FAMILY VACATION!

So after lots of thought, we have decided that we are going to go to my friend's destination wedding! It is 15 hours away in North Carolina. We originally planned on going alone, but Lil's separation anxiety has gotten so bad that I just could not put her through that for four days. My friend who is getting married has a baby that is two months younger then Lil, so I know that the house we are staying in will be baby friendly!
We decided on driving because A) flying is expensive!
B) i'm afriad of flying, especially with my baby!
C) my parents are letting us borrow their honda insight! it is basically a prius, with a huge trunk and greatttttt gas mileage! 
& D) we are most likely going to stop half way and spend the night with my big sister who goes to college in Pennsylvania!

Lil loves her car seat, so I really think that the drive won't be bad at all, especially because once we are at the wedding we don't have to get back into the car until we leave! We will be gone for five days, but if Michael can get the time off then we will try for a week! I hope to take a lot of pictures and a lot of video!

Vicious Cycles

As Lil's first birthday gets closer and closer my baby fever gets worse and worse. I want her to have a sibling to play with and grow up with. Her father and I have so much fun with her and I know that adding another one would just add to how amazing our family is! I also LOVE LOVE LOVE being pregnant, and I know that lil would love having a baby in house. BUT we have a few problems.

1. We are getting married/going on a honeymoon this year and I do not want to be pregnant for either of those. Not that there is anything wrong with either of those things, its just not for me.

2. We live pretty much rent free in a home that was built for us on his families land. Due to some family issues this place is not guaranteed forever. It is only a 2 bedroom, and we want to be on our own in our own house/apartment. Also the cost of living in our state is craazzyyyy! Yeah, we live in an area that is the second to darkest red...of course.

3.Michael's job does more then get us by, but we don't pay rent. So in order for us to get a 3 bedroom/our own/ bigger place, he would need a better job.

I have considered getting a job a few days a week, but daycare is so expensive that it would eat up everything I got paid and then some! It is all just such a vicious cycle!

I know that we will figure this all out, and I am going to start doing my part by not spending money on stupid things and SAVE SAVE SAVE!

I always do things that I want to do as soon as I want to do them...hence the 10 month old at age and I love being pregnant and a mommy so much that I would hate to be all done at only 21/22! But I really do think that Lil should have a sibling close to her age. Once again, another vicious cycle....

Party Planning Palooza!

Whoaaa...no time no talk, huh? Well my winter blues are steadily fading, and the sun is shining longer every day. SPRING IS ALMOST HERE! My house is clean, my baby is growing and happy, its Michael and I's birthday month and most importantly, its almost Little's birthday! Her birthday is two months and one week away! I know that we still have sometime left, but I want to pinterest the crap out of this party!

My first theme idea was to do pink giraffes. She has a thing for giraffes and they are super cute. But I kind of want to do something more girly and spring like. So I'm leaning towards something more like this....

 This is from Marie BitsAndClipsonYoutube. This was her daughters first birthday party, and I just love the color scheme and some of the decorations!

I think that the owls are so cute! I don't want to overly theme the owls, but the color pallet that I want is very spring-y! Pastel pink, yellows and teals.

 

Knowing me, I will probably change my mind 100 times before her party actually happens, but I am so excited to get to the store and start making things!

8 Month Update!

Sleeping Beauty. Minus the sleeping part....

So I don't know if she is teething or what, but little miss has been sleeping like CRAP lately. Like me having to sleep on the nursery floor bad. That is what I had to do last night. Me and one of our cats cuddled on the foam Disney princess mat on the floor and tired to sleep. She was on such a great sleep schedule. Down at 8:30pm up at 7:00am then back down until 9:00 after a baba. Now she only sleeps about a half hour during the day, and then is impossible to get down at night. She was up until 12:00 last night! And then she kept getting up! Micheal had to be to work at 7:00am and I didn't want her crying on the monitor to wake her up, so I decided to sleep in her room. I'm such a good wifey huh? :)

This was tonight. She was acting like she was ready for bed around 8:30. This picture was taken at 10:00. FML. I finally got her to sleep a few minutes ago. WISH ME LUCK!

Mirena mirena, go away. VENT.

 So some of this might be a little bit TMI, but it is a part of being a mom/fiance. After Lil was born I got the Mirena IUD. The idea of it, something placed in your uterus for five years to prevent pregnancy and you don't have to think about it, is way too good to be true. Yes it prevents pregnancy for five years, but its not just because of the hormones in it, it because you bleed for 3-6 months straight after insertion. Also, your partner never wants to do anything that could result in a baby with you because the IUD has little metal strings that hang down into your "area," therefore poking his "area." Yeah, no babies for us. And to say that you don't have to think about it is far from the truth! I'm pretty sure when I am doubled over in pain from the cramps, and stuck in bed with my heating pad on my back I'm definitely thinking about it! And when I'm at the store buying "girly things" once a week I'm definitely thinking about it!

And when my mood swings make me act like this guy right here it totally puts a strain on my relationship.

Now, I know that the benefits of the Mirena will outweigh the pain and suffering in the end. If I were to get pregnant before my wedding or honeymoon I would hate myself forever. So, I will give this evil piece of plastic a chance, probably a few more months.

Weight Watchers?

Jennifer Hudson is a beautifullll woman, and watching her weight watchers commercials make me want to jump on the ww band wagon so badly! I've seen many women on youtube who have also had success with it. I have goals in place for wedding weight loss, but I don't really do a whole lot about it. I am a huge procrastinator, and I can always come up with an excuse when it comes to starting healthy eating/exercising. Granted, some of my excuses are valid, like having a baby who only naps in the car or not having a car of my own to go to the gym in or not having a babysitter so Michael and I can go to the gym. I'm just scared that time will run out before my excuses do....

Not only do I want to look my absolute best on my wedding day, but Michael and I want to get healthy. We want to be a good example for our daughter, and we want to be around for her as long as we can. Michael already quit smoking last April, which is amazing, so now we just need to work on our weight and healthy habits.

So, what I was thinking(and i'm going to propose this idea to Michael) is that I should sign op for weight watchers online+meetings and one night a week one of our parents could watch Lil. I don't have my own car so Michael could go to the gym right down the road from our local ww building and then after the meetings I could meet him at the gym and work out a little bit! That gives him some gym time, and then I can teach him everything I learn and cook with their recipes! I know that it is a little expensive, but I really think it is worth it. So many people have had success with it, and it has been around for a really long time. Also, in the grand scheme of things, I really don't have that much to loose. So I can go to the meetings until I feel comfortable, and then knock back my membership to online only, which is cheaper! And obviously if I decide to do this I will talk all about it here! I just can't wait until my wedding day and I want to not look back on it with regret if I am not happy with my body on the most important day of my life(besides May 22,2011:p)

GUESTLISTMANIA!

Holy-crudmole. Who are these 173 people? I know that I defiantly do not know 173 people. I haven't hung out with a friend in months...how are there 173 people invited to my wedding?
That number doesn't even include most of Michael's family and then the guests that get to bring a guest with them. OHEMGEEEEE.

I probably shouldn't complain because if my parents(who are hosting the wedding) didn't invite their friends then there probably wouldn't be anyone on the dance floor at the reception. Michael and I don't have that many friends.

Then there is the golden rule when it comes to your wedding:more people=more presents:)

I know that not everyone that gets invited shows up, so we will see what the numbers are after the response cards start coming in. I wanted to get my save the dates out by the end of this month, but that is not gonna happen. I need to get the whole guest list together, like finalized, by the end of the weekend! And then I need to print the save the dates, get envelopes and stamps, address said envelopes and then send them off! PHEW! This is going to be A LOT of work! But I know that obviously it will all be worth it, and it is going to be the BEST DAY EVER!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?....

So along with everything that happened last weekend lets just add some more into the mix of my life!
Now don't get me wrong, I am very thankful for what I have and I am so grateful that everyone I love is healthy but lately its just one thing after another! So are you ready for this one?!

I live where is snows. A lot. So Michael bought a plow truck, actually borrowed the money from his parents for a plow truck and he got a few accounts. One driveway thats $40, another driveway thats $60 and then a government building that paid $250. It had snowed three times already and that extra money really helped. The first $100 usually went into gas and truck maintenance so we were putting about $250-$300 into the bank every time it snowed.

We were supposed to get hit last night with about 3-6' and we did. I woke up at about 1:00am and it was snowing pretty good. At around 2:00am we got woken up to a text message from our subcontractor from the government job. Now don't get my wrong, this guy is a nice guy and he is just trying to do what Michael is trying to do, make money for his family, but this guy had NO IDEA what he was doing. He got the plow account without even having a truck! So he hired Michael to do the plowing and he was supposed to take care of the sidewalks and the sanding/salting. Well last week after it snowed a government worker slipped and fell in the parking lot because smarty-pants never organized a way for the parking lot to be sanded/salted. NICE MOVE STUPID!

So long story short Michael gets a text at 2 in the morning, while its snowing saying that we lost the account! First off, be a man and call Michael, not a 12 year old girl and text him. Secondly, maybe you should know what your doing before you hire people to work for you!

Michael and I were so upset. And you know what the best part about it is? Michael works somewhere where it is closed when it snows because he is plowing. The job is ok, but not the best paying job. He had the chance to work somewhere where the pay is better, but he wanted to wait until winter was over cause he couldn't plow and work there at the same time, but they hired someone else two days ago! If we had known he had lost the account he could have gotten that other job so easily!

 

This isn't Lil. Her face just shows how I feel:)

Sorry for the hugeeeee rant, I just wanted to get all that out instead of putting it all over facebook! Hopefully things will start turning around for us :)

Four day hiatus...

whoopsiessssss.


After two days of not blogging my excuse was that it was michael's "weekend" and then after three days I had the excuse of doing laundry all day, but four days? Come on Brittney....

Michael's weekend was less than enjoyable. Besides date night Saturday night. We went out to dinner, went to Target to get toilet paper and then came home...whooohoooooo! We spent the night watching football...so.much.fun. At least I got some sleep. We slept in until 11! That was great, but it went downhill from there.

We were supposed to be at my mom's house by 1:30 to have lunch with her and my grandmother and to pick Lil up. We had been driving Michael's grandmother's truck because his plow truck is a single cab and we don't fit very well in it with the three of us, and it also had a leak somewhere in it. We don't drive my car because it has a bad transmission, we don't drive our tahoe cause it has a bad battery, and we don't drive Michael's '06 cobalt because it is horrible in the snow. So of course we break down on the way to my moms house....on the side of the high way. Michael had to go back to the house with AAA with the truck so his brother picked me up and brought be to my mom's house. BUT, before I left Michael went to call AAA but he couldn't find his phone and now 5 days later he still hasn't found it. GREAT DAY HUH?!

Michael ended up borrowing his brothers car to come pick us up later that night. The whole next day we couldn't go anywhere and nobody could fix and of our 569,000 cars because it was Martian Luther King Jr. Day!

On Tuesday Michael couldn't get to work so he stayed home and we got his plow truck fixed, so that is what we are driving around in. Or should I say crammed into. I can't wait until we fix my car so that I can go places!


& to top it all off this is what Michael is stuck with for a phone for awhile. Poor guy:(

Good Morning!

                                                                    good morning!

.....look at that happy little face! Well mama's face wasn't that happy during the 3 times she woke up last night. I know that I shouldn't complain cause she has been sleeping SO GOOD lately.

Besides that pretty smile, another thing that made me smile this morning(after I was willingly awake) was the scale! I know that it took me way too long to get to this point, but I'm not complaining cause I'm not even really trying, but when I weighed myself this morning I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight!
Its a great milestone for me to get to(FINALLY) and I would be happy about it if:
a) I was happy with my body when I got pregnant
b) I wasn't getting married in 217 days
Still, for not really even trying thats pretty good. My next goal is set for Valentines Day, which is a month from today! And my long term goal is to be the same weight that I was at my junior prom by my first wedding dress fitting on June 2nd.

One last thing that is making me smile today is that it is Michael's friday! He has had such a long week, and being stuck in the house all week has been driving me crazy! My mom is taking Little for the night. I miss her a lot when she goes to her grandparents for the night, especially when she goes with my mom because she lives 45 minutes away. I don't think that tonight is going to be a crazy night, all I really want is uninterrupted sleep! The last time Lil went with my parents Michael and I ended up helping his parents with a family emergency until 2 in the morning and then got woken up at 8 to help them again.
Because this week was so busy and because our last "date night" was such an epic fail I've decided that we are going to keep our phones and computers off(unless its my mom calling!) We'll see if that actually happens though. I'm excited anyways!

Snow Day Jerzday

                         
 








 mmmmm breakfast:)



So yesterday was our first snowday of the year! I didn't have to go to school and I didn't have to go to work! Oh wait....I never do either of those things...I remember when snow days were the best day ever. The best part was being able to go back to sleep. My dad, who wakes up way to early, would turn my alarm clock off for me when the made the call on a snow day. I would always wake up and he would tell me that there was no school and I would go back to sleep. Another favorite memory that I have of snow days is that where Michael works they close if its snowing or raining out. We would snuggle and watch movies all day. But, now that we are big people and I don't live at home anymore, I don't go to school anymore, sleeping in is unheard of, and Michael plows when it snows cause we can't afford for him to not work every time is snows, snow days are just another day. The only good part is that he makes as much money in one day as he usually does in a week plowing. So that is a definite plus:)

The poor guy was out until after 11pm last night plowing and shoveling. He was out so late that he missed Jersey shore. Kind of a pathetic ritual we have, but hey at least it lets me take a few minutes to run away to drunk-idiot land in my head.  See? Doesn't that look fun?

 

Today I need to catch up on so much house work. We'll see how much I get done cause Little slept from 8-7:30 then went back to sleep until 10. I don't see many naps in our future. There is lots a laundry to be put away and my kitchen and bedroom floors are less then desirable. 

Well TGIF, and tomorrow night is DATE NIGHTTT! Date night 2.0 that is. Last time didn't go so well. Maybe I will drag Michael to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D....?

The Princess

This little girl is so amazing, and the biggest part of my life that she needed her own post as her introduction. Little was born on May 22nd,2011. She was only 5lbs 8oz and 17.7 inches long. But, despite her size and age she was healthy!

 

We were only in the hospital a few extra days before we brought her home. She fit right in. I felt so complete. She is everything that I have ever wanted. We decided that I would stay home with her while Michael worked. Although it may be tedious and even boring sometimes I love it just the same. I can't imagine life before her. And as you will see, she is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life.

sorry for the photobomb. i'm just a tiny bit obsessed:)

A little background...

Without giving away too much, because i'm well aware of all the creeps out there in interwebs-land here is our story. And when I say we I mean my family. My fiance and our daughter. Yes, at the ripe age of 19 I have a fiance AND a baby! I'm proud of it too. I know that the chances aren't very good for us, but I FEEL, like deep, deep in my heart that we are going to be just fine. We (believe it or not) chose this life and we love living it every day. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you its easy, because its not, but I can say that I love it. Every minute of it, even the bad minutes. So, in chronological order, here is our story.

2008: Michael and I met in 2008. He was 18 and I was 16. We started dating on August 5. We both knew right away that this was it, we were done searching, we wouldn't have to deal with the awful, awkward, depressing, but sometimes exciting and fun dating world like the rest of our friends. We were in love. Instantly.

2009-2010: We dated all through my junior and senior year of high school. Through 2 proms and two summers. My favorite part of the day was when he picked my up from school. I always felt so cool having an older guy pick me up in the parking lot in front of all my cheerleader friends in his cool car with his loud music. After graduation I moved in with him. Literally the same day because the was the earliest my parents would let me, even though I had turned 18 two months prior. We had an amazing summer, filled with parties, friends, our traditional river trip and pointless part time jobs. I started college in the fall and by the second week I was miserable. I didn't want to go to school to teach other peoples kids...I just wanted one of my own...

 Maybe baby: I expressed my feelings with Michael. We knew that we were going to be together forever and to be honest Michael generally likes to give me what I want. So we decided that it was worth a shot. Little did we know, it only took one shot at trying and on October 8th, 2010 we learned that we would soon be a family of 3.

My ego was preggo: I was pregnant from September to May. It was the most amazing, surreal experience ever. Our families were supportive and not surprised in the slightest by our decision. Being pregnant felt so natural to me, like I had been doing to my whole life. A few weeks after I found out that I was pregnant, Michael proposed to me. I of course said yes! We are getting married 8.18.12<3 I completed two semesters of college and 10 days after my last final and the morning after my baby shower, Lillian Grace came into this world 4 weeks and 2 days early.