Weekday Update

Noah can be so low maintenance about some things and so unbelievably high maintenance about others.

For instance he is so clingy to me. Seriously he has to be able to see me at all times or else he cries.

Here we are are at Party Hoppers....















He is pretty much obsessed with me.

However he can be entertained so easily. His new favorite thing it to be naked. All I have to do it take his clothes off and instant smile. See.......






















****Knee Update

I am in physical therapy. I have two more Appointments then I see my Doctor again and decide on a game plan.

These are some of the treatment I am doing.

Ultrasound






















Steroid Patches

Monday

Corey and I leave for our trip to Chicago in t-minus 4 days. I am so excited I am vibrating. I have a few things to get before we go and about a million things to do, to get the kids and the house situated for the time we are gone. It's going to be a busy week. Hopefully, that will make the time pass quickly.

On another note, Grace has decided she would like to be a figure skater.

Here she is in her "skating dress," that she wore all day even to Kroger.























So I have been researching classes and such in the Cincinnati area, and Holy Moley is it expensive! The skates alone are $150 a popnot to mention classes!

So I am making an executive decision and she is going to do gymnastics instead.

She took a class at Western Hills Sports Mall last spring and LOVED it.

I think we are going to try Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy this time. It is pretty reasonable and the only place in the city that offers a 2yr old class that is NOT mommy and me, but a real gymnastics class.

Now all I have to do is convince Gracie that gymnastics is more fun the Ice Skating. Wish me luck!

Friday

This morning I have been thinking....

Thinking about how much I love him.

I remember when we were dating and I used to tell my mom, when Corey and I weren't fighting that he was the best thing that ever happened to me.

He still is the best thing that ever happened to me.

That is all.

Just though you should know.

Antique

I am a teeny, tiny bit obsessed with giving photos an antique finish lately. I just love how quaint it makes the picture look.

Here are some I took the other day...

Priceline Negotiator

I think Priceline was invented for people like me. It is sort of addicting, name your OWN price?! Amazing ... I am one of those people that will research something to death before purchasing it, and that is what I did for my hotel in Chicago.



If you don't know by now, Joanna and I are going on a little trip to Chicago for two days. We have never went on a vacation alone together and never went on a honeymoon. So we are looking forward to it to say the least.



But back to Priceline, if you don't know it at all, you go on and you can either take one of their offered good deals, or take your chances on bidding on a specific area and hoping you get a good hotel. We could have taken some good hotels in our area for about $90/night, but instead I decided to just risk it. I put in 4 star hotels in the area we wanted to be in (right near the Magnificent Mile). I started off by looking what others were bidding and started to just type in really know numbers. I put in $40 and it said I had a small chance of getting something so then I kept putting in a little more until I got to $52/night, then that little saying went away. So I figured that meant I had a pretty good shot. So I put that in yesterday, but got rejected. It was a little rough, but I pushed through :D .... So then today I went back (since you have to wait 24 hours or change your date, location or star value) and this time I put in $60. And I got it! I booked our reservation for two nights at the Sheraton which is a pretty good one I hear. The same hotel is $87/night right now on Priceline and the average hotel price is $150/night, so I think we made out like bandits.



As you can tell I am very excited, not only did we get an amazing deal, but Joanna and I get to spend a whole two days just the two of us. I don't even care if we get to go out and do anything, at least we will be able to sleep in and not wake up to an alarm or a baby. We will definitely miss our beautiful babies, we don't leave them for very long periods at a time, so that will definitely be hard, but they will be in good hands.

Ten days and counting ....

I don't have time for this....

I don't have time for this, I don't have time for this.

This is exactly what was going through my mind yesterday while I was sitting on an examining table at Wellington Orthopedics when the Doctor told me, " I think you tore your Meniscus." Come again? I have a torn meniscus, are you kidding? I have two babies, laundry to do, Play dates to keep and not to mention I am just getting into a work out routine.

Then I asked, afraid to hear the answer, what do I do for this? Well, he says, "First we will try two weeks of physical therapy." Woo there hard charger, I don't think you heard me before I have two babies. There is no way I can swing a sitter three times a week for the next two weeks. Lets split the difference. "OK how about you go once get the exercises and do them on your own?" Alright now we are getting somewhere, I can do that.

What do we do if that doesn't work? "Then I order an MRI, and if I am right and your Meniscus is torn we do Surgery." I think the sound I made was something like this Bahhhhhhhhh.

After I composed myself. he then proceeds to give me a cortisone shot to help with the pain.

Have you ever had one? well let me tell you, sweet baby Jesus did it hurt! It was sort of like pushing peanut butter through a syringe (about three hundred years long) into my knee. Now I am no baby. I have had my share of pain, several broken bones, two knee surgery's (knee opposite the one in question) not to mention two kids, but this was some serious pain!

So know I am just praying that these exercises work because surgery is defiantly not going to jive with my schedule.....

To be continued

Chuck E Cheese's

We had a very fun weekend. It started off with Joanna getting to finally go out with her friend Andrea. I will let her tell you how much fun she had and what they did. I stayed home with the kids that night and we had a pretty quiet night.



The fun started on Saturday. We started the day by heading to my childhood fantasy world, Chuck E Cheese's. We went to the same one I use to go to as a child, the one out on Colerain. Even though it is the same location, they have definitely change the layout since I use to go. It is now completely open and all one room, you can see from wall to wall. Grace's eyes lit up when walked in the door and she kept saying, "I am at Chuck E Cheese, I am at Chuck E Cheese!" I was sad that for some reason the "show" that supposedly runs all day now, was not running at all. I remember having to wait till it came on at certain times when I was young, but I was told that it runs all day now. The hostess thought someone forgot to turn it on, but it was off the entire time we were there, which could have been a good or bad thing. I could see Grace being terrified of those machines.



We had a coupon that I got form signing up for their online newsletters. It was a $20 coupon for a large pizza, 4 drinks and 40 tokens, perfect for our family. We spend a similar amount when we eat at Chipotle and we don't even get to play any games! I think it is a great deal and will look to go back there more often.



One thing that I was very disappointed in was the lack of games that Grace could really play on her own. There was a TINY area with 2 or 3 games for her age and a small slide, but the majority of the games were for much older kids. There were a lot of driving games which she has no chance at playing, guitar hero, ski ball which she can't get the ball up the ramp or throws it 3 lanes over when trying to throw it like a baseball and of course there were games just to win tickets without any skill, just putting a coin in and watching it roll down the machine. We did find one game she liked, it was a bowling game. It was pretty fun and you could bowl 10 frames for 2 coins, so it was a lot of fun for not a lot of money. Luckily they have the tubes they can crawl in on the ceiling with the slide that she could do all day. It did give Joanna a little of an anxiety attack when she was up there since it is hard to see what is going on in those things.



The pizza was pretty much exactly how I remember it. Nothing great, but I think it is good, but I have never turned any pizza down. Joanna didn't seem to like it and Grace just wanted to get done eating so she could play some more.



The Dunaway's did meet up with us for the last half hour we were there. They gave us the idea of going as a reward for potty training. When Grace got home and pooped on the potty again, she said, "I guess we get to go to Chuck E Cheese's again!"



All-in-all it was a very successful trip and it was good to have a Grace day since most of the attention goes to Noah now-a-days. We will definitely be going back, even if it is just Grace and me going. I am sure Jeff would love to come with us :D

Growing Up Fast

I am not sure why, but in the past week I have found myself in at least two conversations about how fast my life changed and how fast I had to learn a lot of new things. Most of my friends are still not married and do not have kids. So when they look at what I accomplished at such a young age and in such little time, they are sort of impressed and curious. Most ask how I knew what to do or how I am affording it all. I am somewhat shocked myself. But when you are put in a situation and you don't know something, you do whatever it takes to figure it out. I have always been good with money and to me, budgeting it a game. I have never had credit card debt and I always tried living in my means.

I have a spreadsheet that a lot of people that are close to me have heard me talk a lot about. It is a simple spreadsheet that just shows how much money I am making broken up into my two jobs, joanna's job and miscellaneous. Then it shows how much I spend each month broken up into a lot of categories like DirecTV, Visa, Student loans, Car payments, etc... Then at the bottom it shows the total for each month, a profit or loss section and then at the end it shows the year. That is pretty much it, but it is addicting to me and I would be lost without it. I would go crazy not knowing how much I was making or losing each month. It also helps me stay on track and doesn't let us get carried away. If anyone would like the spreadsheet, I can send you over a template of it.

But anyway, I have had this spreadsheet going since I moved out with Jeff Kramer in 2005. It is quite comical looking back to the first year versus now to see how much more I spend per month. I think I use to spend about $400-$700/month and now I spend on average $4000-$4500/month! Rabbit (Steve Toerner) was blown away by this since he is at about $400/month. And he was one of the people that asked how I learned everything. Well thank God for the internet and family. I learned a lot from just researching credit cards and loans, but I also learned a lot from my parents and my uncles. It really isn't a hard concept, but it is a lot of hard work. Obviously in order to spend that much to survive, I need to work overtime to make that much per month. It has been a struggle and it has eaten away all of my saving from when I was only spending $500/month. But it has definitely been worth it. And I am glad to say that we are finally, yet slowly, getting out of some of our debt and starting to turn some profit. It was a scary two or three years, but I now feel like I know 100 times more than I did in 06.

I don't consider myself an expert by any means, but if you do ever feel lost or scared moving into the real world, don't be afraid to ask me anything. If nothing else, we can at least brainstorm or talk things out, sometimes that is all someone needs. Most people our age don't think it is a normal conversation to have or people get upset talking about it (Jeff). Once someone wants to talk about it, it is hard to get me stop :D. So you have been warned.

Since my friend Ryan told me to do a "7" blog, I figured I would leave you with 7 quick tips about money, debt, whatever:

1. Do not have credit card debt! It is pretty obvious, yet a lot of people still do this. Only use a credit card if you plan on paying it off each month OR if it has a low balance transfer for the life of the loan or if you get a 0% for 12 month card that you PAY by the end of the 12 months.

2. When you go to buy a house, no matter what, you will feel like the bank is trying to screw you. Be prepared to put more up front than you initially thought.

3. Houses are expensive. In the first year of living in my house, I spent around $5,000 on additional things inside the house not counting the mortgage, taxes and insurance.

4. Pay down debt first before you save. If you have a credit card with 20% interest on it and you only have $1,000 to pay on it, don't save the $1,000 you have in a savings account. Odds are that savings account is only earning at most 2% or 3% right now. Your money is much better spent paying off that debt.

5. Don't just pay the minimum of what you owe. I always just set a price and even though my minimum due goes down, I keep my monthly payment at the same rate or even pay additional payments instead of going out and buying something I don't need.

6. Student loans, house loans, college funds, etc.. are "better" loans to have. you will get to write them off on your taxes. Credit cards and personal loans, you do not. So pay those off first.

7. This is my favorite. You will always find something to spend your money on. Not sure how to explain this but basically, if you have the money sitting around instead of using that money to pay off other debt each month, you will find a way to spend that money. If you don't have the money, you won't spend it. So if you put $50 more per month into paying off your debt, you will see that you don't have $50 extra and therefore can't spend that on something you may or may not even need.

Hope this helps!

**UPDATE**
I thought this was comical. I remembered while writing this that I had started a blog back in 2007 that I was going to write and be "anonymous". I called it the Blue Brick Warehouse and I couldn't even tell you why. I haven't check the email address since I stopped writing on it. I think it was another one of my ideas that I thought was great for a week and then abondoned it. I found it on our test server at work, so I figured I would let you all take a laugh at it. Click here to view it. If it doesn't work for you, it is probably because your internet service is blocking our test server, so tough luck for you!

Random 7's

Random post of 7 things.

Idea from this guy - thisisreverb

Gracie is watching a movie called, The Adventures of Shark boy and Lava Girl. It is absolutly horrible! Letting her watch this could possibly be bordering child abuse, its that bad.

I think I am finally ready to go away for a weekend with just Corey. This may have to do with my lack of sleep this week. We need to book the trip fast before I change my mind.

Here is what Noah looked like when we brought him home from the hospital...

isnt he sweet? I miss when he used to sleep. those were the days.

I am reading, Something Borrowed. it is a total guilty pleasure and I love it!

I can't wait for summer. Our favorite thing to do in the Summer is hang by my parents pool. Here is Gracie laxin, as she would say, by the pool last summer.

Noah can sit up now and he is soooo close to crwling. Guess its time to break out the gates.

I have no idea what to make for dinner.

The end

Party Hoppers

On Monday I took the Kids to Party Hoppers*. We had a blast!

If you have kids ranging from walking to grade school, I dare you to bring your kid/kids here and not have fun. They have a total of seven bouncy houses, a Mcdonalds-ish tunnel play set, basketball hoops, as well as an area for crawlers. There is also a snack bar where you can buy kids meals, for pretty cheap.

It's safe to say we will be spending AT LEAST one morning a week here for the duration of the winter. So bring the little one in you life and join the fun!

Here is Gracie enjoying herself-- keep in mind this child is only two, she is more coordinated then I am at 24.....



Disclaimer-- This video (my voice in the video) is super loud! So turn the volume down if your kids are sleeping or you don't want to disturb you neighbors :)

* check their website for locations and open play times-- www.partyhoppersonline.com

PARTY!!!

Corey and I get to out tonight! I am so excited. We haven't been out since the night before Thanksgiving, so this is well over due.

We aren't as crazy as we used to be though. The night will most likely be over by 12am if not earlier. Somehow, getting up at the crack of dawn, the morning after being out drinking to care for babies makes you end your night fairly early booo.

Oh well we will have fun, hopefully drinking games are involved. I love drinking games, flip cup is my personal fave.

Snow day

WebTec Interactive

Last year I joined up with some friends to start our own web design company. A year later, it has been much bigger than I ever thought it would get. It is now just me and my partner Chris Fischesser. We have decided this year to take our company to a new level and sort of start fresh. We are changing our company name to WebTec Interactive and we are coming up with a new design and logo. We are in the midst of building the site and should hopefully be done soon. All we need now is some content (which is by far the hardest thing to come up with). We raised our rates to try and get a little closer to the web design average (yet we are still well under it). We hope by doing all of this, we will start being taken seriously and hopefully someday down the road, we might be able to do this full-time or even combine with my current company CG, if we ever get big enough.

Either way, the journey has taught me so much about partnership, how much goes into a company and how much work you don't even see before you get into everything. Like the sales, accounting, designing, development, etc. When you are use to just doing one job, you don't really take into account that you have to do it all if you are the only ones in your company. Joanna has been great and supportive (not so much at first), and she has dealt with my long days at CG and then my long nights working for WebTec.

If you know of anyone that might be interested in a new website, email campaign, e-commerce site, brochure, hosting their website, etc... let us know. We are hopefully going to get busy soon with the start of a new year. We have a lot of prospects that want a new site in 2010, so hopefully it will be an even better year than last year!

http://www.web-tectonics.com (current site)
http://webtec.wt-demo.com (new site still in development)

ps: I love Noah and I know he will do great today getting his tubes. That is where I am headed now and he is all I have been thinking about today. I am so glad that he makes everyone smile as much as he makes us smile. Thank you everyone for the prayers.

Sweet Boy

This is my sweet, 6 month old, baby boy, Noah Thomas aka Noey Baby.

He has to get Tubes on Wednesday.

Those of you who don't know it is a fairly easy (fingers crossed) procedure. Where teeny tiny tubes are placed in the inner ear to help them drain. Noey, has had double ear infections every three weeks since October. We are ready for some relief and sleep!!

Looking at this kids face you would never know that he was hurting. I swear, he is the happiest baby in the world. Even when he is crying because he probably wants to rip his ears off, if we do something silly he cant help but smile.

I love that baby, more then he will ever know.

Saturday Night Fever

This is what Saturday night looks like when you have two babies...

We are pretty cool.