This and That Thursday

We are all just chugging along over here.  The countdown is on for a sweet little girl's birthday!

We went out for our anniversary last Saturday.  Our friend Laurie offered to babysit, and that is the day that worked best for everyone.  We didn't do anything too exciting--dinner, walking around outside, and dessert.

Elsa is hiding under her dress.

We were invited to go to a Clippers baseball (minor league) game with our friends Nick and Kim on our actual anniversary.  Nick had free tickets from his work and they were right behind home plate!  We couldn't pass that up.  My friend Amanda babysat for us.  She is the nurse at the school I use to work for.  I first met her when her oldest son Luke was in my class.  I had two out of three of her children, but quit the year her third would have been in my class.  Anyway, she brought her daughter along with her.  Grace is about to be a freshmen.  Olivia loved it.  She had napped that day.  That never happens, but when it does she is pretty much guaranteed to be up until between 10 and 11 at night!  So I told them instead of trying to deal with her being OCD about her bedtime routine, she could just stay up and play.  She would have been up and reading in her bed the whole time anyway.  She had them cracking up all night.  Amanda kept sending me texts with all of the funny things she was saying.  Grace and Amanda were talking about how to turn the x-box on.  I guess Olivia wanted the attention on her, so she said "Whoa!  I'm not use to all this noise!"  :)  That girl!  At one point Grace asked Amanda if she was that smart when she was three and Amanda said, "NO!". Ha ha.  Amanda said to me, "I think you might need to skip Kindergarten with her and just go right to first grade."  I said, "How about we get through the next two years of preschool first!" :)  At one point Olivia turned to Grace and said, "I don't know you, but I love you.  You are so pretty!".  Aww

We are still sleep training.  We have good days and bad days.  He will go down for a nap without needing any checks and then the next nap will take forever for him to get to sleep.  Honestly, I think the issue is just him being stubborn.  He is already at the point where he wants me near at all times.  If he can't see me, he is not happy.  I don't necessarily have to be playing with him, but I have to be sitting next to him while he plays or he is fussing and/or crying.  So when it comes to sleep it is the same thing.  He would go to sleep just fine if he could just hold my hand. :)  He also seems to wake up more at night now, but not really need to eat or anything.  I don't know.  I know it's a process, and we are still working on it.  It was just so easy with Olivia.  The first night we did 3 checks.  The second night we did 2.  And by the third night she was asleep before the first check.  I'm not sure if it was because she was older, or if it is a personality thing.  Regardless, I am not holding him for naps and we are making progress.  He has gone to sleep by himself multiple times now, and he also has woken up after 45 minutes but put himself back to sleep.  I know he can do it.  It's just not solid yet.

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 Remember my friend Stacy who I met for sushi last week?  Before she was a nanny she went to culinary school.  Now she is the General Manager for the Gigi's Cupcakes in the Columbus area.  When I moved back I joked with her that I was going to need a job after I had Logan.  She said I could for sure have one!  Well, Michael took a pay cut with his current position. He can work up to 10 hours of overtime a week, which helps with any shortage we would have.  But it takes away from his time with the kids.  I also didn't want him to get burned out.  So I took Stacy up on her offer.  What is not to love about working in a cupcake shop?  Right now, because of the hours they are open/the drive/prices of gas, etc. I am only doing Friday nights as my regular hours.  But then I am going to help out with events here and there.  I have two that I am doing this week, and I am really excited about it.  A fantastic boss... cupcakes... getting out of the house a few nights a week... all while making money?!  Sign this girl up!

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I have been funding my home decorating by selling things on Facebook.  I am so ready to get rid of all this stuff I don't need anymore.  I have been selling maternity clothes, Olivia's baby clothes, and baby items as we grow out of them.  Sometimes it's tedious and annoying, but when a sale goes through it is worth it.  I've already made a couple hundred bucks!  Next up, the bassinet.  Anyone need one? ;)

I mentioned before that I am having to do the decorating slowly, where my personality is to just go buy all the stuff and do it in a day.  I hate having people over because my living room doesn't have a single thing on the wall, there isn't "the right furniture" yet (in my mind), and there are kiddie contraptions all over.  But my friend Amanda kept gushing about how cute my house was decorated and now she wants me to go shopping with her to help decorate her house.  That made me feel better  about the rooms that are done/almost done!  Baby steps.