Lil Miss Rosalie

The past couple of weeks have been ups and downs (literally lol) with Miss Rosalie. She has been cutting more teeth, which means lots of puke, no sleep, and food strike. I felt like I spent my mom's entire visit cleaning puke out of the car!

Luckily all broke through, so things are KIND OF getting back to normal. The puking has stopped for now (Thank god). Rosalie is starting to eat again. She doesn't have her full appetite back yet, but we're getting there. She's starting to sleep again, KIND OF. lol. She went to bed at 8:30 last night, got up at 3:30, ate, and went back to sleep until 7! It's been forever since we've seen 7! Yesterday she probably would have slept in late hadn't my neighbor's dog woke her up at 5:30. She was so tired and whiney.

Now more than ever, she is trying to walk. Her balance is soo much better. She can stand unassisted for about a minute. She took a TEENSY step last night. I told Kevin it wasn't big enough to count. THUS, all this trying to walk is ending in tons of bumps and bruises. She actually hit her mouth the other day and drew blood. This makes me say, we will not be extending our time at Aviano. At one point I thought I wanted to stay here a little longer, but not now. I'm tired of living in fear of something happening to Rosalie and having to take her to the Italian hospital. I feel like we live on pins and needles after 4pm because we would have to take her to Pordenone if anything happens.

That's about all I have to say for now... and this entry will have no pictures because I uploaded everything on my desk top to shutterfly yesterday so there's no pictures to upload! :( Sorry! On another note, Rosalie's hair actually went up in pig tails yesterday! WOOT!

CAIO!

Keep forgetting the teeth

Every time Rosalie gets a tooth, I tend to forget to blog about it! I just wanted to add that we are now up to EIGHT (yes, you heard me right, EIGHT) teeth! Within the past 2 months she's got 6 more teeth! She now has 4 on top and 4 on the bottom. I'm not sure if there's anymore close to coming through or even through because it's impossible to look into her mouth. Usually a tooth is pretty far through before we realize it!

Verona, Italy

This was our second time to Verona and it is still one of my favorite cities here. (Florence is #1 of course!) Everything about it is so beautiful and pure. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from our house (plus we had to stop for gas) and traffic wasn't bad at all going down. We came across a REALLY nice parking garage that was ridiculously close to the arena. Last parking garage we parked at wasn't too far and wasn't too bad, BUT this parking garage was amazing. Unbelievably clean!

Our first stop was the arena.. one of my favorite things in Verona and I'm not sure why... maybe it's the ancient old architecture. It was awesome because they were setting up for a show inside which gave it a completely different look than last time we were there. There were these AWESOMELY huge statues that were probably one of the coolest things we've seen here.

We left the arena and went to Juliet's house. Kevin stayed outside with Rosalie and mom and I went in. (he had absolutely no desire to go in lol).. It was sooo crowded outside, but inside wasn't too bad. I didn't realized how big it was from the outside.. but it was like 5 stories inside and each story had something different to offer. So cool.

From Juliet's house, we made a pit stop so Rosalie could eat; then we headed to Romeo's house, which is nothing like Juliet's. You can't go in or anything, but we had to see it. Across from Romeo's house we came across the Scaliger tombs, which I had never heard of but it was BEAUTIFUL. It's a group of 5 gothic funerary. Unfortunately, when uploading pics, not all of my pics were uploaded and I deleted them.. so my pics from Romeo's house, the tombs, and the Lamberte tower are gone forever. Luckily my mom took a good bit so I'm stealing from her. On our way to Romeo's house we walked along the river.. the scenery was just breathtaking.

Next stop was lunch. We had lunch at a little cafe by the tower. It was soo good. While there, Rosalie gagged on a french fry and puked (lovely right?) lol.. so our next stop would have to be the jeep to get her changed. We went back to the jeep, got Rosalie fresh, made a pee stop, then headed to Juliet's tomb.. which is kind of out from everything else in Verona, but it's so worth it. It's beautiful (as is everything in Verona.. I'm sure you're getting sick of hearing the word.. but there's no other way to describe Verona!) There was a museum upstairs and then you went outside and underground to get to the tomb.

We stopped at a lil stand to get some water and sat and chilled for a bit, then decided to head home. We were all pretty exhausted. We got back home and went to Mach to get pizza.. but it was closed! So we went to the commissary so I could get something to make. The stupid italian at the gate gave us a hard time about getting mom on base.. and she spoke NO english. How can they put someone at the gate who doesn't speak a lick of english? We pull into the commissary, and Rosalie pukes everywhere. (Something we become familiar with when a tooth is coming through). Mom and I stripped her down and cleaned her and her seat up the best we could while Kevin ran in the commissary. We got home and I had to scrub her car seat.. not something I want to do after traveling all day!

I think that'll probably be our last trip to Verona while here, unless someone comes over and wants to go!

normal? not yet.

My mom left on Thursday. Boy did the 8 days she was here FLY. We were soo busy the whole time she was here. I figured if I blogged in detail about every place we went, it would be the longest entry EVER... sooo what I'm going to do is do a separate entry for every city. She arrived on Wednesday and surprisingly, her flight was early. She wasn't suppose to land until 9am and we got there around 8:20 and the flight had already touched ground. We only had to wait 10-15 minutes for her. We got back to the house and chilled for a bit, then headed to the base get her a pass, get some food, and get some euro. Around 7, Kevin and Mom decided they wanted supper.. after supper we all pretty much crashed.

Thursday we went to Verona.

Friday we went to Venice.

Saturday we had a down day.. then went to the base and Polcenigo.

Sunday we went to Florence

Monday we went to Pisa.

Tuesday and Wednesday were down days.

Mom left on Thursday.

When I woke up Monday morning I had a terribly sore throat. I assumed it was allergies. When we got home Monday night, I got terribly sick. I had the aches..chills.. and then came the fever. I was so cold it was unreal. (it was almost 100 out that day). I ran a scolding hot bath.. and it felt chilly to me. I could see the steam rolling off the water, but I was still shivering. It was terrible. Tuesday I didn't feel too bad.. Wednesday it was just a crappy crappy cough. Thursday, an even worse cough. Friday, the cough was so intense that my chest and back were hurting so bad. Saturday, the cough wasn't too bad.. I went in spurts.. and when I'd go into a coughing fit, it was terrible. I became extremely nauseated and had high abdominal pains. Today I'm feeling a little better.. still have the cough and I just feel exhausted. from 3:30-5:30am I coughed nonstop. I ended up sleeping sitting up. I've been taking cough medicine religiously and it just doesn't seem to do anything.

So as you can see.. things aren't back to normal here yet. I really had no time to clean while mom was here. I ran the vacuum and did the basics.. kept up on laundry.. but my house has NEVER been this bad (and it's not THAT bad.. but for my standards it is.). I don't have the energy or strength to clean. Kevin goes back to work tomorrow, so I'm going to tear this place apart and get it back to normal.

Throughout the week I'll try to blog about all our excursions while mom was here.. but bare with me, my to do list is unbelievably long.

She's HEREEEEE!

Mom's here..she made it safe and sound.. and we're unbelievably busy and this is all the time I have... so probably no updates til she leaves!

CIAO!

Miss Cutie

Rosalie was entered into a Miss Cutie Contest last week. The first round of voting was on Saturday and the top 4 proceeded onto the finals. Of course, our little Princess moved onto the finals. Sunday was the final voting. Rosalie dominated the whole time... but at the end another girl gave her a run for her money, but my lil Miss Cutie pulled it off! Winning by 7 votes, Rosalie had like 140+ votes! She now has the title of Miss Cutie and won some free hair bows! I want to thank everyone who voted for Roey and worked hard to get their friends to vote too! We really appreciate it!!!

This was Rosalie's contest entry

Countdown to Mommy :)

My mom arrives in Venice in FOURRRRRRRR days! I've been trying to stay busy to pass the time.. but the weather hasn't really been allowing it! I've been working on pulling weeds.. but I get like an hour of work in before the rain starts. I managed to at least get the sidewalk done.

We were soooo busy today..

Rosalie and I were up at 5:30.. apparently she knew I had lots to do today! After we got our morning routine done and Peanut took a nap, we headed to the base... we got there at like 0930. We went straight to the laundromat to beat the rush, and washed our comforter and sheets. While our stuff was watching, we booked it over to the BX so I could get bedroom curtains (Which I lucked out... I wanted chocolate colored panels, and they only had TWO left).. I needed 2 pillows.. and they only had TWO left!... They had pillow cases that matched our bedroom perfectly.. so once again I lucked out! I got picture hooks so I could hang pictures in our bathrooms because the walls are tile so we can't drill into them... the adhesive hooks worked perfectly.

After the BX, Kevin went for a hair cut and I went to this little wine stand to get my mom's favorite wine. Roey and I went back to the barber shop to wait for Kevin and the bottle ended up falling out of my diaper bag and exploded in the barber shop. EMBARRASSING. The girls were super cool about it and luckily the wine smelled amazing.

We went back to the laundromat to put our stuff in the dryers and waited. It took FOREVER.

2 hours later lol.. we hit the PO then we went back to the BX to get some lunch and ended up running into Meghan, Derek, and Audrey so we hung out with them for a lil bit... We went back to the wine stand to replace the one I broke and ended up getting a Moscato too cause Kevin loves it.. We went and got groceries and headed home.

I got my curtains ironed and Kevin hung them.. I got my pictures hung in my bathrooms.. and ironed my bed sheets. I had intentions of cleaning the jeep out and pulling weeds... BUT it's pouring. ugh.

So it looks like I'll be busy tomorrow... that's all for now.. here's some pics :)

Isn't she the most beautiful little girl you've ever seen?!

Week 9 Weigh In

I'm so excited I could explode! I went down another 2 lbs this week.. which brings me over my 50 lb goal!!!! Now it's time to work to my next goal.. 70 lbs!

Week One: -2.9lbs

Week Two: -1.3lbs

Week Three: +.9 (Boo. lol)

Week Four: --

Week Five: --

Week Six: -1.3lbs

Week Seven: 0lbs

Week Eight: -3.3lbs

Week Nine: -2.0lbs

Total Weight Loss to Date: -51.8 lbs

Total Weight Loss in 9 Weeks: -9.9lbs!

Pounds Until New Goal: 18.2 lbs

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts

12c ripped bread

1 c finely chopped celery

1 c finely chopped onion

1 egg

1/2 stick of butter

salt and pepper

olive oil

• the morning prior to preparing this meal, rip your bread and chop celery and onions (you get the best result using an actual chopper)
• add salt and pepper and allow to sit all day and over night and all the next day
• do NOT cover.. you want your bread to get a little hard.
• the next day, take your chicken breasts, turn them on their side and hold in place with tongs
• cut a groove down through the middle... don't cut the whole way down to the botttom nor side to side.. you want to make a decent sized pocket.
• rub your chicken with olive oil and garnish with salt and pepper
• melt 1/2 stick of butter and add to stuffing mix
• add egg and mix
• stuff the stuffing in the pocket of the chicken
• keep packing it down in tightly.. you'll be surprised at how much will actually fit in the breast!
• loosely wrap in aluminum foil
• bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until juices run clear
• remove chicken from oven and open the tops of the foil
• place back in the oven for another 10 minutes

The Past 5 Years.

It's been over 5 years since I graduated high school. I thought it would be fun to go back through the past 5 years and see where I was.

5 years ago: 2005

I had just graduated high school.

I was lifeguarding at an amusement park and it was probably one of the best jobs I ever had.. haha!

When I wasn't working... I was with Kayla and Abbey.

I was quite the wild child.

Every ounce of my paycheck went to American Eagle and Abercrombie.

I started dating Kevin in November of 2005.

I was starting college at Mount Aloysius with intentions of doing 2 years xray, 2 years ultrasound.

4 years ago: 2006

I had my first year of college under my belt.

I was doing summer clinicals at Winder hospital where it was pretty much hell.

Hadn't it of been for one of my instructors, I would have dropped out of the program because of Winder hospital.

I drove an hour and a half to Windber 5 days a week.. put in 7 hours of clinical time.. drove an hour to altoona.. and would lifeguard at the Summit Tennis and Athletic club until 10pm.. would drive half an hour home.. and REPEAT. It was EXHAUSTING.

On weekends I was usually at the club working.. 1 or 2 Saturdays a month and would do occasional birthday parties on Sundays.

I was taking an online Roman history class and one Saturday a month we met at the college. It was one of the most demanding classes I've ever taken and I didn't have the time for it be that demanding, but I finished the class with an A.

3 years ago: 2007

Kevin and I were now engaged.

I officially graduated from Mount Aloysius.

I decided x-ray was my calling and decided not to continue on for ultrasound because I no longer had a desire for it.

I was working at a mobile x-ray company.. mostly taking call. Worked a few days a week, but mostly took call from 4pm-7am and almost every weekend.

I spent most of my time in a car with no one but an x-ray machine.

I was taking a review class for my x-ray boards.

Took my boards in October and passed.. woooot!

I purchased my first vehicle.. (it was technically my 3rd vehicle, but this was the first one I purchased) an 08 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited X.

I blew whatever money I had left after paying my insurance and car payment at American Eagle and Abercrombie.. that still hadn't changed. lol

2 years ago: 2008

At one point I was working three jobs: MXI, Tryone Hospital, and Miners hospital.

I crosstrained into CT.

Miners offered me a full time position so I took it.

I worked mostly 2nd shift and took call. I loved it there.

Kevin was gone at BMT.

My life was devoted to working and wedding planning.

We married that December when Kevin came home on Christmas Exodus.

1 year ago: 2009

I was 6 months pregnant and miserable.

I had quit my job and moved across the world to live with Kevin in Europe and at that time was absolutely hating it.

I was tangled up with people that treated me like crap and put me down and only made my misery worse.

We were living in this tiny apartment that I absolutely hated.

It wasn't until October that we moved into the house we are living in today.

Rosalie was born in November and was such a beautiful blessing.

TODAY: 2010

Rosalie is 9 months old.

Still no x-ray job.. but I'm enjoying being a stay at home mom.. I couldn't imagine leaving this little girl with anyone else.

I'm about 15-20 lbs heavier than I was 5 years ago.. but I'm working on it. I've taken almost 50 off already so 20 lbs should be nothing!

I have the most amazing friends any girl could ask for!

I still wear American Eagle... but my wardrobe is nothing like it was before (hopefully I can fit into my pre-prego clothes soon!)

I hate buyin anything for myself... everything I buy is either for the home or Rosalie.

Gymboree is my new favorite store. lol

I spend my days watching spongebob.

We are totally loving Italy now.. we are doing and seeing sooo much.. it feels like home here!

I could not be happier!

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

2 c cooked and cubed chicken ( I use tyson grilled chicken)

1 2/3 c mixed veggies (I use steam fresh: carrots, asparagus, and corn)

1 can of cream of chicken

1 c bisquick

1/2 c milk

1 egg

Pinch of salt and pepper

• Cook and cube chicken and warm veggies
• Combine chicken, veggies, cream of chicken, and salt and pepper; mix well
• Combine bisquick, milk, and egg; mix well.
• Divide chicken mixture evenly amongst 2 souffle dishes
• Pour bisquick mixture over top of each souffle of chicken.
• Bake at 400 for 25-30 or until the top layer is golden brown

SERVES: 2

Boutique Hermosa

Awhile back I ordered Rosalie headbands and flowers from a cute lil boutique I came across on Etsy.. it was a great deal and I was excited to get them.. unfortunately our post office was being super retarded and started returning all our mail.. so on the 2nd time of the girl shipping them I finally got them! (Stupid Stupid Post Office!) Luckily the girl was sooo nice about it. I just wanted to show everyone my purchase.. a GREAT purchase for $10.99 plus shipping. I picked the colors of the bands and the colors of the flowers and they can be intermixed. ALL for $10.99. I went with a lot of gender neutral bands that way big bows that I got Roey can be attached to them too!

Take a minute and swing over to Boutique Hermosa! Just CLICK HERE.

9 Month Old Princess

I can't believe we are only 3 months away from Rosalie's First Birthday. After MUCH planning, I've finally decided on a theme. We're going with "oh so sweet lady bug".. Tiffany actually found it for me. I wanted lady bugs (since that is what my dad calls Rosalie), but I didn't want to do it in red. A little girl's first birthday should be pink! So the one that Tiffany found is hott pink/zebra striped lady bugs and everything is hot pink and lime green. Absolutely adorable. Now I just have to contact a cake lady and see what she can come up with.. and start ordering everything! I think I have it narrowed down what I'm going to get her for her birthday.. a play kitchen. We thought about a wagon.. but we wouldn't have much use for it here. I already ordered her a Spongebob birthday movie.. but her big present was being tossed around for awhile.

Now onto the 9 month update.

ROSALIE MAGGIE

9 MONTHS OLD!

Weight: 22lbs... only .2lbs increase from last month.. which I don't understand..she's eating so much now.. but she's also more mobile so I guess she's finally starting to slow down growing

Height: Same as last month.. 29 inches

Diaper Size: Still a 3

Clothes Size: 12-18 months (i know.. she'a s monster!)

Teeth: 4.. 5th one is almost in

Words: Dadda when she's happy... Mom when she's sad or mad (and yes, she says Mom, not Mama)

Roey is so curious it's unreal.. she's into absolutely everything and her little butt doesn't stop moving all day. She's got it mastered pulling herself up to stuff and she's walking along everything.. just not on her own yet. She's been trying.. she'll back away from furniture and stand for like 2 seconds then she'll land on her butt. I know if we got her a walker (like a push walker) she'd be going in no time.. but I'm in absolutely no hurry for her to walk. She's hard to keep up with as is!

She's still quite the picky eater.. the only veggies she'll eat are green beans and sweet potatoes.. and the only fruits she'll eat is bananas and pears.. although occasionally she will eat peaches and applesauce.. but she won't eat a lot... she can't eat anything mixed like mixed berries... or it comes straight up. She LOVES the Gerber crunchies and the biter cookies. She LOVES mashed potatoes and will even feed them to herself. We give her a spoon and let her go to town. Guess mommy makes good homemade potatoes :)

Rosalie is FINALLY starting to sleep through the night again... she sleeps for about 8 hours and gets up and eats and goes back to bed until 6-7:30... just depends on what time she went to bed. She takes 2 naps.. One in the morning which ranges from half an hour to 2 hours.. just depends on how well she slept through the night.. then an afternoon nap which is usually about an hour and a half long.. but she has slept as long as 2 1/2.

She still gets 2 baths a day.. but it's become quite a chore for Kevin and I. She's so bad in the tub it's unreal. She is a monkey.. trying to climb out. We tried switching her from her baby tub to the big tub, and while she does really good with balance and not sliding, she's even worse when it comes to trying to climb out. So we're back to using the baby tub again.. our baby tub isn't like a normal baby tub with a net.. it's bigger and shaped like a whale... has a newborn side where they can lay and a infant side where they can sit up. There's a divider in the middle that supports their butt, but we took it out to make the tub a little bit bigger for her. She's just out of control.

Rosalie is quite the talker.. she squeals and laughs and talks all day long. Her voice is getting much clearer.

Well, I'll leave with some pics :) CIAO!

Weight 8 Weigh In

This week was a stressful week for me.... just because I knew if I gained this week I'd get discouraged... LUCKILY, I LOST! WOOOT! I'm down another 3.3 lbs! go me!!!!

Week Zero: --

Week One: -2.9lbs

Week Two: -1.3lbs

Week Three: +.9 (Boo. lol)

Week Four: --

Week Five: --

Week Six: -1.3lbs

Week Seven: 0lbs

Week Eight: -3.3lbs

Total Weight Loss to Date: -49.8 lbs

Total Weight Loss in 8 Weeks: -7.9lbs!

only .2 lbs away from my initial goal of 50 lbs. Only .2! to go! ahhh

Sleep Train

I know it sounds awful.. but it works. The past few months have been an absolute nightmare with Rosalie's sleeping.. and I'm sure everyone knows that from constantly hearing me complain about lack of sleep. I knew it was time we tried something new, so I started researching and I came across study after study by doctors saying you need to "sleep train" your kids. Basically, it's getting your baby to bed while they are still awake and teaches them to put themselves to sleep. You need to establish a routine, which we've always had, but it was apparently a bad routine lol. Even though you may think a baby needs rocked to sleep.. you are only hurting yourself in the long run. If they wake up in the middle of the night crying, see if they will go back to sleep on their own. If they don't, take them out of their crib to calm them, then lay them back down. If they continue to scream even after you have them picked up, them maybe they just are hungry. If they are, they will eat at least 4 oz. If they only eat 1 or 2 oz, then they are just sucking to put themselves back to sleep.

So our first night of trying this new method.. Rosalie got her bath and played for an hour or so. She started looking tired I got her a bottle and after she finished the bottle I took her straight to bed. She looked so tired. As soon as she hit the crib she was up, buzzing around, talkin, squealing, and spitting. She did this for 45 minutes.. then she got whiney. The whines turned into cries. When she started crying I went up and picked her up, calmed her down, laid her down, she grabbed her blank, rolled over and went to sleep. She slept the entire night. It was the first time since she was like 3 months old. It. Was. Awesome.

Second night rolls around. We do the same routine. This time, when Rosalie hit the bed, she only buzzed around for about 5 minutes and then crashed. She slept the entire night again.

Third night. Rosalie woke up around 1:00 screaming. She was hungry.. She ate an entire bottle and zonked and slept til like 6:30. Not bad.

Fourth night. Rosalie woke up around 2:00 screaming. She ate a bottle and slept til 7. Getting better.

Last night. Rosalie woke up around 4am screaming yet again. She ate a bottle and thought she was going to be up for the day. I put her in her crib awake. She buzzed around then starting crying. I calmed her and put her back in. She rolled around and went to sleep and slept til 7. Getting better.

It's been a lot of work.. but totally worth it. They say it takes at least 4 nights of this routine for a child to start getting use to it.. but it can take up to 10 straight days of persistence for this to work. Hopefully we get her on an awesome sleeping schedule by the time my mom gets here because we're going to be running so much we're all going to be so exhausted and I hate to think of being up all night with her after being on the move all day.

CIAO! :)

Weight Watchers

So this is something I've been contemplating for a few weeks now and finally decided to take action. A few years ago I did weight watchers. It wasn't like at the time I really needed it, I was happy with myself, but you can always take a few pounds off right :). I was probably 20 pounds smaller then.. but it worked! I did lose weight and I felt great. After looking into it, I found everything I needed online. I found out how many points I'm allowed and a calculator to figure out how many points are in everything I eat. I remembered the gist of it.. like you need to get 8 waters in a day and so many fruits and veggies and dairy. I'm really hoping for some results. I've even been trying to get active again (which is hard when you have an almost 9 month old that is only a strict schedule during the day).. first thing yesterday morning we went for a walk down into Campagna.. it was nice. Then i spent some time outside in the heat pulling weeds. I've done good with it so far (since I only started on Friday after I did my weigh in). I just want to fit back into my jeans.. I think about the thousands of dollars I have in American Eagle jeans up in my closet that I can't wear and it makes me sick lol. Well.. we'll find out on Friday how well this goes :)