No more pacifier :(

So miss Maddypants had to give up her beloved pacifier at the age of 3 months! I took her in to the doctor yesterday as she has been really upset and not her happy-go-lucky self. Result: Ear infection in both ears again:( Poor baby. She was in so much pain! I am guessing we're heading down a well known roads towards tubes, but we're still crossing our fingers that is not the case.
The pacifier though, is gone. I have one in her diaper bag for extreme emergencies. She did well without it today. Went down for two naps without it, but with crying for a while. I can get used to it, and I am sure she can too. It was such an easy out though, a quick way to calm her down.

So, cross your fingers this is just a fluke! And that throwing good old paci out was all that was needed to get rid of all those yucky infections!

Me, smaller, soon

At least that is my goal.
My baby sister and I have decided to be each others coaches/buddies/whatever in order to lose weight. I am so excited!
I am NOT going to list my weight here, but I will update with my overall loss each week. Cross your fingers it will go well! I am not going out all the way as I am still nursing, but taking small steps to get to a healthy weight, and to a place where running will not be hard on me. I WILL finish a marathon at some point in my life and I think the sooner I get it done the better:) I will star with some 5K's and move up to 10k's and from there I guess we'll see what happens:)

Rolling over

Madeline decided to let my dad in on some of her development and rolled over belly to back three times on Friday! Yay! And then, today, while I was getting her bath ready she rolled over back to belly! And all on her 3month birthday! Happy b-day sweetie!
She is growing so fast and is such a joy to be around! She is becoming more and me like Michael and Victoria. Talking like Toria and content and smiley like Michael.

Well, just wanted to share that with you all!

Happy Easter!

Easter

We are lucky enough to have my dad visit us for Easter again this year and we love it! Unfortunately, I do not have time off as we just had Spring break. We're trying to make the best of it though.
I am doing nursery Friday night, Kevin is ushering Saturday night and Sunday we're invited to brunch at my sister-in-law's mom's house.
I am kinda bummed we won't be making an Easter ham or turkey, but it will be nice to not have to cook too!
Saturday morning we're going to church for an Easter Eggstravaganza. It entails all you can eat pancakes and an Easter egg hunt. We went last year too, and loved it!
Tomorrow, or Saturday afternoon we'll dye eggs and do some fun Easter crafts (and a bit of shopping) and just enjoy the time together,

I will post pictures later on, but I still have not gotten around to re-sizing them from RAW mode.

Take care all! And Happy Easter!

A little bit of spring break

We decided to get away for a few days with the kids. I am already loving it and we've only been away from home for 3 hours! We're planning on eating out every day, doing only fun stuff (no cooking, cleaning etc) and relaxing. God knows I really need it! Thanks to Kevin for funding this break for us!
I will post pictures as we go:) Just need to re-size them since I keep taking pics in RAW mode.

Changes

Changes are so hard! And to force yourself to change yourself is not fun, but I have high hopes that by making some changes in my life I will be happier, healthier, more relaxed and this more fun to be with:)
Being pregnant at the first of the year gave a good excuse not to come up with any new years resolutions. Now though, since adding a member to our family went pretty quick and it was an easy adjustment, I figured I can see if I can maybe get some things changed around the house (meaning me first and foremost). I also want to get our house organized (yeah, I know I have said that so many times and it never happened, but nesting when I was pregnant helped make a foundation, and the nesting instinct is not quite gone yet so I want to take advantage of it).
So, over the next few weeks I will be working on changing me, and the house - trying to slim down both places:)
I will be taking baby steps, so these first few weeks I will just up my water intake and chart it, aim for one long walk every day ( I hope to walk the 5K during the Med City Marathon. (actually, I want to run the 5K, but I am not sure I will be able to do that with my back being all sassy these days), and work on one (1!) room every week to get it organized.
So, if you have any good organizing ideas for me, send them my way! I am more than happy to take directions from people:)
I have always been happy not to be anal about cleaning and organizing, but man, these days I wish I had been born afraid of dirt and mess:)
So wish me luck and cross your fingers I can get this to work for more than a month:)

Spring Break!

Or, is it winter break? It certainly feels like it! It is so cold! Either way, I have a whole week off from my nanny job,and some days off from the Y. I have major plans, none of which include resting, so we'll see how that goes:)

Today is a no school day, but I am working at my nanny job, so most of the day will be spent on the internet I am sure. The kids entertain themselves, Madeline will eat and sleep,and I will catch up on the latest about the Red River Flooding. It sounds pretty bad right now! So please send a prayer up for the people who are in that area, either to help out or live there.
My in-laws live in Moorhead, but I believe their house in North Moorhead won't have any problems, maybe some water in the basement, but that happens every Spring, and is nothing compared to those people with their houses under water.
My friend in West Fargo, whose husband runs a clinic up there, told me their office was being evacuated.

We were planning on going up there for Spring break, so I took that week off, but Kevin's parents were able to work it so that they can go visit my sister-in-law and family in OK, so that canceled our plans. All in all, probably for the best with all this water. I feel like I should be up there doing something, but knowing my bad back wouldn't be able to handle the lifting and passing of bags I would probably just be in the way.

Anyways, so I picked up a few shifts at the Y again (kinda wish I didn't take it off so that I could have gotten my normal hours) and will go to a training in the Cities next Friday. That will be fun. We might be able to arrange for a family weekend up there, so the kids and Kevin (minus Madeline - she'll be with me) can hang out at the hotel or swim or something while I am at the training.
So, I am trying to figure out when we can head up north next time. Seems like every time I can get off from work Lois is working, so we might just have to go up again one weekend while she is working and have fun with her when she gets home in the evening. The kids are getting antsy about visiting them, so hopefully we'll work it out soon.

My dad is coming to visit two days after Spring break ends. I wish they still hooked Spring Break onto the Easter weekend! We are all looking forward to his visit, and hopefully I will be able to arrange for a few days off from the Y since I picked up some Spring break Shifts. He'll be here over Easter and leave again on the 15th. Not long enough, but we're happy that he can come over and visit! The kids are all excited as my mom was here not long ago too. I am so grateful my parents have been able to come visit us so frequently! We love spending time with them!.

Now, off to plan my evening. I am hoping to do something fun with Kevin, or just even make a nice dinner and hang out. No need to follow the NCAA bracket as mine looks horrible!

Hope you are all staying warm and dry!