Need Some Crockpot Recipes!!!

Since I started working again I'm finding it really hard to come home and cook a nice dinner. Emma does not want mommy to cook when we get home. She wants to play in her bedroom or outside. So I thought maybe my good ol crockpot could help me out. Currently I make taco soup, roast, and I think that's about it in my crockpot. So bloggers, I need your help! If you have any good healthy crockpot recipes please share!!! You can leave your recipes in the comments field or you can email them to btitsworth@gmail.com Please don't be shy. I'll even post pics of us eating your yummy crockpot meals.

Guess Who's Sportin a Rockin Ponytail?

Emma! How cute is that? Last night we went to dinner at the hibachi grill and Emma loved it! She looks like such a big girl in these pics...

In other news, if you try to call me right now I will not answer. We will be taking a trip later today to the Verizon Wireless store. Last night on our way to dinner I sat my phone on the truck while I checked the mailbox and then buckled Emma into her carseat. Well I then jumped into the front seat and we drove off. Folks, this is the 2 time I've done this and even lost my car keys the same way. Last time it happened some guy that lives a couple miles away found it on his morning run. I'm not sure we will be so lucky this time. It rained last night so I'm sure it is ruined. So sad!

We Are Still Here!

What a week! I now realize how hard it is to get things done when you work 9 hours a day, come home to a 2 year old, and then care for her until 9pm. Before Emma was born I would come home from work and be bored to death all night just sitting on the couch watching tv. Now my nights are filled with a cranky toddler, time outs, dinner, bathtime, painting, some more fights with a toddler, and finally bedtime. I've been getting up around 5am every morning so by the time 9:30 hits, I'm running to my big bed. But so far I love my job and all of my coworkers.

Emma has had a major turnaround at daycare this past week! She cries only a little bit when we drop her off and then she is good the rest of the day. She no longer cries and begs when we turn in the parking lot so that makes it easier. She's also started napping anywhere from 1.5 hours to 2 hours, eats all of her food, and really loves it when they get to go outside. Happy Emma=Happy Mommy!

In other news, we've really entered the terrible 2's stage. George and I have really struggled these past 2 weeks with Emma's attitude. I know her being in daycare and the recent changes are probably a big part of it, but wow is all I've got to say. Anyone have some magic advice on what to do? We try so hard to play with her all night but the littlest thing will send her into hysterics and then it's all downhill from there. Some nights I'm so anxious for bedtime to arrive so I can have some peace. I've never really thought parenthood was so hard until now. Now I get it. I hate disciplining her. Is that even a word? And I feel like we tell her "no" all the time and it breaks my heart.

So if anyone can share any tips on how to be a better parent, I'm all ears! Yesterday one of G's coworkers said to start watching the show "Supernanny!" She scares me! But I really want to get this under control before it's too late. HELP!

Not Very Happy With the Insurance Company!

Last Tuesday when George took Emma to the pulmonologist the lady told him we owe around $500. George didn't know what it was from but paid $250 & said we'll pay the rest later. So when he tells me this I was stunned! I've been to the office several times and noone has mentioned owing them any money and we haven't received a bill from them in a long time. So since I'm off today I decided to find out what's going on & why I owe them so much money. Turns out our insurance pays 90% of the Synagis shots and even though we've met our deductible we still owe the 10%. I guess I just thought after I paid the $40 copay and the fact we've met our deductible that we wouldn't owe anything else...WRONG! Apparently we owe almost $260 per shot and Emma gets 4 of these shots! That turns out to be OVER $1,000!!! Holy moly batman! I'm so glad I'm working and I know what my 1st paycheck will go to. :( Do you ever feel like you pay so much just to have insurance and then you get stuck paying thousands of dollars anyway? The past 2 years we have payed almost $7000 in medical expenses/prescriptions and it looks like this year will be the same. I also don't feel that great today so at the end of the phone call with insurance I started crying. Don't get me wrong, we can pay the money but it just sucks to have to pay it. :(

Also, I had big plans to sleep in this morning since I don't have to work. Well at 12:30 last night Braxton had to go outside so I got up and took him out. I fall back asleep and Emma comes in a few hours later. I don't know what happened but she was upset at some point and was kicking me & being fussy. Then at 5:30am I woke up with the worst leg cramps ever! It was my right calf muscle and I wanted to scream. After several seconds it finally got better. So I took a couple of deep breaths & hoped to fall back asleep. Within seconds my leg cramped up again and I had to wake George up. Of course that woke Emma up too. My leg is better now but it is extremely sore when I walk on it. I know it's from wearing those high heels this week! My legs & feet are used to that anymore. So now my goal is to buy more dress pants and have them altered to wear flat shoes. That way I don't have to wear heels everyday. What a rough morning! Also, Emma and I have been coughing quite a bit this morning. Ok, I'm done whining. :) I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I'm ready for some sunshine. Oh it's also the weekend to spring forward on our clocks. Yay!

Zoom, Zoom!

Emma LOVES to be pushed around the house really fast in her baby stroller. It is so funny but it really hurts our backs to be bent over and running. Well Sunday night she was begging for it so George being the great daddy that he is, ran her around the house several times while she giggled and squealed. :) So funny! So here are some pics from that...

Here they come around the living room...


Making their way back around...



On all 4 wheels!

Don't you just love her one pant leg up with her Dora bandaid?

Rough Day For Emma

So far this week work has been really easy for me b/c I've just been doing the initial work stuff like training, getting passwords, etc. Not too bad! Well since George has taken & picked Emma up from school the past two days I decided to drop her off this morning. I got up & showered around 5:20am (waay too early!) and when I got out at 5:30am Emma started waking up. I know this will soon become her morning wake up time even on the weekends and I dread it! Anyways, we left for school this morning and had a nice ride. That all ended once we pulled into the Primrose parking lot. She immediately started saying "no mommy" repeatedly and saying "stay in mommy's car." It broke my heart. :( Then I tried to unbuckle her and she fought me & was saying "buckle up Emma." Finally I managed to get her arms out only to have her brace her feet on her DVD player so I struggled to get her out and bumped her head on the car. Don't worry it wasn't a bad bump but still it was no fun struggling with her. I carried her in and it was only 6:30ish at this point & her teacher had just walked in the door. Emma cried hysterically the whole way to her classroom with tears & snot & then started coughing alot. So I walked around her room looking at her artwork (which was amazing) and then I had her laughing. I thought "ok, things are looking up!" Um no. I tried to take her jacket off and the crying started again. Ms. Monica finally had to take her from me and show her the playground outside. She kept looking back for me and I blew her a kiss & Ms. Monica said "let's watch for mommy's car." She started to calm down but who knows for how long. So needless to say, not a great way to start your morning. :) I always call & check on her once or twice a day & it makes me feel a little better. I called today around 11:45 and the sweet girl said Emma was crying. Come to find out they had been playing on the playground and it was time to come in for lunch and Emma didn't want to come in! She loves to play outside! And once again, only a 20 minute nap. I don't know how long it will take her to nap normally at school. I did get to pick her up today at 5pm and she was so excited to see me. She was crying when I got there but perked right up and said "that's my mommy!" Then she says "see ya everybody!" and the teacher started laughing. She said Emma says that all the time! What a little character.

As soon as we got home everything went sour. I think she was so tired and hungry she didn't know what to do. The girl has been eating like an elephant this week and we were so amazed at everything she's ate today! Must be another growth spurt! After several crying/temper tantrums she was sound asleep by 8:30pm. Whew what a day! Since coming home tonight I've washed 3 loads of laundry and put away, cooked dinner, washed dishes and ran dishwasher, took the trash out, cleaned my car out, and a few other things. Mommy is tired. Hopefully the routine will get easier soon. Luckily I have Friday off!!! I'm so excited!

One last thing...Emma went to the pulmonologist yesterday and received another Synagis shot. She gets her last one March 31st. George took her and I think it was my first time missing an appt. So sad. But they did just fine. She is also continuing her Pulmnicort awhile longer but not sure how much longer.

Oh and today I got the postcard in the mail for the NICU Preemie Party!!! I can't wait! It is on March 28th from 10-12pm and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. I wish it lasted all day! We will get to show Emma off, see NICU friends, nurses & doctors. I'm also curious to see if Emma was the smallest baby in 2007. I think there was another baby smaller before she went home but not everyone can say they had a 1 lb 7 oz baby!

Well I'm off to watch LOST and enjoy some quiet time before bed. Pics to come!

Mommy's 1st Day of Work!

I survived! Today was my first official day at work (outside of the home) and it was great! Of course for the next week it will be very easy just getting stuff set up so give me a few months and then I might be crazy. :) Everyone is super nice so far and I plan on going back tomorrow. ha ha. Per Gabby's request, here are a couple of pics of me and my baby on my first day at work. By the way, Emma did much better today at daycare than she did last week. She did cry off an on today and NO NAP but I'm sure in another week she'll be all comfy and settled in. So thanks for all of the prayers! Happy Monday!



The full attire! My feet/calves are so sore from wearing heels today! I guess G is giving someone a nice long foot rub tonight. :)

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"

I think this is the last post for today! Although I've got lots more pics/videos to share.

Emma started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" a few weeks ago and it is so cute! She can actually sing the whole song by herself but as you know, put a camera in front of her and she gets camera shy. :) So here she is in all of her cuteness with some help from daddy. Enjoy!

"Paint My Belly?"

Emma LOVES to finger paint and asked me today if we could paint. I told her after her nap and sure enough she comes to me trying to take her shirt off so she could paint. First we started painting on the paper and using heart shaped sponges and then she said "paint my belly?" in her cute little Emma voice. A few weeks ago I painted her belly and I guess she thinks it's funny. Anyways, I couldn't resist a little belly painting so I let her do it. It's so fun to watch her and I always wonder what's going through her sweet little mind. So don't worry these are all washable kid-friendly finger paints from Target. I just threw her in the bath afterwards and she is squeaky clean in minutes! Enjoy!

One other thing. Earlier I was telling Emma that tomorrow mommy & daddy were both going to work and she was going back to big girl school. We talked about it for a few minutes and that was that. Well not too long ago I was cold so I went in the closet to get one of G's sweatshirts to wear and I put on some sock slippers. Emma was watching me very carefully and she says "go check the mailbox" b/c I always throw on a sweatshirt to check the mailbox since it's cold outside. I said "no mommy isn't checking mailbox" and then she goes "Mommy go to work." Once again, I said "no mommy is going to work tomorrow, not today." Then Emma says "Mommy go to Nashville" b/c not too long ago I went with my girlfriends and she somehow remembers that. I told her no I wasn't going to Nashville but that mommy was cold. It just amazes me how she puts things together. Of course it also breaks my heart b/c those times she mentioned are times I've left her and she remembers that. I very rarely leave her but she remembers when I do. Of course when I check the mailbox it is only for a second. :)

George is dropping her off in the morning b/c I have to go to a different location for my orientation & don't have to arrive until 9am. I really hope she does better with G dropping her off. At least they don't mind if I call several times during the day. :)

We Got SNOOOOOOOW!

Finally we got some white stuff in good ol' Alabama! Everytime it snows in TN I am bummed b/c I wanted Emma to see some snow and play in it. Well my wish came true! We woke up to a white ground. George took Miss Emma out to play this morning but it was very cold & windy. They only got to stay outside for a few minutes but I think Emma likes it. Enjoy the pics!

Walking down our sidewalk in all of her gear!



Smile if you love snow!


This stuff is kind of cool!



Oh no, where did my glove go?

Found it!

Too bad the snow is already melting. :( But at least the roads will be nice and warm for my ride to work tomorrow. Wow, it's been a long time since I've said those words. Tomorrow I have to show up by 9am and I'm an official employee of Northrop Grumman. So wish me luck on my new adventure. I really hope that Emma does better at school this week. It breaks mommy's heart to see her sad. Check back for updates tomorrow night. Happy snowy Sunday!