Monday, December 5, 2011
JUST ONE YEAR, and it goes so quick
I cannot believe that my baby girl turned 1 yesterday. She is officially a toddler. Crawling, walking, talking and eating table food. She had a wonderful day. We started out the day in Georgetown, MD for cupcakes. Georgetown Cupcakes is the best bakery ever. Then we drove a few minutes away to the National Zoo to visit the Gorillas. After doing half of the zoo we headed home for presents and the traditional Baby covered in cake. As I look back at pics from the past year I feel a little sad. She is not a baby baby anymore. But she will always be my baby. Most importantly where has the past year gone?
Sunday, August 14, 2011
8 Months...
Monday, August 1, 2011
GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF MY HAPPY MEAL!!!!!!!
I have been going back and forth about blogging about this issue and what exactly I would say. Not sure if anyone ACTUALLY reads my posts, but just in case, I am peeved and am ready to get this off of my chest.
I am more than just a Mom, I am also a person. Occasionally I am in the mood for some salty french fries from McDonald's. They are my FAVORITE french fries. We do not need to mention how many I consumed while pregnant with Annalise. There are times I want McDonald's and I do not feel like eating a HUGE meal, so I get a Happy Meal. It gives me a small dose of my fried, salty goodness, as well as either a burger or chicken nuggets. Well now Thanks to Michelle Obama (We all know she is behind this), some self righteous trendy Moms, and them dang Tree Hugging hippies I will no longer be able to get my fix.I will now only get HALF the amount of fries and some unwanted apple slices. McDonald's has caved to pressure, in fear of future regulations I'm sure, and is changing the contents of the beloved Happy Meal. Did I mention that this meal has been like this for YEARS and no one has had a problem with it? All because our First Lady and all of her Band Wagon fans are blaming The Happy Meal for childhood obesity. Such Blasphemy.
I have a question for all of you self righteous, nosey people: What did the Happy Meal ever do to you? I was always taught that if you didn't like the way a place does business, then don't patron there. It's that simple. If you don't want your kids eating that, then don't take them there. But leave it alone for those of us who CHOOSE to patron there. I am not into the whole raw/vegan/vegetarian movements you people come up with. But if that's what you choose to eat, and feed your kids, it's your choice. You don't see me leading protests to force your trendy raw place serve me cooked meat do you? NO, because I am respecting other people's choices and how they raise their kids. I am not FORCING my beliefs and way of doing things on others. The last time I checked We live in America, where we are supposed to be FREE to make these choices ourselves and not have the government make them for us. Wasn't that the whole purpose of our ancestors coming over on the Mayflower? How about when we fought Britain for our independence? Was that the case or did I just dream all that up?
I am currently 35 years old and I personally did not eat a lot of Happy meals due to the fact that my parents were too poor to buy them for 4 children. But when I did get one, I cherished it, and ate every bite. The Happy Meal has been sorta like a rite of passage for kids for years. Plenty of my friends ate Happy Meals on a regular basis and guess what? They were not obese!!!!!! I wonder why? Oh maybe because in My day we played outside, rode bikes, had recess everyday, as well as PE on a regular basis. We didn't have computers, cellphones, video games, and all of this technology that the kids are addicted to these days. They do not but sit on their butts glued to whatever technology device they can be. Kids these days are LAZY. Also back in my day we had parks to go play at, I remember riding my bike with my siblings to a park that was about a 5 to 10 minute bike ride away from home. We would play kick ball, red rover, tag, play on the slides, and swings. Then when it was time to go home (we had a watch to tell us what time it was--remember those?) we rode our bikes the entire 5 to 10 minute ride home. Nowadays that park is an abandoned lot and no children playing outside for miles.
As a Mom, yes I will let My Annalise eat Happy Meals when she is old enough, and of course it will be in moderation. Don't you fret, I will be buying a small order of fries so she can have her yummy goodness just like I did as a child. Yes go ahead and faint you Happy Meal Haters!!!! You know what else I am going to do? She will sleep in her own bed, NOT a family bed, She will eat cooked foods, meat, and whatever else I dang well feel like feeding her. MY KID MY CHOICE, NOT YOURS!!!!!! On top of all of the bad food I will be feeding her, She will play outside, be limited on her technology access, and sleep in her own dang bed, in her own room. No family bed in this house.
So for all of you who feel the need to worry about what other people are feeding their kids, how about instead you focus on these things. (1) Get more parks in the neighborhoods so that children have a safe place to play and run around. (2) Fight to keep PE in the schools and more than once a week. (3) Make sure that recess is still in schools to give the kids a chance to move around on days that they do not get PE. Oh and here is a better idea take your kids out to play as well. So many kids do not get enough exercise. How about we make that a priority instead of butting into what others feed their kids. because in all reality people, Other people's kids are NOT your responsibilty. I know that this might be hard for some of you to comprehend, but it's true. Worry about your own children how you see fit, and leave mine to me.
I am more than just a Mom, I am also a person. Occasionally I am in the mood for some salty french fries from McDonald's. They are my FAVORITE french fries. We do not need to mention how many I consumed while pregnant with Annalise. There are times I want McDonald's and I do not feel like eating a HUGE meal, so I get a Happy Meal. It gives me a small dose of my fried, salty goodness, as well as either a burger or chicken nuggets. Well now Thanks to Michelle Obama (We all know she is behind this), some self righteous trendy Moms, and them dang Tree Hugging hippies I will no longer be able to get my fix.I will now only get HALF the amount of fries and some unwanted apple slices. McDonald's has caved to pressure, in fear of future regulations I'm sure, and is changing the contents of the beloved Happy Meal. Did I mention that this meal has been like this for YEARS and no one has had a problem with it? All because our First Lady and all of her Band Wagon fans are blaming The Happy Meal for childhood obesity. Such Blasphemy.
I have a question for all of you self righteous, nosey people: What did the Happy Meal ever do to you? I was always taught that if you didn't like the way a place does business, then don't patron there. It's that simple. If you don't want your kids eating that, then don't take them there. But leave it alone for those of us who CHOOSE to patron there. I am not into the whole raw/vegan/vegetarian movements you people come up with. But if that's what you choose to eat, and feed your kids, it's your choice. You don't see me leading protests to force your trendy raw place serve me cooked meat do you? NO, because I am respecting other people's choices and how they raise their kids. I am not FORCING my beliefs and way of doing things on others. The last time I checked We live in America, where we are supposed to be FREE to make these choices ourselves and not have the government make them for us. Wasn't that the whole purpose of our ancestors coming over on the Mayflower? How about when we fought Britain for our independence? Was that the case or did I just dream all that up?
I am currently 35 years old and I personally did not eat a lot of Happy meals due to the fact that my parents were too poor to buy them for 4 children. But when I did get one, I cherished it, and ate every bite. The Happy Meal has been sorta like a rite of passage for kids for years. Plenty of my friends ate Happy Meals on a regular basis and guess what? They were not obese!!!!!! I wonder why? Oh maybe because in My day we played outside, rode bikes, had recess everyday, as well as PE on a regular basis. We didn't have computers, cellphones, video games, and all of this technology that the kids are addicted to these days. They do not but sit on their butts glued to whatever technology device they can be. Kids these days are LAZY. Also back in my day we had parks to go play at, I remember riding my bike with my siblings to a park that was about a 5 to 10 minute bike ride away from home. We would play kick ball, red rover, tag, play on the slides, and swings. Then when it was time to go home (we had a watch to tell us what time it was--remember those?) we rode our bikes the entire 5 to 10 minute ride home. Nowadays that park is an abandoned lot and no children playing outside for miles.
As a Mom, yes I will let My Annalise eat Happy Meals when she is old enough, and of course it will be in moderation. Don't you fret, I will be buying a small order of fries so she can have her yummy goodness just like I did as a child. Yes go ahead and faint you Happy Meal Haters!!!! You know what else I am going to do? She will sleep in her own bed, NOT a family bed, She will eat cooked foods, meat, and whatever else I dang well feel like feeding her. MY KID MY CHOICE, NOT YOURS!!!!!! On top of all of the bad food I will be feeding her, She will play outside, be limited on her technology access, and sleep in her own dang bed, in her own room. No family bed in this house.
So for all of you who feel the need to worry about what other people are feeding their kids, how about instead you focus on these things. (1) Get more parks in the neighborhoods so that children have a safe place to play and run around. (2) Fight to keep PE in the schools and more than once a week. (3) Make sure that recess is still in schools to give the kids a chance to move around on days that they do not get PE. Oh and here is a better idea take your kids out to play as well. So many kids do not get enough exercise. How about we make that a priority instead of butting into what others feed their kids. because in all reality people, Other people's kids are NOT your responsibilty. I know that this might be hard for some of you to comprehend, but it's true. Worry about your own children how you see fit, and leave mine to me.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
7 Months already
Monday, June 13, 2011
6 Months old going on 5
Annalise is 6 months old now. She is 6 months old going on 5 years old. Already 18.4 lbs and 27.5 inches long. She is tall for her age. Shooting up like a weed. Her weight has slowed down now that she is moving all around. Today she rolled from back to tummy and back to her back for the 1st time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost missed it, I had looked away for a few seconds. She holds her bottle and even drinks from a cup. She is just amazing. Her laugh makes my heart overflow with such immense love and joy at the same time. I never knew it was possible to feel this way.
Like I said Growing like a weed.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Disney Dining Plan: RAGLAND ROAD IRISH PUB AND RESTAURANT
I want to share a snippet from how we saved a bundle using the Disney Dining Plan while on our last trip to the world. I did not save all of our receipts, so wish that I had to really demonstrate how we saved a fortune and got to eat at 4/5 Star places.
Now Due to being Military we were able to get a room and the dining plan without having to buy the tickets from Disney. Good thing we got the tickets at Military Price for $135.00 (4 days with park hopper)
We spent 45.99 per night per person for the dining plan. We stayed 4 nights. For each day you got 1 snack, 1 counter service meal, and 1 sit down meal. Quite the deal when you see how much you save.
First Up Ragland Road Irish Pub at Downtown Disney. Sitdown Meal. Upscale Irish Pub and Restaurant.
On the dining plan with the meals you get a dessert with your meal and a beverage. Alcohol and appetizers are not included. Here is what we ordered.
1 Killians Red-$6.00 1 Appetizer Platter-$26.00 1 Paddys Pork-$23.00 1SalmonDinner-$25.00
1 Apple/Strawberry Crumble-$7.99 1 Dunbrody Kiss(chocolate)-$7.99 1 Baileys Coffee-$8.50
Our Bill total was $110.33 After the dining plan deduction we paid $42.99 plus tip.
Before Tax we saved $63.98. If my husband had skipped on the beer and coffee it would have been different. But still You have to think that My Entree was $23 plus my dessert for $7.99 plus my tea, which was not on the bill. If you subtract My meal from my $45.99 meal plan cost I am left with$15 bucks. That's not including the tax on my meal. So estimate it to be about 12 bucks left. Now for 1 day I still had a counter service meal and a snack. A snack is: a food item, or a beverage. Let's not forget this is Disney and I have dropped 12 bucks on a counter service meal before. A bottle of water is about $2.50. On this particular day I made my money and little extra. For lunch that day we ate at Flame Tree BBQ in Animal Kingdom. My meal was about 10 bucks, plus I had dessert and a beverage. I used my snack that day to grab a Mickey Ice Cream Bar at the hotel while swimming.
Stay tuned I have more to come
Now Due to being Military we were able to get a room and the dining plan without having to buy the tickets from Disney. Good thing we got the tickets at Military Price for $135.00 (4 days with park hopper)
We spent 45.99 per night per person for the dining plan. We stayed 4 nights. For each day you got 1 snack, 1 counter service meal, and 1 sit down meal. Quite the deal when you see how much you save.
First Up Ragland Road Irish Pub at Downtown Disney. Sitdown Meal. Upscale Irish Pub and Restaurant.
On the dining plan with the meals you get a dessert with your meal and a beverage. Alcohol and appetizers are not included. Here is what we ordered.
1 Killians Red-$6.00 1 Appetizer Platter-$26.00 1 Paddys Pork-$23.00 1SalmonDinner-$25.00
1 Apple/Strawberry Crumble-$7.99 1 Dunbrody Kiss(chocolate)-$7.99 1 Baileys Coffee-$8.50
Our Bill total was $110.33 After the dining plan deduction we paid $42.99 plus tip.
Before Tax we saved $63.98. If my husband had skipped on the beer and coffee it would have been different. But still You have to think that My Entree was $23 plus my dessert for $7.99 plus my tea, which was not on the bill. If you subtract My meal from my $45.99 meal plan cost I am left with$15 bucks. That's not including the tax on my meal. So estimate it to be about 12 bucks left. Now for 1 day I still had a counter service meal and a snack. A snack is: a food item, or a beverage. Let's not forget this is Disney and I have dropped 12 bucks on a counter service meal before. A bottle of water is about $2.50. On this particular day I made my money and little extra. For lunch that day we ate at Flame Tree BBQ in Animal Kingdom. My meal was about 10 bucks, plus I had dessert and a beverage. I used my snack that day to grab a Mickey Ice Cream Bar at the hotel while swimming.
Stay tuned I have more to come
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Baby laughs and giggles
I sit here writing this as I have been reflecting on the past 4 months and some time before that. Annalise will be 4 months old on the 4th. She laughed for the first time the other day. It was a half laugh. Well tonight just for me she was really laughing an really hard too. To hear my sweet baby giggle and laugh was music to my ears. To see her face light up at the same time brought tears of joy to my eyes.
It makes me think back to her being born so I started pouring over the hundreds of pictures I have snapped in the past 4 months of her. I found a few that I had forgotten about and do not remember. Here are a few
It makes me think back to her being born so I started pouring over the hundreds of pictures I have snapped in the past 4 months of her. I found a few that I had forgotten about and do not remember. Here are a few
Friday, March 4, 2011
3 Month Milestone
I look at my Baby girl today and wonder where the past 3 months have gone. It seems like Yesterday I was screaming to push her out and now I have this wonderful baby who is getting bigger every day. I love to watch her develop her personality. The smiles, trying to laugh, and checking everything out with her mouth. Everything goes in the mouth, LOL> I know that may sound bad, but every bib, blankie and rattle she has to taste.
My little baby is 3 months old now and still growing, currently sleeping ahhhhh the little things.
My little baby is 3 months old now and still growing, currently sleeping ahhhhh the little things.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sleep at Last
It is the most wonderful thing when your baby starts to sleep through the night. The first night they do it you wake up panicked that something is wrong. So you scurry off the nursery to make sure everything is okay. By the 3rd night of this you start to relax but also you get spoiled of getting that 6 to 8 hours of sleep. Then you have the next few nights of them waking up once here and there. But finally it is an every night deal. SWEET!!!!!!!!!!
I feel like a new woman with a full night's sleep every night. I am able to face the day like a normal person instead of coming off like a half crazed looney. My pediatrician even commented recently on how happy I looked. Did I really look that bad? I love doing our bedtime ritual and then putting her down for the ENTIRE NIGHT!!!!!
THE DOWNSIDE: The downside to Annalise sleeping through the night is the naps are shorter and fewer during the day. There have been days with no naps. So how are you supposed to cook, clean, run errands, all the while keeping your baby entertained and cared for? It is rough and exhausting so by the time her bedtime rolls around I am ready to crash. I can barely hold my eyes open some nights. She goes down between 9 - 10 PM, and sleeps until anywhere between 6 - 9 AM. Lately it's been close to 8:30 AM. That is a blessing. I wake up, get dressed and have my coffee all before the Peanut wakes up.
It is funny what a Mom learns to accomplish while your little baby naps. Lots to do everyday with little to no time to do it. but at least for now we have Sleep at Last.
I feel like a new woman with a full night's sleep every night. I am able to face the day like a normal person instead of coming off like a half crazed looney. My pediatrician even commented recently on how happy I looked. Did I really look that bad? I love doing our bedtime ritual and then putting her down for the ENTIRE NIGHT!!!!!
THE DOWNSIDE: The downside to Annalise sleeping through the night is the naps are shorter and fewer during the day. There have been days with no naps. So how are you supposed to cook, clean, run errands, all the while keeping your baby entertained and cared for? It is rough and exhausting so by the time her bedtime rolls around I am ready to crash. I can barely hold my eyes open some nights. She goes down between 9 - 10 PM, and sleeps until anywhere between 6 - 9 AM. Lately it's been close to 8:30 AM. That is a blessing. I wake up, get dressed and have my coffee all before the Peanut wakes up.
It is funny what a Mom learns to accomplish while your little baby naps. Lots to do everyday with little to no time to do it. but at least for now we have Sleep at Last.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
2010 gone What did I accomplish? 2011 already in progress..
My first post for the new year. In 2010 I had set out to learn something new every month. I was also working out, using my Wii Fit to help me out. I was progressing with a few lapses when I found out that I would be having a baby.
2010 brought many new things and changes to my life. I had a baby at 35, how crazy is that. I had been told that I would deliver early my entire pregnancy, well she was a week late. Docs do not know everything. I was reminded that my husband is just a man and could possibly stray at anytime. Note to self: keep all 24 yr old single moms away from him, LOL. I did manage to read more books in 2010 than 2009. I beat my number by a few books. Hooray me!!!!!!
The big one here: My learning something new project. When I started out I thought that I would be learning new things, hobbies, etc. I learned more about myself, life and how things will either make you or break you. To this day I do not know if Rob and Heather hooked up. I don't know if her texts that she sent me were real. All I know is that they were friends, texted each other for hours on end, and he took her out to dinner one night and they met for drinks a few times and he picked up the tab. It still eats at me a bit every day but I am dealing with it. I do believe in my heart of hearts that there was something there. I am not sure what but there was something.
2011 is a New Year and I am not sure what it has in store for me. I had not set any goals yet. I am still learning to cope with a baby and the lack of sleep. As of right now I am a stay at home mom/wife. I would not make enough for daycare so I stay home. ( I would pay for daycare and have maybe 20 bucks left over.) I really miss having a job and making my own money.
Until next time.....
2010 brought many new things and changes to my life. I had a baby at 35, how crazy is that. I had been told that I would deliver early my entire pregnancy, well she was a week late. Docs do not know everything. I was reminded that my husband is just a man and could possibly stray at anytime. Note to self: keep all 24 yr old single moms away from him, LOL. I did manage to read more books in 2010 than 2009. I beat my number by a few books. Hooray me!!!!!!
The big one here: My learning something new project. When I started out I thought that I would be learning new things, hobbies, etc. I learned more about myself, life and how things will either make you or break you. To this day I do not know if Rob and Heather hooked up. I don't know if her texts that she sent me were real. All I know is that they were friends, texted each other for hours on end, and he took her out to dinner one night and they met for drinks a few times and he picked up the tab. It still eats at me a bit every day but I am dealing with it. I do believe in my heart of hearts that there was something there. I am not sure what but there was something.
2011 is a New Year and I am not sure what it has in store for me. I had not set any goals yet. I am still learning to cope with a baby and the lack of sleep. As of right now I am a stay at home mom/wife. I would not make enough for daycare so I stay home. ( I would pay for daycare and have maybe 20 bucks left over.) I really miss having a job and making my own money.
Until next time.....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)