to me, nothing is comparing to the one in Butler.

Easter was like all holidays, hectic. We woke up in the morning and scrambled to get everyone dressed, then quickly go downstairs for pictures and an Easter egg hunt, then out the door just in time for church. After church, we went to view the house in Connequenessing, but decided it was too small for our family. Then it was off to grandmas and papas. As we sat down to eat, my back started hurting. I tried to hold in my discomfort, but after about 30 minutes, I started to break. I wanted to leave the room so that no one would see me cry, but as I stood up, this sharp pain ran down into my legs. Ian helped me into the other room to lay down. Of course I couldn't fully relax because Taylor wanted to nurse. (there is always something that prevents me from having time to myself) When it was finally nap time for the girls, we headed home. My mother came over and she and I went out for a quick drive while Ian stayed with the girls and made dinner. Wish he could make dinner every night. It was nice not having to do anything for once.

Well, the girls are in bed taking a nap, so I'm going to use this free time to close my eyes a little before Taylor wakes up. Until next time.

House Hunt

Today, we had a relaxing morning. Due to the girls going to bed late last night, they slept in this morning. Not to long, but 9am is better than 7:30. Once everyone was dressed, we headed to Connequenessing to drive by the house for rent. We wanted to know where it was so that we wouldn't get lost tomorrow when we meet the owners and take a tour. We then drove to Butler to tour another...It was awesome! The outside was a little weird because it had a really tall roof, but the landscaping was beautiful. There was tons of trees and a huge yard (that we wouldn't be responsible to maintain). The inside was very nice. It has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bath. The basement is HUGE but not finished. Its a bit of a drive to the office, about 30min, but I think it is worth it. The house we are checking out tomorrow is only a 20 minute drive away. Well, I have 2 Reese's cream pies and blueberry muffins to make for tomorrow, plus I have to hide the girls Easter eggs for their hunt tomorrow morning. Ill be sure to post some pictures.....until next time!

Etsy.com

So, I've fallen in love with this website. http://www.etsy.com/ Everything is handmade. The hats I bought for the girls came from there and Ive purchased a dress for my cousins wedding as well. While I was searching for Mothers Day gift ideas, I came across this very cute flower arrangement made out of paper and buttons. Im going to give it a try and see what happens. Ian doesnt want me to go out any buy anything, so Im going to have to see what I can come up with with what I have here in the house.

This morning I thought Id be able to sleep in since Abigail was spending the night at my parents...WRONG. Usually, Ian will wake me up to give me a goodbye kiss before leaving for work, and I can usually get another hour of sleep before the girls wake up. Not today! He woke me up and wanted to talk.....I could barely keep my eyes open. If I am awake for more than 10 minutes, then my mind wakes up and all the "things to do" start running through my mind, preventing me from being able to fall back asleep.

Its funny how when Abigail is away, Joanna is a completely different person. She is such a cutie. Usually, she is fussy and very needy, and when Abigail is gone, Joanna is very happy, full of smiles, and such a pleasure to be around. Today, after breakfast, I wanted to get online and check craigslist for some house. I turned on the Disney channel and went over to the desk. Joanna calls me... "Mommy........sit" as she smacks her hand on the couch cushion. How could I resist? She snuggles next to me, placing her head on my arm.... my heart melted.

When Ian came home from work, we had dinner, then headed out to drive by some houses for rent. Nothing great. When we came home somewhat disappointed, we checked online for any replies to some e-mails we sent out... one reply, and the one Ive been waiting for. There was a house about 20 minutes away from the office that posted March 18th on Craigslist. I saw the house on there a few days ago and could only hope that it wasn't taken, so I e-mailed asking for more pictures. The house is GORGEOUS! We e-mailed them asking to come view it. I really hope this one works out, because to be honest, I was getting a little discouraged with what Ive been seeing . Well, I'm off to bed.

Weekend

This weekend I did not get much sleep. Early Saturday morning I was pleasantly surprised when Taylor said MAMA. I was shocked. She had just said DADA the day before, and now she was saying MAMA. My little girl is learning so quickly. I guess its because she has two older sisters to teach her things.

We woke up early on Saturday to get ready to go to my parents restaurant. We met my cousin and Aunt there so that Abigail could try on her flower girl dress she will be wearing for my cousins wedding this August. She is so excited to have a "white princess dress". We also went to Once Upon A Child (a gently used kids clothing store) to drop off some baby clothes....we got $50 back. Love getting money back for clothes we are not using anymore. Saturday night, I tossed and turned ALL NIGHT. I didn't end up falling asleep until around 4:30am, then was woken up at 7am. I was planning on skipping church to sleep, but Ian didn't get the girls ready in time to leave, so they ended up sticking around and kept me up. The morning was pretty rough. I was excused, my back hurt, and I got overwhelmed with everything we needed to get done. I don't know when I last cried so much. Ian and I decided we wouldn't do ANYTHING that needed to get done, and just go for a drive and see what happens...we ended up going around looking for houses for rent. We were gone ALL DAY.....On our way home, we picked up dinner and made a detour to the Cranberry Park. The girls LOVED this park. Its a wooden castle with lots of slides and passages. It took both Ian and I to keep an eye on them because it was so big and they were just running everywhere. We came home and got the girls ready for bed.

Today, I struggled to get out of bed. After breakfast, the girls went into the playroom while I tried to relax a little on the couch. When Ian came home for lunch, my parents called to see if Abigail could go to the restaurant with them. I was torn. Every time Abigail goes with them, she comes back hyper and very disobedient, but I woke up a little congested and feeling like Id been hit by a car, so if she were to go, then it would be one less kid to take care of... I decided to let her go. Its been a pretty relaxing day. Joanna took a 2 hour nap the same time Taylor did, so I was able to have "ME" time. When they woke up, Joanna wanted something to eat...."NAN-NA" (banana). Within seconds, it was gone and she was requesting more. I swear, she thinks she is a monkey. The two of us enjoyed a quiet dinner together since Ian has an orientation class tonight. Cant wait for him to come home and spend some quality time with us before we put Joanna and Taylor to bed. Oh, and did I mention IT'S SNOWING!!! Got to love Pittsburgh weather! Well, I'm off to do the dishes. Until Next Time.

The Office

Ians office has been picking up. The beginning of January, he was seeing about 25 patients a week. The past few weeks, he was around 50, and this week he is ending with around 60-65. He is gone early in the morning (around 7:30) and doesnt come home everyday for lunch like he used to. One of his patients just finished a mural on the waiting room wall.... it looks AWSOME! I believe he is going to do another in Ians office of the city of Pittsburgh.

Still looking for a house to rent. Im always searching on the internet and in the papers. Not looking forward to packing, but I figure if I start at the beginning of May, and pack the things we dont use everyday, then by the end of May, I shouldnt be as stressed. We'll see.

Daddy's Girl

Every morning, Ian places Taylor in our bed while he gets ready for work. She usually nurses and then is just the happiest baby in the world. She is full of laughs and coos. Well, yesterday as she was reaching her hands out to touch daddy's face, she said "DA,DA" It was so precious! She is the only one of the girls who said "DA DA" first. Abigail and Joanna both said "ma, ma" as their first word. Taylor is getting so big. She is already in 12 month clothing, Joanna was wearing 12 month clothing 2 weeks ago...they were actually sharing clothes for a while. I couldn't believe it! I always thought Id be passing the clothes down, not having them share. Whats worse is the fact that my little girls are not so little anymore. Abigail is wanting to do EVERYTHING, "all by myself!" and Joanna is talking up a storm. I cant believe how many words she knows now. Everyone else may not be able to understand all of them, but I sure do. The other day she was trying to tell Ian she had a dirty diaper, and he had no idea what she was saying. He called me into the room to be an interpreter. Taylor is rolling over like a champ, and is now starting to lift herself up to the crawling position. I'm really going to miss this. This morning, while Taylor was nursing, she would stop because she would smile at me. I remember when Abigail and Joanna would do that. It would be annoying at first but then it would make your heart melt.

We took the girls to the park yesterday. There were 2 older girls there that took Abigail and Joanna around to all the slides and swings. I think they enjoyed playing with some other kids. They don't get to do that very often. Usually only at church on Sundays. Hopefully now that the weather is starting to get nicer, we can get them out to the park more often.