Coffee Thoughts & Reflections

One year ago today, my husband and I became homeowners! Looking back, I still can't believe we actually bought this house. We still absolutely love it. Sure, we still have lots of things we want to do to it (paint, replace flooring, build a deck) but we have also already gotten a lot done in this short, crazy year! So far we have put up a privacy fence, replaced the roof (still a very sore subject with me), changed out some light fixtures and we have done some minor landscaping. We don't always want to live in FL, but this was a GREAT first home for us and we are looking forward to at least another 5-8 years of memory-making, happiness and Im sure even some blood, sweat and tears here in our first family home!

Tomorrow is also a milestone day. Rob and I will have bit the marraige bullet six years ago tomorrow! The past six years have been one hell of a ride! We have walked through fire together and our marriage has come out stronger and better because of it. We have been put through things and situations together that most people don't go through in twenty years of marriage let alone six. We drive eachother completely crazy, but at the end of the day, when I lay my head down next to his, I know I am right where I belong and there is nowhere else I would rather be.

Rob started back to school this semester. It has been a rough adjustment for all of us. He is only taking two classes, but they are three nights a week and require a lot of study time when he is home. He is doing so very well (even though he is completely overworked, stressed and sleep deprived) and I am so very proud of him! It has been an adjustment for Madison too. Two days a week, she doesn't even get to see Rob. He leaves for work before she gets up and he doesn't get home from class until she is already in bed. She has been a trooper though and she understands that Daddy is at school and he will come in and give her kisses when he gets home. I try to do fun things with her on nights that he has class. We go to the park or have a picnic in the backyard or have a girly movie and nail night. I know he is doing this to better himself and our family. It may be rough for a few years, but it will all be worth it in the end!

For the past week, I have been sick with what I thought was just a cold. Problem is, I kept getting worse. I finally went to the doctor yesterday and Im glad I did. At first, he thought I might have Whooping Cough... Okay, kinda scary... But thank God, I was vaccinated as a child and I do not have Whooping Cough! Apparently, I had a virus that turned into a massive infection. My lymph nodes, throat and ears are all infected. I have spent the past four nights coughing, maybe getting at best, four hours of sleep. Last night I though for sure would be better. When I finally got my prescriptions (a Z-Pack and Tylenol with Codeine) home, ate some dinner, popped in a movie with the hubs and waited for them to kick in, I honestly thought I would be getting some sleep. Silly me... I spent another night coughing up my lungs. Finally around the time Rob left for work this morning (my poor husband hasn't gotten any sleep due to my hacking either) I was able to get some rest. The coughing had stopped enough that I was able to sleep for about four hours uninterrupted. Madison is staying the weekend with Rob's parents. Hopefully, I can get some good rest and recover from this crap! Maybe I will start to feel better today and I will actually be able to enjoy my anniversary tomorrow! Keep your fingures crossed for me!

Playing Catch Up

Well, it's been several months since I have blogged, so here's the updates...

Life is crazy as usual. I keep waiting for a break, but it never seems to come. In March, we had to replace our roof... Yes, you heard correctly... WE had to replace the ENTIRE roof out of OUR pocket on a house that we haven't even owned a year and that is only four-years old... Darn the luck right?! Anyhow, that is done and it looks fabulous. We are going to start painting here in a few weeks. We want to get all that done before replacing the flooring. Our yard looks awesome now thanks to my husband. When we bought the house, the front yard had tons of bare spots and weeds and our backyard was mostly sand and weeds. I am now proud to say that we have one of the nicest laws in our subdivision!

Madison is getting so big so fast. She is completely potty trained (yes, even through the night). She has had the stomach flu twice, pinkeye twice and one of her earing holes got infected (Im just keeping them out and letting them heal up now) since I last blogged. She is still all girl but loves to get down and dirty in the yard with Rob or with me at the barn. She is three now, so of course she has her own opinions about pretty much everything and feels the need to express them all the time. She picks out her own clothes daily, brushes her own teeth and hair, does her own chores and even helps me fold laundry. This is nice, but I fear it won't last.

Rob is doing well. Going back to school this fall. I am so very proud of him! This is going to be a BIG change around our house as he will be taking night classes several times a week. He bought us a home gym and he has been working out like a machine! He wants to gain weight and I want to lose it... Crazy huh?!

As for me? Well, not much has changed. I am still riding as often as I can (it's never enough)... I have been tryng out new recipes here lately and I have discovered that I can cook and I actually enjoy it. I still plan on returning to school, but we decided that it was just smarter for Rob to go back first.

I guess thats really all for now =)

Harms Happening

Well, we have been in our new house for six months now. We absolutely love it! Our neighborhood is great and our house is beautiful. Rob and I have come so very far in our short five years of marriage. I am so very proud of us! Anyhow, we started on our privacy fence last weekend. It's almost done, we just have to connect both sides to the house and put up the gates. After we finish that, our next big task is replacing all the flooring and building a deck. Oh the joys of homeownership!

Rob and I took a trip down to Orlando last month and it was fabulous! The first four days were for business (Rob had a conference) and the other five days were all play time! We of course did the Disney parks. Rob got me on Expedition Everest again... It wasn't as bad as I remembered and I actually rode it six times! I also rode Space Mountian for the first time ever this trip... Yeah, I know, I'm a weenie! We got to spend some time with his family while we were there and we also got to have dinner with some of our friends that we never get to see. It was a great trip (I would venture to say our best trip yet) and I can't wait to go back!!!

Madison will be three next month and I have been planning her party with great anticipation! As some of you already know, she has been sick since we moved into our new house. She has been to her pediatrician twelve or more times and to the ER twice. She has been on several different antibiotics (none of which helped her at all) and now her pediatrician has decided she has very bad allergies... But to what is the question! Her pediatrician put her on two differnt meds and I can already tell a huge difference in her breathing. She isn't coughing and sneezing all the time either. She goes back to see him on the 18th and we will decide from there if she needs to see an allergist or not. Rob and I believe that our carpet in the new house is the problem. Even though our house is only four years old, it was a rental before we bought it and the carpet is in less than perfect condition. We had planned on replacing all the flooring when we bought the house, we may just be doing it sooner than we thought.

Rob's job is going great and I am still perfectly content to be a stay-at-home Mommy and give riding lessons on the side. Life is pretty awesome at the moment and we are looking forward to seeing what the rest of 2010 holds for us =)

Toddler Troubles

It's days and nights like tonight that make me seriously question having another child. I know that sounds horrible, but Madison is driving me completely nutso! I absolutely adore my daughter, but sometimes I wonder if all children her age behave this way. I see other parents out shopping with their two-year-olds and they aren't having to fight with them to stay seated in their strolers or carts. Other two-year-olds sit nicely in their highchairs or booster seats while out to eat. Bedtime is another battle that we fight on a nightly basis. I start to put her down around 8pm now. She absolutely refuses to go down any earlier than that (no matter how exhausting her day has been or if she didn't get a nap in that day). She will get up out of her bed at least 5 times and come waltzing into the living room before she will finally give up the ghost and stay in bed. Of course this is not without a screaming kicking match! Most nights, I can't get her to stay in bed until 9-9:30, some nights it's even as late as 10 or 11pm! I just now had to stop typing and put her back in her bed yet again! This makes the 8th time so far tonight... I have tried everything, music, bedtime stories, a soothing bath before bed, a bedtime snack... You name it. She isn't acting scared or upset, she just doesn't want to go to sleep! I have tried spanking when she gets out of bed, talking to her, just putting her back into bed... Nothing seems to work. And no matter what time she goes down, she always gets up at the same time in the morning! Most days she doesn't nap, so I really don't know how she is running on such little sleep. For that matter, I don't see how I am! By the time I get her down, all I really want to do is go to bed myself. But with her not napping, I am left doing laundry, housework and other things at night after she goes down. Eating is also a battle now days. She hardly eats anything and what I do get down her is a battle. She generaly eats breakfast okay, but lunch is a hit or miss and she rarely eats more than two bites of her dinner. We have cut out snacks and treats, and she is not waking up in the middle of the night hungry! I honestly don't know how she isn't losing weight, but she's not. We have also taken a huge step back in potty training progress. At first, she really wanted to do it and she was really excited about it. But now, she is having more and more "accidents". I know that she knows to ask. And I also know that she knows better than to wet her pants or poop in them because as soon as she does it, she says "Im sorry Mommy". I have tried treats and rewards, they worked for a few days and then the newness of them wore off with her. I have started just putting her on the potty every two hours weather or not she says she needs to go. Im hoping this will work. We shall see. I know that I am a damn good mother, but sometimes, I feel like no matter what I do it's wrong. I really have no friends with children the same age as Madison, so I feel very alone and like I have nobody to talk to about this (hence this blog). Rob doesn't seem to fully understand what I am going through with her since he is at work for most of it, and she is always a complete angel when Daddy is around. And even if she does act up, he only has to correct her once and she gets the point. I think it hurts her feeling more if he spanks her or puts her in timeout. I keep telling myself that all of this is normal and will pass in time. That it is just a stage she is going through... There has got to be a light at the end of this tunnel! Children really should come with an instruction manual.

Tropical Storm Ida

Apparently somebody forgot to tell Mother Nature that hurricane season is over. Here we are in November, and a tropical storm is rolling on shore as I type! It has just started to drizzle here and the wind is pretty gusty at times. Poor Rambo looked as if he was going to just take flight earlier in the backyard! This is Madison's first storm. Nothing major or exciting, but it is still her first. It is also our first storm in the new house. It's a good thing it's just a tropical storm! We don't have boards cut to cover our windows yet or anything! The hubs is working out in Destin today (as per usual) and when I spoke to him a few minutes ago, he said the surf is starting to pick up out there. After living here my whole life and staying through some of the storms that I have (Opal, Ivan, etc..) this is nothing to me. Just some rain and wind. It's actually very relaxing to just hunker down on the couch with my daughter, some books, movies, cuddly pets, pillows and a comfy blanket. Can't wait for the hubby to make it home and join us in our small, family, living room based "Ida" party! Here's to our very first storm, in our very first house and Madison's first storm ever!

Welcome!

Well, first off, let me say welcome! For those of you who already know me, please excuse this brief introduction.

My name is Bess and I am a 26-year-old mother and wife. My husband and I have been married for a crazy (but wonderful) five years now! Our beautiful daughter Madison (who will be a frequent subject of these blogs) is two and a half. We live in FL and for the most part, I absolutely hate it! However, we just bought our first house! So, we will be here for awhile. I love our new house and I'm spending a lot of my time now days making "ours". New England and four seasons are calling my name, and one day my husband and I hope to be able to retire there. I have one very stupid but very cute bichon/yorkie named Rambo and three cats that I am pretty sure aren't from this solar system! I have been riding and showing horses most of my 26 years. It is my passion and I feel complete, whole, sane, peaceful and blessed everytime I am on their backs or have their furry little noses nuzzle my arm for a treat. When my daughter goes to school, I plan on returning to school myself. I would love to get my law degree, but that would require a move for myself and my family and the closest law school in three hours away! So for now, the plan is for me to become a paralegal and then go from there. A lot can happen in that amount of time! Well, thats me! Again, welcome for those of you who are just stepping into my world and to the rest of you, thanks for reading and supporting my thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams!

B~