What's Happening

Well I'm a little perturbed because I lost a lot of sidebar content when I was messing around with my template. I'm still probably going to be messing around a lot with it because I just got bored. I changed the name because not only do I love Count.ing Cro.ws but this month is pretty symbolic, it's the start of our new beginning. We can finally start new and leave the last year behind us. It really pisses me off because it was Baby M's first year but so much of it was stressful and negative that I really want to put that part behind us without forgetting that is was also an amazing year with him. So if any of that makes sense I wanted a fresh template, for a fresh year that's starting this month and I thought it was a fitting name for our fresh start.

On to more exciting news I'm a bachelorette this week. The boys (R, Little Man, and Baby M) just left for a visit to his parent's house up north!!!! They will be gone until Friday at dinner time. I'm so freaking excited because I absolutely cannot remember the last time that I was alone. I was seriously craving some "me" time where I can do anything I want!!!! The downfall is that I'm without a car, but it's probably a good thing because I know that I would want to go places that would require me to spend money. I still have to babysit Wed-Fri but I have today totally off! I'm literally ready to jump up and down screaming and cheering :) I love my boys but I've more than earned a little staycation!

I spent this past weekend weeding our pavers next to our driveway. Don't ask me how in the world they got so out of hand but they did and it was seriously eating away at me so I took on the project this past weekend. I probably spent a good 8+ hours but they look so much better!!!!

BEFORE :

AFTER:

I still have the seams of the driveway and the sidewalks to do but it's looking so much better. This has been one of those projects that I've kept meaning to get to but never set aside time to work on. I sometimes just look outside to admire my work because it's such a big difference. The next big project after the driveway and sidewalk seams is the brick patio out back, that's going to probably do me in!

I'm sure I'll be blogging more this week so I'll have so much extra time :)

Chicago Details

This is going to be an extremely detailed post because I just have to remember every little thing we did and place we went. I collected a lot of memorabilia in hopes that I can make a scrapbook of R's 30th birthday so all the ticket stubs, and pictures have a place, rather than getting lost in a box somewhere. So I'm warning you this is going to be long :)

Thursday, June 5th 2008- My mom arrived around 4:30 and I scrambled around to get the last of our things packed and snacks around for the car ride. He got home around 5:40pm and the minute he walked in the door I handed him the card. He was confused and opened it and then became more confused. He asked if this was a joke and how we were going to pay for it and I just kept telling him that I'll explain everything in the car but at that minute he needed to get changed and we needed to get going. I loaded everything into the car, we kissed Little man good bye, and departed around 6pm. We got gas right away and then got on the road for our 3 1/2 hour drive to Indi.ana. The one nice thing about driving to Indi.ana was that the time changed so we "gained" an hour. We got to my cousin's house at 8:30pm, got the house tour, and then went to dinner. We were pretty tired when we got home and were going to have to get up really early the next morning so we visited with my future cousin in law and then went to bed.

Friday, June 6th 2008- R's 30th Birthday!- We got up at 5:30am and got ready to leave by 6:20am. Our train left at 6:43am and then we had an hour and 40 minute ride to Chica.go. We were in the city by 8:30am so we had the whole day to spend. Our first stop was the delicious Corn.er Bak.ery for breakfast. We ate and then headed up to my counsin's office where we were going to leave our suitcase for the day. She ended up having a task to deal with so R and I went to go get his haircut and then went back to get her. We shopped the Mirac.le Mi.le all morning going into all my favorite stores and ended up having lunch at Elepha.nt and Cas.tle. This was the only time it rained all day! How lucky did we get that it only rained while we were eating lunch? It was SUPER windy all day so I was constantly holding my skirt down, haha.

After lunch we headed back down the other side of the Mira.cle Mi.le and then found a free museum to go and visit. It was all about the first amendment and it was very cool because it was very interactive and had some very interesting exhibits. From there we went back to my cousin's office and retrieved our suitcase so we could go check in at our hotel. We decided that once we checked in we would relax, nap, and shower off since it was soooooo hot. After our nap and shower we got ready to go to dinner. I purposely didn't pack a blow dryer because we've stayed at the Hya.tt Regenc.y before and they had them in the room, however, this room didn't have one, so we had to wait for one to be brought up. We walked down the Mira.cle Mi.le again to Cheese.cake Fact.ory and had a very yummy dinner. For an appetizer we had sweet corn tamale cakes, I had a salad for dinner so I wouldn't get too filled up and R had Steak Diane, and then we each had a slice of cheesecake for dessert. I had chocolate coconut creme and he had pistachio. We needed a serious walk after that, which we got because we walked all the way to Na.vy Pi.er.

At Na.vy Pi.er we played minature golf underneath the big ferris wheel (I beat R!), walked around the shops, and ended at the beer garden for live entertainment and drinks (I had water). The band was pretty good and it was such a beautiful night weather wise! We stayed until about 10:30 and then headed back to the hotel. Our first day we clocked around 7-8 miles of walking. We were exhausted when we got back and had a wonderful nights sleep.

Saturday, June 7th, 2008- We woke up, showered and headed out for some breakfast. We explored Stat.e Street and ended up at a Sta.rbucks for a yummy breakfast. We ended up venturing over to the S.ears To.wer and we had 30 minutes until it opened so we hit up an ATM and then went back. They actually started letting people in about 15 minutes early so we were the first ones to go up. Neither of us had ever been there before and it was an awesome view of the city. The elevator ride up 103 floors packed in like sardines was a little nerve racking but it was a lot of fun. When we came down there were so many people waiting it was unbelievable so we were glad we got there when we did. If there would have been a line we would have never gone because we had to check out of our hotel by 12pm.

We walked back to the hotel, checked out, put our suitcase in luggage check, and headed to ESP.N ZO.NE for lunch. It was a pretty cool place and the food was great! I really wanted deep dish pizza at our favorite restaurant but I let R pick the restaurant since it was his birthday weekend. After lunch we headed to the Ch.icago Ar.t Instit.ute where we got in FREE because we had Ban.k of Am.erica cards (special promotion at museums the first weekend of every month). We walked around and looked at art for a couple hours and then headed back to retrieve our suit case. From there we headed to the train station and had a little snack and then got on the 4pm train for our 1 hour and 40 minute ride back to our car.

It rained pretty hard at one point while we were on the train but then by the time we got back to the car there was no rain in sight. We then had a 3 1/2 hour drive home, which kind of sucked but we stopped at Pi.zza Hu.t for dinner along the way and ended up getting home around 11:30pm. Wow what a fun filled two days. R definitely had the best birthday ever and I think we will always remember our special 30th birthday trip to Chica.go. For as much as it was his birthday trip I also got to reap the benefits.

OH MY GOSH!!!!

I don't have time for a long update but I promise that will come, but we had the most amazing time in Chicago and R was SOOOOOOO surprised. Things went PERFECTLY! I tried not to have expectations or ideas in my head about how things would go, but I did have a little idea of how I was hoping things would play out, and things went EXACTLY the way I had imagined or even better. It actually worked out perfect that the trip was cut short because it was exactly enough time to do tons of things without spending TOO much or getting TOO worn out. We walked a total of almost 13 miles and we had the time of our life. I think I'm up for the "Wife of the Year" award, haha.

The Race is On!

I got up early this morning because I have so much to do to get ready for Chicago. I have the packing started so that I would have all day to think about anything and everything we might need so I don't forget anything. The last thing that I would want to do is forget something that R might need, that wouldn't be a fun birthday. I found an awesome recordable card yesterday and recorded my message last night telling him that he actually doesn't have to sit in a meeting all day tomorrow with his boss and that actually he's off to Chicago with his lovely wife, then it plays a song after my message, it's perfect. I worked on the itinerary extensively yesterday and mapped out everything and found addresses of restaurants and attractions.

I'm a little concerned about the weather because it's supposed to be stormy tonight and tomorrow. I'm taking an umbrella but it's also supposed to be windy. I'm really, really praying that the weather holds up because we are walking EVERYWHERE in Chicago. We are driving to my cousin's house tonight and then taking the 6:40am train into Chicago tomorrow morning. We will end up having all day Friday and then pretty much all day Saturday there. We're going to take the train back on Saturday in the late afternoon/early evening. I had to shorten the trip due to the cost factor but you can easily cover A LOT of ground in two days in Chicago, I've done it before.

I'm super excited and can hardly think straight. The one thing that I have to do today is get my school work done. I have a discussion post to write and then a couple more chapters to read for my assessment class and then for my portfolio class I have my homepage and resume to work on so I'm going to be busy. My plan for the day is to get the packing and stuff like that done while Little man is playing or keeping himself occupied and then save the school work for nap time and when my mom arrives. She'll be here around 4:30 so that will give me an hour right before we leave to get some work done. I have until Sunday at 11:59pm so I'm not driving myself crazy trying to get everything done.

On to the freezer cooking.........IT WENT GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After Little man went to bed R and I teamed up in the kitchen and got to work. We created 6 different meals and got them all into the freezer. I did one the day before so with all seven meals we are going to be eating for the next month. I spent a great deal of time coming up with a menu, planning out a calendar of exactly what nights we needed dinner, and plugging the meals into the various days. It only took us an hour and a half and our freezer is full. We had a fun time spending time together in the kitchen so that was an added bonus. The actual ingredients for the meals wasn't really that expensive because I tried to pick recipes in which we had a lot of the ingredients already. We'll still need side dishes to go along with these meals but my main concern was getting the meat portion all set. Also, since I know exactly what we're going to have each night for dinner in the month of June it will make getting the few weekly groceries much easier. Now all I have to remember is to get the food out of the freezer, haha.

Mini Vacation

Little man and I came home with my mom today for a little change of pace from our daily routine. I, of course waited to pack until this morning and thought I had done really well, that is until I got here and realized that I forgot my whole toiletry case!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I have no toothbrush, make up, glasses, shower supplies, etc..... It's weird how something like that can make you feel like your little vacation is ruined. I know I can buy the things I need but I definitely don't have the money for that and I even went back into the bathroom and grabbed my hair straightener, totally missing that my toiletry bag was sitting RIGHT NEXT TO it :o( That's why I am a list person!!!!!

Little man was so excited to come to grandma and grandpa's house. He has been talking about it since last week and loves being here so that's really cute to see! I'm going to miss R a lot, especially since we haven't had much time together in the past couple weeks. He's been sick and working late and I've been tutoring a lot and my mom was at the house. I'm hoping this little break will do us some good and then when we return things will be back to normal. The only thing I'm worried about it is Little man's third birthday party, which is March 1st, the day before his birthday. I tend to get stressed out before big events and especially since we are going to be at my parent's until the Thursday before the party I'm feeling a little pressed for time. I'm going to spend time this week planning the menu and trying to make things as easy and hassle free as possible. Does anyone have any good ideas for simple food that will feed around 30 people? I want a happy medium in between just ordering pizza and something that will require a lot of prep time. I'm thinking something crock pot or something that can just been thrown together. The party is at 3pm so I'm looking for munchie ideas and then something that people can have as their dinner. I let R off the hook on this one because he's been sick and had some health tests and just been kinda overwhelmed, not to mention he works late the Thursday we get back.

Underwear All Day (except nap and bedtime)

We finally did it, Little man made it through his awake time today in underwear with only one accident, which is pretty good. Hopefully we're on to something. Every time he goes he gets a sticker on a chart and I found after 5 stickers that Ca.rs fruit snacks really keep him motivated! We don't always do fruit snacks but every now and then they really help keep him on track. I'm really hoping that we are on to something. He still says pooping is "too hard" (no pun intended)so we haven't even gotten there yet. I'd be happy for him to stay dry all day in underwear and we'll eventually get to the pooping part. I'm glad I have another 6 months to work on that because at this rate it's going to take that long.

My mom comes tomorrow because she wants to get here a day ahead just in case the weather is bad on the day of my appt., she doesn't want to have to rush or risk not making it in time. It's always fun when she's here just because it changes up the pace. We are most likely leaving on Friday to go back home with her for a week to just have a little get away. It will be nice to do stuff and go places with her and have the help of my mom and dad. Not to mention, Little Man loves spending time at grandpa and grandma's house!!!!!! We're hoping to get his 3 year old pictures done while we're up there. I'm also getting my hair cut next Tuesday so I'm trying to find a new look. It's really quite long and very unhealthy looking (lots of split ends) so I'm sure I'll need to go quite a bit shorter.

R was late tonight and didn't call and then stopped off and bought a $17 bottle of wine, the wine part is fine but freaking $17, I'm sick of hearing him bit** about money and then see him do that. Apparently he had a bad day at work, but geez, if I weren't pregnant and poor I would be a very drunk person right now if I had wine everytime I had a bad day. He's also sick and in my opinion alcohol prolongs sickness. I'm kinda looking forward to a break from him too, we've been on the rocks lately. I think just too much together time and he's been sick and stressed at work.