Finding Ashley again: Christmas Time

So sorry for being gone so long! So much going on lately, good and bad.

Let us start with the bad, so we can get to the good, and leave on a happy note.

Over the last few weeks we have had some money trouble, oh the fun! But with vet bills, vaccinations needed for school, tuition payments, a baby (oh diapers... sad face), and 2 dollars to do one load of laundry (with 3 people living in the house, it stacks up! way to go little baby lol).

So that has been fun, but it looks like Joshua has found a possible job :) we will know more right after the new year. He is considering taking a little time off from school so he can work and we can get back to good on our finances. I sold some of my stuff so we could have a nice Christmas :) so at least that is good! Plus we get to have Olivia for a few days after Christmas! (oh yeah, those are good things, wrong section!)

Another special thank you to all of the donations we have received from generous people to our Donation Site. We are over 600 dollars right now, which won't cover all of Rosie's medical bills, but will at least help out since we have so many other things going on.

After the finances, we still had a little bad luck with some injuries. My wrist is starting to finally get better. I think I mentioned it weeks ago. I hurt it when I was helping carry my daughters stroller, up a set of stairs from the train (no elevator, sad face). It looks like I had a mishap with my muscle, and I am told 6-8 weeks is the norm for it to heal. So it has been I think about 5 weeks now? Almost 6? so yay!

Now here is some inbetween news. Both good and bad.

Evelyn is getting new teeth!!!
When she was 11 months old, her two bottom teeth came in together. Since then, nothing, nada, niente.
During the last 2 weeks or so though, she has had 2 molars coming in, an upper vampire fang, another bottom tooth, and another upper one (not sure what they are called). So yay! Lots of teeth :) On the downside, there has been a couple of days where she has been eh... not too happy, extra crabby... but she can chew her food better, and we feel better giving her crunchy things.

Now for all the good things!

Joshua may have found a job! Sure it is a downer that he won't be going to school for a quarter (his school goes by the quarter system) but it will be so nice to have some security again. He is only taking one quarter off though, it does not do a lot of good to postpone something so important to our future for a long time.

I signed up to be an egg donor :D I am very excited to hear back. I have always wanted to do this, but between giving birth, nursing, or living really far away from the nearest clinic, I just haven't had the chance. Now we live pretty close, and I am really happy about my decision :) I can't think of a better gift to give a family, than a baby!

Evelyn took her first steps last weekend. She has only taken a few since then, but it was so great. Joshua and I were so lucky in this crazy important event. We were both in the room with her, coaxing her with "you can do it"'s and "one foot in front of the other"'s :) She did it, and she celebrated!

Evelyn has also learned some new things in the last week. She can now say (sorta, but we know what she is saying) cookie, cracker, cupcake, goldfish, sippy cup, and kitty. We also taught her how to fist bump, which can be added to her other wicked cool abilities (touchdown, raise the roof, patty cake, itsy bitsy spider, big belly, etc).

I went with a friend to dollar tree and got a couple cute things to add to my trunk of Christmas decorations. I love that I was able to make my place look awesome, with old things, and $5 worth of new ones! :)

I finished allllll of my Christmas shopping in the week following Thanksgiving, and I did not even have to go into black friday hell. I am still working on a couple gifts, that I am making myself, from things I already have. We have gotten a bunch of stuff in the mail too, from family we don't get to see often, and they are sitting under our tree.

Rosie is doing AWESOME. She is actually better than before I think. Josh asked me last night if I thought there was anything different with Rosie. I said that I think she plays differently. He asked me to clarify, and I told him that he often plays with Evee now in a very rambunctious way. Tapping her leg, then running away, and getting in the pounce position. She is acting like a brand new little kitten, rather than her lazy cat self. She is much more spunky, and really wants to play allllll of the time. If we had our money we would really be getting her a new companion, especially for night time bursts of energy. :)

In addition her weight is gaining back to normal, her hair is growing back, and she is still really sweet :) Though now she is obsessed with trying to find ribbon, or other strands. She was never this enthusiastic before, and sometimes I swear I want to rip my hair out when I see her trying to find something lol. Do you have a deathwish cat? :) I love her though. Silly kitty.

Okay now time for the pictures!!!