Liebster Award!

From Damaged to Donor is so sweet and nominated me for a Liebster Award!!

The idea is to circulate and increase the readership of smaller blogs; so I answer the questions put to me by From Damaged to Donor, and then come up with questions of my own to forward to bloggers of my choosing.

The Liebster Award is available to bloggers with less than 200 followers. And you get to add this award to your blog! There is a code, but I can't find it, so copy and paste the picture below and add it as a gadget to your blog!

 

  From Damaged to Donor's Questions:

1. Dogs or cats?

I used to really be a major cat person, but having six cats at once changed me!  I'd have to say dogs now.

2. Favorite season and why?

Fall.  I love to watch the leaves change color and feeling the air cooling down just a little bit.

3. Do you have a green thumb? Does that change depending on whether we're talking about indoor versus outdoor plants?

Not really.  I am TERRIBLE at remembering to water a garden or a plant.  My husband bought me a plant for mother's day last year and I thanked him, but I joked that he hadn't given me a gift, but an obligation!  I suppose I would be slightly more responsible when planting veggies, since there is more at stake there than your average house plant. My mom lives with us and she generally shoulders the gardening responsibilities.  

4. Have you yet found any silver lining(s) in the journey of infertility? If so, what?

My silver lining was finding the incredible online support system of woman who shared in my struggle.  I made some incredible friends throughout my journey, friendships that I hope will last a lifetime.  And I have been able to read some truly inspiring stories.

5. Are you reading a book currently? What?

I recently read "Julie and Julia" by Julie Powell (The book that the movie was based on, where the author wrote a blog about trying out all of Julia Child's recipes from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" over the course of one year.).  I am re-reading "Mockingjay" from the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins right now, because it was handy the other night when I was bored.

6. Do you make lists to keep organized in life or do things just stick in your mind?

I am a huge list maker!  Grocery lists, packing lists, to-do lists, I even write down what time AJ has a bottle.  

7. Favorite scent?

Baby lotion, strawberries, and rain.

My questions:

1. What is one (or more) item on your bucket list?

2.  If your life had a soundtrack, what songs would be on it?

3. What is something you've done in life that you are truly proud of?

4. What is your favorite sound?

5. Favorite word?  Why?

6. If you could sit down with one person (living or dead, someone from history or a family member) for a nice long chat, who would it be and what would you talk about?

7. If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?

8.What is the coolest thing about you?

9. What is your favorite color--be precise, don't just say blue, but what kind of blue?

10. Favorite quote or saying?

11.  If you hit the lottery tomorrow, what is the first thing you'd buy?

And a bonus question for my fellow fertility-challenged ladies, stealing it from my nominator:

12. Have you yet found any silver lining(s) in the journey of infertility? If so, what?

And, the nominees are (ignore if you feel like it!): 

Twin (I know you don't blog anymore, but I wish you would, so maybe this will tempt you)

Believing in myself!

One day at a time

Our Tiny Angels

glumbunny

Love is Blonde

MissConception

Tales from Our Yellow Brick Road

Womb For Improvement

The 2 Week Wait

Eggs out of time
Ready For My Turn

Apparently the guidelines for being eligible for this award dictate that you can't have more than 200 followers.  However for some reason the "Followers" section of blogger isn't showing me how many followers anyone has!  So hopefully you lovely ladies are all eligible!  Also, please forgive me if you have already been nominated, and just consider this my personal assertion that you and your blog are awesome!  And let me take this opportunity on behalf of the blogging community to thank you for writing your blogs!  I truly enjoy reading them!

Fun Times

Happy Belated Valentine's Day, blogland.  Last week passed in a blur of grossness.  Early Tuesday morning when we got up to feed AJ I started getting sick with the stomach flu.  Tuesday was spent fighting a high fever and general barfy unpleasantness.  By Wednesday I was feeling better, just super wiped out from the fever and not eating.  By Thursday morning my mom and Adam were both down with it.  That left me with Tyler and AJ.  I needed to go into work for at least a little while, so I got some things together (and in the process poured a whole bottle's worth of nursery water on the floor when I forgot to put the liner in AJ's bottle), packed up the kids and made the 40 minute drive to the office.  I got Tyler settled on our laptop and AJ spent some time in his car seat, then on my knee, and finally laying on a blanket on the floor.  Unfortunately it was only an hour and a half or so before Tyler announced tearfully that his tummy hurt.  Cue doom music.  Needless to say, I rushed to finish what I was doing and get home.  Tyler said he couldn't walk, so my dear coworker was nice enough to carry AJ (who was blissfully good during this whole thing) in his car seat down to my van and then wait with the kids while I ran back inside to clock out in the shop (of course the clock in system on my computer wasn't working).  We rushed home and shortly thereafter Tyler started getting sick.  He broke my heart, the poor thing, he really felt awful.  Luckily the worst was over in eight hours or so and he felt better by the middle of the night.  By Friday my mom and Adam were able to handle the kids and by the weekend everyone was reasonably healthy, although we're still a little touchy in the food department.  Blessedly, AJ has yet to catch it, possibly thanks to an oral vaccine against some strains of intestinal flu. 

So, Thursday being Valentine's Day was a complete flop.  Mom had the forethought and opportunity to get the kids (and Adam and me) a few little things and I gathered some gifts on my lunchbreak on Friday, but Adam and I didn't go out as planned on the weekend.  We may be able to this weekend. 

Tomorrow is AJ's four month check up and Tyler's four year check up.  AJ will get shots (I'm praying he reacts the same as he did last night, crying for thirty seconds and then sleeping most of the rest of the day and the next) and both boys will see our family "doctor", PA Amber.  We all adore her and she loves kids.  I'm interested to see how big the boys are and I'm hoping she has some suggestions to help us curb AJ's every-two-hour feeding schedule.  We shall see!

In other news, I found out that my next business trip will be in May and I'll be going to Dixon, CA!  I'm not looking forward to having to be away from my boys for the better part of four days, but I am excited to get the chance to visit California, having never been further west than Missouri!  I'm also presenting a good deal of training material at the conference and I'm hoping it may lead to some new opportunities at work.

So there we are, a good old fashioned update post!  Notice the new tabs on this blog, I'm getting fancy!  I'm also working on a "100 Things" list, just for kicks, though I'm having trouble talking about myself that much!

My in-real-life friends and family say they read, and I hope I have a few virtual readers.  I've been reading oodles of blogs lately and it makes me wish I could increase my reader-ship.  I'm not sure how to go about increasing my traffic, though.  Any ideas (or just to say hi, I read!), leave me a comment!

FOUR?!

I can't believe that my baby, my first born, is four years old!  Why does that sound like so much older than three!?  He's getting so big and he's so smart!  He's a great big brother, too!  He makes me smile and laugh every day with his antics!  He uses such adult phrases, and uses them correctly even though he might not really understand them.  Yesterday he was telling me the Squidward (from Spongebob) isn't nice and he doesn't like Spongebob and Patrick because they "ruin his life all the time"!

Things about Tyler at 4

• He is still a super picky eater!  He loves McDonald's chicken nuggets and fries and Steak N Shakes vegetable soup.  He likes pizza and has even discovered that he likes my mom's chop souy and rice.  He likes fruit snacks and yogurt bites and cheese a cheddar fries.  He eats mashed potatoes dipped in corn.  He loves apples, grapes, strawberries, watermelon and bananas (though he can't have those too often!). He likes juice and gets to drink sprite for a treat when we eat out.  He likes poptarts and toast and cereal with no milk!  He has a huge sweet tooth, especially for smarties, cookies, and doughnuts.
• He loves to go to the "toy room" at Walmart and try to win smarties out of the candy crane machine.
• He love Thomas the Train, Dinosaur Train, Calliou, Sesame Street, Sid the Science Kid, Word World, and Spongebob.
• He loves Hot Wheels and Cars.
• He loves to play on the computer, on PBS.com, Sprout.com, Pogo, and watching videos on YouTube (Thomas, etc). He also loves to play on our smartphones and he could probably give lessons on how they work!
• He loves to play outside and would everyday if not for things like rain and cold.
• He can count to at least 50, though he'll occasionally replace numbers like 30 with "twentyten".
• He was pretty delayed on potty training, because of his constipation issues, but he's going strong now and doing great!
• He loves "The Big Bang Theory" and thinks Sheldon is hilarious.  He even sings "Soft Kitty".
• When he cries his eyebrows get bright red, just like mine.
• He can already read and recognize several words, especially his favorite TV shows on the television guide!
• He loves to play with other kids, especially his cousin Toby and he can't wait to "go to school".
• He likes to bring AJ toys and loves it when AJ touches him.

For his birthday we took him to the mall and let him "Build A Bear".  He chose a monkey.  He had a great time stuffing it, prepping it's little satin heart to go inside, giving it a "bath" and filling out it's birth certificate on the computer.  He didn't want a sound box or any clothes.  He proudly announced that the monkey's name is "Ziggy".  I tried to ask him where he got that name, but he just gets confused and tells me he got it at Build A Bear. LOL  We also had pizza and Annie Anne's pretzels and even a cookie (Yikes!).  Monday he got to pick out a toy at Toys R Us from Gaga and then she bought him a Happy Meal.  Then my sister's came over for dinner and he enjoyed the icing off of a piece of chocolate cake and (his favorite) the little letter candies we decorated the cake with.  He had a fun day and was a little disappointed that it couldn't be his birthday the next day too!