Jillian Jean

"I love you more than I did yesterday, but not nearly as much as tomorrow"

Jillian Jean Leighty

5lbs, 14ozs, 19in

June 10, 2009

8:12pm

www.flickr.com/photos/ashleyleighty

4. Sick ward

The girls are out, boys are still holding strong.....

3. More cloth napkins

More cloth napkins
Originally uploaded by AshD23

They each got to pick out 2 fabrics, to be packed in their lunches. Have I mentioned how much I love my serger?

2. ACG 3141

Continuation of accounting for leases tonight...

1. Paper football

For the month of March, I'm going to try and post a picture every day, a little way to:

1. Document a month in our lives.
2. Remind me to bring my camera out more.
3. Improve my photography skills.

I hope to use my "big" camera most days (Canon 20D) but when I forget it the iPhone will have to substitute. At least until I can convince Nick that I really need that pocket camera...

Here's #1:

At Ashley's Restaurant in Rockledge, FL. With no kids menu's (meaning nothing to color/play) we resorted to paper football. The kids LOVED it!

Researching Vacations

Wanting to book some kind of "babymoon" for the 4 of us, choices are:

New York City
Atlantis, Bahamas - we don't have passports though, not sure how long it takes to get them
Florida Keys - anywhere
Renting a beach house somewhere along the coast of Florida
Disney

Obviously, looking for child-friendly vacations. Nick can't take off work at all so it will only be the weekend, leaning towards Disney because of that. Plus, they have their $99 FL resident thing right now...but...it's Disney, ugg...

Thinking maybe we'll rent a beach house close by for later in the summer, after the baby's born, for just me and the kids (Nick can come by after work), but not sure if I'm going to want to do that. Also, Lexi's DYING to go to New York (and so am I) so I would like to do it now before the baby's born, but is 2 days enough? The only 3 day weekend we have is Memorial day, and I'm sooooo not wanting to travel then.

Would love to go on a cruise, but they changed their guidelines so now pregnant women aren't allowed after 22 weeks, so much for that....

Back to research!

Whoop!

I did it, I got an A on my test! One part of it at least, I won't know my grade on the written part until next week, but I think I did well. I was going to take just the written part last night and go back Wed night for the 2nd computer part, but I decided I'd studied all I could study, and the idea of driving back to Orlando again was not appealing, so I pulled up my big girl panties and went for it. Despite the fact that my eyes were so tired I couldn't see clearly (I also lost my glasses last week, so that didn't help), and I didn't get done until 11pm, I still got an A!!!

This is extremely exciting because this class is known for being INCREDIBLY hard. In fact, it is so hard that employers will look at your grade in this class first to decide if you really know your stuff. And my teacher said only about 5% of students will end up with an A in the class, with less than that making an A on the first test. SO HURRAY!!

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, for this week at least. 1 test down, 2 to go!

PS - By the way, that is totally what I looked like coming out of the testing lab...and I danced in the car the whole way home. Then I couldn't fall asleep until 3am!

I surrender!

I know I was supposed to post every day in February, but due to a GIGANTIC test next week (actually, 2 tests + graded homework), I have to spend every possible free moment reading my accounting text, studying, and doing problems.  Not easy when you also have 2 kids to take care of (and all their projects), plus Valentine's day - AAAGGGGHHHH!!!  

So, something's gotta give and unfortunately it's this "project".  I'll try to post some this month, but not every day.  Here's to next month, the plan is to post at least one picture every day...

Oops!

Completely missed a day of posting.  Did I even even mention I was going to try and post every day for the month of February?  No?  Ok then, it doesn't matter ;-).  Playing along with my friend Shannon, but she missed yesterday too, so there...I'm pretending it was intentional. 

Anyway, the agenda for today is to chill with the in-laws in St. Pete, then head over to Busch Gardens with Nick and the kidlets for some Bud & BBQ (minus the Bud for me) and Phil Vassar, who sings "our" song - Just Another Day in Paradise.  I've met him before and he's super nice, but Nick's never gotten to see him and he rarely tours.  I can't wait!  

My Macbook has a new home!

Couldn't find anything cute I liked online (and didn't feel like paying $30 or more for something so simple) so I decided to make my own sleeve for the macbook and a matching cord holder.

The inside is quilted fabric with a layer of batting, but it's very thin so I can easily slip it into my backpack. The cord holder can fit in with it or be carried seperately.

Totally doing this when "uterus girl" (my son's nickname for her) makes her debut.

Cooties

Had a post planned for tonight but due to a sick child and a migraine headache it will have to wait...

Green is the new black

25 cloth napkins I made for Lexi's 1st grade class.  They are doing a unit on recycling this week and the teacher asked me if I would make the class a set.  They are using them at lunch and the teacher is taking them home and washing them.  Lexi took them in to show the principal and vice-principal today, and someone is coming to take pictures of the kids with them later this week.

We're trying to raise awareness about making lunch as waste-free as possible.  It doesn't take much and it's so much better for the environment.  Go here for some interesting facts and more information.

Her class this year is filled with a bunch of animal lovers, so I picked this fabric out special for them.  I think they turned out cute!

Sugar and Spice

A baby girl...

one of the most beautiful miracles in life,

one of the greatest joys we can ever know,

and one of the reasons why

there is a little extra sunshine, laughter and happiness

in your world today.

~Author unknown

Totally caught the baby picking her nose, the kids love this!




Today was the big ultrasound, which began with major drama. My husband could not get off work at the time he was supposed to because someone didn't show up on time. He waited and waited and finally decided to leave at 8:45am. From Orlando. The ultrasound was at 9. So, needless to say, he didn't make it in time, despite my deliberately being 10 min late to my appointment and begging them to stall. My mom and my kids were with me though, so that was nice. I was going to make my kids stay in the waiting room with my mom until the end, but decided at the last minute to have them come back for the whole thing. They were completely well behaved, which I knew they would be, and thought the whole thing was really cool.

The tech waited until the very end to tell us the sex hoping Nick would make it, but finally said it was time. When she went to look the baby decided to be shy! She was persistant though, and poked and prodded until she saw those 3 lines - IT'S A GIRL!!

I was completely shocked, I was POSITIVE the baby was a boy. I had even been looking at boy stuff and picking out boy names. Lexi was beyond excited, Spencer promptly stopped watching the screen. He was cheered up later though when daddy told him he would be her protector, he likes that. And besides, according to him, mommy can just keep having babies until she has a boy :-)

As it turns out, the DVD they were recording for me wouldn't finalize, and when she went to do another one the baby had turned completely backwards. So we got to come back this afternoon and have another ultrasound. And Nick was actually there!

All in all, it was an awesome day. Now, LET THE SHOPPING BEGIN!!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

I love ya 

Tomorrow! 

You're always a day away!

20 Weeks!

Whooah, We're half way there, 

Livin' on a prayer

Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear

Livin' on a prayer

~Bon Jovi

Bikes

So recently I got on this new kick and decided Nick and I needed bikes, pronto. Paying $60/day for us to rent bikes when we went camping was just ridiculous. And besides, doesn't everyone have a bike? I decided I wanted a beach cruiser and, after much research, narrowed it down to Electra or Trek. After visiting our local bike store that sells the Electra's, I wasn't real impressed. Then we hit another bike store that sells Treks, and there it was....the Trek Wasabi. They said they'd had it for a while and gave me a fantastic deal. I love it! Nick calls it my hippie bike. Love the flip-flop friendly pedals:

Nick refused to even look at the bikes while we were there, said he wanted time to research on his own, but after coming home and riding mine a little, with catalog in hand, he picked out the bike he wanted. Back to the bike store we went and he ordered his, the boy version of mine, the Trek Drift:

Next, we decided Lexi really needed some new wheels. She fell in love with the Trek Wasabi 20" in the catalog, so off the bike store we went AGAIN and ordered her one, it just came in yesterday. I love it because she'll be able to use it for a long time, and it's not covered in barbies or hannah montana or something she will grow out of soon:

Look at the cute seat!

Don't they make a good pair?

Now Spencer, not needing a new bike, couldn't be left out of the big bike craze so....he lost his training wheels!

More pics here

I'm not sure how much longer I'll actually be able to ride a bike, once the belly gets bigger, but it's fun for now! I think we'll be taking a family ride to the park later, then maybe to the book store, out to lunch.....

Parties!

Lexi chose to have her party at Snip-its this year, a kids hair salon that she loves. They do awesome parties, and they are so easy. All I had to do was show up with a cake! They have 2 party planners that do everything, so I just hung out and took pictures, a totally stress-free experience (which was great because I just happened to have a really bad migraine that day, doing a party with 8 first grade girls on my own would have been hard). They do everyone's hair, then they each get a makeup kit, dress up in costumes, and do a cute red carpet walk (where they each received oscars). After the show, they go back, eat cake, watch their runway show on the tv, then open presents. Fun!

Spencer chose to have his usual party at the park after the last day of school before break. That seems to be his favorite type of party, I gave him lots of different choices and all he wanted was that, so hey! - it's cheap, easy, and everyone seems to have fun. The big addition this year was the pinata, I've never had one at a party before but he really wanted it. AND we had to be able to hit it with a bat, none of this silly string pulling for him. In the end, we did have to pull the strings, but at least everyone got a turn whacking it once!



Did I mention both of these parties were in the same week? It was busy but lots of fun! Next I'll do a Christmas update, then I'll finally be caught up!

Spencer is 5!

Oh Spencer, I cannot believe you are 5 already! I swear I just had you yesterday, I have no idea where the time went.

This year you became a big 5 day kid, which means you now go to school 5 days a week. Since you are the oldest and one of the only boys in your school, you took on the role of big brother and you are so kind and helpful to everyone. You love to sing and dance, play any kind of board or card game, kick everyone's butt on the Wii (you own Mario Kart), family movie night, put on shows with your animals, go to gymnastics, help mommy cook, playdates with your friends, and hang out with your family. You are so excited about the baby, you love talking to my belly and seeing if you can wake the baby up with different animal noises. You have a HUGE imagination and will make a game out of any and every inanimate object you can find. You're math skills are incredible (you help Lexi with her math homework), and you even started reading!

You are such a joy to be around and so hilariously funny, I am constantly getting reports from your teacher about what funny things you said or did that day. You always have something to say about everything, whether it's the fact that you don't like what I made for dinner (again!) to how much you love the baby. I love to see the world through your eyes, and I can't wait to see all the changes the coming year will bring in you. This next year will be a big one for you, not only will you be starting kindergarten but you will be a BIG brother! I LOVE YOU!

Happy Birthday Spencer!