Catching up

It has been quite a while since I made a post, and Richard is working nights, and I am waiting on my laundry to get done, so I figure I can ramble for a while. Last time I posted, Stephanie and I were doing our little diet. Well, needless to say, I have fallen off the wagon a bit. I am still watching how much sugar I have, as well as staying low carb, but I will admit I failed. She, however is awesome, and is training for a triathlon right now! I have mentioned how awesome she is, right?! :)
  
  I suppose a lot of things have happened since I made that post. Let's see...Richard and I went to NASCAR, it was a first for both of us, and it was a total blast! We were so close that when one of the wrecks happened right in front of us, I got rubber from the tires on my face and in my beer, yummy! HA! We had a good time, and got to spend some time with my big brother afterwards. Which is always a good time. My grandparents also came for a visit from Iowa. It had been over 10 years I believe since the last time they had been here,  so it was nice to have them in AZ. They stayed at my mom's, and while it was a short visit, I was glad for the time I got to spend with them. Aubry had a blast with grandpa Jack, just like when we were in Iowa. He adores her, and it makes my heart melt. 

 Then there was Easter. We colored eggs a couple nights before, and Richard's parents came up the day before Easter to give Aubry all of her goodies. Aubry loooves "pop pop", and I love watching them play together. He always has candy in the pocket in his shirt, and she knows it! Haha! Richard had to work on Easter, so we did everything later in the evening. The egg hunt and all of that. Aubry still remembered that the eggs that make noise are the good ones, filled with "nummies". She had a lot of fun finding them all and shoving chocolate and jelly beans in her mouth as fast as she could. Then she was on a sugar high. haha! We stayed outside blowing bubbles with her until it got dark. It was a wonderful day. She is absolutely amazing, and I feel extremely blessed to have my little family. We have been spending a lot of family time together on Richard's days off lately, and I love it! I feel like we are making so many wonderful memories! We have been going to the river a lot, which we all love. Richard gets to fish, Aubry gets to play, and I get to get a tan! It's a win all around. Ha! I love moments like that. Just the 3 of us having a great time together. It's perfect! <3 Aubry is getting way too big, WAAAY too fast, and I feel like I need to cherish every moment! It's crazy how time flies! You always say that, but I don't think I ever realized how true it was until we had a child.

<3

Daddy caught a turtle and Aubry did NOT like it!

She is my best friend! <3<3

Coloring eggs with daddy<3

Getting so big!

I think we're rednecks! ;)

Love her! 

Can I just have some sugar, please?

My best friend Stephanie & I are doing a no sugar, low carb diet. Her boyfriend is doing it also, but she is my person, so she is who I will talk about. :) Yes, my person. Like Grey's Anatomy. We are cool like that. While she might live 4 hours away from me, and I might not be able to see her nearly as often as I would like, we can still do things like this and support each other. She is probably doing better at this than I am, because she is better at the healthy/dieting stuff. BUT...I am giving it my all. Granted, we are only on day 2. We have been texting each other every day and keeping each other motivated. She is AWESOME! Yesterday sucked! We both felt nauseous, and were...well, bitchy. I know I was anyway. But we still pulled through. Today is a little easier, but not by much. I am a candy & carb JUNKIE! So this is really, really hard! All I want is some effing CANDY! Yes, I am that worked up about it. Yesterday we both said we felt like people going through detox. HA! How awful does that sound? We also pigged out on crap food for a few days before we started, so I'm sure that doesn't make it any easier. It is really hard, and it is a big change. But when we reach our goals we will feel amazing!! And I know I can do this not only because I want it, but because I have someone doing it with me. It would probably be easier if we lived closer and saw each other all the time. But we make due with what we have. Did I mention she is awesome?! :) At this moment there are m&m's in my fridge calling my name, along with Aubry's gummy fruit snacks in the cupboard...but I wont give in. As much as I want to! I will just text Stephanie and complain with her, and I will get through it. Here's to reaching our goals!!! 

Potty Training!

Some people (the "I know everything" parents) think it is the worst thing that Aubry is over 2 years old and is not potty trained yet. Well, those people can kiss my butt! Because every child is different, and the few times I have tried to push Aubry, it's like taking 2 steps back. So while I know I have to be the one teaching her and guiding her, I will not push her if she isn't ready. Lately, she seems very ready. I am MORE than ready! 2 years of diapers is NO FUN! Let me tell ya! But, making her feel comfortable and happy is more important than me not wanting to change dirty diapers. So, I take her in the bathroom with me almost every time I go. And sometimes she pulls down her diaper to sit on the potty, other times she doesn't. Lately, she has been pulling it down every time. the other day she went in there all on her own and told me "pee, mom!" and pulled down her diaper, and sat down. I of course was EXTREMELY excited. Well, I think most of the pee got in her diaper, but she did have a couple drops go in the potty. So of course I made a huge deal out of it and told her how proud I am. Today, I went in the bathroom to tinkle, and she followed on her own, pulled down her diaper, and sat. After a few minutes of us talking and singing(weird, maybe, but it works!) she told me "eww! stinky!" so I looked, and sure enough, there was a tiny bit of poop in there! I never thought I would be so excited to see poop! Of course, again I made a HUGE deal out of it, but this time it wasn't really on purpose...I was just SO EXCITED! She laughed at me, actually. Haha! But, I feel like we are making great progress! It probably helps that we haven't been leaving to Safford every set of Richard's 7 days off. She gets confused when we do that. So hopefully we can keep this pace going, and stay home these up coming days off and get this thing really going! 

Some things in parenthood are just flat out hard. The things on the top of that list are of course seeing your child hurt or sick. But there is also dealing with terrible two's, never getting any sleep, taking 2 minute prison showers because you are afraid of what is going on in the rest of your house while you are in there, and POTTY TRAINING! The good things for sure out weigh the bad. Knowing that you created this amazing little person who loves you more than anything, and you feel the same..actually you love them more than you ever knew you could from the moment your see their little face! Watching them grown and learn new things every day, those moments when they come up to you and hug you with all the strength their little bodies have and say " I LUUUUHHHH YOUUUUU MAMA!!!" <3, the cuddles, the kisses, the ridiculous cuteness! The moments they fall asleep in your arms, the look they give you when you pick them up from the sitter, every time they learn a new word, or repeat one you said(not always a good word, but you can't help but giggle), did I mention the kisses and cuddles? ;) And of course the moments when you are just SO proud of them! And today, is for sure, one of those days where I am just SO proud of her I could cry! It may seem silly to be so excited over poop...okay, when I say it that way, it IS pretty silly! But, I am just so proud of the progress she is making. Which might still seem silly, since potty training is something everyone has to do, but...WELCOME TO PARENTHOOD! =D

Late night rambling

Richard is working nights right now, and it's always hard for me to adjust to him being gone for the first few nights, and I end up staying up waaay too late! And of course I get online and decide to ramble on the blog for a bit. 
 We all just got over being sick, which was no fun. I should say Aubry got over being sick, because Richard & I are still feeling kind of crappy. Must be because we are getting old! ;) Aubry got sick first, and it must have been a 24 hour bug, because she was up puking all of Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning, and then all better by Thursday. Thursday is when we got it. YUCK! As long as Aubry feels better, I don't mind feeling a little crappy. Seeing her sick is the worst! 
 There really isn't anything all that interesting going on right now. Our lives are boring! Richard switched plants at work, so me & Aubry can't go see him anymore, which kind of stinks. Especially when he is on nights. I guess we were spoiled while he was at Central. It was just always nice to take Aubry to see him before she had to go to bed. She still gets to call him and tell him good night, though. <3 Hunting season over at the end of this month! THANK GOODNESS!!! Well, it's over for now, anyway..but still...THANK GOODNESS!! I am kind of bummed for him that he didn't get anything, but I am super happy I will be seeing more of my husband on his days off! We went on a date night on his last set of days off. It was nice, it had been way too long. I got a new dress right before we left for Safford, so I could wear it on our date. It was so nice & fun to get so dressed up for him! Or just in general, really. When you are a stay at home mom, you kind of lose than "getting dressed up every day" thing...half the time I don't even leave the house, so I end up looking like a bum most of the time! We had his mom watch Aubry while we went to dinner at the steak house in Safford, which was delish! Then we went to the movies and saw Contraband. It was a really good movie! It's always nice to do things alone, as much as we LOVE doing family things, it is important for us to get our alone time, too.
 My grandparents are coming out to visit next month which I am SUPER excited about! I can't wait for them to see how much Aubry has grown just since we were in Iowa. They haven't been to Arizona in a long time. It will be nice to have them here. I'm sure my mom is excited, too. We are planning a trip to go see my fantastic sister & her beautiful family in October this year, which I mentioned before. I am SO excited about that!! It has been way, way, WAAAYYYY too long since I have seen my nephews! The last time I saw them they were my little cuddle buddies, and now they are all grown up! It's so crazy to me! Time really flies. I used to go see them every summer, and then I lived there for a year after I graduated high school. Then life happened, and things changed, and now I have this amazing little family of my own! I can not wait for Aubry to meet Brandon & Seth! Of course I am excited to see EVERYONE, I just haven't seen them in the longest. Eve and Layla came out when Aubry was born, and then again for our wedding. I just can't wait to see everyone!
 Anyway, now I am seriously just rambling on & on. So off to bed I go!.....Hopefully!

Small progress

We went to Safford for a few days so that Richard could work on his truck & get it running for hunting. Yes, in case you were wondering, I am sick of hunting! Haha! Whatever makes the hubby happy, though. It would be more fun if I was going with, but we don't have anyone to watch Aubry up here, and taking a 2 year old hiking so you can bow hunt doesn't sound like much fun to me. Plus, she would scare away all the deer. :) Anyway, we stayed at Richard's parents the first night, and they are awesome! I have been trying to keep to eating healthy, which is more of a challenge when you're not at home, if you ask me. You can't exactly ask people to cook healthy just to suit your lifestyle. But Richard's mom was awesome & made healthy food anyway! :) They also have an elliptical that they let me use so I wouldn't feel like I was slacking on my work out schedule. I didn't think I would sweat so much from that thing! It was crazy. But also felt amazing. The second day I went grocery shopping with my friend Elicia. We were going to do a 2 day fruit & veggies cleanse, so we were stocking up on fruits & veggies. I wont lie, I didn't pull through on the cleanse. It's really hard to do something like that when you are not home! But, I did succeed in buying lots of healthy stuff. Step 1, right? Anyway, that night Lee Ann made chicken for the guys & was nice enough to also make fish so me & her could eat that. It was delish! Then I got on the elliptical again. This time I put it on the fat burning setting, and it totally kicked my butt!! In a good way, yes..but I was so sore the next day I didn't get to go on the walk her & I planned. Then we headed over to Matt & Elicia's for the night. It was hard not to eat the yummy nachos everyone was snacking on, but I stuck to my guns & ate a few Special K chip things. They're not bad. Though they have the texture of a rice cake! ha! The next day I was even more proud when Richard had me get him Burger King & I didn't eat any of it!! Okay, that's a lie, I took a baby bite from one of the burgers E was eating, but that was it! And it didn't even taste that good, I felt like I was eating garbage! I was more proud that I didn't eat the fries. Those are my weakness. Also, I didn't have any soda! Usually when we go to Safford I eat nothing but fast food. The only "fast food" I had was Subway!
 When we got home I had to jump on the scale because I wanted to see if I made any progress from eating right & kicking my own ass on the elliptical....and I DID! I lost 3 pound over the weekend! I know, I know...3 pounds is nothing, but it IS a start! And I proved to myself that even when I'm not at home I can still make healthy choices. I'm kind of proud of myself. I probably shouldn't be bragging, because I'm sure I could easily put those 3 pounds back on, but I look at it as more motivation to keep losing!

Christmas & Such

Christmas was wonderful! We spent Christmas Eve at Richard's parent's, and his grandma & grandpa got to be there, they came down for about a week, so it was great to have so much family around. We had a blast there, like we always do. Aubry thought everything was about her. Which really it was! ;) Christmas was so fun with her this year. As she was opening her presents she would get SO excited, before she could even see what it was! She would be saying "oh wow!!!". She's a crack up. A few days before Christmas was Jeff's(Richard's step-dad) birthday, so we went down for that as well. THAT was a blast too! He turned 50, so we all poked fun at him a little. He was a good sport. Aubry thought it was her birthday. We gave Aubry her power wheels jeep a few days before Christmas as well (I'm kind of going backwards here), since we were going ot be in Safford we didn't think we would have room to bring it back with all of the other stuff, but since it was her biggest gift we didn't want to give it to her late. She was SUPER excited about that! She loves it. Which makes me & Richard both very happy.

Christmas Day we spent at my mom's. Me & Aubry were the first ones up, so we had to wake up Richard & mom so she could open gifts. I love Christmas! And it is so much fun now with a little one! Todd called to tell us Merry Christmas I guess around 10 or 11, and he also told me, and only me, that they were going to be heading to mom's in about an hour! I haven't spent a Christmas with Todd, Jess & the boys in SO long! I almost cried when he told me!! Then I called my wonderful sister, Eve to tell her merry Christmas & she put my niece Layla on the phone so she could tell me all of the things Santa brought her. When she was getting off the phone she told me she loved me & Merry Christmas, then she said "wait wait wait...I love Aubry too!!!" & needless to say...I LOST IT!!! I started bawling like a little kid!! I don't even know what happened. I'm almost crying writting about it. I miss them SO much, and I can't believe how big my niece & nephews are getting & I never get to see them. We are planning a trip out there in October, though. =D Well, then we headed over to my dad's which is always awkward. Not because I don't love them more than anything, but because things are complicated with our relationship & the relationship I have with Evan & Kathryn. They were there, of course. But Christmas is about family, so we all got along really well. Aubry had a blast playing with her cousins, and it was a good time. Then it was back to mom's because Todd & Jess were there!!! I was really nervous about how the whole thing would play out, because Evan & Kathryn said they would be right behind us, & none of them have seen or talked to each other in quite a while. It went really really good though. It actually really made my heart hurt that day just knowing that our family will only be together like that on holidays, and only because we have to deal with each other. I don't like it. But things happen, and people do & say really stupid things...and well, relationships get ruined. Anyway, over all it was a wonderful holiday! I am extremely blessed to have my family! I love them all!
 I got to go have dinner with my best friend from high school, Stephanie, while we were down! I can't even tell you how amazing it was to see her!!! I don't think I have seen her since my wedding! So over a freakin' year!! How does that happen!? It was so great to just get together like old times & gossip, of course! ;) Seeing her also really inspired me to get into shape this year & get fit. Of course I was already planning to make that my new years resolution, and I was really, really set on it. But seeing her kicked it up a notch. She's such an awesome person. I know, I say that a lot. It must be true!!! So, fir the passed 4 days I have not had any soda, I have been drinking lots & lots of water, eating more healthy, and working out at home every night. We went & signed up for the gym today, but since it's free & through Richard's work, you have to do an hour long walk through & all this stupid stuff. So we go back Friday to do that. Then we will be good to go! I can't wait to get back in the gym! It was been WAY too long! They even have a childcare center there where they will watch your kids for up to 2 hours while you work out. FREE!!! How awesome is that?! I can't wait! I have never, ever been this motivated to get in shape! That's part of the reason why I know 2012 will be an amazing year, and it will be the year I get in the best shape of my life!

Update

I told everyone I would give them an update when I got my results back, & this is the easier way to do it rather than text & call everyone. Plu sit gives me a chance to write/type a little.
  Aubry & I were off to Safford again today. She thinks it was just so she could go spend time with grandma, but really it was because I had my follow up appointment. I didn't expect my biopsy results to be back quite yet, since they took almost 2 weeks for my pap results, and the holidays just passed. But, they were in! They came back negitive, which is awesome! I was all worried for nothing at all. What can I say? I'm a little crazy. I go back in 6 months to make sure everything still looks good.
 As for my pains, he did another ultrasound, & this time he could see a functional cyst on my right ovary. Which is what I thought I had from the begining. It is something that will go away on it's own, and really isn't that big of a deal. He gave me some IBU 800 for the pain, and sent me on my way. I wish he would have been able to see the cyst on the first ultrasound he did, so that I would have known back then what was happening with my body. But I really can not complain. Things turned out great today, and I was very happy leaving that office! I had a total attitude change from when I walked it. Usually it's the opposite. So it was nice. I am just relieved & happy to finally know what is causing all this pain I've been having. Hopefully the cyst goes away soon, and I can go back to feeling fine, and doing what I want! I feel like I was stressing out about nothing. But it is always scary when something is going on with your body that you can not explain. I had no idea what was going on, now that I do, I feel better. The pain is obviously still there, but now at least I know what it is from. I was scared about the biopsy because I have seen my best friend go through some pretty scary stuff, and while I would take all of her pain & problems & have them for my own if I could, it was scary to know what some of the bad results could come back as. Like I said in my last post, she is amazing! I love her!
 Richard seems relieved to know what is going on now, too. He is also amazing. I am just blessed with awesome people in my life!