The Many Moods of Lovebug

Join me in watching Lovebug and her many moods.

Happy smiley mood.

Feisty mood.




Curious mood.

Her serious mood. I don't even want to KNOW what she's thinking here.

Goofy mood.

Curious mood...again.

Panther Pride

I got 'em! Here are some adorable pics of the lil' Panther fan :) (courtesy of Holly... our personal family photographer daycare provider)

PS: Coach, sorry, but there can be other colors than black & gold :).

Playing with her new basketball

Sticking out her tongue. again. darn teeth.

Smiling pretty for Holly :)

Mommy & Daughter Panther fans!!!



Cutest lil' Panther fan EVER! And... I know I say it a lot, but look at those EYES!!!

WARNING!!!


This next picture causes Coach to have a heart attack!!! And to make threats about a bat!!!!!!





Meet Lovebug's boyfriend...



They can't get enough of each other. Seriously. They do this all the time! Ah, to be young and in love :^). See why I said Daddy has heart attacks?
Notice Marcus. His mouth is shut.
Notice Lovebug's. Hers is not.
Looks like we need to have a little talk.

Meal Planning Monday... and MORE!

on a Monday! Holy cow. AND... 2 weeks in a row, to boot! Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Well, last weeks menu was an absolutely success!! Coach was pretty pleased with the meals the first time, and as leftovers. I was pleased because I knew what I was doing each night! Ah, nothing better than when organization truly helps you flow, ya know?

Here's what we're looking at this week...

Monday--eat out (when Mama has meetings 'til 6pm, ya gotta do what ya gotta do)

Tuesday--spaghetti & garlic bread

Wednesday--hambugers on the GRILL!!! (have I mentioned yet how much I am loooooving this spring thing again?)

Thursday--chicken caesar pasta bowl

Friday--who knows!! Grandma Sally & Grandpa Dale are coming to town so maybe we'll eat out... or in... who knows!

Saturday (breakfast)--cinnamon rolls

Now for the more part!!!

We all know that Coach and I met at UNI and the rest, well, was history. Unfortunately, the Panthers are history from March Madness, but not without a great run. On Friday, I got my entire class to dress in purple & gold and we decorated our end of the hallway.

Some teachers feel it's important to teach reading and math. I think it's important to teach them what team to cheer for. Nice, right? Right!!

I've got some great pictures of Lovebug in her Panther gear, but it's on my school email... which will not open tonight. Sad face :( I promise I will put them on as soon as I can.

I'm off to watch some more DWTS. G'night all!!

What You Get

This is what you get when two silly girls sit down for supper.

Can her messy face be any cuter?

I don't think so.

Get Lost...

Could you

get lost

looking in

these baby blues?


I could. And do.

Meal Planning Monday

errr... on a Wednesday.

So, the organization bug bit me hardcore over break. I mean, I feel like I'm overly obsessed with being organized (ROYGBIV closet anyone?), but there are times when, gasp!, it somewhat goes away.

Not right now though. I finally got back to my weekly menu and boy, oh boy, has it made a difference for me this week!

So, here's what we've dined on, and will continue to dine on this week.

Monday--fettucine alfredo with chicken (homemade, thankyouverymuch)
Tuesday--one pot salsa skillet
Wednesday--beef taco bake
Thursday--roast beef, cooked carrots, mashed potatoes & gravy
Friday--eat out!!! (suggestions?)
Saturday--mini meatloafs
Sunday--cheesy chicken stuffing bake

The favorite so far (though it's only been 3 days) was Tuesday's recipe. Since Coach loved it so much, I feel obliged to share, so here ya go!

One Pot Salsa Skillet

1 lb. hamburger
1 Kraft Deluxe Mac & Cheese dinner (not gonna lie... I went Hy-Vee brand all the way here)
1 c. salsa
2 c. water
2 c. frozen corn
1/2 c. shredded Mexican style cheese (I think I used more than 1/2 cup. Mama loves her cheese!)
1 green onion, chopped

Brown & drain meat. Add water, salsa, and macaroni noodles and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Add cheese sauce and corn and let heat thoroughly (2-3 minutes). Top with shredded cheese and onion.


To die for people! This made enough for the kiddo I work with and me to have one helping, Coach to have seconds, AND enough for Coach and I to both take some to work. Seriously tasty.

Lovebug Turns 8 Months Old

Yay! It's Lovebug's 8 month birthday!!!

And look who couldn't be more excited. :^).

I can't believe 8 months is here already. Do you know what this means? We only have 4 more months until she's 1. AAAAHHHHHH!!!! Where, oh where, has the time gone??!?!?!?

Keelyn is full-o-personality these days. And full of rolls, too! Her arms look like she's got rubber bands cutting into them, but no, that would just be her "healthiness". :)

Lovebug hasn't changed much on the sleeping front or the eating front since last month's update. And unfortunately, she hasn't changed on the movement front, either. No rolling over, no crawling, no pulling herself up. She DOES, however, spin in a circle on her tummy (when not utterly FUMING at me for putting her on her tummy), kicks her legs as if she wants to possibly crawl, and who could forget about the endless movement she does when we're holding her. She wriggles and moves all over in our arms, rolls off of our laps, but just won't do it on the darn floor!!!

Playing with those piggies... all.the.time!

Lovebug has also found a new thing to do. She loves to pinch. My cheeks, my neck, Coach's neck, my nose, my lips. You'd think I'd be black and blue by now but I apparently have a Mommy suit of armor or something. She's a lover at times, too. Her sloppy kisses can cheer anybody up! Unless that sloppy kiss turns into a bite. Which has happened to me this last week, too.

What else, what else. Oh! She's working on two new teeth! Let me tell you, Spring Break was one long week for us. Ya know, between the flood and her two top middle teeth coming in. I feel so bad for her. The one darn tooth keeps coming down, going back up, coming back down, going back up. Here's hoping it comes and stays for good!!

Overall, Coach and I think we were blessed with the cutest, happiest, most loveable Lovebug any parents could ever ask for.

I think she's practicing batting her eyelashes for her Daddy here :)

Oh, and if you couldn't tell what the shirt says, here it is:

I'm cute,

my Mom's cute,

and my Dad is lucky.

So true, so true :)

Down Came the Rain...

and washed Lynamland out.

Yep, that's right. We flooded.

I'll start by telling you that we own a sump pump. It works. It kept us dry in the flood of 2008. It kept the house dry in the flood of '93. But the melting of the 62 inches of snow in '09 and the rainy end of winter of 10 did us in. Overnight. By morning, it was working again.

Thursday morning I was on my way to work when I stepped into a 1/2 inch or so of water. Sheer panic, and a few tears later, I yelled up to Coach for help. We began getting a few things moved, but at that time, we had no clue how or where to start.

Thursday was the second and last day of conferences for those of us in good ol' DMPS. Luckily, I had done all of my conferences Wednesday night so I called in sick. I took Lovebug for her second round of flu shots, dropped her off to daycare and came home to start the tedious job ahead. Luckily, the water was not high enough to ruin any of our furniture, or Coach's computer which was sitting on a piece of wood on the floor. We did lose a precious piece of mail... our 2010 census stuff. Shoot. All of those commercials had me so pumped to fill it out, and well, now it's gone.

Coach and I ran to Home Depot to do some price checking on new floors (we new we were going to need them), and picked up some tarps. We spread the tarps out in the garage, which was also wet, moved several furniture items out, then Coach had to leave for conferences.

While he was away, I ripped up the entire carpet, all of the padding, (which let me tell you, that stuff is extremely pourous). and drug it strip by strip into the driveway. Oh my goodness!!! By 2pm that day, I had it all done, had most of the water sucked up into the good ol' wet/dry vac (special shout out to John & Virginia, Holly's (daycare) parents for letting us borrow their 16 gallon one) and had the fans turned on. I took a little nap then got back to it. I got the water out of the laundry room, then used a towel to do some final drying.

I worked, and worked, and worked. That is, until Lovebug's arrival home from daycare. Then it was playtime :). Fast forward to 5:30, our old neighbor brought us their de-humidifier and some more fans. Got those going. Fast forward to 6:30. Aunt Mandy and Uncle Josh showed up. Josh helped me finish the final project of emptying the closet under the stairs and drying that out while Aunt Mandy spent some quality time with Lovebug. Even BIGGER shout out to them for that!!

By the time Coach got home at 8:30, the basement was finished and drying.

This morning, Coach took the carpet and padding I had drug into the driveway to the landfill. Good-bye big brown. Oh, how I hated that carpet!!! Then we went to The Home Depot where we got some new paint and some new laminate floor planking.

My original plan was to head back to my parents' place this weekend so they could see Lovebug healthy for once, but didn't think it was going to happen. Coach however, told me to go. I think he may have been slightly impressed by my drive to get the basement done, so he told me to go. Ok Coach, not gonna argue you on that one! :)

So, we traveled back to Grandma Sally & Grandpa Dale's for the weekend while Coach stayed home to fill in every.single.hole in the wall and re-paint. As I type this, he is finishing the final wall.

Trust me, I have TONS of pictures of this to share (except for the painting), but I don't have the cord to plug my camera into my parents' computer. So, you will just have to wait.

We are super bummed that this happened, but we are super excited to see the transformation of the basement. We've both wanted to do something new down there for quite some time now, and I guess this was God's way of kickin' us in the behind to get it done.

Next week will come new carpet, reassembling the furniture, and me re-decorating. Manland is going to grow up into a more sophisticated Gentlemanland. Ha! Coach will still have his memorabilia, but it will be done in a much more tasteful way.

Unfortunately, we had to unplug the modum since ya know, it was down in the ocean. Err, I mean basement. That means no Internet at home. Unless Coach decides to hook it up for a little bit. So once I leave Early, I will be back to life with no Internet. I will hopefully get some more information up over the next two days for you all, since I know you're dying to know more :).

For now, I'm signing out and going to go relax.

I'm Baaaaaack!

That's right all 10 of you true followers and all 6 or 7 of you stalkers! I've finally updated the blog!!! Including this one, I've got 6 new posts for your viewing pleasure.

Like always, when I do these big updates, you'll need to scroll all the way down and start with Two Week Wrap-Up, then go up to the rest of them.

Enjoy :)

Happy Birthday Grandma Pam

Happy

Birthday

Grandma Pam!

Hope you have a great day!!
Love, Lovebug :)

Our Sick Baby Girl

Lovebug caught my nasty cold. But hers got way worse than mine.

Thursday, Coach took her to the doctor because she had a nasty sounding cough and well, you can never be too careful when it comes to your baby's health, right? Right. The doctor said it's just a cold. Saline for the nose, humidifier in the room for her breathing and wait and see what happens. It'll go away, or it could turn into bronchitis. Great.

So Lovebug and I head out of town as planned on Saturday. Other than the occasional runny nose and the cough, she was fine. Smiling, giggling, and super happy to see her grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin!

Fast forward to Saturday night.

We get checked into our hotel room and all agree it smells a bit of smoke. Looking back now, we should have immediately asked for a new room, but Lovebug was one tired girl who needed to get to sleep. With her humidifier right next to her (yes, I brought it along), she drifted into sleep. Not a good one though.

Lovebug was up every hour or so coughing, and crying. It wasn't until 5am that things got bad. She cuh-RIED her eyes out. And I mean cried. Wailed, even. It was bad. This went on for 3 hours. Nothing consoled her. Not rocking with Mama, Grandma, or Grandpa. I gave her some Tylenol due to a low grade fever, and that didn't even help. At 8am, we called out to my sister-in-law's house to see if they had an urgent care in town to go to. No. So, off we went to the ER.

She was so upset and crying so loud and hard, that they couldn't hear her lungs very well, so off we went for a chest x-ray. Thankfully, the nurse gave her a dose of Ibuprofen before that. Within 15 minutes, she was calm and no longer crying. The x-ray came back clean, but let's just say I never want to see Lovebug in that way again. It was so scary.

So, we went and said our good-byes to Jason, Ann, and Owen and headed back to Lynamland. I headed to school to get things laid out for a sub, just in case, and it's a good thing I did. When I took her temp at 4:30, it was 101.8 YIKES!! I fuh-REAKED out, gave her some Tylenol, then got online for a sub. She laid on my chest and fell asleep for a little bit. She ate a small amount that night, then cried some more. I gave her some more Ibuprofen before bedtime.

That night, she slept in her bouncy seat with me next to her on the couch. She cried on and off all night long. Poor thing. I called immediately Monday morning and got her an appointment with our doctor... again.

Lo and behold, Lovebug has an ear infection in BOTH ears!!! Poor thing!!! Her temp was going down, but not for long. By 2pm, it was back up to 101.7. Shoot. Poor girl!! More Ibuprofen and Tylenol followed for the night. Here's what she looked like shortly after that 2pm temp check...

Luckily, sleep followed, and this is what she looked like later on...

So now, we sit here today. Today she is playing, smiling, coughing, giggling, and trying to get better. The fever has stayed away, thank God. Good, yet bad, the gunk is breaking up so she sounds HORRIBLE, but you can tell she is definitely feeling better.

Cousins... I feel the love

This past weekend, Lovebug and I, along with Grandma Sally and Grandpa Dale traveled to Atlantic. My sister-in-law Ann's grandfather passed away, so we went to hang out with Owen while they attended the funeral. It was such a sad occasion, at the same time, we were all happy we got to see each other. We saw them for a few days at Christmas, and the next time we were supposed to see each other was July.

Owen was apparently quite excited to see Lovebug, at least that's what everyone told me. And I'm pretty sure that he proved it, too. Here's a little slideshow of the two kissing cousins having fun together.

Here's a little video of the two crazy kissing cousins...

Here's a little video of the two crazy kids playing together.

7 Months

167 hours and 7 months ago, Coach and I, the AD, brought forth to this Lynamland, a new member. Lovebug.

How was that for a start to a new post? I know, clever. What can I say. It would have been better if I did it on the day I was supposed to do it, but ya know. You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit. Again, clever. I know.

Back to the topic at hand...

Lovebug is 7 months old!!! Seriously, where in the WORLD did that time go?

A.dor.a.ble!!!

Here are some updates (though some are quite similar to last month's birthday):

Eating: Lovebug LUUUUUVES to eat! She eats both rice cereal, as well as oatmeal every morning mixed with some fruit. For lunch, she eats a step 2 veggie (or homemade, whichever I choose for her) PLUS a step 1 fruit... or 1/2 a step 2 fruit. For supper, the same darn thing as lunch. As for bottles, she starts the morning with a 4 ouncer, then a 6 ouncer at lunch, a 6 ouncer for her 3pm snack, and a 6 ouncer for her bedtime snack. She also loves to nosh on graham crackers, puffs, and is using that sippy cup for water and juice :). Hence the 90th percentile on the weight, folks!!

Likes: playing with Daddy and Mommy, giving sloppy kisses to anyone (her latest kissing obcession is with her boyfriend Marcus at daycare), watching every.single.move that Bogart and Edgar make, splashing in the bathtub, chewing on Mommy & Daddy's phones, chewing on our fingers, chewing on her toys. Let's just say chewing in general :). She also likes to play with her toys, and she LOVES when you tickle them :). She also likes sitting up, jumping in her jumper, and hanging in her exer-saucer. Oh, and she also likes to play with her bats... as in baseball. Oh yes, she is definitely our little MVP.

Dislikes: getting her nose suctioned out (it's been happening a lot lately), going to sleep when she thinks she's going to miss out on something, clothing... Lovebug loves to be a naked baby (though this makes Coach a bit upset), rolling over. Lil' chunker just doesn't want to do it anymore.

Motor: Lovebug is doing better about picking things up with her hands and putting them in her mouth, but we're still working on that pincher grasp. As for gross motor, she's doing GREAT at sitting up, and trying to pull herself to a sitting position when ya know, I'm trying to get her to lay down and cuddle with me :). She flails(?) her arms and legs around when she's on her tummy, but like I said earlier, she's given up on the rolling over stuff. She has got some solid, strong tree trunks legs that help her stand up and jump on her Mommy & Daddy's laps.

I am in L.O.V.E with her eyes. And her, too :)

Two Week Wrap-Up

Sooooo... here it is. Ya know, the start of all those fantabulous posts I said I was going to do {here}. Let's get honest, I don't have time to do them all right now. So I'll do a condensed, bulleted format.

• Lady A/Tim McGraw Concert--I went with a good friend and had a blast!! Here are just a few pics from that experience...

You will have to excuse the clarity of the pics here... it was dark, I was dancing.

'Nough said.

• Daddy/Daughter Valentine's Tradition Year 1: While Mommy had her first girl's night out, Lovebug and Coach had their first Daddy/Daughter Valentine's Date Night. They played together, giggled together, and of course, they "watched tv". "Watched TV" is code for Coach rocking Lovebug to sleep. Really, it's so sweet that Coach does that with her nearly every night. Such a nice time for them to have together. Obviously, I have no photo evidence of this experience, as the camera was with me wildly snapping pics of Lady A and Mr. McGraw :).


• Baby Showers, Cupcakes, and Diaper Cakes: Two of my co-workers/friends are preggers right now (btw... I am SOOOO jeaous of them! I miss it) and I co-hosted a shower for them. My gift was also the decorations. Diaper cakes! I also did some mad baking and whipped up some Raspberry Vanilla, Coconut Almond, and Turtle cupcakes (recipes courtesy of my sister-in-law's side business, {Caked Goods}. YUMMMO is all I can say! They may not have been as good as Ann would make, but I think they came in a close second :).

A little fancy presentation for you all...

Homemade frosting, too. Piped to semi- perfection.

Plus, I got super cute cupcake liners. Cupcakes & flowers... too cute!

• Then, my friend Cheri asked me to make a diaper cake for a shower that SHE was co-hosting, too. So I whipped her up one, too. Perhaps this could be a third job for me... or not.

• Lastly... ah-chooooo!!!!: I caught one doozie of a cold. Really, it was a horrendous cough that just would NOT go away! It literally lasted the entire two weeks of my absence, which again, goes back to why so long between posts. I can now say that I am feeling better, but unfortunately, the bug was passed to Lovebug :(. More to come on that in another post.

So there you have it. My excuses for not blogging for two weeks.