New Computer!

If you read my last post, you know my computer was quickly losing battery as I typed. It officially died about 30 minutes after I pressed 'publish.'

The first night of computer shopping, we went to Best Buy, the sales guy tried to talk us into a Mac. We decided to head to the Apple store and see if they had anything else to share with us. Too bad we got the worst sales man ever. The guy could not even work the thing, but kept telling us how great it was.

Fast forward about four days, two Best Buy trips and a ton of PC research later...Jimmy and I decided to get a PC, just didn't know exactly which one. We went back to Best Buy with the "we will leave with a computer today" attitude and then we met Steven. Imagine the nicest person, smartest computer guy and best sales man (without being pushy and annoying). Steven helped us find the perfect PC, then I asked about a Mac. He showed us the Mac Book Pros, everything they could do and compared costs with the PC we had picked out. Even better, he honored my teacher discount that Apple offers. Turns out, the Mac Book Pro was only about $100 more than the PC would have been and it has more programs already included. Of course, Mac is a bit different than PC operating system. We have only had it for two days and we are still adjusting.

Plus, there is one other problem. I cannot use Windows Live Writer to do my blog! I am using Blogger right now and its not the same as the Live Writer.

Does anyone out there use a Mac? What do you do for your blog? Help, please!

I am looking online for tips. Hopefully, I can find something wonderful.

Other than that, these past few days, we have been at Villa to swim each day, hanging out with mom and dad, playing on Pinterest (OMG, I am addicted) and getting ready for our big trip! Jimmy and I are going on a fabulous vacation and leaving Addison with mom and dad. When we booked the trip several months ago, I thought it would be no big deal, but I am going to really miss that girl!!! I can't even think about going back to work and not having her with me each day!

Challenge Seven–Best of The Blogs

Besides stalking my friends and reading their blogs daily via Google Reader, I have a few other blogs that I love to read and visit each day.  I have recently discovered the wonderful world of Kindergarten Blogs!  I have found so many amazing ideas on these websites. 

Here are a few of my favorite Kindergarten Blogs…

First Grader At Last -  http://firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com/

Frogs, Bees & Under the Seas - http://frogsbeesundertheseas.blogspot.com/

Chalk Talk - http://larremoreteachertips.blogspot.com/

Education Cubes (I need to order these!) - http://www.educationcubes.com/

Ladybug’s Teacher Files - http://ladybugsteacherfiles.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Jump’s Class - http://mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com/

I love these for recipes

Green Lite Bites - http://greenlitebites.com/

Crockpot 365 - http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

And I am currently following this story of a Kindergarten Girl recently diagnosed with cancer.  Jimmy wonders why I keep up with people like this, that I don’t know, but I can’t help it.

http://erikandkatekrull.blogspot.com/

I can’t wait to read what you al visit the most!

My computer’s battery is dying and pretty much almost dead.  The power cord isn’t working either.  Ugh!  so frustrating!  I guess I know what I will really be spending my $100 on!!  If I don’t post for a few days, its because I have no computer.  Bummer.

Challenge Six–With $100…

$100 can be a lot of money, or it can be hardly anything.

I have a really difficult time letting go of money. If I had to buy one big thing for myself, I would probably buy a new pair of running shoes. That’s the problem with buying one ‘big’ thing…you only get one thing for aaalllll your money and its gone.

If I didn’t have to buy something just for myself, I would probably take cash and spread it out over the summer. Addison and I would visit Orange Leaf (frozen yogurt) more and more, Jimmy and I would probably pop in for a new favorite martini a few times, I would make a trip to Old Navy and certainly hit up our new SnoHut as many times as I could!

What would you buy for $100??

**I had the blog typed up last night, ready to post today. Addison and I had a few things to do this morning and I forgot to post it. But GUESS WHAT?!?! Someone did give me $100 – Today! The very day I am to write about what I would do with $100! Can you believe it? I won’t say who or why, but THANK YOU! What a blessing!

13 months.

While I realize every post mentions baby Addison in some way, I have not done a post specifically about her. I can’t avoid including her in all of my posts because she is our life now and really everything we do revolves around her.

When I was first pregnant, I signed up for all the baby websites and received emails each week. They would be titled, “Today, you are 23 weeks pregnant…” “Today, you are 36 weeks pregnant…” Once Addison was born, the emails changed to say, “What’s up with your baby at 4 months, 2 Weeks…” You get the idea. Well, this past month, the emails have said, “Your toddler…” What? When did I get a toddler??

Today, our girl is 13 months old.

She is becoming more and more independent everyday and knows what she wants. She will all of a sudden refuse to eat her most favorite food, but then can’t get enough of it 5 minutes later.

She LOVES the dogs! Every morning, she calls for Yea-ya (Layla) when she first wakes up and squeals when Layla comes running into her room.

She is able to sign “more, please, thank you, yes, hi, bye, dog, eat, book, water, and I want.” Those are the only ones I have taught her, but she gets it. If I introduce something new, she does it right away and understands that it works for her advantage. She is so funny – she knows she is not allowed to play in the dogs’ water bowl in the kitchen. Instead, she will sit in front of it, signing, “I want” and pointing to it!

She can say “Layla, no, hi, bye, thank you, ball, book, baby, daddy, mama, duck, Maggie (my parent’s dog) and go.”

(She sits at the back door and tells the dogs to “go!”)

As I have mentioned before, she is a water baby. She has no fear. In the pool, she heads as deep as she can, then ends up under water until I go her her to bring her back to the entry. She puts her face in the water and comes up with a huge smile. We are working on floating on her back, but she’s not a big fan of that.

As of her one-year check up, she has 8 teeth (4 top, 4 bottom). She is right at 20 pounds (40%) and 30” (98%)! Still tall and skinny! She is wearing 12 month outfits, but most of her 9 month clothes still fit her.

She is opening all of our kitchen cabinets and as of recently, trying to open doors! She is able to grab the handle with ease…its probably only a matter of time!

She is still not walking! I am shocked! She crawled before she was 8 months old and stood by 9 months. I thought for sure she would be running in no time. This week she took four steps so, we are close, but not officially a walker. I am ok with it though because the more I think about it, she will probably start running as soon as she can walk!

There’s our girl in a nutshell! She is the happiest baby around and we love her to pieces!