Happy Birthday, Tommy!

Happy 31st Birthday to my magnificent husband! (Well, his birthday was on the 11th- I'm just late posting!)

Tommy took the day off to spend with Emi and me. To be honest, I felt like it was more my birthday! Emi slept through the night and I didn't have to get her ready and out the door in the morning. (On a side, Emi has now slept through the night 3 nights in a row!)

Like Father Like Daughter...

We then went to lunch at Jethros. They opened a new location in Waukee! We shared this tenderloin sandwich. Seriously, if you haven't tried Jethros you are missing out!

When I was in Clear Lake earlier in the week I had these delicious Cheddar Corn Bread soup. I googled to find a recipe similar. I couldn't find anything so I made one up myself. Here is what I did- find a typical corn chowder recipe. Instead of flour use jiffy corn bread mix. then top it with shredded cheddar cheese. It was a nice light meal for dinner after our huge lunch at Jethros!

Happy Birthday, my love!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful that its, well, Thursday!

I'm thankful that two ounces of formula doubles the hours of Emi's sleep during the night. She now has gone about eight hours two nights in a row. Surprisingly, I thought I would feel more rested after these nights, but it turns out my body no longer knows the difference between 4-5 hours of sleep and 7-8 hours of sleep.

I'm thankful that we got our lawn fertilized and its no longer the ugliest yard on the block.

I'm thankful for the guy who let me cut in front of him to get onto the interstate this morning.

I'm thankful for the long lines at starbucks in the morning so I take a pass.

I'm thankful for all the smiles, laughs and coos that Emi gives me everyday.

Happy Thursday!

Hoppy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter today! We were up early to get dressed for Easter service at Prairie Ridge Church. We then had a nice brunch at Americana Cafe in downtown Des Moines. Anthony came over later for an Easter egg hunt. And we all got wonderful naps in!

Emi insisted on wearing some traditional Easter attire. She was the prettiest girl in church!

Daddy even wore a pink sweater to match Emi's dress!

Lots of smiles for everybody today! I can't help but to look at these photos and feel so much joy in my heart.

In other news, I picked up a third full time job. My first full time job is nursing/pumping. My second full time job is a practicing attorney. My last full time job is a dish washer. This is just Emi's meals. this is 1.5 days worth of dishes!

Happy Easter!

Pinterest

People who know me well know that I love the idea of being crafty- I'm just not that crafty myself. This is really a shame considering my mom has no desire to be crafty and actually is very crafty.

While I was on maternity leave spending time with Emi, I found a few projects I wanted to do on Pinterest. I was so happy when I found this project because I have a friend that I was looking to do something special for.  I think it turned out pretty well. My goal is to drop it off at her office before I get into my own office by 9am. I hope I am able to get out the door in time! And I know she'll love it!

The supplies include two glass vases (one large and a small one to fit inside), jelly beans, peeps and a bouquet of flowers.

Place the jelly beans in the bottom, peeps on the side, and small vase inside the large. Arrange your flowers and voila! Super happy with the way it turned out!

Nothing says "you're special" like this peep vase!

On another note, being a mom has made me a more grateful emotional appreciative better person. I started to notice this when I was pregnant with Emi. The feeling has continued since I have had her. Every time I think about all my friends and family who show her so much love I just feel so grateful and so blessed. I love the co-worker that texts me because she is thinking about Emi and how she isn't sleeping through the night and gives me an idea; I love the friend that calls me to tell me she has been thinking about Emi and just really thinks she is something special; I love the grandma that loves her only like a grandma could.

Thankful Thursday

Favorite Months...

Do you remember me posting about the amount of time that I spend a week thinking about what my favorite day of the week is? (If not- you should know that Sundays are amazing. I love Sundays. And every Sunday I think about how much I love it).  Well, my friend recently posted about her favorite month so I spent considerable amounts of time this morning ranking them, and here is what I came up with:

Most favorite to least favorite:

1. December (lots of PTO and the spirit of Christmas! Oh, and my anniversary of course!)
2. May (weather is finally getting nice and pool opens!)
3. June (lots of bbqs and time with family and friends. I LOVE summer).
4. July (lots of lazy summer days, fun on the boat, fun at the pool, and fun with friends and family!)
5. October (the start of the fall and the yummy scents that come with fall (and cool house decor that I have for the fall).
6. November (this month always seems to fly and I get TWO days of paid time off. Rock on, BLG!)
7. April (Tommy and my birthday are in this month and so we usually do something special to celebrate. Last year we went to Vegas... that is sounding kind of nice right now!)
8. August (I love August but it always is a sign of the end of summer, and although I do not have kids in school or am a teacher, summer is always just different in a better kind of way.)
9. February (I really don't like February but it doesn't go to the bottom because it only has 28 days and Emi's birthday is in February!)
10. September (I'm failing to find anything good about this month right now other than the weather isn't as bad as March usually.)
11. March (See notes regarding September.)
12. January (This month drags and drags and drags- especially when you are 9 months pregnant. The excitement of Christmas is over and nice weather is MONTHS away!)

I really only dislike February, September, March and January. So pretty much the coming of April is very good news!

Thankful Thursday

(Note: I wrote this on Thursday but could not get my pictures to download so I'm late posting it).

I'm always thankful for my Emi. I'm also thankful for the time my mom has been taking her so that I can focus on getting my work done faster while I am there.

I'm thankful for this little gadget that I purchased on amazon.com. It is a garage door sensor. Right now it is green telling me that my garage door is closed. If it were open, it would be blinking red. Its nice to have this at my mission control center (aka: bedroom nightstand which also houses cell phone charger, baby monitor, remote control, lighting remote control and breast pump). I can hardly remember anything these days, so its nice to have this light to assure me at least my garage door is closed.

I'm thankful for Emi's new best friend, Mr. Octopus, which is part of her Einstein Baby Ocean Play Mat. She laughs and smiles more at that Octopus than anything else. It's super cute!

I'm thankful for my kitchen jewelry.

If you remember, about a month ago, I wrote a post about spousonomics, comparing your household chores to your economy. Well... here's the status of the takekawa economy:



Update: I'm thankful for a new Chinese restaurant I recently found out about in Johnston, Chopsticks. The food is fantastic!

I'm also thankful that i'm two half projects away from my winter/fall project list. If you remember- there were ten things I wanted to get done in this past fall and winter including new carpet, new nursery, buying bedroom furniture, et cetera. All I have left to do is switch out the door knobs and hinges and finish putting on some light switch plates in the basement. This spring and summer I am just going to  do the landscaping around the pool!