Did you Vote Today?

Hopefully, if you live in Ohio, you voted yes on issue 3 today! Once and for all, I sure hope this state wises up and gets these stinkin' casinos here! And no, not so I can try my poker skills closer to home, but we sure could use the economic boost that they would provide!

Ok, that's really about it for my opinioin sharing on a political view - I don't normally do that sort of thing since I don't like when it's pushed on me, but this is MY blog so I have that right!

And now for a little taste of my sweet American (cutie) pie:

October Catch Up

Here goes, probably another long post since I haven't done one in a couple of weeks. We've been pretty busy and I really haven't had much time to get on the computer, especially this last week.

So, here goes:

A couple weekends ago, we went to pick out pumpkins and Hannah's Halloween costume. It was fun. It was a cold, brisk day, but sunny, so just perfect for pumpkin-picking! Hannah got the biggest one of all of us. Tony got the next biggest one and mine was sort of tall and skinny (needed a little skinny since I'm feeling pretty pregnant already!) and we got the baby a small one.

Then we headed to the party store for a costume. There was a whole wall of costumes to choose from and Hannah says, "I want to be a princess". I told her no, she had to pick something different. Number one, we have a trunk full of princess dress-up clothes already so I wasn't into buying yet one more. She then tried all of the Disney princesses - no, try again. I kept trying to persuade her to choose something warm - like the cute kitty or the lady bug, but she wasn't interested in those. She finally chose an angel. We were sold and got away with only spending $13!! That's my girl! It wasn't the greatest costume, but I'm glad she chose that one since it's fairly appropriate for her!!! She loved it - it spins, which is always a plus!!

Two weeks ago, Tony got a stomach flu on Sunday and wasn't feeling back to normal until about Wednesday. I followed behind him with lysol and clorox wipes to keep whatever he had away from the rest of the house. So far, we've all been pretty healthy. I still keep going back and forth on what the heck to do about the H1N1 vaccine....I just don't know if I should believe it's really OK on the baby, but then Tony's not real thrilled with taking the chance of getting the virus and being really sick. All I know is we're washing our hands so much our knuckles are dry and cracking! I've mastered the sneeze into the elbow and I wipe everything at work and home down with clorox wipes.

We had a great spell of warm weather. We took a nice long walk a couple Wednesday's ago after dinner intstead of going to story time. Hannah loved it because she got to walk with a flashlight - she's in awe of them!!!

Last weekend, we went hung around the house most of the day Saturday. I ended up going into my craft/sewing room and was so frustrated with the mess and clutter that I did an entire overhaul! I cleaned and pitched and then found a place for everything and everything in it's place - I love that!!!!! I even hung stuff up on the walls for the first time in 5-1/2 years. It feels so much more like my personal space and I love it! I now have my workspace back without the clutter so now I just need some time and energy to start working on some new projects again. Thee first will be Hannah's curtains for her new room. I have the fabric, I just need to make them. I also bought woodend letters for her name to hang in her room, which I need to paint. Here is my new and improved room!!

Then we went to dinner and after that Tony and Hannah built a fort to watch a movie together and eat popcorn! She thought that was great! I think Tony ended up falling asleep and Hannah stayed up extra late playing in the fort!

Last Sunday, I did some running around to like 12 different stores to get all sorts of stuff. I've started Christmas shopping and then just needed this and that for the house. I have realized that I'm really getting pregnant and running around town shopping for 4 hours is getting difficult. I also realized that I really need to work on completing my Christmas list now so that I'm not stuck trying to do it in November and December being that much more pregnant. After dinner, we carved our pumpkins. Hannah thought it was a great idea and so much fun until we told her to clean out the inside of the pumpkin. Miss Priss didn't want to get dirty or touch the orange stuff!!! She eventually braved up a little and got the job done, but it took a lot of convincing! We all had fun. This was the first year we all got pumpkins and carved them! I sort of wondered if painting them would have been more up her alley? Maybe, but they're sure more fun to look at all lit up on the front porch!

In not-so-good news around our house, we have mice! A few weeks ago, I thought I saw a few droppings in our basement utility sink. Then a couple of days after that, there were a lot of droppings and the critters had participated in a FEAST of our bar of soap on the sink. So off I went to get a trap - the don't kill them kind per Tony's request. We set the trap and after a few days, we got one! It was a really small one, but we got one! Well, one turned into five by mid-week last week. The good news is I've only seen evidence of them in our basement by the utility sink, but I have no clue where they're hanging out or how they got in. So I went to get a second trap this past week and we got one more - in the old, dirty trap on Thursday. Nothing since then, however, I saw one by the soap on the sink late Friday night. I sure hope the not killing them and releasing them back into the front yard isn't just allowing them to come right back in! I figured if we get up to like 10, it's time for the decon - no more Mr. Nice Guy stuff!!! I guess I'm not super freaked since they are seeming to stay in the basement, however, I don't share my dwellings well with anyone other than my family, so I'd really like them to be gone! I also really wish I knew where they were hanging out - darn critters! And who knew they liked dial bar soap so much???

So this past week was super busy! Monday night was gymnastics. Everyone must have been sick because it was just Hannah and one other little kid in her class. Tuesday, I was on some crazy kick at work and cleaned my office up and down - threw stuff away and made it look so much more organized. Everyone thought I must be nesting or something already! I got home that night and made dinner and then Hannah and I made some cookies. I gave her a bath and then we decorated the cookies. I did a little house cleaning too by the time Tony got home from work just after 9, so something goofy had gotten into me!!

I took a few 23-1/2 week pregnant pictures that night. I'm getting so big! Much faster than the first time around. My weight gain is still not as bad, but I feel SO pregnant already. I feel bad complaining, but this time around hasn't been so easy. I had awful side ligament pain this week and now the pressure of this baby sitting on my innards is really uncomfortable! It's getting harder to sleep comfortably and move around. This past weekend, I got this shooting pain down the inside of my leg when I walked, like it was pressing against a nerve or something - not so much fun. I'm walking very, very gently these past couple of days because it hurts to try to do it normally. I sure hope the holidays over these next couple of months help to make this time go fast! Anyway, here are some (crooked) pics of my big ol' belly!

Wednesday, we had story time after dinner. Thursday, I had book club. I didn't even buy the book this month!!! OOPS! I meant to, but about 2 or 3 weeks went by so fast and then I just figured there was no way I'd get it read in time, so I just opted out. But dinner with the girls was good!!!

Yesterday, we went to Jerry & Shelly's for Maci's 5th birthday party! I cannot believe she turned five this week! Wow, it's gone fast! They just had a kid party and it was fun. The kids were dressed up and played a few games and ate and had cake and opened presents.

We got home and took naps and woke up just in time to get ready for trick or treat. We hung out with our neighbors like we do every year. Tony and Aaron took the girls trick or treating and Laura and I passed out candy. It was a good year. I bought just about the right amount of candy and Hannah had a blast going door to door. They went down 3 of the streets in our neighborhood and were gone about an hour and a half. They had so much fun and came home with lots of candy, so it was a good thing I got rid of most of what I bought!

We hung out at Laura & Aaron's all night and finally came home around 1:00 = Hannah was still going strong! Well, with the clocks turning back, it was around midnight, but still, it was really late! Hannah went right to bed! We all got up fairly early with the time change for being up so late, but everyone seemed rested. We went to breakfast and then grocery shopping. Right now, the Browns are losing again - what's wrong with them?!? How pathetic! Hannah's napping and I bet Tony keeps nodding off! I should be napping, but this baby is moving like crazy and I even think I felt my first offical contraction! I remember last time thinking that was just Hannah pushing out on me, but now I know what it really is! I'm getting excited to meet this little person!!!! Nice to know I've got just over one trimester left!!!!

Fall Fun and a REALLY Long Dinner

My sister was in town last weekend. She came up to go to the Buckeye's game on Saturday with my dad. Since she was in town, we got together on Sunday.

We went to lunch first and then headed out to Patterson's Farm for their fall festival. Tony and I took Hannah there last year. It's so much fun - tons of stuff to do and definitely worth the trip. It was a bit cold for the day- I think it maybe hit 49, but the sun kept trying to peek out, but at least no rain.

Hannah loved the straw barn and the slides.

Aunt Susan went with her at first, but then Hannah kindly advised everyone that "she didn't need our help".

She practiced her gymnastics skills on a beam walk

She got to take a pony ride

and then we all went through the corn maze.

She ended the day in the straw barn with straw all tucked into her hair and braids that I couldn't get it all out!

I thought for sure she'd be out as soon as we got the car, but she was too busy playing with Aunt Susan's camera, however, as soon as I dropped them all off at their car, it took all of about 2 minutes for the eyes to shut and for Hannah to catch a quick nap on the rest of the way home.

I went home and made dinner. I was so sad to see that Tony's fall yard cleanup made it official that summer is over - he put all of our deck furniture away....SO SAD!!! I had to comb out Hannah's hair before her bath to get the rest of the straw out and she was in bed by 8:15.

We had gymnastics Monday night and Tuesday, Tony worked late so it was just Hannah and I for dinner. She wanted to have school time at home after dinner, so we sat down together to do some pages in the new workbooks I got her. She loves learning and we're working on phonics now to prep her for reading.

Last night was supposed to be story time night at the library. We didn't make it....here's why. I made pot roast in the crock pot for dinner. During the day, Tony and I were emailing back and forth and we decided that we should start making Hannah eat the dinners I make and not make her a separate meal if it's something that she won't eat. I don't do that a lot, but I've done that pretty much when I make meat meals - other than ground beef. She's a terrible meat eater, she just chews and chews. We decided that she'd better start getting used to eating the ONE dinner I make. So on the way home, she asked what was for dinner. I told her pot roast and then she asked what was she going to have. (she's on to us) I told her pot roast. Then she asked "what did that look like?" see, she has this thing - that I swear I didn't teach her - but if it looks like she won't like it, she doesn't want to try it. We have a rule that she's not allowed to say she doesn't like something until she's tried it first. It's sometimes a battle, but we stick to that rule. So anyway, we got home and the house smelled great from that cooking all day, but not to Hannah! We sat down around 6:00 and she took one look at it and it was all downhill from there! She didn't want to say grace that night, I had to. She ate her applesauce first and then she took a bite of a potato. It took her between 10-15 minutes to swallow that first bite. Then a bite of a carrot. Another 10-15 minutes later, she finally got that down. Now mind you, she's gagged and cried and has tears and snot all over the place and we realize, this wasn't going well. But we stuck to it and made her keep eating as we ate. Then she took a bite of the meat. She just chewed and chewed - for like another 15 minutes (and more tears and snot). We were finished eating by 6:45 and she had eaten like 3 bites. We got up and cleaned up the kitchen and told her that she had to stay there until she finished eating. She asked for bread and for cheese, but I told her if she can't swallow her food anymore then she wouldn't be able to swallow bread or cheese, so she didn't get any. By 7:00, I went to change my clothes for the night since story time starts at 7 and we obviously weren't going. We sat back down with her to try to help her count her chews and get her to swallow. She'd swallow, but not the food - that stayed tucked in her cheeks. Tony was getting grossed out and we all were a bit frustrated. I felt bad for her, but we had to make the point. She finally got the "five bites to go" and by around 7:30 she had her last bite in her mouth of meat and she said she had to go potty. I told her that if she didn't get it swallowed while she went potty, she'd have to come back to the table to finish. Luckily, she got it down and we were finally done with dinner. I told her how proud I was of her to finish eating and we all then agreed it wasn't so bad after all. The rest of the night was fine - not scarred!!!

So then the topper to this whole story was that Tony dropped her off at daycare this morning and told Val the story. She thought it was funny because guess what they had for lunch yesterday? BEEF STEW!!! And she said Hannah ate all of it and was actually the first one finished. Now seriously, dinty-moore beef stew is pretty similar to pot roast (although I'm sure mine tasted better!). I talked to Val again tonight about it and they said that they have to make Hannah eat the part she doesn't like best first - the meat and then she's usually fine. I guess this is just our new habit to break with her and get over this phase. I'm sure we'll get there!

The Angel (on my shoulder)

So Hannah's been like my little conscious the past few days. So far, now, she's caught me doing things that haven't been "wrong", but to her, I should have made a different decision - and she's probably right! She has no problem telling me so too, and I suppose that's just fine.

Monday night, I was running late to pick her up after work. We have gymnastics at 6:00 and I had agreed to stop and pick Tony up on our way, so I was running about 10 minutes late. Anyway, after I picked her up from daycare, we were going down the one street out of our babysitter's development and I sort of "rolled a stop sign" really, not thinking a thing of it until:

Hannah: "Mommy, you didn't stop at that stop sign"

Me: (stuttering because she was right) "Well, I slowed down, but you're right, I didn't stop all the way. I'm sorry."

Hannah: "That's OK, Mommy. That's OK"

Just about 500 feet ahead, there's another stop sign and I made "a complete stop"

Hannah: (sounding so proud) "That's better Mommy. You did it right this time!"

Me: "Oh, good! Thank you for noticing" (laughing!!!)

And then this morning, as she was going potty, I started brushing my teeth. I turned on the water to wet my brush and then was squeezing the toothpaste on my brush when:

Hannah: "Mommy, you're not saving the Earth"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Hannah: "You need to shut off the water when you brush your teeth. If you let it run, you will ruin the Earth. You have to save the water to save the Earth, Mommy."

Me: (turning off the water) "Thank you for telling me, I'm sorry"

Hannah: "That's OK, Mommy. That's OK. Just remember to shut it off when you're not using it"

I'm so glad that I work hard to set a good example for her because it's clearly obvious, SHE'S WATCHING!!!

Here's a latest picture of my dear little angel

Big Sister

Hannah's going to be such a great Big Sister! Not only does she talk about taking care of her baby when it comes, but she also loves this sibling already!!!

She asked me if she could hug the baby last week and then gave by belly the sweetest kiss. I had Tony get the camera and had her do it again.

She's going to be such a good helper too! She's been starting to help more around the house - with laundry and now she helps set the table. I just know she's going to be so much help when the baby comes!