More Christmas Pictures!

The first picture is of my nephew Gabriel who is about to turn 1!!

The second is of Brennen mooching on Gabriel's toy we bought for him.

This is out of order...this is the end result of the patient waiting below!

Brennen waiting patiently (On Daddy's gifts) for Daddy to open the tractor!

Brennen had to get down and inspect the whole thing.


I went back to work yesterday and may have pushed it a bit....my foot ended up swelling out and over my shoe....which I bought specifically to fit the fat foot and work in. So today I am home. Trying to catch up on some of my picture things.....and waiting for Adam to chauffuer (Sp?) me to our construction site to see the house. They were framing the interior walls and the 1st floor ceiling/2nd floor floor yesterday!!!!!

Warning: One picture not for the weak stomached! And Christmas 2008~! :)

This is my ankle on Chrismas Eve....... This is our basement! :)

These pictures are of Brennen "helping to decorate the tree" I love the look on his face on the first one!!! :)

The top pictures is of "cousins' Christmas '08"

Good news: We have our laptop back!!! I'm very excited about this. The screen doesn't seem as nice as the one we had, and there is one little pixel on it that doesn't work...but it sure beats needing a whole new laptop!!! :)

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas! Our's was nice, though stressful. More on why it was stressful in just a bit.....

Onto our holidays...Now I've already mentioned about both of our cars getting hit w/i 24 hours. The heater not wanting to work on my car.....Well all I've been looking forward to is that starting Christmas Eve I was to have 5 WHOLE DAYS off of work!!! Oh I was so excited. Adam was working til 12 so it was just Brennen and me for the morning. We hung around the house and just enjoyed each other. About 11 I headed into Nicole's to pick up the gifts that I had stashed at her house. My plan was that Adam was picking up chocolate chips once he got off of work and then was coming to help me load the gifts...After they were loaded I was going to come home, bake cookies, take a nice long shower, unwrap gifts w/ Mom and Tim, and just enjoy the day. Well on the 4th trip down the stairs.....the unthinkable happened. I fell and seriously twisted my ankle. I heard a crunch and thought Oh No! I was there alone with Brennen. I called Adam and told him to forget the chocolate chips and just to get to Nicole's. Adam's mom came in and picked up Brennen and we were off to urgent care....where we had to wait 2 1/2 hours to be seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now this wouldn't have been so frustrating but pretty much everyone who was in the waiting room was all jolly and laughing and having a great time....we couldn't figure out why they were there. Well when the nurse saw my ankles his response? "WOW!" When the Dr. saw it "Oh my...you are definitely my one leaving here on crutches!". Not what I wanted to hear on Christmas Eve!!! :( They took x-rays and said they didn't see any breaks. I'm not supposed to put any weight on it til either tomorrow or Sunday and the crutches are already hurting my armpits.....so I've been gimpy so far this break...and I HATE asking people to do things for me. I had big plans of going shopping this morning...yea just not what I planned.

So anyway...other than that we had a very nice Christmas and enjoyed being with the family that we saw. Brennen got may more toys than he needed...but isn't that what Christmas is for? Anyway more later....I'm sitting here with my very black and blue foot missing my little boy...I haven't been able to chase after him, get down and play with him, or even pick him up since Wednesday morning :(

2 cars in less than 24 hours...and other stuff!

This is my last day of work until Monday! This is a much needed break considering what past 3 days! :)
Saturday Adam and I took of early to go to a door outlet in Portsmouth to see what they had for our house. We found the front door that we want...with the sidelights!! I was so excited. Lowe's quoted us a price of $750 for their brand. We found a Peachtree door down there for $250!!!! However we didn't have time to get it because we needed to get back to pick up Brennen so we are heading down there tonight after work I do believe. I was feeling really bad about asking Adam's parents if we could store it at their house until Chris was ready for it (We have our stuff at 3 different houses and 2 storage units currently!!!!), however after Sunday and yesterday I don't...more on that later. Well that is where the good news ends for me!
After door shopping I went home to pack up Brennen. The plan was to go to Nicole's, wrap my Christmas gifts which she has generously let me store at her house, and then spend Christmas with her family and join in on their very fun passing party!!! Well when we got there Brennen puked...this should have been my first clue. However he wasn't fevered or acting like he felt bad so I chocked it up to just being jostled too much. He only ate about a 1/3 of his lunch...not normal for my BIG EATER...>Should have been my second clue, but I chocked that up to him being at Nicole's and being overly excited. I took him upstairs to take a nap....which he did. While he was sleeping I wrapped gifts and listened as Nicole's family started to arrive. Brennen woke up after about an hour and 45 minutes....he normally will sleep about 2 1/2-3 hours or more. We went downstairs and WOW was it ever packed!!! No joke like 30 people in an apartment!!!! Brennen was very excited at first and was running around with the kids..however they were all (but one) older than him and running up and down stairs which I wasn't comfortable allowing Brennen to do. This resulted in several screaming episodes, followed by a total melt down. At this point I realized it was time to leave, which really upset Nicole, which really upset me :(. I got Brennen bundled up, grabbed only the necessities, and we were off. We went to Walmart (which on the Saturday before Christmas felt calm compared to where we were....). Brennen was riding in the cart w/ his head on my belly and screamed at anyone who stopped to say hi. It was going to be a very quick trip. I bought him a Banana and some milk thinking he might be hungry due to the small lunch. Once in the car he took about 2 bites of the banana, drank his milk, and fell asleep. We drove out to Mammaw and Pap's house and he puked again...leaked through a diaper he had only had on about an hour and didn't want to play! :( We stayed around there the better part of the evening due to him not feeling well....Adam was out hunting. About 7:00 we were all gathered in the living room (My in-laws, brother and sister-in law, and our family...). So anyway Brennen was really getting upset and I told Adam we needed to get him home. He was just driving over to get a few things to hunt with in the morning and was staying the night there. My mom's house (where we live) is only 5 miles from Adam's parents....On the way home I sang Christmas carols very loudly trying to cheer up Brennen....once we pulled in the driveway I realized he was out. Now this is a child who we have NEVER been able to move from the car to the house and not wake him up. Well that night we managed to get his shoes off, his coat off, and lie him in bed w/o him getting up!!!!!
He slept from about 7:15 Saturday to 9:00 am on Sunday! Sunday morning we just took it easy and hung out at the house. About 1 I took him to Eddie and Carol's so that Adam could put him down for a nap while Mom and I went to put grave blankets on. Came home and cleaned his carseat due to Saturday's leaking and puking. I then went over to my in-laws to be with Brennen and see my nephew who was over there. Brennen was feeling a little better which made me happy. After supper we all gathered in the family room again....the entire Montgomery clan. Matthew (Adam's younger brother) had to leave to take Gabriel (my nephew) back to his Mom's. Matthew got home and ran right upstairs. Well on the way to Gabriel's mom's he backed into our car and felt so bad he he wouldn't even talk to us. I went out and yea down the passenger side was a pretty good scrape and dent but I really wasn't that upset. I was the one trying to talk him out of being upset. Oh and I forgot to mention that Saturday my heater wasn't working in my car...hit or miss. Wasn't too upset because our friendly neighborhood mechanic was picking it up on Sunday at 5 to change the oil...That's right folks we have a guy that comes wherever we are and picks up our car...changes the oil and checks all the tires and fluids...and then delivers it back for only $30!!!! I consider this a steal considering I never have to worry or wait for a chance to get it done. Anyway he comes back and tells us we probably have serious problems. We were 2 qts low on antifreeze and the heater was working for now...but if it stopped again we needed to let him know....
So yesterday I am really trying to be in a good mood. They were framing the walls at our house which I was very excited about. Had a nice lunch with my husband, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law. Went to Nicole's and picked up a really nice gift I had gotten in the passing party I had missed...and yea down hill from there. The heater stopped again in the car. Got to Eddie and Carol's and Brennen was in a SERIOUSLY BAD MOOD! Then he got in his head he was going to get a ride on the 4-wheeler or the rhino...and it was just WAY TOO COLD FOR THAT! Then we get him bundled up to drive over to our new house to see our walls....and just before Eddie and Carol had walked out to leave to go Caroling....They were stopped in the driveway...They backed into our TRUCK! Down the passenger side was pretty good dents and scratches....So BOTH of our vehicles were hit in less than 24 hours in the same driveway!!!!!

It's just been one of those days...times 3! :) So I am hoping and thinking that today HAS to be better~I will post pics of the cars and our house once I get my laptop back....who knows when that will be. But until then this is probably the last post until Monday. Hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bedtime and a floor! :)

BRENNEN:
Ok I have to tell this story about Brennen last night. As some of you know, we are living with my Mom until our house is finished. This means we went from our 3 bedroom, 2 living area home...to my old bedroom! It's so funny because I told my mom one night as we were trying to figure out where to put furniture: "It will be just like when I was living here.....except instead of a dresser there will be a crib..." That was strange! Anyway we all sleep in one room which has totally spoiled Brennen. He's become almost too big to rock comfortably as we are VERY cramped. So we have started putting him in our bed and lying down with him while we read and sing and then put him in his crib to go to sleep. His thing is that he wants you to lie in there with him until he falls asleep though. Last night we are cuddled up reading together and I was under our blankets and he had his favorite one over him. After the 4th book and a couple of songs I told him that it was time to turn on his music and get in his bed. Brennen flopped back on the pillow, put his fingers to his lips, and told me to "Shhhh".
I pulled my blankets back and suggested this again. Brennen sat up, pushed me back onto the pillow, covered me back up, laid against the other pillow, put his fingers to his lips, and told me "Shhhh". We go through this again. The 3rd time I hop out of bed and tell him it's time to get in his own bed. Brennen replies: "Momma go night night" and pats my pillow. It was the cutest thing ever! Anyway I picked him up and laid him in his crib and we eventually went to sleep...... I don't know what I'm going to do when we move!!!!

HOUSE:
We go out to our building site last night not expecting to see anything due to the electric company STILL HAS NOT HOOKED UP OUR ELECTRIC!!!!!!!!!! (it's been like 3 weeks since we requested it!!!!!) But low and behold, we have our subfloors down!!!! I know most people are yawning right about now, but I love seeing something happening out there!

WORK:
A couple of things in my life have made me stop and say "Man I should write a book about that!" The first of which was trying to get a wedding put together...but that's another story. Lately it has been my job. This job has taught me that people will say and do anything. Just TODAY I have a client in my office for what we call a re-determination interview. An alert comes up that her husband is incarcerated. I question her about it, stating where and the incarceration date. She looks me right in the eye and tells me that he was never there (it was out of state) and that he is home as we speak!!!! After she leaves I call the jail that is listed and they state that yes he was incarcerated on that date but did not see a release date. They would have someone get back with me. In the meantime I call the client to confront her on this and get her machine.....The message you ask? "Honey I'm sorry I missed your call...>I miss you so much baby. Call back! I can't wait til you can come home!!!!!" Can you believe this?????? Well about an hour later I get a call from the jail and sure enough: HE'S STILL THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am amazed by people. Sometimes it's their ability to lie...other times it's their sheer stupidity....

Welcome to our world! :)

My husband and I are driving home from work (we carpool!) the other night and I am telling him about reading my Cousin Bridget's blog. I go on to say that I think I will start my own once I finish reading her's. He replies that he really thought I would have one already. Well that was all the motivation that I needed. So, HERE I AM! :)

These postings will be a little blah for a while as my laptop is "in the shop". So there will be no pictures to accompany the posts. Brennen had a bit of a tantrum the other day and proceeded to knock it off of the end table resulting in a cracked LCD screen. :( I contacted HP and found that they would charge $700 to replace it...That's as much as it cost new...the WHOLE THING! So I called our local computer repair shop and imagine my great surprise to learn that they could replace it; parts and labor mind you; for under $200! I felt that I had really found quite the deal...even though 2 days before I didn't need to spend anything due to having a wonderfully working laptop. (We just bought it in July!!!!)

For those of you who do not know, we are in the process of building our "dream home". This has to be one of the most stressful things I have ever been through. I am a fairly anal person and I like to think that I have common sense and can use good logic. Adam and I have been together forever and honestly started looking at house plans about 5 years...yes you read that right....ago. We had in our mind what we wanted and couldn't find anything and had no idea when/if we would be able to afford what we wanted. We went from wanting a 2-story colonial with a family room and a living room...but they could not be adjacent to one another. We wanted 1 to be directly next to and completely open to a kitchen as well as other various requirements. On to thinking that a modular might be more practical. From those we went back to wanting to build our 2-story house and then on to thinking that a 1-story with 1 living area and a basement might be more practical. About a year ago we were looking at house plans online and found a 2-story colonial with one living area completely open to the kitchen and all of our other wishes built for a basement foundation: PAYDIRT!...Well almost. At the time I was only working part time and not making the best of money. 3 months later I landed an amazing job and we frantically went about finding this floor plan again.

Now in order to save money our builder told us that he really didn't need us to order the $700 blue print from the company...especially since I had already moved a few walls around! :) At the time he failed to mention that later...like once the basement was poured....he would request us to lay out the entire house to scale on graph paper...marking centers of windows, doors, etc. Looking back...$700 may not have been a bad investment. However I am confident that the house will still be our "dream house". I am in the process of convincing Adam of that! ;o) And we are in the process of finalizing the second floor...on graph paper! Framing was supposed to have started about 2 weeks ago: Update: Framing is supposed to start today. Anyone who knows me would be proud at how patient I have been with the numerous delays. I have found that as long as I can see a finish line....I am ok with what happens before I get there.

And now onto my favorite subject: BRENNEN! :) This little man never fails to amaze me. I am constantly blown away by what he says. The other day we were at Adam's Mom's house and his Uncle Matt was getting ready to leave for work upstairs. We had been looking out the door and touching it, remarking on it being "cold". Brennen turned around and asked "Where Matt?" We told him that he was getting ready to go to work. Brennen replied with: "Matt go bye bye cold?" and looked very concerned. We assured him that he would bundle up and be just fine to which Brennen replied "K" and went on his merry way.
He LOVES animals. We have several non-fiction type toddle books with pictures of real animals of all kinds. These books have been his favorites for as long as I can remember. For about 5-6 months now he will go through and say the animal and what noise it makes. Ocassionally I find books with some new animals that he doesn't know. The other night we were looking through a new animal book and it had a llama in it. Brennen pointed at it, "shook his head 'no'", and said "Horrrse, nooooo". It was so cute. He knew that horse was the closest thing he knew, but he still knew it wasn't right.

Ok I think I have written enough...and I have no clue if anyone will even read this so...Have a great day if you are!