Budgeting made EASY!

One of our new year’s resolutions was to make a budget, and stick to it.  We have tried to do this many times before, but this time we meant business!  We were on a mission to actually gather all our information from bills, monthly payments (gym membership, etc.), and then see what we have left over for groceries, gas, stuff for Pace, and maybe a date night here or there. 

However, this huge task was made so easy by an amazing website that was brought to my attention: Mint.com! …And you’re welcome!  It takes any and all accounts and puts everything in one place.  Then it helps with goals, and even shows breakdowns of your spending habits.  Wow, I spend a lot of money at Chipotle J

Now, I must give credit where credit is due.  This website was posted on facebook by a guy who not only saved my life freshman year, but also helped get me through accounting in college.  Much thanks to Daniel Dyer for posting Mint.com- it is changing our lives! 

Enjoy Mint.com everyone!!!!!

Allison Anne Photography: WOW!

CHECK OUT: http://allisonannephotography1.blogspot.com/

On Saturday, one of my good friends came over to the house and spent some time taking pictures of Payson.  A quick preview of the pictures can be seen posted on facebook.  Allison is a teacher (a great one!), but also has a passion for photographing people.  She did a GREAT job and we are so fortunate for the pictures she took of the little man.  Pace is a pretty photogenic boy, but he was SO fussy when she was here (short naps tend to do that).  He didn't crack too many smiles and was being a bit of a 'grump-o-potamus'; however, by looking at the pictures, you would never guess that.  

If you want pictures of your kids, family, or just some pictures with your sweetie (valentine's day is right around the corner), Allison is your girl!  The quality is great, and the pricing is extremely reasonable. The best part is that she takes the wonderful pictures, does all the work, and then just gives you the CD so you can print them on your own.  If you have ever had professional pictures done before, you know that this not typically the case.  A lot of photographers license each picture, and each print must be purchased through the photographer.  This can make the pricing crazy expensive.  

This is one of my favorites: 

I posted the link to her blog at the beginning of this post, but if you have any other questions just let me know and I can get you additional information! 

***Remember: When people are asked, "If your house was on fire, what five things would you save?" 91% of people say photographs as their #1 answer!!! (I made that up, but honestly, I bet most people would say that...I know I would!) 

Focusing

Ok so it has been a while since my last post; this is due to a few things:

1.  The holidays are always busy, in a GREAT way
2.  Because of the holidays, Meg was home a lot, which is even GREATER
and...
3.  GREATEST of all, Pinterest, just kidding (not really)

Pinterest may take over my life each night after Payson is asleep, but it has also taught me something.  It has taught me that I no longer care about much other than being a mom.  I absolutely love being a parent and couldn't be happier, and feel more blessed in life.  How has Pinterest taught me this?  Because when I am on it, all I do is look for fun and interesting things that have to do with parenting.

So, that being said, I think I am going to refocus this blog in 2012.  I will primarily be posting about being a mom; products I use, things I have have done, tried, failed at, and hopefully been successful with.  Because so few of my close friends have babies, I hope this not only serves as a blog, but will maybe become a forum of sorts.  I hope people will post their own experiences and we have have a virtual "mom's group".  Even if we don't regularly talk, or even if we very seldomly talk, please feel free to post your thoughts, ideas, and experiences.

Thanks and HAPPY NEW YEAR! (If you get the SNP, check out the New Years Baby, he is cute as can be)   ;)

Distance Learning

Finally time to post again.  I have lots of things I want to write about, but lately things have been crazy.  However, I just finished my fall semester, so I have some extra time on my hands.  

I am currently working towards my masters degree in recreation and athletic administration at WKU.  I remember when I graduated from OWU, I thought I would never go back to school.  But, after a few years I decided it was probably necessary for the work that I want to do.  So, I looked into a few different options.  I was a little skeptical of the online degree, but it was the only way that I could get my masters while continuing to work.  It has turned out great and I would recommend it to anyone who needs flexibility but wants to continue with their education.  

One of the things I love about this program is that they only accept 15-20 people in each cohort.  You travel through the program with these same people and end up making great connections with people all around the country.  For instance, one of the people who is in the program works at Penn State, and another works in the recreation department at a prison (he sees a lot of sex offenders).  This has made our Sports Ethics class this semester pretty interesting!  

Another thing I like is that each class is totally different.  I figured it would be mostly just writing papers, but it is much more interactive than I ever imagined an online program to be.  Some classes are more research oriented with lots of papers.  But, we also have classes that require watching online lectures followed by online discussions and chat room sessions.  Also, you get to know your professors much more than I thought would be possible.  One thing that I loved about OWU was that classes were small and you got to know your professors really well.  In fact, I remain good friends with a number of my professors today.  The same has happened with my professors at WKU.  My professor of my Fiscal Practices in Rec Sports even gave me advice and helped me get Payson's 529 college fund started.  

The best part of getting your masters degree, whether online or on campus is that every class you take actually pertains to what you enjoy.  It has really been a great experience and I look forward to my final two semesters.  Who knows, maybe someday (way down the road) I will go for my PhD.  Dr. Coughlin has a  nice ring to it... :) 

Story Time:

I had Payson a week before my exam in my Legal Issues in Recreation and Sport class.  For some reason (namely because Time Warner is terrible), our internet would cut out, and when that would happen it would lock me out of a test/quiz if I was in the middle of it.  So, I would have to go to the library anytime I was taking a test/quiz.  One week after he was born I was still pretty sore down there (enough said).  So, when taking my final exam, I took my big doughnut to the library and sat on it while I took my two hour final.  Of course that was the day I saw about seven people I knew.  Luckily most of them were moms and totally understood.

145lbs...time to get in shape!

OK yes, I did just call myself out big time.  But if I don't get motivated and start working out, then 'Big-Time' is going to be my new nickname!  So, as you all probably know, I had a baby boy, Payson, on August 3 of this year.  However, he is now 4 months old, and Mommy no longer has an excuse for why she weighs so much.

I have always loved working out and being in shape.  I was definitely at my best in and right after high school.  During high school I ran cross country, played basketball, and ran track.  All the running gave me a great base, and with basketball I was lifting four times a week and getting some awesome sprint workouts in.  I also ate like a horse.  But, when you're young, you 1. have all the time in the world to workout, and 2. can eat like that because your metabolism is kicking, and your burning tons of calories working out.

My college days were decent, although I definitely felt myself getting tired faster, and there was more stress and way less time.  The nice part was I was playing basketball which still gave me the structure to workout, and also the competition that I love.  Ever since college, workouts are way harder to fit in to my schedule, and much harder to get through.

However, I refuse to stay this weight.  My goal is to be at 115-120lbs by the beginning of June.  I wouldn't normally use weight as a goal, because there is a lot more to fitness than weight.  But, shedding the extra baby weight and lifting will help to drop pounds and also get that flub back to being toned.

Pace and I go to Premier at Sawmill to workout and it is a wonderful facility.  I used to work there, and have always had good things to say about the gym itself.  What I didn't realize is how nice it is for new moms.  I am not totally comfortable leaving Payson with just anyone.  But the people who work up in the 'kid's club' are so good with him, and he loves it.  It is also fun because he gets to be around kids his own age and have some socialization without his moms right there.  (If anyone is interested in getting a membership, I can def hook you up, let me know)

Anyway, I HAD to post this today in order to shame myself into getting back to the gym on a regular basis, and also to have my goal out there to hold myself accountable.  I will continue posting about my workouts as the weeks go by.  Hopefully the workouts will also be a good tool for others who want to get back into gym!

Who doesn't love some silly stories?

So what I have found from being pregnant as well as being a new mom is, a lot of silly things happen!  I figured I would share some of the funnier moments of pregnancy and the last four months.

When we found out that I was pregnant, we decided we needed to take one last trip, the honeymoon that we had not taken.  We booked a last minute trip through priceline to Maui.  Of the entire forty weeks of pregnancy I had only one week of morning sickness -- awesome right?  Well, guess which one it was...  Maui was the most beautiful place I have ever been and we enjoyed our trip so much, but I think I threw up just about everyday we were there...in the ocean, on our hikes, all over Hana and Mt Haleakala.   It didn't stop us from doing everything we wanted to do, but it did change the foods we ate.  I was trying to eat really heathy all during my pregnancy, but the week that we were in Hawaii I could literally only eat one thing, and that was...MAC AND CHEESE, and not fancy stuff, but Kraft style.  The best part was our resort had it on the menu, but they only served it one way, on a frisbee.  So, the pregnant woman ordered from the kids menu, and ate mac and cheese from a frisbee about two meals each day.  AWESOME!  On the bright side, we got some super sweet souvenirs, saved tons of money that would otherwise have been spent on filets and lots of alcohol.

Next, if you know me, you know that I am not good with surprises.  From the day we found out we were going to be parents all I could do is wonder if our baby would be a boy or a girl.  Our doctor told us we could find out the sex of the baby at twenty weeks.  However, we found out from our friends that there is a place in Columbus that literally just tells the sex of the baby and also you can get those 3D images of the baby.  They claim they can tell the sex much earlier than twenty weeks.  So, of course Megan and I HAD to go and find out.  We went, and it was a really cool experience.  It was much less clinical, so we were able to watch him move around and then the nurse told us we were having a boy.  We totally would have been happy no matter if it was a girl or boy, but when she told us we both just started crying.  I'm not sure why it was so emotional but I felt like we were now closer and knew our baby a little better.  Well, a few weeks later we went to our twenty week appointment.  The nurse came in and asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby.  So, at this point the logical thing to do is say, "we went to a place and they already told us".  But instead we both said "yes, we want to know".  She told us it was a boy and we both tried to fake the excitement, and were terrible at it.  It went a little like this: fake smiles, and a "Oh wow, yeah", fake hug.  The nurse probably left thinking, "man, they must have really wanted a girl".

Lastly, the other night Meg, Pace and I were on the living room floor playing when we heard the biggest fart ever.  I mean, this kid can pass gas like a truck driver (I think he gets that from my dad).  Anyway, we knew there has to be a huge mess to clean up.  So, after we changed his diaper I got up to go wash my hands.  As I am walking away, I hear, "Hey Kathleen", so I turn around only to get smacked in the face with an airborne diaper full of poop and pee.  I was a little bit in shock, and couldn't get over the fact that my face was actually stinging from what had just blindsided me.  I looked up at Megan, who had the fear of God in her eyes.  Clearly she had not thought this through and had never imagined that (1.) it would hit me RIGHT in the face and (2.) that she threw this diaper as hard as she did.  Part of me wanted to get really pissed, but I couldn't help but to crack up.  The only bad part was that we didn't get this on tape, because we would be rich from America's Funniest Home Videos.

Other funny moments:

1. Being at a friend's baby shower where we played a 'fill in the blank' game with nursery rhymes.  The question was "Mary had a little lamb, its _____ was white as snow"  Megan, totally seriously thought it was FLEAS instead of fleece.

2. Working at a middle school and when the kids asked me to play basketball at the end of the year I said, "guys, I can't I am 7 months pregnant."  They had no idea.  I said, "did you guys just think I was getting super fat all year?", and they responded, "well we didn't want to say anything, but yeah"

3. My niece is two and had not really been around pregnant people much.  The whole concept was very strange to her, so every time I saw her she would just stare at my belly.  I would tell her, "Elli, there is a baby boy in there".  Her response was always, "OPEN IT".

Why not?

Hello everyone...and by everyone, I mean I hope someone decides to read this.  I have a friend who does a blog and I love reading each post (Thanks Lainey Boggs).  So, I figured why not?  These days, being a new mom, I don't get out a whole lot so I thought this would be a nice outlet during my little man's nap time.  During this time I should probably be working, cleaning up around the house, working out and getting dinner ready, but I will probably do a lot of venting about those things.  Just kidding, I will try hard not to just use this as a soap box for annoyances in life because in all honesty who would want to read that?

Anyway, I am excited to share parts of my life with the world, and hope that they will bring a smile to your beautiful face :)  Enjoy and feel free to comment!