Blast From the Past.

So Friday I went up to Palo Alto to have lunch with my friend Kerry. I used to work with him before I had Payton. We had went to Olive Garden and had the soup and salad. Yummy! It was so much fun to see him and then everyone else I used to work with too. I think Payton really enjoyed it too, she was a little shy at first but quickly warmed up to pretty much everyone in the office.

My sister came down to hang for a little while on Friday night when she was done decorating all her cakes. We went to Arby's for dinner. I love Roast Beef sandwiches. Their play area there is pretty cool too. I think Payton will really like it when she gets a little older.

Saturday we went up to San Jose to watch Dave play soccer. It was so hot! I don't know how he runs around in 100 degree weather, I was miserable just sitting in the shade. Payton really liked watching, there was another little girl there that kept her entertained for most of the time. Every time the players would run by she would yell “Dada, Dada!” It will be even more cute when she does it only at Dave and not all men. :o)

After the game we decided to stick around and hang with Jen and Anthony. Dave, Jen, and I ended up just laying around their place visiting and watching Payton and Caeden play while waiting for Anthony to get back from his last delivery. We also decided it was too hot to cook so headed over to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. Payton had her first ice cream cone. It was so cute to watch her eat the whole thing. No need for mom to lick around to keep the ice cream from dripping she ate it too fast.

Good news! Bad news! Just found out that the bank accepted our short sale offer. Also just found out that our buyers may be backing out. What else!?!?!?!

Payton got a Boo Boo.

My friend Aimee volunteered us to act as the welcome wagon for the 2008 Las Madres group. Yesterday we went to meet with the 2008 Presidents to learn what we needed to do. We thought it would be a good chance for the kids to get together too, since we haven't been down to any of the play groups lately.

Well, all of the kids are going through the not wanting to share stage. I tell Dave all the time that I can't imagine that kids going through that stage have any fun playing together. There is stealing of toys, pushing, pulling, crying, etc... LOL It is pretty funny to watch. Well, let me preface this with the fact that Payton hadn't been feeling well this week. I thought she was getting better but she was coughing when I left for the gym and was real cryie all morning, I almost decided not to go but went ahead and went anyway.

We had been over there for about a half an hour or so. The kids were playing, taking turns stealing toys... They all found these little link toys and I know Gage really likes to play with them as well as Payton, I guess Devin likes to play with them too because he came up and grabbed them away from Payton. His mom went over and tried to get him to share the links but he yanked them away from Payton again and she lost her balance and fell down. I guess she hit her mouth on a toy ( I didn't see that part) I just thought she was crying because her feelings were hurt. Well I went over and picked her up to try and comfort her when all this blood came spilling out of her mouth. It went all down the front of her outfit and pooled in my hand. All I could think was that she had coughed up a lung and that she was a lot sicker than I thought. It never entered my mind that she might have hit her mouth on a toy until after the bleeding stopped and Aimme said she saw her bump the toy. I didn't totally panic but I wasn't exactly calm either. I don't know if there was as much blood as I thought but all I know is that it just seemed to keep coming and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

I am just glad it wasn't anything serious.

Dave's brother Rob came back from Iraq. They had a big caravan bring them up from Camp Penalton yesterday. It was cool to see, lots of motorcycles before and after the bus with the Marines in it. Police would close down the intersections so that they could pass through without having to stop. They had a big dinner for him at his wife Keri's parent's house. It was so good to see Rob, he looked so happy to be back. Dinner was excellent, we had steak, potatoes, salad, jello, watermellon, cookies, etc. Yummy!

I am so mad at myself. I never took any pictures. Boo!

Housebound...

Payton is on day three of having a runny nose. I am not sure if it is from teething or if she just has a cold but I hope she gets over it soon, I hate it when she is not feeling well. Just to be on the safe side and not spread anything I have decided to keep her home. :o( I missed the play date yesterday.

So being pregnant I am naturally becoming more and more self conscious about my body. I know you are supposed to gain weight during a pregnancy but when the weight actually starts coming on it really gets to me. I don't know about anyone else but it always seems that when I am pregnant I am around a bunch of people who are losing weight, toning up, and looking good. As they are getting smaller and smaller I am getting bigger and bigger. Guhhh! At least this time around I do have a few friends that are pregnant along with me so I am not gaining weight alone.

As when I was pregnant with Payton, I plan on going to the gym throughout this pregnancy. I know there are definitely benefits to working out while pregnant but sometimes it is so hard to get up and go. So far I am still able to run or should I say jog 4 miles three days a week and go to my spin class. I am also still able to lift weights. I am so glad that my doctor is so supportive of my staying active. She basically tells me that my body will tell me when I should stop doing something. If I couldn't continue going to the gym I think I would go crazy, not only because of a slight workout addiction but because it is my main way of relieving stress. I just hope that I can see and accept when my body is telling me "enough is enough." Right now I can already tell that I need to take it easy on lifting weights, not too heavy. I can tell my body is changing when I get on the bike for spin class too, for one thing my legs are starting to hit my belly when in certain positions. My knees were what stopped my running with Payton, this time I fear it will be my sciatic nerve pain. Right now I am trying to decide if it is worse on the days I run or if it is the same regardless.

Fun in the Sun

On Friday we had some friends over to play with some of the summer water toys we have for Payton. First they all sat in the little swiming pool and then the eventually got over onto the water activiy thingy (I don't know what to call it). I think everyone had a good time. Payton definately enjoys playing with it when other kids her age are playing in it too.

Saturday, Dave and I went out to pick up all the toys and Payton decided she wanted to get back in. So shoes, clothes, and all she ran right into the middle of the water. She did it so fast neither of us could stop her. One thing lead to another and splash, she ended up flat on her back. She ended up playing out in the back yard in her diaper for quite a while.

On Saturday evening we were pleasantly suprised; Rob, Dave's brother, suprised the family by showing up. He has been in Iraq since March and we were all expecting him on Wednesday. We were able to have dinner, and dessert with him and Keri. He had to go back to Camp Penalton but will be back Wednesday in San Bruno.


Lastly, on Sunday Dave said that Payton had gone number two in her diaper and decided to pull out the diaper changing matt, wipes, and then her big bear. He tried to get it on tape. She laid the bear on the changing matt, pulled out some wipes and wiped off the bear and then grabbed a diaper. Very funny.

Arts and Crafts Day

Yesterday morning my mom and I did some fun artsy things with Payton. I found this little "thing" in the dollar racks at Target. It has a little sponge that you get wet and rub over a picture of Hello Kitty. When the picture gets wet the colors appear very bright but when it dries the picture fades to an uncolored pictures from a coloring book. What's better is that it is reusable. I think she got a kick out of it. She let grandma and great grandma take a turn "coloring".

Next came the play-doh. The first time we played with play-doh she tried to eat it. I only bought play-doh with no little shape cutters or any thing. My vision of what it would be like to play with play-doh was sadly distorted. I went back to costco and bought this little play-doh kit for $5 that included some play-doh playing necessities. She got a kick out of the little shapes we made then squashed them up. Oh well, maybe next time.

I also bought some of those markers that only color on certain paper. She took a marker in each and and scribbled all over the page. Then mommy and grandma gave it a try. That stuff is pretty cool. I am glad that those markers only color on the special paper seeing as she dropped one of the markers in her chair and I didn't notice. She probably sat on it for five minutes or so.

Last night Dave, Payton and I went to his parent's house for dinner. Their back neighbor, Julie, had cooked a whole meal from the Julia Child's cook book and had us all over. I don't know what everything was but it was really good. I had two plates, ate way too much, and ended up having reflux the whole night. But it really tasted so good.

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was Dave's best friend Johnny's wedding and it kept us pretty busy or at least Dave anyway.

Friday he took the day off work to be around if Johnny needed help. We took advantage of having him home in the morning and took a stab at finger painting for the first time with Payton. I think she doesn't like having her fingers/hands dirty. The next time I will have to try using sponges or something. Over all she ended up painting four different pictures, with mommy and daddy's help. :o)

In the evening Payton and I went out to Johnny's parent's house to see if we could do anything to help and to see all the animals they have out at their house. They have horses, a goat, chickens, dogs, and cats. Payton loved it. She even got a little kiss from the goat. LOL

The wedding was really nice. They did a great job fixing up Johnny's parent's house for the wedding. It looked beautiful. The weather was great. Anna was beautiful, she actually rode in on a horse drawn carriage, very cool. Over all the whole evening was so much fun.

Sunday morning Dave bent down to pick up Payton and at the same time she lifted her hands to let him. She accidentally poked him in the eye and scratched his cornea. Ouch! I had to take him to the emergency room to have it looked at. I felt so bad because he was hurting so bad. I am glad that eyes heal really quickly and that he is feeling better.

Dave's sister Jen is in town with her son Ethan for the week. They came down yesterday to play. I am so suprised by Payton, she has started being really possessive with her toys and pushing. The first time I saw her steal a toy I was shocked, I don't want my baby to be mean. I know this is just a phase and that all kids go through it it just suprised me. I hope that she learns how to share quickly.

Pet Co Where The Pets Go.

Thursdays my mom comes over for breakfast so we can catch up on what is going on with each other especially if we haven't seen each other any other time throughout the week. I thought Payton would have fun riding on her little four wheeler after breakfast. She was all excited to go outside but then wanted nothing to do with the four wheeler. Guhhh.

So I then turned to the bubble machine we got her. She really liked that. She gets really excited when all the bubbles start coming out. It is so funny to hear her squeal with excitement. That kept her attention until the arborist came by and decided that one of the trees in our front yard needed to go. Then had his guys cut it down. Payton didn't know what to think about the chain saw but then didn't like them dragging her tree off. LOL It was funny to watch. What I failed to mention is that the builder that did our neighborhood and was responsible for the landscaping didn't take into consideration what the trees would do once they had been planted for a few years and as a result we have too big of trees in too small of spaces or too close to homes, etc. So the arborist is going around and making recommendations on which trees need to come down and which need to stay. Blah! Blah! Blah! They have a whole tree committee with the homeowners board and everything. Hopefully in the near future we will not need to worry about it.

House Update! I talked to Sheila last night and long story short I guess she was finally able to get through to our negotiator (the second one we were assigned). The negotiator said that she had received our complete packet and that she had also received the appraisal, oh and that she was our negotiator. Yay! She told Sheila that the information was being submitted to the investor and that we should know within 1 to 2 weeks whether they will accept the short sale or not. I am not keeping my fingers crossed just yet but please keep us in your prayers.

After Payton's nap we went out for some shopping. I needed to pick up some things around town and thought that Payton might enjoy looking at all the animals at Pet Co. She loved it! We looked at the birds, rats, fish and cats. It was funny how excited she was when we got to the cats. I think she was just excited to see something familiar and not something that she has really only seen in books. We may have to do that again.

Last night Dave and I went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for Johnny and Anna's rehearsal dinner. It was so fun to see how excited they were. I can't believe they get married this Saturday. The food was so good! I had the Spaghetti with brown butter and Mizithra cheese and Dave had the Spaghetti and Meat sauce. We ended up splitting our dishes. The combination was delicious. I thought I was going to run out of food before I was tired of having the taste in my mouth. YUMMY!

Sidewalk Chalk and Swimming

Payton is so fun. Yesterday we decided to go out and try the sidewalk chalk again. Mommy drew (or attempted to draw) some ocean animals like a turtle, fish, dolphin, and crab. Payton spread the chalk all over the driveway and then tried to eat some of them. :o) I think she really likes being out side.

This past Friday, I was parked outside my sister's place and a man backed into me. Luckily he didn't hit me hard because I had Payton and Caeden in the car with me. He did hit me hard enough to dent in the back driver's side of my car. :o( Anyway, we took the Yukon in to get fixed yesterday. Got a fancy smanchy rental car, push button start and everything, can't wait to get the Yukon back. Lots more room.

When we got back from dropping off the Yukon and picking up the rental car we went swimming with my friend Cassy and her daughter Rayne. Payton hasn't been lasting for much longer than about a half an hour in the pool lately. Well, last night we were out there for two hours. She spent most of the time on the steps but had a grand old time slpashing around. She is getting very comfortable in the water. I think I need to start teaching her how to swim. The pictures below aren't from yesterday but were from last week and I thought they were super cute.

A Trip to the Dentist

So yesterday I had a dentist appointment and the last time I went to the dentist they suggested that I bring Payton with me the next time so that she could see what they do during a check up and check out all the tools. The dental hygienist said that she doubted Payton would last through the entire cleaning but surprise surprise she did. She was very curious and sometimes nervous about what was going on. When my cleaning was done and we were waiting for the dentist to come Payton even got a ride on the chair. I think over all it was a good experience for her. And good news...No cavities!

During Payton's nap yesterday I took the opportunity to scrapbook a little bit. I am almost done scrap booking a trip I took to Hawaii in...ummm...2002...maybe. LOL I am just excited to work on my wedding, honeymoon, Payton's first year. Will I ever catch up. Yes, I will! :o)

So more on the house. We resubmitted all of the paperwork for about the forth time. Our realtor has been unable to get a hold of our negotiator since talking to her the first time when she didn't have any of our information. And after many messages no return phone call. Then a couple days ago Sheila, our realtor, got a phone call from a woman at Chase saying that they had received all our information and that they were ready to assign us a negotiator. Sheila about came unglued. Seeing as we have already been assigned two different negotiators with no results. Sheila and I have both been told they are escalating our case but have had no success. Sheila got the name and number of a manager and has left several messages with no answer or return call from them either. She said the she was going to keep calling today until she was able to get a hold of someone. I have to admit this whole process has been full of ups and downs. I just hope that it ends soon and positively.

Last night at dinner Payton decided she wanted to try eating yogurt by herself. I don't know that it was a total disaster because I think some of it did make it into her mouth.

It is a Boy!

So all my worrying about the baby being modest and not being able to tell if we were having a boy or a girl was for nothing. As the ultrasonographer said, "There is nothing modest about this baby." LOL We are so excited to be having a little boy.

My friend Debbie came over after the ultrasound for a girls night and brought a gift bag full of boy odds and ends. Towels, burp cloths, shoes, clothes, etc. So cute! I can't wait to do some shopping.

Payton played with play-doh for the first time. The first thing she did when I handed it to her was stick it in her mouth. Fortunately it tastes horrible and it came right back out. :o) Mostly she liked playing with the container it came in but she did have a little fun with the play-doh too.

Beautiful Homes

As for an update on the sale of our home. We have finally been assigned a negotiator and have actually talked to her. Amazing! If you are like me you are thinking "Sweet! we are finally on our way to being done with this whole stressful process." Only, no, we aren't. After sending in the completed short sale packet in early June and after our realtor has made phone calls every other day with the assurance from every Chase representative she talked to that they had everything they needed our representative told us that she doesn't have anything but the hardship letter and the sales contract. So I ask you where are the tax returns, bank statements, pay stubs, etc that we have sent in multiple times? Should we be worried about identity theft? Should we be worried about incompetence?

Our realtor did tell the negotiator that we were not impressed with Chase and their processes at all and that everything that they have put us through is absolutely ridiculous. And that she, the negotiator, could make it up to us by processing our file as quickly as possible. To that the negotiator said that as soon as we faxed in the information AGAIN that she would do everything she could to take care of this for us. Let's hope she was sincere.

Tomorrow I have my next doctor's appointment with Dr. Pollard. We are scheduled for an ultrasound, so as long as the baby cooperates we will be able to find out if the baby is a boy or girl. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Lately I have been trying to keep my eyes open for future homes for our family. I have been told that as long as we are not delinquent on our current loan that we can get another home loan with anywhere from a zero to six month wait after a short sale. Well, right now there is just nothing out there and if there is anything in our price range it is either craptastic or is snatched up quickly. Our realtor told us that we should not give up on the new home developments in the area. That many of them are having builder closeouts and people are able to get really good deals on brand new homes.

Well, there is a new home development in Gilroy that I heard might have something in our price range. I thought it was a little far fetched but decided to go take a look any way. Oh my goodness. The homes were beautiful. They were so spacious. I have to admit to being just a little envious. They are way out of our price range but at the same time are less than what we paid for our current home and twice as big. Yikes! If you like looking at model homes you should go out the Mesa Ridge off of Santa Theresa. Beautiful.

Little People...

I remember playing with Little People when I was young. I think we had the house, the camping set, the airplane, and the farm. I just remember having so much fun playing with them. Well, Michelle, Dave's mom pulled out their Little People collection a little while ago and Payton has had a blast playing with them.

This past Monday, at our play date, one of my friends Tara was talking about how she had just gotten a bunch of toys from Target for a great deal and mentioned that they had some Little People packs. I have been thinking that I need to update Payton's toy collection, so my mom and I went to Target to check out the toy section. We did find the Little People packs and I let Payton pick one. She was so excited. She wouldn't let me even carry the box. She drug it around all over the store. It was so funny. She would see another toy and drop the Little People in the middle of the isle and walk over to the other toy then stop and say no, no, no then turn around and grab the Little People again.

When we got home she pretty much played with them for the rest of the night. I am so happy that she likes them.

While at Target I also looked at maternity clothes. When I was pregnant with Payton, Coyo lent me her maternity clothes so I really only purchased a few things and most of those things were work clothes. This time around I am finding that I need more casual clothes. Jen and I are also passing our maternity clothes back and forth but let's face it sometimes you just need clothes that you bought that fit you and not something that happens to fit you but really fit someone else much better.

Usually I never find anything at Target but I did find a few pairs of shorts and a few workout tops. A bonus is that they were all on sale! I don't know if it was stupid of me to get them because they were not maternity clothes per say but at least they are really comfortable right now. I think they will fit me through the hot weather time and by the time we get to cold weather I will need pants anyway. A bonus is the shorts will also fit me in the after months. YES!!!

My Computer is Fixed!

I have officially impressed my husband with my investigatory skills. I used his laptop to search my computer's problem and came up with a few things to try and wala one of them worked. Yahoo! I am back in business.

Dave and I are going through the horrific process of trying to short sale our home. I have the impression that the bank is taking advantage of us. We have been run through the ringer since the beginning of this whole process. First we qualify for a loan modification then we don't qualify for a loan modification. First we have been assigned a short sale negotiator then oops we were assigned to a person that was not a negotiator and need to be reassigned. Blahh Blahh Blahh! I will be so happy when this whole process is over.

Roseola and a Broken Computer

So Payton ended up having Roseola last week. Yup, showed up to a birthday party and all of a sudden she started getting this rash all over. I noticed it on her cheek first then down her front and back. Fortunately, she is doing much better and is in a much better mood. I have pictures that I will post later, which leads me to my broken computer.

Now that I see the pictures you can't really see the rash unless you look really close.

I let Dave use my computer once and the next thing I know is that it is broken. :o) I guess he did some updates or something. He said it has nothing to do with the computer not working but I am not so sure. Hopefully it is nothing serious.