Grandparents are precious to have

Thank you to all the Granparents out there. I grew up with just one Grandma and she passed away back in 2000. Then when I married Andrew, his Grandma and Grandpa became my new set of grandparents. Kara is so lucky to have a slew of Grandparents. I want them all to know how very special you each are to her. My in-laws, Bob and Judi are her Grandma and Grandpa and my folks, Gail and Mitch are her Grandma and Grandpa. That is four grandparents! Then we also have Andrews Grandma, Kara wasn't able to meet. She passed away last year in 2009 when Kara was one month old. We visited the Thanksgiving holiday before that while I was pregnant with Kara and visited with Grandma Thelma. We still have Andrew's Grandpa Gordon which is Kara's Great Grandpa. He is 96 years old, so he just recently moved into an assistant living place and out of the big house that he has lived in for decades. He is starting to go and not making much sense these days. He talks about the past as if it were going on today, currently. A scary thing happened last month; he was waiting on the sidewalk of his house for a taxi to take him somewhere...luckily he didn't actually call for a real taxi, he just thought he did. If he were to actually go somewhere in a taxi, we would not have know where he went and he would go missing! It is so scary with situations like that where he was living alone at home. He is better being in the assistant living, but I don't know how much longer he will live? I hope he makes it till April in the Spring. We want to fly out to CA over Easter break and visit him agian (once more). I surely hope it will not be our last time visiting, and that he lives onto turn 100 even. But IF this is our last chance to visit I want it to be memorable for Kara. I just hope she remembers her Great Grandpa when she gets older, and has memories of visiting with him. ( I am getting all teary eyed) I have to think of better thoughts. and not get to caught up in Grandpa Gordon passing away. We don't know really when that sad day will come...could be yrs from now, or months.

On a happier note I started a Skype session with my folks to see Kara live on the Webcam. This is a free site to set up with your web camera and you can call people using the skype who are also on the skype to see each other. If you have Skype, let us know and we can set up a time to hop on there and you can see cute Kara. I'm starting the catch phrase, "Skype you later!" instead of the old school phrase, "See you later!" haha. a Modern twist to it. I coined the phrase, and take all the credit, hope it catches on.

click the link to check out and start a Skype Free account.
http://www.skype.com/download/skype/windows/?c=204

Let's Get the Girl Her DVD!

Door bell rings, the dog barks, I answer the door to a cute little girl holding a clip board and brochure to sell her Girl Scout Cookies. I decided to purchase one box of Thin Mints, $3.50. While I was filling out the cookie form, she tells me, "If I sell 1,000 cookies I get the DVD and ALL the prizes!" Cookie Sales have come a long way since I sold them as a Blue-bird. This was about 20 yrs ago when I sold cookies, door to door. Back then I was making a goal to sell a certain amount for a pink Dino stuffed animal and a Tootsie Roll brand piggy bank, that was filled with Tootsie Rolls. This girl is selling cookies for a DVD player! Sad to say, but, we didn't even know what a DVD player was back in the 1980's. Haha. Sometime at the end of February I will be getting my box of Thin Mints. I hope she makes her goal of 1,000 boxes to get all of the prizes!

I look forward to someday, Kara will be a Blue-bird or Girl Scout. She could go to camp and bond with the other girls. I look forward to so many adventures for Kara to grow up and get involved with.

Dear Kara

Dear Kara,

This is mommy, I want to tell you that I love you and I'm so proud of you learning new things everyday. You are growing up quickly. Currently you are a little over 9 months old and already you are Cruising around the coffee table, crawling all over the house, and eating solid foods. I am forever amazed by you. When you look up at me with your big smile and recognize that I am your mommy, it melts my heart. Thank you for being a happy baby so far, Daddy and I are extra lucky to have you as our daughter and we look forward to the many years to come.

There will be times, baby girl, that you think I am being a "mean Mommy" but rest assured that I am only trying to help you. Currently you have had a runny nose with little buggers and snot. I have to help you clear it all away and use a baby wipe or q-tip. As much as you hate it, I have to help you out. Mommy is not trying to torture you or be mean when wiping your nose. Know that. Because when ever I wipe your little baby nose I have to hold your head and wipe away, and you scream and cry. But you don't seem to understand I am only here to help. I am not trying to be a mean mommy. Please understand Kara.

One day you will look back on this blog, when you are able to read it, and laugh. I just want to document this and say I am sorry for wiping your nose and picking it with a q-tip. Years later there will no doubt be even other situations that you will fuss over and hate me helping you with. I am sorry in advance for those things too.

Love you my little sunshine.

Mommy

2009 The Year of the Baby

I look down and I see my feet! It is a sight to take for granted. It is hard to believe that just 9 months ago I could not see my feet, or how swelled up they were. I was a prego in the start of 2009. We welcomed Baby Kara Audrey Hay. She has been a delight thus far. Every week is a new adventure of baby talents and learning new things. She started out just sleeping, nursing, and pooping. She use to be confined to a blanket on the floor, doing tummy time; now she crawls everywhere, following us around the house. She walks from item to item holding on for stability. She pets Duke our doggy, she felt the cold snow and the warm sand at a beach. She has flown on a plain twice now, all in the time frame of 9 months she has done so much. Here is a photo of Kara with both her Grandpa Bob, and Great Grandpa Gordon Hay.

Looking forward to what ever comes next with cute Kara. Walking and talking, running, and little baby girl attitude...I am ready.

This year of 2009 is the year of the Baby, a couple of my friends all had twins, about 4 friends of mine. Then Kara has 3 new baby girl cousins and a baby boy cousin all with in 2009! Some other friends of ours had a baby too, and my neighbor had a baby boy. I joke that her baby boy is Karas future boyfriend and Kara will grow up as the "girl next door." We have had a baby boom this year. I have to try to keep up with all the birthdays.

Please leave a comment with your baby's birthday for me to write down on my birthday calender.

This year

Recaps of all the happenings around here.

We have been up to so much lately. Andrew's work had a holiday party at the Harrah's Casino up in the Buffet Lounge. We have been to work parties in the past and it has always been the kind to bring a spouse along, so this year I came along only to find I was the only spouse there. Oh well, I could tell some other coworkers were thinking, "Hmm, I should have brought my spouse..." Why didn't I think of that...I had fun at his holiday party. As for my work, there was not any mention of a holiday party UNTIL the evening before the day there were flyers posted up to reveal the plans of a party going on all day Wed. So any coworkers not working that Tuesday night would not have known to go or participate. Coworkers who happened to work on Wednesday were able to attend, and have the chance at winning door prizes. Coworkers who had Wednesday off didn't even attend or even know about the party. It was pretty bogus, and last minute on the companies part to throw together like that.

Then on Friday we decided to start a new tradition with Kara in celebrating Chanukah. It is a holiday that lasts for 8 nights, based on an old story of an oil lamp staying lit for 8 nights instead of for the one night, giving the people light for a whole week long. This was considered a miracle of light. So in the end, the holiday celebrates with a Menorah; lighting a candle per night up till the following Friday night. On the first night of Chanukah, we went over to our friend, Julie's place and made Matzo Ball soup and Potato pancakes. Kara was such a cutie, showing off that she could stand. She stands and walks around while holding onto things.

We are coming up on the end of Chanukah, with two nights remaining. Tonight we will make Matzo ball soup again and invite our friend, Jay over to our place. Then on Friday we have been invited to our neighbors house for the last night of Chanukah.

As for Christmas, this year is Kara's 1st year to celebrate. We are flying out to California to visit Andrew's family and friends first in LA then driving up the coast to my family and friends in Morro Bay. I have been doing laundry non stop to catch up on so that we can have clothes to pack up. We have to bring the car seat and stroller this time around and I dread having to check luggage, but it is inevitable.

Happy Holidays: Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas and Have a happy New Year! 2010...wow.

Missing Family

PHOTOS TO BE POSTED LATER>>>
After a whole week of Andrew's brother and family staying in our home visiting and hanging out all together. I miss it. I miss having our nephews playing around with Kara. I miss cooking dinner with my Sister-in-law, Kyoung. I know Andrew misses Jordan his big brother. As kids they didn't get along too much, being brothers, but now they are both grown up, married, and daddy's. They actually like each other now. Jordan even borrowed some of Andrew's shirts to wear to his conference while in town. Family is always nice to have around. Even if it was for just the one week and one day, it was a nice visit, wishing it could have been longer.

While our family was in town, we went to the Zoo, for free and just paid for the tram ride around. With the three kids, we had two strollers, which could not go onto the tram and we left the strollers off to the side to pick back up in the end. It is fall time where most of the animals were not really out and about to see. Too bad, and my favorite section is the giraffes they were all inside their cages and not out in the nature part. It made for poor photos to have them all inside behind bars. One area I have not seen before was the chimpanzee area. There are apes, chimps and one was so big looked like a gorilla! They all have a play ground of ropes, branches and tires to play from. Fascinating to watch them move from one of the area to the other. One of the chimps walked right up to the window where there was a ditch in the ground, and people got excited he was so close, only to watch him squat and pee. It was gross...but funny. Similar thing happened at the Hippo home. The hippo would swim into the water and towards the window people are all standing at to watch the hippo, and we would get all excited in watching the hippo up close swimming...one of the hippos faced away from the window and POOPED out 5 or so baseball size turds! YUCK! it was sooooo gross! Ahh nature!

We also went to the Botanical gardens. My favorite part was the Japanese gardens. Very Serene.

Saturday was their last night visiting and Halloween. All three cousins were dressed as M&Ms and we all walked around the neighborhood trick-or-treating. Kara was carried around in my baby backpack, she fell asleep about half way through.

Sunday was their last morning here before flying back home to New York. We went to have Dim Sum which is Chinese Brunch. Delicious but pricey. It could easily get out of hand with the bill because the servers come around with food on carts to pick from and you don't even know the price of anything, just choose this and that. The bill gets tallied up in the end, we were a party of 5 with 2 babies eating baby food and it came to about $85.

Now they are out in California for the Thanksgiving week and visiting with Andrew's folks. We are going out there over Christmas week and will miss seeing them this time around. It was a nice visit with them while it lasted. I look forward to seeing family in California for Christmas. This will be Kara's first time to the beach. I already told my mom to save up the bread heals for Kara to feed the seagulls with. I also want her to splash her feet along the shore line, as a wave comes up and captures her baby feet. Hopefully she won't be scared of the water.

Three Cousins all Under One Roof

Andrew's brother has a conference to go to here in St. Louis, MO. He is here all week for the conference, so his family came along to visit us and stay at our house. Their two sons are Kara's Cousins. One is 7 months old like Kara, only one week younger than her, named Abidan. Ephram is 3 years old and is the oldest of the three cousins. For Halloween they will all be here to trick or treat. It will be both Kara and Abidan's first Halloween. My sister-in-law, Kyoung and I made their costumes. The kids are all dressing up as M&Ms. Kara being the girl is the green M&M. Ephram is the tallest and walks around to be the Yellow Peanut M&M, and Abidan is the red, boy M&M.

Some how after Kara was born I ended up with 3 cribs, which turned out good for when all three babies/toddler are staying here to each have there own bed to sleep in. We are so happy that they were able to make a visit out here. It is so fun to watch the cousins all interact. We have our hands full though...double the diapers with both Abidan and Kara. Luckily Ephram is potty trained, he is 3 yrs old and doesn't have to wear the diapers. Nap time is a challenge too with getting all three to nap the same time. Right now, the two babies are napping and Ephram is having lunch. Later on after the naps we are heading over to Walmart Super center, where there is a portrait studio. Kyoung and I are going to get the kids dressed in the M&M costumes for a group photo (to be posted later on another post).

Kara's Full Day With a Babysitter

Last weekend Andrew and I hired a babysitter to watch Kara at our house while we spent the day at our friends wedding. Andrew was the best man and I was a wedding coordinator. The wedding was held at a Winery about an hour drive away. Leaving Kara with a sitter all day from noon til 9:30 pm! It was the longest we had been apart from her.

She is 6 1/2 months now, and starting to crawl/scoot around the room. The funny thing was, the other day, she crawled from the living room all the way to the dog bowl of water! "Oh, Kara...that's icky!" I said, as I was picking her up and swiveling her around to crawl another direction. It was too funny. Then one morning I set her on the kitchen floor while I was fixing her a bottle. Duke (our dog) was laying on the floor in the doorway to the kitchen...Kara was in dertermination mode, crawling and scooting over towards Duke...ALMOST there...Duke decides to get up and walk away! Oh the disappointment I could see with Kara, rejected like that. So much effort she put into crawling over to him, about 5 minutes or so waisted! It was so cute.

Pretty soon she will be crawling quicker and reaching Duke before he can escape. Haha.

Kara's Firsts for Many

Kara had an eventful weekend. It was the first time to be on a airplane, her first wedding to attend, and her first time meeting some family and friends...and her first time visiting California, where her mommy and daddy grew up!

She did really well on the flight to California. Andrew and I packed just 3 carry on bags and did not have to check any luggage! I was amazed. On the flight, I had my usual ginger ale, and Kara had a bottle of formula durring take off and landing, to help ears pop. She had one diaper change, at first I thought, how am I going to change her? But there was a baby changing table to keep things simple. She even took a nap on the plane. People who were seated around us were very impressed how well she did on the flight...Thank you Kara!

Friday was a full day of fun. We started out driving over to Andrews old office, where his dad works and we joked that Kara would be the next PHC partner in 2039! haha

Following a Train of Thought

Kids say the darndest things...

I was at a friends house and they recently got a puppy. My friends, three year old, daughter, remembers when I was pregnant and is looking at Kara now as a baby...She understands that Kara was in my tummy and now she is a baby. She understands that she use to be a baby and was in her mommies tummy... SO... She looks at the dog, a baby dog...and asks, "Mommy, did the puppy come out of your tummy?" Giggling in response, "No. The puppy came out of a Dogs tummy." "I can only have human babies come out of my tummy..." Little girl then said, "and Martells tummy too?" "Yes, our puppy came from a mommy dog, and Kara came from Martiel"

It was so cute! I could see how this makes sence in her train of thought. Very funny.

I'm in a love/hate relationship with...

I'm in a love/hate relationship with Wal-mart. For years, I have hated the fact that this store crushes down on the local mom & pop shops and takes over small towns.

Back when Andrew and I lived in Grover Beach, CA there was a Wal-mart with a great photo processing center. I would only go there for my one hour photos...this was years ago when one hour processing wasn't all that common and was more expensive elsewhere. Plus the Wal-mart photo center only makes you pay for the photos that turned out. I would have some blurry pics or bad shots from using a Film camera (back then) and would not have to keep those shots or pay for them. Of course now, in 2009 I have a digital camera, and online photo ordering to where I can select which photos I want, and pick them up at my local, one-hour photo center at Walgreen's. I don't go to Wal-mart any longer for the photos. I was basically trying to boycott Wal-marts for the past 10 years, and only shop there on a needed basis, such as the use of the Photo center. Wal-greens is my photo center now and I no longer needed Wal-mart.

When we lived in Cincinnati, Ohio there was a "Supercenter" being built right in front of our Apartment Complex. It was such an eyesore! It was being built the entire year that we lived in Ohio. The road to our place was constantly bothered by construction hazards and blocking our main road for a while. This made me HATE Wal-mart even more. By the time the Supercenter was going to finally open, Andrew and I had moved away and over to Missouri.

So here we are living in Missouri for the past 3 years and the Wal-mart here is 24 hours open. It is yet another crappy Wal-mart to which I prefer to shop elsewhere. ONLY it was convenient being open at 12:08 at night. I would be driving home from work and I would need some more bread or something random for the next day. I fell for the 24 hour convenience and would only shop there when other places were closed... and I just need to drop in for a few items.

I still hated shopping there. Since the Wal-mart is open "24 hours" the customers who shop around midnight... it is an obstacle to shop around the staff unpacking inventory and restocking shelves. It is so annoying to shop there at the wee hours of the night. The aisles are cluttered up and easily trip happy over wood pallets and cardboard piles!


So I really do hate Wal-mart...BUT I love Wal-mart at the same time. It is a love hate relationship I have for the store. I loved it for the photo-center, I loved it for open 24 hours and I hate it for being The Wal-Mart that squashes and puts other businesses out of business. I hate Wal-mart for the unpleasant shopping experiences in the midnight hour. And I hate that their pharmacy is not 24 hours inside a 24 hour store!

MY DILEMMA: A Supercenter Wal-mart has it's grand opening TODAY here in Manchester, MO. DO I GO TO IT? I can finally see what a super Walmart is all about? and poke around... take it all in? Maybe there will be free stuff and drawings to take part in, by shopping on their grand opening day? OR! DO I BOYCOTT & NOT SHOP THE SUPERCENTER? I know I will eventually shop there, might as well be on the grand opening day? I do need some more bread...I just don't want to kill any local stores who will go out of business because of this Supercenter/ ONE STOP SHOP opening in town.

Quoted from the Wal-mart site in an artical about the local location having it's grand opening:

"Approximately 175 new positions were created as a result of the relocation. More than 75 of the store’s associates have worked for Walmart for more than 10 years, including ten associates who have worked at the store since its original opening in 1988. Community Organizations Benefit from Grand-Opening Grants As part of Walmart’s commitment to the communities in which it operates, $27,000 in grants from the Walmart Foundation will be presented during the grand-opening celebration. Eight local non-profit organizations will each receive grants to support programs that serve the community including: Mid East Area Agency on Aging, City of Manchester, Circle of Concern, St. Oouis Community College, Parkway School District, St. Louis County Canine, Manchester Shop with a Cop, American Legion Fund..."

It is a half hour till the grand opening at 8am today. Do I love it or hate it? Do I shop or not shop? Kara is sleeping, so I will wait for her to wake, then I have to also go over to the YMCA for my workout class...so maybe I will shop there on grand opening day, but just not at the 8 o'clock hour of craziness! I am not that much in love with the store to be apart of the Grand opening ceremonies. I'll think about it...and check it out later today, after my workout. Kara and I will explore the new world this after noon.

Free and Fun

Last night we brought baby Kara along with our friend, Julie to a free night of music at the History Museum. It ran about 2 hours and the band played rock n roll. Kara was literally rockin to the music. Currently at her 5 1/2 month mark she has been attempting to crawl, by lifting her torso and rocking front and back, but just not crawling. The band played the "Shout" song. "throw your hands up and SHOUT" So I would raise Kara's hands and sing along, she smiled and was having a blast. Then Julie picked her up and started dancing around with her and we each took our turn dancing and singing with Kara having a grand ol' time.

pics to post later...

Let's Talk Evelution

Dear Scientists,

Scientifically the theory is that Humans have evolved from Apes and ruling out that God created Humans. Ok. So if the Apes evolved into humans...why are there still Apes today in 2009? Why did those Apes not turn into humans?

AND! Let's just say God didn't create the humans...because of evolution...BUT who created the Apes to then become a human?

Happy Birthday to Me

I'll soon be 31 and I don't even remember being 30...it went so fast. For my birthday present to me; I had my hair highlighted (very cute), eyebrows waxed (ouch!), Pedicure (tickle torture), and Gel-fill Nails or whatever you call em.

My favorite part to a pedicure is the chair, without it the pedi would be pure tickle torture for me.
I'm doing a girls night out at the Melting Pot. It's going to be Chocolate fondue and cocktails on Saturday. I'm rounding up my gal pals to celebrate the big 31. Andrew will watch Kara that night.

People are asking me what I want for my birthday...So here is a Birthday Wish List: Sun Flowers, Ziggy Marly kids CD, Toyota Rav4, baby girl toys, gas card, Black Eyed Peas CD, babysit Kara coupon for one night out with Andrew, a cute top...Size L for lovely...

I posted the Birthday Wish list on my facebook page and some of my friends replied to it:

Julie - I told u I will babysit anytime and it doesn't have to be your b-day gift.
Kim - Rav4...who's gonna get that one? Ya better ask Andrew to buy it! :) I would babysit anytime if I lived there! Move back here (to California) and I will watch Kara!!!
Martiel - Thanks for the babysitting offers. What is the babysitting rate though? I am wishing for a COUPON to use on babysitting one night.... :)
To Julie, We will take you up on the offer to watch Kara when we decide to go to the Cheesecake Factory over by you.
To Kim, I want my next car (new or used) to be a Rav4 type car, like the Nisan Murano or ANY of those that are shaped like that. So that there is room for the baby AND the Dog. He would go in the back with the stroller.

Facebook Brings People Together.

After joining Facebook I have chatted with more old friends and new friends on a regular basis than I did with email or phone calls. This is a great medium to use to keep in touch with friends and family.

I am trying to tell my mom this, and have her join facebook. She can keep up with photos of her granddaughter Kara, and chat back and forth or keep in contact with her sister who is also on Facebook, and even get reconnected with old school friends, etc. The possibilities are endless. BUT my mom is being "stubborn" and is boycotting Facebook, based on the negative uses the news has reported about. There was the one news story of a woman and her daughter were teasing and tormenting another school girl on MySpace (website similar to Facebook) and that girl ended up killing herself. I believe that the woman went to jail for being involved in the girls suicide? But that is one side to Facebook and Myspace.

Facebook for me is not like that Myspace example at all. I am able to connect and chat with a wide range of people I know using one website. It is a great tool. Here is a sampling of my chats to others about baby Kara:

Martiel- "Kara was talking in her verbal sounds....she totally said Mmmaaa ma mom mmm... does that count? wish full thinking ;D"

New Topic:

Martiel- "Kara's little baby nostrils are too tiny to pick! has a little booger....she can't blow her nose lol how does she get the booger out? It's staring me in the face, this little baby nose and a booger!!!!
Verda - "use the blue aspirator - its shaped like a bulb on one end with a pointy tip (baby nostril size) on the other. great for vacuuming out baby boogers."
Martiel - "I forgot I even had that thing, I have two from the hospital...thanks Verda! There's so much to learn and odd little things like baby boogers...silly but I'm learning."
Mym - "the hospital bulbs are the best...put a few drops of saline (salt water) they have it pre-made for babies and let it soften the boogies and then use the bulb. if the boogie is right there but cant get it with your nail, use the tissue like you would, it will stick to the tissue like magic! good luck!"
Connie - "lol cute...I do know about the boogie sucker, they (babies) hate it but it works ...is it still there ?.....hope not...."
Martiel - I replied, "No the Booger is gone...I will def try the bulb next time though. That wont be the only booger she gets, lol. More to come...ahh the joys of motherhood!"
Connie - then said, "lol a boogie is nothing , wait til she wakes and paints her crib with poopie, and you see a bit around her mouth."

New topic:

Martiel - some how I've ended up with three diaper bags... a baby bottle in one and the formula in another...good thing all 3 bags were in the car when I was out with Kara, today.
Now we are home and settled in from running errands. I am so board, Kara is napping, Duke is at the groomers, and Daddy is at work...guess I'll take a nap too...but I'm not tired...
Shawn - Oooo I have an idea for some excitement...wake Kara up!!!! :)
Martiel - Good one Shawn.
Matrika - suggested, "Enjoy the silence while it lasts!"
Kim - Watch TV or a movie OR make a romantic dinner for Andrew. :) ...
Martiel - I am watching TV...hence the bored part! lol

New topic:

Martiel - Kara is 4 going on 5 months this Aug 23. Each new month is a beautiful experience. Right now she is blowing little bubbles and giggling, as her new talent. ;)
Sara - (her daughter) is 3 months now and growing so quickly. Time is so fast. It is amazing to see how much they change and learn in a short few months, huh?
Martiel - I know, every moment is so special. She is starting to grab everything now too. We think she is going to be left handed?

JOIN FACE BOOK MOM! Ignore the news stories and listen to your daughter. ;)

Power Outage

Amazing what vast amount of power we use. I didn't really see how much power our house was using until the power went out for just a few minutes. After it went back on, I walked around the house and unplugged items that are not used all the time. There were 4 items plugged in and waisting energy. My coffee maker topped with dust was plugged in, as well as my phone charger, blender, and paper shredder. I can plug these items in as I use them and leave them unplugged the rest of the time. As I walked through the house searching for items to unplug, I did notice I have a lot of battery operated things which is saving on power.

Go green! Unplug items in your house that rarely get used. Also buy clocks with batteries instead of the plug kind to prevent having to run around the house setting the time on 4 different clocks!

Who knew?

Office Dramma. Rummers spread like wild fires, feeding off of a little bit and grows to more complications. People never know the whole story just one side and twist up the fuzzy parts inbetween. It went a little something like this:

I think I know what you know...Tell me what you know and I'll let you know if what you know is what I know...Do you know the same thing I know? Because, no one is suppose to know, how do you know what I know? I don't know the whole thing, I just know a little, do you know more than what I know? I don't know! I can't believe it! I KNOW!

Litter Bugs!

I am driving down Manchester Road, I see the lady in the car, in front of me, with her window cracked open, just a bit. She flicks her cigarette out onto the street, without a second thought. LITTERING.

Some people do this and especially at street intersections...why is that? There are signs posted every once and a while stating that there is a fine for littering. Therefore the police have the option to pull you over and site you a ticket for littering.

What gets me about this particular lady in her car flicking a cig out onto the street is that she then takes a last sip of her soda can wiggles it in her hand and sees that it is empty...while sitting at this red light... why then did she place it in the cup holder to save and throw out later? Why not toss the soda can out onto the street as well? Oh that would be bad, she wouldn't want to LITTER! What she could have done is sipped her last sip of soda and puffed her remaining puff of the cig and toss the cig into the empty can. Placing it in the cup holder of her car, temporarily till she reached the chance of tossing BOTH into a trash can. Just throw the can on the street next time, it is the same annoying thing as flicking out a cig.

The light turns green, she drives straight through, and I turned left.

Free is always good. :)

July 16th 2009. A wonderful day, filled with free everything! Thank you to all who contributed.
First off I had to find a shop to fix my vacuum. I found the OK Vacuum shop near by, the guy fixed it for free! He replaced the rubber belt and brush roll...FREE


As I was stopped at a stop light, I peak at Kara in the back and her car seat was slanted to the left. It was no longer snugly fastened to the back seat. I had to think quickly and find a place to reinstall the car seat, to keep her safe. I was just down the street from a fire station. I dropped in to the fire house and Fireman Greg, the certified Baby Seat Installer, properly hooked in Kara's car seat...FREE


Went to target to return some baby things that I never ended up using. The customer service gal gave me store credit on a gift card, to shop with. With the gift card I bought the baby sleep wedge; to help Kara from rolling in her sleep, and the Michael Jackson CD with all the #1 songs on it....sort of free by using the gift card.

Then at Walgreens I bought two, 20 oz, cokes and got a pack of gum for...you guest it...FREE!

4 o'clock rolls around and I have to start heading into work. No traffic on the highway, and I got to work 15 minutes early. To top off my good day I went on my dinner break to the employee cafeteria and found a delicious menu to eat from. There was spinach salad, fresh fruit and vegi burgers...ALL FREE! It just added onto my day of free experiences and my luck kept on coming. Today was such a great day and mostly FREE!

Happy 3rd and 5th of July!

One of her great aunts gave her this adorable dress with matching hat. I was so glad it fit her to wear for the 4th of July. Kara was decked out in her Red, White and Blue, to her first of two BBQs that weekend.


We first went to a BBQ on Friday the 3rd with Andrews coworkers. It was at Todd and Diann's. Their house was across the river in IL. and down a little road out in the middle of corn fields. They have a big house with a nice size pool in the back where everyone was at for the BBQ. Too bad Kara wasn't just a wee bit older and she could have tried out the pool for the 1st time. There were other kids there slashing and jumping in all night long. Three boys would repeatedly jump off of the diving board, get out of the pool, and jump back in off the diving board. It was fun to watch, they were getting creative with each jump in. But it was also tiring watching them go in and out of the pool, they had so much energy!
Our friend, Jay, who works with Andrew was at the BBQ and held Kara for a while. New best friends, he was so good with holding her, a natural. Baby Kara loves her daddy, Andrew. Everyone got their turn holding her. I also brought along the baby backpack with us. This thing is so handy, to be able to have Kara strapped in and have both hands free. Usually I place her in the baby backpack facing inwards towards me. At the BBQ I tried for a change facing her out to see everyone...she is a little baby still with her head peeking out the top. It was too cute. She was able to look around at everything this way. Later on she fell asleep in the baby backpack, but not for too long, there was too much fun going on to keep her interest at the BBQ. family photo of the three of us at her first BBQ. All that yummy food and she didn't eat any of it, she hadn't started on solid foods yet, just breast feeds.

Once it got dark some of the guys set off fireworks and the load noise startled Kara only twice...the rest of the time she was mesmerized by the pretty colors up in the sky. (photo below, crying from the load startle)When we got home she slept through the WHOLE night! We wore her out. heehee. She didn't wake up until 6:30am AND she slept in her own room that night, I was so proud of her! Kara's first 4th of July on the 3rd.

The second BBQ was on Sunday the 5th of July. We went to our friend, Julies place. A smaller group of people than the 11st BBQ. My friend, Carissa gave her this cute onezie that reads, "baby's 1st fourth" I dressed Kara in that with the hat that was with the dress she had and a pair of jean shorts. She is starting to grow out of her newborn onezies and into her 0-3 month and the 3-6 month clothes. At Julie's BBQ, we ate hot dogs, fruit, Cesar salad, cupcakes... I went there knowing that Kara is 15 weeks old and babies don't really start eating solid foods until one more month or older. We brought along cut up watermelon, and I had a piece on my plate, holding Kara in my lap. I thought I would see if she would like the melon. She loved it! Sucking on the watermelon was the best stuff on earth, it was such a treat for her. I started to take it away and she got a little fussy, telling me to give it back in her baby talk. It was amazing, I put the watermelon back in front of her mouth and she latched on sucking it dry. Everyone was amazed at how much she was enjoying this piece of watermelon. She kept making slurping/sucking noises it was to cute! BIG hit with the watermelon! SHE LOVED IT! Photo below of Kara in my lap, chomping down on the watermelon. MMM good! It almost was a joke, that you have to give her watermelon if you want to hold her... with out the melon she would get fussy. Photo below is Julie with baby Kara and watermelon in hand.

I'll keep an eye on her the next couple of days for any allergic reaction she may have from it. She is sticking to the Breast milk and formula diet. Not going to introduce too much of the solids quite yet. We were just at the BBQ with her and wanted to give her a little treat to enjoy. I hope your 4th of July weekend was as eventful as ours was. We had a blast, times two!