Hand Foot Mouth Disease. Yuck!

My poor baby girl! She somehow got Hand Foot Mouth Disease one day before Fourth of July and she just got better today. I'll tell you what, it was so awful! Not just for her, but for everyone around her. She didn't get any blisters on her body, but the ones in her mouth were pretty helacious. I seriously don't know how she got this virus, but I hope she never gets it again. 

It starts with a fever then blisters show up and they are extremely painful. She couldn't eat or really drink for days and she was so miserable. The tantrums were absolutely terrible. We had to keep reminding ourselves that it wasn't her, it was the pain. Finally yesterday she started to feel better and ate some soup. She colored and put her princess tiara on. That was a really good sign. Over the last four days we had gotten very little sleep. Finally last night she stayed in bed and I slept in until 8am today. It was heavenly! She is feeling much better now and we are so happy that she isn't miserable and in pain anymore. 

I think I've had enough sickness for the rest of the year! 

Big Girl Bed.

Alexis is now in her big girl bed. We converted her crib into a toddler bed last week. She did so well! The first night was the only night we had any issues. I would tuck her in and get into bed. The minute I laid down, I would hear little footsteps then a door opening. There she was in our room, climbing up on the bed, and putting me to sleep! Haha! She would say "Mommy go nap, shh shh shh, nap," then give me kisses and run her fingers across my forehead. It was so cute! Those tender moments that you just want to hold on to forever. I would get back up and put her back in her bed and the whole thing would repeat. I finally decided to put the side rail of her crib against her bed and just lean it there so she would think she couldn't get out. Normally this wouldn't have worked, but it was past midnight and I could tell she was exhausted. Sure enough, she stayed in bed all night. We haven't had any trouble keeping her in her bed at all since. We also decided to go and see Beauty and the Beast in 3D with Alexis and Grandma Pam. We all loved it. It's amazing what technology has to offer. She was so entranced with it all. She kept her glasses on for over half the movie! It was so cute, she would turn to me and say "wooow! That's so cool! So fun!" over and over again. She's such a big girl and soooo smart! She's our world.

Blake Shelton Concert!!!

Last night Kort and I went to see Blake Shelton, Justin Moore and Dia Frampton. It was an AMAZING concert. I had so much fun and we were in the nose bleeds and it didn't bother us at all. We danced and sang along and enjoyed every minute of it. We even had peanut M&M's, haha. I've got to say, I've always liked Blake Shelton since my introduction into country music, but I did not expect to like Justin Moore so much. He sounds even better live than on the radio. It's pretty cool being a part of a concert like that. Blake Shelton is definitely a comedian :) and now I like him even more! He's funny but very true to who he is and doesn't sit there and pretend to be what others want. That's the impression I got anyway. So fun!

Alexis got to sleep at Grandma Pam's house and she loved it. This is only the second time she's been away from us for the night, so it was definitely hard for me. In the end, we enjoyed our date weekend very much and she was happy to see us when we got home.

On different news, we decided to start a new weight loss program today. It's called Take Shape For Life. It is definitely not easy and requires a lot of commitment and organization, so Kort and I decided to do it together and see what we think. We know it's going to be hard but commitment is key. We just finished day one and it went pretty smoothly. I think the food isn't the best, but we're just thinking of it as fuel for our bodies and forget the rest. Our dinner was delicious! We made grilled chicken and for the first time ever, baked asparagus with olive oil and a little pepper. It was so yummy! I'm looking forward to loosing the weight I need to lose to be back in the shape I want to be. All this fat is hampering my style, lol.

Daylight Savings. Hmmm.

I don't know why so many people make such a big to do about daylight savings. You fall back or spring forward. Easy peasy if you ask me. You adjust pretty quickly, at least I do.

Super Bowl Let Down.

So I can finally write about our loss .... in the Super Bowl. (That was like laying face down on a ton of knives, ugh...)

We had a fabulous turnout for our party and had a great time before we lost. I think more than anything we had a lot of fun being around family and friends making chili and getting the place all decked out.  Alexis was so cute! She dressed up as a little Patriots cheerleader and would say "Go Pats!" She really made everything better.

Champions.

OOOOOOOOOH YEEEEEEEEAH! The New England Patriots are the AFC Division Champions and are headed to the SUPERBOWL! I couldn't be happier :) and the minute we won, we jumped up and down and got super excited, Alexis runs into me and yells "Go Pats!" She is definitely my daughter!

 He is soooo handsome! I definitely have a crush...lol.

 I thought I was going to die on this play! But he made it and wasn't backing down!!

Fantastic group picture! It really was a team effort :) I LOVE THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS! 

Growing older.

It's a little crazy that I'm writing this post...my nephew turned 1 this month! I feel like he was just born. :) He is such a little tanker and adorable. I think it definitely puts things into perspective how much things change and how fast time goes by. It's an amazing feeling but also is a little daunting. I think he loves this aunt very much because he smiles and actually throws his arms to me when I see him. It's too cute!

2012.

It was such a great holiday season and now I'm excited to have 2012 here for us to enjoy another year. I'm happy to say my business is going well, although I am making another change. I will be leaving Casa Bella Salon and going to V3 Hair Studio. Danae (who owned Studio d) is the owner and I will be leasing a station from her. I'm so excited to be transitioning to a place, I feel, will be a bit more stable and help the success of my business.  I'm not entirely sure it's the best decision, but it's the decision I have made. I say that because I feel like there's so much to accomplish and I just don't know what the "best" decision is. I'm going with my gut feeling here.  I am super excited to transition my clients to a more upscale salon and really pamper them again.

On to more fun topics...like Alexis! She's growing like a weed with a beautiful flower blossoming out of it. She's so much fun right now. She has stopped the awful temper tantrums and has really begun to understand why things happen and how it affects her.  She is such a smarty pants too! She knows most of the letters of the alphabet and can point them out when we're out at stores and on menu's. :) It makes me happy to know I have a smart child. Not only that, but she's such a sweet heart too. She loves little babies and is so gentle with them. She says "bless you" after you sneeze and thank you and please. I could go on for days on all the wonderful things she does! You never realize how endless your love is until you have a child. Oh and she's potty trained fully! Yay!

Kort and I are going to be celebrating our five year anniversary this year! We want to attend a New England Patriots game for our 5th Anniversary but it may not happen because I have some big educational events I want to go to and lets just say...they're not cheap. Haha.

Oh boy! Birthday and Holidays :)

It's been so long since I posted, but we've had a wonderful last few months. Alexis' 2nd birthday was great! I loved having all the family over and we enjoyed being together. She got a lot of Elmo toys because she just happens to love Elmo and Cat in the Hat which she also has received.

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. My sister and I planned a wonderful meal and (she cooked most of it) we cooked so much food and set up a beautiful table for all our family to eat. There were 20 of us total. We went Black Friday shopping and got everything we needed. Overall, one of the best Thanksgivings I can remember.

Christmas was fun but exhausting. We spent Christmas Eve with my family, where we all were super spoiled. We spend Christmas day with Kort's family and were equally spoiled. It was a wonderful time. Alexis received so many gifts! I'm not sure a 2 year old needs that much stuff... We continued our Christmas tradition and watched Sherlock Holmes 2. It was a great movie! Today me and my family went shopping and we bought all of our Christmas necessities for next year. Now I can redecorate my tree differently again! Yeah! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. See you next year!

Birthday Ideas?

Alexis at 1 year old...such a cutie!

I'm having a hard time figuring out what I want to do for Alexis' 2nd birthday. I thought I wanted to do just a small family get together but nothing too big. Now, as it gets closer, I really want to do something fun again. I'm not sure what to do, but if you have any fun suggestions, please shoot them my way! So far, I think a Baby Minnie theme is in the lead. :)

A Great Business Class.

I recently was fortunate enough to attend a business class called Step Up by Michael Cole. It was very insightful and has really helped these past few weeks. I recommend it to everyone. It was equally awesome to be there with my gals!

Alexis and lovely words.

Alexis said football today! We are so proud. :)
She has been so expressive and talking up a storm.  Not all of it do we understand, but it's kind of cool picking out her sentences and seeing how much character she has.  She looks in the mirror while wearing mommy's high heels and says, "wow, soooo preeeetttyyy." She really draws out saying it just like that! It's hilarious.  How do we get to be so lucky with our babies?!

Time, of course, is still flying by. I feel like I don't get to journal as much as I'd like. But at the end of the day, I'm so grateful to have every day that passes by.

We're getting ready for Halloween.  Stay tuned for Alexis' costume. I'm not sure what I want to dress her up as yet, but soon, I'll know for sure! When I know, I'll post pictures.

Summing it up.

It's been a few weeks now that I moved to Casa Bella Salon and I've been so busy taking it all in! Crazy way things happened, but so far, everything has been good. It takes so much time to adjust to change and new things, and I feel like I'm getting into a rythym now.  One thing I will say...my clients are amazing! They have been so wonderful with me and so patient with all the change. I know the first three months will really be difficult but I have all the faith in the world that I will do what I need to do to keep my business thriving.  

Family life: Amazing! I couldn't ask for people who love me more purely and who are whole heartedly by my side. My husband is the best thing to ever happen to me. My daughter is hilarious! I just lucked out to have such an amazing little spark of a princess.  She keeps me on my toes and she is just getting smarter and smarter everyday. 

Football: How can a game have so much control over my emotions?! I love it! Go Patriots :) 

Christmas is in 9 weeks?!? I heard that on the radio today. Yikes!! I need to get ready for Halloween, not Christmas! But I do love that time is going by and I'm thankful to be here and enjoying each and every day. 

Oh Boy.

...............Not sure where to begin. The last week has had so many up's and down's I feel like its been a year. Basically I'm starting my own business leasing a space from Casa Bella Salon. I have to take care of everything, and I mean everything. It's been super overwhelming and very frustrating. Once I got behind the chair and worked on my client's hair, I loved it again! It was as if everything else was gone and it was just me being me and having a great time doing what I love. But once they are gone and I have to go back to "being the owner" things get stressful and overwhelming again. I know everyone says the first few months are hard, because you are investing thousands of dollars and not seeing an end in sight; but once that's done, everything's better. You start to make a profit and everything is good again.

They say there are five stages of grief, well, I think I'm definitely going through them. I didn't even see this coming. We were doing so well and being very successful, so out of nowhere having no job and then having to start your own business is tough.  I looked into other good salons and guess what? You have to do an apprenticeship program for at least a year at minimum wage before you can do hair. Now, after living at a higher earnings level for over a year and not foreseeing a job loss, I can't go to minimum wage. Plus, what would I do with my clients? I know there is an end in sight to all the money that needs to be invested, but for now, my wallet is sobbing and my heart still feels like its going to burst out of my chest every time I look at my expense report and to do list. *Sigh* I suppose, I just have to buck up and accept that this is the way it will be for a few months.

Good bye Studio d ... Hello CasaBella!

I found out yesterday that Studio d's owners were resigning and that meant that I no longer had a job. It was very scary, but I guess long overdue.  I received an offer to work for CasaBella Salon and Spa in Meridian leasing a station. I'm not sure that I am completely ready for this step, but I know what's out there and I know that I have the clientele to lease a station and still come out ahead. Marketing is going to be huge for me! The next few months are going to be challenging. I'm going to put my best foot forward and do the very best that I can to have a successful business. Although I'm super frightened, I'm very excited to start this new chapter in my life. Wish me luck!

Yay! New Hair.

I finally got my hair done! It's red and very spunky. :) It's just what I needed. Finding someone at work to do it was not easy because timewise, we're all so busy, but we finally had time! Yay! I'll post pictures soon.

Painting My Parents House.

This weekend Kort, Alexis and I drove to St. Anthony to my parents house to paint it. My Dad had done some of the prep work so we could just show up and paint the house. Unfortunately, there was still extensive loose paint on the house even after being pressure washed, so we spent three hours on Saturday morning scraping loose paint off of the house. After that the real fun started. Kort was so good with the paint gun! He got the entire house painted in three hours. Two coats of paint and primer and then the paint and primer on the trim and window sills.  By the end of the day we were exhausted! Our neighbors came by and helped scrape off loose paint and brought us ladders to use. It is so nice to see such a wonderful community come together to help in times of need. :)

Here are some before and after pictures. I'm so proud of my hubby for doing all of that work just for the sake of helping my parents and because he loves to put his good working skills to use. He definitely earned himself some man points, lol. 

Busy Summer!

This summer has gone by so quickly! We've been so busy. Don't get me wrong, we've loved every bit of it, it's just been so hectic! Every weekend has been filled with lots to do and almost no time for relaxation. We went to Roaring Springs this weekend and it was such a blast.  The kids loved it, except for Diego. He was not liking the water at all.  But he looked so cute in his little hat. Alexis went through two swimming suits because the minute I got the first one on, she peed in it. I guess I should have taken her to the bathroom before we put it on, lol. Her second suit was super cute too. She looked so pretty in both of them.

Alexis is growing so quickly I can barely remember everything that goes on, which is why I have started writing all the cute little things she does in her book. Her vocabulary is getting so advanced and she's laughing more than ever. Everything is funny to her, which makes me super happy. She still doesn't like people she doesn't see often enough. She glares and won't get near them. This makes me happy because I know she won't go to a stranger, and if someone picks her up, she will scream. It's funny how I worry about these things now.

Kort will finally be able to ride his new motorcycle soon. I'm so glad because it is crazy driving the truck to work everyday. I hate filling the tank. A little piece of my heart breaks every time I see it reach $100. We are planning on going to the Oregon coast in September and I'm really thrilled. I love going to new places and I've never been there. We both feel like we need a nice relaxing vacation and that sounds just right.