Slacker again...

Ok, so I know last time I said I would try to be better about posting and I slacked off, yet again. Anyways, I have been up to a lot lately! In the last two weeks, I have decided to start my own Mary Kay business. A friend of mine from play group does it and she had me over to do a facial and the products were great. Then she had me join her at a training session as her model and I enjoyed the training. It was a lot of fun and you could tell the ladies all loved what they were doing. So after must deliberation, I decided to take the leap and sign up. Rick wasn't all that for it at first and he's still pretty hesitant because it's spending money to make money essentially but I think it will be successful. I had my grand opening last week (my first show) and it was a success. I had four of my good friends at the party and a bunch of my family from out of town placed orders. I have since done a few facials on my mom and some of my other friends from Asheville and it's awesome! Everybody seems to have a good time playing with skin care products and makeup.



Also, I have started keeping another little boy of a midwife that Rick works with. He is an adorable, nine month old that loves to play with Avery and the dogs. He just laughs and laughs when the dogs come up to smell him and give him kisses. And he and Avery play and play. Avery is doing really well with sharing his toys with the little guy. He "shows" him how they work. It's really cute.



Lastly, Avery and I got to go back to Georgia for a night this past weekend to see all of the family. My grandfather was in town for the weekend and he has never had the opportunity to meet Avery. Also, my extended family (whom I'm very close with) hasn't seen Avery since Christmas of 2009. I know that's terrible, but it's just really hard to make a trip home with the dogs and Avery and making sure to see everybody. Anyways, we got to spend Sunday afternoon with Grandma Jerrie and the Browns and then Sunday evening with my whole family. We were going to try to meet Grandpa Richard for lunch but he was under the weather. :o( Avery had a very busy weekend and was very tired, so much so that he fell asleep on the table at lunch on Monday. He just put his doggie down on the table and flopped his head on top of doggie and was out for a good 45 minutes like that. Here is a picture:

It was possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen. :o) Well that's about all that's going on right now, just loving life!

Sleeping....

So I noticed on Hannah's blog from a few days (or weeks, I'm not sure) back that Ellie wasn't sleeping through the night. I could totally understand her frustration because Avery is doing the exact same thing. He has been doing it for a few months now, probably 3 months and it's soooooo frustrating. Like Hannah said, they are not infants, this should not be happening. Last night he woke up twice. Both times I just went in there, pulled him back to the middle of his crib and gave him his pacifier, which was right next to his face, and he went back to sleep without a peep. I don't understand why, at almost 19 months, he can't do this himself. He is a big boy and he never has a hard time finding his pacifier. And yes, we still use a pacifier, but only during naps and bed time. We usually have it with us when we go out just in case he decides to lose his mind. And I know, I know, they should lose the pacifier but what I've read recently is that they can keep it up until about two and then they understand that they are giving it away. For instance, you can have them buy something with it at the store like their favorite toy or have them leave it for the Pacifier Fairy that gives pacifiers to babies that need it. Right now, he would just think I was being mean by taking it away.

Ok, stepping off my soap box. Back to Avery not sleeping. I don't know what else to do. We have tried the crying it out on his own method but he just gets louder and more awake so I have found that the quicker I go in there, the quicker he goes back to sleep. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't jump out of bed the second he makes a sound and go in there to him. I give him a few minutes but if he actually cries, I go in there right when he starts. We have tried an earlier bed time and a later bedtime, going from 2 naps to 1 nap a day and nothing seems to make a difference. It's pretty much random when he decides he's not going to sleep through the night. If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know!

On another note, I have a couple of prospects for watching some kids at my house during the week and I'm really excited about it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works out because the family is great! The mom works with Rick so it's not just a random person we met on the street. :o) This will be a great way for me to feel like I'm contributing to our family financially and it will also be a great way for Avery to have a little more socialization. We go to playgroup once a week and he loves that but the more socialization, the better, if you ask me. Anyways, if all of you readers (I'm sure there aren't many, if any) can keep your fingers and toes crossed for me tonight that would be great. We are going to hammer out the details in one of our favorite restaurants for dinner.

Well, hope you enjoyed another day in the life of the Loftis Trio. :o)

Hello again!

Ok, so I know it's been a LONG time since I last posted and I really want to get better at posting more frequently. I am giving up on the 50 Day Challenge because I stopped looking forward to posting and kept putting it off. Now I'm just gonna try to post what's going on in the Loftis household. So here goes:


Well the last time I posted was mid-November so a lot has happened since then. Up until this year our holidays have consisted of Rick and I running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to make sure we see everybody and spend adequate time with each group. We decided that since Avery is a little older this year and a little more resistent to being strapped to a car seat for hours on end, we were going to spend the holidays at our home in Asheville. The first holiday we celebrated was Thanksgiving. My parents came up and spent the day with us. Rick had to work that morning but he was home by about noon that day. He smoked a turkey and it was really good. We also had mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and green beans. My mom made apple goodie for dessert and everybody liked it as well. We had a good time just relaxing and spending time together for the holiday. We didn't go shopping anywhere the day after Thanksgiving because we didn't want to try to brave the crowds. Here is a picture of our Thanksgivings Day spread.

The next holiday we had was Christmas. With Rick's schedule this year, he could either have the week before Christmas, including Christmas day, off or the week after, including New Years Day, off. He originally was scheduled to work Christmas but then had to switch with another resident who really wanted the week after Christmas off. So Rick was home all week the week before Christmas, including Christmas day and the day after Christmas. It was great! We got to spend so much time together that he was starting to get on my nerves. I'm just kidding! :o) Anyways, we got a lot of things done that we have been wanting to get done around the house and Rick was able to just relax and enjoy himself for a change without having to worry about work. There is a church in our neighborhood that we have been wanting to try out and we ended up going for their Christmas Eve service. It was nice to be in church again, because we haven't been in a while, but at the same time, I don't think it was the church for us. Then Christmas morning, we woke up and right as I was starting to get Avery's breakfast ready, it started to snow! Neither Rick nor I have experienced a white Christmas before so it was so neat to us! That evening, our friends, Brandi and Andrew and their daughter Adie were going to come over for Christmas dinner and to spend time together since this was their first Christmas without family as well. Brandi called me that morning and told me that they had slid into a ditch because the snow was coming down hard. Then ended up making it to our house and because Brandi had to work the next morning, they just stayed the night. (We live closer to the hospital). We ended up getting about 10 inches of snow that day and it was really neat. We have since gotten about 3 good snows here in Asheville, all above probably 5 inches. It's been neat but sometimes it's a pain because I don't have four wheel drive and we live in a very hilly neighborhood so unless the roads are plowed and salted, I'm stuck at home. Here is a picture of the snow:

We actually didn't take Avery out in this snow because we didn't have his snow suit (Grandma Jerrie was bringing it) and this snow would have probably come up to his butt and we didn't want him to get too cold. Grandma Jerrie and Grandpa Jim were supposed to come up the day after Christmas but we told them it would be safer if they stayed in Atlanta because of the amount of snow we got here. Their trip was delayed many times and they were eventually able to make it up. Grandma Laura and Grandpa John also made the trip up the week after Christmas and while Rick had to work for most of their trip, they were really just here to see Avery. :o) haha! Grandpa Richard and Grandma Charlotte sent their presents up and so did Aunt Kelly. Avery was able to open them on Christmas day. Avery really racked up on presents this year!! He loved every single one of the presents he got and he runs from present to present to play with them all. From Grandpa Richard and Grandma Charlotte, Avery got a baby baby grand piano. HE LOVES THIS TOY. Here is a picture from Christmas morning of him playing it.

The next holiday we had was New Years Eve. We invited a few of the residents over and Brandi, Andrew & Adie and Ben & Nate were able to come by. Rick had to work the next morning so he went to bed about 10:00. We were dancing to our new Kinect and having a great time. Ben & Nate left about 11:30 because they wanted to "beat all the drunks home." Brandi and Andrew ended up spending the night, unintentionally. Andrew disappeared and we assumed he was in the restroom. Then about five minutes later Brandi asked if he was still in the bathroom and I could see that the light was off. He had gone into the guest room to check on Adie (who was asleep) and fell asleep himself. So needless to say, Brandi and I were the only ones that made it until midnight. It was an uneventful, but very fun evening.

The only other things that have been going on have been with Avery. He was sick about a week ago, vomiting and all that fun stuff. It was not fun for mommy because he would only do it when daddy was at work. :o( But after a few days of going dairy free (so as not to further upset his stomach) he felt better. He's been running around crazy ever since. He is so big now. He weighs in at about 32-33 pounds and he's definitely all boy. He has grown about 6 inches since he was a year according to his height chart in his room. He is so much fun and he's starting to really try to sound out the words we tell him. Whenever we ask him to say please he says "Tank too" (thank you). It's the cutest thing in the world. As I type this, he is sitting next to me saying, "Uh oh" and smiling so he will get a response from me. I guess that's my cue to stop typing and start playing. Anyways, sorry so long winded and I will try to post more regularly!! :o)

Day 35

Day 35: A letter to an ex

Ok, so I started dating Rick when I was 16 so I didn't really have any significant exes before him but I did date a few guys. So here goes.

Dear Ex,

You were my first boyfriend and you were such a sweet guy. We started dating so young and we spent every moment we could with each other...and our parents. Because we were so young, we had to spend it with our parents because neither of us could drive without a parent and therefore, wherever we went, the parents were there. It was usually your parents and they were so sweet. Then one day I just realized that it was too much for me. I was 15 years old and felt like I was being smothered. You were a sweet guy and we agreed to break up. It was hard for both of us because it was that first relationship, even though I moved on quickly because I was young and dumb. Eventually, I'm not sure when, but you started dating a girl I cheered with and she was a much better match for you. Now you are married to a beautiful girl and you appear to be happy (through my facebook stalking...haha). Anyways, thank you for the fun times, you were a lot of fun to laugh with. I hope you are as happy as I am for the rest of your life. :o)

~Kristen

Pictures that were promised

Ok, I'm gonna try again...

Avery in his Superman outfit. That's his friend, Adie, behind him. She was an owl.

This is Avery when we went to pick out a pumpkin. :)

Avery and Adie again.. SO ADORABLE!

This is the group that went to the adult Halloween party. Aren't we a good looking roller derby team? :o)

Ok, so I was finally able to get some pictures posted. Yeah!

Day 34

Day 34: Your favorite quote

Ok, so I have a good one for you. I was watching Kung Fu Panda yesterday with Avery and there is a quote in that movie that I really liked. So here goes:

"You are too concerned with what was and what will be. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery and today is a gift. That's why it is called the present."

LOVE that quote!! Anyways, still working on uploading pictures. :o)

Day 33

Day 33: What you're craving right now

Ok, well this is an interesting question and timing for this post. I was just outside "pooper scoopering" the yard. Avery and the dogs were running around having a good time. Then next thing I know, I look over and Avery has something in his hand. I think it's the tennis ball that is out there for the dogs. The tennis ball, mind you, has been stripped of it's green exterior and it's just the rubber ball and it's kind of a gray/brown color. Anyways, I think he has that in his hand, then I see it on the ground. I run over and what does my son have in his hand? An old dog turd. I know, I know, DISGUSTING!! Luckily, it was hard and solid and left nothing on his hand or anything. Either way, I still ran him right inside and washed the crap out of his hands. LITERALLY. UCK. So craving something right now? Um...not really. But for dinner, we have hamburgers pulled out and two little bity potatoes and some green beans. I'm actually kind of looking forward to that. Especially the baked potato part. I just hope I have some sour cream. I should probably look into that. Anyways, I just had to share that story and I think this post was, in it's own little way, an appropriate way to do that. Haha, hope you enjoyed. KIDS!