Lyla Loo

Well little Miss Loo Loo went to the Doctor today for her 4 month check up. She is 12 lbs. 25 Inches long, and her head is 16 3/4 inches (85%). So once again I find myself with another small child with a large head. Good thing this is expected of all Setzer children so I am not at all alarmed. She had two shots and only let out a small whimper which was a huge relief I was prepared for full fledged screams of pain.

Lyla is doing great she has been trying rice cereal for the past several days and finds it interesting. She is not quite sure what to do with the spoon. She can roll over from belly to back and almost from back to belly. She can hold her monster head up with ease. She is sleeping almost through the night and is fascinated by her older sister (along with the rest of us.)

Riley is also doing great. Today while at Sam's club a man offered Riley $10 to buy her sister and she easily agreed that was a fair asking price. Later while at Sam's
Riley says:"Mom, I am impressed"
Wendy: What do you mean your impressed?
Riley: You know I am really sad and we need to go home because I am impressed.
Wendy: Honey, I think you mean you are depressed.
Riley: No, mom I am impressed lets go home.

This week in addition to the regular Christmas festivities Lyla is going to be baptized at 10am Christmas morning by her Pop Pop Pastor Dennis Setzer. I thought this would be an easy date for us to remember, and make Christmas day that much more special for our family.

Well it is WAY too quiet right now so I must go check on Riley and make sure that all is right and safe our world.

Deep Thoughts by Riley Setzer

Well it sure has been a while, but here I am trying to get in a quick blog in. Riley has just been full of herself and my mother and Bentley are always telling me I need to write down all the things Riley says so that I will not forget them. So here it goes:

A recent conversation re: a necklace Riley borrowed from me:
Me: Riley stop pulling on my necklace you are going to break it...
Riley: Mom, if you would stop looking back here you wouldn't see me doing this!

While standing in line at the post office:
Riley: Mom I am boring.

Others:
Riley: Mommy I am sorry I am not nice to my friends I forgive ya, do you forgive me?

Can we leave Lyla in the car?

Can we leave Lyla at home this time? (don't worry I said no to both:)

I am sure there are others that I am leaving out but, this is all I can come up with for the moment. Our behavior has been crazy lately and "Santa's watching you" does not work here.

As for the rest of the family we are good and looking forward to Christmas at home together! I hope everyone else has a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year.

Sorry it's been a while...

Well gosh I don't know where to begin. I know its been a while but DAMN have things been crazy for us. John got sent to Dallas, TX on the 24th of September on finally returned to us on November 24th. My computer crashed, we were in Asheville for half of the two months John was gone, and then we were traveling for Thanksgiving again. It was tough being single mom but, I had a lot of help from my in laws.



The kids are good. Riley is just full of herself. We took her on the Polar Express while home in Asheville. It was a little pricey for what took place, but she had fun and that is priceless. Not to mention on the way back from Bryson City we drove through Canton and got to smell the paper mill. Riley said, "Mommy what is that smell? Man, I think a monster poop poohed outside our truck." I don't know where she comes up with some of the stuff she comes up with but she is VERY funny.



Lyla is doing good although apparently I have eaten something today that does not agree with her. I have learned that onions, broccoli, barbeque, beans do not agree with my poor child. She is growing and has graduated to sitting in a bumbo seat for short periods of time as we work on our neck strength. I think she may be working on some teeth too it seems early but she is drooling like crazy, and trying to gnaw and chew on anything she can get into her mouth.



I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I hope as things in our lives get more back to normal I can blog more often. I posted a ton more pictures on Picasa from all of our most recent adventures so check them out when you get a chance.

Been a while :)

Sorry but things have been crazy here. My computer crashed. We lost all of our pictures and Itunes hopefully we will have our friend Josh try and recover as much as possible off the hard drive which went bad. Josh brought me a loaner computer and then it crashed. I swear its not me people, its just bad luck. Baby is crying and I am worn out for today I will write more soon I promise!

Still Alive

Sorry, I know it has been a while but, we have been really busy and things have just been a whirlwind. We spent three plus weeks in Asheville which was nice to be with my family who I never get to see. Riley had a great time with Pammy and my Grandparents as well as we got to see my dad and brother a couple of times. We also went to Hey Day at the Nature Center the Greek Festival, and last but certainly not least I got to go to my 11 year high school reunion. (I know it should have been 10 but hey we are slow.) It was really good to see old friends and catch up.

Riley has been doing well she is adjusting to all the major changes in her little life. Becoming a big sister, now staying home with mom, dad being gone to Dallas, us being in Asheville for so long. She also has her share of three year old moments but over all this kid amazes me. She is extremely funny!!! We went today and got the Aerial costume for Halloween. Her new favorite store is the Disney store. She is all about some princesses. Speaking of which our pink Disney princess book is missing if anyone has seen it let me know. It's a travesty every time we realize that it is missing.

Lyla had her eight week (2month) check up last week. She is 9lbs 13oz 22 inches long and her head is average size. Wheeew. (Setzer's have giant heads, Riley's head always measures in the 75% range.) She is a very happy baby most of the time as long as the boob is not too far. She loves to nurse.

I posted a ton of pictures on Picasa of our Asheville adventures and John has posted some from Dallas. I hope everyone is doing well. I will try to keep posting on a more regular basis, but if not don't forget to VOTE on November 4th if not before.

Enjoying the Mtns.

Well hello my faithful blog readers (I don't know if I really have any but that sounded fun to say). We have been in the Mountains of WNC for over a week now and are having a good time with my mom and my dad's parents aka Grandma Patty and Granddaddy Mease.

Everyone has officially met Lyla she is adjusting nicely. She gets slightly fussy on certain days and I think it is partially my fault. I think she is very much affected by what I eat more so than Riley was. We went to the Greek festival last weekend and apparently Greek food does not agree with her tummy. Also, beans of any kind and broccoli do not agree with her little tummy either.

Riley is doing good she misses her daddy terribly but we are managing to stay busy. Yesterday was story time at the Library and today we went to the Health Adventure which is way nicer than it was when we were all kids. They still have the see through lady that Riley kindly pointed out to all in ear shot "Mommy that lady has boobies."

John is doing well in Dallas he is working 12 hour days 6 days a week to try and get the company caught up with all the damage from Ike. It sounds like a real mess in the Houston area. No one has power, the mail is not running, and the phones are down. It makes it really hard to get in touch with anyone. Anyway we miss John but we are doing well and looking forward to Thanksgiving when he can come home again.

Ch Ch Changes....

Well hello faithful blog readers! Sorry it has been so long I have had A LOT going on. Let's see where do I begin. We have added the beautiful addition of Lyla to our family and she is doing great. Still hasn't figured out the whole day/night thing, but we are working on it. She also refuses to sleep in a bed of any kind. I have found that she will sleep in her stroller. I know that sounds ridiculous but hey if that is where she will sleep then by all means stroller it is. It is easier from the stand point that I can just roll her from room to room.

OK here is where things get hairy. I was supposed to go back to work in late October however, because the economy is in the toilet I have been laid off until Jan. I just found out yesterday. This puts a big financial kink in our lives, but we are trying to figure out what our best plan is. We decided to pull both girls out of school because that is a $1200/month expense that we will obviously not really need much less be able to afford. Then John found out he is being deployed to Dallas TX by State Farm. I don't know if you have seen those commercials with the SF Catastrophe Team helping people after hurricanes and such, well that will be John for the next 60 days. That's right he will be gone for 60 days. I have mixed emotions about this. Pros being that this will be very significant amount of extra money for our family in a time when we could use it the most. Cons he will be away from the girls and I for two months. I worry mostly about Riley she and "daddy" are very close and I think this will affect her the most as well as the fact that we are pulling her out of school. Hopefully her world will not be too up side down for her to handle.

I am not a big fan of change esp. those that are unexpected and not well planned out in advance, but hey isn't that life? I am trying not to over react or freak out and just take it in one day at a time. I am thinking that I will spend most of that 60 days in Asheille with my family who I never get to see because of my work schedule, and I am also excited that I will have this wonderful extra time to spend with the girls.

That is what has been going on in our lives. I hope everyone else is doing well. I will try to blog more often. :)

She's HERE

Weighing in at 8lbs and 3.75 oz Lyla Robinson Setzer joined our family on Sunday night, August 24, 2008 at 11:10pm. We are doing fine just lacking sleep. I will blog more as I get time and rest. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes through out the past several weeks.

Bed Rest...

Well I am officially on bed rest as of Wednesday. My blood pressure has been up and before I become full fledged pre-eclampsic they want me to take it easy. I am still on schedule for a c-section for Friday August 29th. Unless of course my water breaks or my blood pressure goes nuts. So far the bed rest seems to be working. I don't think I realized how tired I was.

Riley is home with me today. She threw up first thing this morning so no school for her. :) With all this rest I have finally been able to upload 100s of pictures on picasa please check them out at your leisure. I am going to attach a picture of Riley and "Flat Stanley" he came to visit last week via school and we had to make pictures of the things "Flat Stanley" got to do with us.

Also THANK YOU to my Dad and sister who were here this week and both were a huge help. Sorry you didn't get to see the baby but that just means you will have to come back soon!

Still....

still pregnant....i don't want to talk about it. :)

"Lyla Smushy Face"

Here is the latest sonogram photo of Miss Lyla aka Smush Face. You may have to turn your head 90 degrees to the right to make out her face. Her hand is underneath her chin. Nose and lips are mashed up against the womb. I didn't see the doctor just an ultrasound today. She is 6lbs. 11oz. and running out of room. Fluid levels are all good and everything looked fine. Maybe she will soon realize there is a lot more room out here than in there and make her debut, until then I am glad to know she is doing well in there.

Still pregnant :)

Still pregnant no change.....FACT: babies come when they want to. I have a sonogram tomorrow at nine.

In BREAKING WEEKEND NEWS Riley pooped in the potty all by herself. She came into the living room Saturday morning and said "hey mom I just poopied in the potty." I was in total "yeah right mode" but I got up to check her training potty in the bathroom and sure enough there was a monster poop in the little pot. We threw an all out party. Gummy bears, mint choc chip ice cream followed by phone calls to various people so she could shout in the phone "I poopied in the potty."

Sorry I have no new pictures again I seriously can not get motivated to locate the camera let alone take and then download pictures.

No Change

I went to the OB yesterday and took Riley with me ahh fun times. There is no change I am still 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated. I was kind of disappointed I wanted them to be more like "get your butt to the hospital its go time." Nevertheless, Riley was well behaved and EXTREMELY curious during our OB visit. When the doctor came into the exam room Riley says "can you take my baby out today?" however, Dr. Kirkpatrick told her she had to wait a little longer before she could take the baby out. She got to hear the heartbeat, but the biggest moment for her was that Mommy had to pee in a cup. She also sat in the waiting room with me for an hour and read the Bible as loud as possible for the entire hour. Can I get a witness???





In other happy news my sister in law Maria Setzer has bitten the bullet and started her own blog. She too is pregnant with her first child and today is her birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIA.





Also, please keep John's dad Dennis in your prayers he has surgery tomorrow on a pinched nerve in his back, if all goes well he will be able to use and feel his left arm again for the first time in nearly a year.

Still prego

Well it's Monday morning and I am still with child. I am a little relieved since this means Lyla should really have no lung issues now that I am officially 36 weeks pregnant. I am now ridiculously uncomfortable. Back, hips, pelvis, sciatic nerve, heartburn, TIRED, and let's face it I should just wear adult diapers or get a cathiter I could be much more productive without all the pee breaks. I am officially no longer attractive. Over the last several days I have discovered that I now SNORE. These are not small lady like snores these are large "wholly crap I think I just swallowed my tongue snores." They wake me up from a deep sleep. These snores put Miss Piggy to shame people. I did read this could happen while pregnant, lets just keep our fingers crossed that this goes away after I give birth or I might have to sleep upstairs in the bonus room forever.

Yesterday, John and I took Riley to see the Wacha Weechie (sp) Mermaids that were performing at the Ripley's Aquarium. His two nephews and niece were also in town so they joined us along with Nana and Pop Pop. Riley is BIG TIME into mermaids so I thought this would be great for her. We got there an hour early. The place was already packed and when I say packed I mean personal space was no where to be found. It was hot an humid and there were crying children and smelly people everywhere. We PAID to wait in this environment for AN HOUR. Finally the mermaids show up in the stingray tank and floated around for a whopping 15 minutes and it was all over. Seriously it was not a good experience. I don't think Riley was even impressed so the next time I decide we all need to go and do something like "watch mermaids" I will just throw $25 in the trash can and have my someone kick me in the shins it would be about the same feeling as sitting through the mermaid wait and the more than disappointing show.

I am sorry I have a bad attitude right now I think it is the lack of sleep and uncomfortableness rearing their ugly heads. Anyway hopefully this week will be the week Lyla makes her debut otherwise my attitude might just get uglier. :)

Another baby update

I went to the doctor this morning. I am 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I am still having random contractions in fact I have had four already today. I officially can not sleep. I have banished my self to our upstairs bonus room because there is an old couch up there that seems to be the only place I can get comfortable and it has a separate air conditioner so that I can turn it down far enough to see my actual breath. (Can't wait to get that power bill :)

I usually try not to talk about my boss on here because I would never want to offend him or hurt his feelings he is really a good person. However, he has a PH.D. in Marine and Wetland Studies and never been married or had children or really even been around people who have children and we had the following conversation on Monday and no I am not kidding.

Paul: "Wendy, can you come back here for a minute?"
Wendy: Sure
Paul: "Hey, I was just wondering how much longer you will be able to walk?"
Wendy: "Ummm, hopefully the rest of my life."
Paul: "No, No I mean with the baby and pregnant stuff and all."

He has still been better this pregnancy than with Riley. He is so terrified that I am going to give birth in the office he tries not to even make eye contact with me anymore. Don't judge him to harshly he is really a good boss just not on the up and up with babies and such everyday occurrences that we all take for granted.

Sorry no pictures, I am too tired to even look for the camera. Thanks for all the support you guys are great and I am glad I get to share my everyday lives with you via this blog.

Baby Shower...

Well My mother-in-law and Sister In Law Maria threw me a wonderful baby shower this weekend. As you can see Riley at party enjoying some punch, up top you will see the major hall of goodies people got for Miss Lyla, and last but not least you will see the amazing cake that my friend Daryl made for the shower. Seriously, she has a degree in Culinary Pastry Arts from Johnson and Wells, who better than to make the cake right? Thanks to everyone who came, and thanks to Jeanne and Maria for making it happen. It was a great time!

On the pregnancy front, I am officially uncomfortable. Still having random contractions. The nerve that runs down my right hip and leg is killing me (sciatic nerve I think) and I think my pelvis may snap in half any minute. The good news is Lyla is still in there finishing her lungs and I take comfort in that so it makes the painfulness a little less.

I think Riley is in full fledged big sister mode. She talks to my tummy every day and asks Lyla to come out and see her. We got a baby sling at the shower and Riley has been putting her baby doll in it and carrying it around the house.

Riley also finished Princess Ballerina camp on Friday and we all attended her recital. Sorry, the pictures are all on Nana's camera and they are out of town this week. I will post those next week when they get back from Lutheridge. Riley is unfortunately just like me when it comes to dancing. The whole class was skipping off to one side and she is skipping off in the other direction, just like I ALWAYS did. I always blamed it on the fact that I was left handed and coincidentally Riley is also left handed. (She may switch, but I doubt it.) Just something she may have to work on if she continues on with her dancing endeavors. This week she and daddy are attending Kindermusik camp every day from 9:30-10:30am. He had to do it (which he doesn't mind) since they do a lot of hanging out on the floor and I am not so good at hanging out on the floor these days.

In other Lyla news I have gotten her room almost ready. I did a load of baby clothes last night and just need to put them away as well as a final straightening up session in there. John was a little miffed that I was making him rearrange furniture at 11pm, but it was a nesting must.

Well until next time I hope everyone is doing great and I will keep up you all up to date with the impending stork arrival.

Setzer updates

Well here are a couple of more pictures that I have been emailed to me from all the Setzer's who got to go on the vacation. Up top is Miss Riley who has learned how to swim with her swimmies and no help. She discovered this on the vacation and promptly told Nana "to leave me lone, I can do it by myself." The bottom picture is all the Setzer grand children. Can you believe there are two more of them on the way. John has a giant family. Three older brothers, three sisters-in-law, currently 4 nephews, and 2 nieces, plus his mom, dad, and our branch of the family tree makes us 17 soon to be 19 family members strong. My family is much smaller so this took some getting used to.

Riley is doing great (minus the refusal to poop in the potty). She has been attending Princess Ballerina camp all week at school. Yesterday she came home and informed me that she had learned to curtsy and twirl. She is very proud of herself. I have a baby shower this weekend hosted by my mother in law and sister in law and Riley will be accompanying me. I hope she doesn't get ticked when most of the presents are for Lyla. I told her we were having a party for Lyla and that did not please her, she said we were going to a party for her first. However, she has been talking a lot more to my stomach and about her big role as the big sister. She is planning on teaching Lyla how to ride a bike. Hopefully, not during the first week of Lyla's life. :) I really hope Lyla doesn't ruin Riley's life too much, I have really enjoyed having Riley all to myself for the last three years and I think she would say the same for her mom and dad.

Well, I went to the doctor on Tuesday I am down to the once a week appointments. I am 34 weeks. I mentioned the braxton hicks and the major pain I am having on my pelvis. So they "checked" and apparently Miss Lyla already has her head in the birth canal resting on my pelvis. Which means she feels she is ready to make the journey. The good news is I am not dilating. The doctor's however are concerned and say I need to take it somewhat easy to ensure that I carry her at least three more weeks. I am continuing to work because I sit at desk all day and it is not a physically demanding job. The physically demanding part of my life comes from trying to keep up with an active three year old.

I hope everyone is doing great keep blogging, and for those of my friends and family who read this and don't have a blog GET ONE :) I need more blogger friends to read each day.

Also, Kirk good luck passing your kidney stone and we hope you are feeling better soon!

Happy Birthday Uncle Vaughn!

Happy 19th Birthday little Brother I know you don't read this but here's a shout out anyway! I still remember when you held Riley the first time which we had to beg you to do and then you said, "now what do I do with he?" And now the two of you get along splendidly! Good luck with school this fall!

Fun times!

Here are just a few pictures for your enjoyment. The top two are from Riley and John's adventures with all the other Setzer's while in GA (Riley and John are on the tube on the far right). The last one is of Riley and I on the 4th of July at Olivia's hotel "Pirate Pool".

Life here is going well, I am staying busy with work trying to keep everything as caught up as possible so that in the event my water breaks I don't leave anyone in the lurches. John just went back to work on Wednesday after being off since July 3rd. HE SUCKS. (Just kidding.)

Riley has now been out of school for two weeks. First for the trip to GA and now because all the cousins came back to Nana's so I have been dropping her off at Nana's everyone morning to have a full day of cousin chaos as I like to call it. Today the six kids were going to the water park with Nana, Uncle Denny, and Uncle Trevor. I hope to hear all about it when I get home tonight. In light of all this fun Riley has been having she is WAY off any kind of schedule. Not a huge deal if I were not working however, she isn't ready for bed until like 12am. Which finally caught up with her last night. She was exhausted and had a major meltdown when I insisted that she go to bed at 8:30. She finally realized that I wasn't going to give in so after 20 minutes of kicking, screaming, scratching and pulling mom's hair she finally got in the bed. She apologized and fell asleep with in five minutes of hitting the pillow.

My mom is getting in tonight for a long weekend. Riley is pumped for Pammy's visit, also our dog is coming home with her so we are pumped to see Tarheel as well. I am a terrible dog owner I have sent him on a sabbatical with my mom during most of my pregnancy. He is a great dog but he has to sleep up against my stomach and chest and I just can't deal with that at the moment.

Last but not least, on the Lyla front, she is kicking up a storm. All the kids got to feel her moving around the other night. Nothing like 12 little hands on your belly at once. I have another OB appointment next week. Still uncomfortable but I know it will all be a distant memory in about a month or less. I hope everyone is having a great week I will post again soon!

Braxton Hicks Suck!

OK I don't have a lot of time nor do I have any pictures so this will be just a quick blog. I didn't mention this to anyone on the blog because I didn't want any crazy blog stalkers to know that I was home alone for the past week. Riley and John went on the Setzer family vacation with out me. I had to work as I will be taking maternity leave at the end of the summer, and I have been swamped at work so I got a lot done. Anyhow, they are back I missed them tremendously although the peace and quiet was NICE. I got to talk to Riley every night via Skype so we could see each other. If you have relatives that live far away this is a great free way to see them via the Internet and web cam that is wonderful!

Anyhow, Saturday evening/Sunday morning I woke up around 3:30am with contractions they were about 2 minutes apart until about 5am and then finally started to get further and further apart. I didn't panic nor did I wake up my husband. I just got on Web MD and watched TV and waited to see what happened. Luckily my water did not break and they eventually started to spread out and finally went away. They still were very uncomfortable which seems to be the theme of my life right now. Lower back, hips, and pelvis are killing me, but I am hanging in there I know I am approaching the finish line and Lyla needs to cook for a couple of more weeks.

That is all for now. I will post John and Riley's vacation pictures later this week. Have a great week everyone!

Lyla Update

Just went to my latest OB appointment. All is good. I am 31/32 weeks depending upon who you ask, however I am now measuring at 33 weeks. I gained another 3 lbs to bring the grand total to 27lbs thus far. They also went ahead and schedule my C-section for Friday, August 29th. However, I feel in my heart of hearts this baby is not going to make it until August 29th. Riley came at 36 weeks and just like Riley, Lyla is already in position (head down and butt jammed into my ribcage) and I was also measuring way ahead of schedule during my last trimester with Riley. Also I passed my diabetes test. If you think I am hormonal now just imagine if I were diabetic and they took all of sugar away!!! My next appointment is in 2 weeks!!!

Happy 4th!

Well as I may have mentioned a few posts ago Riley got a camera from John's parents for her birthday. I have finally managed to download an entire album of her work onto picasa. Look at your own risk. Some are great, however there are a lot of blurry pictures. Her MOST favorite thing to photograph is her own feet. I am posting those for everyone to enjoy, honestly they crack me up.

Also you will see a few pictures from our 4th celebration. We kept it low key. My cousin Olivia and her family were down for a week. We went to their hotel which was right near the Pier that was doing a giant fireworks display. We actually could see perfectly from the balcony. Thank God we were not actually down on the beach watching as there were a lot of drunk people shooting off a lot of fireworks in the midst of large crowds and the wind was out of control. It just looked like a recipe for disaster. We got there early in the day so that the kids could hang out in the giant pirate ship pool and the lazy river. I did not quite fit in an inter tube so I only made one slow journey on the lazy river. Riley, however would have ridden until the end of time.

I must say this three day weekend is wonderful and I dread going back to work. Poor John I have been working him to death around the house. He put up shutters, pressure washed the back of the house, broke down the bed in Lyla's room, etc. He will be ready to go back to work by the time the weekend gets done.

In other exciting news we have had our first green pepper and now I just found a cucumber. It needs to stay on the vine a little longer but I am pretty excited this is the first year we have really tried to grow anything. We also have our first naval orange on our orange tree. I have been nursing this tree for two years so this is a milestone for me. I know I am totally boring. Anyway I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!

Our weekend....

I thought I would post this picture just because these are my two favorite people in the world. We had a fun weekend although at times I had to count to 10 so as not to let my hormones take over and ruin every one's day.



John left Saturday at 6:30am to play golf in Pawleys Island. He has the SCAm qualifier coming up on July 15th so he has to get in as much practice as possible. Then the Palmetto Brew Club had their annual Pawleys Island Brew Session in Pawleys Island as well so he just stayed down there and spent the night with friends.

Meanwhile, Riley and I had a pretty good time although my patients is not quite what it should be with her right now. My cousin came into town around 12p with her kids and we hung out until 2:30 until they could check into their hotel. We then met them out for dinner later at Broadway at the Beach. AND of course Riley pooped in her pants at the restaurant because she poops in her pants at EVERY restaurant we go to. I hate taking children into public restrooms they touch everything and it just wigs me out. Plus you have to face the facts of cleaning her up fun times. We then went to feed the fish and have some ice cream. The kids were all exhausted so Olivia and Scott took their kids back to the hotel and we went home to go to sleep. Unfortunately, as tired as she seemed Riley didn't finally fall asleep until 3:30am. She kept getting up and wanting to sleep in my room, then she would want to get back in her bed. Then I woke up to her banging on her room door saying "Mama HELP" so I waddled down the hall as fast as I could. Getting to the door only to find that she had LOCKED HERSELF IN HER ROOM!I almost panicked but I told her to chill out and turn the button in the middle of the knob, she did and it all ended well. I asked her who could have locked the door and she said "I don't know" I tried to tell her not to do it ever again, but low and behold she did it to her dad last night at 3am.
Needless to say I didn't make it to church Sunday morning because of being up and down through out the night. Riley however was up at 7am Sunday demanding to go and see her cousins. We hung out around the house all morning until Dad got home at which time I decided to lay back down. That did not work out either because someone is determined that I don't get any rest. Even though Daddy was awake and in the living room Riley kept coming in our room and telling me she needed a drink of water and that I needed to get up. I tried to institute a new rule of "if mommy's eyes are closed don't talk to her." That did not work. So I just got up and we went on over to see Olivia and the kids around 2:30 so they could swim. We had to leave later on in the afternoon because we were in the midst of a full fledged melt down (Riley not me) due to the vast lack of sleep.

Yesterday, Monday I arrived at school only to find Riley in different clothes and back of poop encrusted underwear waiting for me in her cubby. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD throw the panties away. Sorry that was hormones, I just don't want to deal with that at 5pm after a long day of work esp. a Monday.

Riley caught me watching Saturday Night Fever a couple of weeks ago so for some reason last night she kept demanding to watch "John Traboata" on TV. I think she enjoyed his dancing skills as that is the only part of the movie I let her watch. She was pretty miffed that he was not on TV last night. The shame!

I need to send well wishes out to Papaw Setzer who fell at the nursing home and had to get three staples in his head. He is okay but staples sound a lot more painful than falling and hitting your head. Also, John's Dad Dennis is having more tests in Charlotte to determine what is going on with his pinched nerve/numb arm and hand. I pray they figure out what is going on with him so he can finally get some relief.

HORMONES!!!

OK well we have had a busy week in the Setzer house. John has been studying for a test that he took and passed with flying colors yesterday. He is in the process of getting his CLU certification. Some kind of insurance thing for State Farm. He already has his AIC, and CPCU. Honestly, I think they just try and see who can get the most acronyms after their name. Either way the incentive aside from improving your self and your job performance is a paid trip somewhere. This is how we went to Hawaii last fall when John earned his CPCU. So obviously I also reap the rewards of all this insurance education!

Riley also got to reap the rewards this week because Daddy got two days off this week to prepare for his test and he let Riley stay home with him so she did not have to go to school. She was rather disappointed this morning when she had to get up and go. Luckily tomorrow is the weekend and my cousin Olivia and her family will be in town and we can go hang out with them! On the potty front we are still having issues with #2. She holds it sometimes for 2 days because she is determined not to use the potty. I can't even count the number of panties I have thrown away. For some reason the school puts the poop panties in plastic bag and stick them in her cubby for me to bring home. OK NEWS FLASH, you can't get that "stuff" out and panties are cheap throw them away. I don't want a bag of dirty poop filled panties after a long day at work I will buy more. I know it's a little wasteful and lazy of me, but seriously the stuff doesn't come out.

I have a bad case of pregnancy hormones raging through my body so watch out! Basically I am a Bitch on Wheels. Sorry to everyone in advance I will return to normal hopefully soon. Mostly my husband takes the brunt of it, but others have also fallen victim as well. One of my current pet peeves is that for some reason we can never find the remote. So I am going to invent the REMOTE ZAPPER. It's simple really if anyone mainly said man of the house, tries to take the remote out of the room he will be electrocuted. Not at a high voltage just enough to make him but the thing back where it belongs. This is a result of me finally finding our remote out in the TRUCK.......?!?!?! Who takes the remote in the car with them???? (See that was hormones.)

In other breaking news on the home front, the Japanese (J)beetles are still present and reeking havoc on my basil. I ordered some spray stuff that is supposed to kill the grubs in the ground so that they do not re hatch for next year. Until then, we just have to spray to kill them and hope most of them find their way into the bug n bag.

Last but certainly not least, we have chosen a name for #2.........Lyla. If you are not cool with that name just keep it to yourself :). Some people like to over share when you announce the name of your baby as if it was their baby to name. (Sorry hormones again)

Until next time....I will try to tone down the hormones for my next posting and for my poor husbands sake as well!!!

Happy Birthday Olivia

Happy Birthday Cousin Olivia!

We will see you in a week!

PS I stole your skydiving picture :)

Going to the Chapel.....

One of the many gifts Riley received on her birthday was this wonderful wedding dress from David & Kate. She loves it and whenever she has it on she INSISTS that we leave to go to the wedding. I asked her who's wedding we are going to and she answers "mine". She says she is marrying her mommy and daddy. I thought that was sweet. Although she kind of gets a little pissy when I don't get up and take her to her wedding.

We have been busy at work and school. Riley has her first field trip today EVER! Her class is going bowling. She was pretty excited about it this morning. Nana is going along as a chaperon. Riley has been bowling once before and did okay with the help of her dad. We have been under siege by the Japanese Beetles they are eating my Crepe Myrtle and my rose bush, and my basil. (Assholes) So I have gone on the defensive I bought those bag a bug bags that you see with the plastic yellow thing at the top and let me tell you two bags are almost half full after 24 hours. HA TAKE THAT!!! Riley is really impressed and asks me constantly to take her out to see the Japanese Jeetles. We are easily entertained.

The pregnancy is still going well. I have been given about 4 different due dates so I have chosen to go with August 30th. Which makes me further along :) so that means I am 29 weeks and 4 days. First they told me August 30th, then August 31 not a big deal one day difference. Then it was like September 5th and then the 7th and I told my Dr. I wasn't coming back if they didn't stop pushing my due date back. I don't even ask now how I am measuring so who knows when the blessed event will be. My water broke with Riley at 36 weeks so she was a full month earlier than her due date. They have given me the option of C section (due to the crazy delivery last time) this time and I am just not sure which way to go. Rest assured there will be drugs. I really admire everyone who can do it cold turkey but I am just not that tough. Well I need to get going this morning so until next time....

Riley is THREE

Well it has been a very busy week for us. Riley turned three on Saturday so most of last week I was caught up in making her day as special as possible. I decided to make a "Barbie Cake" which my grandmother Patty used to make for us girls back in the day. I got directions from her plus I did a ton of online research just to make sure I did everything right. My friend Daryl who went to Culinary School and has a degree in Pastry Arts let me borrow all of her cool cake stuff. It was a big hit with Riley and it wasn't too hard.

Riley got a lot of wonderful cards and gifts from our family and friends. Thank you to everyone who made her birthday so special. We had a small family gathering at Nana's instead of a big blow out with a bunch of kids. She seemed to be just as happy and it was certainly a lot less stressful for me.

In other breaking news we are now pooping in the potty on a more regular basis. As a reward she gets ice cream every time she does the deed. So occasionally she will say she has to go #2 when really its just a ploy to get more ice cream. She kicked her dad out of the bathroom last night because she told him she needed "privacy."

Happy Father's Day to John you are a WONDERFUL father and Riley and I love you!


In baby news, I had an OB appointment on Thursday I gained 7 lbs in four weeks. Which is way more than I had hoped so I am going to have to cut out some candy and other treats to keep myself in check. The baby is coming along nicely, and other than nearly peeing in my pants every five minutes I feel pretty good. She moves a lot. I think she might even kick harder than Riley did.

Above I posted pictures of Riley's new room with the new princess comforter, and a couple of pictures of the Barbie Cake I made. I posted more pics on picasa however, my camera died so I have more posting to do tonight. Hopefully the batteries will be charged and ready to go.

Until next time....

Happy Birthday Grandpa/Dad

Happy Birthday to my Dad aka Grandpa! We miss you!

Happy June!

Well I don't have any pictures to post so please don't fall asleep while I bore you with the details of our life. Let's see what has happened since last week when I posted.

I will start with my husband. Now, those of you who know John know that he is very handy and likes to fix things and is always involved in some sort of project around the house. Well, Saturday he decided to changed the oil in my truck...he has done this several times before in the car and it always turns out fine. (I would just assume pay the $20 to some Jiffy Lube type place.) Well something happened with the oil filter and the seal so after completing the oil change he got in the truck to crank it up to let the new oil do what ever it does. Well, this is usually the end of the oil change...........NOT TODAY. The oil filter blew off the bottom of the truck oil exploded into the garage, on the other car in the driveway, covered the driveway. Basically, it looked like the Exxon Valdese just slammed into our house. He tried and tried to figure out what was going on, and again more oil just spewed. He finally gets so aggravated he comes inside and announces he is getting in the shower he is over it. (I knew he was going to a cook out with some guys so this kind of got me mad thinking about my truck covered in oil, undrivable in the driveway, while he goes off to drink and have an awesome time with his buddies.) So I responded with "well that is fine I will just call AAA and have them tow the truck somewhere where someone can fix it." I know feed the bear don't poke him. Anyway after a few words that we can laugh about now he called his friend who is a mechanic and figured out that the seal from the old filter stayed on the truck and then he added a new filter with a new seal which made it not seal. Problem solved, and the best part about this story is John promised me that we will now be having our oil changed by professionals.

As for Riley, she is doing great. She moved up to Ms. Amy's class and is loving it. The only problem we are having is with #2 she would rather poop her pants than go in the potty which is a problem at school and they said they will have to move her back down to the 2 year old room if she doesn't get the hang of it SOON. If anyone has any ideas let me know I have tried bribes but nothing is working. In other big Riley news she decided that she would change rooms. So she has officially moved to what used to be our guest room. I am in the process of decorating it in the Disney Princess motif per her request. She was talking to the baby Sunday night and I said look she just kicked so Riley pulled her leg up to my stomach and said "do you want me to kick her back?". The other cute thing she said recently was on Sunday night when she was not cooperating about going to bed and John told her she would not get to watch any TV if she didn't listen and go to bed she responded "But Daddy I haven't been to the office today." Which I reminder her that that was indeed true but only because she had NOT been to school that day either. We are now counting down the days to the big 3rd Birthday June 14th!!!

In baby news, I am now finishing up my 27th week. She kicks and moves alot. NO, we have not decided on a name. I am feeling a little slower all of the sudden and it's starting to get pretty hot here which does not make me happy at all. I am also hormonal at times. So I will just apologize now and please remember in a few months I will return to somewhat normal......I hope.

Almost forgot, Congratulations to Shanna Riggsbee on finally being in labor I hope Avery makes an easy and somewhat quick arrival!

Graduation

Well today we reached a milestone in the Setzer home. Riley graduated from the 2 year old room the the 3 year old room. She is pretty proud of herself and so are John and I. I thought she would be devastated about not being able to have a paci at school but she has adjusted quite well. We now only have paci at bedtime and from everything I have read she will give up on that on her own with in the next 6 months. Hopefully they are right. The other big difference in the 3 year old room is that we must be potty trained. Apparently someone does much better at school with potty time than at home. I think that is my fault.

Riley was quite the performer today she stood center stage and sang really loud. She would look over at us and smile really big. She was born to perform. Oh and lets not forget the raising of her shirt to cover her face and show of her chest. We will have to work on our lady likeness.

We have been back at work since Tuesday and getting back in the swing of everyday life is no fun. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.

In other breaking news my great Aunt Honey had two ginormous trees fall on her house today. She is fine. Her house and cars will need major repairs but thank GOD no one was on that side of the house when the trees hit. It did however smash up my cousin Patty's side of the house. We are all really glad that both Honey and Patty are okay! There is a picture up top for some reason my pictures post where ever they want to and not through out the blog like I would like for them too.

Home

Well we had great weekend in Asheville, we got to see tons of family. Gas prices however, SUCK. Riley had a wonderful time playing with Luke and Lorelei who are my cousin Olivia's children. They are a little older than her but they all played nicely together. I have great pictures posted on Picasa which I have a handy dandy link to over on the right side of this page.

I finally bit the bullet and started a Picasa account which allows me to VERY easily upload all the digital photos that we have ever taken. I couldn't sleep last night after sleeping in the car on the way back from Asheville so there are several albums you can check out while look at my public albums. Hopefully, this will help me with my New Year's resolution of providing more pictures for my family to see.

We got to go to the WNC Nature Center while we were home and had a great time. They have come along way since all the field trips I took there when I was in school. The kids really enjoyed it and so did we adults.

On Sunday we all went to Davidson River out in Brevard and had a picnic with both sides of my family. It was fun. The water was cold I did not get in because I knew it was cold. (I mean common people that water is freezing in July and it's only May.) We cooked out, special thanks to Scott and Olivia for bringing the grill and cooking. We celebrated May and June birthdays along with Father's Day and my brother's graduation from high school. We don't see each other a lot so we figured we better squeeze everything we could in. Riley was elated to be there with all of her grandparents and great grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles. I think the cupcakes and presents also were a big plus for her.

Thanks to everyone for such a great weekend. I probably will not leave Myrtle Beach again until after the baby (still no name) arrives. So please come and visit us anytime this summer before and after she arrives.

Don't forget to check out all the pictures I have finally uploaded to Picasa.

Last but not least HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister in law DONNA SETZER I think this is a big one but I am not going to mention any numbers.

Going home!!!

We are going Asheville (which I will ALWAYS consider home.) I can't wait. My boss just announced we would close our office Friday in addition to Monday, so I get a four day weekend WHOOOO HOOOOO! I hope everyone has a Happy Memorial Day and safe travels to those who will be on the roads! Happy painting and God Bless!!!

Finally a new blog

I know I am totally a slacker I want to blog but I never have any pictures to post and I don't want to bore everyone to tears with just words. Here are some pictures of Riley and cousins Kaleb, Karson, and Kaitlyn from Easter.

The latest on us. I am doing great. Now into my 24th week of pregnancy. Everything is going great my weight is under much more control that with Riley although I am still pretty chunky. I had to take off my wedding rings because I have started to swell slightly and decided I better go ahead and get them off before they have to be cut off. I have a lot of energy right now and most importantly I am not nauseous. I really like corn on the cob and watermelon these days which is a healthy switch from my last pregnancy where I really liked candy bars and junk food.

John is doing great. He is brewing beer on a regular basis as soon as we get the kegerator in the garage fixed we will have anywhere from three to four beers on tap. Every woman's dream! He is really getting good and other people really like his beers. I am not a beer fan and being pregnant I haven't really been an active taste tester.

My mom was here all last week and she and Riley had a wonderful time. Riley LOVES her Pammy. Pammy got to be here for Riley's kindermusik graduation. Riley has done kindermusick with her Nana since she was 6 weeks old. If have a program in your area take your child it's an amazing program. Anyway back to Pammy she and Riley had tons of fun at the pool and Pammy bought Riley every "Little Mermaid" thing she could find. We have a large talking Aerial, a smaller swimming version, books, the DVD underwear and the list goes on. Thanks to Pammy for being such a big help with Riley last week it gave me a break.

As for Miss Riley she is just full of herself. She decided that while we were at Cracker Barrel that she would finally talk to her sister via pulling my shirt up to talk through my belly. She had some nice things to say to the baby however she ended it with, "and if you cry we will spank you." Starting yesterday we are not allowed to bring the pacifier to school anymore I am glad because this gives me more motivation to get rid of it. Now we only have it at bed time and although it was an adjustment at first she is doing much better with it than I could have imagined. Tonight is open house at Riley's school she is moving up to the 3 year old class in a couple of weeks and we have to go to meet her new teachers. Last night Riley asked me if she could have the mouse pad (it has an American flag on it.) She took it over to the couch put her hand over her heart and began the Pledge of Allegiance and then burst into My Country Tis of Thee. I had no idea she knew either of those. We got it on film and although it is far from a perfect pledge you can make out most of it. As soon as I figure out how to post video I will put it on my blog.

I am really excited because we are going home to Asheville for Memorial Weekend. I can't wait to see my family. I think that is all the updating I have for now without making this one post go on and on.