An Award...

Stephanie over at Eyeball Girl - gave me an award!!

Thanks so much Stephanie!!


I am going to pass this on to Jeannie, Kim, Juice, Sarah, Midwest Mommy and Tiffany!
I love these girls blogs...though I am sorry I don't get around to commenting enough!

** Don't forget to enter my contest!!**

One Week...

from today...Jimmy and I will be in Costa Rica!! We can't wait. We have so much planned, surf lessons, white water rafting, hiking, zip lining, relaxing and sleeping in!!

But there is SO MUCH to be done between now and then...

Birthday Party, Hair Cut, Phillies Game, Jewelry Party, Cookout, 10 mile training walk, Dentist Appt., Dr's Appt, Blood Drawn, Babysitting, and Visits to the Pool. and the gym, and shopping for a new car...

oh my, I think I could go on forever. And it is 12:09am...and I have to be at work by 7 tomorrow - so up at around 5:30...hmm, that is in a very few short hours.

So I am going to go off to bed...with visions of sun, sand, surf and cold beers in my head...

6 more days, 6 more days, 6 more days...

**Remember to enter my contest for a new blog redesign below!!**
***Thanks for all of the wonderful comments on my new blog design!! I LOVE IT TOO!!***

Welcome!!

Welcome to my newly designed and renamed blog!! Don't you love it?!!?

I was so excited when I won Loni's giveaway at From Two to Three!! She gave away a free blog redesign by Jessica at This That and Your Blog. Jessica was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G to work with!!! We must have emailed 100 times and she was so helpful and so creative!!

Since I had the opportunity to win a blog design from Jessica I wanted to offer my readers the same opportunity!! So in order to celebrate my new blog design I am giving away one blog redesign by Jessica to one of my readers!!

All you have to do is leave a comment to enter! If you would like 2nd and 3rd entries you can become a follower (or let me know if you already are!) and you can also grab my NEW BUTTON!! :)

Thanks so much for reading and entering!! The contest will run until midnight Wednesday September 2nd.

Exciting Things...

Hello everyone!! Some exciting changes and things are coming!!! :)

My blog officially now has its own personal url www.mom-wife-triathlete.com so please update your readers!

Please stay tuned... :)

Long Overdue Post!!

Way back when...ok so maybe about a month ago...I won another contest!! I won some Peppermint (my favorite) Essential Oils!!

I won them from Annie at All-Abode, she has an awesome site - with tons of ideas for natural cleaners, recipes and tips! My friend Jeannie even does guest posts there too!

Ok - so I just want to tell you how in love I am with my Peppermint Essential Oil!! Ok - so I LOVE everything and ANYTHING peppermint and this is like Peppermint to the MAX! I could just sit and sniff it all day long...well ok, not really...but I do love the smell of it!!

So here are a few things I have done with my oil -

• We have a diaper champ in Charley's room - we opted for that over the genie since it takes regular bags - and it was great, until Charley started eating real food and if you are parent you know what I am talking about - the smell is just unreal - ok sorry to get off topic - but I put a paper towel with a few drops of my Peppermint Oil on it and put it in the bottom of the diaper champ - so that now when we put a new diaper in and turn it - I get the wonderful smell of peppermint and not the other not so wonderful smell :)
  
• I read the PDF file for the Peppermint Essential Oil on the Young Living site and it said to try on unbroken skin to help stop itching. DING DING DING!!! Mosquitos LOVE ME. I don't think I have mentioned this before - but I must be like their most favorite meal ever!! So since I have about 10 bites on me at any given time in the summer - I tested the oil out on my bites...well it works!! And smells a whole heck of a lot better then the bug bite stuff I usually use. Now to test and see if it will keep the bugs away - and then I won't get the bites. My only worry is people are going to start thinking I am trying to cover something up if I walk around smelling like peppermint all the time!!!
• I love peppermint soap - I have never made soap before - but I might give it a shot!
• I put it in the toilet paper and paper towel rolls in our house, and the nice scent you get when you unroll some paper is a nice surprise!
• I am thinking about trying to buy plain hand (pump) soap and mixing in some of the oil.
  
• Also it says it can be used in food - I make peppermint bark for Christmas presents - and usually use Peppermint extract - but this winter I think I will try the oil.
  

That is all so far - but there are so many other uses I am sure!! If you know of any others then please leave a comment!

And please head on over to All-Abode and check it out!! And if you want to get your own essential oils - Annie sells them and you can find the information on her site!

Thanks Annie!!

New Car...

So today - my neck was hurting - still is - chiropractor helped a little bit and I have to go back there early tomorrow morning...anyways...

I decided to do a little car shopping - spur of the moment - I ended up picking up a sweet ride - it is used, but new to us.

Let me tell you a little about its specs -

• It is an oldie but goodie - the date of creation is the year I was born
• It is Red - with a sweet yellow top
• It has huge windows
• Only one door
• An awesome sounding horn
• Turn key ignition
• Its head lights need a little work - but nothing I can't fix
• You won't believe the gas mileage...it is UNREAL
• It does take a little work to run however - and if you ride in it for a long time your legs might get tired
• It drives amazingly well in reverse - actually I think that currently it ONLY drives in reverse
  

Take a look!!

Charley checking our her new ride...

Taking her for a test drive...

Testing out the door...

The horn works great!

Driving in reverse...it seems to be the only way she knows how to drive so far :)

Chillin in my ride

Flintstones anyone??

Good news is - if it breaks down - she can push it to the nearest service station herself!

Adios amigos!! I'm heading out for some ice cream!!

I am sure you all want to know how much this hot ride set me back...$16 at the consignment shop!! :)

In Pain...

yes - me. in.pain. my neck. it hurts. i can't look left. i can't look up. it hurts when i lay down. it hurts when i get out of the car. it hurts all the way down and through my shoulder. what did i do? i have no clue. but damn does it hurt. chiropractor appointment at 245 unless someone cancels. please pray that someone cancels say in like 30 minutes. if you didn't know. my neck hurts. please give me sympathy :)

oh and we have a triathlon sunday. triathlons and hurt necks aren't good friends. i really hope the chiropractor will fix my neck. it hurts.

The Zoo...

Jimmy had off last Friday after a long week at work so we decided to hit up the Baltimore Zoo!! We had a great time!! Here is proof :)

Charley was all ready to get to the zoo..

She got to sit in a big birds nest...

Charley LOVED going down the big tree slide with Daddy!


She got to crawl in a tortoise shell...

Who knew that tortoises stuck their tongues out!

There was a petting zoo - and Charley had a blast walking around and brushing all of the goats!

This goat was sleeping...Charley was telling everyone to be quiet...shhh!

After the petting zoo she got to ride some tractors. (I attempted to antique this photo a little bit :))

Daredevil!!


Meet Zoe - the giraffe...


Charley and I got to FEED HER!!


On the way out of the zoo there was a playground...did you know that sticking your tongue out helps you crawl through the tunnel??


Jimmy fit too!

Bye-Bye Zoo...we will see you again soon!

6:30 Freaking AM!!!

Good News All!! She slept all night long!!! Yep from 4:30pm until 6:30am!!

Tonight I have a night off and am heading out to dinner with the girls. Can't wait.

Then tomorrow Jimmy has off!! And so do I! So we have a few things planned, a run and hopefully taking Charley some place fun :)

And of course I'll have my camera...

Keeping my fingers crossed...

Charley has been asleep since 4:30pm - and it is now 10:18pm. oy...see she didn't get her 2nd nap in today at my friends house, so we put her down after we picked her up - and then the choice came in:

Option 1: wake her up and feed her dinner so I can get to my class at the gym and she will be VERY cranky

Option 2: let her sleep until she wakes up - probably around 6-6:30 and then just put her to bed later

I decided on option number two...

Never did the thought cross my mind she wouldn't wake herself up at all, until I woke up on the couch at 8:15pm wondering what the heck was going on!! (Jimmy is working at the bar tonight)

So I wake up and think...

a) How much did she eat today - so I call K and find out - Not much at all is the answer...not out of the ordinary for her, but not the answer I was hoping for...K's suggestion - wake her up.

b) Should I wake her up and feed her and then keep her up and try to put her to bed later?

c) Does she need to be changed? Sure she is still in her clothes and not her PJ's - no biggie - we all sleep in our clothes every once in a while...right? :) But will she wake up soaked through and not happy?

d) What should I do? So I call my Mom...and her advice - wake her up.

So I decide to fill a sippy cup up with milk, get her PJ's and then I go into her room - now if she is not in a deep sleep as soon as I open the door she wakes up - well I go in her room, turn her night light on, get a diaper ready and she doesn't budge. So I pick her up from her crib and she is majorly confused...says "mama" and then I put her on the changing table, give her her sippy cup and proceed to change her diaper and clothes...then I try to rock her in her chair and she points at her crib and says "gerge" who is her buddy, her Curious George stuffed animal that she sleeps with - I say "You want to go in there with George?" and she says "uh huh" which is her "yes" answer. So I put her in her crib - with the milk - I HATE doing that - but it was worth the try. And she hasn't made a sound since...2 hours and counting.

I really hope there is a growth spurt going on here - I know she is cutting another tooth - so maybe that is taking all of her energy. She did spend all day with other kids - and went to the pool for 3 hours...so maybe that is it. All I know is, I hope - really hope she sleeps all night...well either all night, or until Jimmy gets home from the bar...

Though if she doesn't make it all night tonight it is as best a night as any for her to wake up...as my boss is out of town so if I am late in the morning, no one is there to harass me :) But I'd rather not.

So if you read this...please keep your fingers crossed for me. I'd appreciate it.

I'll be back with an update tomorrow!! Well hopefully tomorrow and not like 4am...

Changes...

Are coming your way...

As you can see I finally decided on a new title for my blog...(thanks Jeannie!!)

And I bought a URL since I didn't want to start a completely new blog and lose all of my posts and info here about Charley, my pregnancy, races, life, etc. So now you can reach my blog at

www.mom-wife-triathlete.com

my old URL will still bring you here, however - please update your readers :)

Jessica at This That and Your Blog is going to be making me a new awesome site - so please stay tuned!!