tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27929341457373371102024-03-12T19:13:40.719-07:00The Mommy DiariesWelcome to my world. I'm a mommy to 2 adorable boys, a photographer, a soon to be EMT and newly single. Enjoy my random thoughts and interesting stories of day to day life :)Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-54096643772511312342013-07-02T09:49:00.001-07:002013-07-02T09:57:51.995-07:00Keepin' it Awkward<b>AWKWARD MOMENTS!</b> We've all had them...they're unavoidable...and they make your insides feel all twisty and mangled. Today I was talking with my friend Marissa and we discussed a fairly entertaining possibility of an awkward moment, which got me thinking about other awkward moments <i>[by the way, if you say awkward too many times it starts to not sound or look like a word anymore. Awkward, awkward, awkward, awkward....<b>IS THIS EVEN ENGLISH ANYMORE?!</b>].</i><br />
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So today, let's talk about some of my personal favorites for awkward moments...<br />
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<b>1] You forgot someone's name who you've recently met.</b><br />
Why...WHY...do I have such a problem remembering people's names?? I remember being in kindergarten and having the same problem. Just met a kid, trying to make friends, we're playing on the play ground and having a flippin' awesome time swinging on the monkey bars, then <b>BOOM</b>. It happens. What is this person's name?! When I was 5 or 6 years old, I'd just ask again. Let's talk about a more recent experience though. I was photographing a wedding last month [one of 3] and when I was photographing the wedding party, I could not for the life of me remember the names of these two guys and they were the ones that I needed to direct the most. This wedding party kindly reminded me of their names a good 6 times or so too....unfortunately I'm too stupid to remember things like names, so I did what any rational adult would do...I gave them nicknames. <u>Curly fries and Twilight hair.</u><br />
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<b>2] Your kids flip shiitake mushrooms in a public place.</b><br />
<u>FELLOW PARENTS I KNOW YOU FEEL ME ON THIS ONE.</u> You're at the mall, grocery store, park, where ever, and your kids are totally fine. Playing nicely, being all cute and stuff, then suddenly World War 3 explodes out of them like <b>NOBODY'S</b> business. They want something and they want it <b>NOW!</b> If you say no, they will make sounds at a pitch you didn't even know existed. People will look at you in different ways too when they hear the murder cries of your child. Younger people [or people my age] will look at you like, "OMG I never want kids. That chick is crazy for having them." Other moms and dads look at you like, "oh man, I've been there. Good luck lady!" and the rest of the world looks at you like you're the worst parent in the entire world and deserve to have poo filled diapers flung at you. <u>Unfortunately, you only have 3 choices in this situation.</u> You can pick up your little one[s] and leave in a frantic panic, join them in the screaming and crying because let's face it...you probably want to at this point, or act like you don't know this child and loudly say, "who's kid is this?!"<br />
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<b>3] Getting friend zoned or friend zoning someone else.</b><br />
This is so awkward it makes my insides swell up just thinking about it. Getting friend zoned...ahhh nothing like getting subtly shoved down friend aveneue. Phrases and questions such as:<br /><b><i>"Can you give me some dating advice?" <br />"Dude" <br />"I wish I could find someone like you"</i> and <br /><i>"You're such a good friend"</i> </b><br />from that not-so-special someone are the best way to make sure you go straight to the grocery store and pick up a giant bucket of ice cream for yourself...and some wine. We can't forget the wine. <u>On the other side</u>, friend zoning someone is JUST as awkward. Especially when they're trying <b>WAY TOO HARD</b>. You don't want to be mean, but you know you're not interested and they definitely are. So you try to be nice, talk to them in a short yet friendly manner, but they don't pick up on the hints and continue to give you a plethora of really weird, sorry excuses of compliments. From there it gets more awkward, and eventually you just have to be blunt. <b>I DO NOT LIKE YOU. YOU ARE MY FRIEND. STOP FREAKING ME OUT.</b> This usually puts a stop to the nonsense. On that note, <u>if you don't want to get friend zoned</u>, TONE IT DOWN. Don't come on so fricken strong but leave subtle hints that you have some interest. It's kind of like hunting...if you run towards that prize buck screaming and waving your arms all over the place like a moron, <b>YOU'LL SCARE IT AWAY!</b> So chill out and sit in your tree stand like the good hunter you are.<br />
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<b>4] You tell a joke, and no one laughs</b>.<br />
Story of my life. I tell a joke, or a story of some sort, and my intention is to make people laugh. I finish said story/joke, look around, and see blank faces. It's so quiet you can hear crickets from 3 counties over chirping. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of attempting to escape that beautifully awkward moment. I usually say something like, "well, apparently you had to be there to understand the magnitude of this epic tale" or "just kidding! jokes on you! I wasn't trying to be funny anyway!" OH and it's also sort of awkward to be the person that isn't laughing. I've been there, rather recently actually. There were a few people in my EMT class who would tell jokes from time to time that I just flat out didn't get. They'd let out some hearty belly laugh, a few other people would slightly chuckle, and I'm looking around like, <b>"what did you even just say?"</b><br />
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<b>5] You show up to the Safe House earlier than everyone else and get the password wrong.</b><br />
This was me a few days ago. I was under the impression that the password to get into the awesome spy themed bar of Milwaukee was simply "safe house." Last time I was there, that's what I said and got in just fine. <b>THEY LIED TO ME!</b> So I whisper in the chicks ear the incorrect password, she loudly proclaims, "I'm sorry but that is incorrect!" and she then instructs me to demonstrate my crappy dance moves in front of a crowd of strangers so I'm allowed in. To make it even more awkward, they have TV's on the inside of the bar that show what people are doing in that room. So after I get laughed at in that room, I walk into the bar and get laughed at too. To make it even MORE awkward, none of my friends showed up for a good 10 minutes after that. DARN ME AND MY ABILITY TO BE ON TIME!!<br />
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<b>6] Someone leaves a weird comment on your Facebook picture/status. </b><br />
Do you like it? Do you delete it? Do you comment back? I'M SO CONFUSED!<br />
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<b>7] Strange text messages from people you don't really know all that well.</b><br />
They're all like, "I love you!" or "I miss you!" and you're like...uhhhh....you're such a good friend..? bahaha<br />
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<b>8] Too many compliments.</b><br />
SO AWKWARD!! Someone tells you they like your hair, and you say "aww thank you!" Then they tell you they like your outfit. So you say, "thank you" again. Then they tell you they love how pretty your eyes are. So you say, "hah...uh, thanks..." because it just went from an innocent compliment to potential future stalker in 3.4 seconds. It gets weird real quick. Especially when you're not really picking up on anything you genuinely like about what they're wearing, how their hair is or whatever else is going on with this person. So if you attempt to give them a compliment back, it sounds fake and just as bad as their over complimenting. Awkward overload.<br />
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<b>9] It's really quiet, and you're hungry, and all you have are chips.</b><br />
Nothing like being the douche bag at the movie theater who ordered nachos during Skyfall. Yes, that was me. <b>Sorry I'm not sorry.</b> Those nachos were effing delicious. However, I definitely felt the eyes of the other movie watchers burning into my skull. They were probably secretly wishing I started choking on one of those nacho chips. Jokes on you losers, I know the Heimlich maneuver! <br />
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<b>10] You sent a text to the absolute wrong person.</b><br />
You've just texted a ridiculously dirty joke to your best friend, only to find out it actually went to your super reserved cousin. Have I done this? No [however it would be hilarious if I did]. I have definitely sent texts to the incorrect person before though. USUALLY I'm fairly lucky and it can be side stepped..as if I accidentally did it on purpose...because I'm slick and witty like that...but there have been a few times were there was no avoiding it. Like texting a girl friend back in La Crosse how much I miss her, but it actually went to that dude who wont leave me alone. CRAP. Alcohol was involved...GET OFF ME!<br />
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So there you have it folks. Some of my favorite awkward moments. I'm sure I'll come up with more as time goes on. Stay tuned! :)<br />
-Taber Lacie</div>
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Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-47092669232946061402013-06-18T08:05:00.002-07:002013-06-18T08:05:19.895-07:00The App that ALL Single Ladies Should Have<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Short and sweet post for today...but ladies...oh my goodness. If you're single, you <b>MUST</b> download <b>Lulu</b> onto your phone. What is Lulu you ask? It's freaking amazing.<br /><br />You know how when you meet a guy there's this little voice in the back of your head that's telling you to run away because he's probably a douche? Then this other little voice is trying to be nice and says "just give him a chance! Maybe he's not like the rest!" and you're at war in your mind over whether or not you should waste your time getting to know this fool. Well with this app, <b>PROBLEM SOLVED!</b><br /><br />Just type in a guys name and <b>BOOM</b>, his profile pops up and tells you all sorts of good to know details. Like if he's a player, if he respects women, if he cleans, if he has no goals in life, ect. It even gives a rating on some juicer details. Which can be pretty funny. Especially when you look up an ex and just laugh and laugh that you're not the only one who experienced these details.<br /><br />The best part,<u> it's only for women AND it's totally anonymous!</u> You can rate anyone and you're just labeled as friend, ex girlfriend, hooked up, crush, or relative. Then based off of what relationship you picked as having with that guy, it asks you questions, let's you pick out some hash tags to add to their profile and gives them an overall score. Seems like it ranges from 5 to 10, 5 being...meh...10 being...HOLY AMAZEBALLS.<br /><br />So what are you waiting for?! Go download that app right now and enjoy the hours and hours of entertainment it provides. Also, rate a few dudes to give a warning to other ladies...or to let them know that this guy IS worth their time. We can all save each other a lot of head aches and heart aches.<br /><br />Loving the comradary between my ladies here. <b>GIRL POWER!</b> :D<br /><br />Until next time,</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxgrNnq9ulR-pFf016rphHPejxfs73v40tZkd-56s6elSfkM5VeWddY_NTvp78DCQ6m3e22bxfn4fhFWSRcvG7Sr0xx7y3LzEMFUziOg2eCHmiXp72f1EfBE9ItnKa0DGxACqEQPfTGqY/s1600/Blog-Signature.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxgrNnq9ulR-pFf016rphHPejxfs73v40tZkd-56s6elSfkM5VeWddY_NTvp78DCQ6m3e22bxfn4fhFWSRcvG7Sr0xx7y3LzEMFUziOg2eCHmiXp72f1EfBE9ItnKa0DGxACqEQPfTGqY/s320/Blog-Signature.gif" width="320" /></a>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-52743577974132464862013-06-17T18:42:00.001-07:002013-06-17T18:42:13.715-07:00I Suck at Blogging<span style="font-size: large;">Hey there readers! </span><br /><br />Before you yell at me again for not posting for a ridiculously long time <i>[again]</i>, <span style="font-size: large;">I'm sorry</span>! Most of you are friends on Facebook so I'm sure you've at least seen once or twice that I've been <b>INSANELY </b>busy. Not just sorta kinda busy, but so busy that <u>my head nearly popped off once or twice.</u> Adding a blog on top of getting my EMT certification, my photography business, children, losing weight AND a divorce in progress [yes...that's right, the big D word is happening. For those of you who didn't know - and boy, does THAT get complicated!] would have actually made me spontaneously combust.<br />
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From here on out, I'd really like to start blogging again at least once or twice a week. Writing is an awesome release for me and getting all my thoughts out there [the good, the bad and the downright ugly] is probably going to be good for me, just as it was before. Plus, for those of you who enjoy reading my thoughts, it works out for you as added entertainment to your life :)<br /><br />Instead of going on and on about all the stuff that's happened over the last 6 months, I'll wrap it up in a very quick list here:<br /><br /><br />
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<li>I lost 20 pounds from TurboFire! <b>WOO!</b> Unfortunately, I still look a tiny bit pregnant. Darn you stubborn belly fat and stretched out uterus!</li>
<li>The photography business has recently started to pick up a lot more and I'm feeling rather inspired lately. If you haven't had a chance, go check out my website! <a href="http://www.taberlaciephotography.com/">www.taberlaciephotography.com</a></li>
<li>Not only did I do pretty freaking awesome in my EMT class, I got my national certification as an EMT! So if you need your life saved and you're somewhere near me, I can <i>probably</i> help you out. By the way, it's only <i>"probably"</i> because if you just got shot in the head, I can't really pull that thing out and do immediate surgery...BUT I can slap a giant bandaid on that sucker and take your booty to the hospital! ;)</li>
<li>Corvin and Zander are getting SO BIG and SO SMART! It's crazy. I feel like they were just born the other day. Sometimes I just want to grab them and say <b>SLOW DOWN WITH ALL THIS GROWING UP STUFF!</b> But then I realize that they're toddlers and probably would have no idea what I'm saying. Then they'd slobber on me or poop their pants. You know, the usual.</li>
<li>Ahh the big "D" word. Yes, it's happening. For lots of reasons you may or may not have heard about. I wont go into detail, but I will say I ended it due to several bad decisions on the ex's side of things. So, SINGLE LIFE HERE I AM! If by chance any guys are reading this, let me just say one thing....<u>don't ask me on any dates right now.</u> I'm sort of not very happy with men lately...you could actually call me a man hater for the time being. SO if you ask me out and I viciously turn you down, don't say I didn't warn you! Alright...I won't be vicious, but there's a darn good chance that I'm going to say no. This is the time for me to focus on me and my children while my life gets reorganized. I'm actually saving you a lot of trouble here because who really wants to deal with all this craziness right now? I don't even want to deal with it. So, you're welcome.</li>
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<br />Speaking of men....let's discuss something here...<br /><br /><b>WHY ARE GUYS SO DOUCHEY?!</b> Seriously. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I get all sorts of ridiculous comments made to me, how many losers hit on me, how many lame pick up lines I've heard, blah blah blah. It's annoying. It actually makes me want to stay home and snuggle with a bottle of Southern Comfort while watching <i>Magic Mike</i>.<br /><br /><b>Example:</b> When I shot this last wedding in Peoria I went out and met up with a friend at a karaoke bar. Sang some songs, had some fun, but as the night went on, the douchey guys got more and more brave and aggressive. Some of them proved interesting to talk to, most of them...ehhhhhhh not so much. Pulling my hair [rather hard by the way!] and saying, "I like your hair" with a smile that makes you look like you're having a stroke is <b>NOT</b> the best way to begin hitting on me. Personally, I thought this was common knowledge. However, it happened twice that night. <b><span style="font-size: large;">TWICE!</span></b> Really guys?! <u>I think I got hit on better in elementary school.</u><br /><br />Among my hair being pulled, other failed attempts occurred. Continuously grabbing my hand and kissing it when I don't really know you is creepy. If you do this, <b>stop it</b>. You're weird. Putting your arm around me and telling people I'm your girlfriend is not the way to actually make me your girlfriend. Hitting on me, failing, then going over to your friend who is less than 10 feet away and saying really mean things about me, THEN hitting on me AGAIN is DEFINITELY A NO-NO!<br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">WHERE HAVE ALL THE REAL MEN GONE?!?</span></b> asdlkfja;sdlfkjeowimc<br /><br />Thankfully, I'm raising two little boys who will most certainly<b> never</b> be the sort of guys that do things like this because their mother will teach them how to treat a woman properly. They will not be the sort of guys who are creepy. They will not be the sort of guys who lead a woman on when they have no intention of dating said woman. They will not be the sort of guys who act like they're God's gift to women. They will be absolutely nothing less than respectable gentlemen. The world has too few good men left, so it's up us mommy's and daddy's to raise our boys right.<br /><br />To all the parents out there with daughters who are around my boy's ages,<i> you're welcome.</i><br /><br />Anyway, I have learned today that the reason I attract all these awesome sorry excuses of men is because of my blonde hair, tanned skin and blue eyes. Maybe I should dye my hair a different color, stop going tanning and get colored contacts. Maybe I'll get red ones, because I'm obviously fueled with a firey hatred for the opposite sex lately. Will I actually do this? Probably not. But some days I definitely feel like I should.<br /><br />Well friends, it's been swell but it's getting to be about that time. I hope you all enjoyed reading my thoughts for the day. I'll try to do another one this week...however I promise nothing. I'm photographing another wedding in Peoria on Friday, then doing two photoshoots the next morning. Then applying for a billion jobs. Then editing my life away. All while trying to spend as much time as possible with my cuties. You could say that I'm a little busy lately.<br /><br />Until next time,<br />
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Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-19341721058000980232013-01-14T13:08:00.001-08:002013-01-14T13:10:45.037-08:00This is the Last Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is me. In all of my glorious post baby weight fat-ness. I'd post the picture of me in my sports bra, but I don't want to scare you guys!</div>
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This is the last time I ever want to see my gut look like this. This HAS to be the last picture of me taken where I look like I'm still pregnant. If ONE MORE person asks me if I'm pregnant, they might get punched in the face. Seriously.</div>
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About a week ago, I ordered Turbofire. Haven't heard of it? It's kind of like P90X or Insanity. It's made by the same company except this one is supposed to be more "girly" in my opinion. lol. Today, it arrived in the mail! I'm excited to give it a shot and see if it really will transform my body in 12 weeks.</div>
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12 weeks from today, I want to post a picture on this blog of me, just like this one, where I don't look like this anymore. That's my goal. I don't care if I lose 5 pounds or 25, I just want to look and feel better and I want to be able to show off my success story with you all. They say telling all your friends what you're doing is the best way to stay on track...I hope they're right!</div>
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Wish me luck! :)</div>
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Until next time,</div>
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♥ Taber</div>
Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-27686345369590994552013-01-05T13:06:00.003-08:002013-01-05T13:06:48.047-08:00The Attack of the Gym ZombiesSo, this morning I walk into the gym with my little ones in tow to see a gym <b>PACKED</b> full of people. No treadmills were open, no ellipticals, or bikes - people are basically in line waiting to lift weights. <u>It was totally ridiculous.</u> Thanks new years resolution-ers for hogging my gym! I knew it would happen, as we all did, but it was just crazier than I thought it would be.<br /><br />I almost think of all the new gym members as zombies. <br /><i>Yes, zombies.</i> <br />They sluggishly stroll around the gym, find a machine <i>[like the treadmill]</i> they sort of know how to use, then mindlessly use it at a comfortable speed as they zone out to Pandora or watch T.V. for a solid 15 minutes. Then they're bored, so they figure out how to get off of said machine and watch the other gym members out of the corner of their eye while acting like they're "checking their phone" in attempt to figure out what their next move should be. This takes around 5 min. After they're done stalking, they zombie walk over to something they don't really know how to use and within a few minutes, they hurt themselves a little bit<i> [which was probably just their muscles reacting to it actually being slightly strained]</i>. So it's off to the floor they go to stretch - because that's the one thing they know how to do - <u>and they're really good at.</u> This entire process takes about 30-45 minutes and gives them bragging rights to tell their friends, <i>"I totally worked out today." </i><b>when in all reality, they just did a lot of people watching and barely broke a sweat.</b><br /><br />Looking around at all the zombies, I was annoyed [as you can tell with my description above, lol]. Once I put my boys into the daycare area and got a chance to grab a treadmill, I thought about how in a few weeks they'll all be gone and then things will be back to normal. If you think about it though, <b>how incredibly sad is that?!</b> There are so many people that go into the new year saying, <i>"I'm going to lose weight!"</i> or whatever else they want to do, and most of them give up within a few weeks. I wish there was a way for me to help them stay motivated - a way to turn the zombies into actual human beings...but me being the new girl in town I don't really exactly know who's new and who isn't. This year I'll just have to stay focused on myself I guess. So best of luck to all you zombies out there! OH and by the way...If you think the above description is you, you might want to ask someone to help you come up with a solid workout plan ;)<div>
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Anyway, one of my goals last year was to lose weight as well, which I did accomplish with dedication and hard work. I lost 40 pounds...BUT I still have at least 20 more to go AND I really need to tone up. Some of you who know me well are probably thinking <i>"Oh Taber, shut up! You're so skinny already!"</i> To an extent, you're right. I'm smaller than I was a year ago that's for sure....but you have to understand that I:<br /><b>A] Have a very irrational fear of being fat and out of shape <br />B] I'm somewhat of a perfectionist<br />C] I don't take compliments very well</b><br />So I don't care how many times someone tells me that they think I look great, I appreciate the compliment but I won't believe you until I look in the mirror and see what <b>I</b> want. Which means I need to work my butt off - literally! Well...maybe not. I kind of like my butt. I'll go with belly....I need to work my belly off! Just wait for it, that phrase is gonna be everywhere before you know it! haha<br /><br />Today my friend Marissa inspired me to look up fitness classes in the Milwaukee area. My routine at my gym is....boring. Intervals on the treadmill for 25-45 minutes, then lift some weights or use some of the other weight machines depending on what I'm focusing on that day. I mean it's not a horrible routine and I try to switch things up but I need something else. There are a few different options for things I can do to help boost my weight loss and to get more toned again - I just need to decide what I want to do! There's a "jazzercise" place not too far away, and there's even a pole dancing workout place a few suburbs over from me. Hmm...decisions, decisions...<br /><br />Well anyway, I need to do some editing and place a few orders for photos today - so I should probably get going!<br /><br />I'll talk to you all sooner than later I'm sure :)</div>
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♥ Taber Lacie<br /><br /></div>
Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-31130242192717508172013-01-03T10:07:00.001-08:002013-01-03T10:07:45.616-08:00It's Been A While!Hey there blog readers!<br /><br />Before you bite my head off, yes I know, it's been quite some time since I've actually posted anything. Life got extremely busy. Since my last post [which was in MARCH! whoops...lol] a LOT has happened!<br /><br />I got married in May. The wedding was pretty good, everyone told me they had fun. There were only a few little hiccups but they were mostly manageable. I enjoyed spending time with my mom while we were both drinking after the wedding - lol.<br /><br />I photographed two weddings and did TONS of sessions last year. My business really boomed in September and I was extremely busy. I loved it though. My photography also improved a TON. I booked 3 weddings for 2013, all of which are in June in Peoria, lol. In the photography department, I'm pretty proud of myself :)<br /><br />Corvin and Zander are both walking, talking, running, and destroying everything. They're my favorite little adorable trouble makers. I've loved watching Corvin learn his A, B, C's among many, many other things. Watching Zander's transformation from baby to toddler has also been absolutely amazing. I love being a mama - it's probably the best thing about my life and always will be.<br /><br />I also lost 40 pounds or so last year. Go me! It took a lot of calorie counting and working out, but it was totally worth it. I still want to lose 20 more though...then I'll be happy with my size. Well....at least hopefully I will be. lol. Only time will tell, right?<br /><br />Oh, and we moved away from Peoria, Illinois and now live in Wisconsin again! Not La Crosse, but South Milwaukee. It's not bad here, but I still miss my hometown area! Since we moved here though, I did decide to go back to school at MATC to get my EMT certification as somewhat of a back up plan in case anything were to happen. I'm good at photography and I make a small amount of money off of it, but it's not enough to pay all the bills. So back to school I go...better to be safe than sorry in my opinion!<br /><br />On the sour side of things, my marriage took a turn for the worse. Long story short, Allyn made some very stupid decisions in October that cost him more than he imagined. We're going to try and work on things and we'll see how it goes. Marriage counseling may be in the near future in all honesty. It's unfortunate things had to turn out this way, but I'll dig myself out of this hole [just like I've always done in the past] and find a way back to happiness again sooner than later. Just need to figure out where that is first!<br /><br />Stay tuned to see how my life unravels this year. I would really like to be able to blog a few times at a minimum. Writing makes me feel so much....lighter. It's my own little stress reliever so it might help me through the stressful, confusing, crazy, exciting, new, wild adventures I'm bound to have in 2013.<br /><br />Wish me luck! Or say a prayer! I'll take either :)<br /><br />♥ Taber LacieTaber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-67871526608198671612012-03-20T08:22:00.000-07:002012-03-20T08:22:09.043-07:00Dreaming of...Toilets?For the longest time, I've had some extremely weird and vivid dreams. I can remember them like they actually happened too. It's very strange. Allyn doesn't ever remember his dreams, so I guess I'm not sure if I'm the weird one, or he is. haha. I don't really have much to compare myself to though.<br />
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There are several dreams I remember having when I was a little kid. One of them I was in my grandma's camper and all the furniture in there started attacking me. Another dream I was on an alien spaceship walking around and I walked into a room where aliens were operating on my grandpa. Once they saw me they started chasing me. Like I said, very weird.<br />
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One of my 'teenage' dreams I remember extremely vividly was me driving up Grand Dad's Bluff in La Crosse when all of the sudden I had to swerve from hitting a deer. I was driving a gray Oldsmobile...a very old one at that. Then I saw myself flying off the cliff towards my death and just before I was supposed to hit the ground I woke up. Scariest part about that is I didn't own that car yet. I ended up buying that exact car a year or so later. Once I realized that, lets just say I never went up that bluff in that car!<br />
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I also have had weird dreams of me riding my bike in nothing but a bikini bottom...and I wasn't the only one doing this. It was like everyone in the world lost their tops. The neighborhood we were all riding in was one that's in my hometown, Holmen, but it was like an earthquake happened there and everything seemed dark and broken.<br />
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My most reoccurring dream though is extremely weird. My dream will start off with me doing something totally normal like talking with friends, working out, walking around, then all of the sudden I see 1, or sometimes many, toilets just sitting in the middle of a room. No stalls around them like in a public restroom, no walls, nothing. What do I do? I flippin' use it. In front of people. Like it's no big deal. No one around me seems to think it's a big deal either! In my head I think, <i>'wow this is kind of embarrassing, I should probably stop'</i> - but I don't! How weird is that?? I've been told that probably means I have to go to the bathroom, but I'll wake up and I have no urge at all to go. I wish I knew what this weird dream meant because I have it all the time. If anyone knows, please feel free to tell me because quite frankly, I'm lost!<br />
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On another note, hopefully I'll be able to blog more often pretty soon. Zander is starting to become a little better with keeping himself entertained. Yay! I'm looking forward to him becoming just a tad more independent. I know he's only getting upset while I blog because he's bored...or because Corvin got jealous of the toy he was playing with and took it. Oh children....haha<br />
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Talk to you all soon!<br />
♥ Taber<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTiV-oNK18EJAvnMEwUbfJf7snX-GQHUuMisdqQ42JAdJzNLWeQG6YCRxWIyZVuh4A8_8qxu1msH2j7XCRmsnk-jq0mbJ_kqT9UIYvZlPkm8EUWL5s6t1tX2Vkq44vDvY7mtsKNbRNbtQ/s1600/A&D4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTiV-oNK18EJAvnMEwUbfJf7snX-GQHUuMisdqQ42JAdJzNLWeQG6YCRxWIyZVuh4A8_8qxu1msH2j7XCRmsnk-jq0mbJ_kqT9UIYvZlPkm8EUWL5s6t1tX2Vkq44vDvY7mtsKNbRNbtQ/s640/A&D4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I know I haven't been posting many photos lately! Bad me :( but I have been practicing my editing skills! I took a class and if you ask me, CRAVE mentoring certainly paid off! I'm very happy with how this entire session turned out! :)</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-39525962224653972292012-03-13T14:35:00.000-07:002012-03-13T14:35:55.424-07:00Motivation Has Escaped MeI have a bit of a confession.<div><br />
</div><div>When I get stressed and overwhelmed, I do one of three things.</div><div><br />
</div><div>1) Get mad and yell.</div><div><br />
</div><div>2) Cry</div><div><br />
</div><div>3) Ignore all things making me stressed out/feeling overwhelmed.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I've definitely hit number 3 over the past month. Current things on my list of stresses:</div><div><br />
</div><div>1) Wedding planning</div><div><br />
</div><div>2) Trying to lose weight</div><div><br />
</div><div>3) Very needy children</div><div><br />
</div><div>4) Cooking, cleaning, other miscellaneous housework</div><div><br />
</div><div>5) Keeping up with a daily blog</div><div><br />
</div><div>6) Photography</div><div><br />
</div><div>Over the last few weeks, I've definitely backed away from several of my stresses. You all have probably noticed I'm not really keeping up with the blog so well, haha. My wedding and my kids are pretty much the only things getting too much attention right now. Photography is an on again off again stresser, depends on how many shoots I've been doing. I obviously still cook, but I'm doing a lot of lazy meals and Allyn has been the one doing the dishes lately. I kind of feel bad about that :/ I've even lost a lot of motivation to lose weight. Since I've hit 129 it's like I don't seem to care as much. I know I still do. I still want to get rid of all the post baby weight (only 10-11 more pounds to go!) but my Zumba Wii disk isn't working and....well I'm just making a stupid excuse at this point.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I feel like I need something to motivate myself again but I don't know what. I know the thought of all the stress is keeping me from getting everything done but I don't know what to do to get over that. Ugh. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Hopefully I find my 'get r done' attitude again soon because I'm kind of on a time crunch here! Which is also stressing me out! Ahh! Anyone wanna come down to Peoria for a week and be my nanny so I can get things done? We'll feed you! :) haha</div><div><br />
</div><div>Anyway, I'm going to attempt to workout...my ondemand channel has some pretty intense kickboxing workouts I can do to kick this box back into action.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Talk to you all as soon as my life will allow me! </div><div>♥ Taber</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-3467363760844037312012-03-06T09:20:00.000-08:002012-03-06T09:20:40.385-08:00So Much To Do!Bad me - it's been <b>QUITE</b> a while since my last post. Sorry!<br />
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I'll try to be a bit more on top of this again! It'll be much easier now that I've got a few tricks up my sleeve for keeping Zander calm and Corvin occupied. Zander is officially smitten with his mobile. He used to not care about it, now he loves it. Yay! That thing will run for about 10 minutes before I have to go and turn it back on. Corvin stays in the room with him and basically watches him. He's such a good big brother!<br />
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Anyway, I don't think I've blogged about my big news! Maybe I have...but I don't really remember (hey it's been a while! Give me a break!). Well, have you heard of the show Bridezillas on WE TV? If you haven't, feel free to youtube it or to go to WE TV's website to check it out. Turns out they're interested in me! Very cool! I've done a phone interview, a written questionnaire (that was 12 pages long!) and we've done an on camera interview. They also sent us a TON of forms yesterday to sign and send back A.S.A.P. Sounds like we're pretty darn close to being picked if you ask me!<br />
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<u>JUST TO CLEAR THINGS UP HERE....</u><br />
Allyn and I have decided to do this NOT for 15 minutes of fame or anything lame like that, but for the fact that they do pay us to do it. Will I be acting? I'd like to call it guided reality. haha. So just for all you people out there that are wondering why in the world we would decide to be on a show like Bridezillas, that's why. Plus, we didn't have a videographer and now we have a free one...actually we have one that's paying us! ;)<br />
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More Wedding News: We've also finally got our invites sent out (if you're reading this, and I invited you, RSVP ASAP!), we've booked our DJ and decided we're only going to get a wedding cake for the wedding party (in effort to save money...plus our meal plan comes with cheesecake so the guests will be satisfied in that department!). We've also ordered the bouquets, I had my first dress fitting and we've chosen a judge to marry us!<br />
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<b>I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE GETTING MARRIED IN 2 1/2 MONTHS!!!</b><br />
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There's so much to do and so little time! Plus, our free month of rent was taken away (which we were relying on to pay for the remainder of the wedding expenses) so that's going to make things even harder. Light at the end of the tunnel? Allyn's been paying double insurance on his car, one through Farmers and one through his bank. Sounds bad but it turns out it's gonna be okay because the bank is willing to refund ALL the over paid money when they receive the proof of insurance that we've had over the past 9 months. That should cover our final expenses, but with the way things have been going lately, you never know. So I'm not going to get my hopes up until I have a check in my hands.<br />
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Anyway, Zander is no longer content and Corvin has exhausted his efforts on trying to give his brother some toys to make him happy. Time for this mama to get going!<br />
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Talk to you all tomorrow! (and I mean it this time! haha)<br />
<br />
♥ Taber<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHbM4Y4bdtbWUjSL1NnxEu30U7GO7z70YLOwtRJkOwUY9JsVq_w8YEy4911qKkcubkiG4_p2zoRwhKzIp0eU2StLd3yOs3ZA14xmh2021Zw5bcgl7c3lKaKGpceeJmj7R8yGICVTYySjA/s1600/Timeline+CoverJPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHbM4Y4bdtbWUjSL1NnxEu30U7GO7z70YLOwtRJkOwUY9JsVq_w8YEy4911qKkcubkiG4_p2zoRwhKzIp0eU2StLd3yOs3ZA14xmh2021Zw5bcgl7c3lKaKGpceeJmj7R8yGICVTYySjA/s640/Timeline+CoverJPEG.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here's the timeline cover I created today! Well, I downloaded the template and added the pictures & words. That still counts, right? ;)</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-15789694720072553522012-02-15T12:38:00.000-08:002012-02-15T12:38:28.135-08:00The Wrath of ZanderHow is it that one adorable little child can create such an awful screeching sound?<br />
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Yes, I'm talking about Zander.<br />
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I love my little chunky man to death, but when he cries, he screams. He also refuses to stop unless you pick him up. Yes I understand he probably just wants to be held, but I'll feed him, change him and play for a little while then unfortunately I need to do something else. Sometimes I need to clean, do dishes, workout, blog, plan our wedding, shower, cook or play with Corvin. Zander doesn't want me to do any of these things. I MUST give him ALL of my attention or else he's going to scream from the second I put him down 'til the moment I pick him back up.<br />
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WAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!<br />
WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!<br />
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br />
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This is the current tune to which I am writing my blog to. I feel like a bad mommy, but I'd be just as bad for picking him up when I know he just wants attention. Unfortunately, he has to get used to mommy not holding him every second he's awake (and sleeping). I wish there was something I could do to make him happy while I'm not holding him. Sometimes the bumbo satisfies him for around 15 minutes, which doesn't even give me enough time to work out. other times, he's content with laying on the floor watching TV or watching Corvin play. That lasts for about 8 minutes, which gives me enough time to....what am I talking about that only gives me enough to go pee 8 times in a row..<br />
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This is the point in a baby's life where they act like this though. Corvin acted similar to when he was around 3 months old, but he didn't scream the way Zander screams.<br />
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Ugh, I think I need to get some Tylenol and give in to my little sweet pea.<br />
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Advice? Post a comment on my Facebook link or a comment under this blog.<br />
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Until tomorrow!<br />
♥ Taber<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTI4RGZJ-VzXlcV8mSA0Qk-il_Sq638KX1JzUVSLiTv9aTxpx9qI3dw-_o-mmbkboz8htFiAybBIq8WSXta2JGoFjS7-bCzmNUyjLou1UzKDZsWxiuNgILEfcI6cx52pKAnGAQRl5nw4Q/s1600/IMG_2349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTI4RGZJ-VzXlcV8mSA0Qk-il_Sq638KX1JzUVSLiTv9aTxpx9qI3dw-_o-mmbkboz8htFiAybBIq8WSXta2JGoFjS7-bCzmNUyjLou1UzKDZsWxiuNgILEfcI6cx52pKAnGAQRl5nw4Q/s640/IMG_2349.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-2241395035465783982012-02-13T14:33:00.000-08:002012-02-13T14:40:31.966-08:00130Never did I ever think I'd be <b>HAPPY</b> to be 130 pounds!<br />
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I know it sounds silly, but I always used to be a skinny mini. When I graduated high school, I was 104 pounds. However, when I was a freshman in high school I weighed 123 pounds for a while and I felt like a fat cow! I remember looking at pictures of myself and thinking, '<i>ugh I need to fix THAT!'</i> Comments from other people around me didn't help either. So I started to push myself to lose weight at all costs. I hate to admit it, but I even made myself throw up several times and started to make myself not eat. I always looked forward to sports so I could get rid of my teenager fat and work towards a leaner body. Isn't it scary to think what just a few <i>"Hey fattie"</i> or <i>"that shirt makes you look fat" </i>comments can do to you? I kept up that attitude through out most of high school. My senior year, I took 2 gym classes in one quarter during track season, which is how I became 104 pounds.<br />
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After high school, I gained some weight (which was a good thing because I looked too skinny for a while) and ended up being around 115-118 pounds most of the time. I stopped puking up my food and making myself not eat and I choose several jobs that kept me moving around to make sure I stayed skinny and fit. On top of that, I would walk just about everywhere and go for the occasional run. My goal for my life at that point was to stay thin!<br />
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Little did I know everything would soon change...<br />
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In December of 2009, I got pregnant with Corvin. At the end of my pregnancy with him I was 154 pounds. He came out, and I got back down to 130ish. Then I got pregnant with Zander. At the end of my pregnancy with him I was a whopping 172 pounds. Yikes :/<br />
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When I saw that number on the scale, I was embarrassed! Kind of silly for a pregnant woman to be embarrassed about her weight, but I was. My fear of being fat came true and it sank into my head and crushed every last bit of confidence I had left. I didn't want to look at myself in the mirror, I photoshoped pictures of myself a little before posting them online or I at least cropped them, and I didn't want Allyn to touch my belly (still don't actually). It was hard, and still is hard, for me to deal with.<br />
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As of right now, I have more of a sense of accomplishment. I can proudly say I've lost 42 pounds, the healthy way, since October 29th 2011. Soon, I will be able to proudly say I'm 129 pounds. Seeing a '2' as the second number in my weight makes me feel like a giant burden has been lifted off my shoulders. In another week, I'm sure I'll see that 2 on the scale. I cannot wait.<br />
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Once, I was severely close to being underweight.<br />
Not more than 3 years later, I was overweight.<br />
Now....I'm finally back to normal.<br />
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It's been a hell of a roller coaster ride, but in the end it was all worth it. I have an amazing family to show for all my weight gain, and I'll be a stronger person for losing all that weight in the end.<br />
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118, here I come :)<br />
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Until tomorrow :)<br />
♥Taber<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisQHs5UOcxE_IDJDUXgqtzNZ8KIm7LwW__TwJdGBwyOAivA2XtwJ54sRU7MUC3Wpt99GGCLcyyoZAUcsxZYTEkEdomZwPk3NIk9qlVt4RHgWSZvDMJ5REIuvA4cyDnGX5kWkK4kNt7-V4/s1600/IMG_2350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisQHs5UOcxE_IDJDUXgqtzNZ8KIm7LwW__TwJdGBwyOAivA2XtwJ54sRU7MUC3Wpt99GGCLcyyoZAUcsxZYTEkEdomZwPk3NIk9qlVt4RHgWSZvDMJ5REIuvA4cyDnGX5kWkK4kNt7-V4/s400/IMG_2350.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This is an unedited picture I took with my point and shoot. Love these little guys much :)</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-61117325626705579862012-02-12T10:19:00.000-08:002012-02-12T10:19:53.817-08:00Bride on a BudgetFirst of all, just wanted to say sorry for not posting this yesterday. For those of you who are friends with me on facebook (which is pretty much everyone who reads this I suppose, haha) you saw that the people from the show Bridezillas called me on friday. They asked me to fill out this 12 page long form about the wedding which literally took me 4 hours to finish. Thank goodness Allyn was home otherwise there's no way I would've gotten it done this weekend!<br />
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Anyway, as promised I'm going to blog ALL about our wedding budget. Did you know that the average cost of a wedding in the La Crosse area is in between <b>$17,369 and $28,948</b>? (found that bit of information <a href="http://www.costofwedding.com/index.cfm/action/search.weddingcost/zipcode/54603" target="_blank">here</a>) That's INSANE! We're on a $10,000 budget MAX. The only way we've been able to make it $10,000 is thanks to our tax refund in all honesty.<br />
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As I mentioned a few days ago, I found a secret weapon. <a href="http://www.etsy.com/" target="_blank">Etsy.com</a>. Lots of amazing, handmade items from all over the world and many times you can find these items for a fair price. However, there are other tricks to having a decent priced wedding. Let's break it down...<br />
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<b><u>Reception Hall</u></b><br />
If you rent out your reception hall on a Friday or a Sunday (instead of doing the typical Saturday wedding) most times they will give you the reception hall for FREE! The Best Western definitely does this. You have to put down a $1,500 deposit within 6 months, but that all goes towards your final food bill. So far we have $2,100 in our Best Western account. So basically, if 20 people don't show up to our wedding, we wont have to pay anything more. If you have your wedding on a Saturday, you have to pay a rental fee ranging anywhere from <b>$1,500 to $3,500</b> depending on the time of the year - Spring time is more expensive. Which means we're saving <b>$3,500</b> just by having our wedding on a Friday! Plus we get a free bartender, a free honeymoon suite and free tea light candles. :)<br />
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<b><u>DJ</u></b><br />
If you know ANYONE who is a DJ, even if they're just an occasional downtown bar DJ, ask them what they would charge you. I know a guy who DJ's and we're saving almost <b>$1,000</b> by having a friend do it rather than some jerk who upcharges by a ton just because it's a wedding. So we'll only be paying about $450!<br />
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<b><u>Ceremony Site</u></b><br />
We ended up going with a slightly more expensive route on this one to make it easier on our guests, but our original plan was to have the ceremony at Riverside Park on the band stand. Why? It's only $50 to rent out the entire thing for a whole hour. It includes seating, a beautiful view and you don't have to do much work to it if you don't want to. To make everything easier on our guests, we're having our ceremony at the Best Western as well. They have an outdoor area for ceremonies for $200 that includes 120 chairs. So we didn't save money in this aspect, we lost $150. However, we saved enough money in other areas to make up for it!<br />
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<b><u>Wedding Dress</u></b><br />
If you don't mind shopping the clearance section of the bridal shop, do it! You can save SO much money. My dress was only $600 because I looked in the clearance section instead of checking out the brand new dresses. And guess what? NO ONE would ever be able to tell that's where I got it - except for the fact that I just told everyone. :) Because I did that, I saved<b> $600</b>!<br />
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<b><u>Centerpieces</u></b><br />
This is where etsy.com comes in. Once you pick your theme/colors, check this website out! We were going to spend $40 on each centerpiece before we found this website. Instead, we're spending $15 on each center piece! So we saved <b>$350</b>!! That's amazing! And honestly the average cost of centerpieces is $1,272! So we technically saved <b>$1,062</b>!!<br />
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<b><u>Decorations</u></b><br />
So far we've only purchased a few decorations from craigslist.com and etsy.com totaling to about $70. Other than that, we've just asked a few friends and family if we can borrow things from them to save money! Instead of buying brand new white christmas lights, BORROW them! You'll save at least<b> $50.</b> We're also borrowing jam cars (to put candles in) from our family members and that saves us around <b>$40</b> and we're borrowing some other random stuff that if we just went out and bought it, I can guarentee you it would cost us around <b>$400</b> to get it all. Just by asking to borrow things, we're saving <b>$490!</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><u>Cake</u></b><br />
According to the Bridal Association of America, the average cost of a wedding cake is $543. CRAZY to pay that much for a flippin' cake. We decided to get a Dairy Queen cake! I know this isn't for everyone, but we figured why not! We'll be paying about $200 for a cake that feeds all 140ish people that may (or may not) attend our wedding. PLUS our buffet style menu we have is giving everyone cheesecake on top of it all! So by doing that, we're saving <b>$343!</b><br />
<br />
<b><u>Invitations</u></b><br />
Know anyone who's good with photoshop? Ask them to make you a simple invite, 2 sides on a regular press printed card. We only spent $62.25 on our invites because I designed them myself and printed them through an affordable company - and that included 75 invites WITH envelopes! The average cost of wedding invitations is $659!!! We saved<b> $596.75</b>!! Incredible!<br />
<br />
<b><u>Cocktail Hour</u></b><br />
Instead of serving a ton of mini sausages, deviled eggs and other random crap, create your own candy station! If we decided to get 10 dozen sausage bites, 10 dozen chicken wings, 10 dozen deviled eggs, 6 pounds of pretzels and a cheese display for cocktail hour, that would cost us $434.20. That's barely enough food to last everyone for that hour. Getting a bunch of candy and borrowing decorative bowls shouldn't cost us more than $200. So we're saving <b>$234.20</b> just by giving our guests sweet treats with their drinks!<br />
<br />
<b><u>Bouquets and Boutonnieres</u></b><br />
Thank you etsy.com for helping me get ALL my bouquets and boutonnieres for only $450! Yes, they're fake flowers, but they're actually satin flowers, handmade, with "bling." Average cost? $698 for real flowers. So we're saving <b>$248!</b><br />
<br />
Things you shouldn't try to get cheap are your wedding bands and your photography. Those are two things you'll have FOREVER after you get married and you want them to be amazing. So SPLURGE on those if you must! Our wedding bands, together, cost $1,947.96. Our photography package (from Vibrance Photography in Madison, WI) is $2,216.56. Sure, those were spendy, but they are 100% WORTH IT!<br />
<br />
I know there are several things I didn't mention, but I think my point has been made clear at this point. Don't settle for the first thing you find, BARGAIN HUNT! If you do, you'll save SOOOO much money. Just off the things I mentioned here, we're saving a grand total of <b style="text-decoration: underline;">$8,073.95!!!!</b><br />
<b style="text-decoration: underline;"><br />
</b><br />
I hope you all enjoyed my breakdown of our wedding budget and how YOU can save money on your big day too. Remember, just because it's a big day, doesn't mean you have to spend big money!<br />
<br />
Until tomorrow :)<br />
♥ Taber<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJqjUlI6QtRB7EN9am8q_WVnL1xI0VuV9dKT5WJnorL8Fi3jV4y5XFTa2XxbVTMq31Z-K_DXmxKpgbjmkDJlN1X2pbDIUFq78HfWhjAHSrFJv0Tj2mnLug77f_uLwYzSO0EdTzO1tGFyI/s1600/MNT11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJqjUlI6QtRB7EN9am8q_WVnL1xI0VuV9dKT5WJnorL8Fi3jV4y5XFTa2XxbVTMq31Z-K_DXmxKpgbjmkDJlN1X2pbDIUFq78HfWhjAHSrFJv0Tj2mnLug77f_uLwYzSO0EdTzO1tGFyI/s640/MNT11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This is from the tea party shoot I did last week :)</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-12953002475345342392012-02-10T10:45:00.000-08:002012-02-10T10:45:59.841-08:00Bad BloggerWow. This is my 2nd blog all week. I fail.<br />
<br />
I've been so extremely busy getting as many wedding things done and paid for as possible. We got our tax money this week so we're paying off stuff (like our reception food, ceremony site, DJ, photographer, ect...) and as I mentioned a few days ago we've bought our centerpieces among other decorations from etsy.com.<br />
<br />
Let me tell you something. If you're planning a wedding, I <b>HIGHLY</b> recommend checking out<a href="http://www.etsy.com/" target="_blank"> www.etsy.com</a>! They have TONS of amazing, handmade, fairly priced items for sale. Before I found etsy, we were planning on spending $40 on each centerpiece! That's $560 for a bunch of vases and feathers. The centerpieces we have now were $15 each and they inspired us to create more of a theme for our wedding (which is like a rustic spring time look). In total, those centerpieces cost <u>$210!</u> So we saved <b style="text-decoration: underline;">$350!!</b> I'm thinking that tomorrow I'll blog about wedding budgeting to show you what we could've spent, compared to what we are spending :)<br />
<br />
Anyway, another reason I've been a bad blogger is because I've been busy editing pictures from my shoot last week on Sunday. Along with preparing for my wedding consultation tonight at 6:30pm. It's just been one of those weeks where I feel like I need 2 more hours every day. I've also barely had any time to workout in between babies, wedding planning and photography! Looks like I need to manage my time a little better... Now that we finally have a working dish washer instead of a giant dish drying rack, I might have more time to get things done :) Thanks landlord and maintenance guy!<br />
<br />
Well, I'm going to try and sneak in a cat nap here while both kiddos are passed out!<br />
<br />
Talk to you all later :)<br />
♥ Taber<br />
<br />
PS - Happy 17 months to my little man Corvin! :)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4LxmWyunZqK6HoqDCwIXsI5QHTDilaJML_sG76xsQSwMVHtOt1OCT44o5PMXwbL0RDsTzs9SShzBm4on3gjmV9Mh3P835zfKlOIFHd48yoF1n_E66pla4O1eN6x9s_r662zOuJy6U4k/s1600/MNT3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4LxmWyunZqK6HoqDCwIXsI5QHTDilaJML_sG76xsQSwMVHtOt1OCT44o5PMXwbL0RDsTzs9SShzBm4on3gjmV9Mh3P835zfKlOIFHd48yoF1n_E66pla4O1eN6x9s_r662zOuJy6U4k/s640/MNT3.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here's another photo from Sunday's shoot. Nyara was such a little character! :)</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-4100522075966181192012-02-08T12:05:00.000-08:002012-02-08T12:05:58.389-08:00Busy, Busy Mama!Sorry I haven't blogged for the past few days. So much to do and only so much time to do it!<br />
<br />
Anyway, quick updates on a few things....<br />
<br />
We've decided to go with a rustic theme for our wedding and we've ordered the centerpieces along with a few other things from etsy.com. (PS - I flippin' LOVE that website!)<br />
<br />
My very first fitting for my dress is February 29th at 3pm in La Crosse. Can't wait!<br />
<br />
I'm turning into more of a bridezilla with my wedding party day by day. Sorry guys, but it's crunch time! Only 3 and a half more months until the big day so things need to be getting done/ordered/paid for NOW!<br />
<br />
(Can you tell I'm a little stressed and wedding crazed?? haha)<br />
<br />
Also, I've booked another wedding consultation for this friday and a couples shoot for sunday. WOO! Loving the mini business boom I have going on right now! :)<br />
<br />
And in weight loss news, my size 6 jeans kind of fit! They'll button, but they don't look that great buttoned....so I do the pony tail trick for now. The accomplishment is that they fit past my butt now and the fact that they do button is HUGE! Even if it doesn't flatter my body while it's buttoned, they still BUTTON!! WOO!! Very excited! :)<br />
<br />
Anyway, I have a cranky Zander baby so I need to calm him down. Then I need to get my Zumba on and lose more weight so my first wedding dress fitting goes smoothly :)<br />
<br />
Until tomorrow (or whenever I have time!)<br />
♥ Taber<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCRFtPVIk1NbDT2-xpMn7ijyAwKtpUQ8Bvv5edCFWG7l-xicKFzhoMVLUz6c-H1_Z-7IoR59Lq-l2fkU-tNI6AiPuXayBMnD0EoSBe05goFQSBh2mjEX4Ryp0xWs__kiEqlJ3ryw3jcQg/s1600/MNT5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCRFtPVIk1NbDT2-xpMn7ijyAwKtpUQ8Bvv5edCFWG7l-xicKFzhoMVLUz6c-H1_Z-7IoR59Lq-l2fkU-tNI6AiPuXayBMnD0EoSBe05goFQSBh2mjEX4Ryp0xWs__kiEqlJ3ryw3jcQg/s640/MNT5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This is from my shoot I had on Sunday. Isn't little Tabia adorable?!</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-13870740641633750092012-02-05T15:06:00.000-08:002012-02-05T15:32:56.970-08:00Silly GirlsVery short post for today guys!<br />
<br />
I had my mother/daughter shoot today at a local playground here in Peoria, then we did the little tea party. The pictures turned out GREAT! I'm so happy with them! Right now I'm converting all my RAW files into DNG so PSE will recognize them. My camera is too new for my version of PSE to recognize the files as is so it takes me a little longer to get started. I'd rather wait a little longer for better picture quality though!<br />
<br />
The mothers name is Melanie, and her daughters names are Nyara (who's 5) and Tabia (who's 2). They were such cuties! Tabia got a little tired towards the end so I didn't get as many pictures with both girls doing the tea party, but I definitely got plenty of other great shots!<br />
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Hmm....228 files left to convert. This might take a while. I suppose I can make this post a little longer than I thought I could :)<br />
<br />
So I'll talk about an interesting conversation I had yesterday....<br />
<br />
Everyone remember my post called 'creepers'? Regardless of me not mentioning names, this is one post made 2 people very mad at me. My reply to that was, well if you don't want people finding out what you were doing, don't do it! Anyway, one particular individual hasn't talked to me since before that post was even written. I would say New Years was the last conversation we had. Well I asked this individual when a certain party was going on, seeing as I received a facebook invite, so I could purchase a present, to which this individual replied, <i>"who is this?" </i> To which I replied with my name. Then I received a text that said, <i>"those who were invited got invitations in the mail." </i>Ouch. So I said, you know, I can take a hint, I just wanted to get a present for your daughter.<br />
<br />
Then all H - E double hockey sticks broke loose!<br />
<br />
We bantered on for a bit but I soon decided it wasn't worth the trouble. I wish this individual luck with upcoming surgeries they're supposed to have and wished their daughter a happy 2nd birthday. If they wanted to talk to me again, they knew how to contact me. The reply was a bit long, including words like "sweetie" and "dear" (On a side note, why do people use those words in an argument? Do they think it's cute? Or that it sounds more intimidating? It kind of makes me laugh because I remember doing that in middle school). My blog was blamed at being the sole reason of all the unhappiness in this persons life, claimed that many people told this person about this (although I only have 4-5 mutual friends on facebook with this individual that may have read it) and then was told, <i>"don't talk to me, don't talk to </i>another individual who's name I dare not speak<i>, and don't show your face near my kid's birthday."</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
Meeeeow....<br />
<br />
So I said, <i>"well I meant what I said when I said good luck, have a nice life."</i> To which I recieved the following text...<br />
<br />
<i>"Anyway, I meant what I said. GET F***ED!!! Last time I'm telling you."</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
This is when the conversation became a little entertaining. I told her I'll tell Allyn to jump right on that, and I was told to not get pregnant...as if it was supposed to be an insult.<br />
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Good burn and TOUCHE!<br />
<br />
haha.<br />
<br />
Anyway, my files are completed and my little Zander is hungry! So this ends now (which is what I was told at the end of my entertaining argument yesterday).<br />
<br />
Until tomorrow!<br />
♥ TaberTaber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-62745798915206726862012-02-04T13:30:00.000-08:002012-02-04T13:30:08.630-08:00Happiness has ArrivedI have lots of good news!<br />
<br />
1. I'm down to (drum roll please...)<br />
<br />
<b><u>131.4 POUNDS!!!</u></b><br />
<b><u><br />
</u></b><br />
VERY excited about that!<br />
<br />
2. I booked my very first wedding today! :D I'm BEYOND excited for that! As I said a few days ago, this will be my first totally solo wedding - unless someone else books me for a wedding before August 11th :)<br />
<br />
3. Corvin can kind of say hair! :)<br />
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It's been a good couple of days for me. I can't wait to see how everything else is going to go! There was another bride who contacted me about setting up a consultation. If she decides to go with me as well, I may be able to afford the class I've been dying to take!<br />
<br />
Also, I just found a lot of great prop websites along with another class. This one is to teach you all the secrets of newborn photography (which is something I'm very interested in). This class is $550 for a one on one, 2 hour online mentoring session. That's probably going to have to wait another year! I'll stick with the simple newborn photography things I already know for now!<br />
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I am just SO excited right now for my business! I think in the next month or so, I'm going to officially register myself as an LLC.<br />
<br />
<i>Taber Lacie Photography, LLC</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
Sounds fancy ;) haha<br />
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Anyway, I have things to do to prepare for my mother daughter shoot tomorrow. I hope the rain holds off until Monday so we can get the adorable tea party started at 3pm sharp!<br />
<br />
Talk to you all tomorrow!<br />
♥ Taber<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE47QzHiQpmKxAZ0aLhLLoHBfO1Ogvtdv9VY-2shIURSWBxEepDfTZXVliQbfIMDavhoeKCYCF1LtNpygrsBPsuEdK8VpUngG87TGczoXhDv_kVBbGVw9pup_1HK087b5yyXjnNoopOLE/s1600/dickeyvillegrotto-detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE47QzHiQpmKxAZ0aLhLLoHBfO1Ogvtdv9VY-2shIURSWBxEepDfTZXVliQbfIMDavhoeKCYCF1LtNpygrsBPsuEdK8VpUngG87TGczoXhDv_kVBbGVw9pup_1HK087b5yyXjnNoopOLE/s640/dickeyvillegrotto-detail.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The AMAZING detail at the Grotto in Dickeyville, WI</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-7959531926805903172012-02-03T14:38:00.000-08:002012-02-03T14:38:24.994-08:00The Good Life ♥I'm in love with 3 boys.<br />
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Sounds pretty scandalous if you didn't know I'm talking about Allyn, Corvin and Zander :)<br />
<br />
But seriously, they fill my heart with more happiness than you could imagine. Do they get on my nerves sometimes? Oh you bet. And I can guarantee I get on their nerves too!<br />
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We're the Lottouzee family. We all love each other. Even though our boys are only 3 months and 16 months, I can tell they love each other too. Wont be much longer and Zander will be able to run around and play with his older brother Corvin and their daddy. He's already trying really hard to be apart of the fun!<br />
<br />
My post yesterday was mostly a big ol' complaint about Allyn. I told myself while I was writing it that I should make sure to let everyone know that Allyn doesn't normally do things like that. He's actually a very sweet guy - with the occasional butthead moments (who doesn't have those?). If I ask him to do something, he normally does it. He'll randomly do the dishes for me if he knows I've had a long day with cranky babies. He pours me a glass of wine at the end of the night when the kiddos are in bed. He tells me I'm pretty all the time - even though I don't believe him. He gives me back or foot rubs randomly, even when I don't ask. He used to do things like make me cute cards, leave little notes around, and even once made a giant banner!<br />
<br />
I'm lucky to have him. I look at him and think there is no way I could ever find a guy that loves me and treats me as good as he does. He's made my ultimate dream come true. I know, that sounds rather corny, but it's true. I always hoped that someday I could be a stay at home mom but figured there was no way that would happen. I always hoped I could start my own photography business but figured I'd have to get a regular job and work there for years before I could afford any kind of equipment or have the time. He's made it so I have those things, and I'm ultimately very thankful.<br />
<br />
Because of Allyn, I have a great life.<br />
<br />
May 25th cannot come soon enough. I can't wait to officially be Taber Lottouzee :)<br />
<br />
Until tomorrow<br />
♥ Taber<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip_ZiQuFAROjPQ7cQD2-ngjQk4qYEE6fU-Mmp7edR-LgE8MzhyphenhyphenbevWp-ZhJiRd8jrTqa0vHX_GRNZZo-wfyCOWCKBlSmfXRU3QfGvSkNisjcIyvk8ZhZhJw5jov5qVPa8Ah9MbEKY_7PM/s1600/Allyn+&+Percy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip_ZiQuFAROjPQ7cQD2-ngjQk4qYEE6fU-Mmp7edR-LgE8MzhyphenhyphenbevWp-ZhJiRd8jrTqa0vHX_GRNZZo-wfyCOWCKBlSmfXRU3QfGvSkNisjcIyvk8ZhZhJw5jov5qVPa8Ah9MbEKY_7PM/s640/Allyn+&+Percy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Allyn and one of his groomsmen, Percy</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-14334616905210250202012-02-02T07:42:00.000-08:002012-02-02T07:42:33.742-08:00Sparkly, Happy Sunshine Post?Taber doesn't exist. At least not on nerd/guy/drinking nights.<div><br />
</div><div>Ready for a sparkly, happy, sunshine post?! Sorry if that's what you were expecting for today. I'm probably not going to write anything too sparkly, happy or sunshiny. Whoops.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Whenever Allyn invites his friends from around here over, he slowly turns into a drunken, inconsiderate <i>"butthead."</i> His friends tend to act this way too. I say something, trying to participate in the conversation, and they literally ignore me. I had this problem when I was younger and I found out I just wasn't being loud enough. However, I know I'm saying it loud enough now. Sometimes they'll glance at me like <i>"I'm going to sort of act like I care, but I really don't give a crap." </i> For a bit I finally got to participate in the conversation (woo!) but I was soon SUSHED by his friend. <b><u>REALLY?!</u></b> My biggest complaint there is with myself. I've kind of turned into a pussy in the past year or so. I didn't retaliate like I used to when someone disrespected me. For those of you who've known me for a while, you know that in the past when someone was rude to me in ANY way, they knew about it right away! So I'm a little mad at myself that I just ignored it like a wimp. Also, I heard Allyn making fun of me with his buddies several times. Whispering or not, I can hear what you're saying. AND I don't appreciate the whispering. If you and your friends have something to say, in my home, say it loud enough to be heard clearly. If you need to whisper about it, maybe that's something you shouldn't be talking about at that moment? Just a thought.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Lately, when Allyn drinks, he forgets about anyone else except for himself. This all happened at our apartment, while the boys were sleeping, and he was being <u>so</u> loud. I had to remind him several times to keep it down. Typical drunk person I suppose, but it's gotten worse since we've moved here. They were playing that flippin' game until 2:30 in the morning. Dice kept hitting the board of the game, they each had to pee more often than a girl so the toilet was constantly being flushed, then they would suddenly all laugh in unison. Each one of those things prevented me from sleeping. Thanks boys. PS - If you're wondering why I'm cranky, that's why. Not much sleep + Taber = cranky mommy. He also completely blew off his sister last night, which probably bothers me more than it bothers her. He said he wanted to talk to her around midnight, so when midnight got closer I reminded him several times to call her. He just went, <i>"aww crap"</i> and continued to play his nerd game. I just thought that was really rude and inconsiderate seeing as she probably wanted to talk to her brother about everything going on with their mom right now. So I texted her, apologized for him and said I'll make sure he talks to her tomorrow.</div><div><br />
</div><div>One final complaint. You know that person that just keeps talking and talking and talking....then talks some more? You know when they get drunk that they're even worse and you just think to yourself, <i>"Oh my God, get to the point or be done already!"</i>? Unfortunately, that guy is Allyn. I love him to death but he has a bad habit of putting way too many details into a story and while he's drunk, that story turns into a damn novel. Perfect for him when he's getting ready to write his book, however most people don't have the attention span to pay attention to his whole story in a spoken conversation. I'll remind him to try and speed it up a bit because I can see people getting frustrated, annoyed or just start to stare off into the distance and zone out. He doesn't always listen though. Last night he was telling the story of why we have to testify in court at the end of the month in this robbery case and he just went on and on with all these unnecessary details, then repeated several of them several times. The guy he was telling this to even said, <i>"okay, I understand, what's the point of all of this?"</i> So I jumped in, trying to let Allyn focus on his game instead of the story (drunk brains can only do so much at one time!), and I finished the story for him in less than a minute. It might've been a little rude to Allyn (sorry babe) but his friend was getting obviously frustrated.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I'm sure I'm not alone on this here. Any other ladies have this problem with your boyfriend/fiancee/husband and his buddies when they're all drinking? Maybe not to the same extent, and it might even be worse, but I'm sure there are issues like this with other couples.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Allyn is a great guy, don't get me wrong, but lately when he drinks he kind of pisses me off. Who knows, maybe he'll make up for it tonight when he comes home, but who am I kidding.. I'm not going to hold my breath.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Anyway, Zander was still sleeping - until now - so I had a little bit of time to write a quick post about my not-so-fun time last night.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Talk to you all tomorrow!</div><div>♥ Taber</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4o2LgntzBILAwHXCPaXTpFchT2NDHvwPAYqyuVEvarv205Qj-UgGmKVZyguTqAUDmrayx3YNlpcFs4_iB78e2cxZOjPAmfiuW_igt8hHyFKUbomH5j1EoVnkY5VvGDEuvwQAPIWGGkQ/s1600/corvin3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4o2LgntzBILAwHXCPaXTpFchT2NDHvwPAYqyuVEvarv205Qj-UgGmKVZyguTqAUDmrayx3YNlpcFs4_iB78e2cxZOjPAmfiuW_igt8hHyFKUbomH5j1EoVnkY5VvGDEuvwQAPIWGGkQ/s640/corvin3.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div><br />
</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-91424939420673610242012-02-01T10:37:00.000-08:002012-02-01T10:40:17.189-08:00Nerd NightTonight, in my apartment, nerd night is goin' down.<br />
<br />
Be jealous.<br />
<br />
Yeah, you're probably not jealous, are you? Didn't think so. I'm not jealous of me either. Nerd night entails Allyn finding all his nerd friends and playing nerd board games. Game of choice - Axis and Allies. Oh goodie....<br />
<br />
<b>For me</b>, nerd night means I gotta put on normal clothes, try to make myself look pretty or whatever because people I don't know that well are coming over (I hate looking like a mess in front of strangers, not sure why), clean everything I possibly can and cook a bigger meal for the night. Oh, and continue taking care of both kiddos with little to no help. The <i>"festivities"</i> are to commence at 6pm and go on until their nerd cravings for total imaginary world domination are fulfilled. And once all the beer is gone.<br />
<br />
I need more girlfriends around here so on nights like this I could invite one or two of them over. Maybe if I'm super lucky, one of the nerd friends will bring along a girlfriend for me to socialize with. I'm not gonna get my hopes up though. <i>*sigh*</i> Oh well.<br />
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Anyway, in the last few days my photography has really picked up! I'm SO excited! This weekend, I have my very first wedding consultation! If they book me, it'll be my first solo wedding and the first wedding I've done since high school. I really hope they book me, but we'll just have to find out on Saturday! On Sunday, I'm doing a family shoot with a mother and her two daughters. Along with regular family pictures, we're going to have a little tea party :) I cannot wait to see how those turn out! I've also booked a maternity session for this month, I have a children's session booked for March in La Crosse and I have a family session booked for April in Peoria. Love, love, love it! I can't wait to see if more work will start coming my way :)<br />
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Anyway, as I was saying earlier, there is much to get done before the arrival of the nerd party. I still need to do my Zumba for the day, make lunch, clean, get ready, get the boys ready then start to prepare dinner. Oh what fun it is to be a housewife :)<br />
<br />
Until tomorrow :)<br />
♥ Taber<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvUCHbfFVtahE3ckQhru-aMHzrEz90Xn4MCRnu4PUaa3Gb5IKWBzbtTyjG9mU36bIsv45sL8jNkB8G3nXsF0QruJHNm5KE89Dcdvhj-bdZ91_507xao2QjsfMvOebeWFrH4QNS7YfCvvU/s1600/axis+and+allies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvUCHbfFVtahE3ckQhru-aMHzrEz90Xn4MCRnu4PUaa3Gb5IKWBzbtTyjG9mU36bIsv45sL8jNkB8G3nXsF0QruJHNm5KE89Dcdvhj-bdZ91_507xao2QjsfMvOebeWFrH4QNS7YfCvvU/s640/axis+and+allies.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Axis and Allies in action! ;)</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-53677946426140816632012-01-31T13:55:00.000-08:002012-01-31T13:55:01.730-08:00Routine Settles Back In....Kind OfIn the past 48 hours, I've booked <b>3</b> photo shoots!<br />
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Definitely excited :)<br />
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Tonight, I'm going shopping at Goodwill to try and find a few props for my shoot this Sunday. I have a few cute ideas and I'm really hoping I can find what I'm looking for.<br />
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Today it's been a little difficult to find time to do...well anything. I'm still adjusting to Allyn going back to work. It was SO nice with him being home, I felt like a load was taken off my shoulders. Unfortunately now that he's gone again, that load was dropped directly on top of me. Seeing as I wasn't ready, I fell flat on my face. Go me. Dishes have suffered, children are back to taking turns crying to show who needs attention the most, and mommy struggles to find time to shower, workout, blog or do anything else. Give me a few days, I'll get back into the groove again...I hope.<br />
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So, I've been doing Zumba now, as most of you may know, and when I weighed myself today it said I was 135 flippin' pounds. <b>BOOOOO!</b> I don't wanna gain weight! It better be muscle or water weight. However, I do feel like I look a little thinner, which is boosting my confidence a bit :) Now all I need to do is lose 5ish more pounds before I go in for my first fitting at the end of the month! That wedding dress better zip up all the way. I'm making sure I do Zumba every day from here on out. 4-5 20 minute workouts each week, and 2-3 45 minute workouts each week. Hopefully that'll do the trick. Along with calorie counting, running after my 16 soon to be 17 month old, taking care of a very demanding 3 month old and my several long grocery shopping trips I'll have this month. Hopefully I'll be 129 pounds by the end of this month! Wish me luck!!<br />
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Anyway, as I just said, I have a very demanding 3 month old and he's calling for me. So time to go for now.<br />
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Talk to you all tomorrow :)<br />
♥ TaberTaber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-39597419335697438302012-01-30T11:08:00.000-08:002012-01-30T11:11:49.253-08:00Dear Future Mommies - Part TwoHope you enjoyed all the mommy knowledge yesterday! You're about to get another dose of it today.<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>First, let's talk about <b>YOU</b> and your body after you have a baby for just a bit. No one tells you anything about what you should expect to happen to you after your cutie pie arrives (except for your doctor, after the baby is already born).</div><div><br />
</div><div>After you deliver, there's a pretty good chance that you'll have to get some stitches...on your lady parts. If you decided to get an epidural, you'll hardly notice, especially seeing as you just pushed a human being out of your body. If not, well I guess I don't know if you'll feel it because I had an epidural each time, but I'm guessing you will. Either way, you'll at least notice the slight pull of the string as they're fixing you up.</div><div><br />
</div><div>You should also know that after you deliver, going to the bathroom isn't going to be the best experience. Not just for a day, but for a week or 2 - and that's just when it comes to peeing. Forget about using toilet paper, your best friend is a water bottle until your stitches are healed. No one tells you, but there's a big chance that you can get hemorrhoids from all the pressure and stress put on your bum. Sometimes it will only last a few weeks, but in some cases it can last much longer. With Zander, it lasted for about 3-4 weeks, but with Corvin it lasted for <b>6 long months</b>. Definitely not fun! I know it's unpleasant to think about but hey, now you know!</div><div><br />
</div><div>Let's move on :)</div><div><br />
</div><div><b><u style="background-color: #c27ba0;">Newborns</u></b></div><div><b><u><br />
</u></b></div><div>Everyone knows that newborns are fragile and adorable. Just how fragile though? Very. The poor little things are born with a self destruct button right on the top of their precious little heads! If you don't know what I'm talking about, this is what's called a soft spot. Babies are born with their skill not being fused together. If they were, child birth would be even worse than it already is. No thank you. This doesn't just apply to newborns, it sticks around for a while! So just remember to be cautious when handling a new baby and don't bump their head...otherwise they explode! Well, not really. However it could cause some damage if you hit that spot hard enough.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Newborns poop looks like tar. Serious. It's black, thick and kind of weird to see at first. This only lasts for about a week, then it turns into looking like sesame seeds in Dijon mustard. I bet you're loving these visual images ;) Once the seedy poo goes away, you'll end up with the greenish yellow slightly sweet smelling poo. If your baby is like Corvin, expect 1 to 5 poopy diapers a day. If your baby is like Zander, expect 1 poopy diaper every week and a half. Both cases are normal!</div><div><br />
</div><div>Other than those 2 things, expect your newborn to sleep and eat a lot! Oh, and be adorable of course :)</div><div><br />
</div><div><b><u style="background-color: #c27ba0;">Infants</u></b></div><div><b><u><br />
</u></b></div><div>Once your baby is more active and alert, they're no longer considered a newborn. Your infant can roll over, smile, laugh, crawl, pull themselves up to stand and even grow teeth! These all don't happen at the same time of course, and every baby will learn things in their own time. Just make sure to give them plenty of tummy time so they can practice their infant skills! The more tummy time they get will help them hold their head up, then roll over, then the army crawl begins, followed by actual crawling, then standing, walking and finally running! Some babies have all of this down by the time they're 9 months old! Most don't have everything mastered until they're 12-13 months. if they don't know all that stuff, just talk to their doctor for advice :)</div><div><br />
</div><div>Here's a helpful time frame for when to start things...</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>4-5 months</b> - Try giving him/her some delicious baby mush! AKA bad tasting baby foods. This is a stepping stone to the good stuff you can give them in another couple of months.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>6 months - </b> Try to introduce the sippy into their routine, especially if they're sprouting teeth already. Bottles are bad for teeth growth, so try to get rid of it as soon as possible. Corvin was totally off the bottle by the time he was 9 months old. Best sippy to get is the Nuk brand soft stop sippy. It's a bit expensive, but it's a good transition from bottle to hard top sippy. You can find it at Wal-Mart for about $7.50.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>6-7 months - </b> Time to show your kiddo some yummy soft snacks. Gerber has lots of good starter foods, including Lil' Crunchies and Puffs. They have lots of different flavors for your baby to try so buy a few different types for your munchkin to test out :)</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>A.S.A.P. - </b> Reading books to your baby is beneficial no matter what their age is. They like to hear your voice and the older they get they'll like learning new things from you. Books like<i> Goodnight Moon</i> and <i>Guess How Much I Love You</i> are great. So snuggle up with your cutie and read a book!</div><div><br />
</div><div>Another thing to keep in mind is the dreaded diaper rash. The best thing to have to fight off these bad boys is Aquaphor and Desitin. Put the Aquaphor on first and put a layer of Desitin on top of it. It'll fight off that nasty red butt and keep it from getting worse. Don't use your regular baby wipes for a day or two either, those just make it worse. Take a paper towel and get it wet with luke warm water. Ring it out a little and use that instead. It'll make you and your baby happy in the end. Dry off their butt a little before putting a diaper back on and apply some Desitin. If none of this helps (which does happen, trust me) you'll have to give them a baking soda bath. Just put some baking soda in the tub and let them sit in there for at least 10 minutes. Once done, dry them off and let them run around nakie to air out. Do this 3 times a day for 3-4 days. If it doesn't go away, it's time to see the doctor.</div><div><br />
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</div><div><b><u>Toddlers</u></b></div><div><b><u><br />
</u></b></div><div>Oh toddlers....they're so adorable but my goodness can they be naughty! They're also starting to let their personalities really shine. Most of the time this is cute, but as I said earlier, there <b>is</b> a dark side!</div><div><br />
</div><div>The number one thing to remember with toddlers is that everything MUST go their way. Also, everything is theirs, until it's broken...then you can have it. You've heard about temper tantrums, but I must warn you these can happen any time, any where. Everyone tells you to let your kid know that's a no no, no one tells you you'll get yelled at for telling them that's a no no. No matter what, you're the bad guy. Corvin once started screaming in Wal-Mart. It was a happy scream, none-the-less it was annoying. So I grabbed his hands and said, <i>"Corvin, that's a no no. Be a good boy, okay?" </i>I wasn't mean about it, but I was firm so he understood I meant business. He stopped, but some lady said to herself - but loud enough for me to hear, <i>"some parents are just horrible."</i> Really lady? I think the other 99% of the store was happy I got him to stop. Personally, I don't care how "cute" you think your kid yelling and screaming is, I don't want to hear it for the entire hour and a half your at the grocery store. If they're uncontrollable, you have two choices. Leave the store or don't take them with you, even if that means you can't go shopping until 11pm. You'll be happier and so will everyone else there.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Toddlers will mimic your every move. If you smack the counter in frustration, expect to see them smacking a table thinking it's funny. If you're working out, they'll try to copy you. If you're dancing, they'll try dancing right with you. Very adorable, but you gotta watch what you do and say at all times!</div><div><br />
</div><div>Also remember that toddlers love to do everything they know they're not supposed to do. Not supposed to touch those DVD's? Too bad, I'm gonna do it. I'm not allowed to climb the entertainment center? Well I'm going to anyway. My advice is to buy things your kid can't climb on or buy things to bolt bookshelves and dressers to the wall. Why? They can and will fall on your baby, either severely hurting them or even killing them. No one tells you these things until it's too late, so take my advice now or pray your kid listens to you the first time you tell them not to do something.</div><div><br />
</div><div>One more piece of advice, don't buy toys and clothes brand new unless you're rich. They're not going to care at this point, so head to a rummage sale, a second hand store or even check what Craigslist and Ebay have to offer. Or ask friends with kids if they have any stuff they're looking to get rid of. Most of Corvin and Zander's toys we've gotten for free just because we asked people if they wanted to get rid of their kids old stuff. Do they care? Not one bit! So save yourself some money!</div><div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Until tomorrow!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">♥ Taber</div><div><br />
</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-39464482939926161082012-01-29T10:08:00.000-08:002012-01-29T10:50:41.649-08:00Dear Future Mommies - Part OneWhat do you really know about pregnancy, childbirth, newborns, infants and toddlers?<br />
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Probably not as much as you think you know.<br />
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When Allyn and I went into this whole parenthood thing, we thought we were prepared. There are some things (actually a lot of things) that no one ever tells you about. So I decided to touch base with the <i>unmentionables</i>.<br />
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<b><u style="background-color: #c27ba0;">Pregnancy</u></b><br />
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Most of us have learned about pregnancy in health class while we were in school, and you've probably "learned" a few things from movies like <i>Knocked Up</i>, <i>Juno</i>,<i> Marley and Me</i>, ect. Health class doesn't tell you as much as you should know and I'm convinced if they did tell us more, we might've been too scared to have sex in the first place! Oh and those movies, as entertaining as they are, are a bit misleading.<br />
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If you think that you'll know when the baby is coming by your water breaking on it's own...good luck. Only 10% of pregnant women have their water spontaneously burst before feeling contractions. Almost every movie with a pregnant lady I've ever seen shows the woman's water bursting. My favorite is from the movie <i>Baby Mama</i> when it seems like what could fit in a water bottle splashed out and she asked if she should clean that up. In reality, the amniotic fluid is rushing out for about 30 minutes. When the baby moves, more fluid comes out, and there is <u>A LOT</u> in there, trust me!<br />
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With Corvin, I went into the hospital when I was in the early stages of labor and they sent me home. We came back a few hours later ready to have a baby. The whole labor and delivery process takes a LONG time though. So if you count the hours from early labor to delivery with Corvin, It was probably around 24 hours. Most movies make it seem like it takes an hour, hah! If you're extremely lucky, maybe that will happen, but don't count on it. Zander was a fun experience as well. I had false labor 4 times. The contractions felt real, they were 3-5 minutes apart for about 2 hours so we'd go to the hospital. They'd keep us there for a few hours and suddenly my contractions would just stop. How frustrating! So be prepared for labor to not actually happen, even when you're sure it's happening.<br />
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You may have heard how uncomfortable you can be during pregnancy. The beginning is fine, it's really the last 2 months that torture you. You're sweaty, your back hurts, you can only sleep on your right or left side, you're tired, you're cranky, you feel fat, none of your clothes fit, you can't do anything fun because your feet hurt, you're sick one second then the next you want KFC, you're overly emotional, you randomly cry, you want to take a bath but your belly sticks out of the water, baby is kicking everything (stomach, ribs, bladder, belly button) and it kind of hurts sometimes, your friends don't talk to you as much because you're probably being a bitch so you're lonely and because of all of the things I just mentioned. you're <b>sick</b> of being pregnant. Bridezilla's got nothing on a pregnant woman in her third trimester. So beware of a bitchier you, and tell your significant other to be nothing short of a gentlemen...unless he likes being screamed at for reasons you'll laugh at later.<br />
<u>Example:</u> When I was pregnant with Corvin, we couldn't decide on a name. Every name I came up with, Allyn didn't like. I got so mad that I went on the computer and deleted the list of names he came up with and said they all sucked. He was a jerk for not liking my ideas. hahaha. Little did I know I deleted our son's future name! It's funny now, but back then it was a serious matter! ;)<br />
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Another thing no one tells you about pregnancy is how utterly<b> RUDE</b> people can be with their comments, stares and questions. Some people are wonderfully nice. They'll hold the door, tell you you're "a cute pregnant lady" and say congrats. Other people will stare at you like you have some crazy disease that makes your abdomen swell up 50 times it's actual size. I used to think they were thinking, <i>"what the hell is wrong with that lady?!? I should stay away from her so I don't catch whatever crap she's got..."</i> If you don't believe me, you will once you get pregnant! People will also ask you if you're having twins, and when you say no they'll ask you if you're sure because you're just so huge. This will make you feel like crap. You're uncomfortable, irritable and ready for baby to arrive so the last thing you want to hear is how fat you look on top of it all. People will also make smartass comments like, <i>"haven't you heard about birth control yet?" </i> and <i>"you're naming your baby Beth? I had a dog named that!"</i><br />
Thank you for that, I'll make sure to name our future pet after you now.<br />
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One more misleading thing about movie pregnancies, they'll show mom stuffing her face right away with the weirdest stuff, or just with a ton of food in general. Lies! The first trimester (the first 12 weeks), you feel so sick. They say if it's a girl you throw up a lot and if it's a boy you wont. I didn't get sick with either of my pregnancies (despite Allyn puking on me once, that's a good story) and I had two boys. I did feel very sick though and didn't want to eat much. When I did want to eat, it was something specific, and if I didn't get it, it haunted my mind for as long as I didn't have it. With Zander, I wanted Buffalo Wild Wings about a month before he was born. We didn't have much money so I didn't get them. The thought of BDubbs did not go away until after he was born. However, I never wanted anything weird like chalk, dirt, pickles with ice cream or anything else goofy. In all reality, only a small percentage of women have messed up cravings while they're pregnant. Also, don't expect to like the stuff you normally like. If you're in love with chocolate, you might hate it while you're pregnant. Why? Acid reflux. Stock up on Tums while you're pregnant because baby doesn't help keep your stomach acids down, especially after eating chocolate!<br />
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<b><u style="background-color: #c27ba0;">Childbirth</u></b><br />
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As I mentioned earlier, labor can take a long, long time. Allyn was actually under the impression that it takes maybe a few hours total. He was in for a real surprise...From the time the doctors broke my water with Corvin (yes they will do that if they have to) to the time he was born took 11 1/2 hours. Becoming fully dialated can take a very long time! Most women take longer than that from what I understand, especially if it's your first child. I know several women that were in labor for 30 hours or more. So I was one of the lucky ones! Zander, once he finally decided to stop playing games, only took 7 hours.<br />
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Pushing is THE hardest part of labor. Epidural or not, you'll probably feel the baby coming out. Corvin took me 44 minutes to push out. He had SUCH a big head, still does, so it took a long time to get him to come out. It was extremely hard and painful. The epidural dulled the pain a bit, but the pressure you feel is definitely hard to bare. Zander didn't take as long, only 10 minutes, but I felt the extreme urge to push before I was 10cm dialated (which is what you have to be in order to push baby out). One side of my cervix was all the way open, the other had another half centimeter to go. Do you know what it feels like to work against a contraction and basically try to hold it in? This isn't like an I-have-to-pee holding it in, this is an excruciating my-vagina-is-about-to-explode holding it in. The second they said I could push I was so relieved!<br />
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Another thing they don't tell you about child birth is how bad you might start to shake. Not like you're having a seizure or anything, it's just from the rush of hormones flooding your body. I didn't really shake a lot with Corvin, but with Zander I felt like I was going to vibrate right off the bed! My lips were quivering, my arms were shaking, my hands were the worst and I had zero control over it. The nurses kept saying it was normal, and all I could think was, <i>"why the crap did no one tell me about this?!?"</i><br />
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Once your baby's head is out, the doctors might make you push once or twice more, but they can pull him/her out pretty easily. Most movies show a perfect little crying baby with a little bit of yucky stuff on it. <b>NEWS FLASH</b>! There is <u>A LOT</u> of yucky stuff on your baby in real life. This yucky stuff is called vernix. It kept your baby warm and moisturized while they were in your uterus. Otherwise baby would come out looking like a prune. Also, your baby might come out looking like a different color. Corvin was fairly white, but he was actually kind of yellow and stayed that way for almost 2 weeks. Zander was blue (from lack of oxygen) but the doctors quickly put an oxygen mask on him and he turned back to a normal color. Did you know most black babies are actually born looking more white? It can take up to two weeks for their true coloring to come in.<br />
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After the long hours of birthing your child, you might not be able to sleep very well. I couldn't either time. I was simply too in love with my babies that I didn't want to miss out on any of the cuteness they were emitting for even a second. I was just too happy to sleep much. You wont care about any of the hard stuff you had to go through during your pregnancy or birthing of your baby because it doesn't matter anymore. What matters is the cute little bundle who's about to change your whole life in more ways than you could even imagine.<br />
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We'll talk about that tomorrow :)<br />
♥ TaberTaber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-39285664316926090892012-01-28T10:52:00.000-08:002012-01-28T10:54:19.747-08:00DisclaimerI'm not gonna lie...<br />
I was really debating on not writing my blog today.<br />
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</div><div>Why? Well there have been several people that are taking things a bit too personally. So friends, family and other people I may not know as well, here's my disclaimer. If you don't want me to blog about something we did that day, or even in the past, just say so. I have common sense though, so I wont blog about that time you made out with 3 guys all in one night and couldn't remember their names the next day. However, if you don't want me to talk about how we went shopping the other day, tell me! Otherwise I won't understand why you're so mad at me.<br />
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Also, if I say something you think is out of line, all you have to do is tell me. Talking behind my back will not solve your problem, ignoring your anger will not solve your problem and yelling at me will not solve your problem either. Talk to me like an adult, and I'll do the same to you. It's really quite simple actually. I truly believe in treating others the way you want to be treated which is why I'm a pretty nice person (well at least I think I am) most of the time. If you give me sass, I'll give you sass. If you treat me with respect, I'll treat you with respect. That's just the way I am.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Okay, now that's off my chest, let's move on to other things!</div><div><br />
</div><div>I've been bad.<br />
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I haven't really been doing Insanity :/<br />
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I don't have it on DVD, it's on my computer and there isn't a ton of room in our bedroom to do those workouts. Sure, I can hook up the computer to the TV, but Corvin thinks that's an open invitation to play with it. Which includes, but is not limited to: pressing all available buttons, opening and closing the door on the tower, using other toys to hit it, holding his sippy upsidedown and hitting it against the tower so various liquid comes out, biting it, smacking it, so on and so forth. The cons outweigh the pros there because I sort of need our computer to operate my photography. If Corvin breaks it, I'm S.O.L. However, I think this Zumba routine will do just as much good as Insanity will. Plus, Corvin thinks mommy doing Zumba is funnier than mommy doing Insanity, so it doubles as entertainment for the both of us! Zander still cries while I do it - you know, because he wants fluffy pillow mommy, not skinny good looking mommy :)</div><div><br />
</div><div>For the past week, I was scared to weigh myself. I finally weighed myself today expecting to be 5 pounds heavier from my La Crosse visit seeing as food was constantly being paraded in front of me. To my surprise, I only gained <b>.9</b> pounds! So that's not bad at all. That can be gone by tomorrow with a little Zumba and good eating habits :)</div><div><br />
</div><div>Oh! and a little tip for anyone else trying to lose/maintain weight, count your calories! It's sooooo helpful! The easiest way to do this is to use <a href="http://myfitnesspal.com/"><b>MyFitnessPal.com</b></a>. It's totally free and you can even download the ap for your phone! If anyone decides to get it, feel free to friend me - <b>tlholmes9489</b> :)</div><div><br />
</div><div>Quick update on the rest of my resolutions...<br />
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2. I have a maternity session scheduled for next month! That money will bring me one step closer to taking 1 of the 2 classes I'm interested in taking this year. Or maybe getting a new lens. We'll see how many more shoots I can set up this year to figure out that decision.<br />
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3. As you all know, I'm waiting for our tax money to come in. Once it does I can start buying/paying off more things for our wedding. Can't wait!<br />
PS - if you want to help us reach our goal to have a super perfect, amazing, beautiful wedding, you can go to <a href="http://gogetfunding.com/project/donate-to-true-love-%E2%99%A5" target="_blank"><b>Donate to True Love</b></a> and throw in a dollar (or more) to help us out! :)<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">4. Corvin now knows how to say 11 words! Dada, doggie, bum bum, poop, hi, go, cow, here, deer, Bo and door. Plus Zander is so close to rolling over from his back to his tummy. He's so advanced for his age! It's so fun to watch my little boys grow ♥</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">5. I'm 95% sure I'm not pregnant :) woo!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Well friends, it's about that time. Thanks for reading my blog! You guys have helped me get up to over 5,000 views in about a month! Now if only I could convince blogger.com to give me a dollar for every page view my blog got.... :)<br />
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Talk to you all tomorrow!<br />
♥ Taber<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUBdWp3coSIIhHqNLpiFDXlpq8sg1W-nhD36nk6J9YbtboqNXTqkoPxwvI1aLCGdAzFHYAQC5KI2z6halAm_PobZ62eGDuQcskmwUAvhyE67u3GVG4HTIsYU9cx5QX_DqOwXDzIz7eMQ/s1600/zander2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUBdWp3coSIIhHqNLpiFDXlpq8sg1W-nhD36nk6J9YbtboqNXTqkoPxwvI1aLCGdAzFHYAQC5KI2z6halAm_PobZ62eGDuQcskmwUAvhyE67u3GVG4HTIsYU9cx5QX_DqOwXDzIz7eMQ/s400/zander2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
</div></div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-20181651617732525172012-01-27T09:53:00.000-08:002012-01-27T09:53:41.470-08:00Beware of BridezillaWatch out world, Taber Lacie is turning into....DUN DUN DUN....a bridezilla!<br />
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Rawr!<br />
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Muahahaha!<br />
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Alright, I'm really not that bad...yet. I'm definitely a perfectionist though and so far I see lots of bumps in the road to reach the level of perfect-ness I want for our big day. By bumps in the road I mean a few things.<br />
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#1) MONEY! If we get everything that we WANT, we need an extra $1,500-$2,000 for the wedding. If we get to invite everyone that we want to invite, add about $500 more. To get everything we <u>need</u>, we actually are short by about $500 :/<br />
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Last night, as a joke to myself, I Googled, <i>"I want a free wedding." </i>To my surprise, several things popped up. Obviously several giveaways (most of them were expired or we didn't meet the requirements) but there was another website called gogetfunding.com. I checked it out and there's a whole page for people trying to get some money for their wedding. So I figured why not! I made a funding profile. If you're feeling generous, or if you just want to read the story of how Allyn and I started dating, click here ---> <a href="http://gogetfunding.com/project/donate-to-true-love-%E2%99%A5" target="_blank">Donate to Love</a>. Yes I know it kinda seems tacky, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures! We've cut corners (no longer getting magnet invites which is saving us a good $85), I created the design for our invites myself instead of buying pre made ones, I didn't buy the more expensive dress, ect ect. So maybe if we're lucky, some people will donate a little bit of money. We even have prizes set up for certain amounts. Like $25 gets you a PG13 lap dance from a groomsman or a bridesmaid! (that will be saved for AFTER all children are in bed!)<br />
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#2) I'm definitely worried about my family. Long story short, not too many of my family members are talking to my grandma. She's kind of made a lot of the family mad. Here's the problem....I can't NOT invite her. If I don't invite her, there's a good chance she'll show up anyway and start fighting with me. If I do invite her, I take the risk of family members getting in a fight at my own wedding. HOPEFULLY that won't happen, but I must admit I'm a little worried!<br />
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#3) I'm nervous I wont lose the weight I need to lose in enough time. Sometimes, even if you do everything right, the weight just doesn't come off. If my dress doesn't fit when it needs to be altered, I'm probably going to cry. No joke. Maybe I'll just make sure my bridesmaids hound me to get skinny again. If they don't, I can blame it on them ;)<br />
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#4) I'm worried the wedding party will be hard to manage seeing as we live 5 1/2 hours away from all of them. So far, I've heard about no one getting fitted for their dress or their tux. There's a deadline for all that stuff and if it doesn't get done soon, Bridezilla will make her first (well maybe second or third..hehe) appearance! So wedding party, if you're reading this, get it done soon!!<br />
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Anyway, I have things to do and not much time to do them all. So I'll talk to you all tomorrow!<br />
♥ Taber<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtIshq2eKANBne_7kE8E0PqTvUhMs5pRnmqfFv1PPUvSnSQxWbXk7L7-09wQsC0vhS-x-X7-qfidJBvpJDLhgRB2XQyqQo0edgM27-nO7XV0F-8lmNTxDZ_XP8MfFyKrc5tFxaI7_erOU/s1600/INVITE3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtIshq2eKANBne_7kE8E0PqTvUhMs5pRnmqfFv1PPUvSnSQxWbXk7L7-09wQsC0vhS-x-X7-qfidJBvpJDLhgRB2XQyqQo0edgM27-nO7XV0F-8lmNTxDZ_XP8MfFyKrc5tFxaI7_erOU/s640/INVITE3.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
This is what I designed for our wedding invite :) I'm still a bit undecided on the font I want.</div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792934145737337110.post-68506579892118434812012-01-26T08:51:00.000-08:002012-01-26T08:51:38.415-08:001, 2, 3 ZUMBA!I bought the Zumba game for Wii.<br />
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Day 1, epic fail. I got frustrated with it and quit within 5 minutes. Go me. :)<br />
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Day 2 (being yesterday) I skipped the tutorial part and just jumped into it. Much better. I felt like I got a pretty good workout in! So I wont return it and I'll stick with it for a while. Hopefully it'll help melt off my mommy fat a little faster!<br />
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I have a bone to pick with Zumba though....<br />
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I've been told that this is pronounced <i>Zoom-bah</i>. I've been pronouncing it how it flippin' looks, <i>ZUM-bah</i>. Allyn says it's probably another language, which I kind of figured it was, but it still bugs me. You know those Mazda commercials? They don't spell it <i>"zum zum zum" </i>- they spell it <i>"zoom zoom zoom." </i> So I look at the work Zumba and think it's pronounced <i>ZUM-bah.</i> I haven't decided if I'm going to be a rebel and pronounce it my way or if I should conform and say it like everyone else....decisions, decisions... :)<br />
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Today, in between my ZUMba workout, cleaning, cooking, taking care of kids and laundry, I plan on getting some more wedding planning done! Mostly budgeting to see if we can afford a few extras like chair covers, more decorations, ect. I also plan on either finding a preset template to put on our magnet invites or I'll just make my own. That'll probably get done during Corvin's nap time. SO much to do and I feel like I have SO little time to do it all! I can't wait to look in our bank account and see that our tax money has come in so we can just get the ball rolling here! :)<br />
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Anyway, it doesn't look like Shannon (Allyn and Angie's mom) has logged onto her profile again. So we're still waiting on the edge of our seats to see if she says anything back. I hope that within the week she responds...but like I said yesterday, we'll just have to wait and see. Wish us luck!<br />
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This post is a little short today, mostly because I've already been on the computer for way too long and I bet Allyn isn't happy about it. Whoops :)<br />
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Talk to you all tomorrow!<br />
♥ Taber <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">As promised, here's the video of Corvin saying poop and squatting. Be happy smellivision hasn't been invented yet. This was a stinky video to record :)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx98XBmkoME6zF3EInr784co_zBFMgsnE8dNeRerbqHdSpAs137nDqvfQUd12kX7CPhBvC6NOwpOv7-R52opg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Taber Laciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796791664801883579noreply@blogger.com1