the Life of Olena

Not too much has been going on around here lately. The winter blues are starting to kick in and we are all getting cabin fever. When the three of us spend an evening all in different rooms because we honestly just need a break, you know Spring needs to come quick! I have however, taken advantage of the few wintry days we have left and have been somewhat productive. I spent the weekend cleaning and organizing my closets...bathroom, and bedrooms - and I even completely empty the pantry cupboard and reorganized. Life seems so less chaotic when things are nice are tidy! This motivated me so much and made me feel so good I decided to start my own Home Management Binder. I heard Tonya mention this first, and then it was like I started reading a flurry of blogs that discussed it. I took a couple of hours on Sunday night and goggled it - which brought me to many blogs and sites. I did some research, figured out what would work best for us, and put it all together by the time I went to bed! The

I just finished going through all of the blogs in my favorites and of course Tonya always has something fun to say. Her last post being about nic names. Lana is a nic name in it's self I suppose; being that her name is Olena. On the fun side of things she is normally called either ChiChi or Lanabug. ChiChi is shortened from Monchichi! Not sure if any of you remember the Monchichi ? When I was little, I had one. They were these two little stuffed monkeys with plastic faces and plastic hands. One was a boy and the other a girl. Some were puppets and the most exciting thing they did was suck their thumbs. Don't ask me why, but it was one of my favorite toys :) Well that is where I got Monchichi because when we came home she was so tiny and cute just like my favorite Monchichi. Throughout the year it has fazed out to just chiChi! It is funny because if I walk into the local Walgreen’s everyone is always asking "where's chichi today?" She has paparazzi every

We both got our hair cut!! Cut the same exact cut, yet they don't look much alike. She wears it much cuter than I can :) I don't have a picture of mine, but I had to share hers because it looks so cute on her. For all of those long hair lovers out there. I too usually opt for the little girls with gorgeous long hair but not for a 3 year old. Her hair never stays in the pig tails or pony tails longer than a couple hours. Barrettes never stay in because she still doesn't have a lot of hair, it is thin. I don't like chasing her around the house to get the hair out of her face (which drives me crazy). She also has a fetish with rubbing her hands through her hair so it always ends up looking like a crows nest at the end of the day and I have fight to get the snarls out. It just isn't appropriate for her right now. Besides, with all of the nutrition she gets now, it is always growing like crazy. She is getting new hairs all over her head and it is getting thicker and thic

I have a bad habit of saving a lot of recyclable things because I think it would make a great art project. This usually is the case and many of the items I save, do get used. However my saving seems to FAR exceed my need. Over the weekend I took the paper towel tube off of the holder and walked right over to my craft box and tossed it in, then scolded myself and asked why the heck I am saving yet again another tube? At that moment it hit me. I decided to make a new house rule. Nothing is allowed to be saved unless I know exactly what it will be used for or it must be used in today’s project. If not, the item has go to the recycling bin. I picked up my tube and just stared at it??? What on earth was I going to do with this item I found so necessary to save???.... Ah, Jason just bought me some wild bird food. I was going to have her make a bird feeder with some seed and my just expired jar of PB that got shoved to the back of the cupboard. My intentions were to use pine cones,

The Alica Keys song that is playing is in honor of my baby, Olena. So LOVES this song and everytime it comes on we have to dance :) I pick her up, and dance in a cirle all the while she has her head tilted all of the way back as if she is feeling the sun on her face, she shakes her head gently back and forth, and waves her arms in the air. It is so sweet to watch. She is a music junky!!

I know many of you are anxious about me taking some time to post so I figured to avoid 1 huge long post I would right a few over the next week and I should get everything covered. Besides the fact that I just don't have the motivation or the energy to really post tonight anyhow. Tonight I will start with my surgery. I will wait on the post about Olena because I would like to post some new pictures as well so I will get to that later. As I mentioned I had surgery last Monday. Though it was difficult and a bit embarrassing to share exactly what I had done, I thought it might actually do me good. It is a way for me to share my story, share my success, and maybe even get some needed support when the time comes if ever. I had the Lapband inserted. For those of you who may not know what this is, it is a baratric surgery. It is done laproscopically, and a Band is "wrapped" around your stomach and the idea is to increase your feeling of fullness. You take in much less and

Sorry everyone, my surgery came up quicker than expected so I was very busy with pre admission testing, and preparing. Monday the 11th was due day, so I am now at home trying to recover which is going a lot slower than I had hoped. Doing better, but I still have a ways to go. I will share some information next time I post about what I had done, and how things are going in our household! Keep in touch :) BTW Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and WOOWHO Happy 5th Anniversary to Jason and I!!