The Past Four Months

Lets see if I can remember all the things that have happened in the past four months....by the way this is totally strecthing my memory. In February Brittney's son Gabe aka munchkin butt turned 3 and we went to his birthday party at Burger King. Brittney and I made Rice Krispy Treats instead of cake for his birthday because he is allergic to eggs. Gabe, Lorelai, Shawn, and Wesson had tons of fun playing in the play yard at Burger King. It's kind of funny watching Lorelai attempt to climb up and chase after the big boys.

In March my best friend got married which was a ton of fun and very stressful at the same time. Ashley and Nic had been through so much and it was great to see them finally get married. The joke about their wedding is third time is a charm and I don't mean marrigages. Anyhow, it was a goregous ceremony and was filled tons of love and laughter. Then Ashley and Nic moved to North Carolina where Nic is stationed. I was sad to see them go and I miss them both very much. I hope to visit them sometime soon.

In April we had Easter which was a lot of fun! My sister came for Easter which I was very excited about. Even if she did come home with a staph infection.

April was also my 23rd birthday! I'm getting to be so old! I enjoyed dinner with my mom one night and then the next night I got to go to dinner and a play with my dad. We saw this great play called Murder at the Howard Johnson. It was an awesome comedy!

May has been a little crazy. It's the beginning of turnover season at the apartments. We are staying incredibly busy. I also had my final for college algebra. My sister has officially completed her freshman year of college at KCAI. I'm so proud of her. In fact she is actually coming home today! I can't wait to see her. This week is also her 19th birthday. We may go to SoCo to celebrate so that will be fun! Then the beginning of June I will be moving to a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment. It will be amazing for Lorelai to have her own room and to have so much more storage space. I also will be gaining a brand new kitchen! Lorelai is beginning to gain more words in her vocabulary. She loves saying shoes, push, stop, fish, dog and then making the sound the dog makes. She just keeps getting smarter and smarter everyday. I love watching her grow! There are tons of things to look forward to and lots of things to keep me busy!

It's A New Year

I have survived another year! Things are staying busy as usual around here. It seems as though there is just always something going on. Let's see I really can't remember a whole lot of what happened since that last time I posted. So I will just start with Christmas! This was Lorelai's second Christmas and it seemed to be a little more exciting to her then last Christmas (she was only 3 months old.) Lorelai got spoiled and got a doll house that her great great great grandpa had made for my mom at one point and my uncle fixed it up for Lorelai and shipped it to us all the way from Vermont. That was Lorelai's big gift for this year. She seemed to be more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes than most of her toys although her Dora shoes caught her attention. We went up to my mom's house for Christmas and enjoyed it with my siblings, my mom, and Parker's girlfriend Caroline. We all really enjoyed the gifts that we got from each other. Then later Christmas Day as the usual McDougal family tradition we went and had Christmas dinner at China Garden. Which was really good. The following week I drove to St.Louis on Tuesday, Parker and Caroline drove there on Tuesday as well, and then Mom and Zoe drove up to St.Louis on Wednesday to pick my grandmother up from the airport. She flew in from Vermont to spend a few weeks with us! We then spent Thursday sight seeing around St.Louis and eating brunch at this restaurant called the Rooster. It was really Yummy!

New Years was just another day to me. I ended up being at home and falling asleep. In fact I've done that for the last three years! I really enjoyed my visit with my Grandma and was very excited that she got to meet her first great grandchild. She was totally in awe of Lorelai. Lorelai showed her all the things she can say and how she can climb up stairs. Zoe and Parker have been driving around like crazy. Zoe has so far gone to Iowa and then had to go back to Kansas City a couple of times for work study training. Parker has been home and then driving back and forth to St.Louis because his girlfriend has moved back there and gotten a job at a hospital there. We are very proud of her but this distance thing is pretty hard on Parker and I'm sure on Caroline too. He has been talking about moving there this summer.

I have started another class at school. I'm taking Biology. It's a little nerve racking because it's been a few years since I've had biology. Although I was pretty good at it in high school but that was five years ago! So we'll see how this goes. My teacher is the wife of my science teacher from junior high school. I think that is pretty funny. I can tell you this though I definitely am not fond of this in class thing. I got so used to being able to do my classes online and that I really enjoy. It allows me to work on it a little bit, stop and do whatever I need to do and then go back to it. As opposed to the in class thing where I go to work and then right after work I go to class. It's kind of exhausting and hard to stay awake but I'm going to make it through this.

Meanwhile, one of my best friend's is getting married in March. So we've been busy dealing with wedding planning and I'm the maid of honor which is exciting but a huge responsibility as well. Then my other best friend got engaged over Christmas and even though it's going to be a year or so before they get married we have already tried to start planning some small details for her wedding. I'm also the maid of honor for her wedding as well. I'm very excited for the both of them and can't wait to be apart of these weddings! Love you both girls!!

I think that pretty much covers everything I can remotely think of at the moment! So Happy New Year to everyone!! :)

Baby Steps, It's All About the Baby Steps

Life has been a little chaotic these last couple of weeks! To start with Lorelai turned one this past friday and boy did we have fun! We had the family birthday dinner with Mimi and Papa friday evening at the 63 Diner. Which is a family favorite and Lorelai got to experience her first McDougal family birthday tradition at the diner. Brownie and ice cream........this equals trouble!

Then on Saturday we had her first birthday party! It was a very exciting time we had some friends come over and we decorated pumpkins and ate lots of cake and pizza! Lorelai loved being with her friends and family. She also enjoyed her gifts especially this turtle that talks and sings!

Now to the Baby Steps! I got my own apartment! It's a huge baby step in my life. Something I have been wanting to do for awhile and the oppertunity came along and I got a great deal due to some awesome people that I work for! So, the entire week before Lorelai's party I was moving and planning a birthday party all at the same time. It was a little chaotic and I think I was kind of nuts for doing it but both things got accomplished successfully I must say! I'm adjusting to being in my own house with just Lorelai and I. It's pretty quite which I'm not used too and I'm constantly feeling like I need to be doing something or that I need to be out and about. I'm not used to not having anyone around. Good thing mom doesn't live that far away and I still see dad practically everyday! Going grocery shopping by myself is another adventure I'm getting used to. I come from a family of five so grocery shopping was a big to do in our house and it always seemed as if we were buying a ton of food! So now I'm just buying for me and Lorelai (who doesn't eat a ton) and I feel kind of strange with just the little bit of stuff I get. I feel as though I need to be buying more even though I really don't. So, those are the new adventures we have encountered lately and we'll keep you posted on more adventures to come!!! :)

Happy Fall Everyone!!!!!!!!

Adventures of Lorelai!

It has been an extremely busy week for little miss Lorelai. Last weekened we went and spent the weekend over at Mimi's (grandma's) and Lorelai kept trying to get off the couch. She would scootch to the edge and kind of look down at the ground like how do I get down there. So Mimi rolled her over on her belly and showed her how to swing one foot off the couch and then the other. Now Lorelai constantly wants to climb up and down off the couch.

Then next thing I know Mimi had gone upstairs and Lorelai was at the base of the stairs and I was behind her and she starts climbing up the stairs. So we let her climb all the way up the stairs and then I brought her back down the stairs and she climbed right back up. I decided it's time to get the baby gates!

Last nigh I was sitting with her and we were watching dora and swipper was taking something I don't exactly remember what but Lorelai out of nowhere starts saying "Uh Oh" over and over and over again! I though it was absolutely adorbable! I do believe that her going to daycare is having some benefits! Anyhow, I will get some new pics up of Lorelai soon! 

It's Just Nuts!

Things have just been nuts here lately with the McDougal Family! Last weekend we got my sister moved to Kansas City for school. This is one of those things that I'm cautiously optimistic for her. I'm excited for the new chapter that of her life that she has started and yet hesitant to the change. For any of you that know me totally know that I'm not a huge fan of change. Now on top of my sister moving, my brother has moved to Jeff City to go to school at Lincoln. I'm very proud of him and know he will do just fine. I know that he loves it there and I think that God has a huge plans for him there as well. Oh wait forgot one more thing....Mom moved too! By the way all this moving happened in the same week. So anyhow, everyone is pretty much moved and situated for the most part. Mom's place we still have some work to do. It's really weird to me being the only child around my parents at this point. I keep wanting to call my brother and sister and say hey let's go grab lunch or go to a movie...it's not that easy anymore. As far as I'm concerned I have just been busy working and taking care of Lorelai.

Lorelai is doing well. She now has 8 teeth and loves to eat just about anything. She is attempting to drink out of a big kid cup without a straw or lid. So I'm excited for her but don't necessarily like the mess that goes along with it. Although at the same time I think it's totally adorable! Lorelai had another fashion show this past weekend at the Kid City event that the Holiday Inn Expo Center put on. Which seems to really enjoy all the attention that comes along with it. I do have to say though the most exciting part of it was when Lorelai and I were sitting on the floor to take a break I looked over at her and she was totally standing up all by herself without holding onto anything for about 10 to 15 seconds. I have a feeling walking will be occuring soon. It's so exciting to watch her grow and discover new things. It's also kind of sad to see her grow up so quick. I just want to keep her small! Lol I'm working hard on getting ready for her first birthday and I'm pretty excited about it. I should be getting invites out soon!

That's all I've got for now! :)

Just an Update

Well things have been a little nuts lately. We survived the turnovers at the apartments! Yay!!!!!! That's such a stressful time of the year but it went very smoothly. Now we are getting ready to go through a second smaller turnover which I think will go just fine. My sister is getting ready to have her going away/college party as she calls it which will be this coming saturday. It will be fun! Also, I have my brother, sister, and mom moving to 3 different places all in the same week! All I can say is AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Lol.

Now it's time for the infamous Lorelai update. My little girl is now crawling everywhere and she just turned 10 months old yesterday. Gosh, these past ten months have flown by and she just keeps growing it's kind of crazy. Lorelai now has 7 teeth and one more on the way for sure! This past week she came down with a fever of 104.1 and she had it for about three days. Lets just say that was the longest three days and nights I have ever been through. All she wanted to do was lay on top of me and cry constantly. I really didn't get much sleep through that but I'm happy to report she is doing really well now and back to her normal self. I have been working on trying to figure out Lorelai's first birthday party and I think I have it figured out for the most part. Although I'm sure I will end up tweaking it a bit.

I think that's enough for now and I hope all is going well in everyones worlds!

A Crazy Chaotic Life

Things have been a little crazy since the last time I posted. Right now I'm working like crazy and still going to school and being mom. Work has been kind of nuts with it being turn over season at the apartments. We're running around like chickens with our heads cut off because we have air conditioners falling apart it seems like every six seconds and they are proving to not be easy fixes! I have a week left of school for this eight week session and then I have to take my final and then I get to start my next class which will be Biology. I took it in high school this is just a higher level Biology but I think I will enjoy. The only thing I'm hesistant about is that it requires me to be in class for 5 hours a night for two nights a week. So that's time that takes me away from Lorelai and getting other things done around the house. I will have to do some adjusting to that. My baby sister graduated from high school in May and turned 18 the same month. Anyhow, she is just getting ready to have her "graduation/dorm party" as she calls it next month. Then she is off to KC to go to school August 19th. So I'm anxious/nervous about her leaving but I'm very proud of her.

Lorelai is now 9 months old and is getting sooo big. She started crawling the week before the 4th of July. She now has 6 teeth and is eating all sorts of fun and exciting foods. She loves yogurt and pasta. Well just about anything for that matter. I had to take her to ER for the first time a few weeks ago because she had this diaper rash that just wasn't going away and then it would blister up and break open and bleed. She also wasn't drinking very much as far as formula is concerned. So I was getting a little worried about the possibility of dehydration. Anyhow, found out she had thrush which explains why she wasn't drinking very much and a fungal diaper rash. The doctors gave her some meds for those things and she seems to be doing a lot better! :) The 4th of July was fun. We went down to Warsaw to see of our old friends and they live right on the lake. So we took Lorelai down to the dock and stuck her feet in the water and she loved it. We also took her on her first boat ride. She seemed to enjoy it minus the wind blowing in her face. She still hasn't figured out what to think about the whole wind thing.

I think that is latest excitement in my world! I will keep you all posted on more adventures that Lorelai and I have! :)