Excited For 2013

This year has gone by so fast; I know that 2013 will be here before we know it!

I figured it was time for an update. I was going to blog on one of my days off but I just never got around to it. So I've been working my new work schedule for almost 2 weeks and I love it! It's so nice to have 3 days in a row off and work the other 4; Don't get me wrong, it is difficult at times to work 10 hours straight, the last 2 hours are the hardest, but it is so worth it. It's nice to have team meetings and things like that through out my day to break up my 10 hours, so on those days I am very appreciative :) The 10 hours, I'm sure, are made more difficult because of the no carb thing lol. (I am thinking about working towards becoming an at home agent ;))

Speaking of no carb. So when I first decided to go on this "diet" I was going to do completely no carb, but as I went along I decided that I would do more of a low carb thing. Most of my day is made up of no carb, from 5am to about 5pm I have no carbs, work makes it really easy for me to do that. At work I have a banana in the morning, for my first break I have a ton of fruit, lunch I have chicken, salmon or salad, for my second break I have an apple or pear and that's about it till I'm off work. I have lots of water throughout the day as well.

I'm doing a low carb diet over a no carb because I have some exceptions for carbs that I am eating. I do eat croutons with my salad, because I love them and can't imagine eating a salad without them, for the most part ;) I'm eating black beans and brown rice which are considered complex carbohydrates and they have a lot of protein so that's still staying on the more healthy side.

It's been a little over a week and the first week was so hard. I had a massive headache almost everyday but now I think my body is getting used to it. Also, I am not drinking soda so I'm sure that contributes to the headaches, I am by no means addicted to soda, I would drink very little when I did. It feels good to be eating well and working out. I can't wait to see some results :)

I am so excited for Halloween, Thanksgiving (not as much), and Christmas! Next week I am going to go buy the stuff to make Alexis' Boo costume. We were watching Monsters Inc last night for some inspiration :) Alexis is going to be so cute in her costume. I hope I can do a really good job. We are planning on going to a pumpkin patch at Thanksgiving Point, not this weekend but next to get some pumpkins and have a fun family outing :) For work we have several cool stuff going on this month. The one I am looking forward to the most is our "Trunk or Treat", which is at Thanksgiving point they are going to have different little areas with candy, games, and costume contest for the kids :) that is on the 30th and then on Halloween we will just be taking Alexis for a stroll around the neighborhood to look at all the other kids in their costumes and to show off hers ;) Alexis loves kids and I know she will have a blast looking at their costumes.

For Thanksgiving we plan on just spending time as a family the three of us :) It'll be nice to just have some time away to be together as a family.

For Christmas we are planning on going to San Diego and doing the Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and Sea World thing. I am really excited about that, I did get the time off work so I can't wait. I also can't wait to buy presents and decorate and bake :) Depending on how far I get on my diet I may make some exceptions for holiday baking ;)

I am really excited for next year. Derek and I are planning to buy a house, I know I blogged about this before. I wanted to just get into a new construction home and not have to worry about doing any work but Derek has convinced me about a remodel. We can get an older home for a lower price and make whatever updates we want, at least on the inside. The more I thought about it, and the more he convinced me, the more I realized that buying a new home is definitely not going to have all of the things I want so from there the choice was clear. We have been doing some research online on some older homes and it looks promising.

My big requirements are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, I know for a starter home 4 bedrooms may seem like much, but we live in Utah 4 bedrooms is not to unattainable. Plus I would like for us to have an office, if i do want to work from home and if Derek and I go back to school that is going to really come in handy. I do want to have a decent sized backyard, keeping Alexis' 2nd birthday in mind. I want a big kitchen with an open floorplan, so definitely being able to buy a home and gut it and do what we want with it, is the answer. Derek has been talking to a ton of guys that he works with that have recently purchased a home and that have experience with construction so he has guys that totally want to help him out once we buy our home so that is going to help us out a lot :) My biggest thing is our kitchen I want a gourmet style kitchen with nice appliances and all of that and doing a remodel is going to give me the freedom to pretty put together the kitchen I want. I have been pinning like crazy on Pinterest all my ideas ;) We get a corprate discount at Sears on appliances for people remodeling, building, or moving, so it'll be awesome to save money on appliances being able to use the discount.

Derek and I have been paying things down and working on getting all our debt payed off before next year so we are in a good position, though I don't imagine it will be a problem. So these next few months we are going to balance paying things down and enjoying the holidays :) I am so excited to work towards getting into our new home. Even though getting into an older home and remodeling is not ideal, it'll give us the most return on our money for when we are ready to move back to California in a couple of years.

Anyway, on to my baby girl. Alexis is such a ball of energy, she is always moving. I had to take her to her pediatrician on Tuesday to get a dose for one of her vaccinations that daycare said she needed or she wouldn't be able to continue, Utah seems to require different vaccinations than California. She was such a trooper though, she got the shot and cried for maybe a minute and then got happy staring at the murals on the wall :) She is doing amazing at daycare :) She did fall at daycare the other day and had her first "ouch" report, is what they call it lol, she just bumped her head but was ok. Alexis is looking older and older everyday especially with the new clothes that I bought her. Alexis also has a new tooth that has come in I believe it's her 13th or 14th have to check her tooth chart. She also loves when I brush her teeth, she has her little toothbrush and toothpaste and is such a big girl, letting me brush her teeth at night and in the morning.

Random: Alexis loves pickles! This makes me really excited only because Derek doesn't like pickles, so I'm so happy that Alexis will partake of them with me :)

I am trying to think of what else is new. I am finally going to get Alexis her stroller. I had originally wanted to get the Quinny Buzz 3, but they never have the color that I want :( I thought about getting a baby trend.

But I don't really like it that much. I feel like it's too big and bulky. My brother has one and he said it's really big and heavy to carry around. Plus I think the speaker thing on there is kind of weird and don't care for it. Plus apparently the Britax stroller is good for jogging as well. My good friend Amandalyn has the Britax B-Agile.

When we went shopping I got to see it in action and I like it because it's a more similar style as the Quinny, more sleek and lightweight; I found a really good deal on it as well, I'm excited to get this at the end of the month :)

I think that's all I have for now :)

Oh Fall, How I Have Missed You So!

Fall is absolutely my favorite season :) November is my favorite month and Christmas is my favorite holiday! I love the cold, the beautiful colors, and the amazing warm feeling I get when I think of the holidays.

I have already started a Christmas list for Alexis :) Last year we didn't get her a ton of stuff, but this year i am definitely making up for it, not going crazy, but definitely she is going to have some cool stuff.

I am in love with this ballerina stocking I saw today and it got me all excited so I decided to make a potential Christmas list. I love that Alexis will have all of this to look back on. I love thinking that some day she will have this blog to read [I do plan on printing this out and making a book for her in the future] and see how much Derek and I love her and want to make the holidays special for her :)

Ok so this was just a short rant on how much I love Fall.

Oh ya I got my schedule change approved. I will be working 4, 10 hour days, Wednesday-Saturday 6am-2:30pm. So excited to be able to have Alexis home with me one more day of the week and also excited to save that money since she will be in daycare one less day.

That is all :)

P.S. I have the coolest little girl ever. She is a rockstar in the making ;)

Our Week In Southern California

I started writing this last night and didn't finish because of the game last night. Before I go back to finishing this blog I must say how pissed/disappointed/frustrated so many other words I could use to describe how I feel about the Green Bay-Seattle game last night. The call was bullshit and everyone knows it. The NFL needs to take their heads out of their asses. These refs cost us the game and that is not ok. Rant over.

So...

It is so hard to come back after a week off. It was really nice for Derek and I to have a break from work, even though he was working that whole week, and it was nice for Alexis to have a break from daycare and spend all her time with us and my family and friends.

So I got off work early last Saturday so we left at around 2:30pm and got to Southern California at around 11:30pm. Alexis was asleep when we got there so we put her right to bed and stayed up for a little bit and hung out. I didn't get to see my niece very much when we first got there because she was asleep, but we got to hang out with my brothers, it was nice seeing them.

On Sunday we went to see my mom and my other brothers and they were so happy to see Alexis. Alexis was walking all over, no more crawling for her. My mom and brothers were so happy they got to see her walking. After visiting with my mom, Alex and baby came with us to my dad's shop because he was going to change our brakes and change our oil. It was so nice to get those things taken care of and really nice to see my dad again. Alexis did not like all the noise from my dad changing our brakes lol but she liked walking around the shop.

After we got done with that we went to the West Covina Westfield mall and finally got Alexis' ears pierced :) She was such a trooper, we gave her some Tylenol right before and she cried for maybe a minute and then was perfectly fine. I am so glad we went to Piercing Pagoda instead of Claire's, because I heard horror stories about them and had heard great things about Piercing Pagoda. The only thing that was not so great about her ear piercing was that we had picked out specific earrings, they were 14k white gold with little cubic zirconium and when the girl put the first earring in, they do it with a gun, it turns out the gun had the wrong earring! I was holding Alexis and the second the girl pierced her left ear she was crying and the girl asked me if I wanted her to re-pierce with the right earring. I was worried about Alexis being in more pain so I said no. She finished piercing her ears and told me that the company kept sending them the wrong earrings prepackaged in the guns and she kept apologizing; I know she felt really bad. In any other situation I would have complained and asked for my money back but all I cared about was Alexis not being in more pain and the earrings that she got actually cost more than what we paid, but I still don't really like them. They are 14k gold but they are yellow gold, which I don't really care for, and are in a butterfly shape with cubic zirconium. Alexis has to have these in for at least 6 weeks without taking them out and then I can put different ones in so it's not so bad, all that matters is that they are 14k gold to prevent any irritation. It has been really easy cleaning her ears, I do it when she's asleep in the morning and at night and even have done it when she is awake and she doesn't fight me. She also does not play with them or pull at them or anything, so it makes it that much easier. Here is my cutie with her earrings.

From Sunday afternoon till about Thursday I really did nothing lol, which really was the best part of my whole vacation. I got to sleep in and hang out and do absolutely nothing. I did go to the store with my mom and had lunch with my dad and things like that, but for the most part did nothing until Friday. Well I did spend a lot of time, as much as I could, with my little niece Harlow :) She was so precious and Alexis loved her, she was hugging on her and touching her hair. Here are some pictures.

Friday was a busy busy day. Derek and I went out and bought some baby gifts for the 3 newest baby girls in my life :) in the afternoon Amandalyn and I went baby clothes shopping so I finally got to meet little Aubrey and gave Amandalyn her gift :) I bought a ton of cute things for Alexis. She needed more clothes because she was pretty much all grown out of her clothes and needed some warmer clothes anyway. Here are some pictures of what I bought her.

I am so in love with the red coat and the brown boots. After shopping Derek, Alexis, and myself meet up with Magaly and Kathy for dinner. I missed my best friends so much so it was nice to see them again and Alexis loved spending time with them. We had fun catching up. Never a dull moment with Magaly and Kathy. Sadly I wasn't able to see Tabby, Sammy Bear or Rachel on this trip but we will be back down there for Christmas for sure, maybe for Thanksgiving.

So we were originally going to leave Sunday morning, but decided to leave Saturday in the early afternoon and cut the trip in half. The cruise control on Derek's car, for some reason has not been working for the last couple of weeks so he really needed a break. We stopped in Mesquite and stayed at the Virgin River hotel. It was nice to be able to cut the trip in half. We ate some food and hung out in the room, Alexis was walking all over, and we decided to go to the arcade and play some games an called it a night. We got Alexis some fun stuff with all the tickets we got :)

Well now that we are back from our trip I thought it would be harder to get back into the groove, but work was awesome today, especially because I got a raise :) So that was definitely something to look forward to. Also I sent a schedule change request. I currently work 8 hour days 5 days a week, usually more than that because I am always picking up extra hours. Well I really want to work 4 10 hour days so I put in a request to have Tuesdays off [I already have Sunday and Monday off] and work 10 hour days Wednesday-Saturday, so hopefully they approve it; I don't really care if it's Tuesday that I have off but it would be nice to have the 3 days off in row. I really want to be able to have Alexis home from daycare one more day of the week, right now she is going Tuesday-Friday so it would be nice to bring her down to 3 days which would save on daycare cost and would mean we get to spend more time together.

Well that is it for now, Enjoy :)

What's New?

So we have been so busy with work and sleep lol that I just realized today that I really need to blog. I was going to wait till tomorrow or Sunday but I won't be going to bed for another 20 minutes so I figured I would do it now. There is a ton I need to update on.

Work: I have been working a lot and picking up extra hours almost everyday, which is exhausting, but totally worth it. I go in at 6am and usually don't leave till 4pm. I have been thinking about putting in a schedule change request to work 4 ten hour days but there are a ton of extra hours that it would be harder to pick up hours if I was already working 10 hour days, that would probably be mentally impossible lol. Well, a workforce coordinator position opened up at work and I submitted my application. It's more towards what I want to move into like HR and all that so I have an interview for it on Monday :) I am excited and really hope I get it!

Fitness: I have started working out at the gym at work. I started working out at home on the bike, but being able to work out at the gym has been amazing. I usually pick up an hour or 2 and work out for an hour afterwards. I missed working out so I love it! I have been trying to be good with what I'm eating too :)

Alexis: My little Lexi is fabulous :) She is getting so big. She apparently is walking at daycare all the time. At home she will do it sometimes but it's like she doesn't like doing it; She can but just won't do it. She stands there and squats and stands back up but when it comes to walking she will just kneel and crawl.

Alexis had her first dentist appointment this past Wednesday! I made an appointment at My Kids Dentist, they are the cutest place ever. They are decorated with tons of kid stuff and is just super cute. The dentist was super nice. They cleaned Alexis teeth and he just talked to use about what she should and shouldn't be eating, which we already don't give her sweets or any of that. After the appointment they gave Alexis a free electric toothbrush lol which is like this Cinderella toothbrush for like 3 year olds and up; So she definitely won't be using it anytime soon. They also gave Alexis this cute little shirt, it's too big for her right now, it's cute though. This is the toothbrush Alexis is using right now :)

The toothpaste we had bought for Alexis was Fluoride free but the dentist told us we should buy some with fluoride. Alexis doesn't have to go back to see him till she's 2 1/2 so that's nice :)

At daycare, Alexis was supposed to be moved up to the next room but they put her in there one day and told us they were moving her but then they didn't. Well they told me yesterday that they will be sending us a letter letting us know that she is being moved to the next room on Tuesday :) One of the other girls is also moving up to the next room with her. They said Alexis did amazing in the other room with the older kids, so I am really excited for her. I know she'll love being outside more and will love playing with all the bigger and better toys they have in there.

Alexis is showing off her little personality more and more everyday. She does the cutest things. Sometimes when I talk, I move my hands around a lot and she will mimic me and wave her hands around. She laughs so much, like rolling giggles and I love it.

Oh ya, we bought some Piggy Paint and Alexis loves it. It came in pink and like a turquoise/teal color. Alexis wanted to try pink first, I did have to wait to paint her toenails till she went down for a nap ;) she loves it. She plays with her feet and just stares. She looks so girly with her toes painted, I love it!

Our Trip: One week from tomorrow is our trip to Southern California. I am so very excited to have 10 days off. Yay for paid time off! I will be sure to post about our trip once we get back. I probably will not be posting this next week or during our vacay :)

That is all for now :) Enjoy.

Alexis' 15 Month Appointment

Alexis had her 15 month appointment today :) She has had a cold the last couple of days, so daddy stayed home with her since I could not miss work; since I've used all of my points and vacation time to take off that week for Southern California. Alexis was feeling a lot better today so when we got to her appointment, she was a little tired but her stuffy nose was pretty much gone.

So this was Alexis' appointment with her new pediatrician. I looked at a lot of reviews and what other mommies said when looking for her new pediatrician and may I say I did a good job picking Dr. Nagle, she is amazing. I also really love the Riverton hospital, it is really nice.

So Alexis came in a little under what I expected her to weigh, which made me sad at first but after talking to her doctor I feel good about it. Alexis' height is in the 10th percentile, which I don't mind, short girls are the cutest :) Alexis' head is in the 70th percentile lol thanks to daddy ;)

So Alexis had 4 shots and she also had her hemoglobin tested to see where her iron levels are at. Alexis usually cries very little after her shots and then once she has some tylenol she is ok, well this time she cried pretty bad. The girl giving her the shots was really sweet but she kind of just stabbed her with them as quickly as possible, which I think almost made it worse :( But after some hugs from mommy and some milk she was better. Alexis' iron levels are better than they were at her 12 month appointment but her pediatrician wants to keep her on it till her 18 month visit. Also, because of where we live and there not being any fluoride in the water, Alexis also needs to start taking fluoride tablets. Alexis was taking vitamin/fluoride drops when she was 6 months or so but had stopped taking them.

Derek and I were both concerned about her weight, when they weighed her in, but Dr. Nagle echoed the thought we've been hearing since her first appointment. Alexis is always going to be petite. As long as she's growing at her curve it doesn't matter what other babies her age weigh, which makes me happy to hear. Alexis eats a ton and she's very active so it's not for lack of eating she's just always going to grow at her own pace. Dr. Nagle was very excited to hear about all the fruits and veggies that Alexis loves to eat and developmentally she is right on track :)

Alexis has her first appointment with her dentist next Wednesday! I am excited! Only I would get excited about dental appointments lol I let Dr. Nagle know we had set up an appointment for her, she said that the American Pediatrics Association recommends between 1 and 2 years old but that she usually recommends 2 but once we told her that Alexis has 10 teeth, she definitely thinks it's a great idea to get her into the dentist.

I am so glad that we found this amazing pediatrician for Alexis. I really really like her. She is funny, friendly, and super open to any questions or concerns I had, plus Alexis really liked her :) which is the most important thing.

Today is a beautiful day!

My Baby Is Getting So Big.

Alexis has her 15 month appt on Tuesday with her new doctor! I'm excited to find out where Alexis is with her weight. I'm hoping that she'll be atleast 23lbs but I think she may be closer to 21lbs. Alexis is an amazing eater but she is so active so she may just be burning off everything she eats. She will be getting some more shots this time, but I'm not worried, she is a trooper when it comes to getting shots.

On another note, Alexis got moved up from the snuggle bunnies room to the next one up! Apparently she is walking a lot at daycare and they felt she would do better in the other room because the kids go outside more and they have more appropriate toys for Alexis. Alexis loves being in the other class and loves that she gets to be outside more. That's exciting!

I have started working out and stopped drinking soda; not that I drank a lot to begin with but I wanted to stop completely once I started working out, once I get in the hang of things I may have it once in a while. I have been drinking tons of water, thanks in large part to the waterlog challenge we had at work. We got points for drinking atleast 64oz of water a day. I ordered my running shoes last week so once I get them I will be working out at the gym at work, for now I'm working out at home on the bike. I need to make an appt to get a physical done to really see where I'm at. I'm excited to get back into shape :)

Oh and I know I've said it already but I am uber excited to be going to Southern California for a whole week next month!!! Only 3 more weeks!

That is all for now.

Looking Forward To Our Trip To Southern California :)

This week has been hell and it's not even over yet. I've been working 11 hour days these last 3 days and have two more to go, tomorrow and Saturday. I am exhausted but I keep telling myself the crazy overtime will be worth it. Next week I will also be picking up some overtime, I do every week but these next two weeks I'm picking a lot more.

I guess the hours will pay off because next week I finally get to buy some new running shoes :) I finally will be able to start working out again. We have a gym at work, that's free :) and I need to take advantage of that and get back into shape! Here are the cute shoes that keep me going at work <3

I took paid time off the 18th-21st of September to go down to Southern California. Derek has to go down there for work so Alexis and I will be visiting the fam :) I have never been this excited to go home. It's probably because of all the little babies we get to spend time with! I don't work Sundays or Mondays and since I took off Tues-Friday paid, Derek wants us to leave Saturday after I get off work so we'll be down there 6 days and then I will come back and work Saturday and have 2 more days off, yay for that!

Derek will be going to some work meetings/presentation/convention things in different parts of Southern California. Alexis and I will spend time with my parents and my best friends :) We get to meet Alexis' little cousin Harlow for the first time! Also one of my best friends little girl Aubrey :)

We plan to go to the L.A. County fair while we are down there, we went while I was pregnant :) lol well I was technically about a week pregnant ;) I am excited to go! Also I get to go on a mini shopping spree; Alexis is almost outgrown all of her clothes, so we get to go shopping. I have been "window" shopping online. So far these are some of the outfits I want to get her.

There are a ton of other cute outfits I saw at Carters last time we were there so I'm excited to go shopping with Amandalyn :) We are keeping it to a mini shopping spree since we want to wait till October to go winter clothes shopping for Alexis. We bought her a new jacket today. Daycare let us know she needed a jacket, the last one she had doesn't fit her anymore and we hadn't bought her a new one since it is summer time. The jacket is pink, gray, and has some purple, it's so cute <3

I'm also excited to get Lexi her Halloween costume. I definitely want to get it in early to mid September, I remember last year we got her costume in the beginning of October and the one we wanted was gone :( I want her to be a bumble bee, Derek doesn't really care. I would also like her to be a lady bug lol so we'll see.

Well that is it for now. Enjoy ;)

P.S. Alexis has her 10th tooth coming in! It's her 2nd molar, ep!