Goals continued.

Alright, so I am a little late in posting this. One of my goals is to be more organized so that I can do things in a more timely manner.

Goal/Resolutions

1. Organization - have my house running like a well oiled machine by the end of 2011 and going forward. (This is very unlikely to happen - very unlikely)

Yes, this is the big one. To achieve this, I am going to try to schedule my weeks as far as household chores, duke's schedule, work schedule, bills, etc. It is going to have to be written down for me so I wake up and know exactly what to do.

This also means no more clutter so day by day I will have to work on clearing out the time sucking clutter in my life like all the mail I keep meaning to go through that piles up on our kitchen island and elsewhere.

Organization is my big one for 2011 because I feel like the house and disorganization takes up too much time from other things that I could be doing like more time playing with Duke and spending stress free time with my family. I'll be able to go places and have people over without feeling like I should be home cleaning.

2. Learn to crochet - this is because my little sister, Megan, got me a really cool basket of yarn and a few books to crochet cool little animals. I have wanted to learn to crochet last year but I got busy over the holiday's and just didn't have much time. I am going to have to "schedule" (see goal #1) learning to crochet into my weeks.

3. Exercise - I do realize that this goal/resolution is cliche and that everyone in the states resolves to become healthier and lose weight. That is not the goal. Mine is just to exercise and get moving again. Once I get back into it and "schedule" it into my days, I think it will make me feel better and motivate me to do more. I need the energy, desperately.

4. Save our hard earned money - I don't buy clothes for myself or have a closet filled with shoes but I do waste money on full priced groceries and other meaningless and unnecessary items. I collect things it seems. So by couponing and cutting back on my grocery bill and hopefully other expenses in our lives, we will be able to pay down some bills and I will be able to stop worrying about the economy going belly up. I've got one coupon class under my belt and learned a ton about saving money on grocery items. I just look back at all money I ever wasted on full priced items and cringe. Time to move forward.

So these may seem basic and like everyone else but at least 3 of the 4 tie together and will hopefully help me make each them a part of my life for 2011 and going forward.

Duke's goal for 2011 is to lose the double chin - or to not let Uncle Brian take his picture anymore :-)

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Goals for 2011

Working on my goals for 2011 this week. I am trying to make the list so that it can be at least 85% accomplished. Obviously, "be more optimistic" isn't one of the goals/resolutions. Hopefully the list will be complete by the weekend so I can get started on a plan. This is going to be tough. I tend to put stuff like this off until everything I can clean is clean but I am going to focus and get it done. Even if I have a mountain of laundry and dust bunnies staring me down. I have never written a list down before and certainly have never stuck to one. So this is going to be a big year if I can do it. I wanted to add it to my blog so I feel somewhat accountable. To be continued . . .

"Ay, Dios Mio!"

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!!!

Goodbye 2010!

His new face he's making.

Fun times with Dad.

Had a great 2010 but looking forward to a new year. Loved every moment of watching Duke grow and change through his first year! Hoping for good health and much happiness for our 2011. Also looking forward to meeting my new little nephew. It should be a great year.

Happy 1st Birthday Duke!

On Christmas Eve, our little guy turned one year old. How quickly the year went by. He had all his aunts and uncles and grandparents there for his first birthday dinner. It was a really fun day and he did great opening his presents. We gave him one at a time throughout the day so he wouldn't be overwhelmed and he loved opening them and playing with each of them a little bit. Mom-mom and pop-pop Horgan had dinner for all of us and he ate his first birthday cake.

He had such a great first year and we enjoyed every moment with him. I can't wait to see what this year brings.

A Very Merry Christmas Indeed

A blog of poop

Over the past week there's been a lot going on. We've begun introducing milk into Duke's bottles so we can switch him off his formula when he turns one in a week. Plus, he's had a cold and to help with the runny nose and cough, we've been giving him a tsp of benadryl in the morning. Well, both can lead to constipation. Sunday morning was his last poop. Monday - no poop, Tuesday - no poop. While I was working and didn't get to see much of his behavior during the day, I did know that when I got home, he strained a lot and was a bit more fussy. Tuesday, my sister said he was pretty lethargic and when Jack got home, he agreed. Jack said he did not eat much in the afternoon for him and he decided he wanted to take him to the ER. I left work and went home to feed the dogs thinking that at the ER, they would give him a stool softener and send them home. The baby was constipated. But in the time that I went home, fed the dogs and made it to the ER, they extracted some poop and found a little blood. So they wanted to do a sonogram to rule some other things out. They couldn't do the "procedure" there so they said he had to be taken to CHOP in and AMBULANCE!!! They hooked him up to and IV (torture) and away we went to Philadelphia.

I thought he looked so fragile with his hospital gown on.

At CHOP he gets x-rayed, sonogrammed and poked and prodded all night. The intussesception was ruled out (thank goodness). All they found was A TON of poop. It was midnight and at this point they wanted to keep our baby overnight to monitor him. I was devastated because I knew I had to leave and go to work. Jack was going to stay with him so I could work but being a new mom and leaving your baby at the hospital is the worst thing in the world.

On a side note, I am the worlds ugliest crier. My sister Annie is a close second. We are just not cute criers. Our face contorts to horror movie status and it's just not pretty. I have to look like a freak show the whole way to the car. Three people ask me if I am ok on the way out of the hospital and I didn't think the security guard was going to allow me to leave.

On Wednesday, he FINALLY took a nap. Very little sleep for him.

Okay, so after I get home at about 1 AM, Jack texts me and says that Duke pooped!!! But they want more to come out. So they are at the hospital all day on Wednesday. They do an enema and give Duke some miralax and now he is pooping like a champ and he is diagnosed with CONSTIPATION and home they arrive at 7:15 PM!!!!!

Mom and Dad Horgan went down and spent the day with them, thank goodness to help Jack and to bring them home safe and sound. It was over 24 hours of hell. I don't know how the parents of sick children do it. My heart broke for all of the long term patients there at CHOP. I hope that I never have to go back there with my son again.

Waving bye - he was ready to come home.

Yesterday he did great! He is pretty much back to normal. He was pretty exhausted and it is good to have him home and running around like always.

This was the day after he got home. He was a happy camper.

Moral of the story: Always call your pediatrician first!!!!!

Sorry Santa!

Friday was the big day! We had his one year picture and Christmas picture at JCPenney's and then we were off to see Santa for another picture! The JCP pictures did not go well. That is actually an understatement but I am over it :-). I was really disappointed in the photographer and her impatience with a not yet one year old's inability to smile on command and sit still. I have never been one for "portrait" type photos and she didn't really seem like she wanted to catch the moment and try to get what she could. If he wasn't sitting and smiling, she wasn't snapping any photos. SO we are going to try again at another place next week and see how it goes and if that doesn't go well, I'll have to fork out the bucks and have someone come to us and work with us. It will be fin (my mantra of the week).

So after that mess, we were off to see santa!!! Duke's first pictures with santa and they came out great! In my opinion - they are great. I love the I don't like santa pictures - they are funny. I just hope he is not too traumatized. He kept looking back at him hoping that it would be his dad.

Poor guy.

Cousin Avah is trying to telepathically tell Duke not to ruin this moment for her. She needs to get her list to santa. Duke is looking at her in disbelief that she is ok with this.

Trying to make his escape.

And he's fine. Barely any tears just not thrilled with be placed on this strange mans lap.

Picture day!

Two weeks from today, Duke is turning ONE! I can't believe it. Today we are getting his one year/holiday picture at JCPenney's. He has a cold so I am hoping they turn out ok. His nose is slightly red with crusty's. Hopefully if I give him a bath after his nap, we'll be all spic-n-span for the 12:15 photo shoot. I don't think this is going to go off easily. I have a hard enough time changing him into one outfit let alone two if I am lucky. Maybe he'll be a cheese for the photographer and ham it up.

Off and running with monkey.

The pj's do not lie.

This morning I was changing a dirty (very) diaper and I barely got him cleaned up and he got up and took off with monkey. Not cool. So I gave up and let him run around in his glory for a little bit. He thought he was so funny.

Yes grandparents, he is standing on the fireplace. He is all boy.

I think he is very pleased with our undecorated Christmas tree.

He is learning to use a straw now.

Watching Barney in the very messy living room. I like this picture because it looks like he actually sits still for more than 30 seconds.

We do have some Christmas decorations up and the tree is up but not decorated yet. I am not ready for that battle! We may be decorating the top half only. It still looks pretty lit up at night :-). He doesn't seem to bother it much now but once all those toys are hanging from the branches - it's going to be a whole new story.

I am hoping for him to see Santa Claus at the mall today too. I will take him after pictures. Hopefully he doesn't lose patience and we can get in and get out. I think Aunt B and cousin Avah are coming to help.

One More Month!