I NEVER get sick ever, but this winter I have been nothing but sick. And now Emma to.

I have had this wicked bad cough for over two months now, top that off with Bronchitis and now a sinus infection, lucky me.

Sunday Scotty took Em and myself to urgent care. We were both feeling so crappy. I ended up having a really bad sinus infection and she had an ear infection and a really bad cold. They gave us meds thankfully but Emma’s meds didn’t help much at all. She and I stayed home Monday and Tuesday to get better, but she just seemed to get worse. Really bad runny nose, horrible cough, red watery eyes and she wouldn’t stop pulling at her ears. Funnily enough though she slept like she usually does. Through the night and super long naps. I was glad she took longer than usual naps (three hour clips) because sleep is definitely good for a cold. Tuesday afternoon she seemed a lot better so she went to school yesterday but around noon her daycare called me to tell me her temp was 103.5. So Meema picked her up and I left work to bring her to her doc appt. Turns out that now she has a double ear infection Our poor baby girl. So more meds and more sleep for our girl. Scotty is home with her today. I feel so horrible when she doesn’t feel good, I just want to fix it right away. As crappy as I know she feels, she still loves just playing with her toys and watching sesame street. Other than her noticeable symptoms, you wouldn’t really know shes sick, other than shes a slight cranky here and there. Shes such a good girl! I just hope the new meds work fast so she can start feeling better and get back to playing at school. I know she misses her friends when she isn’t there.

I can’t WAIT for the weekend. This week has been so hectic, just from being sick, misses work and then catching up on how busy we are. I REALLY need to clean this weekend. Much needed vacuuming, dusting and laundry needs to be done! I am hoping for a snowy Saturday or Sunday so I can just stay in and get things done! Scotty has been re-vamping the basement and it looks so awesome!! I am so excited about how organized and great its going to look when its all done. I also want to work on Emma’s play room to before our living room gets taken over by toys hahaha. Can’t believe shes big enough to have a playroom already. Seems like only yesterday she was a teeny tiny peanut….sigh….they grow to fast…

Emma’s first birthday was a huge success. Everyone had a great time!! Great food, Great fun!!! We decided to do a small party, just family. I think that worked out well. And it was so great for my Grandpa to be able to come, he hasn’t been feeling well and doesn’t get a chance to get out much, so it was amazing to have him there!!!

Wendy and Joel surprised us and came home for her Party. That was by far the most amazing surprise ever. Emma loved having her Aunt Wendy there with her. It was such a joy to have our whole family together. So nice to have both of my sisters by my side for Emma’s big day!!!

Emma had a blast opening presents and visiting everyone. I really was expecting her to face plant her cake. But no… our girl is a lady lol. She daintily picked off the tiny frosting flowers off her cake and ate them. She is to funny. Even after a whole day of playing with everyone, she was still happy and having a good time. By the time we got home though, she crashed. To bed in her cribby for hours hahaha. Partying can wear a girl out!

Thank you to all of our wonderful family for coming and making Emma’s big birthday so special and amazing!! We love you all!
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In Diet world, 2 pounds down last week! Not as good as the first week but hey I will take it!! Even if I stay consistent with 2 pounds a week, I can still meet my goal way ahead of schedule!! STAY FOCUSED DODE!!! YOU CAN DO IT!! (I feel it will help if I chant that over and over heehee)

So sad that Wendy and Joel have to leave today!! I never want her to leave when she visits. They came over last night for some play time with Emma and to say goodbye! We will miss so much. Looks like we will have to come down for a visit!!!

Busy week so far, once again I live my week just for the weekends!!

Woke up to snow this morning, which I love. But I very much did not love getting stuck on the hill in my development. How totally embarrassing to get stuck in the snow in your OWN development. And to top it off I totally cried thinking what the heck am I going to do now, stuck sideways on this hill. I could only hope a plow truck (that was still absent as of that moment) didn’t come charging up the hill and slam into me. I finally broke down and called Scott to come rescue me.  Once my wonderful hubby got me off of the packed crazy snowy hill, I dropped Emma off at school and finally got moving to work. The drive was slow, main roads were clear but side roads were still a mess. Better late than never.

Some super great news!!! My friend Ali,had her baby Tuesday night. A boy, Maxwell Keene, 7 pounds 12 ounces. He is super cute. Full head of dark adorable hair. Baby and mommy are both doing great!! Congrats to Ali and Alex. I can’t wait to visit and meet Baby Maxwell!

In Diet land, week two and I am still going strong with my plan!! I am feeling great and I can already notice clothes fitting better and overall feeling better about myself. I have set a goal of May 1st. We are taking a trip to St. Martin the first week of May and boy would it be nice to wear a bathing suit and feel someone ok about it! I think a goal of almost 5 months is totally doable and If I stay this determined and have the right mind set, I am hoping it won’t be a problem. But for now I am staying positive and focused!! I am just so thankful the holidays are over. That truly is the time of bad eating lol.

I am hoping some of this snow sticks around for the weekend so I can FINALLY put Emma in her snowsuit and let her play in the snow. I can’t believe its January and this is our first actual big snow storm. And it wasn’t even that big. Definitely not what us upstate New Yorkers are use to that’s for sure. I am very excited to see Emma’s reaction to the snow though. Pulling her around in a sled is going to be so much fun. My dad always had a blast pulling us around when we were kids. Fun to think back to being a kid, when it snowed so much over night. We would wake up to a winter wonderful and couldn’t get our snowsuits and boots on fast enough. We stayed out almost all day building snow forts and sledding until we were exhausted. Those were the good days!! We haven’t had much of a winter so far this year. I always love those saturday or sundays when we get a huge snow storm. We get to stay in our jammies all day, make grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch and just watch the snow fall. As much as I hate driving in it, it is pretty to just watch it come down!

Thats all for now. Back to work on this snowy day!

Here is our baby the day she was born:

And here she is now,our little lady!!

I keep thinking back to this time last year, getting ready for our induction. Packing my bag, so excited that our little girl was finally going to be here. I remember us driving to the hospital. Of course I was nervous, its the unknown, you don’t know how things are going to happen, what to expect. But all I could think of is how soon we will be holding our girl. She will be wrapped up in our arms, and she will be all ours!! The excitement and anticipation was killing us. Labor was hard, I won’t lie. But it was so worth it. I didn’t care about what was happening, I just couldn’t wait for her to be here!! When she was born and they put her in my arms, it was like nothing I have ever felt in my life. Here she was, our baby girl. Bright eyed as ever when she arrived! Ready to face the world!! As I type this I have tears running down just thinking about how amazing that day was!!

She has been our perfect little angel ever since. Just beyond amazing. We couldn’t have asked for a happier, more content and joyful baby. She has made our lives more wonderful than we could ever have imagined!! Everyday gets better and better. On a daily basis I look at her and just cry. I think we did this, we made this wonderful amazing little girl. And somehow even though shes gotten so big, and is such a little smarty already, it seems like only yesterday we brought her home. Every night when I put her to bed, I just look at her in amazement!! I say to her “You are mommy and daddys most amazing treasure and we love you so much” then I sing to her what my mom always sang me “swing low sweet chariot” or “I see the moon and the moon sees me.” Its just amazing to me how something so small, can change your whole live and make you see things differently. Make you appreciate things so much more and cherish every single day!! She has definitely done that! Our lives truly started when she arrived!!

So as we get ready for her first birthday, I admit, its bittersweet. I am of course so happy to celebrate this wonderful day, but sad that our little baby girl is slowly leaving babyhood and becoming a toddler already. I want her to stay our little baby forever!! She learns new things everyday, and discovers to much. It amazes me how quickly she can absorb something new. She picks things up so fast. We could sit and watch her play for hours. She makes us laugh and cry with joy every night.

It’s just so funny to think that this time last year it was just us. And we were so happy for our girl to arrive. Then our Emma was here in a flash, and I feel like i’ve had a huge smile that just won’t seem to ever go away, all because of her!

Saturday we will be celebrating the day our lives changed forever, in ways we could never have imagined, with pure joy, happiness, and feeling so blessed!! The birthday of our daughter, our Emma Margaret!!!!

Scotty stayed home with the little lady while I met Ali at the Olive Garden for some yummy lunch. Her baby is due any day now so I knew she wouldn’t mind a girls day out of lunch and shopping. And who can say no to olive gardens breadsticks! I still managed to stay within my alotted calorie bank for the day thankfully. I’m determined Damn it lol.

After lunch we cruised buy buy baby and babiesrus. I got Emma some super cute big girl jammies and shoes that were on clearance and an additional 40% off. Score. They are having some crazy awesome sales.

Bob and jan came over for dinner later on and had some fun play time with Emma. She’s so much fun. It’s a blast just watching her play with all her toys and check out everything she has. She’s such a little smarty. I could watch her play all day long!

Tomorrow Meema, Emma and I are hitting up Michaels to get some birthday things for her party next weekend. I can’t wait! Our little girl is going to be one! Simply amazing!

I find myself actually anxious to make and drink the shakes. Their that yummy! And I also find that they push me to make better choices. I just hope I can keep this going. I have found that I feel really good this week. Not so blah and I don’t have that weighed down feeling. I felt more energized everyday.

I really want to reach my goal. I just don’t want to go through another summer feeling discouraged and down on myself. I want to buy cute tops and wear shorts and feel somewhat ok in my bathing suit. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel totally comfortable in a bathing suit. My goal is set for may 1st. I think is doable. And I’m really going to push myself because this is for me! I want to feel good about me!

I had my first shake this morning and my expectations were low I admit. I have read everywhere how they are so not tasty at all, watery, and not filling. A lot of reviews had said how people felt hungry immediately after the shake. And that they couldn’t even stomach the taste of it at all. Well my review is very positive so far. I LOVE the taste. I followed the directions, one scoop combined with 8 oz of low fat milk and two ice cubes into my blender bottle and shake. I also added half a tablespoon of low fat PB for some flavor and OMG YUM!! It wasn’t watery at all. It was creamy and frothy and super delicious. I felt full and surprisingly energetic after drinking it. I really enjoyed it. Much more than I ever thought possible of a shake. I drank it at 8 am and it is now 9:30am so we shall see how I feel in a few hours. I also have healthy snacks to tide me over throughout the day. So far, even though I have only had the one, I can say that I really enjoyed it,and am looking forward to my next one!

I also started my new Zumba fitness for Wii last night. I must say, I love it and boy is it a workout. Its killer. Its fun and whats great about it is you have no idea how much its killing you until the songs are over and your literally dripping with sweat and completely out of breath. Its such a blast that you don’t even realize its a workout really. I sandwiched that with some wii fit plus and some basic crunches and stretches, cooled down with some reruns of friends and called it a night. I woke up feeling good, refreshed, ready to get moving again. Now if only I could repeat that every night, I would be golden. But life doesn’t always allow for an easy night like that. It helped that Emma played herself out with her new toys and passed out on her blanket around 730, so it made for an early bedtime. Which was nice for me, because it got me to peel my butt off the sofa and turn on the wii. I sometimes wish my sofa had an auto-eject button lol.

So we shall see how my lunch shake goes and how the next couple of days will be for me. More to come!