Incredibly Tired

It's 5:30 a.m. and I'm currently listening to the sound of my husband's snoring. I've been awake for the better part of an hour and a half. I'm already caught up on my Facebook and Twitter news. I'm tired... Me and 4 a.m. are not friends. We never have been and probably never will be. My mom will tell you that I am not a morning person as will I, as will my husband. Jeez, even my 6 year old will tell you I'm not a morning person. We've just never been friends. So why do I find myself awake and not able to go back to sleep? I don't know. I'm guessing it has something to do with the little alien inside me. I think she's preparing me for the times when she wants to wake up every few hours and eat. But the difference between that and now is that I'll be exhausted from only getting a few hours of sleep at a time so going back to sleep theoretically shouldn't be an issue. I slept for a solid 5 hours--I'm foreseeing a nap in the very near future...

Yesterday was a pretty non-productive day. I had the same problem sleeping yesterday (and the day before that and the day before that...) so after a very excited Kristi getting me awake (more on why she was excited in a few), my most loving and adoring husband let me go back to sleep. He got up with her, got her ready, and even did the dishes so I'd have a clean bowl to use for breakfast when I woke up. He seriously is the best! <3 After getting up around 10, I got ready for the day only to think that my water broke. So I woke Andy up and we headed to the doctors--false alarm. On one hand, I was kind of disappointed because I'm just so ready to not be pregnant anymore for her to be here. One the other hand, I was kind of relieved because I'm not sure if I'm really ready for this. I know you're thinking that I've done this once before so how hard can it be the second time around? Idk... I'll let you know that after she gets here. I just have concerns. Not about my parenting.. well okay, maybe one or two things about my parenting but that's more chalked up to hormones at the moment. My biggest concern/fear is loving Trinity as much as I love Kristi. I guess I can't wrap my brain around loving both kids equally. I've had over 6 years of just Kristi to love and dote on. That's a lot of time and a lot of love and devotion. I can't imagine giving an equal amount to Trinity, if that makes sense. I've talked to some friends about it and they've given me all the advice possible. I guess this is just something that'll resolve itself once she's here... So getting back to yesterday. After the false alarm, I pretty much just vegged. I was really, really, really (did I mention really?) tired so nothing got done other than reading a couple of magazines (the pile is slowlyyyyyyy dwindling) and pulling the articles I want to keep. Kris and I spent the evening together and yeah, that's pretty much it. (I wasn't kidding that nothing got done.) So on to Kristi's excitement...

Kristi's two front teeth have been very loose for the better part of a month but she won't pull them and won't let anyone get near them. Her cousin Shane (who is the master at getting kids to let him pull their teeth) couldn't even bribe convince her to let him pull them. He even offered her candy, $10 dollars, and a really cool playhouse/tent thing. Yeah, she wouldn't budge (she definitely has my family's stubborness). Well, 2 days ago, she let me take the first one out. I tried to convince her to let me get the second one but she said no. While she was outside playing in the snow, she fell and hit her other tooth and because her other teeth are already coming down behind, she was bleeding... a lot. So I finally convinced her to let me get it out. I told her if she'd let me, the tooth fairy would bring her double the money since she had double the teeth. She liked that idea. So we put her teeth in a baggie and under her pillow. Kristi loves to write and draw, especially notes to people. So she decided to write a note to the tooth fairy. I'm going to share it with you (her typos and all) because my husband and I found it highly amusing.

Thank you for the money! I like you guys! You guys are cool! Insted of the tooths being under my bed or under my pillow. They will be in my pillow case in the front. The tooths will be in a bag! love: Kristi to: Tooth fairy. by the way I have two teeth for you., So..............don't forget to dubble the money. by!

Oh-Em-Gee I was laughing so hard after I read that. Wow... Smh... I seriously love when she says/does things like that!

I got the crib organizer finished--you can read it about it here. I'm loving it's functionality already and will probably love it even more once Trinity's here! On that note, I guess I did get something done yesterday. I got the pattern typed out and posted to my blog as well as Ravelry. (On a side note--when I was getting the link, I noticed that since posting yesterday evening it's already been favorited 19 times! Score!)

Changing topics... During my stint on Twitter this morning, I found a couple of articles that I'd like to share. They're really good and I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. 

Parents May Hold Key to Treating... (A topic I find incredibly interesting, especially since it relates to my business.)

Time Makes Things Better (balancing life, kids, work, etc.)

Money Milestones for Kids (this has been a topic of discussion in our family)

On that note, I've run out of things to talk about this morning (I'm honestly surprised my brain is functioning this well this early and with no coffee) so until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

9 Months and Counting

The last week or so has been one emotional roller coaster after another. It's not because of anything anyone did or didn't do. It's just my hormones raging. I feel like this time around my hormones have decided to wait until the very end of the pregnancy to show up and hit all at once. I remember with Kristi being emotional pretty much through the whole pregnancy. I mean, I'd have a crying breakdown every few days it seemed. This time, not even close, not even one of those until 2 weeks ago. With that said, I've now had those meltdown-type cryings like every other day the past 2 weeks--and it doesn't seem to be subsiding. I know one of the things that seems to spark these fests is the realization that we're not the most organized family in the world so every time I look around the house I want to pull my hair out and insanely, madly clean. I usually don't care that we have clutter because let's face it--we live in our house. We have a 6 year old who likes to do crafts and then jump into the next activity without cleaning up the previous activity (I have to admit she totally learned that from me). So I've tried coming up with something to help reduce clutter. For example, to reduce the amount of clutter with magazines (I subscribe to at least 10), as I read a magazine I dog-ear the pages I want to keep for future reference like articles or recipes. Once I'm finished reading, I rip those pages out and put them in a binder or my recipe box, then I toss the magazine. Well, I've been more than a little backed up on my reading so I have 2 stacks of magazines that still need to be read dating back to the summer. (I'm thinking one of those will go with me to the hospital since I'll have ample time to read them.) I'm also making a concerted effort to do something similar with all the catalogs I get. (The ones I mostly care about are the knitting/crafting ones.) Back at the beginning of December, I found the Amazon Wishlist toolbar for my browser so I can now create as many wishlists as I'd like and put anything from any website on them. Score! So I also utilize the dog-ear method for things I want and then go to the website and add them to my Purchase Later or Christmas/Birthday list, then toss the catalog. Since implementing this 2 weeks ago, I've already thrown away 4 magazines and as many if not more catalogs. I'm thinking I'll keep this method. Well, at least until I run out of room for binders that is!

Okay that was ranting a little so back to the original topic of my hormones...  I've been nesting. Crazily, hungrily, nesting, especially when it comes to Trinity's room/stuff. I'm mostly finished with her room. I just have to finish filing some paperwork, change the files out since it's the new year, and clean the top shelf of her closet so I can fit my Cricut and Rubbermaid container with said Cricut stuff in it. I have a few other things to remove but other than that, the rooms good. I have to finish making the organizer for the side of the changing table (I've created my own knitting pattern since I couldn't find one anywhere online which will also count toward my goal--yippee!), sew the bumpers for her crib, and finish knitting her crib blanket. The bumper project is the one I'm most worried about. I haven't sewn since middle school. My sister lent me her sewing machine but I'm most worried about trying to read the pattern and get them to turn out right. I picked up the fabric, batting, and ribbon last week on sale at Jo-Ann's so I'm hoping to get to this project this week. I'm about half-way finished knitting the organizer and 40% finished with the blanket, both of which are fairly fast knits. Now, if she decides to come early, I'm totally screwed!

Changing topics completely... I was so excited to wake up to snow on the ground this weekend! I feel like I've been dying this winter because of cold/snow withdrawal.  This is one of the craziest winter's I've seen in a very long time. I love winter and snow so it hasn't been my favorite winter thus far. A side note to Mother Nature--if you'd like to score more points, you still have time to send me a blizzard. The only thing I ask is that you don't send one when I have to go to the hospital for Trinity's delivery. That just wouldn't be nice. 

I'm pretty sure I've talked your ear off enough for tonight so until next time, much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥

Time Management

My nemesis for today: time management. It's something in which I severely lack skills. I have tried utilizing different methods to help but they never seem to stick (maybe because I haven't tried them long enough??). I don't know. What I do know is that I have to figure this out. It's going to be even more imperative once Trinity is here. I think one of my major issues is that I don't prioritize. I'm really good at making lists but prioritizing--not so much. I also think I don't realize how long tasks take so I end up only completing like one or two things. And then I feel discouraged. So, it's definitely something I need to work on. Today was a perfect example. My plan was to put the changing table together, finish the load of cloth diapers, and finish cleaning up/decluttering Trinity’s room all before Kristi got home. I started all this around 1 since that is when Andy was finished moving the furniture around. I got the changing table together, the closet reorganized, and the book shelf decluttered. I didn’t even have a chance to start on the computer desk before she got home. In my mind, that should have all been completed prior to her getting home but in reality, there just wasn’t enough time. The next things on my to-do list were to get Kris her snack, visit John in the hospital, hit Wal-mart for yogurt, and pick up dinner. All in all, I was thinking as long as we left the house by 4:30, we’d be home and finished eating by 6:30 at the latest. Well, 6:30 turned into almost 7 so that wasn’t as bad. Ugh! Sometimes trying to figure out my day can be so frustrating. Maybe I shouldn’t be so worried about always finishing everything on the list? Or maybe I should make the list with less items? I don’t know. I guess this is a learning process that everyone goes through and I just have to learn!

I did get a bunch of stuff done today which was great and made me feel good, even if it wasn’t everything on my list. I was really excited to go through all the baby clothes that we’ve gotten so far. There are soooo many adorable outfits that I can’t wait to put on Trinity! Now, it’s just the daunting task of washing everything. I was undecided if I wanted to just use the detergent we have or to buy the special, dye-free/fragrance-free stuff. I started out using that with Kristi and then changed over to using our regular detergent and she never had any problems. I have mixed feelings about it. I honestly think Trinity will be just fine using our regular detergent. I mean, she’ll be snuggling with all of us so she’ll be exposed to it anyway. Okay… I’m rambling now so on that note, I’m off for the evening. Until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Parenting

The hot topic of tonight's discussion is: parenting, specifically the art of discipline (well, I guess it's not really an art per se). I have to say that this is the single most awful part of parenting in my book. Throw all the dirty diapers, crying sessions, lack of sleep at me that you want. I can handle all that with ease and maybe even some finesse, but discipline? I hate it. I hate every aspect of it. I know, I know. It needs to be done if I want a well-adjusted and well-rounded child and I know that by disciplining her I am showing her that I love and care for her. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. Tonight, I'm really not liking it. I'm currently listening to my child cry herself to sleep because my discipline took away her favorite lovey, Dooda (those of you who know her know that she doesn't part with this lovey, especially at bedtime). I know it may seem harsh but we have honestly tried every other possible form of discipline that we can think of and nothing else has worked. We only had to do this one other time in the past few months so it's pretty effective. I hate causing her pain of any kind! She's my child and I love her and just want her to be happy all the time. I want what's best for her and know that what is best for her is boundaries, rules, and discipline. It's so hard for me to sit here, type this, and not just walk back and hand Dooda over to her. While that's what I truly want to do, I know I can't because that would completely defeat the purpose of the discipline and lesson I'm trying to instill. No one told me that disciplining your child would be one of the hardest and most painful parts of parenting. I remember when I was a kid, I thought my parents actually liked disciplining me! I never realized that disciplining me hurt them more than it did me! Okay...Ranting over.

Today was an entirely unproductive day. I had every intention of starting to take down Christmas decorations, put away the Christmas dishes, finish cleaning the kitchen, and a multitude of other things before Kris got home from school. Yeah, that just didn't happen. I woke up this morning around 4:30 and couldn't fall back to sleep until 6:30 and then my alarm went off at 7. I waited until 10 before attempting to go back to sleep so I could test my blood sugar and then laid back down until about 12:15. I felt so much better after sleeping. I have to be honest and say that I'm not really one for naps. During the holidays, when the whole family is snoozing after dinner, I'm the one knitting or reading. On Sundays (our rest day), when Andy and Kris are resting, I'm the one again knitting, reading, or doing stuff around the house. Even being 8 1/2 months pregnant, I haven't really felt an incredible need to nap during the day, except for this morning. While it felt good physically, it totally screwed me up mentally so hardly anything got done that I wanted (although I did manage to get the dishes finished and some laundry folded and put away). I guess I could be doing something around the house instead of sitting here typing this but hey... What's the fun in that? On that note, I'm going to catch up on some magazine reading (I've got 2 stacks dating back to the summer) and maybe knit another square on Trinity's baby blanket. Until next time, much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥

Overwhelmed

That completely describes my mood today. I don't mean just a little, but completely, totally, 100% overwhelmed--by everything. I don't even know what brought on this feeling; well, yes I do. After I got up this morning, the realization that I'm 35 weeks pregnant and in 3 weeks I'm going to have a squirming little bundle of joy crying every few hours really hit me (and I don't remember having this feeling with Kris). I started thinking about absolutely everything I still have to do and get and organize and just freaked! Her nursery is no where close to even being started. Thankfully, we're picking up the crib and changing table this weekend so at least that will be taken care of. I still have to go through bags of clothes that were given to us and figure out a place to put them. My plan was to make her crib set (the bumpers, skirt, sheet, valance, etc.) although now that's not looking like an option due to financial constraints. We haven't purchased the diapers yet and I'm not sure how or when we'll be able to do that. Then I started freaking because I need to find someone who can stay with Kris for the few days I'll be in the hospital so that she can still go to school--and that's not even half of what was racing through my mind today! I'm not going to bore you with my emotional, hormone-driven freak-out so let's move on to goals...

Business:

Tomorrow, I'm sitting down and mapping out the individual action plan(s) for each months goals. I know that having individual steps and breaking down the larger goals will help me be successful in achieving what I want. Once those are mapped out, it's on to putting them in motion.

Spiritual:

The goal that I set for myself was to spend a minimum of 15 minutes each day to read, ponder, and pray about scripture. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. I have done some reading, especially each night with Kristi, but not the amount I wanted. I definitely need to step it up on this one.

Relational:

I've been in contact with more of my family and friends in the past week and have made some plans for get-together's--so far, so good!


So on that note, I don't really have anything else to talk about so I'm calling it an early night. Until next time, much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥

The first of the year

The first of each year is supposed to bring about change--change from old habits, change towards new goals--change. When I sit down and think about 2011, there are so many great and wonderful memories like marrying my best friend, finding out we're expecting, being in both of my sister's weddings, my honeymoon, vacation with the Echterlings, and a multitude of other things. There are also many things I had hoped to accomplish but did not. I'm not so sure I want to roll over those goals or not. What I do know is that goal help propel us forward, no matter what area of life they relate to. I have many different types of goals like business, knitting, blogging, personal, spiritual, and relational. Each area has its own set yet they are all intertwined and create the fabric of my life, essentially: me. So as I sit here and think about what it is I want to accomplish this year, I'm not only pondering specific things I want to accomplish but also how that will fit into my neat little box of time. Without further ado, here are my 2012 goals:

Business:

I've sat down and thought about this/these goals many times. I've had one main goal and that was to be an Executive Director by a certain time. I have yet to hit that. I'm revamping this to not reflect a position level but an actual dollar amount. By the end of 2012, I want to be making enough money to not only replace my previous income but also bring Andy home with me. That is my long-term, yearly goal. Here is how I'm going to get there:

• By February 29, be making a minimum of $2000 a month and supporting at least 25 clients
• By April 15, supporting at least 25 clients and have a minimum of 3 health coaches
• By May 31, be making a minimum of $3000 a month, supporting at least 25 clients, and have a minimum of 5 health coaches on my team
• By July 31, be a certified health coach
• By September 30, be making a minimum of $4500 a month, supporting at least 30 clients, and have a minimum of 7 health coaches
• By December 31, be making a minimum of $6000 a month, supporting at least 30 clients, and have a minimum of 10 health coaches

This is a really scary prospect to put it all out there, in open internet space. I know the minute I hit publish, that's it. I can't take it back. I honestly don't even know how many people will read this but even if no one does, it feels good to get it down on paper (well my computer screen). I have been struggling with motivation. I get all hyped up and ready to go but then that hype starts to fade and I lose the motivation to follow-through. Well, not this year! This is going to be the most amazing year yet for our family and for my business!

Knitting

I know I usually keep this part seperated from this blog since those posts alone can be pretty lengthy but I'm talking about goals. I have to include these because it's such an integral part of my life, my spirit, my being. So here's what I'm going to accomplish this year:

• Create at least 5 patterns with only 2 of those being dishcloths
• Knit one gift for every family member for Christmas and/or birthdays this year
• Have at least 15 completed projects by the end of the year

That doesn't seem so hard but when I think of some of the things I want to make people, I'm just not sure if there's going to be enough time to do that. I like challenges though!

Blogging

Last year, my goal was blog everyday, even if only something minute. That obviously didn't happen so I'm going to revamp that one a little too. I find that sometimes I just don't have anything to talk about. Instead of blogging every day, my goal this year is to blog at least twice a week. If I do more, great. I think this will be helpful not only to help me remember things (we all know how incredibly forgetful I am), but also help update family members who I don't always get to talk to on a regular basis on the happenings at the Kramer household. So this is number one for this week!

Spiritual

Last years goal for this was to have a quiet time every day. I started out pretty well with this but have since slacked. I don't have an excuse nor will I even attempt to make one. The simple fact is just that I need to do this every day. My goal to start out is to spend a minimum of 15 minutes reading the bible and pondering what I've read/praying about it. As of right now, the best time for me to do that is right after Kristi gets off to school. I have a few hours before Andy wakes up for the day in which to do that.

Last but certainly not least...

Relational

What I mean by relational is relationships. I'm very bad at keeping in contact with people. I say I'll call back but always forget (sorry mom!) and I don't make plans with people much. So my goal this year is to make more time not only for my friends and family, but also more quality for Kristi, Andy, and I.

Okay... so that about sums up goals for the year. I'll definitely be reflecting on these each week as well as revising them throughout the year so be sure to stay tuned! Moving on to the family part of this...

We celebrated Christmas with Kristi this past Monday. Andy's parents came over to join us for the day which was really great. It was so much fun spending time with them and letting them enjoy Kristi opening their gifts. We started with a pancake, egg, and turkey bacon breakfast (and of course coffee). Then moved on to preparing for his parents to arrive. I have to say that I was very proud of how patient Kristi was in delaying the opening of her presents until his parents arrived. We watched Kristi open all her gifts from them and Santa's gifts and then had lunch. We had steamed shrimp with potato salad and both were amazing! Next up was supposed to be watching the traditional Ruldolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (original 1964 clay-motion version), Frosty the Snowman, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. I downloaded and burned the movies the week before; however, failed to check the DVD and realized after trying to play it that the sound didn't work on the DVD. I stupidly already deleted the files from my computer so I couldn't even hook that up to the TV to play. So we watched Percy Jackson in HD instead. LoL! Not exactly Christmas but that's okay. We ended the day with a small ice cream dessert while Kristi tried out her new Innotab (her "kid" iPad as she likes to call it). Here's a couple of photo highlights:

Well, that's about all I have for today so until next time, much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥