Together

The other day as I was blog hopping, I came upon this quote:  "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all."  Pretty cliche, right?  Yeah, that was my first thought too, but it stuck in my head.  And the more I thought about it, the more I realized how true it was.  We have a beautiful daughter who is the light of our lives, a warm home that is getting lovelier by the day and a supportive extended family & friends network.  That's quite alot in my book!  We definitely have it "all."  Remind me of this over the next couple of years, will you?  

As most of our readers know, we've had some tough stuff to deal with since the early days of our marriage and it definitely took it's toll.  These last few months Doug and I have really worked on some things and we are in a much better place these days.  That doesn't mean that things are going to get any easier anytime soon.  Quite the contrary.  In a couple of months, Doug's unemployment will run out.  We've been so blessed to have it all this time, but we knew it wouldn't last forever.  We still want to Doug to complete his degree though.  So our belts will get a little tighter, we'll eat more dinners at home, and a thousand other little changes to keep us afloat during these next couple years.  Doug will also have to get a part-time job during this time.  It's going to be hard, we know this, but we have a plan in place and hopefully it will be a successful one.  That's kind of why we've been scrambling to get projects done lately.  Like Doug said, if we have to sit at home the next couple of years, we need to have some nice things to look at.

Speaking of Doug, he just got up and started talking to me and now I can't remember what I was going to say anymore...

Christmas Highlights

2009 was the Christmas it snowed and snowed and snowed!  2010 was the Christmas we went everywhere!  We started our Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve with a visit to Doug's brother's house.  We had some snacks, the kids opened a few gifts and we visited and checked out my brother-in-law's new home.  Very nice time, except that we had to be there right about naptime.  This was no big deal last Christmas.  Katie napped anywhere.  Not so much these days.  She fell asleep in the car on the way there, but of course was wide awake when we got her out of the car.  Just a little 5 minute power nap.  Then she proceeded to not get more than 6 inches away from me for the first 30 minutes or so.  After that she was fine.  She happily explored this new place and found all the cool toys!  Thankfully, we were able to extract Breanne's stuffed leopard from her without too many tears.

After our visit, we decided a nice little drive around would be good before heading to Christmas Eve services at church.  Our plan worked, Katie fell asleep right away and got in a good 30 minute nap.  We felt pretty good about that and headed into church with a happy girl.  She made it through the first song or two and then the wiggling began!  This wasn't so bad, but she's getting pretty strong these days and I was having a hard time trying to keep her still.  Passing her off to Daddy wasn't an option, because that just made her mad and then she got loud.  Fortunately, there were some very nice ladies sitting behind us making faces and engaging her.  Still though, when she started the head butting, we decided it was time to leave (it hurt!)

We probably should have went home with our cranky and tired girl at that point, but we still had to go out to my Grandpa's for more Christmas celebrations.  Katie had a good time playing with her cousin Kirsten, as always and was generally in a pretty good mood.  Still, we knew she wasn't going to make it much longer, so we kept our visit short.  We still had to get Katie in bed and get ready for Santa!

Christmas morning was of course the morning that Katie slept in, not that we're complaining.  Doug & I were up around 7 or so, but Katie didn't stir until 7:30.  We were pretty excited to get her up so she could see what Santa brought her...

She was pretty excited when she saw it, she even said "ooh..."

Santa also filled Katie's stocking with some fun toys, books & bubble bath.  From Mommy & Daddy she got some new clothes, jammies and a book.  She loved that as well.

About halfway through opening up her gifts, she threw her hands up in the air and proclaimed "all done!" and walked away.  It took quite a bit convincing to get her to come back in and Mommy ended up opening the rest of her presents for her.  Doug and I had a nice Christmas as well.  Doug & Katie gave me some perfume that I'd been wanting and Katie & I gave Doug a magnetic drill bit thing-y for his drill that he'd needed. 

After we finished up our gifts we got ready to go and went to my parents' house.  There were many more presents to open there and once again, just not enough time.  But, it was still nice and Katie left there with quite the stash of toys and a new toy box (thank goodness!)  This was one of her favorites!

Doug & I weren't left out there either!  Doug got a new winter coat that and I got some new cartridges for my Cricut, among other things.  Santa just forgot to send the gift certificates for extra time to use them!  :) 

Our visit at Mom & Dad's was just the start of the day.  We had a really yummy Christmas dinner at my Grandma's...smoked turkey...yum!  Katie played with more of her cousins.  They had a blast playing "Ring Around the Rosie," Katie loved "all fall down!"  She was definitely wearing out though.  She had a bit of a meltdown while we were there (who can blame her, poor girl had been going nonstop for 2 days!) so we decided it was time to make a quick visit to Doug's grandma before getting our cranky girl home for the evening.

We had a nice visit there, and were pleasantly surprised to see Aunt Patty & Uncle Steve and Doug's mom met us there.  Katie played and was generally adorable and we were sent home with a plate of cookies and some Christmas money.  :)

Needless to say, Katie slept great last night.  We spent the entire day at home and she has had a great time playing with her new toys.   I think I've finally gotten everything put away!  We still have one more Christmas celebration on Tuesday night at our house with Doug's family.  Wednesday the tree will be taken down and Christmas will be over for another year.  We hope everyone's Christmas was as lovely as ours.  Goodnight!

Finally a Moment to Post

Well, I went from posting daily in November back to barely posting at all.  Oh well.  We've just been way too busy these last couple of weeks, getting ready for the holidays and Doug preparing for finals.  There has barely been a moment to clean the house much less post to our blog.  But, finals are over now and so is most of the holiday prep.  Just in time too, I'm looking forward to spending some time with my family over these next couple weeks. 

Today Katie & I went to make our traditional Christmas candy with my mom & sister.  It was so much fun!  Yummy, too!  Then we took Katie to see Santa at the mall (seriously $12 for 2 wallets is pretty ridiculous, but this picture was so cute I kind of wish I'd bought more!)

Maybe tonight we'll watch a Christmas movie.  I checked out Christmas Vacation from the library this week and we've got pizza for dinner.  Sounds like a relaxing night for the Snider's.  Hope yours is too!

Trimming the Tree or How Not to Decorate a Tree with a 1 Year Old

I don't know about all you other working moms out there, but I feel compelled to do everything with Katie.  I want to cook with her, craft with her, shop with her, etc.  I don't want her to miss one single experience.  She handles it fairly well, and it's usually Momma that ends up tired and cranky at the end of it.  Such was the case last night when I pushed us to get the tree decorated.  Keep in mind we'd been at a family get together for most of the afternoon, Doug had a cold, and Katie didn't take an afternoon nap.

I started off by changing into my Christmas jammies and giving Katie hers to open.  I want to start a tradition that Mrs. Claus leaves her Christmas jammies (all wrapped up in special packaging) right after Thanksgiving so she has the whole month to wear them.  Yeah that didn't work so well.  Maybe in a year or two when she might understand the whole Santa/presents thing.

After we were in our jammies and had our eggnog we started opening the boxes.  In past years Doug would lay out ornaments and I would find the perfect place on the tree.  We typically don't have a big tree/many ornaments so it took us maybe 20 minutes to do all of this if the tree was already set up.  I think it took us an hour last night!  Katie loved going through the ornaments and she handled everything very delicately.

Then it was time to hang the first ornament, and we thought we'd have Katie do it.  I pulled out her first Christmas ornament, went over to the tree with her and helped her carefully hang it on a low branch.  We stepped back and she reached out to it and snatched it back off the tree.  That was apparently not the right spot.  We tried again with the same results.  Finally I took the ornament and hung it up where she couldn't reach it.  We tried letting her hang one again with Doug, but we had similar results.  Again, maybe this will go better next year.

The rest of trimming went about the same way.  Katie pulling off the ornaments as fast as we could put them on and us putting them up higher and higher.  We had a good time though.

As you can see, it all worked out in the end.  A beautiful Christmas tree for our beautiful daughter.

Thankful

I try to be thankful every day, but today especially I want to remember to share my thanks.  Right now, it's all about the little things.  Good cold medicine, soft tissues and Doug & Katie letting me get the rest I needed the last few days. 

I'm thankful for my family.  My beautiful daughter who loves to dance and laugh and play.  She makes me smile.  My helpful husband who stayed up with me last night making food for today.  He also mopped the kitchen & bathroom floors and helped me with dishes & laundry yesterday.  It was so nice getting up this morning and knowing that we just have to get ourselves ready and nothing else.  Thank you Doug, for talking me into staying up last night.  Thanks to my mom & dad for organizing and preparing the better part of 2 family dinners this week.  My brother & sister for being a loving uncle & aunt to Katie.  My in-laws for hosting a low-key movie night for us to wind down with tonight.  And I'm thankful for all the rest of our family and friends.  We love you all and wish you the best on this Thanksgiving day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

More Summer Fun!

Katie is having the most fun already this summer!  Too bad, she probably won't remember it.  Oh well, it's a good thing Momma likes to take pictures.  :)  Last Sunday we headed to the Royals game.  It was a perfect day for a ballgame.  They played the Detroit Tigers (which Daddy had never seen in all his game attending years) and they won, 7-2!!!  Like I said, great game!  Katie got a certificate for attending her first game and made it all the way through 4 innings before getting restless, so we strapped her in the stroller and made laps around the stadium with LaLa & PaPa.  It was also Build a Polar Bear giveaway day in honor of the new polar bears at the KC Zoo.  We can't wait to go see them this summer!

Water Baby

I took Katie swimming yesterday at LaLa's & PaPa's (my parents) and she loved it!

Happy Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day might not have been everything I dreamed it would be...no breakfast in bed or anything like that.  It was still a lovely day though.  Katie made a cute picture of her handprints for me at her babysitter's and we made handprint bouquets for Katie's grandmas that turned out so cute!  Just being with Katie today made me so happy.  Who needs breakfast in bed when you've got something this adorable in your life!
  

The Very Hungry Katie

Last night at dinner, Katie ate 1 jar of baby food, several of her baby snacks, 2 small french fries and some shredded cheese...and she was still hungry!  :)  I told you she was a good eater.

Update:  This morning she ate biscuits and gravy.  I'm not sure there is anything this girl won't eat!

Livin' the Frugal Life

Lately, I've been thinking about ways for my family to save money, for several reasons.  The first one being that at some point, Doug's unemployment is going to run out and since he's now getting his tuition & other school expenses paid for by VocRehab, we'd really like for him to finish school.  Another reason is my uncertain job future.  The third reason is when Doug finishes school and finds a job, we'd like to add a new member to our family and I'd like to able to stay home with the kids.  Although, more likely, I'll work part-time. 

So I'm reading this book and am finding some useful tips.  I discovered the author also has a blog, that I'll have to look at as well.  Still, this is not the be all/end all book of frugality for me.  There's got to be a happy medium between giving up our Starbucks habit (which we don't even have) and making our own soap!  Just so you know, we've cut way back on going out to eat (but probably still do it far too often) and plan to get rid of cable in June when our special promotion is up.  We also already use the library.  :)  If your family has a particularly good money saving tip, leave us a comment!

She's Here!!

Kathryn Clare was born August 3, 2009 at 2:55 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20.5 inches tall. Fortunately, Miss Katie decided she was ready to come out on her own terms and we did not have to induced. The delivery itself went quickly and Katie and Mommy did just great! Mommy & Daddy could not be happier with our new little princess!

31 Days...

My Grandma & Me (31w5d) 6/7/09 at my baby shower.

...until my due date. Wow! Time is flying by! We've been putting the finishing touches on the nursery. It's almost done, just waiting on a few things that have been ordered to arrive. It's really looking cute.

Doug & I attended a one day all inclusive childbirth class in early June. Best money we ever spent! We came away feeling so calm and confident about everything that's coming our way. I hope we can maintain this feeling during the actual birth.

I had my baby shower the day after the class, which was awesome! Mom & Sarah did an excellent job. And the best part were the adorable scrapbook pages everyone made. It will be so fun to actually show Katie who came to celebrate her impending arrival! Everyone was so generous too. We got so much stuff that Doug probably should have brought the truck when he came to pick me up! As it was, we had stuff crammed into every available inch of my car, even my lap. :) We never thought we'd get it all in the nursery, but so far, we've managed to find a place for just about everything!

We're getting caught up on the baby laundry. My mom came and helped one night, and we did 3 loads. You'd think as tiny as baby things are 3 loads would just about do it, but that was really just some clothes, blankets, & sheets. I've done at least 3 more since then and I still have a couple more blankets and another whole load of clothes to do. I'm debating on whether to wash the clothes in the next size up. Opinions?

I had the last of my 2 week/first of my weekly appointments yesterday. I had all the regular checks (I gained 3 pounds in 2 weeks...oops!), my blood pressure was "excellent" and Katie's heart rate is staying consistent at 148-150. Then I had the Group B Strep test and she did an internal exam to check me for dilation and whatnot. Not much to tell. My cervix is softening (sorry, that maybe is TMI), but that's about it. Her head has not made it's way down to my pelvis just yet, but she's staying head down. At this point, we don't want her to turn, because she may not have enough room to get back in the head down position. We talked about how the way her movements are starting to feel different. Dr. V said that at this point, since there isn't as much room, she's doing more rolling and wiggling and less kicks and punches. I can see her roll across my belly and it totally fascinates me. Sometimes I just lift up my shirt and watch my belly. I think it kind of creeps Doug out! He said last night he came to bed and put his hand on my belly and she rolled across it and it was just too weird for him. :) Also, I haven't had any contractions, that I know of. My back's been a little achey, but carrying all that extra weight in the front probably does not help that.

I think that's it. Sorry for the lack of updates! I'll try to stay on top of them better in the next few weeks!

Making Progress

Doug spent alot of time working on the nursery this weekend. In the first picture he's putting together the shelving unit we got for her room. It turned out great, as you'll see further down.

He also set up the crib, with a little help from his sister-in-law, Becky. Becky & Eric were kind enough to pass down this crib to us. It used to be their oldest son's, but since he's almost 5 now, he doesn't have much use for it anymore! I'm not so sure how thrilled he is about having his new cousin sleep in it though. He's not too crazy about having a girl for a cousin. :) Anyhow, after they put it together I got to have my own little bit of fun. I put up the bumper and the mobile (that I picked up at a garage sale for $10!), just to get an idea of how it would all look. And Saturday morning when we were at Sam's Club, after showing Doug the adorable rug, he ran back and got it for me just as we were leaving. Mom & I picked it out a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't so sure that was what I was wanting. But, I'm so glad I got it. It looks so cute with the bedding and the price was excellent. It fits perfectly in front of her crib. And you really can't see it in the picture, but the wall next to her crib is where the quilt is going to hang. And I want to get this to put above her crib. I love that it is vinyl and so totally removable, not to mention that there will be nothing heavy hanging over her. So many cute things to do! :)

We also decided for the sake of utilizing as much space as possible, to remove the closet doors. I promise it won't look nearly this messy in the future, but it seemed like a good spot to put the bookcase and it doesn't look half bad, minus the fact that we didn't get the top of the closet painted! Oh well, there's still time for that. Or maybe I'll just some cute baskets to put up there. :) Once we get the dresser, alot of the stuff on the shelves will be put away and we'll use it for what it was really intended for, books! :) Doesn't it look cute though? Doug still plans to attach it to the wall though, so there'll be no chance of Katie pulling it down or anything like that when she starts climbing.

New window treatment, I had a yellow sheer up there, but it wasn't quite the right shade, it was a little muddy. This white really brightens things up and the light that filters through is cleaner. The changing table (also a garage sale find) is actually on its way to get a paint job. You may have noticed it is a little darker than the finish on the rest of the furniture, so my mom has agreed to paint it for us. But for now, it's doing it's job holding diapers and other assorted items.

That's what we've got for now. We still need to find a chair and get the dresser and then we'll be just about set. Not bad with 9 weeks to go!

It's Been Awhile...

I didn't mean to go this long without posting. We've had some sad times these last few weeks and I just really haven't felt much like blogging. We lost Doug's dad to cancer on January 19, 2009. It was hard letting him go, but we know he's in a better place now and no longer suffering.

So onto the happy part. Everything is still going well with my pregnancy. The weeks are starting to fly by. I'm already 15 weeks and 2 days! I wish I had a picture for you to see my growing belly, but life has been so crazy lately that taking a picture of my belly has been the furthest thing from my mind. My most recent appointment was a week ago. They just weighed me and listened to the heartbeat. Still going strong at 158 bpm. Now old wives' tales say that a fast heart rate like that means we're having a girl, but we're not convinced. According to Doug's mom, Doug also had a fast heart rate in the 150-160 range. So we'll see. They also scheduled the ultrasound at this appointment. So on February 26, we'll get to see what's going on in there. Hopefully the baby will cooperate and show us "the goods." Otherwise, we'll just keep on calling it "Peanut." :)

Sorry, NaBloPoMo!

I missed a day, actually 2. So I won't actually get to complete NaBloPoMo this year. Darn. Actually, I'm not that sad. I think my posts have been pretty boring this month.

Why'd I miss those two days? Well, Tuesday I was going to post before work, during work, and after work, but something always prevented me. Not enough time before, really shouldn't do that at work and then after work I didn't get home until late and then went straight to bed. Yesterday I didn't post because I didn't post Tuesday and knew I'd already messed it up.

So here I am today, posting. It's Thanksgiving today and even though this month has had it's ups and downs, we still have much to be thankful for. In no particular order.

• Doug's dad came home on Tuesday and we'll get to spend Thanksgiving with him after all.
• Lots of family and friends to spend the holiday with. Doug went out last night after work and caught up with Aaron & Ronnie and we may have visits with other friends and out of town family this weekend, we hope.
• Our 2 crazy kitties. They may be pains sometimes, but we love them! They keep us entertained and make us smile.
• Doug's very understanding job during this difficult time with his dad.
• My very understanding job.
• Our siblings, this year we've come to realize how important those relationships truly are.
• Our parents, who love us and care for us and want to help us.
• Doug's new lawn mower, which he won't use until Spring, but we're thankful to have one that will now run all the time.
• A warm home, this time last year we'd just gotten our furnace replaced and I'm still thankful that my uncle and aunt did that for us (they also did the air conditioner over the summer!)
• Good food to eat. I'm learning that to become a better cook, I actually have to cook more often. :)
• Good books to read and movies & TV to watch. It sounds silly, but sometimes you just need that little distraction from all the rest of the crazy world.
• Speaking of crazy world, our troops who are fighting for our freedom and protecting our country and their families who have to celebrate Thanksgiving without them.
• A change in our government, whether you voted for him or not, at least it's something different and something new to look forward to.
• My husband's miserly ways...:) No really, it's a good thing!
• Cozy new mattresses.
• Warm blankets.
• Phone calls and visits with my girlfriends.
• Sweet baby, Hazel.
• Our niece & nephews.
• The 3 dinners we get to attend today! I'm very thankful for this, even if I will be complaining about how much food I ate by then end of the day.
• So many other things that I can't even begin to mention!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not Much to Say

I guess I said it all yesterday. Man, that was a long post!

We're going to see Doug's dad tomorrow. I wish I had more information, but I just don't. Please just continue to pray for him.

Wacky Wednesday

Apparently having the library closed on a Tuesday does weird things to people. For one thing, it makes them very impatient. Seriously, if I had to hear one more time "Well, did you enjoy your day off??" or "I came yesterday, but you were closed..." I was going to scream! Oh yeah, it was lots of fun. I took the cats to the vet and did laundry. Woohoo! And another thing, if my back is turned to you, please don't stand behind me and think I can see you and know that you wanted to print or your password expired. Please, come around to the front of the desk and ask me politely and I will be happy to resolve your issues. Also, if I'm on the phone when you walk in, don't drum your fingers on the desk or grunt at me indicating that you would like to use the computer. I'm on the phone, with another patron, who I happened to be helping before you walked in the door. When I am finished I will turn to you with a smile and happily give you your password, even though I'd like to throw it at you! Oh, and the hormonal teenagers in the afternoon were pretty much the last straw!

Most days I really enjoy my job. I love working with the kids and helping people find a great new book to read, but there are some days...*sigh* Notice that most of my issues come from the internet/computer portion of my job. Yeah, that's not a coincidence. Computers are frustrating for everyone at some point or another. It just sucks that I am dealing with those frustrations pretty much daily. It certainly can make for some long days and let me just reitterate that this is not a daily occurance. Most days I'm happy to help and these slight annoyances don't bother me so much. But when you have, I don't know, 50 annoyances in one day, they don't seem so slight anymore. *UGGHHH!!!*

Alright, alright. I'm done and I feel better. Thanks for letting me get this out.

I'm meeting Angela and Desire in a little bit. We're going shopping for road trip snacks! :)

Doug went to the hospital this morning to see his dad before the biopsy. He said he looked and seemed like he was feeling a lot better, so that's good. Hopefully we'll get the biopsy results soon.

Slightly More Motivated

We took the kitties to the vet this morning. They weren't sick, just needed their vaccinations and a check up. Both are in good health, although Tess is about 2 pounds over-weight. Since we feed them from one dish and separate dishes just wouldn't work, we're probably going to have to exercise her more. She used to really love chasing the laser light, but the battery died and we haven't gotten around to replacing it. Surprisingly, Tess has already gotten over being in the carrier and seeing the vet (even though she bit me this morning), but BJ is still hiding. Oh well, he'll come out when he's ready.

Other than that, I haven't done much else today. I made chicken & biscuits for lunch, but I really need to get the house picked up. And it probably wouldn't hurt to start packing. Angela, Desire & I are leaving Friday morning at 7 and driving to Madison, WI to visit Carmen, Josh, & Hazel.

Doug's dad is now at KU Medical Center. He's been there since Friday night. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and they are going to do the biopsy tomorrow. So far, the plan is to have him transferred back up to the VA hospital in Leavenworth, hopefully on Thursday. Doug's going to go down tomorrow morning before the surgery to see him. We'll know more about his condition afterwards. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers you are sending him. We really appreciate it.

Perfect Pancakes

I made perfect pancakes this morning. I used the griddle plates for my countertop grill and it worked so much better! Usually I make them in my frying pan on the stove and they get all burnt and gross. I can't believe I've had this option for about a year now and this was the first time I used it.

No new information about Doug's dad. We're going to go visit him today. I'll keep you posted.

Change of Plans

My evening didn't go quite as planned last night. Doug ended up coming home from work early. It's a long story and I know Doug's not real comfortable with talking about it. So all I'll say is that his dad is sick. Really sick. We could use as many thoughts and prayers for our family that you can spare right now.