Big Boy!!

It's Friday!! (well, technically Saturday I guess) Caleb and I have had such a great week! We've both made lots of progress this week!


We went to the consignor's opening of the Little Treasures sale and I was so excited! I got Caleb quite a good start on his summer wardrobe. Ugh, I can't wait for it to be warm again. Also got him some squeaky sandals for summer and he absolutely loves them! He will just stand in one spot and stomp for fun, it's too cute. He also got an Elmo chair that he loves and a few toys for his birthday. I can't wait to show him the remote control cars... I hope he can figure it out! But on to the best purchase I have made yet: a new (well for us) toddler race car bed! And the best part is that I only paid $36.00 for it.

I picked it up on Wednesday, thanks to the help of Scott and Stephanie, and we have been using it ever since. After almost two years of fighting it, I have finally gotten Caleb to sleep in his own bed all night (without waking up five times)! He hasn't fallen out of it once, and slept in it all night both Wed and Thurs nights, only waking up once the second night and he just laid back down. I am so proud of him! As much as I miss him being a little baby, I am loving watching him grow up. I just wish he wasn't growing up so fast!


Thursday morning I let Caleb play in the bubble bath, his current favorite, while I got to paint my toes. This was a big deal for me! After that, Momma came over and helped me clean for a couple hours. I finally got my kitchen clean and I am going to try and keep it that way. I always put off cleaning it because I hate it so much and it's always such a total disaster. I am so grateful for such a wonderful and loving mother. She's the best I could ever have. Tonight I got Caleb's room all clean finally, with his help of course. Since he hadn't been sleeping in there, it was shoved full of a bunch of random stuff. Now I just have to find some place to store his crib and get it there. His room now looks like a big boy toddler room :( No crib, no changing table and lots of toys. I'll get a picture of it up here once I get the crib stuff out of there.


Play date with Brooke, Brian and their boys was great today. Both Bennett and Caleb slept for the first little while of it, so we got to have some big people conversation lol. It was hilarious that they both woke up really confused for a few minutes. Brayden let me put him to sleep for the first time :D He is such a cutie and a great snuggle bug! We went to Shogun for dinner and it was Caleb's first time. He was very intrigued and I'm pretty sure he loved watching the fire and kept saying "cook." Momma's smart boy. He chowed down on the rice so it must've been good! I forgot my camera on this play date so Brooke has all the pictures... Caleb also held Brayden for the first time. One day he will make such a good big brother. When we proceeded to leave, Caleb decided he wanted to take a dive off the bridge into the little pond they have in the restaurant. And he almost succeeded. I think the whole restaurant heard me scream and thankfully I was able to grab him by his sweatshirt to keep him from falling in. Although it would have been funny to see it, my reaction was just instinct. My child going head first off a bridge into the pond kinda freaked me out lol. The funny part is that Brooke had told me she was waiting for the day that Bennett did this. Ohh I love these kids.


The list of things to accomplish next week:
CPE's (pass, of course)
Finish cleaning up the apartment... my room, bathroom, living room
Show up for class :) haha
Pay my bills
CLEAN MY CAR OUT, weather permitting of course!


Pappy's birthday is Sunday! What are we gonna do for this old man? Hopefully we'll figure out something tomorrow. Probably shopping with Mom in the morning, so maybe she'll be of help.

back to my old self :D

And here we are... what, like three weeks later? Haha. Again, I am not very consistent with this stuff.


It's been a crazy few weeks, I'd say. I feel like my life just flies by and I don't have time to slow it down. But at the same time there are parts that just don't go fast enough. I give up on the 30 day picture challenge, by the way. Don't worry though, you will still be seeing plenty of pictures posted on here!


Caleb developed quite the runny nose for about a week... thought it was just a cold at first, but then it turned into a nasty cough. Thankfully, it never got bad enough to wake him up at night (I don't know how because it certainly woke me up!). After a few days of this, he started running a fever and I finally broke down and took him to the doctor. Turned out he had (a thankfully mild case of) RSV. Needless to say, we didn't have our usual play date last week. We definitely made up for it with the 65 and sunny weather today though! To continue the story, the day after he saw the pediatrician, I started feeling like crap. If you know me, you know I tolerate pain quite well and I try to hold off on doctor's visits to give my body the chance to fight things off for itself. By Monday it was only getting progressively worse... headaches, sore throat, continuous sinus pressure and a cough. So I broke down and went to the doctor. I'm not sure what the cough was all about but turns out it was a darn sinus infection. Got some antibiotics and a decongestant and a few days later finally got to feeling better. Unfortunately in the process I happened to be at the parent's a lot (the family was wonderful about helping me out while I didn't feel well, as they always are) and I passed it around over there :( Sorry family!


Funny how things work out just as they are supposed to. In the moment, it never seems like it. But I've found that through patience and perseverance, things will fall into place. Oh, I'd say about a year or so ago I started looking around for a new counselor... just some to talk to and help me work through my problems. I saw a few different people but never could find the perfect "fit" for me. I had looked online, searching for someone experienced who also took insurance so I wasn't paying out of pocket (been there, done that... very, very expensive). I found someone who I thought I might like and actually wrote the number down but never took the opportunity to follow through with it. About a month ago, the loving mother she is, Mom realized I was really down and just mentioned maybe trying to find this lady again. Nothing big, just a thought thrown into the air. I found it, made the call and I have now seen her twice (Monday will be the third appt). After years of getting nowhere with "working" on myself, I finally feel as if I have found where I need to be and what I should be doing. As the human I am, of course I am constantly trying to better myself (school and all that good stuff). But there is nothing like the feeling of sitting down for an hour and looking at me as a person trying to figure out what I can change, to not only make myself happier and more content, but also the people around me. An entire hour devoted to simply "bettering" myself and my life. Of course, it's also a good feeling to know that I can just walk in there and vent without it going anywhere, as well.


Random: I went through boxes and boxes of Caleb's old clothes that have been sitting in the closet for over a year and decided I needed to get rid of at least some of them. I have a hard time parting from his old things, I'm ridiculous lol. So I signed up to sell them at a consignment they do around here twice a year. I'm pretty sure I used about 50 hangers (outfits) and it took forever to hang them up and price them! But hoping I make at least a little bit of extra cash off them. Which reminds me, I need to file my taxes :D Here's the ad for the consignment sale... it's all really nice stuff, they are very picky about what they take and will sell (ie, no stains, holes or anything). If you have young kids, you should definitely check it out. Brooke and I are super excited to go and shop! Hopefully I can get Caleb some nice and cheap birthday presents and summer clothes there!

So today... I dropped my stuff off there this afternoon. Interesting story, I locked my keys inside my parent's house (was babysitting the new puppy) and Mom had to call my sister out of school to come let me back in. Typical. I'm so special. Needless to say, I was a little late but that's okay. Then I picked up Caleb, visited Mom at work for a few minutes and headed to Brooke's house for our friday play date. It was so nice outside, we took the boys to the park. Christa and Devin even decided to join us. Caleb had lots of fun, as did everyone else I believe. So much that we ran everyone off that was already there. Seriously, there were like 5 cars there when we got there and within like 10 minutes everyone was gone haha! Then Caleb made me carry him the entire way back to the house (a good 15 minute hike).  And everyone wonders why he's a Momma's boy. It's okay, I love it that way. He's only little once, right? We then proceeded to have dinner at O'Charley's and the boys were so good! They are so funny together. They watched elmo and took turns pausing and playing the dvd. I was actually very impressed with Caleb. He did very well for not having any real naps all day long. He's such a good baby and I am very blessed to have him. I figured he would fall asleep on the way home, a good half an hour drive. But he stayed up so we took a quick trip to Walmart (since I found out this morning we are out of toilet paper haha). I also wanted to get him some gel to spike his hair with. We just got it cut a couple days ago and it's short purposely to spike it with! It's so cute! Anyway, here's a few pictures from the day. 

I hope everyone had a good valentine's day! I know I love my little valentine and so far, he's the best one I've had yet! He brightens each and every day of my life, even the times he is acting like a two year old! We went to Chuck E Cheese for valentine's day and had a blast. I took him up in the tunnels and he got to meet Chuck E for the first time. I was surprised, he actually liked him and wasn't scared at all! My boy is getting big too fast!!

I had my first test of the quarter on Wednesday. I did not feel confident walking out of it, but I ended up getting an 89 :D I am so proud of myself and and all of my classmates. I am so thankful for them because as hard as it is at times, we all get each other through it. At this point, I know I can do it. Graduation is July 22 and I plan on working in an office part time as an LPN while I am doing and online RN program. It's crazy to think that I've been learning all this stuff and I actually get to put it to use here soon! I am so excited but will also be sad to leave behind the class that I have gotten to know all too well over the past year and a half.


That's all my thoughts for now... until next time!

dear 50, 60, 70 degrees...

I want warm weather back!! I'll take the 50's over this crap! Do you realize we are in the single digits? YES, it is FIVE degrees outside! Please summer, come back.


I have decided that I'm going to try and sell Caleb's bedroom set and get him a new toddler bed for his birthday. Maybe he will do better in a not so crib-like bed? Problem with his crib/toddler bed is that the rail isn't long enough and he falls out of it. He still moves a lot in his sleep. I searched everywhere on the internet and this is the bed that I've chosen. It's the only one I've found that has full length guards... thoughts anyone?

Today was quite a busy day (for me, at least). Caleb went to his dad's at 9:30 this morning and while he was there I went to Stephanie's to play Wii with the kids. It was very much enjoyable! We had Hometown for lunch, delicious! Turns out I'm not any better at throwing a frisbee on the Wii than I am in real life. Rachel (the 5 year old) is better at all of the wii games than me. I really need to invest in one of those. If only money grew on trees. Speaking of video games, I really miss my guitar hero. I've been having withdraws lately and I think that will be my next purchase for myself... a new Guitar Hero 2 for the PS2 because it's been thrown around and played so much that it's all scratched up and you can't play half the songs. Yup, I think I'll do that soon.


After I picked Caleb up, we went to Brooke and Brian's and had a play date with Bennett and Brayden (even though Brayden can't really play yet). I miss them so much! I need to quit being so lazy and actually have our weekly play dates. The boys are too cute together and they play very well together now. They used to fight over toys all the time but Caleb had so much fun with Bennett today! He is seriously by far the cutest ethiopian kid I have ever seen. Caleb absolutely loved playing with Brian too... he used to be afraid of him. He was cracking up with him today. Brooke and I ended up at Babies R Us, my weak zone. I got Caleb a couple new sippy cups, a lock for the front door (I hope he can't figure it out) and a potty. I can't believe I just bought my child a potty! I don't intend on trying to potty train just yet, but I thought it was a good idea to have it sitting in the house so that it's not foreign territory when we do start trying. He was so funny when I opened it today and already knew exactly what to do with it. He sat on it and said "pee, pee." It was too cute. Now, if only it were that easy, huh?


I've been kind of catching up with an old best friend through FB messages the past few days. She lives up in Indiana and I really miss her! I am so glad to have such strong and loving people in my life. I have always admired her for her strength and determination and am really hoping we can regain the bond that we used to have. Things are so different now and I wish she lived closer so I could see her more. I went to her wedding last summer and actually got really upset thinking that I should have been standing up there with her. I should have been beside her when she was shopping for dresses and doing all that fun wedding stuff. It made me sad to realize that I had let her down and let our friendship slip away. She is a prime example of the type of friends and people I need in my life and I am sorry that I can't go back and fix how everything played out. I love you Megan Lynn Penner Boser!

Day 5: A picture of my favorite memory

I have to say I am torn between three here. Apparently through this process you will learn that I am a very indecisive person! (I figured you will see enough memories of Caleb on here, so these are outside of those memories) The first two, I don't have pictures for :( All my older pictures are on my old computer that won't turn on. Upsetting, I know.


So, number one: sitting (or sleeping under the desk) in yearbook, goofing off, and creating techno dance parties with flickering lights while Mrs. Reedy was out of the room. And I can't leave out doing an entire spread, copy and all, in one class period on the day it was due because we spent all of our time doing the things mentioned above. If any of my yearbook friends read this, they will definitely appreciate it.


Number two: long nights at Red Robin with Megan, Chelsea and I running the place. It didn't matter who else was working, the three of us could handle a two hour wait by ourselves. That's how good we were :) List after list of people waiting, but don't worry, we had it completely under control. In between acting totally ridiculous, texting people, blowing up balloons and helping out the swamped servers. Oh yes, and always mouthing off to Scott because he never knew what he was talking about and he always messed things up. Hanging out there waiting for each other to get off, or just hanging out when there was nothing better to do (don't forget the free ice cream that Troy would slip us).  Good times, those were. I kinda miss that crazy place!

This picture represents number three. As much as I sometimes did not want to go into work (who likes to work, right?), I really miss working with my babies at Vanguard. It was such a blessing and an amazing experience to watch this group of little ones grow and learn each and every day. Yes, I got barfed on a time or two... or multiple times a day. Haha! But seeing all these faces and smiles brightened my day no matter what. I became so attached to them and it makes me really miss those days when I think about it. At one point, there were so many "lead" teachers in and out that I was the only consistent person these babies saw every single day. I knew their routines, how they slept and what time their parents came. Savannah (above) had really bad reflux and I actually had to take her to the sink to burp her because she threw up so much after she ate. These kids all turn three this year. It's crazy how fast they grow (as I am learning with my own)!


I am tired now and about to head to bed to snuggle with my little boy. I'll continue with the next picture tomorrow. Hopefully the high is above 18 degrees tomorrow. I might just become an icicle here soon if it doesn't warm up at least a little bit.

already slacking

It's only day four and I'm already slacking. Here are days 3 and 4 pictures.


Day 3: A picture of the cast of my favorite TV show
I couldn't pick just one favorite. I like too many to pick a favorite. So here's my top 5 (in no particular order, of course).

Criminal Minds

I absolutely love this show! I wish I were as smart as these people are (well, on the show at least). There are some episodes where I seriously can't keep up with what they're talking about, but it's awesome! 

Teen Mom

I had to include this, of course. No, I was never technically a teen mom but many of the truths and realities that come with this show, I feel like I can relate to. Especially in Macy's story. It feels good to know that I'm no alone in a lot of the things that I go through.

Law and Order: SVU

Simply a classic. Never gets old!

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

Addicting. I actually completely missed the first season and had to watch all the episodes online. I think I watched the entire season in like two nights. It's like a good book that you can't put down. I'm glad I can enjoy watching someone else's drama, even if it's from a script, and not have to be involved in it.

The Bachelor (or Bachelorette)

I think if I'm still single when I get out of school, I'm going to apply for this show. Seriously.

Day 4: A picture of my favorite night

My favorite night to date is the night after Caleb was born. Mom had been by my side since every minute of that day (and I thank the Lord for that), but she decided to go home for a few hours and take a shower and sleep in her own bed. I had spent alone time with my baby but he mostly just slept. He was one of those very sleepy babies. Wide awake in the middle of the night, it was just the two of us and it was amazing the bond I already had with my barely 12 hour old little boy. This was the first time I got to play with him, as much as you can play with a newborn at least. He was just staring at Mommy and making all sorts of silly faces. It's amazing how this feels like it was just yesterday, and at the same time how fast the time goes by. I can't believe he's almost two now. It makes me sad and I do miss my itty bitty 5 1/2 pound baby. But I am loving watching him grow and learn new things every day. 

Yesterday was absolutely hilarious, but not at the same time. Caleb likes to do the dishes, aka play in the water while someone else is doing the dishes. So he has learned to push the kitchen chairs up to the sink when he wants to play. I was cleaning up the apartment and was separating everything out into piles of where things needed to go in the living room. Caleb got a table with two chairs for christmas. The top of the table is a dry erase board and it's way neat! He loves it! Anyway, I'm busy cleaning and I look up and he had pushed his chairs up to the front door, was standing on them trying to figure out how to unlock the door. Yes, eventually he did figure it out and that's very scary! Our door has a handle, not a knob, so he can easily pull it open if the door is unlocked. I need to invest in some sort of lock that I can put up higher so he can't escape when I'm not looking.

So we went to lunch with a good friend today and I thoroughly enjoyed our time and conversation :) I haven't seen her in way too long and she gave me my birthday present. I seriously almost cried when I saw it, I absolutely love it. It's a very good representation of my life. Thank you so much Stephanie for this<3 

My Sister!

Day 2: A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

My sister :) Honestly, I wouldn't say that I've been closest to her the longest. But we have grown pretty close over the past few years. Yes, we still have our fights. Plenty of them (she is seventeen, you know)! 

I can't say that I remember a lot about when she was born... the only thing I remember about this day we visited her in the hospital was that they had to put that stupid strip on my forehead to take my temperature and I didn't want them to! I was such a drama queen.

Today, she has grown into quite a fine young lady. I am so proud of her and I pray that she has learned from my mistakes and continues to make better choices than I have made in my life. She is so wonderful with Caleb and is always more than willing to help me out whenever I need her to. I appreciate her and everything that she's always doing for the two of us!

I love my Sissy!!

Where to start...?

I figured I'd catch up to the world and start this whole blog thing. I don't know much about it and I'm going to try to keep up but probably won't be able to. 


What's going on with me... well, I just finished my 5th of 7 quarters of school to get my LPN. It was the worst quarter we've had so far. Hopefully the next two are a breeze and I will be a nurse in 6 months! I plan on working while I'm in school to get my RN, then I would like to work either NICU, Mother/Baby or Labor and Delivery. Haven't quite decided yet. I also just bought a new car (after totaling my favorite car yet, the Sebring). It's a change but we will get used to it. I got a 2003 Ford Taurus and it drives great, just different. It's Kentucky blue :) so of course I love that!


My little one has been sick for the past day and a half. I took him to the doctor yesterday morning and his temp was 103.3. I hate when he's sick and there's nothing I can do about it. It makes me feel terrible! When he woke up yesterday he was shaking and kept saying "cold, cold." He was also overly cuddly, which I can't complain about! The Tylenol took a bit to kick in but he was back to his normal self for a little while once it did. I was extremely glad to wake up to a fever free Caleb this morning because he's off to his dad's until Tuesday am. I hate being away from him, and the worries are even worse when he's sick and Mommy can't hold him.


Anyway, on the list of things to do today: I'm skipping out on church because I didn't feel like rushing to get ready and make it in time (bad me). A nice hot shower is most definitely needed! I should work on getting the apartment together, but probably won't get to it. I'm out of school all week so I have time, right? I have to go clean the office before I go to Mom's to play cards with some of the best friends I could ever have!! I'm super excited to just be goofy and have fun with them tonight!


So I thought I'd start off my new blog with a 30 day picture challenge that I stole from facebook. That will give me something to write about for at least 30 days... here's the first.

Day 1: A picture of myself with 10 facts

1. I have the sweetest, most adorable little boy any mother could ask for. He turns 2 in April.

2. I have learned in life that the only people who will always be there for me no matter what is my family. 

3. I'm 5'2, 100lbs and I love being little!

4. As hard as it is being a single mother and trying to make something of my life, I would not trade my little guy for anything in the world. He changed my life 100% for the better and I cannot tell you how grateful I am to the Lord for that.

5. I want to get married some day and have at least 4 more children.

6. My Momma is my best friend. I look up to her and will never be able to repay her for all that she's done for me.

7. I'm incredibly smart, but I also have many blonde moments.

8. I want to live in Georgia some day.

9. Caleb sleeps in my bed with me every night. We need to break this habit but I can't bring myself to actually do it yet. 

10. I've been hurt by a lot of people in my life and I am done letting people hurt me. But I am also loved by quite a lot of people as well and for these people I am thankful for :)