Flylady Challenge Day #2 Get Dressed to the Shoes

So flylady says that the next most important thing to do is get dressed to your shoes.  This includes hair and makeup and real shoes.  Of course, my uniform of choice is the flipflop.  Luckily, I got to cheat today because it's jeans and tennie shoe day at work, so there you go.  Me dressed to the shoes:

I have to admit, I think I did get more done in my comfy tennies instead of heels.  So I will be wearing comfy shoes whenever possible instead of getting ready in the morning in my heels.

Also, apparently my reading comprehension isn't so good (ironic, I know), because flylady says it takes 31 days to make a habit, not 21, so congrats, you get to follow me on this journey an extra 10 days!

How was my second day of trying to fly?  Pretty good.  My sink was nice and shiney this morning and I left for work with it in tip-top shape.  I was dressed to the shoes.  But at 3:30, Lizzie started acting up.  I had hit that point in my day where I was excited that it was getting close to time to go home and was looking forward to a relaxing dinner, when she started whispering to me that I wouldn't have time to relax because I had to cook and clean and there's laundry to be done and the baby will need a bath and it's not fair.  Now, I think Lizzie was saying all this because all we want to do is read the book we're in the middle of.  So I took a deep breath and told her that those things wouldn't take very long to do and our reward for shining the sink would be to read.  And you know what, it didn't take very long to do.

So tomorrow is shine your sink, get dressed to the shoes, and explore the flight plans, routines, and zones.  I can totally rock this!

Flylady Challenge Day 1

I don't know if you've heard of Flylady but I love her.  I was successfully flying a few years ago, when I lived only minutes from work and could do my zone cleaning at lunch and BE (that's Before Ellie).  I am not proud to admit it, but since having Elayna and especially since moving, the house is utter CHAOS.  I keep trying to flutter along, but my inner child (Lizzie) has been ruling the roost.

Lizzie is mean.  She throws temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way (which is quite often).  She gets angry and resentful when she has to cook, clean, grocery shop, do laundry, go to work...you get the idea.  She in turn yells at her family.  She has made the house an unpleasant place for me to come home to.

I don't want to dread coming home because all that awaits is chores.  I want to look at the blessings I have rather than giving in to Lizzie's sulking.  I want to start enjoying my weekends again.  I want to let go of the idea that my house has to be perfect.  I want to be patient and kind to my family.  I want to stop being a martyr.  I'm full of wants!

So, I've decided to jump fully on the flylady bandwagon.  I'm going to completely 100% follow her babysteps and be on my way to flying.

Baby Step #1 is Shine Your Sink.  So I did! 

Sink before:

Sink after:

Notice that the bottle washer has been put up!  After all, Elayna stopped drinking out of bottles over a month ago...  And I wiped down the counters around the sink and under the coffee station while cooking dinner!

And it still looks that way after cooking a delicious spaghetti dinner!  Daniel washed ALL the dishes and I dried them and put them up after giving Elayna a bath.  And it was a candle-lit dinner.  I would like to say it's all rainbows and unicorns already, but the kids fought us about homework, the rest of the house is a disaster, and we have a ginormous Mt. Washmore going on, but it's a start! 

I'm also going to jump ahead and follow another important rule tonight - going to bed at a decent hour. 

They say it takes 21 days to make a habit.  Let's see what throwing myself fully into flylady can do!

Day after Thanksgiving...

Is all about decorating for Christmas!!! Had to convince Nick to join us. Had to restring some lghts on the tree because of burned out bulbs. Realized even plastic ornaments aren't safe in Ellie's reach because of the hooks. So only the top half of the tree is decorated. And it looks awesome!! I would share pictures but...

I broke the camera. Yup. Dropped it. On the tile. We do still have the memory card so the photos aren't lost, thank goodness.

Anyway...we also hit black friday shopping today which was not at all crowded. Nice but surprising. Got most of our shopping done, yay! Love this time of year, now if it would only get cold!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ahhh, Thanksgiving. Turkey day. Day of endless gluttony. So many things I'm thankful for this year. Family, friends, health, job, house, husband (no, these are not in the order of importance!), Elayna sleeping in her own bed...

Yup, you read right! I started with her nap on Monday and she has slept in her crib in her room every night and nap since with the exception of today's naps in the car. It only took me 13 months and 1 day to get her out of our room.

Of course I still don't sleep any better because the baby monitor is pressed to my ear all nigh, but it's a step.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and got their fill of turkey and the fixins!

Happy 13 months!

I can't believe Elayna's 13 months old (yesterday) already!  At 13 months, she's

learned how to sign "more"
nods her head and says "yeayeayea"
wears size 3 diapers
wears size 4 infant shoes
is in 6-9 month clothing
still hates being in her car seat
is still nursing with no signs of stopping
has the cutest giggle EVER!
is quite fearless

I love you, Ellie!

Happy 1st Birthday, Elayna Marie

Happy 1st birthday, Ellie belly!  Elayna on 10-20-2010:

Elayna today:

We got up this morning and took Hobbes to the vet, did Elayna's 12 month check up (poor baby got 5 shots), bought her Halloween costume (angel), met Nana and Papa for sushi lunch, and went to my work so everyone could admire her.

At 12 months, Elayna is:

Walking everywhere, of course
Still wearing size 3 diapers
Wearing 6-9 month clothes
27 inches tall
19 pounds 11 ounces
Shakes her head and says nuhnuhnuh
Waves goodbye
Hi-fives
Wears size 3 infant shoes
Blue eyes
Dark blonde/light brown hair
Hair is LONG - about 1/4 of the way down her back

On the way to pick up Hobbes from the vet we stopped by the park for more pictures.  Elayna just wanted to be held so she's crying in most of the pics.

I've taken a picture of Elayna almost every day of her life.  It's amazing how much she's changed but still looks like herself at birth at the same time.  Okay, that sounds weird, but it makes perfect sense in my head.

Happy birthday, princess.  We love you and can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you!

Elayna's first birthday party

Elayna's 1st birthday party was Saturday, October 15th.  We had quite the turnout, almost 30 people.  Which was totally awesome because for months I had nightmares that nobody would show up! 

The party was from 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm.  We got up bright and earlier on Saturday morning, worked out, and then Daniel worked on cleaning and prepping food while I ran to Party City for balloons.  And tableclothes.  And a yard sign.  And forks and knives.  And still managed to forget extra plates which Nana and Papa were kind enough to go get for us.

Ellie started getting fussy so I fed her and she fell asleep around 12:30.  And it turned into a loooong nap.  At 2:00 guests were anxious to see the birthday girl (who was asleep on her boppy in the living room) so I rubbed her feet until she woke up.  She was a bit shy at first, I think she was overwhelmed by all the people.

See the suspicious look she's giving my boss??

We did a butterfly theme with most of the decorations coming from Oriental Trading. 

Rubber ducky butterfly chew toy :)

My mom (Nana), made the dress which got a ton of compliments.

Beautiful cake and smash cake came from Kroger.

We opened presents and then put her in her highchair for her smash cake.  She didn't want to touch it, so I pushed her hand into it and she FREAKED OUT!! 

With the crying baby, we totally forgot to put her candle on her cake and sing happy birthday. 

Once she calmed down Chad put together their gift to her and she rode all around the house.  It's a big hit.

Using my legs as a tunnel :)

All-in-all the party was a huge success.  In typical Courtney fashion I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but I love all the ones I did remember to take.