Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!!!

So as I sit here with 15 minutes left in 2011 I am reflecting on this past year and looking forward to 2012. 2011 was a great year for Rich, Jolie, Avery and myself. We have been truly blessed this year. We have some amazing new adventures in store for us in 2012 and we look forward to all of them with happy hearts. I will do a best of 2011 post soon but I couldn't let a new year dawn without a quick post.

Happy 2012, may this year bring you all the joy possible!!!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Everything Bridial

Today was such a fun day. In the mIddle of what is a crazy time of year for me at work I was able to spare a few minutes to go with one of my dearest friends to look at wedding dresses. I think the best part was that it was all of my best college friends there together again, like old times. I promise to post the picture once Meagan sends it but I just wanted to post about how amazing my friends are. Sarah, Lora, Meagan and I have truly been the best of friends for what seems like an eternity but it just makes me so thrilled that we have such a strong friendship that we have been friends for nearly 14 years and we just pick up and start right were we left off no matter how long the in between time. I can't imagine life without my girls so this is just another incredible memory with the four of us.

Meagan, congratulations of your recent engagement and I wish you and Todd a lifetime of happiness together!!! You are an amazing person and you truly deserve the very best life has to offer. I am so excited I was able to be a part of this special time in your life.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Christmas, a little late!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, I know I am a little late but there is a great reason. I took this weekend and enjoyed family and good friends. I did't worry about email, this blog, work, or even my phone. I just flat spent time with my family, I hope you all did the same. I will post Christmas pictures and Avery's party later this week but for now I am watching movies with Jolie and snuggling and enjoying her because she is leaving for vacation tomorrow with my parents for the cold weather of NC. So I am off to snuggle and enjoy her before she leaves. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and did like we did and enjoyed family and gave thanks for the true meaning of Christmas!

Merry Christmas and God Bless!!!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Avery at One

It is just so hard to believe but on Saturday, Avery Marie Perillo turned one! All I can say is WOW, this year has flown by and been full of so many new adventures for us as a family of four, I will say I wouldn't trade the craziness for anything in the world, I love my life and my family more than words could ever express. As usual I am struggling just to keep my head above water so I am on the iPad so I am writing this post with no pictures but I promise to add some later.

Avery,
It is so hard for me to believe that it has already been a year since you came into our family but at the same time I just can't imagine our family without you. You are a funny little girl, you have some of the funniest facial expressions and your little personality shines right through them. Much like your Mommy you wear your emotions on your sleeve. You smile and laugh when you are happy but oh boy when you are mad you let everyone know! You are a great eater and sleeper. You love to feed yourself but we can't put a plate of food in front of you because you will try to shove it all in your mouth at once and choke yourself, we give you one or two bites at a time and that's it. You adore your big sister and she adores you, Jolie makes you laugh a lot! You and Jolie love playing together and that just makes my Mommy heart sore. You love board books and blocks, you stick everything and anything in your mouth if your paci isn't in your mouth. We let you have your paci more than we should because I am always afraid I will miss you getting into something and you will choke. You have become a great sleeper in the last several months, you still get a bottle before bed but then I put you in your crib with classical music on and you go right to bed, you normally sleep from about 8pm to 6:30am, occasionally you wake up in the night but not often. You are a big girl, tall and all, you wear size 24 month clothes with a few 18 months mixed in, you wear a size 4 diaper, and a size 4.5W shoe. Your Daddy and I love you to pieces and feel so blessed to be your parents!!!! We love you baby girl. Happy First Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Totally overdue

I am totally overdue for about 15 different post but all the activities of the holidays have gotten in the way of my blogging. I have been working harder than ever, we have had family portraits, parties to go to, we have bought and wrapped gifts. It has just been busy. Plus we have two children that need us a lot. I promise to do some big catch up post soon but until then we hope you are enjoying the season!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Black Friday

So yesterday (Black Friday) marked the busiest shopping day of the year....actually I think it really started Thanksgiving Day since so many of the stores openned sometime last night, what is that by the way anyways?? I am just not sure a holiday that is all about thanks and giving should be cluttered with crazy amounts of shopping and the brawls that in sue. Rich and I watched the news yesterday morning to hear some of the craziest stories of pepper spray, fights, traffic jams and just thought it can't be worth it to save $100 on a TV.

I thought for a short time that a little Black Friday shopping would be fun, I mean after all I was up, the kids were sleeping, and Walmart started their sale at 10 pm. Walmart is two minutes from our house so I left here about 9:45 pm. I arrived to a packed parking lot but I proceeded in the store. When I walked in there were police officers taking people out in handcuffs, apparently there was a fight shortly before my arrival, this was the first major sign this was a horrible idea. I walked around, there were no carts so I would have to carry anything I purchased, not the end of the world but another sign I should be running home. I proceeded to look around, watching people literally jumping in to grab items off pallets as the Walmart employees unwrapped them at their assigned sale time, it was a zoo. I had grabbed a few things for the girls but nothing amazing or must have and thought it was time to check out. Headed for the checkout I suddenly realize the checkouts literLly stretch from the front of the store to the back. I put down my things go home and vow to Rich I will never do this again.

So I went to my Mom's house with Avery around 10am to sort through the gifts we had already bought and figure out what else we might need. We decided about 12:30 pm tp venture to Babies R Us which I have to admit was easy and we found a few things for Avery for her Birthday and Christmas. We then went to Target which again wasn't bad. I did the bulk of my shopping there and found some great things including all the little cootie games for $3.99 each, games like Ants in the Pants, Don't Spill the Beans, and Don't Break the Ice....Jolie will love those I'm sure. We then did a quick run through BJ's for a few additions. So other than maybe two more things for Avery I am done, I managed to get some great deals on Black Friday but spared myself the late night crazies. All and all I am thrilled with my purchases and I am ready to ring in the holiday season and we will have a busy one with Avery's Birthday, work, Holiday get togethers, and just holiday times. Happy start to the Holiday Season!!!!!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Giving Thanks

On the eve of Thanksgiving 2011 is it and ponder all I am grateful for and realize how truly blessed I am. I am of course most grateful for my family....my husband and children are truly amazing and I feel blessed to call them my family. My wonderful husband does so much for me and the girls it is amazing, he is truly the best around. My two precious daughters are amazing and beautiful and light my heart on fire with the sweet smiles and giggles. My parents are my rock,they are there without question whenever I need them and I couldn't be more grateful.

I truly wish all of you are as blessed as I feel now in your lives. I thank God for my family, my home, the food we are able to eat, the love we share, the jobs that make nice things possible and all God has blessed me with.

Now it is off to hang with little Avery and then baking cookies and pies for tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all as well as your families.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Party Prep

So I am totally in 1st Birthday Party mode....I have been slowly buying and preparing but now it is go time.  I have sent out the invites, I think they are super cute!  I put one below for you to see.  The theme is milk and cookies so I have spent the last month or so gather coupons to buy all my baking items and saving baby food jars and quart size milk bottles to use at the party.  The color scheme is red, orange and white.  I didn't want to do red and green because I want her birthday to be separate from Christmas but let me say that would have been much easier!!  But I have all my craft supplies and I got started on making favors tonight, I created new labels for the baby food jars using brown bag grocery bags, a red ink pad, a stamp, and spray adhesive.  I know it sounds odd but trust me when I say it is so cute!!!  I will update along the way with pictures of everything but here is a start to the party with the invitation.


And for giggles here are a few outtakes from the Christmas Card Photo Shoot we held today....I assure you we didn't use any of these but they sure are kind of funny to look at and laugh at and it reminds me of how difficult it is to get 2 adults and 2 children to all look at the camera, smile, look happy and cheerful!!





Christmas Cards

So I can't believe it is already time for Christmas cards. I have to admit the year has flown by. But I have even impressed myself and today we took our family Christmas card pictures and I have already placed the order and they will be here in 7 days or less. I have to admit this is one of the first years I will be completely done with cards before December 1st. I will say I was motivated by a sale at www.vistaprint.com/snowy and I was able to get 40 cards printed with photos on the front and a color printed message on the back for under $25. The cards are really pretty and the photos came out pretty good considering one of our subjects is not quite 11 months old and isn't very good at sitting still. Once the cards arrive I will post a preview even though most people that read this will be getting one in the mail around the first week in December. By the way I love Vista Print, I have been using them for years for birthday invitations for the kids. They seem to always be having a sale right when I need them. I got Avery's birthday invitations from there for under $10 because they had a sale and I had a credit from Avery's baptismal invitations because they arrived past their scheduled arrival day even though it was fine because I had plenty of time but hey I will always take a credit!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Grocery Trip

So as I have mentioned a time or two on the blog I am super into saving money and couponing and I have been working really hard on saving money on our food budget.  I just feel as though the price of food has gotten out of control so I am doing my part to keep our budget in line.  So I went this morning to our local Publix armed with 32 different coupons, a list, no children (thank you Rich!!!), and the mind set that I was going to do GREAT!!!

I have to say I did quite well, so here is a recap of what I bought and what I saved, I will try to link up a few coupons that are still on line for printing as well if it will help anyone else.

Tampa Tribune $1.00
St. Pete Times $0.75
(there are great coupons this week so that was a must, will get extras from my Mom and Grandma so that I have the multiples I might need)

(2) Goya Spanish Rice $1.99 used 2 $0.55 off coupons from http://www.coupons.com/ use zip code 33634.
Total $2.88 for two.

(2) Lays Kettle Chips at 2 for $5.00 on sale

(1) Act Mouth Wash used 1 $1.00 off coupon for the SS a few weeks back.

(4) Green Giant Can Corn, BOGO at $1.25 for 2.
Total $2.50 for 4 cans ($0.63 each).

(2) Swanson's Chicken Broth BOGO at $2.69 for 2 used $1.00/2 coupon.
Total $1.69 for 2 ($0.845)

(2) Canada Dry Ginger Ale BOGO at $1.89 for 2 used $0.50/2 coupon from http://www.target.com/.
Total $1.39 for 2 ($0.695 each)

(1) Ziplock Gallon Bags at $2.15
(1) Ziplock Quart Bags at $2.15
       used $1.50/2 from www.recyclebank.com reward.
       used $1.00/2 from the Yellow Publix Flyer (you can find it at the front of your store with the weekly ad).
Total $1.80 for 2 ($0.90 each) GREAT DEAL!!!

(2) Zehyperhills Sparkling Water at $0.99 each.  Used BOGO coupon from newspaper about a month ago
Total $0.99 for 2 ($0.495)

(1) Garnier Hairspray at $3.49.  Used $1.00 off from RP (not sure which week).
Total $2.49.

(4) Sprout Organic Baby Food at $0.99 each
        used BOGO Coupon from Publix Yellow Flyer
        used Buy 3 get 1 Free Coupon from http://www.coupons.com/, not there any longer, hope you printed!
Total $1.98 for 4 ($0.495 each) GREAT DEAL!!!

(1) 2 Pack GE Halogen Light Bulbs at $4.79.  Used $1.50/1 from http://www.target.com/ (remember this only works if your store takes Target Coupons as a Competitor)
Total $3.29.

(2) Kraft Mayo  BOGO at $4.49 for 2.  Used 2 peelies on jars for $0.35/1.
Total $3.79 for 2 ($1.895 each).

(15) Beechnut Baby Food Jars at $0.57 each.  Used $1.85/15 from http://www.beechnut.com/.
Total $6.70 for 15 ($0.447 each)

(2) Publix Singles Cheese at 2/$5.00.  Used 2 $1.00/1 Any Brand Cheese from http://www.coupons.com/.
Total $3.00 for 2 ($1.50 each)

(1) Mission Tortilla at $2.69.  Used $1/1 that I found on the printable coupon section of www.thekrazycouponlady.com.
Total $1.69.

2 Large Green Peppers at $1.49/lb for a total of $1.97

(2) Bags of Baby Carrots at 4/$5.00 for a total of $2.50

(1) 5lb Bag of Idaho Potatoes at 2/$5.00 for a total of $2.50

(2) Country Crock Butter BOGO at $2.15 for 2.  Used 2, $0.40/1
Total $1.35 for 2 ($0.675 each)

(2) TGIF for 1 BOGO at $3.69 for 2.
Used:
2, $1/1 that I printed on-line somewhere.
1. $1/1 from Publix Yellow Flyer
Total $0.69 for 2 ($0.345 each)

(3) Ore Ida Fries at $2.79 each.
Used:
Buy 2 get 1 free from Publix Yellow Flyer
$1/1 from the Veteran's Day Salute On-line, find the link at www.iheartpublix.com, it only let me print 1, otherwise I would have used 3 of them!!!
Total $4.58 for 3 ($1.53 each)

(6) Green Giant Steamers BOGO at $2.79 each.
Used:
2, $0.75/3 from http://www.target.com/
Total $6.87 for 6 ($1.15 each)  This is a GREAT deal for close to fresh veggies that taste good and cook fast!

(2) Zatarain Frozen Entrees BOGO at $2.99
$1/2 coupon from on-line somewhere, I forget! :(
Total $1.99 for 2 ($0.98 each)

(2) Pillsbury Cookie Dough at 3/$6.00
$1/2 coupon from http://www.coupons.com/
Total $3.00 ($1.50 each)

(1) Sargento Shredded Cheese at $3.99.
$0.55/1 from $1/1 from the Veteran's Day Salute On-line, find the link at www.iheartpublix.com

And that's it so in case you weren't keeping track....that is a total of $149.75 in groceries for $74.45 out of pocket, plus I used a coupon for a FREE $10.00 gift card for spending $50.00 at Publix coupon so I have $10 left to use next week to help me then as well!!!  That is a total savings of 49.7%!!!!  That was a GREAT trip to Publix and I have one more stop to make at Target for the week for a Free Loaf of Bread (coupon came in the mail) and Baby Formula (of course I have a coupon for that too!!!)

Happy Saving, hope this helps!!!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

I followed the trend

So I finally did it....I joined the band wagon. Rich and I got iPhones today. We weren't totally in the dark ages as we had blackberrys but I hated them, they dropped what felt like a million calls a day so it was time. I have to say it was a great great for the both of us. I love my iPad so I knew I would love the iPhone and boy do I. It is so hard to remember what life was like before cell phones. I mean how did you call hubby on the way home from work or get orders from customers or ask hubby to get something you forgot. At this point in my life I don't think I could survive without a cell phone, it truly does everything for me. I use it as a calander, phone book, calculator, entertainment for my 4 year old (there are great educational apps out there). Bottom line I love this phone, I just typed this whole post on it. Now it is bed time though...have an early morning tomorrow as Jolie has to go back to the doctor because she has pneumonia which has not been fun but she is doing better, the good part is she was able to tricker treat on Monday but this week has been long to say the very least.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Last weekend, last week, and this weekend!

So I will start by saying it has felt like a whirlwind the last week. Last week Friday was my last day of my last vacation for the year and Rich and Jolie were also off because of Conference Day. So we scheduled a conference with Jolie's teachers, which went very well. We received her test scores for the first VPK testing period and she is in the top 1% of all VPK kids in the state, only missing 3 questions on the whole test. Her teachers are pleased with her progress, as are we. She is starting to read and does double digit addition in math. She is constantly spelling words, she also ask what things are in Spanish and is doing great with that. After the conference we went to Walmart for a new booster seat for her and then the drive thru at Wendy's to pick up lunch. We took both the girls and lunch to the park for a little picnic and playtime. The weather was amazing and the girls had a great time. We had a quite rest of the day and all was great.

Saturday, oh Saturday....Jolie and I had just hit the interstate to go to Ikea to get the shelve I had been talking about all week when my phone rang, it was my Aunt in Chicago. She informed me that my Grandma had fallen in her house and asked me to go check on her. I jump off the interstate and head right over. Grandma answers the door and I immediately tell her we are going to the hospital....I get her ready and we head to the ER. She looked like she had gone 9 rounds with Mike Tyson, bumps and the worst black eye I had ever seen. Rich met me at the hospital and retrieved Jolie and I cared for Grandma. Of course my Mom was still out of town so I was solely in charge. They did all the scans and what not and the good news was there was no internal injuries. As time went on she developed two black eyes and basically an entire face in bruises. I stayed with her Saturday night and Sunday morning until my Mom arrived home. My poor Mom has been staying everyday and night with her since then so this week has just been a zoo.

This past week was just full of busy, crazy times. I have so much going on and feel as though there is no time for me to breathe. Jolie has been sick all this week and Rich took off to help with her, she did a pediatrician appointment and ended up on steroids to help her breathing which has made her hyperactive which has been a challenge. She is also on breathing treatments (which is fairly common for us) as well as a puffer inhaler. So that has been busy and stressful. Then there is just the everyday going on and that is at times overwhelming.

This weekend, yesterday was pretty much devoted to a depressing day of Gator football. We recorded our 4th straight loss and I think now will be struggling to even be bowl eliagable. So it was pretty much a PJ day and we all just rested. Last night Jolie stayed with Poppy for a sleepover, she loved that because it was just the two of them and she got to do everything she wanted to do.

Today we did a little Halloween Party at my Mom and Dad's house for the girls. Jolie got to carve a pumpkin, which she loved doing. We had pizza and wings, the girls put on their costume and got to collect their treats from the family, Jolie loved that part, of course! It was nice to see everyone and we had a great time. After the party we came home, took naps, and then Jolie and I did a trip to the grocery store. She even helped cut coupons before we left and helped check things off the list at the store. It is amazing how grown up she is, it makes you wonder where the years have gone! Overall, we had a great weekend and we look forward to another busy week! Tomorrow starts at 8:30 am with Flu Shot appointments for both the girls.....as I wrote this Rich has already asked me if it was Friday yet? Ha ha!!!!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

My Week as a Stay at Home Mom---Day 4

**** I wrote this post during the day on Thursday but never posted it, so here it is.  The weekend went very south on Saturday stay tuned for the update on that, in my weekend post.****

So my week as a stay at home Mom is nearly over, I have to say I am a little sad about that, I have really enjoyed getting to hang out with Avery and being home every afternoon when Rich and Jolie arrive home, it is really nice to not feel all the stress and pressure of work.  I was thinking about it, with the exception of watching Avery and the random cleaning I am really just doing what I normally do but without all the work stuff.  I have been billing orders from home but that is easy in comparison to the normal stuff I do for work in a day.  But the point is normally my life is so much busier it is nice to have a quiet week and I have to say I am thoroughly enjoying the lovely fall weather that finally arrived, although I think it will be gone in just a few days but in the meantime we are going to soak it all up!!  On to our day today....

7:00 am Well actually a few minutes before 7:00 am we hear Avery talking on the monitor.  I am moving very slow as I stayed up late last night checking out all the new on-line coupons as well as the new Publix store ad that came out, not sure why or how I got so wrapped up in it but I did.  Rich made Avery's bottle and got her diaper changed while I got Jolie dressed.  Jolie was so excited about getting to wear a jacket and jeans, got to love cool weather.  I then went in and feed Avery while Rich got ready.  Rich got breakfast, lunch packing, and coffee going while I was finishing up upstairs.

8:00 am Rich runs out the door for work, a few minutes late, that might have been thanks to my slow moving this morning.

8:20 am I get the kids in the car to take Jolie to school.  We talk to my parents on the phone, Jolie counts to 200, this is one of her favorite pastimes.

8:45 am Avery and I go to the Target.  We needed formula (I will be so happy when we are done with baby formula and bottles, the days are near), I also pick up a sale hoodie for Avery since she is wearing 18 months clothes and we don't have much in the way of winter clothes in that size, not really sure why that is but either I haven't found the box they are in or we don't have them.  We have winter stuff in 9 months, 12 months, and 24 months.  Jolie didn't wear 18 months for long and I think it was from around her 1st birthday until that September or so, when it is HOT around here.  I also pick up some paper plates on sale for Avery's 1st Birthday Party, I have been slowly gathering sale stuff so I can try to do this party for as little money as possible.  Not sure if I have mentioned it or not but I am doing a Milk and Cookie's Party, the color scheme is Red, Orange, and White.  So thus far I have red, orange, and white polka dot napkins and solid red colored plates.  I also bought pre-cut orange letters that I am going to use to make a happy birthday banner.  And then of course as you know I am saving baby food jars, those are going to be turned into party favors, I am going to make hot chocolate mix and put it in there, it will be mixed with warm water or milk when the guest are ready to make it.  They are also going to get a little bag of #1 cookies.  Now I need to get some ribbon to make a picture banner of her every month of her first year and then I need some scrapbook paper for the banner and I will be done with that stuff.  And I also will pick up little treat bags and some ribbon and tags for the baby food jar hot chocolate.  For the food table we are going to use these glass bowls that were the center pieces at my wedding, I have 17 of them so we are good there and then I am going to mix in all the solid red serving pieces I have from Christmas, so no need to spend money there!!  So thus far I have spent about $11 and I don't have that much more to go other than food, of which I have cut several coupons for the flour, sugar, and chocolate chips that our cookie recipes will call for.  On to my day though.

9:15 am After Target Avery and I went to the meat market for the sale.  We bought chicken, ground beef, Italian sausage, and then deli meat.  We got 20lbs of meat and the sandwich meat and out total was $45, not bad.  So the freezer will be loaded up for awhile once Rich and I bag everything up later tonight.

10:00 am Avery and I arrive home and put our purchases away.

10:30 am Avery ate her bottle and went down for nap.  While she slept I started gathering coupons for my next shopping trip this weekend, I started making my list, cut some coupons, and matched the sale ad to my coupons.  I also printed some on-line coupons as well.  I also got a few minutes to start writing this post.

12:30 pm Avery got up from her nap, we came downstairs and got lunch ready.  I had a sandwich and she had jar baby food as well as some wagon wheels and a few puffs, she ate good, she really loves solid food!

1:00 pm After lunch we played on the floor, I talked to my Mom who was shopping for clothes for the girls up in North Carolina and I also called and checked on my Grandma.  Had a funny conversation with my husband and overall had a nice afternoon.  Avery is starting to let go and stand and even is taking a few steps before falling, I can't believe my just 10 month old baby is a walker, Jolie didn't do what she is doing now until her first birthday and then full blown walked right after her birthday.

2:45 pm Avery drank a little snack bottle and then went down for a little afternoon nap, well first she was standing in her crib and knocked her baptism cross off the wall, it fell but thankfully didn't break.  While Avery was napping I did some dishes and cleaned up downstairs a little because my MIL is coming over for dinner tonight.  Plus I want to take the kids outside when Rich and Jolie get home because it is just so nice out today.  I am thinking Jolie can do a little bike riding and I will put Avery in the stroller.

4:15 pm Avery got up from her nap, happy and laughing, it was really sweet!

4:45 pm Rich ran home real quick and then went to get Jolie.

5:40 pm Rich and Jolie arrived home and we played a little.  We didn't make it outside but did decide to go to the park with the kids tomorrow since Jolie and Rich are home tomorrow as well.

6:00 pm The MIL came over and we had  lovely dinner together.

8:00 pm We put the girls to bed.  My MIL stayed until about 10:30 pm and then Rich and I were off to bed!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

My Week as a Stay at Home Mom---Day 3

Okay, so I am not quite sure where yesterday ended and today began because it was 12:30 am when Avery was crying from her crib and I can honestly say I had just fallen asleep less than an hour before, for some reason I laid in bed last night watching TV and couldn't get to sleep even though I was tired.  But I got up and gave Avery a bottle and held her for a little bit and put her back down to sleep.  I got back in my bed and went right back to sleep, thank goodness!

6:45 am I hear Avery talking on the monitor.  Rich gets up and makes a bottle and I get Avery up and dressed.  Avery also had a leaky diaper so Rich changed her sheets as she ate.  Jolie was also up at this point so she got in our bed and watched a little TV.  Rich took a shower.  Once Avery was done I got Jolie and myself dressed and we headed downstairs for breakfast.

7:15 am I feed Jolie breakfast, Rich makes coffee, and we pack lunches.  Rich leaves for work and I finish getting Jolie ready for school.

8:20 am I load the kids in the car to take Jolie to school, we talk to my parents on the way, nothing too exciting.

9:00 am On the way home from the school Avery and I stop at the Hess Gas Station to grab a newspaper as the meat market sale ad is in there today, we get that.  There is a Thursday coupon for boneless skinless chicken breast, it is on sale with the coupon in the paper tomorrow for $1.59/lb. when you buy 10lbs. or more, so I decide that is worth waiting til tomorrow for.  We get home and play, Avery is slightly cranky, maybe because she was up in the middle of the night, just a guess!

10:20 am I feed Avery a mini bottle, she only eats half but looks super tired so I put her down for a nap.  While she sleeps I make a grocery list and get the coupons together, I opted not to do that last night, oops!  So I get all that info together.  There were some great BOGO's and I had some real good coupons, it made me excited, I have to admit!

11:45 am Avery wakes up and we head out to the store, she is happy and good in the store, everyone talks to her, she loved it!  I ended up saving just over $50 in coupons and sales, only spent $48 out of pocket, I am getting so good at this and I love it!

12:45 pm We arrive home and I get the cold stuff put away and then get lunch ready for Avery and myself, since I didn't eat during her nap we ate together today.  Avery finished off another baby food jar, yes!!!  My collection is growing!!

1:45 pm Lunch is done, dishes are in the sink and the highchair and table are wiped down.  Avery plays in her step and play while I take a few orders for work and start typing this post.  I feel totally behind today and realize that is actually going to rain today so I scratch the idea of going to Ikea for today, I think I will go on Friday and take Jolie and leave Avery with Rich since we are all home on Friday as it is a school holiday.

2:00 pm I feed Avery a bottle, she really didn't finish it either, not sure what that is about as most the time she sucks them dry.  She is eating more food now though so that could be it.

2:30 pm Avery is just a fussy mess, I put her down for her nap.  She made a few noises that I heard on the monitor but she slept well.  I spend a couple of minutes just sitting on the couch and enjoy the quite.  I then get up and put the dry good groceries away and load/unload the dishwasher.  I start thinking about dinner for the night, we are having yellow rice and chicken, I am making fresh steamed brocolli, and cuban bread and butter, obviously I went to the store today because I wouldn't always have that much fresh stuff in my house.  Although I have to say I have become a fan of some of these frozen veggies.  I even bought 4 bags today on BOGO plus I had a $1.00 off two bag coupon.  With the rising cost of "healthy" foods (fruits, veggies, and meats) I have had to get creative with coupons and sales.  I have started using a local meat market that runs great specials for all of our meats as I refuse to pay the price of Publix meats, I mean their boneless, skinless chicken is about $4 a pound, that just doesn't work for me and obviously I do a few nights for less as well but I still pull a weekly average of about $5-6 a day for dinner and then lunch is actually a little more because of the convience foods that are factored in.  However, I am getting better as I have started buying whatever deli meat is on sale at the meat market for $3.99/lb. so that is also helping!  Anyways, enough of my grocery philosiphies and ways.  I also decided at the end of Avery's nap time to make Rich a little treat so I made some witches hats, they are by far Rich's favorite fall treat so he was thrilled when he got home.

4:00 pm Avery woke up from her nap and was super cute in the monitor just talking away.  I went upstairs and got her and we came downstairs for her snack.  We played a little bit and she hung out in her step and play as I finished up some orders for work.  Then she finished her bottle from earlier.

5:15 pm Rich and Jolie arrived home, we all just hung out.  Rich had a big lunch at work with a friend so he wasn't up for a big dinner so him and I kind of skipped dinner, which was fine with me, I wasn't that hungry either.

6:00 pm Rich and I fed the kids dinner and sat with them at the dining room table.

7:00 pm Rich gave Jolie a bath and I watched Avery in her room while she played.  After Jolie's bath she came in and played a little too.

8:00 pm I put Avery to bed and Rich put Jolie to bed.

It is currently a little after nine and Rich is laying on one couch and I am on the other typing this post and thinking about how I am ready to go to bed and relax.  I didn't get as much done today as I had hoped but it is what it is I guess, today kind of felt like a vacation day in it's own little way.  I didn't do as much for work so that was nice.  I do still have a ton of stuff I wanted to get accomplished but watching a baby and getting heavy duty cleaning done is next to impossible.  So over the weekend I am going to try to get a little bit done while Rich helps with the kids, we shall see if that works out for me!!  But I am tired today and the weather tonight is awesome so I am ready to go lay in my bed with the bedroom windows up and go to sleep to the quiet night breezes, now that sounds a little like a vacation!!  Well strike the vacation thing, Jolie just came downstairs crying about the fact that her TV turned off, we set the sleep timer to it and most nights she is fast asleep before it cuts out, tonight is not one of those nights and Rich is off to get her back down and I am off to assist in that, good night!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

My Week as a Stay at Home Mom-----Day 2

So last night went well, except a mess up in our take out but Avery went down to bed with ease and Rich and I got caught up on Jersey Shore from last week so that was fun, I often wondered how I lived without DVR, it is an amazing invention!

On to today....

5:30 am I was still sound asleep in bed but apparently Jolie was up and wondered downstairs to find Rich asleep on the couch where he had fallen asleep watching Monday Night Football. So she woke him up and they cuddled on the couch for a little while.

7:00 am Rich came upstairs and got in the shower. I got up and threw on a t-shirt and yoga pants, it is a comfy day as it is suppose to rain all day. I got Jolie dressed while Rich was in the shower and then Avery woke up so I got her up, diaper changed, and bottle fed. I decided to give Avery a PJ day so I just left her in the pj's she was wearing.

7:35 am We all came downstairs for breakfast, Jolie ate her cereal and Avery played in the pack and play, she doesn't like being in it except in the morning, so I use it while it works! Rich and I packed lunches, his and Jolie's. Rich made coffee....awesome because a cup was a must this morning!

8:15 am I loaded the kids up to take Jolie to school, we talked to my parents on the way and Jolie started crying when she realized Mimi and Poppy had gone to the Mountains without her. It was kind of sad and I felt real bad for my Mom but Jolie cheered up when we told her she would go with them in the summer.

8:45 Avery and I came back home and just played in the living room, she was busy!

10:15 am Avery got a mini bottle and went down for her morning nap. She played hard this morning so she was out pretty quick. I got a few minutes on the couch to just relax, loved that! Then I typed the first part of this post on the I-Pad. I sent a few words with friends to my Mom and Grandma. Now I am going to figure out what's for dinner and defrost that and then I am going to heat up some soup from the freezer for lunch. I also had my weekly update call with the house director at the sorority house, this afternoon I am hoping to get some other things done for the sorority as well.

11:45 am Avery wakes up from her nap, good thing I had already ate my lunch, thank goodness for quick and easy things from the freezer.  My freezer is getting a little light on food so I think it means I have to grocery shop and cook on Thursday or Friday.  Anyways, I go upstairs and get Avery, change her diaper and look around her room and realize it is a mess, the girls have been playing in there a lot lately so it needs to be cleaned, I make a mental note of that and think that it might be a good afternoon project.

12:00 pm I put Avery in the highchair to eat lunch, she eats all her baby food jar, I am currently collecting the glass baby food jars for a project for her first birthday party so I get very happy when we have empties.  I currently have 13 and I need 57, so she needs to get to eating!! ha ha  Then she eats her little puffs, she is getting so good at feeding herself those, it is amazing how fast she has grown.

12:30 pm I put Avery on the floor to play, she crawls around I surf the net for a new shelve for my dining room, I measure the space and think of my needs and send a couple of links to Rich for his opinion.  Rich tells me he doesn't care (I do love that he lets me decorate and undecorate however I want and he also appreciates the fact that I try to do so at a minimal cost) so I find the one I want at Ikea, check the inventory for the Tampa store and bingo they have it, and it fits my budget!!  Love it when the stars align like that!  I get super excited and think of packing Avery up and going over to get it.  Rich texts me and says it is supposed to rain all afternoon why would I want to do this.  I agree but it hasn't rained a drop yet, even though it was supposed to start last night, then no later than noon and so on but I decide I will do this tomorrow.  So then I debate what today's project is going to be.  While I debate my next project I clean out a catch all basket that is in the kitchen.  I then decide it was time to clean Avery's room.

1:15 pm Avery and I head to her room for cleaning, well I cleaned she played on the floor with all her toys.  I moved some stuff around, put some small clothes away for my friend Sarah's kids, and pull out some more clothes that are Avery's size and good for fall.  I dusted and moved some things around.  Then before I put all the toys on the floor away Avery and I played and giggled and just had some great Mommy/Baby time.

2:30 pm We came downstairs I threw away the garbage from our cleaning and put away a few things I had brought downstairs while Avery spent about 10 minutes in the pack and play.  I made her little bottle and she ate it all, quickly!!  She is a little piglet!! :)

2:45 pm Avery went to her crib for her afternoon nap, she went right down, we played pretty hard!  I wrote more of this blog post, I am using every minute I have.  I did a little research on some items I need for little projects for Avery's first birthday party, that will be a post for another day.  I promised Rich I would have at least one day of my vacation where I didn't spend any money so I stop myself from ordering them and figure I will do it tomorrow since I am going to Ikea tomorrow anyways, so today is No Spending Tuesday in The Perillo House.

3:30 pm I get busy with work, I have orders to put in and some phone calls to take, I hear her on the monitor playing but she isn't crying so I leave her a little longer.  She goes back to sleep for a few more minutes.

4:00 pm Avery is for sure awake now.  I go upstairs to her room and we play up there for a few minutes, I took the I-Pad to play words with friends while I watched her crawl around.  I then decide since I cleaned Avery's Room I should also clean Jolie's Room.  So Avery and I head in there and get it done!

5:15 pm Rich and Jolie arrive home as Avery and I finish cleaning Jolie's room, I didn't get to the girl's bathroom but I had already sprayed the cleaner so I know I have to get it done before Avery's bath tonight.  We all go downstairs and play for a little bit.

6:00 pm I start making dinner, just a simple chicken and veggie pasta that I make fairly regularly.  We eat, which with Jolie is forever an adventure.  Avery eats well, I have another baby food jar for my collection, Jolie doesn't do as well and looses her TV privilege for the evening.

7:00 pm Rich watches the girls so I can get back upstairs and clean the girl's bathroom.  I play with the girl's for a few minutes while Rich takes the laundry out and hangs up a few things to dry.

7:30 pm Rich gives Avery a bath and Jolie and I put the kid's toys away in Avery's room.

7:50 pm I give Avery her night bottle, she goes to bed quickly, totally unlike Avery but it happens.  I know deep down that it won't last but I keep going.

8:10 pm I get in the shower for the first time this week, its awful isn't it, that is the one thing that I feel like is very difficult this week, there doesn't seem to be time for me, not even for a shower, because pretty much I only have time to do it when Rich is home, that limits things quite a bit.

8:30 pm I sit down to update this blog.  I think of the 700 things I still feel like need to be done tonight but at this point I start prioritizing as I am tired.  I decide once done with this I am going to the dishes and clean the kitchen and then I am going to consult the store ads and my coupons and make a quick grocery list to get us through the rest of this week.  I didn't grocery shop this weekend, I did a big shop the week before, the sales were just awesome!  So I am just going to do a small trip and get just the things we need until the weekend.  I also need to inventory the meats in the freezer as the local meat market will have a new ad coming out tomorrow, this way I will know what I have and what sales I want to take advantage of.

So with that note it is 8:45 pm and I still have dishes, cleaning, and grocery list making to do.  In conclusion, it was another good day at home with Avery, she is so cute.  I think I will take a few pictures tomorrow to share but until then I have a lot to do, will be back tomorrow to continue my week long post series.  I will also say I did not get as much done today as I wanted to but I had a good time with my sweet baby girl!  On a side note, it never did rain today....so I stayed in for nothing!  The weatherman got it all wrong!

Monday, October 17, 2011

My Week as a Stay at Home Mom---Day 1

So I know, I know I have been so absent from blogging, I have just been so busy in life so I have been so bad at keeping up with the blog. I promise to update with at least pictures over the next week. But moving on to my week as a SAHM, Jolie goes to preschool everyday, however, Avery is not in school yet, she stays with my Mom four days a week and one day a week with my MIL. Well my parents were itching to get up to their house in North Carolina for the changing of the leaves, so since I had a week's vacation left, I told Mom and Dad to head out of town and I would stay with Avery, so here we are with my week as a SAHM. So far so good....I have grand plans for this week so I am hoping to get a lot done, we'll see if that actually happens but I have the best of intentions.

7:00 am Rich is up and tells me I better do the same, for some miraculous reason both kids are still asleep, love it!

7:20 am I actually roll out of bed, put on jeans and a t-shirt, put my hair in a ponytail, kids are still asleep, love it!

7:30 am Rich and I go in Jolie's room as she is stirring, I get her up and dressed, we head downstairs for breakfast. She has cereal and Rich makes her lunch and his.

7:45 am Avery wakes up and we hear giggling on baby monitor and little squeals, so cute!!!  I go in and get her dressed and feed her, her morning bottle. Avery wakes up in a good mood and is smiling. We head downstairs. I put on minimal makeup and help Jolie finish breakfast and then do her hair and get her shoes and socks on.

8:15 am We load in the car to take Jolie to school.

8:35 am Jolie is dropped off and Avery and I head for the Dollar Store and Walmart. We pick up a few random items at each place and head home.  Avery plays while I do a little work, send e-mails and make phone calls.

10:30 am Avery gets a small bottle and then heads down for a nap. I did get a second to pour myself an iced coffee, which was delicious thanks to my wonderful husband making coffee this morning. She wakes several times crying, she didn't finish the bottle so I head upstairs to finish giving said bottle. While she is sleeping I make a quick lunch for myself. As I cook and eat, I hear her playing in her crib but at least she some what rested.

12:30 pm I feed Avery her lunch of baby food jar, a little squash and some fruit. She also ate some veggie wagon wheels and yogurt puffs.

1:00 pm I put Avery in the living room to play while I get some cleaning done downstairs. That happens somewhat but not entirely, I got less done than I would on my own but I did get some things accomplished and of course got some time with a super cute little girl! I got all the girl's toys cleaned up and cleared out a little bit.  I also got some dusting done.  I plan on having Rich get out my box of fall decor tomorrow and getting that put up as well as get a little closet cleaning done, hopefully my sweetie allows that!

3:00 pm I feed Avery a mini bottle and put her down for her afternoon nap.  She was in her bed talking for the better part of the first 15 minutes or so.  While she was napping Mommy took a break and wrote the beginning of this post.  I also was able to get some orders punched in for work since I am on a working vacation.  I caught a few minutes of raunchy daytime TV, I have to admit Judge Mathis is my guilty pleasure and then swept the downstairs floor.  I did a bunch of work while Avery napped, so that was good.

4:30 pm Avery wakes up from nap we play, I do a little more cleaning.

5:15 pm Jolie and Rich came home, the kids played and I ordered take out.  It was a long day so I opted for no cooking, so now it is almost time to eat and Rich accidently posted this post that I had up waiting for my day to be over so we will call it a day now and say it went well as a stay at home Mom, at least for today!

See you tomorrow!!!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Where were you?

Where were you on that fateful day 10 years ago? I think we all remember and always will remember where we were when we heard about the attacks on our nation. This is the day that changed our nation and most especially our generation, it is the day that changed the way we live our lives and the day we declared war on hateful people. This is the day we lost thousands in three sites but the day that began a war where we lost nearly 8,000 of our friends in a far away land. I am grateful and thankful for what the last 10 years has brought to my life and I am beyond appreciative to the men and women who have given so freely of their lives to protect mine!

I will never forget!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Thankful for a weekend.....

So this week I have to say I am so thankful for the weekend. It has just been so busy, we had the AC issue Sunday into Monday, Rich went back to work, I had crazy happenings at work, and it was just so overall busy! Then this next week Jolie starts VPK on Tuesday and I am sure it will be very busy as Rich starts actually teaching and my job is busy right now.

In order to recover from last week and prepare for next week I am just so glad to have today and tomorrow to relax and hang out with my family. Today, Rich is playing golf this morning and I am playing with the girls. Right now as I type Avery is playing in her step and play piano and Jolie is making a picture out of stamps. They are both quiet and happy which is awesome as I just feel like I need 5 minutes of sitting and having peace. This afternoon after Rich gets home we are taking the girls swimming in the pool, so that too will be fun. Then Rich and I are going to do takeout for dinner and we will probably watch Jersey Shore on DVR after the girls go to bed. I am going to start picking up the house in a little bit this morning but I will do the bulk of the heavy cleaning tomorrow along with a grocery store run tomorrow. Then Rich is going to grill out some ribs for dinner, yum! Then it is prepare clothes and stuff for the week and that will be the end of our weekend.

I was thinking about it the other day....I really want to know who decided that the work week should be 5 days and the weekend only 2 days? I think it should be 4 days for working and 3 days for playing, that would make things so much more equal and balanced. Every time I get a 3 day weekend it makes me feel so much better, rested and more productive because then it is easy to have a nothing/rest day and you still have 2 other days to get things done like cooking and cleaning. It is just a thought but I think everyone would be happier and more productive!

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Is that the flux capacitor????

So, this morning I called the AC repair person....they came around noon. The guy was real nice and got straight to work, trying to find the problem. It wasn't long before he informed me that the same capacitor we had replaced 4 years ago had again gone bad, and of course this little tiny part ain't cheap, that is always the luck around here it seems. So after less than an hour of the guy working and nearly $500 later the AC is fixed and I have to say it feels nice and cool as I sit and type. However, this morning and well all night last night it was a blazin' hot in this house, it was all I could do this morning to pack up myself and Avery and get out of here to go to my Mom's house to get ready for work. I have to say I was blasting the AC in the car all the way over to my Mom's.

I had to laugh about the whole capacitor thing because every time I even hear that word (which isn't often) I think of Back to the Future and the flying/time machine better known as a delorian...those movies really were some of the very best of the 80's. I mean who doesn't know those movies? I know I get a little excited when I see the three part seris come on TV on a random weekend.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Hot!!!!

So as most of you probably know it has been ungodly hot this summer, all over the country but especially here in Florida. It has been well into the 90's for days, weeks, probably several months. I have been thankful for AC all summer! Well, I spent the afternoon/early evening at my parents with the girls, Jolie and Avery had baths over there we ate dinner, etc. Rich was at a funeral for a friend/co-worker that passed away earlier this summer. I got home right at 8 and went straight upstairs to get Avery settled in to bed, Rich walked in as I was putting Avery down. I came out of Avery's room thinking to myself it is hot in here, I went over to the AC control, it was off, I turn it on, lower the temp and come downstairs to ask Rich when and why he turned the AC off. Rich informs me he just turned it off because it was set on 75 yet it was reading 80. We go back upstairs, mess with it, go outside and listen and realize the compressor isn't running, just the fan. We instantly realize, this is a problem. I of course call Dad, he loads up tools and the wet/dry vac and heads right over. He hooks the wet/dry vac to the little pole thing outside and sucks out a bunch of water, I think great it's fixed. Well, I was wrong....the compressor doesn't turn on. So needless to say on a Sunday night at 9 pm, there aren't many people ready to come over and fix it. So we load little Jolie up in the car and Rich takes her to my parent's house for the night and also picks up 2 extra fans, at this point we already have all the ceiling fans in the house on and our only fan in Avery's room, that sweet baby is sleeping through all of this. So as it stands now we have a call into the AC guy, we have fans running and Rich and I are watching Jersey Shore on DVR in the heat, well honestly with the fans it isn't that bad. Will update tomorrow. Mow I just have my fingers crossed that this doesn't cost a fortune to fix!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

I spent the weekend camping....

Well, not exactly camping but I was at camp, well again kind of....I spent the weekend at Camp Alpha Nu in Gainesville at the sorority house! It was kind of like roughing it as we stayed in the chapter house and I am just not use to a twin bed that is so high off the ground I had to use a chair to get into it. It also required flip flops in the shower as you wouldn't want to touch the floor in there because who knows what has touched it in the 50 years the house has been around. As I think I talk about it often but in case you don't know I have a love for all things related to the sorority house, it is my passion, I have spent the last nearly two years working hard to make the house gorgeous, we have done so many projects I don't know that I can even begin to list them all but I have to say the house is nearly there, it is almost amazing, there are few spaces I haven't touched in one way or another recently but today in our annual House Corporation Business Meeting we passed a motion to begin the project of an addition onto the chapter house, this has been a dream of mine since I was in college, I dreamed of being rich one day and having a whole wing named after me....while I am not rich yet and the wing won't be named after me I am so excited to know we are on our way to a bigger, better, prettier chapter house and that is what I have always wanted. So needless to say it was a great weekend of "camping" and catching up with old friends (including my little sister I hadn't seen in years, it was so great she contacted me and came by to see me, even if it was only for a few minutes) and making new friends with recent alums. I have to say this is always one of my favorite weekends of the summer every year!!!!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

There is no planning for what life throws your way.

So I went back to work Thursday and Friday, it was fairly uneventful and calm, nothing too bad for the first two days. This next week of course gets crazy with events and tastings and things to sell and people to see but it was expected. What was completely unexpected is when Friday at the office my eyes started getting real red and itchy, my nose was running and it was awful. I went on with my day counting down the stops I had to make til I could just get home and get my contacts out, I figured there was something up with them. I went straight to bed Friday night with an ice pack on my face and took my allergy medicine and washed my eyes out. I woke up Saturday morning and my eyes were literally swollen shut, light bothered them and it was plain awful. Rich took Jolie to his Mom and called my Mom to come over and help us so Rich stayed with Avery and my Mom took me to the Urgent Care Center, it is like a step down from the ER and is suppose to be cheaper and faster than the ER, I am pretty certain it was both of those things. The doctor walks in my little room, takes one look at me and my eyes and decides I have super horrible, worse case possible of pink eye. Great, I work two days and leave my house for the first time in months and this is what I get, so not cool! So I am on high power drops and again held up in my house. Also turns out little Avery has some sort of cold with congestion and a running nose, she will be going to the pediatrician's office tomorrow. And I am fighting with the eye thing, hand sanitizing myself and the rest of the family every few minutes it feels and just lounging trying to get well enough to return to work tomorrow even though I have a note to miss Monday and Tuesday because of the whole highly contagious eye thing, big problem being my work will loose it if I am out another two days so I am trying. I have thrown away the contacts I was wearing on Friday along with ALL my make-up including the bag, brushes everything. My awesome Mom went out yesterday to Ulta and bout me the start to all new makeup, new brushes, new bag, a new bare minerals starter kit, a thing of eye shadows, mascara, eye liner, literally everything, she was amazing. Speaking of amazing my husband is truly the best! He has helped me get as disinfected as possible, taken care of Avery so I am not touching her, kept Jolie away from me so she doesn't get my funk, he is just awesome and I owe him more than I could ever even begin to repay! Needless to say the Perillo's should just own stock in the antibacterial febreeze, clorox wipes, and hand sanatizer as we are using more of them then I even thought humanly possible! Once done with this post I will be disinfecting the I-Pad as well. So again life has taught us there is no planning, things come as they will and you must adapt and forge ahead.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Mid Week Review

So it is mid week in the real world but tomorrow is really my Monday....I am going back to work for the first time in what feels like forever! I have mixed emotions about returning, part of me is very excited, part of me a little nervous, part of me gets exhausted just thinking about it, part of me is overwhelmed....you get the point, I have mixed feelings. I know the next several weeks or a month are going to be quite busy so that worries me because I don't feel as though I am at the top of my game and that isn't normal for me.

Jolie is back at school and loving it, the summer programs at her school are just so cool, she loves it! Yesterday they had Indian/Asian Dance Lessons, Friday is Bicycle Safety Day where they take their bike and helmet and get fit and riding lessons, it will be super cool and Jolie is totally excited! They also have several Water Days coming as well as Tye Dye T-Shirt Day and a few party days so it will be a great close to the summer at Jolie's school.

Avery has had a great week....she is just so super cute! She is working so hard to learn to crawl, it is just so cute to see her up on all fours and rocking to try to get moving! She is doing great with eating as well, we are slowly introducing new foods and she is doing great with the different textures and just loves getting in her highchair for eating time. She has been waking up at night lately but is easy to get back to sleep so that is good. After a few nights of crying it out to sleep she pretty much goes right to sleep every night so that is awesome! I am so glad we took care of all that while Jolie was gone!

All and all things have been pretty quiet thus far this week although part of normalcy will fire up tomorrow with me going back to work and before we know it, it will be August 15th which is when Rich heads back to work so summer seems to be slipping away. The one thing I will gladly give up is the heat here....it has been just scorching and with my surgery I haven't really had to go out of the house much so I just feel as though I am going to be melting tomorrow as I run around like a crazy person! Well, I have hours worth of catch up work to do so I have to run, will update on my first day back to work by the weekend but probably not tomorrow as it is going to be super crazy!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Avery at 6 and 7 Months

So I have a serious case of bad Mommy going on....I haven't written a post about either Avery at 6 or 7 months. So I am writing this quick post to acknowledge her milestones and I will post some pictures at a later date. So Avery is growing leaps and bounds, I posted her 6 month well visit stats about 3 weeks ago and she is just so long and big it is amazing! Avery is still wearing 12 month clothes but even some of those seem to be getting a little short, we don't put the kid's clothes in the dryer as we have learned that when you have tall children they simply become too short when dried in the dryer. Avery is a really happy baby and smiles a ton, she is sometimes hard to make laugh but is always happy. I am able to get Avery to laugh pretty regularly but it is much harder for others including Rich. Avery is still all about eating, she loves her bottle and when she gets hungry she gets fired up mad! Avery has just started eating puffs and loves them! She also is very good at eating baby food as well, she loves all fruits and veggies and we have just started introducing meats although I will say she doesn't seem as fond of those so far but she eats them. Avery is a great sitter and can sit up by herself well, just the other day on Saturday she went from laying down to sitting all by herself for the first time, I think she was as proud of herself as I was of her, she got sonexcited and it was so cute! She loves to put things in her mouth, which as her Mom freaks me out but so far nothing crazy has ended up in her mouth. She is fascinated by our blackberries and TV remotes and if she sees them she is reaching and streching for them! She even tries to touch the I-Pad screen as well. Avery is going to be crawling soon, she gets up on all fours and rocks like crazy, she can roll and scoot her way around though and gets off her little playmat constantly, I know it is just preparing me for chasing a crawling baby around the house. It is so hard to believe that my little baby is growing and changing so fast, I just can't believe it, I so badly wanted her to stay small as long as possible knowing she would be my last baby but she has just decided to grow even faster than a normal baby! I love both my girls so much though, they are so cute and just amazing spirits! I promise to post more regularly and get some pictures up soon, I am going to try and get out of my bad Mommy phase and back to the good Mommy I really long to be. I am finally able to lift Avery a little so that is good, I even think I am going to try to put her to bed myself tonight. It will still be awhile before I can pick up Jolie since she is over 40 lbs already.

Tomorrow I will do a post on Jolie's follow up trip to the ENT yesterday but Rich and I still have some discussing to do before we determine what choices we are going to make for her, please pray for our guidance in the choices we have been given for her care.

Friday, July 15, 2011

So it has been a long couple of weeks but the good news is we have made and things are getting better. I am finally feeling better and there is no more draining of my tummy scar, what a relief all of that is! Rich has done a fabulous job of taking care of both Avery and me, I am so thankful for him and all he has done, he has been the one person keeping our household running and that has been a blessing. In other good news, Jolie is coming home this afternoon after 3 weeks of being in the mountains of North Carolina with my parents, she has had a great time but is really excited about coming home. I have to say we are very excited about her coming home, it has been so quiet at our house without her home but it was a blessing for Rich and I to have her with my parents as I was so sick these last couple of weeks. But now that I am feeling better it is going to be great having her home, she has the weekend to hang with us and then on Monday will be going to the summer program at her Montessori Pre-School, she will love that as they do so many fun activities. I am home from work until Thursday of next week when I finally return. I assume the rest of the summer will be pretty busy with work since I have spent the last month out of the loop.

Oh, I meant to post about this a few days ago but time got away from me but anyone that does home school or pre-school at home should go visit the dollar spot at Target soon, they have some amazing school stuff all for a dollar, I even got Jolie a few things as even though she goes to a great school we like to re-enforce at home so I picked up several workbooks to help her with her letters and writing as well as some slight word flash cards as she is starting to read. I also got her a little calendar thing where we can do it every morning and she puts the month, day of the week and date. So if you are in need of educational materials, check it out. They pretty well have stuff for ages 2 and up and tons of stuff for 4 and up.

As of Tuesday of next week I will finally be able to pick up my kids, we at least Avery, I probably won't be picking Jolie up much for a while considering she weights about 40lbs. I don't want to push my luck as I have promised myself I never, ever want to do this surgery again! Having this surgery was far worse than either of my 2 c-sections.

Things are getting better in the Perillo House and we couldn't be more grateful for that!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Currently watching my favorite movie about independence, 1776!! Happy 4th of July! We are so thankful for our freedoms & all those who gave for us to be free!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Life going on around us....

So life is going on in the Perillo House but is far from normal.  As I said several days ago I had some surgical complications so I continue to lay held up in my bed at our house trying to recover from what was suppose to be a fairly easy and routine surgery to repair two hernias.  On Wednesday when I went to the doctor I was in more pain than I think I have ever been in before in my life.  The doctor quickly came into my room in his office and realized there was a problem, it seems as though my body decided to fill the space that was left open by the hernia repair with fluid that had to be drained, the doctor quickly began draining the fluid (probably one of the worst experiences of my life and Rich's as he was in the room watching all this).  From there he set up the incision to continue to drain for days to come, in fact it is still currently draining as we speak, every time I think it might be finished it fills up again and then yet again let's loose even more fluid.  I know most of you probably don't want to read about this but I figure I better write it down so I can look back years from now and remember what I went through to have these hernias fixed.

In other more exciting news Avery is doing well with Rich watching her and caring for her as I still can't lift her or anything else.  She had a pediatrician appointment on Wednesday afternoon that Rich took her to.  Her appointment went well, she got 2 shots and the oral Roto-Virus vaccine and did great with them.  Rich also discussed with Dr. Anton the fact that Avery is extremely difficult to put to bed and that she tends to scream and be inconsolable.  Dr. Anton fully examined her and discovered there is nothing wrong with her, no ear infections, no reflux problems, no intestinal problems and told Rich that more than likely her fussiness was more than likely just a behavioral issue.  So he basically says that she cries/screams at the top of her lungs because she knows that gets us to run into her room and pick her up and hold her and thus she doesn't have to lay in her bed and go to sleep.  So Dr. Anton suggested that we let her "cry it out" in her bed at night, so Rich and I bravely started the "cry it out" method on Wednesday night and go in and check on her in 15 minute intervals but never actually pick her up.  That first night the screaming lasted about 35 minutes.  Thursday night it lasted about 20 minutes.  And then Friday night the screaming was less than 15 minutes so I think it is working, I think we have her realizing that when it is time for bed it is time for bed.  It is amazing to me how different of sleepers our children are.  When Jolie was this age we put her in her crib at 8 pm every night and she didn't make a peep until she woke up the next morning around 7:30 am.  Now we have since had some sleep issues with Jolie but at 6 months old she was a dream sleeper, she took 2 naps everyday and was super consistent on sleep.  On the other hand Avery is not like that at all, she barely naps at all during the day and has been difficult to train to sleep at night.  Just shows how every child is different.  Also here are Avery's stats from her appointment.
Height: 28.75 inches (100th percentile)
Weight: 19 lbs, 4 oz (93rd percentile)
Head Circumference: 99th percentile (I forgot the actual measurement)
So as you can see Avery is a BIG girl, Jolie has always consistently been in the 90th plus percentile for height and weight but she never actually hit the 100th percentile like Avery.  Rich is already very excited about the possibility of athletic opportunities for both the girls based on the fact they are both so tall and projected to continue to be tall.  At two years old when they did the height projection for Jolie she is projected to be 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches when she is done growing, even if she comes up a little short of that she should be pretty tall.  I think Avery might surpass her quicker than any of us expected if she keeps up at this pace!

Jolie is in the mountains with my parents and having a blast.  We have been skype-ing with them every evening and got to hear all about her adventures.  She has been pretty funny on skype every night, laughing, giggling, and just plain being silly.  Although it is so sweet when she tells us she misses us and loves us but at the same time she is loving being with Mimi and Poppy and the best part is she is behaving perfectly for them.  The three of them have played and watched numerous children's movies on DVD and been on several trips to town and the store and had a blast.  Jolie has gotten the chance to be both Mimi and Poppy's helper and I know their three weeks together are going by so quickly for them but I will say I sure do miss all of them!!

Hopefully this week will be the week I really begin to feel better, I am still out of work until at least Wednesday when I return to the doctor's office for another follow up appointment.  I am hoping that this week will be a better appointment and that I might return to light duty work by Thursday or Friday of next week.  I have a lot of things going on at work and just feel as though I need to be back to deal with all my upcoming events.

This weekend we plan on laying low as we celebrate our Nation's birthday and independence.  I think Rich's friend and mom are going to come over tomorrow for a little cook out, Rich is going to throw some food on the grill and we will all just hang out.  I think it will be nice that I get to see people instead of being held up in my room, I am starting to go a little stir crazy!!!  I again am so thankful that I had this procedure over the summer and that Rich has been around to take such good care of me, that sure has been nice!!  Well here is to a Happy 4th of July and a good weekend of recovery!!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Surviving....

Okay, so we are officially surviving in the Perillo House but let me state for the record that it has not been easy to survive!  I had my surgery last week Tuesday, it turned out to be a little more complicated than originally projected, which should come as no surprise because it feels as though that is how things go in the Perillo House.  But I have basically laid around for the last six days in a great deal of pain, far more pain than either of my c-sections or for that matter more pain than any other surgery I have EVER had.  I by no means thought I would be down for the count like this but it is what it is.  I can't bend, I can't lift anything, I can barely change positions without assistance and all I can say to all that is I thank God for my husband!  My husband has successfully run our household and cared for both of our children and me and done it well.  He has prepared all our meals, cared for our 6 month old baby, taken care of our 4 year old, done laundry, cleaned, and did anything and everything else that needed to be done, including dealing with a wife laying in bed in agony which is no easy task.  I can't thank my husband enough for everything he has done, he surely deserves some sort of medal or possibly A LOT of medals!!  So we are surviving around here but I am not up for much blog posting so this is all you get for now.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Had my surgery yesterday, I am alive but barely, this is the worse pain I have ever had! My c-sections didn't hurt this bad! Will do real post tomorrow.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Mid Week Update

Okay, so maybe the title is slightly misleading since we are really one day past midweek but how exciting is a title like "One Day Past Midweek Update". Anyways, on to the update. Jolie continues with swim camp and is loving it, I actually have a picture to share but I am on the I-Pad so that will have to wait. But she is doing really well and even has been jumping off the diving board and doing great.

Rich is finished with work for the year and is home for the summer, he will be watching Avery for the summer so he will still be very busy. Avery will be 6 months old tomorrow...that just doesn't even seem possible. But she is doing great in her first two days home with Daddy.

I have yet to get much done while at home because I haven't felt very well. I saw the surgeon yesterday and he found the same hernia that my primary care physician had found last week. The surgeon went ahead and scheduled surgery for Tuesday of next week and then also ordered a CT Scan for tomorrow to get a full idea of the scope of the surgery Tuesday. I have pre-op scheduled for Monday morning. I am glad to know they will be fixing all this but a little nervous for the procedure itself as well as the recovery process. I am not suppose to lift anything over 15 lbs. for 3 weeks to a month and I have an almost 20 lb 6 month old so the logistics of that makes me super nervous. So we'll see how all that goes. But it should help with the pain and bulge in my stomach area so that is exciting! I will be home with Rich and Avery until July 5th and Jolie is going to NC with my parents on the 25th. I will be missing a sorority conference in Atlanta the weekend of the 24th but nothing I can do about it, as this surgery is somewhat of an emergency.

Well, that is it for mid week in the Perillo House, we are just trying to enjoy the first week of summer!

Monday, June 13, 2011

First Day of Swim Camp

Today was Jolie's first day of swim camp, I can't even begin to tell you how excited she was.  In fact, her excitement started at about 1:30 am this morning when she was in my room asking me when she was going to swim camp?  I of course quickly explained to her it was the middle of the night and not time for swim camp!  Rich had fallen asleep on the couch and wasn't in our bed so I let her crawl into our bed because I figured it was going to be easier than trying to get her to go back to sleep in her own bed.  Then of course not long after I got all that settled and back to sleep myself, Avery woke up in the middle of the night a little before 3 am, so then I was up for that feeding.  So needless to say Momma didn't get a very good night's sleep!  Good thing I started vacation today!

But this morning at 9 am Jolie started her first day of Swim Camp at Berkley Prep, the school my Aunt and Uncle teach at, they gave her two weeks of Swim Camp for her Birthday, what a great gift.  We went to the gym to finish her registration and see Jolie's Aunt Ciara who works there in the summer and pick up her Camp T-Shirt, she really liked that.  We then headed over to the pool for her to start her lesson.  Her group this week only has 5 kids in it and there are 6 instructors so obviously she got a ton of one on one attention and latched on to one teacher in particular named Corey, she was so sweet with Jolie.  Today they evaluated their level of swimming which with Jolie is okay for her age but we want her to get even better.  Jolie is not at all afraid of the water but needs to learn more how to get herself from point A to point B.  So they started with blowing bubbles and learning to go under the water and Jolie did pretty well except she wanted to keep jumping in the water, it was kind of funny.  She also did a lot of kicking while holding on to the edge and even her kicking is already getting better.  But I think by the time she is done with the two weeks she will be doing really well and we will be trying to keep her in the pool all summer and practicing all she has learned.  I will say though that it is amazing how hot it is outside at 9 am outside....I left the pool after the hour camp in a power sweat from sitting out there watching her!  She of course was cool as a cucumber from being in the pool.  I then took her to school and dropped her off there and she couldn't wait to tell everyone that she had been at swim camp, she just loved it and that was so sweet to see!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Our weekend and this next week.....

So last week was a crazy busy week, I had work events and just tons going on. Not to mention Rich had the last of his final exams on Monday so that was stressful. Good news is that Rich passed all three of his exams so he is officially done and we can enjoy our summer!!!

Now, onto the big thing going on in our lives, well really my life. After being pregnant twice and carrying larger than normal babies, I now have a fairly severe ventral hernia in my middle abdomine. Well, let's go back, I have had three hernias for literally my entire life one on top of the other straight up from my bellybutton, I have always known about them and been able to feel them and all that, I never had any problems with them, ever, I have done everything I wanted, no issues. Well, now there are issues, after having Avery they didn't feel the same but I didn't think much about them...until earlier this week when all of a sudden there was a hard bulge in my stomach just above my bellybutton that hurts pretty bad all the time but most especially when I laugh, cough, or lift anything. So I went to the doctor on Thursday and the only solution is surgery and they tuck everything back in and then put a mesh screen to keep it from popping again. There are two surgical options one is traditional cut method and one is with small laproscopic insitions. So on Wednesday we are going to meet with the best hernia surgeon in Tampa to discuss all the options. So this week I am on vacation and I thought my vacation was going to be all about taking Jolie to swim lessons which start tomorrow morning and then cleaning, organizing the house and just general getting things done. Instead I am taking pain killers and medication for nausea to try to treat the hernia symptoms until we can get to the surgeon appointment and get a surgery scheduled which at this point seems way too far away!!!

So the weekend was super chill in The Perillo House as I really haven't felt well and I just take pain pills every 6 hours just to get through, not to mention the hard part is caring for my kids as I am not suppose to be lifting anything as it can cause even more damage to my stomach and intestine. I did however, tell Rich that it would be great if they could just go ahead and do a tummy tuck while they fixed the hernia but he didn't think that was as good of an idea as I did so don't think that is going to fly! So all that is going on here is medicine and pain and me struggling to get things done....no fun! Wednesday can't come fast enough, just want to have the plan and get it done, will keep you posted.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

I forgot to mention.....

I don't know how I did it but I totally forgot to mention that I finally got my wedding rings back last Saturday. While I was pregnant with Avery my hands swelled real bad and I had to get them cut off my fingers. I waited months, just over five after Avery was born to have them fixed but I picked them up on Saturday morning from the jewlers and they look brand new and amazing, so glad to have them back!!!!

Back up and running.....

So after all my picture posts on Monday I must have posted so much that it broke our Internet and it has been broken all week so this is my first chance to write anything all week. Although the bad part is I really don't have that much to write about. This week although a short work week due to the holiday has felt like one of the longest weeks ever! It was the end of the month on Tuesday so that was crazy busy, I have a lot going on at work that I won't even go into as it is just really a mess that no one wants to hear about, I have a ton of events and functions going on and it is crazy. Not to mention this was the week that Rich had to take two out of his three final exams so that made life a wild ride with him working all day then running to make his exams. The good news is he passed both of the ones he took and just has one left to take on Monday. Plus he is really happy to be down to a week left of school for the year, he is for sure ready for the year to end!!!!

Today it is just Avery and I at home and we have a full on to do list of things to doubt I am tired and really don't feel like getting anything done, is that bad of me?

Monday, May 30, 2011

Avery at 5 months....

Again, this post is totally overdue as well but what can I say it has been a CRAZY month.

Avery is 5 months old, I am amazed at how fast time has gone and how it just feels as though we have always been a family of four.  Avery is growing like a weed and wears a few 9 month clothes but mostly wears all 12 month clothes.  Thank goodness I have a ton of clothes left from Jolie and my really good friend Jenn gives me all of her daughter's hand me downs because Avery is flying through clothes.  She barely even wore 6 months and other than little dresses and stuff she skipped over 9 months too.  She is so cute and chunky, I love it!!!

Avery has finally started sleeping through the night just before she turned 5 months old, that has been so nice.  She goes to bed about 8:30pm with a last bottle feeding in her room, I sit in her rocking chair that is in her room and after she finishes her bottle I rock her a little and then put her in her crib with her pacifier.  So far it is working great!  The only bad part is she doesn't want Rich to put her to bed, just me, she pitches a fit when Rich tries to feed her at night and put her to bed.  Avery is eating well as well, she eats squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and peas so far and pretty soon we will start giving her some fruits.
Avery has found her feet and loves to play with them.  She also likes to play on the floor with her toys.  She is able to roll from back to front and front to back.  She grabs at everything including Mommy's hair, glasses, anything.


Jolie and Avery are the best of friends and super sweet on each other.  I love having my two girls and hope that they are the best of friends all their lives.


Jolie's Birthday Parties

I have been meaning to post the pictures from all of Jolie's Birthday Parties but have just now gotten the chance to finally do so, amazing what one day off will do for you!

Here are the pictures from her school Birthday Party, it was the morning of her actual Birthday on Monday, May 9th.
This is a picture of the Birthday Poster that Rich and I made for Jolie to take to school, they put it up in the classroom for all the children to look at the week of a Birthday and it shows Jolie at birth, at one, at two, at three, and of course some recent pictures of her at almost four.

This is Jolie and three of her friends from school.  Alex, Jolie, Laura, and Gabby.

This is Jolie with the globe getting ready to do her birthday walk.

Jolie going around the sun for her birthday walk.


This was Jolie after she ate cupcakes with her friends at school.  She had such a good time!!

Here is the Birthday girl at a small pizza party we had for her at my Mom and Dad's the night of her birthday.

 Mommy, Daddy, and Jolie with her Birthday cake.

 Jolie and Avery.

On Saturday, May 14th we had a big Birthday Party for Jolie at Chuck E. Cheese.  Here are all the pictures from that party.

Laura and Jolie

Lily, Jolie, Gracie, and Laura

Avery


All the kids eating pizza!



Daddy and Jolie


Mommy, Daddy, Jolie and Avery.

Jen and my friend Jenn.