Happy New Year

Well Christmas is over, well almost; we still have to do Xmas with my Dad & Step-mom this weekend. But the majority of the commotion is finally over. We had a fabulous Christmas, I think I opened more gifts than I ever have in my life. Paige wasn't interested at all, in tearing open the paper. Once the toys were unwrapped then she would play with them, but she wasn't really that into it. I guess next year will be a little more exciting for her.

We started of Xmas Eve night at Peg & Stubby's house. Paige's big gifts were a little 4-wheeler, which she is a little to small for yet. But at least we have it when she is ready. Also, she got her own pink duck call with her name engraved on it. Besides those she got tons of clothes. I had to buy more hangers just to hang them all up.

Christmas morning Paige opened her gifts from Santa. He brought her a Sit to Stand Giraffe.It came with 4 balls and you put the balls in the giraffe's mouth and they roll down a winding track, Paige loves it! Also she got some little Tonka trucks, a busy bopper and 2 books.

After we all got ready we headed to Saunemin to my mom and step-dad's house. Where Paige made out like a bandit again. She got a Sit and Spin Zebra, Mega blocks, a glow worm, baby doll, peak-a-boo big bird, and plenty of other odds and ins. My sister made us a little scrap book for Paige's 1st Christmas. She even had Paige's hand print in it. It was my favorite present by far! Grandma and Grandpa are both living with Mom & Joe for the time being. Grandma is still re-cooping from her hospital stay. She has diabetes and her levels are just all over the place. She takes insulin shots and every time she need one, she has to take a different amount. Poor Grandma, hopefully it will get under control soon. Anyway, We headed home around 5 pm and we were all tuckered out.

Saturday evening was the Broerman Christmas at Uncle Jim's house. We went over about 3:00, and Rod stayed till about 6 then he had to go to work. Paige and I stayed until about 9:00, then headed home to put her to bed. She once again filled up the Kia with gifts. More clothes and of course toys. Paige was so funny, she kept trying to kiss Zach and tackled him many times. She's such a Brut! Here are a couple of pics of them.

Rod's aunt Becky also sent Paige's birthday present, which was the cutest little plush pony. Unfortunately, Rusty (our dog) thought he looked tasty and ate him! I was so mad! I screamed at him and smacked his booty. He ran upstairs and pouted the rest of the night. He knows better than that, he hasn't chewed anything up since he was a puppy.

New Year's Eve, Rod and I are gonna go out on the town. Grandma Peg is gonna watch Paige all night and maybe Alex too. I'm excited, I think it might get a little drunk out that night! I have only really drank once since Paige was born. That was at Timmerman's wedding reception. I'm always too worried because I know I'll have to get up during the night with Paige (since she hardly ever sleeps through the night yet) and bright and early in the mornings.

That's all for now.

Merry Christmas!

Friday the 19th Livingston County had their Christmas Luncheon up in the county board room of the courthouse. There was lots of delicious food! I asked Peg to make a carrot cake for me to take, it went over quite well. I didn't bring any back home with me!

Saturday morning Paige woke up at about 4:30 throwing up in her crib. My poor punky monkey threw up 6 times between 4:30 and 8:00 am. Rod called the Dr. hot line and they gave us some tips. After that, she finally fell back to sleep at 8:00 until 10:00. Then I gave her a little Rice cereal mixed with water she took a few spoon fulls, but that was it. She fell back asleep at noon and slept till 2:00. When she woke up she seemed fine. I don't know what was really wrong with her, but I guess she's over it!

Saturday night Peg, Kari, & I went to Bloomington. We ate at Chili's (So Good) then we went to the Amy Grant & Vince Gill Christmas Concert. It was very good and got me into the Christmas Spirit! After it was over we decided to do a tad bite of shopping, so we hit JcPenny and Kohls. Amazing there was hardly anyone in the mall at 11:00 at night.

Sunday Paige's babysitter, Esther Tuley organized a Christmas Party for all the kids she watches at Marios Pizza. It was a good time and we got to meet all the other parents. Santa even came and sung Christmas Carols and handed out Christmas presents to all the kids. We took Paige up to sit on Santa's lap, but it didn't go quite as well as it did the 1st time she met him. She screamed bloody murder from the moment she felt his knee, therefor it didn't last but a few seconds!

Monday Rod & I dropped Paige off at Grandma Pegs for the day and we headed to Bloomington to finish our Christmas Shopping. We got it all done and hardly even yelled at each other. Rod can get so impatient, but he did surprising well! After we picked Paige up I wrapped up everything we had bought and are officially ready for Christmas!

Latest News

Well my Grandma is out of the hospital. They moved her to Asta Care for about a week, but then my mom pulled her out of there. So now Grandma & Grandpa are both temporarily living with my mom & step dad in Saunemin. Mom & Joe moved their bed upstairs and let G-ma & G-pa have their master bedroom because it is downstairs.

Last Saturday we had Girls Night at my friend Hilary's house, you can tell I hadn't been out there in a while, because I got lost going there. For those of you who don't know, it is out in the country, and I just took the 1st right instead of the 2nd right. Oh well, eventually I got there!

It was a good time and really nice to see everyone! Heather and Leslie were the first to leave, It was way past Heather's bedtime. I don't blame her at all though, when I was pregnant I couldn't get enough sleep!

Then the rest of us girls drove in to Pontiac and went to Elliott's Corner Junction for a few drinks, I didn't drink much because I had to go pick Paige up from my sisters house that night. But we had lots of laughs and plenty to talk about.

This Saturday I am going with Peg & Kari to Vince Gill & Amy Grants concert in Bloomington. We went a couple years ago and we really enjoyed it, so we thought we'd go again. Paige gets to spend the evening with Daddy, somehow I bet Grandpa makes his way over there too around supper time. Then on Sunday we have a Christmas Party that Paige's babysitter is throwing for all her kids that she watches. It's at Mario's and Santa is suppose to come for a visit.

I'm taking next Monday off, so Rod & I can finish our Christmas shopping. Unfortunately, I have no idea what to get either of our mothers. Neither will tell me what they want! Any ideas?

I guess that's it for now, everyone have a Merry Christmas!

Over the Weekend

I was busy decorating the house for Christmas. Rod brought up all eleven , yes I said 11; of my Xmas totes from the basement. I didn't realize I had so many decorations! Anyway I pulled out all the good stuff and sent the rest back to the basement. I have 3 Christmas villages. The tree of course, and then just some odds and ins scattered amongst the house. Paige really seems to like the lights on the tree, but luckily hasn't felt the need to touch it yet!

Rod's work had a Children's Christmas party on Sunday at the Childrens Discovery Museum in Bloomington. Neither one of us had ever been there, it was a really neat place. I'm sure when Paige gets a little bigger we will go back again. Anyway, at the party she got to meet Santa and Mrs. Clause for the first time. Luckily she really wasn't scared, she just looked at them like Who the Hell are you? It was funny! They took pictures and I will post it as soon as we get it.

Hello

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! Ours was okay; my Grandma was and still is, in the hospital. She's getting better, but it's a slow process. The worst part is my Grandpa, because he has alzheimers and he keeps forgetting where she is. At one point he thought that Grandma left him, poor guy!
Friday morning I got at 5 am and drove down to Bloomington for the early bird sales. It was crazy busy, but I got some good deals! I waited in line at Toys R Us for 45 minutes and about the same time again at Kohl's. I got everything that was on my list and headed back to Pontiac about 1:00. We did make it to the boat on Friday night. It was fun I lost $100.00 at the Roulette table and decided I was done! Rod lost the same, but then he won his back, lucky dog! I was too afraid that I would just loose more, so that was it for me!

Anyway, this Sunday Rod & I are gonna take Paige to the OSP Christmas Party for Rod's work. She will get to see Santa for the 1st time, hopefully all will go well and she won't be scared of him. I'll let you know how it goes. Until then, that's it for now.

Since Halloween

It has been awhile, but we've been busy. Rod has been working lot, he hasn't gotten a chance to go hunting at all, this year. But he's hoping to go this Friday, so we will see. He is taking Rusty back to the vet today, he's gonna ask Doc if it's okay to take him hunting yet or not. He is still coughing, just can't seem to shake it.

I've started my Christmas shopping, but no where near being done. I'm hoping to go Friday morning, I love going the day after Turkey day, it's kinda crazy, but I think it's fun! Then that night Rod & I are hoping to go to the boat with a bunch of Rod's family, his cousin Alyssa turned 21 last friday, so were gonna go celebrate with everyone., and hopefully win Lots of Money!

Paige & I went to a baby shower yesterday, it was a good time and Paige was so good the whole time. We got back to Pontiac about 5:30 and then went to Rod's uncle Jims for a steak dinner. Rod's other Uncle Chuck and his Aunt Terri are here to visit from Texas, so a bunch of the family got together.

Paige is crawling all over and pulling herself up onto furniture. She says DaDa and MaMa and NayNay-not sure what that one means yet, but she says it a lot.

I added a few pics of Paige, enjoy!

Until next time, everyone have Happy Turkey Day!

Meier News

Happy Halloween

Paige's 1st Halloween was fun, she was a monkey. We made it to see grandparents and aunts & uncles only. Everytime we went to a house Paige would get so warm in her costume, so we either had to take it off or move on the our next stop. She was not liking getting in and out of her car seat over and over again either.

She is growing like a weed, she has another tooth starting to pop through and she is grumpy! Teething tablets work wonders though :o) She is on the move all the time, and doesn't like to be cuddled anymore, sure didn't last very long! Unless of course it is bedtime, then she still likes being rocked to sleep. She is pulling herself up onto furniture, she's had a couple mishaps and has little bruises to prove it.

She is starting to eat real food, last night she had beef stew at Grandma Peg's and she seemed to really like it! I've also started putting shoes on her when we go places every once and awhile so she will get use to them. Although her Dr. says it's easier for her to learn to walk without them, so we don't wear them at home.

Rusty has finished his breathing treatments, however; he is still coughing. Poor Puppy Dog! He's got 1 more pill then back to the Vet he will be going!

Rod has been working on our garage again, he and my step-dad have gotten 1 garage door put up, but there isn't electricity out there yet, so he hasn't put the garage opener on yet. I can't wait for it to be all done! It's taking forever.

I guess that's about it not a whole lot of news.

Update

Sorry it's been awhile, I've been kinda busy. I've been busy at work getting Delinquent Notices ready to go out and Rod has been working a bunch of overtime. So I hardly get a minute to myself.

Paige started going to a new sitter last week. Just until the chicken pox are completely cleared up from the Sancken Daycare. She's been going to Mrs. Tuley's house, she seems to like her and all the other kids. It is nice because she only lives about 2 blocks away. However, I do feel a little more at ease when she is at Heather's.

Saturday the 11th, I went to Bloomington shopping, I got a few photo albums for all of Paige's pictures and a pair of shoes for work. Then Rod went to Lexington that evening to play cards. Of course they paid top 4 and Rod ended up getting 6th place. He was pretty bummed about that.

Sunday we took Paige out to Jones pumpkin patch and we picked out 3 pumpkins.

Monday was a holiday so I had the day off, so we took Paige to Grandma & Grandpa's house and Rod took me 4-wheeling through a cow pasture. When we got back to the truck I had cow poop all up and down my leg. It wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be! I realized I had never been in the middle of a bunch of cows that are just roaming free, and I was truly scared!

This past weekend Rod worked all weekend, so it was just Paige and I. Saturday we went garage saleing with mom. I bought a few outside playthings for Paige next summer and we got a bunch of cute clothes at a garage sale where Hilary Bauman was selling clothes her girls had grown out of. I also found this little sesame street activity table, which Paige loves. Best $3.00 I ever spent!

Yesterday, I cleaned house and and Edie dropped Michelle off after her weekend she spent with her and my dad. Holly is in North Carolina until Tuesday afternoon, so Michelle will be at our house until she gets home. We watched a movie last night called If Only it was okay, probably not one I will be buying though. Tonight Michelle, Paige & I will be going to Peg & Stubby's for Chili, yum yum!

I took Rusty back to the vet on Thursday 16th, he was getting worse since they changed his meds from the week before. So now I have to give him a breathing treatment twice a day and take new med twice a day. Doc said he would be coughing more at first because the treatments will be breaking up all the crap in his lungs. But then he should cough all the crap out. So we will see, he goes back this Thursday for another check up. Poor Puppy Dog he's been sick for a little over a month :o(

Paige is crawling all over and trying to pull herself up off her knees, but struggles with that. She's been making more sounds, can't really make any out to words yet, but she's defiantly been saying different sounds then usual. It won't be long before she spits out Mama!

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Paige has her 2 top teeth coming in, now she has 4 all together. Her crawling is really improving. She's really starting to move, especially if she's going after Rusty. It's is very cute!
No sign of Chicken pox yet, yeah for that!


These pictures were taken by aunt Kari at Grandma Peg's house. Paige just loves looking out that window.

Poor Rod had to work all weekend. He got home at 5am this morning and then had to watch Paige all day. I'm sure he will be totally exhausted when I get home tonight.

Since Rod was working all weekend, Paige and I went to Jones Pumpkin Patch with Holly & Michelle on Saturday. Holly and Shell got their pumpkins and some mums. Paige & I just got 3 mums and thought we would wait for a time when daddy could come to pick out our pumpkins. Then we drove back to town and went to Hallmark. I had to get another photo album for Paige. Which we already filled up and now we have to get another one. She's got 3 albums full and she's only 8 months old. I guess I can get a little carried away ;o) Anyway, then we went to the Dollar Tree, I found some cute little books for Paige.

Later that night Holly and Michelle came over in their PJ's and we made popcorn and watched I-Robot. At least Michelle, Paige & I watched it, Holly fell asleep before the movie even started I think. After I put Paige to bed, Michelle & I stayed up and watched Man on Fire. I went to bed about midnight, and Michelle slept on the living room floor until about 4 am when Holly woke up and drove them home. It was fun, Now Michelle wants to do it every weekend. We will see.

Rusty is still sick, he seems to be improving a little every day, but he is still coughing.

Last Week News Update

Saturday Rod spent the whole day at the Sportsmens Club for the annual Turkey Shoot and the first ever Duck Calling Contest, which he was a judge for. Rod however, did not win any turkeys. :o( Instead he broke his glasses and had to run home to get his old pair that were also broke, but not as bad.

Paige and I spent the day with my mom, my sister, and my niece. We went to Forrest for the Wabash Festival, which was quite a bit smaller than we were expecting. I wasn't expecting anything huge, but they only had like 5 or 6 booths set up. Including Tupperware, Pampered Chef, and a Bake Sale tent. No crafty stuff at all. Oh well!

So we headed back to Fairbury and hit a few garage sales; they were having their town wide sales that day. The only one who bought anything was Michelle, big suprise there, she gets a dollar and it burns a hole in her pocket before she takes her hand out. Then we headed back to Pontiac and went to Hollys house.

Last Tuesday the 23rd was Holly's birthday, she turned 31. So we sat at her house for a while, she opened her presents from me and mom and then we went to the DQ for birthday icecream. Yum!

Sunday evening we had a suprise 60th birthday party for Stubby in Odell at Poor Richards. Rod, Paige and I drove up a little early to help Kari decorate and set up the cake table. It was a nice evening. There was a pretty good turn out and Stubby was suprised, so that was good!

Rusty Update - He's still sick, still coughing and not much interest in his dog food, so we've been making him mac-n-cheese and scrambled eggs. He eats that right up, so at least he's eating something.

Paige is not attending daycare at the chickenpox house this week, poor Lexi! Today she is at Aunt Pat's. She did unfortunately start to cry for the first time when I dropped her off this morning, but she's never been to Aunt Pat and Uncle Harry's house before, so it was a whole new environment. I'm sure she's doing just fine though!

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Hello There, it's been a while. I've been plenty busy at work trying to get all the tax payments put in, and today we finally got all caught up; early than recent years.

Sad news Rusty has been sick, he's been to the vet twice, now we are waiting on his pee test results. Poor puppy dog has been coughing and hacking up mucus stuff. He's on 3 kinds of medicine, which he's suppose to take with his food, but he hasn't been eating very consistently. He's been pretty of lazy most days and every time he tries to play he just starts coughing again. Hopefully his test results will show more of what is wrong with him.

Rod had to work on Saturday, so Paige and I went to Dwight Harvest Days with my mom, my sister, and Michelle. They had a lot of booths, but it seemed that most of them had the same stuff over and over. All that I bought were some homemade doggie treats for Rusty and a barrette for Paige, which is super cute! It was hot and sunny and I got sunburned, silly me forgot the sunscreen. Paige was so good the whole time, she just sat in her stroller and watched all the people. She fell asleep about 3/4's the way through. She seemed to enjoy being outside all day though.

Then we went back to mom's house in Saunemin and ordered Pizza for supper from the new gas station there. It was surprising really good! Paige and I got home I feed her and gave her a bath and she slept all night long. She must have been worn out!

Sunday was kind of a lazy day, Rod was tired from working Saturday night and the Cowboys were on TV in the evening, so I did laundry and made Rod bring up the Halloween decorations and I started decorating the house. I can't wait for Halloween, I love it :o)

Catching You all Up

Well our Labor Day Party went pretty good, we had quite a few people show up. We had lots of food left over, that's one good thing about having a party, you get all the left overs! Rod stayed up pretty late yacking away with his friend Doug and his Uncle Ed in the garage. I think it got a little drunk out for the trio. Anyway, Paige got to see her first parade that day, she watched it but didn't get too excited. Next year I'm sure she will be a little more into it, especially when she see the candy!

Thursday the 4th Rod's cousin Chris Schulz left for Afghanistan with the troops. We all wish him the best of luck, our thoughts and prayers are with him, Come Home SAFE!

Rod started a new shift at work , he will now be working 4pm to 4 am on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and then ever other Saturday. He seems to think it'll be a good thing, so hopefully he won't be too tired on his days off. We'll see.

We bought Ike Duffy's old pickup truck for Rod to use when he goes hunting. It's got some problems, but it'll due for what he wants to use it for.

Paige got her first tooth and another one is starting to peak through, she's been a little cranky but not too bad. She gets to start going to Heather Sancken's on Wednesday and Thursdays, so Rod can sleep. Hope she isn't too much trouble for ya Heather. :o)

Work for me is getting a little more busy, taxes are due on the 17th, so the payments are rolling in . I'll probably have a few late nights next week.

Over the weekend

So we had a nice long weekend, Saturday morning Rod worked outside on the garage. He's determined to have it ready to go for next weekend when we have our annual Labor Day Party. Then we headed to Flanagan for Lori Hoover's 30th Birthday Party. That was a good time, there were a lot of people we didn't know though. Probably family we are guessing.

Anyway, we left around 8 or so. Since we had to be up early the next morning to drop Paige off at Grandma Peg's and drive to St. Louis for the Cardinals vs. Braves baseball game. Original we had gotten tickets to the game for Rod's dad & my dad for father's day. Rod was gonna go with his dad because Peg didn't want to go and then My dad & Edie were gonna go to, but for the past year my dad has been having several surgeries on his eye because his retina tore. But of course his doctor released him back to work, like a week before the game, so they couldn't go. I decided I would go and we took Kari along with us too. It was a lot of fun, it is a very nice stadium.

We got back to Pontiac around 8 p.m. When we pulled up Michelle (my niece) was picking up the apples that were all over our yard from our huge apple tree that's a bit over grown. Our dog had red feet because there are so many apples in the yard. So Michelle had filled a whole garbage can (that now can hardly be moved) and it doesn't even look like she did a thing. Stupid Apple Tree. Anyway, it was a long day with out my little Paige, who was inside with my mom who got her from Peg at 2:00. She was a good girl according to G-ma.

Rod and I both took Monday off, so I did some house work and helped Rod clean up the garage. Paige watched from her new exersaucer that Grandma Sheila got for her. Which comes in very handy! Then I had to go pick Michelle up after school because Holly was in Freeport with Jaime. So we did homework (good thing Rod was there to help her with her math) and she gave Rusty a bath for us. Rod had his fantasy football draft out at Mary's Restaurant that evening and then him and a bunch of other guys played cards upstairs in the garage.

Paige turned 7 months old yesterday and you can feel her first tooth peaking through. She's been a little grumpy, but not too bad.

That's about it for now, until next time. :o)

New Sitter for the week

Since Grandma Peg is back to school and working late, Paige is going to her Aunt Karen and Uncle Jerolds house this week. Daddy drops her off about 2pm on his way to Bloomington and Mommy will be picking her up a little before 5 pm. I know she loves to watch other kids and I'm sure cousin Alex can keep her quite entertained! Another plus, is that she gets to see her other little cousin Derick, who's only 1 1/2 months older than she is. I'm sure the two of them keep Karen on her toes, but I'm sure she can handle them just fine :o) Have fun Karen!

Thought I'd give this a try

I guess this is the new thing to do, so here I go.

August has been pretty busy for the Meier house, especially on the weekends. We've had something going on every weekend this month.



2nd-My class reunion, which blew big donkey balls. Those of you who didn't show up now I know

why:o)



9th-B-day Cookout for Ballgame and then a Going away party for Rod's cousin Chris.

10th- White Sox baseball game, we got to sit in the suite, and was it sweet!



16th-We had a golf outing for St. Jude with a bunch of guys Rod works with. We golfed with Matt & Crystal Gourley, it was a lot of fun!

17th-Aunt Karen took Paige's pictures that morning and then we had Alex's 3rd Birthday Party that afternoon. She made out like a bandit!



Upcoming Events:

23rd- Birthday Party for Lori Hoover

24th - Cardinal Baseball game