update - finally!

I am awful at remembering to update this, not that I think many people read it, but it sometimes acts as an outlet for me and I much appreciate it at times.

We've had a lot going on here lately. My parents flew in from Michigan for Christmas. They got here on Monday, the 19th and mom just left this morning (dad left earlier to do some electrical work for a big project). We had a pretty good Christmas with them. We spent the morning opening presents with Madelyn who LOVED to tear the wrapping paper (much to Papa's demise, as he likes to un-wrap it neatly). We had breakfast, played with our new "toys" and then started making Christmas dinner. Dad wanted a turkey so mom and I made a big dinner, with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn and rolls. It was yummy!!!! We did all of this while still in our p.j.'s and it was wonderful :) The rest of the week has been just relaxing for the most part. Matt and I both had to go back to work on the 27th and Madelyn got to spend the week at home with Grandma, both enjoyed that I am sure. Other than that, Christmas was pretty low key. I will admit, some things have made me a little frustrated this year involving Christmas, but I will leave those details out as I am trying to get past it and move on :)
We're almost ready for baby boy Douglass to arrive - 7 more weeks until my due date! The crib is all set up, comeplete with cute jungle animal bedding, thanks to Rebekah :) His clothes (all of which have been donated to us - thanks, Rebekah and Joannie!) are all washed and sorted, some hung up and just waiting for him to arrive. We have the dresser and now just waiting for that to be put together. Hopefully this weekend, that will get done and then I can finish organizing the room and making sure everything is ready for him. I was in panic mode, thinking of all the stuff we still needed and didn't have, but we have been blessed with clothes and great deals on nursery furniture and our cloth diaper stash (see my other blog for those details) that I now feel more prepared and ready to meet this little one.
Next weekend, Matt's cousin, Alysha, moves in with us for 2 months! She's doing an internship down here and since we have the room at our house, we offered for her to stay here with us. I know she's excited and we are too. It will be nice to have her around as we haven't spent a lot of time with her and I know Madelyn will love having someone else around to play with and read books with since Mommy can't quite do all of it any more :)
My parents are planning to come back down to our house in February for a couple weeks, once the baby is born. Then in March, I just learned my best friend (a.k.a. Rebekah- if you haven't figured that out already!) is coming to visit!!!! Her husband said she needs a little vacation and her options are Florida and Georgia. I'm glad she's picking Georgia! I can't wait for her to see our house and of course, meet the baby. The last time she was here, was summer 2010 and we've lived in 2 places since then! So excited!
I suppose that's all for now. Time to get back to work :) Or maybe time for lunch.... hmmm

Our crazy life!

It's been one crazy ride around here. We found out we're having a baby boy and that's exciting! However, it's been down hill since then. My transmission went out on the trailblazer so we were down to one car for a couple days. God provided for us and we were able to rebuild it and get it fixed sooner than we thought. A few days later, it still wasn't driving right so we left it again and the guy fixed the filter. On our way to pick up the trailblazer, Matt's car was acting up and come to find out, his transmission went out too!!! His car is too old and not worth replacing so it was sold to Carmax. We are now down to one car again (have been for a couple weeks now) and its pretty tough. We have to get up earlier than usual, which means Mady does too. We drop Madelyn off at daycare, drive to Smyrna, where Matt's co-workers live and let him car pool with them, then I drive back to Marietta for work, pick up Mady and go back to Smyrna to pick up Matt. We usually leave the house around 6:35 am and get back home around 6:30-7:00pm. Then we need to eat dinner, play with Madelyn and get her to bed. It's been crazy like I said!

We were able to go to Stone Mountain a couple weekends ago with Matt's mom. It was pumpkin festival so Madelyn enjoying looking and touching and trying to carry all the different pumpkins. We played frizbee in the park and finished off the day at the Marietta Diner for dinner.

This weekend is going to be a great one! I have Friday off work, so I am flying to Indianapolis on Thursday to see one of my best friends! We have a whole weekend of fun stuff planned! She is being so gracious and giving us all her baby boy clothes that she isn't using any more. What a blessing!!!! Our little boy will be set! Saturday we are going to the outlet mall for some shopping and then dinner later that night. I can't wait! I need some fun "girl time" and that's just the place to get it. Plus, she has the three cutest boys ever! :)

big week!

This is going to be a big week for our family! Tomorrow is our big ultrasound and hopefully we can find out if we are having a boy or girl. We really don't care, as long as baby is healthy and doing well. I honestly have no idea what it is this time. I felt girl the whole time with Madelyn but I have no feeling like that this time. So I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring but I can't wait for 4 pm to get here! What's your guess?

The rest of us are doing well. Madelyn spent the weekend with daddy so I could go to Michigan and spend the weekend with my mom at a Creative Memories Retreat. I haven't worked on Madelyn's scrapbook in a year and I need to get this done! It was a blast! We had so much fun and I got a lot accomplished so it felt great. I unfortunately had to fly back early this morning which meant I didn't get much sleep. Thankfully, my wonderful hubby let me take a nap while Madelyn was sleeping and I felt much better.

Our house is slowly starting to get back to normal. We had aleak in a pipe which caused water damage and mold. The drywall was ripped out, the pipe replaced, and now the drywall is back and painted, along with new trim and a check under the carpet to make sure there wasn't water underneath. Now we have to schedule the company to come back in to replace the pantry shelves and then HOPEFULLY things will be done! 3 of the 4 shelves in the pantry were screwed into a pipe that drains from the master bathroom. Anytime water in that bathroom is used, it drained down this pipe and leaked. Thankfully it wasn't too bad and we get it fixed for free since the house is all under warranty. Once the shelves are replaced, I can put all the contence from the pantry back in, instead of it being all over my counters and dining table. I will know where things are instead of checking the three places I have food sitting and having to look all over to find what I need.
I suppose that's all for now..... I can't wait for tomorrow!

Oops!

It's been awhile, sorry. I am bad at keeping up with this, but trying to get better. Not a whole lot to report from here, though. That's sad.

Madelyn spent two weeks in Michigan this summer with my parents and Matt's mom and step-dad. We dropped her off when we went up for a wedding and then she stayed with my parents at the lake. We had another wedding the following weekend in Tennessee so it was nice not to have to worry about finding a sitter or having to hurry back to pick her up. Matt's mom flew back to Atlanta with her and she was so excited to see us! We met her at the gate and all she could say was "Hi mommy!" about 10 times! She adjusted back into daycare pretty well but is still excited when I come get her.

I guess the biggest news is that baby #2 is on it's way! We are due February 19, 2012! Not sure what we're having yet, should know at the end of September. I am 14 weeks now and feeling ok. Check out the new blog for baby to get updates on that (www.douglassbaby.blogspot.com)

My biggest desire is to be a stay at home mom once this baby comes. I've been looking for ways to cut our budget and have been pretty successful. I've been praying about it for quite awhile now. There are things going on at work that I don't agree with and that aren't ethical and it's really frustrating. It's hard to go to work in a good mood only to have that change when the boss walks in. You never know what the day holds and things change all the time and it's just so frustrating and hard to deal with when you know it's not right. I have looked for a few jobs at the local hospital, a few part time or PRN (just 5 shifts a month and one holiday a year) I would actually bring home more money doing that then what I do now and Madelyn would only have to be in day care 1 day a week!!! God knows the desire of my heart and I'm just praying something works out soon.

new post??!!!

I suppose I should post a little, since it'sbeen awhile but honestly, we've been busy around here. It's already mid- April! Madelyn is doing great. Going to daycare 5 times a week stinks but she has fun and likes to play with the other kids. We're working on not hitting, pushing or pulling hair, though. She has had a couple incidents at school where she has pulled out kids hair and the teacher has to let me know about it. I went in today and she apparently hit a kid in the face (after he took her toy). But it's also good to know Mady isn't the only one. There are a couple kids in that room that are having a hard time lately, so I'm glad it's not just my kid. When the teacher told me, I immediately looked at her and told her that we don't pull hair or hit and of course, her little chin started quivering and she burst into tears. She did apologize though, and I'm hoping these "incidents" get fewer and farther between. Matt and I are just as busy as ever with work and what not. We were able to go to a friend's wedding in March back home in Michigan and it was good to see so many of our friends fromback home. We had a great time! We also got to go to California last weekend to visit our friends, Joel and Katie Sigmon. They moved out there in January and since Matt works for Delta, we were able to take a few days and go out there. We were honored ot be their 1st visitors!!! Other than that,life is going at full swing. My parents and grandma are coming here for Easter and I am so excited! I haven't seen my grandma since Madelyn was 3 weeks old and we all went to North Carolina. I can't wait!!! The end of the month is going to be busy. I have some things planned and of course, still need to do stuff around the house. I can't believe it's already the middle of April. Soon it will be summer, which means Madelyn's birthday!!!! I am amazed that my baby is almost 2 years old! Where did the time go?!?! Seems like yesterday I was in the hospital with her and now she's running all over the place!

New House!

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted. Oops.... which I might add is Madelyn's new word :)

We officially moved into our new house 2 weeks ago! The weekend ofValentine's day started out with my parents visiting from Michigan, complete with a trailer of new (to us) furniture for the new place. We got the keys to the house on Friday, the 11th, and started unloading the trailer right away. Matt's dad and step mom blessed us with dinner and helping unload more things from the apartment that we brought over. Saturday began with movers coming around 9am and loading all hte furniture and big things in the truck for the move. We decided tohire movers this time sincethe apartment was on the 3rd floor and we didn't want to hurt ourselves. Mom and dad took Madelyn to the house to play and keep her occupied for us. The truck arrived at the house and was completely unloaded, boxes, furniture and everything, by 1pm. Again, my in-laws brought over lunch and were amazing! They helped us unpack boxes, move furniture and get things organized. My parents left on Valentines day and the rest of the week was spent unpacking and getting things situated.

Last weekend Matt's mom and step dad came down, since they get flight benefits now! Jim painted the guest room, the half bath and most of Mady's room (until we ran out of paint) Now, the office is unpacke, curtains are hung, color is on the wall and things look pretty good! We still need to put up pictures and get the last few things from the apartment but other than that, we are completely settled in the new place!

Dining room as seen from front door - stairs to the left, kitchen behind it

My wonderful kitchen!!! All new stainless steel appliances and I LOVE the island!

Family room with fireplace to the right - flip a switch and instant fire! :)

This is the loft at the top of the stairs - mostly for Mady's toys and the couch pulls out to a bed!

Madelyn's room - before painting it a pale yellow. Will post new pictures when it's done!

Guest bath upstairs - full bath with linen closet - very nice!!!!

Master bedroom - bath to the left with full walk in closet, and a sitting area to the right with windows out to the front of the house