A Mother's Journal

I have gone and done it...

2008-01-06T14:38:00.001Z

Okay I have gone and moved... you can follow me if you like by clicking here!

Please remember to update your bookmarks.

The New Year!

2008-01-05T21:28:00.000Z

It is hard to believe that 2008 is upon us now.. The years seem to pass so fast these days and this blog keep becoming less and less updated. I guess sometimes I just feel that not many people actually read it anyway so really what is the point..lol I do have a family member or two out there in Canada that do read it although they don't leave any comments and some of you loyal readers that still drop by even when it is idle so really I should try and keep it up for that reason.

I guess just have not been feeling very inspired to write anything, either that or I don't have anything new or witty to say so I don't bother doing it at all. Then there are the times when Randie will come out with some of her crazy Randieisms and I think, "Geez I really need to blog that, it was too funny" By the time I actually sit down to blog I cannot remember what they were.. lol

I was thinking maybe what I need is a new blog for the new year. I created one over a typepad thinking it might be a nice change but then I was undecided if I wanted to use it or not.. lol I can never make up my mind so here I am posting in the old blog.. the familiar don't have to change a thing blog.

I am still considering moving though.. but if I do I will let you know :) As I said I have not inspiration at the moment to write much but rubbish so will just leave you with the pics as usual lately :)

Off to check out your blogs now :)

Happy New Year!

2007-12-30T23:00:00.001Z

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-28T22:40:00.000Z

I hope you all had a brilliant Christmas!!!

Wordless Wednesday!

2007-12-19T19:45:00.000Z

7 More Days!!

2007-12-18T12:02:00.001Z

Until Christmas... Nail biting excitement!!

Christmas Coundown!

2007-12-12T22:22:00.000Z

And now she is 3

2007-11-26T20:14:00.000Z

Well as you can probably tell from my absence life has been pretty busy around here and not much time to do much blogging. I cannot believe how close we are to the Christmas holidays!! It is so exciting this time of year.. "Christmas waves a magic wand, and behold everything is softer and more beautiful". I always love this time of year and it seems to be creeping up rather fast. We have not even started doing any shopping although it would be useful if we actually had some money..lol I hope you are all getting yourselves prepared for the jolly season.

Randie of course is always keeping us well entertained! She is too funny and some of things that come out of her mouth leave me laughing my head off or trying to hide the fact that I am laughing because it is something she should not have said! Just to give you an idea of some of the conversations we have lately! The latest Randie-isms...

1. (Randie at the breakfast table taking forever to eat her breakfast because she is always too busy singing or talking)

Mommy - "Randie, just eat your breakfast"
Randie - "I am eating it"
insert (Fiddles in chair chatting away playing with the breakfast, meanwhile mommy sits at the table reading her book waiting for Randie to eat the breakfast)
Mommy- "If you want to go to playgroup, you better hurry up and eat your breakfast or it will start without you!"
Randie- "okay, I will eat it all up"
insert - (Still messing around after taking one mouthful)
Mommy - "Do you want to sit on the naughty spot?"
Randie - "Just read your book mommy!!!!"

(I almost died with laughter, she is too funny!)

2. (Randie in the bathroom with mommy discussing poo! If you know us poo is a major issue in our house)

Insert - (Mommy sitting on the toilet while Randie guards the door..lol )

Randie - "You having a wee mommy?"
Mommy - Yes
Randie - "I had a big poo" (after 4 days)
Mommy - "Yes you did, mommy is so proud of you.. well done. See having a poo is a good think honey. It makes your tummy feel all better and you get chocolate. It doesn't hurt does it?"
Randie - "No"
Mommy - "So you should try to do it some more.. it is fun to poo. Mommy wishes she could have a poo cause its fun to poo"
Randie - "I can help you to poo mommy"
Mommy - "Aww that is sweet honey, how can you help mommy to poo"
Randie - "I can give you a suppository to help you poo mommy!"

(How wonderful, my 3 year old wants to give me a suppository!)

3. Randie stands up on the couch next to her grandad, thrusts her backside practically into his face and says "my underpants are in my bum, get them out"

4. Waiting in the car for Daddy while he runs into Tesco's to pick up some pop.
Randie - "where is daddy mommy?"
Mommy - "Gone to get some pop, he will be back in a minute"
Randie - "I love my old dad"

Again, almost died with laughter!!

5. Comes barreling at me and stops dead in her tracks in front of me and reaches out rubbing her finger on my shirt.

Mommy - "What are you doing?"
Randie - "Wiping it off!"
Mommy - "Wiping what off"
Randie - "A boogie"

Oh very nice... now I have boogers on my shirt! lol

And even with all the laughter, hugs, kisses the girl still keeps her "Mess with the best, Die like the rest" ATTITUDE...

Oh and my Flickr excitement for the day.. Those first 2 images I posted hit the FRONT PAGE on EXPLORE!! Okay for those of you that are not familiar with Flickr won't know what I am talking about but those of you who are may :)

Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Big 3 year old

2007-11-19T15:29:00.000Z

Randie really enjoyed her birthday :) First thing we did in the morning was open a bunch of gifts, then she wanted to go swimming so we took her down to the swimming baths. It was only her second time there but wearing her life vest she actually let go of mommy's hands and floated on her own, kicking her little legs and arms.. She was so proud of herself and of course so were we :)

She cuddles a friend from Canada

Then her and Aaron came back to the house where
we had some lunch... and of course some cake!

and amazing trifle that grandma made!

We listened to some wonderful entertainment!

Then all had some tea!

all in all it was a good birthday and our baby is a big 3 year old now.
Some of us seemed to enjoy the food more than others!!

And we all had a bit of a laugh!!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY RANDIE

2007-11-14T21:06:00.000Z

Our baby girl is 3 years old today!!

Where did the time go?

5 more days....

2007-11-09T21:10:00.000Z

I know posting is like very few and far between these days but life is just too busy and half the time when I get a minute I really don't have anything to post about :)

I'm starting to go all soft thinking that my girl is going to be 3 years old on Wednesday!! I cannot believe it has been 3 years since I held her for the first time. She is getting so big and so clever. She talks so much, that you cannot get her to be quiet!

The potty training thing is going well other than if she has to have a poo. Well now instead of going in her underwear she will not go at ALL! She is obviously holding it in, we had to give her a suppository the other day :( We are going to have to find out what we can do about this because it is not improving but getting worse. I just wish we could get past this and have it all be behind us!

We are heading out tomorrow to get her something for her birthday. I think we are going to get her shopping stuff! She loves playing store keeper where we tell her what we want to buy and she gives us the stuff.. lol She has some toy foods already but think we will get her loads more. Maybe a shopping trolley or a cash register.

I think we may buy her one of those big kitchens for Christmas to go with all her other stuff.. She would love that! Christmas is just around the corner and the weather is sure letting us know its near. We can get a beautiful day and the next day it is freezing!!

Well if I am not super busy these days I am super tired.. Think I will head off for now. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Wordless Wednesday!

2007-10-31T15:05:00.001Z

My mini Axl Rose!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Busted Lip

2007-10-28T21:40:00.000Z

Randie busted her lip last week playing on the slide. It was horrible!! Talk about in a panic, there was blood everywhere, she would not stop crying.. Her lip instantly swelled 4 times its normal size. She had quite a big cut on it :( She is allot better now and it is almost healed thank goodness. These were taken the day after it happened. It was already 100% better. If you click on them to enlarge you can see better.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Big girl bed??

2007-10-21T20:38:00.000+01:00

My little tiny baby could not possibly be in a big girl bed now! I mean she was a baby yesterday and today she is potty trained and in her big girl bed and even sharing it with her Granddad.. What is up with this.. *Cries*

My baby is growing up way to fast.. what is next, holding hands and boy kissing!!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Official Big Girl!!!

2007-10-13T21:01:00.001+01:00

Yes it is official!! Our Randie is now a potty trained big girl!! For the past week or more I have been taking her out in underpants and she has not had one accident outside! She has had a couple in the house but not for the past few days!! As we sit today in the living room watching strictly come dancing I call her over over and ask her if she has to have a wee.. "no I don't mommy" I say okay and about five minutes later she comes running over and says "I do have to wee mommy" YES YES YES, she actually asked me to go.. I sit her down on the potty and viola!! there is a big wee!

In even bigger news, Awhile passes and I ask her if she has to have wee again and she says yes. She sits down on the potty and I don't hear her going or anything so I just wait and she starts to push.. YES i said starts to PUSH!! My girl is pushing on the potty!! I glance over at my MIL and mouth the words.. "She's pushing" She holds up her fingers crossed. Randie sits there for a bit and then stands up and says "I had a big poo!" She was not kidding either.. yes there was a big poo in her potty! We all start clapping and cheering for her. She has actually had her first poo on the potty. This is awesome news considering her history on this subject.

Needless to say she is full blown big girl. The only time she is in a pull up or nappy is at nighttime before bed because she will still wake up wet. When I put her down for her nap in the afternoon she even wears her underwear! It is amazing how fast she caught on to potty training. We just decided to put her in underwear and after the first few days she had it down. I was so confident in her that I even took her out without any nappies. (Of course I had two sets of extra clothes in my bag) but I have not had to use them at all. Wow she is so growing up that it is exciting, yet sad at the same time!!

Well now that I have excited you all with our poop stories I think I should head out and do some catchup on your blogs. Life has been so hectic I don't have much time to blog let alone anything else.. I am hardly even on Flickr anymore and you know how bad my addiction was there.. lol Hope you all enjoy the pics :)

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!!

These days...

2007-10-09T20:58:00.000+01:00

I know it has been forever since I wrote much of anything on her let along do any updates so I will do an update as quickly as I can because I am knackered like I have been for over a week! That is probably allot of the reason why there has not been much action for me in blog land.

To start, We have been doing the potty training thing with Randie and she is doing GREAT! She has not had an accident all day long and she has been wearing her big girl underpants!! I have to to talk her into going to the toilet or sitting on the potty but eventually she does and she will go :) There is the odd time though that she will actually say she has to go on the toilet!

All is going pretty good there, however she will not sit on the toilet or potty to have a poo. She is still really frightened of that. We will put a pull up on her at her nap and a nappy when she goes to bed at night but lately she has been waking up in the morning pretty dry!! YAY GO RANDIE.. We are very proud of the little sprog!

We are pretty much over our sickness that we had which is a big YAY!! It lasted for about two weeks and although we were not totally well yet we did still make the trip up to Blackpool for the night to check out the lights! I came prepared with my tripod for me first ever attempt at night photography and actually got some cool shots :) I must have looked pretty funny trekking up the street, tripod in arms with camera screwed onto the top of it.. of course my other hand not leaving the camera even though it is screwed on because I am paranoid it will fall off!! Imagine that, my baby smashing on the ground.. that would be like... so NOT good. Talk about heavy as well.. the camera and the tripod in my arms. I got some alright pics in the end so all is good. I will post some later for you to see :)

Now that the sickness and overnight trip was over it was time to get back on schedule now that it is term time again and start hitting the playgroups in our area. Randie loves going to the library and to the groups I take her to and it gets us out and about to mingle with other mums and kids. Being sick for 2 weeks we did not go to much of anything and the poor sprog was locked up in the house. But to make up for it, I will be taking her to allot more than usual :) She is getting to be such a big girl now!!

Randie really has a bad temper and has been throwing some super tantrums lately. I mean down right mean, screaming, crying tantrums and she does not easily get over them like she used to. She has some serious attitude where she will look right into your face and scream "NO!! I DON'T WANT TO" I mean totally rebellious.. I am hoping that phase will be over pretty damn soon...lol I guess I can't complain to much because she has been an unusually good girl until now.. and even now she is still a good girl but can show the little devil when she chooses too.

The big changes here with mummy is... are you ready? Okay well I joined Slimming World.. ahhh a weight loss program! I have never joined one of these in my life and maybe that is why I am still fat..lol Really though, my girlfriend Donna and I have joined together so at least we can go to it weekly together. We started last Thursday so this thursday will be my official first week weigh in since I started. Donna had started a few weeks before me so she has already been through this bit. Anyway, so far so good. I have been sticking to it and doing my best to figure out how it all works.. lol My MIL also is doing it so that is good as well.. we can do it together at home as well! Hopefully I will lose a shitload of weight and feel a hell of allot better!

Last Thursday after my official joining of Slimming World. Me, Dave, Donna and her boyfriend Stuart head out to the pub quiz. This was our first time going but Donna has been going for sometime now. It was pretty fun.. we got a good laugh and even some of the questions right. We will continue to go to the pub after my weigh-ins on Thursdays.. These pub quizzes are really popular these days, I don't know about everywhere but they are sure popular over here!

I can't believe my baby is going to be 3 next month!! I mean 3 years old.. who could that be? where did the time go? She is at that age where she actually looks at magazines and stuff and wants things so needless to say we can buy her anything from the Argos catalogue and she will be happy with it. She is always saying "I could have that ya know" or "I could play with that if I want to" She wants EVERYTHING! It will be allot more fun to shop for her now I think and more exciting Christmas morning!!

Well I think that is pretty much all for now if you even got this far. Hope you are all having a wonderful week and I will head over to check out your blogs shortly!

The Register...

2007-10-03T21:05:00.000+01:00

I told you that Dave and I had contacted an online publication...

You can read the article about it here.

I hope to have a proper post very soon and some cute pics :)

Orkut Thieves...

2007-09-30T15:27:00.000+01:00

Last week we found out that photos of Randie have been stolen and placed on several accounts on Orkut.com These people steal photos of children and use them in their fake profiles and galleries. They think it is alright to steal photos and claim they do not think it is against the law.

Personally I think they are all a bunch of suck fucks that know exactly what they are doing and it really pisses me off. They not only steal the photos but edit them as well putting a bunch of rubbish on the pics and their fake names etc!

They are even so stupid as they use the same pics.. So far we have found three different profiles with stolen pictures of Randie. They have been stealing the photos from Flickr and posting them on there. This has happened to hundreds if not thousands of people all dealing with this Orkut site. The site is owned by Google and it is a real disgrace that it is still standing. We are fighting back to have our photos removed and contacting people in big place to get Orkut and Googles attention!

Randie's photos on these three profiles have now been removed and of course replaced with some other stolen photos of a little girl. This shit has got to stop.. I mean Orkut just lets this shit happen right under their noses and don't do a damn thing about it!!

Dave and I have contacted a respected online news publication about this situation and they have responded and are very interested in writing the story about this situation. They have called us for some information and to discuss this with us. There are also other big companies that have been contacted such as Fox and several others that are working on this as well with other parents who's children have been victims of this exploitation.

This shit has got to stop.. It is just ridiculous how these assholes get away with this shit all the time and Orkut should be shut down! This will always happen online and there is no disputing this fact but this is a problem (Orkut) where something can be done and is obviously a big problem..

We should not have to hide our images for fear of them being stolen and exploited on some other disgusting site such as Orkut!

If you would not want your pictures stolen and displayed by someone else please show your support and sign the petition below so we can all try and get this web service removed.

Thank you

www.petitiononline.com/jmelhado/petition.html

Me.. Harry Potter? Couldn't be...

2007-09-23T15:47:00.000+01:00

Still here and still sick. I am beginning to think the sickness we have is the same sickness we had back in March when we went to Canada. This is a bad thing considering that sickness last close to a month!! I have not felt this lousy since then and I am having headaches everyday. I am going to try and get me and Randie an emergency doctors appointment on Monday. If it is like the last one though, I don't think there will be anything they can do about it. Randie has been doing quite a bit of coughing though and it breaks my heart every time I hear her.

We have been putting some plug ins in her room so that it is easier for her to breath at night but she still cries out now and then and you can hear her coughing in there :( We have not done much for the past few days and I feel horrible her being cooped up in the house but being all sick it is probably the best thing to do.

We are supposed to be going out to Blackpool on Thursday for the night and come back on Friday. The room has already been paid for but I really don't know if I am going to want to go out there if I am still feeling like this! The Blackpool lights are on and I would like to see them however since I have not had the chance yet. Hopefully, this sickness surprises me and we are feeling better by then.

Well the little sprog is now awake from her nap so better take off now. Going to have to cool dinner shortly. I hope you are all doing well and hope you had a great weekend. Autumn is coming and time for beautifully coloured trees and cold weather.. Our summer seemed so short this year with all the rain we have had..

I will try and update the blog more frequently but just keep in mind as you already know about my flickr addiction...lol

PS.. I am reading the Harry Potter series finally. I was never into it before and just look at it like kids books and movies but with all the hype that I see with other bloggers I thought I would give it a go.. I am on the the 4th book now... once this is done only 3 to go! I am enjoying it :)

Watch what you say...

2007-09-20T13:55:00.000+01:00

Hello to anyone who might actually be out there reading. Sorry it has been so long since I have had an update but I have been so busy lately and then the little time that I do get to spend online I have been spending on Flickr! Yes I am a flickr addict and cant seem to stay away.. The first step is admitting you have the problem right? lol Not to mention me and Randie are now sick as well. She woke up last night crying, well more sort of whine/crying but her nose was all stuffed up and she was not a happy girl. I guess the weather changes etc has made us both sick..

Randie is growing up so fast I can't seem to slow her down if I tried. In everything she does, she just seems to mature in her speaking and all of it really. I want to get some video clips up from our holiday although she has changed drastically even from back in July and everything ends in a why? Yes the "Why?" stage has been here for a little while now and everything is a question. She is talking non-stop, it is very rare for her to be quiet!

I cannot believe she is going to be 3 in November!! I mean 3 years old.. my baby will be 3 years old. It seems the years have just been flying by. Pretty soon, mommy will be standing outside a school door crying because my baby is in school!

I have started semi-potty training again with Randie. Since her Lactulose has been tripled she seems to be doing allot better with her bowel movements. She will still go 4 days without one but sometimes she will have one 2 days straight! Its also not causing her pain now which is one worry off so she is not afraid to go to the toilet. She will not go anywhere near the toilet if she has to have a poo but she has pee'd on the toilet several times, its just getting her to tell us she has to go that we are having the most difficult time with. One day she is great and the next not so great. It is a slow process but we are getting there I think :)

Be careful what you say to your children. We all know that children pick up what they hear others say but I tell you, Randie does not miss a thing and like I said she is always looking for a reason to talk. The other night we are having dinner and she stops eating, looks down at her plate and says "How many times to I have to tell you not to bang!" I almost died.. I wanted to laugh my head off because these are the words that will come out of me or her daddy's mouth when she is banging her cutlery off of her plate.. Then another day she says "Don't make me slap your hand!" Another one of Mommy's threats that she happens to repeat. Why is it always the negative they will pick up? lol Good thing we don't use curse words or anything because she would be telling the neighbours off!

Anyway, I should run.. I am sick, I'm tired and my throat is killing me. I am going to do a bit of blog reading until Randie wakes up.. I hope you are all keeping well! I may post before the weekend but if I don't have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday!

2007-09-12T14:29:00.000+01:00

Meme..

2007-09-10T14:53:00.000+01:00

Okay I have been tagged from Kila over at Momto3cubs.

"You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog."

I don't normally tell anyone my middle name because.. .well personally I really don't like it but I was named after my grandmother who passed away at a very young age. Only in her thirties leaving behind allot of kids so I guess really I should be honored to carry her name :) I hear she was a wonderful woman. So anyway, back to the meme.. the rules are above so here it goes. My middle name is Viola.

V = Vampires. I have a real thing for vampires. I always have and when I was younger I wished I could be one. Vengeance, I have seeked this from time to time as a teenager. Vincent Vaughn.. ohh double V.. he is super cute :) Very emotional. I am a very emotional person and it really does not take much for me to cry. I don't only cry when I am sad but sometimes even when I am mad!

I - Interesting. I like interesting people. I mean really who doesn't! I sometimes feel that I am not very interesting. Imagination - I have a great imagination, now if only we can make our imagination into reality! Infielder - I used to play infield on my baseball team when I was a kid. I was really good at the sport as well!

O - Optimistic - This is something I am NOT but wish I could be. I have tried to be optimistic so many times but I must face it I am a pessimist. I even have Dave call me dark cloud.. lol Obsessive - Yes this is definitely something I am! Organized - I think I used to be VERY organised.. these days not so much but I do like to have some order!

L - Language - The only language I speak is English. I thought it would be cool to be bilingual though! Lovable - I can be pretty lovable and loving to others. Lost - I an feel pretty lost allot of the time as well, sometimes I need to find myself or maybe I have not yet achieved that! Lucky - This is something I don't normally have but since my daughter, how lucky could I actually get.

A - Ambivalent - Yes this is me allot of the time. Aggravated and Agitated.. These come by for tea now and then as well! Artistic - I have been told many times that I am very artistic :) Ambitious is something I would like to be more!

Okay as for tagging.. I really don't like to tag anyone because there are too many people that don't like to be tagged... but with that said if you would like to do this go for it and let me know you have done it... I could tag everyone on my blogroll with the first letter.. V = Very cool bloggers!!! So if you do it let me know :)

Ps.. wow it seems so weird to post without pictures!!

Random Babblings..

2007-09-09T00:35:00.000+01:00

Sorry my updating has been so few and far between lately but just have not had time to do much lately. I admit have have become a flickr junkie so that does not help matters none but hey its addicting!! I spend allot of my spare time there or on my Photography board but I hope to get back to doing some more faithful blogging as well!

Randie has been doing well. Her attitude has sure grown lately along with the rest of her! She is just too clever, and although she drives me crazy allot of the time she is too sweet for words. I cannot imagine her not in my life and as many times as I hear "I love you mommy" in a day.. well how can you possibly get to frustrated with her!

I got a new computer today!! YAY, this is fantastic new and it is so F A S T... If I could blur those words I would have because damn it is fast. I load up my Photo shop CS3 in seconds when before it was so slow and annoying! Dave built it himself.. It totally rules.. see he is good for something :)

Haven't been taking as many pictures as usual lately.. Well I have been taking allot but not nearly as much as I used to. Not that I don't want to take them but my model will not stand still anymore so no more glamour shots for mommy! She is WAY too busy!

We will be going out to Blackpool for the night at the end of the month so that should be fun! The Blackpool lights are on so Randie is going to luck out staying up late so we can go down and check them out! We got a room for the night because it is just too far to drive for the day and then come back late at night :) I hope to try and do some night photography.. (something I do not do!) I am a natural light person all the way and live for daylight pictures.. but I will give it a go and try and capture some of them lights!!

I have still been getting that really bad pain in my knees and it is killing me most of the time! I have made a doctors appointment to have it looked at but I just feel like I will be wasting my time.. I imagine what she will say already and you can bet it will be weight related!!

Randie and Aaron are best mates. He splashes her in the face with water, grabs toys off of her, makes her cry and the whole lot but she still wants him around. Glutton for punishment I guess but she says she "loves" him.. she does not "like" him but she does "love" him.. Aww daddy will be getting out the cricket bat soon!

They see each other quite allot. She will be without him for a week because they are on holidays but I am sure she will manage. He will be sending her a postcard.. lol He loves to see Randie as well.. he is always telling Donna that he wants to go to "Mannies" house.. yes "Mannie" is Randie to little Aaron :)

Anyway, it is 1am here right now and I must really run. I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. I hope my post was not too sporadic for ya :)

I have some Wildlife images on my photo blog if you want to check them out :)

Girls just wanna have fun!

2007-09-03T20:16:00.000+01:00

Summer fun..

2007-09-01T11:19:00.000+01:00

It is great and so much fun to have a best mate... until of course he splashes you in the face with a bunch of water!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Random Babblings

2007-08-24T21:14:00.000+01:00

Sorry I have been MIA lately but life has just been hectic. I have been thinking about closing the blog because most of the time I have no desire to write anything or really have nothing to say, but I dunno.. Each day Randie grows and becomes more defiant. She is really developing a serious attitude and we think it is caused from hanging out with Aaron..lol Either that or she is just now starting the terrible two's but she sure knows what she wants and doesn't want!

She even puts up a fight sometimes on what she is wearing!! "I don't want to wear that!" or "NOOOO I want to wear this shirt" (when I am trying to get her changed out of her pajama shirt) I tell ya she can really be naughty.. lol I guess we have been lucky up until now because she has mostly been a good girl! I mean she is not a mini monster now really.. she is still a good girl but she can be naughty allot more as well.

On another note, I have really been suffering with my knees lately. They are always hurting and only ease up when I take Ibuprofen and even then sometimes it doesn't work. Dave keeps bugging me to make a Dr's appointment and I think I probably will if it does not magically disappear anytime soon.

Summer is drawing close to an end.. the mornings and nights are colder and you can just feel it in the air. I feel like this summer has just been so short!! With all the rain we did get, Its hard to remember many really good days we have had this summer and now it is almost over *sigh*

Hope you all have a good weekend. I know I have just randomly rambled in this post but at least you know I'm still alive in case you were wondering :)

2007-08-18T21:17:00.000+01:00

I know I was supposed to have these up awhile ago...lol I have just been too busy to do any posting lately. Today it has been raining and rainging so finally had the chance to upload these for you all. Randie and Aaron at the Canal Festival together enjoying a few rides. You all seen the hugs already :)

Just a birthday shout out to my SIL KIM!!! Who's birthday was yesterday and I was able to get it in the sidebar but no time to post. Hope you had a great one girl! Love you loads :)

Hope you are all having a good weekend!

Puppy Love..

2007-08-14T15:35:00.000+01:00

Here is Randie and her new bo! This is Aaron. We all went to the canal festival last weekend and they were too cute together. I mean seriously Aaron was all over her like a wet t-shirt, I thought daddy was going to bring out the cricket bat! lol I mean really though, how can he not be.. she is too stinkin cute :)

Looks like I may have lost most of my readers but I know there are a couple of you still out there!! So here you go with the picfest :)

I have pics of them on some of the rides as well I will post tomorrow :)
Hope you are all having a good week!

Cooling down..

2007-08-12T16:59:00.000+01:00

Well we have finally been getting some warm weather, I would even go so far as to say it has been quite hot. I am so behind with showing you all pics but these were taken last week in the garden. Loaded down with sunscreen and hanging in the pool. Well more like in and out of the pool constantly. She throws her ball out and then goes and gets it, puts it back in the pool, climbs in and then does the exact same thing over and over... lol Kids!!

Anyway, allot has been happening lately, the biggest thing being Randie has a boyfriend! Yeah my girl has a boyfriend..okay well he is a boy and he is a friend so same difference and he sure is super cute! His name is Aaron.

I met his mom and one of Randie's playgroups and although we have seen each other several times we never really got to chatting much until the other week when I found out she was into photography and we started to discuss it, obviously having something in common gave us more to chat about and now we are friends so that means Aaron and Randie are as well. They look so cute together and of course I have pictures that I will show you a little later on.

Daddy already has his cricket bat ready but we all tell him to get over it!! He says she cannot date until she is twenty one and we all know how likely that will be..lol We all went to the canal festival yesterday and Aaron was hugging Randie and holding her hand. It was too adorable!

They were even playing together after the festival when we all went back to Donna's house. Aaron has his own little shed just full of toys and of course Randie was into everything, pulling it out, inspecting it. There was no mommy, mommy, mommy and clinging to me like glue.. She actually just hung out with Aaron and although she may not have played with him they played alongside each other :)

I hope this is a stepping stone for Randie and maybe she will be more comfortable around other kids more spending one on one time with Aaron. Guess time will only tell but I am very happy she has a little friend outside of playgroup. Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

If this is not enough pictures for you head over to Life thru a Lens and check out some more.

Car Wash..

2007-08-11T10:56:00.000+01:00

Don't you just love firsts! This is Randie's first time washing the car with daddy. Might be last seeing as daddy does not wash the car very much..lol She just loved it! She is at the stage where she always wants to help no matter what it is your doing and when you let her she has this look of satisfaction. It is so cute. "I want to help" she always says and comes running!

She was soaking wet and was loving it! I am sure she is looking forward to washing the car with daddy again. Guess we will have to push him more to wash that dirty car! We are headed to the Canal festival this afternoon so hopefully that is all good!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Wordless Wednesday....

2007-08-08T20:26:00.001+01:00

Notts Festival

2007-08-07T21:22:00.000+01:00

Yeah I know picture overload but I didn't know which one's to show ya :) Anyway, we went down to the festival and had a good time. Randie was so excited all she kept saying was, "I want to go on the rides, I want to go on the rides!" over and over and over again. I tell you it did drive me batty for awhile. Needless to say she went on the rides.. I mean at £2 a ride I sure hope she is having fun! Once she gets off I ask her if she liked it and all she can say is "I want to go on another ride" So much for small talk between rides..lol

First we had some food!

Hit the Barbie car!

Must do some swingin!!

Locked her up in a cage for a bit!

Must hook a duck!

and win a prize :)

Merry go round!!

Then we hit the frogger ride. Look at that sweet smile! I will tell you that did not last long :( The ride had not started yet when she was so happy but once it did my heart sank in my chest. She so wanted to go on this ride and I told Dave it may be to scary for her.. Anyway, it goes up in the air and then it jerks down and up like a frog hopping sort of deal. As soon as the ride started and the first jerk Randie started bawling.. I mean big crocodile tears running down her cheeks and there was nothing we could do about it but watch! It was so sad, the poor baby was tormented and cried through the whole ride :( As soon as it stopped I ran up to her to get her out and she just clung onto me like there was no tomorrow! Needless to say she got over it quick but mommy was tormented much longer!

Now, for anyone who has seen the film "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson.. you will fully understand the header for this pic "HONEY I'M HOME!"

We had ice cream and headed home.

All in all it was a good day and I know not to put Randie on the frogger ride for awhile!! Hope you are all well and had a good weekend :)

Picture Post..

2007-08-06T22:40:00.000+01:00

We took Randie to the Nottingham Festival on Saturday but will tell you about that and post pics hopefully tomorrow when I have more time.. For now I will just leave you with some random pics :)

Blogger will not let me upload anymore for some reason so that is all I can share. I will attempt to upload some more pics on my photo blog so if you want to check them out be my guest.. They will be a couple random non Randie pics though :)

Pretty as a princess / fairy!

2007-08-01T21:40:00.000+01:00

While we were on holiday I searched and searched for an outfit for Randie for one of her playgroup parties. It is the end of term so they were having a party and said it was to be "Fancy Dress". Needless to say we did come across a fairy outfit and also a princess outfit so we mixed them together and behold our fairy princess. When we tried it on her the little tutu thing was actually quite tight so with a little alterations here she is. As you can tell I just loved it on her and thought she was just too cute for words.

When we got to the party it was so disappointing that the only kids actually dressed up were Randie and another little girl who was also a princess. Not nearly as cute a princess as Randie but I am a bit bias. They ran around like maniacs playing with this toy and that. Well that is all but my girl who does not behave like other children. She walked around and checked out a few toys and decided to sit down and read some books *sigh*

It's not that I mind her liking books of course. She has always been interested in them but sometimes I just wish she would act more like other children. Instead she lets them walk all over her. If someone takes something from her, instead of grabbing it right back and perhaps smacking the kid upside the head Randie will just whine and come and tell me?? I mean come on girl, grab the toy back!!! If she is going to go down the slide and is half way up the ladder and another kids comes to get ready for their turn Randie will come all the way back down and let them go first?? Ummm, I don't think so... "Just go DOWN Randie!!" but no she says.. "He's going down" Yeah well after you go down.... geeesh I have to admit it drives me a bit nuts... okay allot nuts!!

I know I have complained about it before but she just does not interact like all the other kids.. I took her to a puppet show the other day and she refused to sit on the colourful carpet they had set up for the show. All the other kids were sitting on it but not Randie, she wanted to sit on mommy's knee away from all the other kids. They were all loud and shouting "look behind you little pig" You get the idea, the big bad wolf etc.. Not Randie, she just layed back on me and watched. When they would clap at the end she would also clap but it was hard to even tell if she liked it or was afraid of it.

When we are at playgroups or other things I take her to, trying to get her to interact with the other kids she just plays on her own :( or she wants mommy to do things with her rather than play with the other children. I mean shit, there is nothing else I can do to try and get her to interact and perhaps make a friend for the day.. It just frustrates me!

Of course she is also the most polite and sweetest kid out there. Sometimes putting on her shy act and sometimes talking so much, you wonder if she is ever going to stop! I know the people that run the playgroups think Randie is great because she is such a good girl. I just would rather her act like a regular kid sometimes so I don't have to worry if there is something wrong. I mean she interacts with all of us just fine and believe me you cannot stop her talking. She makes up all kinds of stories just to keep talking I think but play with kids.. not! She doesn't even like them to touch her. "She touched my arm mommy!" So what Randie.. get over it.. kids touch each other, there is not a problem... lol

Well she always has us but that has got to be darn boring for a little girl you would think. She needs some kid friends. If I ever wanted to give her a party or something there would be nobody to invite because she does not play with anyone!! Yet another family/adult party this birthday :(

Anyway, if you have not seen enough of my princess you can see some more sweet photos here on my photo blog :) And come on.. leave a comment so I can see if anyone actually goes to that blog!... lol

Day 7 - Final Day..

2007-07-31T14:02:00.000+01:00

Coming to the end of the vacation now. Our final day we went down the cliff railway again and had some ice-cream, Randie bounced on the trampoline and we just took in some sites before the long drive home. It was a nice vacation and I hope you all enjoyed following us along with the photos :)

Just because the vacation is over, it does not mean the photos are! You will have to check out Randie as a little princess fairy... way too cute :)

Day 6 - Dartmoor

2007-07-29T15:16:00.000+01:00

The word Dartmoor conjures up many things to many people. Some think of ponies and cream teas, others picture vast tracts of wilderness and bottomless bogs. To those who take the time to get to know the 'moor' it is 368 square miles of pure intrigue and fascination. Be warned, it is an addictive place and once you have fallen under the spell of 'Old Dartymoor' you will never want to be parted from it.

The third pic from the top is Dartmoor Prison. Years ago it was a Category A Maximum Security prison but today it is Category C for the common criminal. These lovely cows you will find walking around anywhere up in the moors. You will also see many ponies, sheep and more. Just drive carefully as they are often on the roads.

Join me tomorrow for a final post from the vacation.

Day 6 - Buckfast Abby

2007-07-28T14:11:00.000+01:00

Welcome to Buckfast Abby. Buckfast Abbey is the home of a Roman Catholic Community of Benedictine monks. The first monastery was founded in 1018, but was suppressed by Henry VIII in 1539. It was re-founded in 1882.

We did not spend allot of time here but we did stop to have a look and eat some lunch. It was a beautiful place with some very nice gardens. The stained glass photo below was hand made by the monks of the Abby and was the size of the entire wall!

We will continue Day 5 tomorrow. After leaving Buckfast Abby we will head up to Dartmoor, very high into the moors and see what we can find!

Day 5 - Berry Head

2007-07-26T21:13:00.000+01:00

Time to try out Randie's new Kite. We went up on top of Berry head and lets just say it was far to windy for her pidley little kite.. Dave got it up a few times but she did not want to fly! Looks like Randie is going to need a bigger kite and we will have to throw away the cheap little kite she has.. lol

Stay tuned tomorrow as we head to Buckfast Abby!

Day 5 - Goodrington Sands

2007-07-26T10:37:00.000+01:00

Just a few from our day at the beach. It was a real hot day (the day I got the burn) Randie would not walk on the sand without her water shoes on and she was totally freaked out by the seaweed. I mean climbing up your body so she could get off the sand...lol After we put her water shoes on she was a bit better but kept saying she does not like seaweed! Believe me, we got that!

Stay tuned tomorrow for our extended day 5 where we will go and fly a kite after hanging out on the beach! Well at least daddy will!!

Day 4 - Model Village

2007-07-25T12:14:00.000+01:00

This is Model Village in Paignton... Its a pretty amazing site to see really.. all these places etc are all models. The trees/bushes/flowers/grass is all real.... The entire village is all scaled to size.. tree's in the right proportion to houses etc etc.. The photos really don't do it justice and I didn't nearly photograph as much as there was to see!
They cut the edges of the lawns with scissors...

If you haven't had enough and would like to see a few more you can head to my photo blog.

Stay tuned tomorrow as we head to the beach at Goodrington Sands..

Day 3 - Some sites of Dartmouth..

2007-07-24T10:00:00.001+01:00

Just a few shots from Dartmouth! I really liked it here, the train, the ferry and and just walking around this quaint little place, very beautiful.

We went to a little cafe to get some lunch and this is the reaction I tend to get more and more from Randie when I pull out the camera... lol

Stay tuned tomorrow as we head to the Model Village in Paignton. This is quite a site to see :)

Day 3 - Portraits on the train

2007-07-23T11:40:00.000+01:00

Either I have lost all my readers while away on holiday for you are not caring too much for the pics... lol Either way, I will bore the remaining few with some more pics.. lol

You haven't had enough you say? Well no worries, you can check out some more on my photo blog!

Day 3 - All Aboard..

2007-07-22T14:46:00.000+01:00

ALL ABOARD.. Meet Goliath, he was our steam train that took us from Paignton to Kingswear, where we caught the Ferry across to Darthmouth! Take the journey with us through pictures..

Tomorrow I will be featuring some cute portraits that were taken on the train.. followed by some sites of Dartmouth!

All photos best viewed larger, click pic for a slightly larger view :)

Day 2 - Paignton Zoo Part 3 Finale

2007-07-21T14:03:00.000+01:00

Throughout the entire day at the Zoo this was the most adorable animal we seen there.. She was sooo cute we decided to take her home with us!

If you would like to see "In The Making of a Baby Tiger" simply click here! You don't want to miss it :)

I hope you enjoyed our trip to the zoo.. I was a lovely zoo and I highly recommend it for anyone that is heading out to Paignton!!

Stay tuned tomorrow as we will be taking a steam train ride out to Dartmouth!!

Paignton Zoo - Part 2

2007-07-20T07:39:00.000+01:00

Some more Random friends at the zoo :) The peacocks were walking around all of the place. Even while you were having lunch you would see them walking by.

Stay tuned for the Paignton Zoo finale tomorrow. You do not want to miss the little tiger I will be posting :)

Day 2 - Paignton Zoo Part 1

2007-07-19T11:14:00.000+01:00

Day 2 we headed out to Paignton Zoo which was not too far from where we were staying. Here are a few of the friends we met while we were there. I will be extending the zoo pics over the next couple days so not to overload one post :) Hope you enjoy them!

Stay tuned for Paignton Zoo Part 2

Vacation Day 1

2007-07-17T11:24:00.000+01:00

Hope you are all ready for tons of pics..lol This was our first day there. We arrived, checked in and then just took a stroll around the Paignton Harbour!

We found an artist on the pier!

Our seaside companions!

Stay tuned for day 2 and our trip to Paignton Zoo!

Also I would like to send a bit shout out to my mom on her Birthday!! Happy Birthday mom.. We love you so much!!

We're Back!

2007-07-15T21:46:00.000+01:00

Well we are finally back from holiday and now just needing some time to recover. I thought when you go on holiday you are to relax and unwind? Umm no! you are to go, go, go and go to see everything you possibly can before it is time to go home...lol

We sure made the best of it and did see quite allot. I got a nasty sunburn as well that hurts like a bitch..lol Actually it is a bit better now so I can't complain. Randie had a really good time and was such a good girl while we were away. I think she went through some kind of growth spurt though because she seems a bit different now. I think it is her communication is even better than before we left.

Anyway, I took just over 1000 pictures that will take me forever to go through and I am sure I will ditch most of them but I will take you on holiday with us in pictures, just as soon as I get the chance :)

We went to bed to the sound of seagulls and woke up to them and now it is just too quiet :) When on holiday it is always nice to get home but sometimes it would be best if it lasted just a bit longer!

The English Riviera

2007-07-06T10:44:00.000+01:00

Well it seems it is vacation time again. The weather has continued to be horrible but hoping it will pick up next week. We will be leaving tomorrow and comeing back on the 14th. We are hoping for sunshine and warm weather, as I type this it is pretty cold, windy and rainy outside so send some nice weather vibes our way.

Randie seems pretty exicted about the trip. She keeps saying she is going to the seaside :) We will be on the road for anywhere from 5-7 hours. It is approx a 5-6 hour drive but with our stops that will probably put us over the 7 hour mark. I am not looking forward to this drive with Randie because she never wants to sit still that long and always wants to get out! but hopefully she will be entertained enough to handle the drive. I am bringing a CD for her so that she can sing some songs such as hokey pokey, if you're happy and you know it etc etc.. Oh doesn't that sound like alot of fun? lol Good thing we are also bringing music for us as well!

We will be going out to Devon. It is called the English Riviera where we will be staying in Paignton and going to Brixham and Torquay.

We will be located about 100yrds from the seaside. We will also be visiting Paignton Zoo while we are here which I hear is brilliant so hopefully I will get some good pictures! We will be stopping by the Model Villiage which is a must see if ever in Devon. I hope to have some good photo oportunies here as well. Check out the link, it looks pretty cool and alot of work was put into making these :) We will also head out to Dartmoor surounding areas.

We will be taking the steam train from Paignton to Churston on a 7 mile journey of Tourbay coastline with spectacular scenic views!! From there we will get a ferry and head over to Dartmouth. We hope to make the best out of our week there, seeing and doing alot of fun things so we need the good weather! Don't forget those good weather vibes.

Of course I will be taking hundreds of pictures so once I get the chance to go through them you will be taking the vacation again with me in pictures but check out the links provided to an idea of where we are going. I have not been feeling that well lately (fun womanly issues) but hope to feel a bit better once we are there and have a great time!

I hope you are all having a great summer so far and to those of my blog friends that are getting our rain, I hope things improve and stay safe. For those of my blog friends that are in desperate need of rain, please take some of ours, we don't mind sharing! and for those of you that are getting the perfect weather, don't go bragging or the rest of us will hunt you down :) Have a good one all and will write again when we get back!

Rockin Blogger..

2007-07-03T22:28:00.000+01:00

Okay I was awarded the Rockin Girl Blogger Award by Heather! How cool is that? It's pretty cool! Thanks Heather :) Seeing as I did not have my speach already prepared I guess the next step is to award this to 5 more Rockin Girl Bloggers.

So , in no particular order I would like to send this award out to Emma in Canada, Alissa, Kila, Desert Songbird and Holly. Why you ask? Because they are all rockin bloggers.. although I know alot more I am only supposed to award 5 :)

Serious Slacker...

2007-07-01T22:47:00.000+01:00

So sorry I have been such a slacker lately. I have been so wrapped up with my new photography board, Flickr and RL that I have not had time to do much of anything else!

Everything else here has been going alright. We are still getting allot of rain and I really feel for the people who are feeling the effects of the flood. It is all over the news these days and it is so hard to see peoples homes destroyed.

Dave is on holidays now!! YAY!! so that is good we get to spend more time with him. We will be going away on holidays on the 7th but that is a whole other post that I will make later.. lol

Randie has been doing good, she gets more attitude as the days go by!! We took her to the Dr's the other day and inquired about her "poop issues" The Dr says that it is common in children who have had painful poo or hard to pass stool. I am sure I have told you that Randie is terrified to sit on the toilet to have a poo.. she just freaks out and wants down, yet she will have a wee? Anyway, she suggested that we stop potty training Randie when it comes to having a poo on the toilet for awhile and increase her lactulose dosage. She thinks maybe if we can soften the stool more and make it not so difficult to pass Randie may just forget about how she feels at the moment about having a movement. Well hopefully it works! Okay that is enough about poo.. lol

I hope you are all keeping well and I will be off to check out your blogs as soon as I can :) If you want to see some attitude shots of Randie check out my photoblog!

Photography Forum!

2007-06-26T20:18:00.000+01:00

I have created a Photography Forum and of course would like you all to join me. If you have a love for taking pictures, looking at pictures, giving helpful advice or would like to learn a thing or two, at the same time meeting great people and making some friends this is the place for you!

If you would to like register with the forum and have some fun click here.

Hope you are all doing well! The weather here has been horrible. There is flooding in several parts of the country. Some people have died and loads are being evacuated from their homes, roads are closed down all over the place.. Hope it gets better soon and stops raining!

It's SHREK Mommy....

2007-06-22T23:22:00.000+01:00

Yeah my girl is a Shrek fan! When we went to Canada my Dad rented it for Randie and she just loved it! I will not go into how many times she watched it though but luckily it was a good movie. I don't normally like animated/kid type movies like that but she made a fan out of me as well. Not allot has been going on over here but allot of rain and generally crappy weather so I guess I will just hit you with some more pics from today :)

If you would like to see more from this set DESERT SONGBIRD (since she is the only one that comments on them *sigh* runs in the corner and cries) I will be uploading some to my photoblog... lol

Wordless Wednesday....

2007-06-20T19:49:00.000+01:00

See more from this session on my photoblog!

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-16T21:48:00.001+01:00

A big Happy Father's Day shout out to my dad! I wish I could be there to spend this special day with you but you know my heart is with you. I love you more than words can say! For any new readers if you would like to see my fathers day post from last year click here.

Some men make great fathers and some men don't! How do we know we have chosen the perfect man to father our children?

this is how....

enough said...

Have a wonderful Fathers Day!

Storm...

2007-06-16T21:04:00.000+01:00

Okay, enough of the rain already! For the past few days that is all we have had. We have also had a couple awesome storms. It was really pouring down today!

We are hoping tomorrow is a better day so we can take Randie out to play at the park or something. She had her wellies on today and did some puddle splashing but I was not there to get any pictures. I stood out in the rain to BBQ today because... well everything tastes better on the BBQ! Luckily, it was only raining in spurts so it was dry the majority of the time I was out there.

So send us some good vibes for brighter weather.. although with the rain comes...

new growth, new life!

and of course rainbows!

Hope you are all having a brilliant weekend!

No Randie pictures you say? Of course there are!! Head over to my photo blog but if you peek you must comment!! ;)

Wordless Wednesday....

2007-06-13T14:26:00.001+01:00

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8

2007-06-12T22:29:00.000+01:00

Ordered a new lens yesterday and got it today! I have tried it out just on a few pics and I have to say so far I am loving it :) I still have alot of playing to do with it and get used to it but so far so good :)

We have been real busy lately! We went to the seaside on Sunday and spent the day and made the 2.5 hour trip home in the evening. Randie had a good time. She got a couple sores on her feet though from sand in her water shoes.. poor little sprog! she is alright though but did not want to go to her playgroup on Monday which was really odd.

I took her to Gym Tots today though and she was running around playing and having a good time so she must be feeling better even with our current and everlasting poop issues. Anyway, its late and I must go to bed but here are a few of my shots taken today with the new lens. Click to see the larger version.. the small one's seem to look a little blurry!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!
There are a few more pics posted on my photography blog :)

Ilkeston Parade / carnival...

2007-06-09T21:35:00.000+01:00

Today was the Ilkeston Parade. I have never been to one of them and really don't care if I go to one ever again. It was really a load of rubbish! My MIL said it used to be really good but it was totally boring and lasted about 10 minutes tops!

It was super hot so that made waiting for it even worse. First we started off with allot of these guys/girls hanging around chatting. Yeah, that was pretty much all they did too! The cops did allot of talking but not directing traffic or crowd control!

We saw this old bus...

This band..

and this band. There were a few other things as well including a couple floats but nothing really great so won't bore you with the pics of them!

Then we went to the carnival at the sports park and did a little bouncing!

A little bus riding..

A little flying...

A little bubble blowing!! Okay trying to bubble blow :)

We also had some ice cream and played a few games. I can't have the camera in my hands every second ya know!! lol Did allot of walking around and my feet are killing me. The sun beaming down on us the entire time. I felt my vampire self wanting to crawl into a cave..lol Randie had a busy day and it was fun for her so that is what counts!

We are going to the seaside tomorrow though! Time to cool off a bit and let Randie paddle around :) You know I will be bringing my camera!

Pony Ride..

2007-06-08T22:39:00.000+01:00

Sorry It took me so long but here is the pony ride I promised ya.. Come on, now isn't she too stinkin cute :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Farm park part 2

2007-06-05T22:29:00.000+01:00

Yes laziness and my sore eyes have led to another post with only pictures.. Hope you all enjoy them though :)

The post may be a tad boring but if you come back tomorrow you will see pics of Randie's first pony ride and I warn you now.. it is super cute!!!

Ferry Farm Park...

2007-06-04T22:01:00.000+01:00

We went to the farm park yesterday and Randie had a blast as usual! I took a ton of pictures as usual but this time I switched to MANUAL.. and I must say I was rather impressed with some of the photos I captured. It is allot more work trying to shoot in manual but having complete control over the camera is also good so I just may continue shooting this way. I have been having some trouble with my eyes lately when looking at the monitor so I will make this short and sweet and post a few pics for you!

PS. Be sure to click the smaller image to view the larger one. Also, do you like when I add frames to the images or do you prefer to view them without the frames? Just curious :)

I will be posting allot more in the next couple days so stay tuned. You will probably also find some on my photography blog as well in the next couple days :)

Potty Talk!

2007-06-01T23:05:00.000+01:00

Randie and I have been doing alot of hanging out and walking. To playgroups, the park, just walking and enjoying each others company. My legs, knees, ankles and back are killing me but I am sticking to my guns and I am going to get into better shape! We did alot of walking today so needless to say I am more than ready for bed now but wanted to pop in and post since it has been a few days.

I have not been taking many pictures lately but we did get Randie her first pair of wellingtons and had to share the pics! She looked so adorable in her rainbow wellies and I have been dying to get the framed picture below for ages now but we could not find a descent pair of wellingtons in her size! Well I got the shot and it turned out pretty much how I imagined it so all is good :)

I'm not sure if I have mentioned Randie's potty training ventures yet but if I have not then here it is: There are none!! Awhile back she was sitting on the potty without much problem. She would actually go as well as long as it was not a poo of course but now she refuses to sit on the potty! No matter how you try and bribe her or what you say she does NOT want to sit on it. I don't know what is up with this but we are just trying to work through it.

I asked her if she could start potty training Millie (one of her dolls) and she was all for it.. she got the potty and took off millie's clothes and sat her down etc.. she was doing great! This was the conversation that took place.

Randie "Okay Millie, you are potty trained now"
Mommy "Oh is she? I think she is just learning.. you have to tell her what to do"
Randie (looks down at millie) Now you have to PUSH.. PUSH hard millie!
Mommy (trying not to laugh) "Thats good, has she gone yet?"
Randie "Not yet, she is pushing! Push harder millie and then you can have a pository (supository)

I almost died with laughter, yet it made part of me sad as well because I sooo hate when we have to give her a supository and she does not like having one either.

Anyway this post has turned into a book. I am off to bed now! Hope you all have a brilliant weekend! Be sure to check out my Life thru A Lens blog for more pics from this series :) Oh and if you do.. Leave a comment would ya! lol

Wordless Wednesday....

2007-05-30T21:21:00.001+01:00

Quiet..

2007-05-29T19:50:00.001+01:00

It has been really quiet lately. I check my blogs everyday and sometimes they are updated but most of you are not doing much of that so you must be out enjoying the lovely weather :) It has been rainy and horrible here for the past few days.

We drove out the Bath the other day. I was looking for some new trainers and since it was a bank holiday Monday we went to find someplace open. I did end up getting a pair, there was not much of selection and I just hope they are comfortable when I start wearing them. I want to break them in before our vacation so my feet are not killing me all the time.

Dave has been playing with the video recorder a bit lately.. Has not captured anything spectacular but it is nice to see the peanut on video all the same. I hope to add another clip in the near future if anyone is interested in seeing one.

I hope you all had a brilliant weekend. I have been working on re-vamping Randie's website so I am off to continue that job.. just wanted to check in with you all :)

Video Test ...

2007-05-27T23:35:00.000+01:00

Okay testing out a video here.. let me know if this works alright :)

Randie from Tonya on Vimeo

Capturing Memories...

2007-05-26T15:30:00.000+01:00

Looks like loads more fun ahead with capturing our memories with Randie. Dave went out and bought a new video recorder today! He is charging the battery and will be playing with it in no time! Guess I will be able to upload some live video feed of the sweet pea now :)

Dave keeps reminding me that it is "his" camera.. "you have your camera (which I would much rather have) and this video camera is mine".. Yeah that's okay, I will let him go on believing that as long as he likes.. I know when I want to get my paws on it then it will become "my" camera..lol Shhh don't tell him though! This is great news anyway, now I will be able to send DVDs home to Canada for my family to see :)

I also recently got another memory card for my camera (4GB) so now I have 6GB all together. So now with the highest resolution setting on my camera (best quality) I can store close to 2000 pictures without having to transfer them onto a computer to clear my card. Will you have to wait longer to see pictures now? --- Of course you won't!! lol but it will sure come in handy when I go to Canada or when we go out to Paignton (Devon) for our holidays!!

I know some of you had problems viewing yesterdays pictures.. that was my fault - my bad! You should be able to see them now.. Check out how much older Randie looks in that first pic!!!

Get with the program...

2007-05-24T21:12:00.001+01:00

There comes a time in life when you just need to get with the damn program and my time is way overdue!

I have been feeling a bit emotional lately because I feel like shit everyday! Why do I feel like shit everyday? I know why and have known why for some time now...

I need to get with the program!

I am so out of shape that it is a struggle to do anything these days. My weight just keeps increasing and I am getting lazier than ever. This is something I must change or I will be dead before Randie turns five.

So this is where the suicide cycle ends. I am going to take it seriously and get into shape (and I don't mean round..lol) I want to be around along time to watch my little girl get married and have her own children and at the rate I am going now that would never happen. For awhile, I will not know how well I am doing other than how I feel seeing as I cannot get on your standard scale to weigh myself. Yeah, that's right.. I weigh more than 300lbs! I won't say exactly how much at this time because I am far to embarrassed but it is more than that!

I don't even want to get my own picture taken because of how I look. I sometimes break down and just say do it because I don't want Randie looking through the pictures when she is older and there are none of her and mommy! I am the photographer and quite happy hiding behind the camera but there are times when you just have to face the lens no matter how disappointing that might be.

I walk uptown with Randie and I am having a heart attack. It is a bit of a hill to walk up there (a mountain to some of us) yet I see 80 year old people walking it!! It totally kills me when I see them pass me on the street. My in laws are in awesome shape.. they go hiking and walk for miles and they are in their 60s. That is just wrong.. lol I am only 38! I know that is kinda old but I should not be feeling like this all the time.

How is Randie going to feel when she goes to school and the kids make fun of her because her mommy is fat :( I would feel so horrible for that to happen to her but would feel even more horrible if someone had to explain to her that her mommy was dead. (It was so hard to even type that) I cannot imagine Randie not having me around for her. I cannot imagine leaving her in this world without me to protect her. I cannot image her motherless...

Just like I cannot imagine my life without her...

How can I be so selfish to destroy myself when she needs me and loves me. We are going on holiday the second week of July and believe me there will loads of walking involved if we want to see anything. I need to get prepared for some of that at least so that I am not dying walking 100ft. This is the time.. the time is NOW!

Besides.. just look at this face.. how can I not live to watch her grow, mature and become an incredible person doing incredible things!

If you actually made it this far, sorry to put you through the depressing rant and I never really talk much about myself on here but I felt maybe if I type it, just maybe, it will help me gain the strength to do it!

Wordless Wednesday....

2007-05-23T22:20:00.000+01:00

To see a couple new signature designs see my Signature Creations Blog :)

Twycross Zoo..

2007-05-21T19:36:00.001+01:00

The weather was finally descent enough for us to go the zoo! We left early arriving around 10am when the zoo opened and headed straight in to check out the monkeys. Twycross has allot of monkeys! I was excited to see Randie's expressions going to the zoo this time. We took her last year and she seemed to like it but now being this age I figured she would be allot more excited.

It turns out she was excited but not really what I expected. Many times she was too busy staring at all the other people around us at the zoo then the animals themselves. Then of course she found out there were some rides there (oops it slipped) and that was all we heard..

"I want to go the fair now mommy", "I want to go the fair now daddy". "I want to to the fair" "I want to to the fair" "I want to to the fair" "I want to to the fair"
"I want to to the fair" "I want to to the fair"

I seriously thought I would lose my mind!! lol We were heading in that direction and I kept telling her we were going there but if she keeps saying it that we were not going to go.. Needless to say, she continued to say it and she still went! Talk about a couple of suckers..

They also had a big park there as well that she went to. It eventually became quite hot and I had to smear Randie down with the sunscreen but we all had a good time. Randie liked seeing the animals, riding the rides and playing in the park. She had to go on the rides with daddy because she was to young to go on alone!

Hope you all had a great weekend! If you want to see more zoo pics simply click here. You have to love that ape above.. he is keeping his eye on me!! He was great :) lol

I was also tagged by Songbird to do an eating out meme but I don't eat out much at all unless it is McDonalds! Since I can't really do this if anyone wants to give it a go, head on over to her blog and check it out :)

7 things...

2007-05-19T20:48:00.000+01:00

Okay so I have been tagged by Heather to tell you 7 things you always wanted to know about me, here it goes--

1. I own well over 100 books on serial killers and true crime.
2. My family and my photography are my true passions
3. I suffer from depression
4. I am going to lose a 100lbs by next summer
5. I have sleep apnea and wear a C-pap when I sleep
6. I smoke too much and really need to quit
7. I don't like living in England

I tag anyone who wants to do this. Just let me know if you do so I can check it out :)

Finally Friday...

2007-05-18T23:22:00.000+01:00

It has been raining for days! Finally today it stopped but it was still really windy and cool outside. We are hoping this weekend it is going to be good so we can take Randie to the Zoo. She has only been once and that was last summer. She loved it then and I'm sure she will love it even more now. I have been feeling pretty lousy lately and sure glad it is Friday... No work for Dave tomorrow so I can sleep in a bit :)

We have also decided on our holidays this year and we are booking them for the second week in July and we will be going to Paignton!! I can't wait.. I have never been there and excited to go. It is about a 5 hour drive or more but they call it The English Riviera :) We will be about 200yards from the sandy beaches and beautiful scenery. There are allot of places to visit with plenty of things for Randie. It should be tons of fun!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! If you would like to see more pics like the pics in the post click here.

Wordless Wednesday....

2007-05-16T20:03:00.000+01:00

I also have a caption contest running on my Signature Creations blog if you want to check it out :) If you would like to see more pics like this one simply check out Life Thru A Lens!!

Reflections on Mothers Day...

2007-05-13T00:37:00.000+01:00

I believe it was 1968, my Mom, Dad, Sister and Brother were in a very serious car accident which caused allot of damage to the car and was even noted newsworthy with a big picture of the accident in the paper. My dad was thrown from the car and landed on the road.. way down the road but it turns out that everyone was fine. It also turned out that I was in that accident as well.. my mom found out she was pregnant with me while being examined at the hospital at the time of the accident.

That accident could have caused a miscarriage and I would not be here today. Darling Randie would not be here today all because of that accident. I was born March 26th, 1969 and a glorious day it would have been for my parents who tried to conceive me for a few years before it happened. Little did they know all the grief I would cause them later down the road. If they had of known they may have left me at the hospital or on a doorstep.

I was a real handful growing up as a teenager, I was one of those people who "Did a lotta". You know, did a lotta partying, a lotta drinking, a lotta drugs, a lotta fighting, a lotta breaking curfew and staying out all night! Had a lotta this and a lotta that.. Geez I am surprised I survived my teen years let alone my parents.

I remember as a kid calling my older sister mommy from time to time. I recall my little brother doing it often. This happened because my sister would get us our lunch from school and that sort of thing because my mom and dad were busy working their asses off to take care of 4 children. My mother was always the type of person to take the backseat, to blend into the shadows and avoid the spotlight so that we would shine. She worked hard, not only 8 hours a day on her job but she would come home and cook, clean and take care of us kids and the home. I realise now as an adult and a mother how amazing she truly was. I can also imagine how tired she was. Not only was I a rebel but my younger brother was as well.. We both caused allot of trouble and lets just say brought the cops home on SEVERAL occasions.

I did not matter what we did, my mother always stood behind us and never gave up on us. She would always stand beside us even when she had a broken heart. I have apologised on several occasions to both of my parents for all the trouble I caused them.

"I hope you grow up and have a daughter just like you!". We have all heard that come out of the mouth of our parents haven't we? When I look at Randie, her sweet loving face I think to myself. "I sure hope she is not like me when she grows up." I could not imagine having to deal with all of that as a parent. I am already neurotic and worry so much all the time it would surely kill me! I have allot of regrets from the past and in the past is where they should stay...

My mother is my best friend. We are very close now that I have grown up. I cannot imagine my life without her and I miss her everyday that we are apart. My only regret right now is that I am not with her sharing this mothers day, I am not there to make her smile, to maker laugh, to show her how much I love her this day and everyday!

It is not a special day because the calendar says its Mother's Day.. It is because of my mother that makes this day special. We don't need to pick a date on the calendar to appreciate our mothers, that is something that should be done everyday! But since it is written I would just like to shout!

I LOVE YOU MOM!

Hey now, you're a rock star, get your game on!
(well you get the point and I know you must be smiling at the Shrek reference)

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

Signature Creations Blog

2007-05-11T01:57:00.000+01:00

I have started a new blog, yeah I know blogger queen who is always the slacker! I have not been doing to bad lately though have I? lol

I started a blog just go with my website, updates, news, contests and stuff like that to keep my customers informed on anything new with Signature creations so if you want to check it out be my guest :) You can find it here. Hope you all have a brilliant weekend!

Thank you all for the compliments on my new banner! I was happy with the way it turned out! Emma, all my graphics and stuff are on my Signature site. I am off to bed now but I will email you tomorrow :)

Leavin on a jet plane...

2007-05-10T20:59:00.000+01:00

Admit it!! You started to sing the song didn't you? I know you did so you cannot deny it :) These pics were taken on April 25th, the day we left Canada to come back to the UK. This is the part I despise most about going to Canada....

is leaving it!

Not only do I despise flying but being at the airport saying goodbye to my parents and at the same time knowing that they will not see Randie for another 6 months to a year! It just breaks my heart everytime. This is Randie seeing one of the planes moving out of the window.

I guess she was a little excited :)

I love this shot, I would have to say that this is probably my favourite photo of the trip, and that is out of about 1000 pics in that 5 weeks. I feel I captured the moment perfectly and did not realise that I actually got it until it went to edit! It was not a planned pic either! Kissing her Papa goodbye :(

This pic was a planned pic! I knew I wanted to get this one but not until we were about to leave through security. It is just darn cute!

I miss my mom and dad already and I know Randie misses them as well. She has already asked a couple times if she could go to Papa's house! We watched Shrek today as well and it brought back alot of memories from Papa's house.. lol

I have added some new pics to Life Thru A Lens as well if you want to check them out :)

Wordless Wednesday....

2007-05-09T16:51:00.000+01:00

QMC Emergency Room

2007-05-08T19:40:00.000+01:00

I didn't really have time to post much yesterday but we wound up in Emergency again for a few hours.

The day pretty much started normally, Randie and I came in from playing in the garden and we were waiting on Dave to finish a couple things before we made our way down to Victoria Park so Randie could play on all the kid stuff there, then all of a sudden she goes to walk over to the TV and sort of hunches over a bit and puts her hand on her tummy.

I asked her if she had to have a poo and of course she replies with a big fat "No" because she does not want me to put her on the potty anymore. Needless to say up to the potty we go to get comfortable and wait for her to go. Once we are sitting there she just starts screaming!! I mean screaming and then I settled her down and waited some more. (figured maybe her stool is hard so it hurts) That happens often so we wait a bit longer but she is not going but continues to cry. I lift her up off the toilet to hug her and she cries more and wants to sit back down. We try this a few times but nothing happens so I take her into my room and put her nappy on and lay her on my bed.

She is not acting herself and I know something is wrong. I know her behaviour when she just really has to go to the toilet and this is just different. This is totally different so we decide to take her to the emergency room. Considering Randie's history with bowel surgery etc we don't want to take any chances. We get her dressed and head to the car. At this point she is not crying but she is still not acting like herself. I lean over to put her in her car seat and she lets out a couple big burps!

We are heading out to Nottingham and she starts to act like her normal self. We now figure it is gas that she has trapped that is causing so much pain in her tummy. She then proceeds to tell us she is going to the park! We figure we would drive around a little bit and maybe that will help with the gas. We get out to Nottingham and Dave asks if we should head back now that she seems better. It's raining but I want to see if she is walking alright before we head back so we drive over to PC World and take her inside. We put her down and she starts walking like a little old lady holding her tummy so off to the hospital we go. It may be gas but we're not about to put our baby at stake if it is something more serious.

We get to the hospital and get her checked in and she seems a little better but still not walking properly. Over two hours later we get to the see the doctor who goes through some history with us and examines Randie. Of course she is the perfect patient!! She always is and it freaks the Dr's out every time. We come to the conclusion that it is probably gas or hardened stool that is blocking the bowel from letting the gas out. We are told to increase the lactulose that she takes and if she does not seem better to go back and see them.

Hours in the emergency room, a missed nap and a tired baby we head back home with a little more piece of mind then we left with. We get half way there and Randie says "I'm going to go to the park now!". Needless to say we ended up making a stop at Victoria park so Randie could play for awhile proudly wearing her "Perfect Patient" sticker. We had the run around but at least we got her checked out and the little sprog got to go to the park after all! She is acting allot better today and has been doing allot of farting so hopefully she will be tip top soon :)

I would also like to send a big shout out HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Cath and Kathy who are celebrating their birthdays today! Hope you are having a great day ladies!

On This Date In History - March 26th

2007-05-07T22:35:00.000+01:00

Desert Songbird over at The Ice Box was tagged to do this meme which I found interesting and she tagged whoever wanted to do it so thought I would give it a go!

Head over to Wikipedia and type your birth date (just month and day) into the search box. Then list 3 events that happened on that day in history, then 2 birthdays on that day, and finally one death that occurred on that day.

THREE EVENTS

1958 - The United States Army launches Explorer III.
1812 - An earthquake destroys Caracas, Venezuela.
1997 - Thirty-nine bodies found in the Heaven's Gate cult suicides.

TWO BIRTHS

1874 - Robert Frost, American poet (d. 1963)
1968 - Kenny Chesney, American singer

ONE DEATH

304 - Saint Emmanuel, Christian martyr killed under Diocletian

I won't tag anyone in particular but if you would like to do it that would be great :) Just let me know so I can check it out :)

Pretty in Pink!

2007-05-06T21:40:00.000+01:00

Okay you asked for it! Picture overload :) Thank you all for your comments the other day. I guess I was just feeling a bit down. (that tends to happen allot) Damn depression. Anyway here I am back blogging with a vengeance after all your kind words.

I had to post some super cute pics of Randie in this outfit! It was a gift from her Auntie Kim & Uncle Tim and I totally love it. It is a size 2T!!! It being that size makes me believe that the pants are actually supposed to be those "short pants" if you know what I mean but they fit full length with Randie..lol Anyway, I thought it was super cute :)

It seems so weird to be back in the UK here now. I don't know why but maybe because I was in Canada for 5 weeks. Being back here could be the cause of my recent sadness because I always enjoy being near my family. We are so very close and when it comes time to leave I always feel a great deal of sadness. It also bothers me that being out here they miss most of Randie's growing up and that is hard for me.

While in Canada Randie became a SHREK freak! I don't even think I could count how many times we watched Shrek 1 & 2 when we were there. She just loved it and most of the time she would sit on the couch and watch the entire film!! That is odd for the girl who is always too busy to pay attention to one thing for more than 5 minutes!! I don't normally like those animated type films but I must admit I really enjoyed the Shrek as well, part 2 being my favourite.

Randie is now at that stage where she will entertain herself a little more rather than someone else having to do it constantly. She will grab a book and tell you that she is going to "read it herself". She will sit on the couch/chair and flip the pages carefully while spending a few moments on each page. It really looks like she is reading half the time..lol We still have to read to her quite a bit but at least she will look at the books herself sometimes as well. She also has more attitude lately which she may have picked up from my niece and nephew in Canada. She says "I want that, its mine!", "Gimme that". I just look at her "Excuse me?" Then she will grin and say "Please". Her manners are normally excellent so this is something that we are going to have to beat out of her..lol

She says "I love you" allot more now as well. It is so adorable, she will look at me and say "I love you mommy, this much" and she stretches her arms wide open. It of course makes me melt every time! I will say "Aww thank you honey, I love you too" and she will turn around with "You're welcome!" It is just too stinkin sweet :)

While in Canada she really bonded with my dad (papa) as well. They were real buddies that's for sure. She would sit with him and watch TV, give loads of smiles and kisses, it was adorable. Of course he would give her candy and bring back timbits for her from Tim Hortons so I am sure that did help a bit ;) He also brain washed her before she left as well.

If you ask her "Who do you love?" she replies "Papa"...lol

I also neglected to mention to you all that when I got out to Canada I applied for my Visa to the UK. Meaning becoming a legal resident and not having to leave the country every 6 months to renew my passport. I applied shortly after we arrived and was approved 3 days later, having all my information and passport (with visa stamp) returned to me a day later! Talk about quick service, obviously I was applying to the British High Commission, there is no way things would move that quickly if it was the Canadian government.

Hope you are all having a brilliant weekend :)

I will be adding more pics to my Life thru a Lens blog if you want to check them out :)

Wordless Friday?

2007-05-04T20:24:00.000+01:00

uhh I know it is supposed to be "Wordless Wednesday" and it is also supposed to be "wordless" but I really don't have anything interesting to say and now that I think about it I never really have anything interesting to say and that is why I am thinking of giving up blogging. I mean geez you must be totally bored with seeing pics of Randie and that is all I seem to blog anymore.. Errr.. I don't know, guess I will go watch Desperate Housewives..

In Papa's Shoes...

2007-05-02T21:50:00.000+01:00

While we were in Canada, Randie and her Papa became serious buddies. She was hanging out with him alot and always wanting to sit with him to watch the tele. Well she even tried to fill his shoes while she was there :) Check her out in her papa gear!!

There is no doubt she is my daughter! Like mother like daughter ;) Only her's doesn't actually take pictures but it flashes a bit.. lol

Hope you are all having a great week and getting some great weather!

The Hunt!

2007-04-30T15:45:00.000+01:00

Some more pics of Randie during her Easter egg hunt which was indoors due to the snow and cold weather outdoors.. She got loads of stuff for Easter including her TJ Storytelling bear :) She had loads of fun!

It's pretty hard to explain to a 2 year old though that the Easter bunny won't be back until next year because she keeps telling me she wants him to come back now.. lol

Dye & Decorate

2007-04-29T13:57:00.000+01:00

Okay to start catching you all up here is a few pics of Randie dying and decorating her Easter eggs :) She had loads of fun and I tell you that dye was not easy to get out of her hands but what two year old will use the egg dipper? ;)

Randie Easter egg hunting to come next so stay tuned! ;)

We're Back!

2007-04-27T15:14:00.000+01:00

The nightmare flights are over and we are here on the ground safely. I will never again take British Airways when I travel back home. I had nothing but trouble with them and refuse to use this airline again.

Anyway, we are back and safe and that is what really matters. This is what the weather was like shortly after arriving in Canada.. Ohhh what fun....NOT! It was quite warm when we arrived and then a couple days later it was snowing and blowing!!

How did the vacation go you ask? Well, as you might remember I was feeling a bit under the weather when we left on the 26th. Well by the time we landed I could hardly swallow, my throat was in allot of pain and I was feeling like total shit! The day after we arrived I had to go to emergency to get looked at. I was running a low grade fever (which is allot for me because I never get fevers) and was not looking to good that is for sure. They immediately gave me a breathing treatment (steroids etc) and then gave me prescription for heavy antibiotics and a puffer. I then went directly to the pharmacy and bought these items along with spending money on everything else to try and help me through this nasty sickness.. Within a couple weeks I had spent about $250 at the pharmacy.

Did these things work for me? Errr NO!! I was feeling like shit and thought I was dying for the first 3 weeks of our trip. I had to get some cough medicine for Randie as well since she was starting to do quite a bit of coughing. She was alright though and didn't have to much trouble with it. Into the fourth week I started to feel a bit better and the coughing had eased up a bit. I spent the final week not feeling too bad but still not my best and then got on a nightmare flight to come back home.

Sounds like allot of fun eh? Well we got to see our family and that makes it all worthwhile. I do wish we could have eliminated the sickness so we could have seen everyone more without the risk of spreading our germs. It was bad enough my poor mom got really sick with me and we were both hanging in our pj's for weeks.

I did take tons of pics but have not even begun to do any editing or anything but will put some up for you to see as soon as I can :) The weather here is beautiful though and finally looks like spring/summer has arrived. Now with the new camera I will get tons of pics when we take Randie out on some summer adventures!

Hope you are all doing great and hopefully getting some beautiful weather :)

Way too COOL!

2007-03-25T22:22:00.000+01:00

We are heading out tomorrow afternoon so this is my last post for the next 4 weeks. I thought I would share a few of pics of the way too cool Randie with her new shades on :)

Now you all behave while I am gone alright? Or at least tell me all the naughty things you have done while I was away ;) Have a good one!!

Smiling Saturday

2007-03-24T22:25:00.000Z

We are just about ready to head out to Canada but just for fun we are all sick again!! Yeah again.. Dave has had this sickness for the past couple weeks and we escaped it until of course Thursday.. Randie is sick but she is pretty much acting like her usual self.. mommy is slowly dying.. coughing.. mucus(I know TMI).. congested.. you pretty much name it!! just in time to catch a flight on Monday for 8 hours!! umm such fun..

Now that I have totally disgusted you with how sick we are I will cheer you up with a few smiley Randie pics :)

Now that must have made you smile?? Just a bit ;)

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

For some bouncing fun check out my photo blog :)

Going to Canada..

2007-03-21T14:37:00.000Z

I know I have not been around much and being a slacker once again but I have just been so busy doing a million other things I can't seem to find the time. I will become allot more of a slacker for an entire month!! because we are going to Canada :). Yeah!! me and Randie head out on Monday, March 26th! (my birthday) and will not return until April 25th.

I am not looking forward to the flight because it is always a dreaded flight to me but I am so much looking forward to seeing my family :) I am excited for everyone to see Randie as well and see how much she has grown in only 6 months!

I know it will be very difficult for you all with me being gone so long but I am sure you will manage... lol Really though, I will miss ya all and you can be sure I will have hundreds of pics on my return! I am loving my new camera although there is tons to learn on it!! I have included a couple of pics taken yesterday but if you would like to see more just check out my photo blog Life Thru a Lens here.

Can't beat experience!!

2007-03-19T15:17:00.000Z

My dad sent me this the other day and I laughed my head off so thought I would share it with all of you :)

*A farmer stopped by the local mechanic shop to have his truck fixed. They
couldn't do it while he waited, so he said he didn't live far and would just
walk home.*

*On the way home he stopped at the hardware store and bought a bucket and a
gallon of paint. He then stopped by the feed store and picked up a couple of
chickens and a goose. However, struggling outside the store he now had a
problem - how to carry his entire purchases home.*

*While he was scratching his head he was approached by a little old lady who
told him she was lost. She asked, "Can you tell me how to get to 1603
Mockingbird Lane?"*

*The farmer said, "Well, as a matter of fact, my farm is very close to that
house I would walk you there but I can't carry this lot."*

*The old lady suggested, "Why don't you put the can of paint in the bucket.
Carry the bucket in one hand, put a chicken under each arm and carry the
goose in your other hand?"*

*"Why thank you very much," he said and proceeded to walk the old girl home.
*

*On the way he says "Let's take my short cut and go down this alley. We'll
be there in no time."*

*The little old lady looked him over cautiously then said, I am a lonely
widow without a husband to defend me. How do I know that when we get in the
alley you won't hold me up against the wall, pull up my skirt, and have your
way with me?"*

*The farmer said, "Holy smokes lady! I'm carrying a bucket, a gallon of
paint, two chickens, and a goose. How in the world could I possibly hold you
up against the wall and do that?"*

*The old lady replied, "Set the goose down, cover him with the bucket, put
the paint on top of the bucket, and I'll hold the chickens."*

Attitude

2007-03-15T21:47:00.000Z

Yeah Attitude, this is something that Randie had TONS of lately. It is amazing how quickly her attitude has changed just over the past month or so.. She throws out orders like she was just "Born" doing it! "I want that NOW!!" I mean geez.. she acts like Sir Alan Sugar or something. This was our conversation the other night:

Randie: I want an M&M mommy
Mommy: Yeah well you can have one if you go to the potty
Randie: I DON'T want to go to the potty!
Mommy: Okay well no M&M then, those are your potty treats
Randie: PLEASSSSE
Mommy: No
Randie: PLEASSSSE
Mommy: No
Randie: I want an M&M NOW!
Mommy: oh well.. go to the potty then
Randie: PLEASSSE
Mommy: No
Randie: PLEASSSE
Mommy: No
(This went on about 10 times and then she just cracked up laughing.. which of course made me start laughing and it turned into a game..*sigh*) lol

Then of course we have the "Don't do that" situation.. Everything is DON'T DO THAT!.

Mommy: Strokes Randie's hair
Randie: Don't do that MOMMY!
Mommy: Don't do what?
Randie: Don't touch my hair
Mommy: Why not, I was just stroking it?
Randie: I don't like you stroking my hair!

I mean come on! Little miss attitude strikes again.. and of course she says this to everyone about EVERYTHING!

Last night before bed:

Mommy: How are you feeling baby? (with her scrapes from her fall)
Randie: I'm fine mommy
Mommy: (Shocked look) Oh that's good then (okay when did my baby turn 30!)
Randie: (leans in and hugs mommy) mommy's all better now. (I was not aware I was not)
Mommy: Thank you dolly
Randie: You're welcome
Mommy: Want to go to Crazy Crocs tomorrow?
Randie: FANTASTIC!!

Like I mean seriously.. what is going on here? Who is this child and where is my sweet little baby?? lol Sometimes she kills me with how grown up she seems.. I'm afraid to sleep, she may be in college tomorrow!

TAGGED!

I have also been tagged by Heather on 5 things I enjoy about being a woman. Its funny I have never really thought about that before and I think it would be easier to list 5 things that suck..lol but here it goes! Although my answers are the same as everyone Else's I think.. lol

1. Being a mommy.. I was able to give birth to the most amazing child ever. NOTHING can beat that!

2. Being a daughter: I don't know I think it would be way cooler to be a daughter than a son :)

3. Being a big and little sister

4. Being able to draw allot of attention from hot guys! (back in my younger years) lol

5. Being a wife: We as women will get our own way 9/10 ;)

I tag anyone who wants to do it :)

Life Thru A Lens

2007-03-13T21:01:00.000Z

Well I started a new secondary blog for pictures. No worries, I will still post pics here on my main blog but since I will be taking allot more pictures and learning my camera etc I figured I would start a photography blog as well so I don't bog this one down with hundreds of pics ;) I already post allot of pics on here but if you want to see more feel free to visit me over at "Life Thru A Lens". I will probably post allot of pics there :)

In other news, Randie's eye is allot better than it was but I still did not feel comfortable taking her to playgroup today. (Didn't want to be one of those irresponsible parents) so I decided to take her to the park so she could at least play. Well of course while we were there she was running and fell down and busted her lip open *sigh* What is wrong with this girl? If it is not one thing it is another. The poor little bean was really crying and bleeding.. she scraped the outside of her lip and her chin and it looks like the tooth cut the inside top lip so now she has a fat lip :(

So what do we have now? We have conjunctivitis, the mysterious rash and now a fat lip!! My girl needs a serious break and so does mommy!!

I hope you and yours are doing well :)

Just some new pics :)

2007-03-12T22:46:00.000Z

What Next!!!

2007-03-11T22:39:00.000Z

As if Randie's conjunctivitis is not bad enough we brought her into emergency today because she has broken out in a blistery, red rash all over the place. You cannot really tell from the pictures but it looks horrible, almost like a burn.. She has not acted any different and her temp was fine. She does not seem bothered by the rash at all but of course mommy is so we took her in. They said it looked almost like an allergic reaction to something?? They said it was a mystery because they could not tell us what it is but that it shows the classic symptoms of an allergic rash.. Well not one thing has changed with Randie at all regarding her normal schedule.. no new detergents, soaps anything. We have no idea what it could possibly be from.

Anyway we were in there a couple hours and ended up leaving with a antihistamine drug to try on her and see if it takes it away. I sure hope so because it drives me nuts seeing this all over her body. Poor little sprog! It also will be in one spot and then it will disappear and will be somewhere else?? it is really weird.. I just hope these meds work for her and it continues not to bother her.

In the pictures you can see it somewhat on her hand but in the bottom pic it is also on her face but it does not show up in the pic that great.. Argg flash pics! I hate a firing flash but bad light in my room.. lol She was sitting on mommys computer desk all ready for bed :)

I got it!!!

2007-03-10T22:27:00.000Z

Well I got the new camera... here are a few of the first horrible pictures I have taken with it.. *sigh*.. lol

This is Randie right before she thought it would be cool to rub her sticky hand on mommy's new lens... lol

Camera Update

2007-03-08T23:09:00.000Z

Okay there has been a camera change here now.. lol No more Nikon D50 but now the Canon 350D (also known as the Canon Digital Rebel XT in other countries) It is a bit more expensive but is a better camera.. Im not as crazy about the body of the camera as I am the Nikon but as my hubby says.. "Who cares what it looks like if its a better camera!" Well, I guess he is right, I am not going to sleep with the camera.... uggg well okay maybe just for a night or two ;) but ya know what I mean.. lol

I should be getting it on Saturday.. Cross your fingers, toes and eyes for me!! Okay well just your fingers will do :)

On a Randie note: Her conjunctivitis is basically holding its own.. its not getting any worse but she still gets some grunge in it now and then but nothing serious. We took her to the DR but he basically said to just keep it clean and stuff. He says there can be serious side effects to the meds for it and considering he cannot really tell she has it not to worry about it but keep our eye on it. If it gets worse come back and see him!

Hope you are all doing well :)

Camera

2007-03-07T18:28:00.001Z

Update: No I did not get the camera.. non in stock and who knows when they will be :(

More Contagion

2007-03-06T21:04:00.000Z

Our latest news...

we are all over our sickness! wait... before you clap!

Randie now has conjunctivitis.. and of course we will get it as well!

Yeah thats right.. that gooey discharge from the eyes... always nice...

Courtesy of a very responsible parent who brought her infected child to the playgroup on Monday... NUFF SAID!

oh.. ps...

I get my new camera tomorrow.... okay now you can clap ;)

Wordless Wednesday....

2007-02-28T14:59:00.000Z

Nikon D50 DSLR

2007-02-24T11:25:00.000Z

This is what I am getting for my birthday!!! I am so excited I have to remind myself to breath daily. Why does my birthday have to be a month away??? OMG!!!

Signature Sunday...

2007-02-18T16:35:00.000Z

Well Signature Creations has now been re-done. There is still some work to do on it but it is just about there. Stop by and have a look :) Here are just a few of my latest!