Seriously, Facebook has stolen me away.  I'm just popping in to say hello!!  It's been over a year since I posted, although I do comment here and there, and read a bit more than even that.  This past year has flown by.  William Wyatt, or Wyatt, as we call him, was born July 14, 2010.  Having 2 kids is harder than I ever thought it would be.  For about the first 8 months, I felt like I was constantly juggling chainsaws with only about 6 hours of sleep.  But, he's amazing, and we've got our groove on now.  Ella loves being a big sister, although she loves it a bit less each time he touches one of her toys.  Ella started Pre-K this year.  She goes three days a week and seems to really like it.  On the other days, she's still at our sitter's with Wyatt. 

In me news over the last year or so, I made managing partner as of January 1 of this year.  Matt is still a Manager at Home Depot and we are constantly working on juggling 2 careers that require about 50 to 60 hours a week each.  It's no easy.  Thank goodness for family members who are always ready to pitch in when I have to travel out of town or work a ridiculous number of hours.

Work over this last year has been fairly hectic.  It makes spending time on LJ even harder because I actually have to spend my hours at work *gasp* working.  I've done a fair amount of work out of town.  And, I'm overseeing work done by associates and trying to learn to be a good mentor. It is much harder than it looks!

Anyway, I hope all of you have had great summers (and great past years). 

Wow, it's been a while since I posted.  Perhaps a ridiculously long while.  I could say that nothing has happened since I last posted, but that would be a slight understatement.

But, the biggest news is that Ella is going to have a little brother or sister!  July 27 is the day.  Given that I already know I have to have a c-section this time, it worked out well that my doctor was actually on-call on my actual due date so we could schedule it that day.  I think 7-27 is a good birthday.  Once again we aren't finding out if the baby is a boy or girl.  Ella insists that it is a girl.

This pregnancy has been a bit more difficult than with Ella, mainly because I didn't have a 3 year-old to chase around back then.  I could go to bed at 7 pm if I wanted to.  Ella's excitement level about the baby comes and goes.  Last month she asked if the baby's mommy was in my bell too.  I don't think she was very impressed with my explanation that I would be the baby's mommy just like I'm her mommy.

I just found out Tuesday that I have gestational diabetes with this pregnancy as well.  It's rather frustrating, but I was pretty much expecting it.  I don't have the option of an oral medication this time if it can't be controlled with diet, so I might end up on insulin.  Given my love of needles, I'm not exactly happy about that option.

Matt went back to work full-time in December.  He decided the mostly stay at home dad option was not for him.  It's put a bigger demand on my time, so between that and work exploding these last few months, I haven't had time to do much but read LJ in fits and starts.  I think about you all often, however, and even if I don't comment on posts, I do read what you're all writing!

Here's a recent picture of Ella from our trip to the zoo on Mother's Day.  It's so hard to believe that she's a full-fledged little girl now.  All of the "baby" is gone. 
( Ella Being Zen )I've missed you all!

Happy Christmas Eve, and for those of you who do not celebrate, may this time of year be joyous!  I promise to do a bigger update later, as I know I have been woefully absent, but I wanted to tell all of you that I am thinking of you and treasure each one of you!

Happy Birthday to one of the loveliest ladies that I have been fortunate enough to meet,pnksaph

I have not posted Ella pics in forever. Who am I kidding, I haven't posted in forever, regardless of content.

We had a big weekend, it was Petite Mere's (Matt's step-grandma) 80th birthday, so a whole half of the family was in from Florida. 21 of us milling around eating and planning the next meal. It was good fun, however, to watch the kids play together. They range in age from 16 to 5 months, with the majority of them clustered in the 2-6 range. We spent Saturday morning at a pumpkin patch/apple orchard, and got lots of good pictures.

Needless to say, I am exhausted. 3 days of no naps (for Ella or me) and our kid was pretty over stimulated and cranky. Now I'm taking a short break from working. I've been up pretty much every night until midnight working because I am rather overwhelmed at work right now. I just need a clone for a couple of weeks. That shouldn't be too much to ask.

Anyway, on to the pictures of Ella. She is one month shy of her 3rd birthday. I want to know when my baby got to big!

( 3 years! )

Happy Supernatural premiere day!!!! I can't wait to see what happens this season.

Also, I watched the premiere of So You Think You Can Dance last night. I'm not sure I'm ready for another season so soon. Poor Janine, who only gets to be America's favorite dancer for a couple of months. Glee is sitting on the DVR. I didn't love the first episode, but I liked it enough to give the second one a shot. I did love hearing Journey a'la a glee club.

We are heading to Illinois this weekend for my grandpa's memorial service. He passed away on August 22. He had been in poor health for quite a number of years, but his death was still rather sudden. We grew up next door to my grandma and grandpa, so it is hard to reconcile that someone I spent so much time with in my childhood is gone. Some of my favorite memories are the times I rode along to the grain elevator during harvest season and got to drink a bottle of Grape Nehi and listen to all of the local farmers talk. It's strange that I grew up in a relatively rural setting and now Ella is growing up in a fairly urban setting.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend. Think of me as I drive 6 hours in a car with a 2 1/2 year old who is bored after the first 30 minutes!

I know I have a lot of pet lovers on my list. I am hoping all of you can help me out.

One of my partners is on the board of and spends countless hours volunteering for Spay Neuter Kansas City (SNKC). There currently is a contest for local charities to be the recipient of a festival's fundraising. Last year's recipient was awarded around $4,000.

SNKC provides free and low cost spaying and neutering in Kansas City to help control the pet population and hopefully lower the tragic number of animals that are euthanized in shelters every day. They also go out into the community and provide shelter, food, and water for animals that are kept in bad conditions (if they cannot convince the owner to give up the animal). My partner is the person who will stop on the side of the road and spend 2 hours trying to get a stray dog into her car.

While the animal shelter that is currently winning in votes is a great organization, they also raise tens of thousands of dollars each year and are very well established. SNKC is a new organization and the more pets that are spayed and neutered, fewer wind up in animal shelters.

The link to vote is here Click Here To Vote. If you could use your 3 votes for SNKC, I would really appreciate it. Also, please feel free to link to this post. Voting ends tomorrow (Aug 13) at 11:59 pm CST.

Some statistics on what SNKC can do with the money:


$4,000 would allow SNKC to provide: 200 cat surgeries OR 100 dog surgeries OR purchase 250 bags of 50 pound bags of food...

1 female cat spay can save 420,000 unwanted pets in 7 years!
1 female dog spay can save 67, 000 unwanted pets in 7 years!

In Kansas City, approximately 15,000 animals were euthanized last year just for being homeless.

Again, feel free to link to this post!

The Wiggles are coming to town this Saturday. I hadn't purchased tickets yet, even though I kept meaning to. I just bought them. First row. I suppose there is something to be said for procrastination. At least Ella will have great seats for her first "concert."

I am beyond words. I hope someone wants to discuss this, because I need to understand.

We've decided to put our house on the market. We would like something bigger, and now is a good time to buy, if you can sell. Houses in our price range seem to be the ones that are selling, so we're hopeful. If we can't sell it, we still like our house, so we won't be devastated.

But, this has meant a tremendous amount of organizing, cleaning, and purging. I went through my shoes last night. I got rid of 16 pairs. That's a lot of shoes. Some were easy choices, including shapes of heels that are no longer in style. Some were more difficult as I said goodbye to friends I had worn often but not recently. I probably could have put 3 more in the pile, but I couldn't bear to part with them, even though I haven't worn them in years. I couldn't be sure I would never think, "Damn, why did I get rid of my red Converse?"

Now my shoe collection looks small, tiny even. All huddled there at the bottom of my closet in the neatly stacked boxes (except for the few pairs bought on trips where I had to forego bringing the box home, or flip flops). I still have over 50 pairs, but it doesn't seem like very many when you look at them.

I think I deserve a new pair of shoes this weekend............