Which Dress??

I need help choosing my bridesmaid dress for Missy & Ed's wedding!! I just can't decide so I'm enlisting the help of my family and friends to help me decide :)

I have chosen 8 that I really like - the dress will be in black and any strapless will have the optional spaghetti straps attached.

I will number each picture and please leave a comment with the number you think would look best. May 1st I will purchase the dress with the most votes, thank you for your help!

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

How Cute Is She??

Grandma Ellie made Bella this last outfit, she had to model it over her jammies :)

UGH - Mental Weight Bashing Going On

So Missy and Ed are getting married in September as we all know, Missy is letting us pick our own bridesmaid dresses (YAY!! :)). I've been searching casually online, Mindy, Jenn and Laura have found theirs, I thought I found mine but of course am changing my mind. Laura, Jenn & Mindy's dresses are perfect for them, seriously, perfect! Jenn's is flowy, romantic and just reminds me of Jenn; Mindy's is young, fun and totally Mindy; Laura's is fun, flowy and boob hideable, so perfect for Laura ;)

The one I initially picked was very plain, actually too plain and I'm totally changing my mind. As I'm searching through House of Brides and staring at these stick thin models I have it in my head that I will be that thin for the wedding! Why?? I have no freaking clue why it's in my head that I need to lose 20 pounds or so...

Am I overweight....NO

Am I blessed with a nice size chest.....YES (I want my boobies to get much smaller....to accomplish that I need to lose weight)

Usually body perfection doesn't bother me as much as it has been lately. I guess in my mind I have no excuse to not have the "perfect" body. Pure laziness is my big problem and I go through this process about twice a year and never get to the weight/size I really desire to be.

Can this year really be different? I god damn hope so, I hope with summer coming up, Missy's wedding and just the desire to be "thin" will be enough motivation.

My down fall here is that I LOVE bad food, seriously LOVE it!! I love pasta, fast food, sweets, Dr. Pepper, lots of things that are not good for someone wanting to be thinner. I'm trying to do a 10 day cleanse/diet to jump start the weight loss. I get to eat five times a day, of course it's not a whole lot of food but LOTS of fruits, veggies & fish. Actually a lot of what I can eat is super filling, I'm just re-teaching myself to be a smarter eater. I feel so much better when I eat this good food and not crap, but I CRAVE the bad food so badly...I hate you stupid Burger King, Wendy's, Taco John's, Coldstone Creamery.....

I just have to sacrifice for a while until I get to where I want to be, and enjoy my healthy foods so much that I'm no longer craving the bad stuff as badly, but it's HARD. Especially when I'm giving Isabella the most fattening foods I can think of so she can GAIN some weight!!

Thank god I do enjoy working out, and have gotten back into my running (although I took last week off due to my sinus issues). Bella is 2 years old, there is no reason I should still have my little "pooch". I am not blessed with good genes to where magically everthing goes back to the way it was, I have friends that are and man I am jealous of that!!! ;)

I CAN DO THIS!!!

Sympathy Of A 2 Year Old

So I've been sick for the past week with sinus crap. Bella knew I wasn't feeling well and she kept wanting to give me kisses, so I told her she can only give mommy cheek kisses when I'm sick.

I have gotten about five billion cheek kisses this week :) The best part.....after each cheek kiss I hear "I wuv you so much!".

We have the sweetest little girl and I often find myself wondering how she has come to be so amazingly sweet and hoping that this will never go away in her. I guess it helps when her mommy and daddy are constantly telling her how beautiful, sweet, fun, amazing, and just plain wonderful she is.....oh and that she's a princess ;)

I think the best cure for me this week has definately been the sweet little cheek kisses!

Wisconsin Fun

I had a GREAT time in Wisconsin, I miss everyone and thank them for housing me, letting me eat/drink their food, Angie for snuggling with me (Nika too), Stacy & Angie for introducing me to Partini (so much fun!!!), the boys for enabling my beer drinking, Laura and her KA-POW with her dart throwing and making me laugh :)

Nika - such a cuddly girl :)

Colt 45....YUCKY!!!

Brett and I showing off our big win, I started off the night by throwing two bullseyes and then got yelled out because I totally used to suck at darts! ;)

Waiting on the Blue Bus....

Damn Blue Bus....it was a bit windy and chilly, but worth it!!! :)

And yes, my feet were killing me at the end of the night and I think I was stumbling due more to the pain than the drinking!!!

Single White Female

These shoes could have TOTALLY been used in that movie.....

And yes my feet were KILLING me at the end of the night, but they are so damn cute!!! :)

Wisconsin Here I Come!!

So my amazing husband is staying home with Bells for the weekend so I can go up to Wisconsin and visit some of my favorite cousins :)

Stacy and Angie live in Eau Claire, Sean & Kids, Jerry & Kids, Brett and his girlfriend, Laura & Kids, Margie and Red will all be there tomorrow.....and that's not even everyone that's usually there! I'm so ready for the wonderful 5 hour drive (it really is a nice drive and it's going to be sunny all day today), listening to the music I want to listen to, stopping to take pics on the way up if I want...I'm PUMPED!!!! :)

All I can say is when I get there tonight we will be heading out to get beverages for the weekend.....me by myself = drunken fun, sleeping in, more drunken fun, playing games, going out for some darts (which I suck at but thoroughly enjoy), oh and more drunken fun :)

I will miss my wonderful hubby and our beautiful daughter so much!!! I hope they have fun holding down the fort until I get home on Sunday :)

Heartless

I don't agree with the attitude of Kanye West but he is a damn good artist and I LOVE this video/song.

Heart Attack Hills

So I did my run again today, I did 3 miles and when I hit the halfway point I was basically halfway around a huge block (that I've always wondered what the distance would be), so I decided to go for it. I was feeling pretty good until I made my turn onto 33rd Ave. and saw the gigantic hill ahead of me. I really thought at one point that my heart might explode out of my chest, so I had to walk a little bit :( But I did it, the giant block is just over 3 miles, so really perfect for me on my lunch hours now I just have to master the hills!! And yes we do have big hills in Iowa :)

Conditions: 46, N wind 9mph

28:27 min. - 3.02 miles

New Kicks

I just couldn't resist the 80's style sneakers on sale at Target......

We went out on our first walk of the year tonight :)  I think Bella's watery eyes were possibly from a cold, because they are done being watery and she enjoyed playing outside at school yesterday AND today, YAY!!!

Tybalt was a very good boy, god I LOVE our big boy!  People still stare at me like I'm crazy pushing a stroller and walking our giant, but he couldn't possibly be more polite on our walks, as long as a terrifying bicycle doesn't go by us ;)

The Lost Camera....

was found on the floor of my car under the seat, now it's time to catch up with some photos on it :)

First off, I decided to try to make a more "girly" area in the bathroom for Bella's potty.  She seems to have lost interest in potty training so I thought that if I let her decorate her potty and make it "Bella's" area it might help, I was wrong but it's a cute little area at least :)

The next little set of pictures is from a trip out to Newhall.  Bella still gets her binky on car rides, nap time and at night.  Rarely do I get photos anymore with her using it (I'm really trying to rid her of it).  Someday binky and diapers will no longer be in our daily vocabulary!!

Fit at 2

Kyle and I like to stay fit, at least we really try to. We're all about trying different workout programs and the latest one we got was the 10 Minute Trainer. It is made by the same guy who did P90X, so we knew it would be a great thing for us to have. The P90X was a bit too intense for me and the 1 1/2 workouts were not fitting into my schedule.

Sunday I got Kyle to do three of the 10 minute workouts with me, we did Lower Body, Abs and Yoga. Bella was playing in her playroom and decided to check out what we were doing. Now picture our tiny 23 pound two year old laying with us and actually doing crunches, then picture her trying to do the Warrior Pose in Yoga. We were just cracking up and Kyle is excited by the thought that Bella is already interested in exercising.

I too am excited by her interest in our exercise, we'll keep it up and teach her about a healthy lifestyle. I did tell Kyle that maybe we should lay off for now, she doesn't need to be doing exercise while we are trying to get her to gain some weight! :)

Ready To Run

Today's run:

Conditions: 64, S wind 13mph

25 Minutes: 2.67 miles

Not the best, but I ran the full 25 minutes, no walking and of course I was heading into the wind on my way back and fighting off semis :(

So It Begins

I am so very thankful for the amazing warm, sunny weather we are finally getting, BUT with that is the start of Bella's "issues".

We had family over about a week ago and Bella's eyes started getting pretty watery towards the end of the fun. I wasn't sure if maybe it was from anyone wearing perfume or wearing clothes washed in fabric softener or what. We took her outside for a little bit yesterday and her eyes were so watery it looked like she was just crying. Her eyes are so red from her rubbing them, I know they have to be hurting her at this point.

So I decided today to call the allergy place we took her to last year. Our Growth Clinic doctor had told us that there is a difference between testing for allergies by blood draw and testing by the skin prick test. When we had Bella tested it was with the blood draw, and it came back negative for everything. So I thought I would call them today to see about doing the skin prick testing, I think I talked to one of the rudest people ever. She told me that there is NO difference between the blood testing and skin prick testing, that our doctor could call their doctor and clear up any confusion with that. So I said, "So her watery, crying eyes has no cause?", she then asked me if we give Bella eye drops. Well no I don't give her eye drops, no one has ever told me to and if she doesn't have allergies how will eye drops help???

So now I'm back to square one, we have to see our new regular doctor (this is our third one in a year because the other two left) and see what she thinks. I will probably try to get in with another allergy clinic unless they tell me the same thing about the blood tests giving the same results as the skin prick tests.

All I want to do is make my daughter comfortable, watch her enjoy herself, play outside before it gets humid, go on walks. I just feel that there should be some sort of solution to the eye thing, I understand that her skin condition has no solution. We just have to continue to lube her up with good lotion, steroid lotion when needed and keep her out of the humidity, away from perfume, scented detergent, fabric softener, etc. Now I want a solution on how to help her poor little eyes!

Kyle has super sensitive eyes so I guess that could be all it is with Bella, but she wears sunglasses and this still happens......AAAHHHHH!!!

I just want Bella to grow out of all of this.

WARNING - TMI

Yesterday I had my appointment to have an IUD inserted......yes I was very serious when I said that Kyle and I are totally happy with Bella as our only child at this point. At first it was hard for me to admit to myself that I didn't deal with the newborn stage very well, especially when Bella wouldn't drink her bottles at all or sleep or grow. As she gets older I'm loving each stage more and more, I love having my little "friend" with me all of the time and am anxious for the next stage when she is talking all the time in understandable english :)

I wasn't too nervous for my appointment, Missy shared her experience with me, it wasn't the best but she also wasn't the best candidate for an IUD due to the fact that she hasn't had a child, so it didn't fit for her.

I knew there would be cramping and some possible faintness. Well I full on fainted on the table during the insertion. One minute I'm focusing on my breathing through the cramping (which wasn't even bad) the next thing I know she is standing over me asking me if I'm ok. We got it put in and I had to fight them to not send me to the ER. I got myself home and then Kyle had to pick up to get me back to work (we were having new computers put in so I HAD to make it back). I felt like I always do after a fainting spell, very tired and light headed and like I had to have ran a martathon that morning ;)

I'm feeling much better today though, the light headedness is gone and I actually have no cramping. It will definately be worth it doing this, it wasn't a big deal besides the fainting and now I no longer have to worry about forgetting to take my pills, YAY!!!

Generosity of a Two Year Old

Last night Bells and I were playing in her playroom. She found this little baby toy that had no batteries in it, and here's how our conversation went from that point:

"Mommy it's bwoken, fits it pwease."

"Bells we don't need to right now because it's a baby toy."

"Mommy, where's the baby?"

"Bella who is the baby in our family now?"

"Baby Tanner!"

"Yes, Baby Tanner, would you like to go through your toys and take out all the baby toys to give to him?"

"YESH!!!!"

So we now have a pile of toys ready to be passed on to Tanner. Bella really worked hard to find the toys she thought would be best for him. I was amazed by this moment of generosity and sweetness from my little peanut, it just warmed my heart :)

Happy Birthday to the Twins

Missy and Mindy are 25 years old today!! Mindy was super excited thinking 25 was the magic number for her car insurance to go down....alas I had to break the news to her that for girls it's actually age 21. That's with State Farm anyway, I too was pumped when I turned 25 and actually called them to ask why it didn't go down, only to be told it had gone down four years before.

But now the two of you can rent cars, YAY!!! ;-) You know you always have a hook up if you need to rent one :)

I love my twin sisters, they are amazing and two of my best friends.