Saturday, February 27, 2010

Men….seriously!

Here is a comical example of what happens when a man has his brain turned off.

Last night after Liam’s bath i sat down on the couch to feed him a bottle. I asked Alex if he could run upstairs quick and get Liam a bib so he wouldn’t get him jammies all wet with drool. At this point it comes downstairs, walks over to us and proceeds to put the bib on me?!? What…..obviously i thought he was just being funny but then he walked away, stopped in his tracks and said “What he heck am i doing?!?!” then we both hysterically laughed for a good half hour. Boys…..

Last night i was having an avacado with dinner , since hearing they are a wonderful first food for babies i decided to let Liam try some. I was convinced we were going to get some funny faces out of him being that it is a new and different flavor but nope he loved it and gobbled up the whole bowl. I guess he really didn’t have a choice but to love them because he “tasted” a whole lot of avocado in utero. You can see in this picture that the boy is growing some hair!

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How cute is he playing in the tub!

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Friday, February 26, 2010

Show Us Your Life

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Today’s Show Us Your Life topic is collections. Now i will be the first to say i don’t like collecting things. I hate clutter and to me collections = clutter. I am so happy that what i do collect is not something that sits on a shelf and needs to be dusted or sits in a basement waiting to be worth something “someday” but it is something i can wear and has many different significant meanings. I collect Pandora charms.

For Christmas 2008 my mom, sister, and I all started Pandora bracelets. Each charm has such a special meaning to me that allows me to remember every time i wear my bracelet. I only have a few spots left on this one! Some of my most special ones are: the wedding cake i got for Christmas 2008 (the year we got married), the baby carriage i got after Liam was born,and  my Penn State charm to support my alma mater. Other ones that i absolutely love are: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Kermit, Princess and the Pea, Cupcake, Tea Cup, Easter basket with colored eggs, Hershey Kiss, and a Halloween Ghost.

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This monring Liam’s lovies arrived that I ordered him from Angel Dear. He loves it!!!! We got him a frog (of course) and a dinosaur. He took to it immediately and is snuggle up, holding onto it right now for a nap. They are very soft, the perfect size, and came at a good price.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Guess whose 2!

Today is Nigel, our second fur-baby’s, second birthday!

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If a cat could grasp the concept of one day of the year being all about them Nigel has. He has been walking around proud as a peacock all day and it has just been cracking me up. Nigel is a total mama’s boy and i love him very much, he is the best furry snuggler around.

Speaking on snuggling….i need to mention that last night i experienced one of the best, if not the best, two hours of my life. Liam and I went upstairs in the movie room to watch American Idol and lay on the big couch. Well we laid on the couch, snuggled under a blanket for two full hours. Alex came out of the office and fully expected to see Liam passed out given our position. He was shocked when he looked down and the boy was wide awake and contently snuggling with his Mama….oh what i would give to do that every single night!

I thought the boys did MUCH better on AI last night than the girls did on Tuesday night. I still love Andrew Garcia but Lee Dewyze was definitely my favorite last night. He has the kind of voice  i always gravitate towards. Alex calls it the ‘you can tell they smoke a lot of cigarettes” voice.

Lastly, i must link you to a recent post by Erin from Blue Eyed Bride. This has been an issue i have been dealing with over the last few months that has slowly been eating me away. I could not understand some of the feelings i was having.  I was so happy to finally voice this to my Mom who eventually helped me come to the root of the problem. I was happy to finally have the origin of these feelings but did not have the tools to fix it.

Well let me just say that Erin took my thoughts and feelings and put them into words in her post hello, contentment? are you there? Erin and I are round the same age and went through almost every huge life change within a few short years and are now left to just live. I am a planner and i love projects and right now i have nothing big that i am working towards. I am simply living the same monotonous events each day and it is not something i know how to do. I have a few things brewing in my creative toolbox that i am interested in pursuing so i am going to take advantage of this new found realization and set myself up with a few goals to work towards.

I wanted everyone to have this link because before read her post and the amount of responses it got from other women, i thought i was alone and a bad person. What i learned is that I'm not or a bad person.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

This makes me laugh out loud, the boy loves this thing!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Happy 4 Month Birthday Liam

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Dear Liam,

Today you are 4 months old. I have been looking forward to this “birthday” since the day you were born because i knew we would share this day together, your 4th month and my 25th year. A short time into this month i had the feeling i would sit down to write this months letter and not have much to say. I thought you would be doing a lot of the same things as last month just better or more often but boy was i wrong!

Copy of DSC01074This month you went out and saw snow for the first time. It was so bright outside you had to squint your eyes until we went in the shade, to get some pictures of course. I feel like all we did this month was watch snow fall out the window. Mama is so excited for spring to come next month!

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You watched your first superbowl this month. Even though we lost we still had a fun night.

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You also celebrated your first Valentine’s Day. You got an Elmo book, two lady bug teethers, and a cute outfit from Mommy and Daddy.

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This month was also both Mama and Papa’s birthday! You were a helper blowing out the candles!

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You love to be heard! You talk all the time and have learned a few new sounds this month. Your new favorite it to make fishy lips and say boo boo boo. You also learned to belly laugh and it is infectious! I think i like making you belly laugh even more than smiling. You love to laugh at getting lots of kisses or raspberries on your belly or when your Daddy pumps your legs to make you look like you are running fast.

DSC01250 Last month your favorite thing to do was sit up because laying down was for babies well this month your favorite thing to do it stand! You are four months old but love to try to walk.

DSC01276 You started to LOVE your doorway jumper this mouth. This past week you really got the hang of it and love to jump in circle while squealing in joy.

DSC01282You are very close to sitting by yourself these days. You can do it for a few seconds by yourself but then fall over because you are grabbing for your toes or toys. This is all the support you need. 

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This month you really gained control of using your hands and developing your hand eye coordination. Anything that we show you you reach out and grab for! You also grab a hold of everything and put it right in your mouth. You love your Sophie, she now comes on every outing with us. This past weekend we went to Lowes and i looked down at you in your car seat and you had picked her up, turned her around and had her whole leg in your mouth…happily chomping on her.

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You also started to really play in your exersaucer. You love the green, yellow, and blue rollers and the sun. It is so cute to watch you and see the concentration in your eyes when you are playing. You remind me a lot of your Dad when he is playing a strategy game.

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At the beginning of the month tummy time was getting much easier. You learned to push up on your arms very well and would tolerate it for longer periods of time. Until you learned to roll over! Now when you get frustrated or don’t feel like doing tummy time you just roll yourself right over. Something you learned to do this month and absolutely love is to roll on your side. If i lay you down on your back you almost always roll onto your side and happily such on your pointer and middle fingers or hug your teddy. You have been very close to rolling from your back to belly for weeks and finally did it last week. Since then you have been doing it all the time! Whenever you have a lot of energy i just lay you down and you roll around while laughing, talking, and smiling up a storm.

The past two days you have gotten up on your hands and knees … child, you better not be crawling when i write your letter next month! It is amazing how you can move yourself around. Often times i will put you down and go to wash bottle or something I come back and you are facing the totally opposite direction….the power of wanting a certain toy.

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This month you started accessorizing….you have to wear a bid all day everyday and can easily soak through 2 a day because you droll like crazy! Everything you grab a hold of gets soaked and if anyone is holding you they will end up with at least four huge wet stops on their shirts. You have your fingers in your mouth all the time and often pull them out to grab my face, you also love to grab hair. We like to refer to you as a spider because there is always a stream of droll coming from your mouth connecting to the surface below you.

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We also let your try rice cereal this month. It is a bit of an understatement to say you loved it! There have been a few times that you have cried and cried at your bottle until i give you cereal and then you give me the biggest rice cereal filled smile. 

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You love to go for walks, around the house, in your stroller. I cannot wait until the weather warms up so we can walk around the neighborhood.

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Our typically night time routine is a bath every other night, which you love, then a warm towel and jammies fresh from the drier followed by your last bottle and bed time around 9pm. You usually wake up 2-4 times a night but only need your paci to fall back to sleep. We get up around 7:15 every morning and you have a 6oz bottle and then play time! You have so much energy in the morning and are so happy; the doorway jumper has been your favorite morning activity lately.

You love to eat and are eating upwards of 36oz a day. You are wearing size 2 diapers and still fit into your 3 month sleepers but we have had to move up to your 6mo onesies; the three month still fit but they are a struggle to get on. On Wednesday you had your 4 month well baby check up and weighted 15.4 pounds and are 24.75 inches long!!!

We took A LOT of pictures this month, here are some of my favorites.

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We have had so much fun this month. I can’t wait to see what next month has in store….hopefully warm weather, smiles, laughs, and good days.

Love you,

Mama

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Look how you have changed….

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Monday, February 22, 2010

Monday Mingle

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Happy Monday! I am so excited to participate today for the first time on February 22 … which just so happens to be my birthday!  If you would like to join in on the fun just click on the icon above to be directed to Eighty MPH Mom's page to get the details.

Today's Questions?
1. Name your 5 favorite movies
2. What is the most requested/favorite meal in your house?
3. Is your husband/partner/significant other into sports? If so, does it irritate you when he/she watches, or do you join in?

Saturday, February 20, 2010

We always knew he was a jumping bean

Since Liam was teeny tiny in my belly we always knew he was a little jumping bean! At our 20 week ultrasound the boy was using my bladder as a trampoline and having a good old time. Needless to say he loves his doorway jumper and i finally got the camera upstairs to record him last night.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Back to Belly …. Check!

I am so proud of my little man who rolled both belly to back and back to belly before his 4 month birthday … he is such a big boy! Yesterday afternoon he rolled from back to belly for the first time. He has been SO close to doing it for a few weeks. I was so excited that he did it three more times last night and i was able to get it on camera, please excuse my cheerleading.

 

Today's topic of Show Us Your Life is Show Us Your Ministry. Head on over to Kelly’s blog to  link up with bloggers dedicated to ministering to people on many of life's struggles.

Have a great Friday!!

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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Awesome Surprises!

It is only 1pm and today is already a great day! It all started last night Alex surprised me with an early birthday/Valentine’s gift …. it was the Free AgentGo that i had been wanting to store all of our pictures on!!! I love it. I was so excited and was NOT expecting it. Thank you hubby for spoiling me :-)

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Then i got a surprise package in the mail this morning from my mom. She got me bumpits!!!!!!!!! I tried the small one and loved it. I can’t wait to try the other styles, they have some really cute ideas in the book that comes with them. Yay…thank you mom!!

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Then i was on twitter and saw that Kim over at Fab Finds Under 50 found a great deal at 6pm.com on Michael Kors sandals for $25, they retail for $220 and $235… amazing!! So i took advantage and ordered two for myself. I love them and i am so excited to wear them once the weather gets nicer.

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My two favorite contestants also made it to the top 24 on American Idol! I am very excited for this years competition, they are all amazing but i am pulling for Andrew Garcia and Crystal Bowersox!

So i am on day two of being facebook free…. i really wish they had a twelve step program for this…kidding. It has been challenging, especially on day one when you wake up to see an email notification that one of your old coworkers sent you a message and you have not talked to them in almost 5 months! Here is the icon i made for my facebook profile picture during the next forty days.

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It is amazing how Liam develops a little more each day. He is getting so good with grabbing toys and playing. Honestly if you show him anything he will reach out and grab a hold of it. He is starting to really love Sophie! He is able to pick her up and put her right in his mouth, he also loves to use her as a drum stick and bang on everything with her head. He also loves his doorway jumper. Yesterday i put him in there instead of his bouncy seat while i took a shower. I fully expected him to last maybe 10 minutes but he surprised me he was fully content and jumping around after 45 minutes! He is also learning to actually play in his exersaucer. He loves the blue, yellow, and green rollers and gets such a kick out of actually rolling them. He also loves the sun and to grab a hold of it and shake it.

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Yesterday we ventured out into the real world to drop something off at the post office. Well….let me just say that this is why i don’t go out. This is Liam during nap time yesterday….(which never ended up happening)…wide awake having a good old time!

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Thursday Wellness Watch

Cholesterol

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that is found in our blood and all of our body’s cells. Not only do we get cholesterol from the foods we eat, it is also made by the liver. Cholesterol is used to make cell membranes and certain hormones in our bodies. There are two types of cholesterol: HDL, the “good,” and LDL, the “bad.” It’s important to understand the difference and to know the desirable levels.

HDL and LDL

· LDL, also known as the “bad” cholesterol, circulates in the blood and can cause a slow build up of fatty materials inside our arteries. When the fatty build up combines with other substances, it forms hard, thick deposits called plaques, which narrow the arteries. This condition is also known as atherosclerosis. If an artery becomes completely blocked or too narrow, it can result in a heart attack or stroke.

· HDL, also known as the “good” cholesterol, helps protect our hearts against heart disease. It is believed that HDL carries excess cholesterol away from our arteries and back to the liver where it is excreted from our bodies.

Guide to cholesterol levels

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A dietary plan called Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) can help lower the amount of cholesterol in the blood.

Tips to lower blood cholesterol with the TLC diet:

Keep the total fat you eat to 25-35% of the total calories; keep saturated fat under 7% of the total fat each day.

Example: if you eat 2,000 calories per day, your fat intake would be between 50 and 75 grams per day. A health coach can help you determine your optimal intake.

Limit saturated fats and trans fats.

Foods high in saturated fats: fatty or marbled meats, poultry skin, bacon, sausage, whole dairy and butter.

Trans fats are found in: shortening, some fried foods, and packaged foods made with hydrogenated oils.

Limit cholesterol to less than 200 mg per day.

Foods high in cholesterol are: fatty meat, whole dairy, shrimp, lobster, and egg yolks.

Get 20 to 30 grams of dietary fiber per day.

Fiber is found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans. Aim for 5 cups of fruits and vegetables and 3 oz of whole grains per day.

Eat more omega-3 fatty acids—Aim to eat fish twice a week.

Good sources are: salmon, tuna, walnuts, and flaxseed oil.

Add 2 grams of plant stanols per day. Plant stanols are found naturally in fruits and vegetables and are now being added to special margarines, juices, breads, etc. They work by blocking the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine and have been found to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol without lowering HDL (good) cholesterol.

Blood Pressure

What is blood pressure?

Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of our arteries as our heart pumps. If this pressure rises and stays high over time, it can damage the body in many ways—this condition is called high blood pressure. It is also known as “the silent killer” because, most of the time, it shows no symptoms.

High blood pressure makes the heart work harder to pump blood, causing it to grow abnormally large in size. The harder force of the blood against the network of artery pathways causes damage to the inside walls of the arteries.

Blood Pressure Readings

Systolic, the top number, is the pressure when your heart contracts to pump blood out.

Diastolic, the bottom number, is the pressure when the heart relaxes between beats.

Guide to blood pressure levels.

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Source: American Heart Association Recommended Blood Pressure Levels

Life Style Changes

High blood pressure is the #1 risk factor for stroke and the second leading cause of death in America. Any reading over 120 over 80 is considered pre-hypertensive and is recommended to be treated with lifestyle modifications.

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Eating Plan incorporates lowering sodium, adding fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and limiting fats. It provides an eating pattern that is high in potassium, calcium, magnesium, and fiber, while limiting sodium to levels between 1,500 and 2,400 mg/day.

Sodium:

• Should be limited even if you are taking medication for blood pressure. In general, a person with high blood pressure should consume around 1,500 to 2,400 mg of sodium per day.

· Tips for lowering sodium intake: Read food labels and look for foods under 300 mg of sodium per serving, do not salt food at the table and add very little when

cooking, choose carefully when you eat away from home and let the restaurant staff know you are looking for something low in sodium.

· Foods high in sodium: canned or pickled vegetables, cured or smoked meats, lunch meat, canned beans, soy sauce, canned soup, boxed or frozen meals, salad dressing, jarred salsa, etc.

It’s Not All About Salt

· Limiting sodium is important for the control of hypertension, but equally important are weight management, limiting alcohol, and increasing vegetable, fruit, whole grain, and low-fat dairy products to ensure adequate potassium, magnesium, and calcium intake.

• Potassium and Calcium have been found to help lower blood pressure. Fat-free dairy products are rich in these minerals as well as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Understanding Labels: per serving

Sodium-Free: <5mg

Very Low-Sodium: <35 mg

Low-Sodium: <140 mg

Reduced-Sodium at least 25% less than regular

Unsalted or No Salt Added: no salt added during processing; this does not mean that the product is sodium-free.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

One Year Ago Today

It is hard to believe that a whole year has pasted since i sat on the edge of the bathtub holding that test in my hands with thoughts of utter amazement. It does not feel like i have gone through a whole pregnancy, given birth, and witnessed my child grow and change so much. It truly is amazing how different your life can be in such a short amount of time. One year ago today i wrote this post to who we now know of as Liam.

January 16, 2009

Dear Baby P (Liam or Lucy),

This morning my dreams came true. This morning I found out that you were on your way! I could not imagine how excited I would be when I finally found out that your father and I were expecting. If there is a word larger than excitement that is what I felt this morning when I saw two lines!!

Here is the extended version of the whole weekend…. I was due to get my “monthly cycle” on Friday the 13th (dun dun dun) so Friday came and Friday went. Saturday morning I has some signs that make me think “ok, here is comes the hope is over” but as the day went on nothing happened except the slight nausea that I had been feeling. Saturday night (Valentines Day) I decided to take a test, just in case, so that I could tell your dad if by chance a miracle had happened. The test was negative and I was devastated. I would like to take this time to acknowledge my behavior and apologize to your father for my foul mood that night.

The next day ,Presidents Day , when I woke up it was still no where to be found and I wondered; so I decided to test. I did not want to sit in the bathroom, staring at the test only to have my eyes play tricks on me so I put in on the tub ledge and went to play with Nigel for a few minutes. When I came back in I could hardly believe what I saw….two lines… a positive test…. WOW! I started shaking and crying in excitement, I could hardly contain myself. Then began the longest day of my life. I was working second shift and would not get out of work until 8:30. I couldn’t believe I would have to go almost 12 hours holding back this information. So I faked a migraine and left work at 5 so I could go home and tell your dad. I told him “I have a surprise for you… I took a test today and…” he said “it was positive?” “ and I said YES!” then we hugged and kissed to celebrate the exciting news! That evening we read the first chapter in his The Expectant Father book.

Baby P, I am so excited for your arrival. I cannot wait until the day that I can look into your eyes and know the love that you were created from and that your father and I have for you. I am thrilled that you will be here by Christmas …. Halloween and Thanksgiving!!!!

Love, Your Mommy

Monday, February 15, 2010

Our Valentine’s Day Weekend

We had a wonderful Valentine’s Day weekend we started out Saturday morning lounging around in our footie jammies (well Liam and I did) and taking a trip to Starbucks for breakfast (yummm).

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On Sunday we started our day with pancakes and then exchanged cards and gave Liam a few little things that we got him for Valentine’s Day. This year he got two lady bug water teethers and an Elmo Loves Hugs book.

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I spent most of the day in the kitchen making our dinner and dessert. For dinner we had homemade Zuppa Toscana soup (Olive Garden knock off), which, oh my goodness, turned out amazing! For our main dish we had homemade beef ravioli and for dessert key lime pie.

Alex and I are participating in The Great Date Experiment but are adapting a modified version to fit our lives. We set aside an hour of time but ended up talking for two hours! I never thought a series of question would spark such an amazing conversation. There are many nights that i go to bed and even though Alex and I may have been in the same room all night or all day i still feel as though i miss him. Our evenings revolve around tending to Liam until bedtime at 9 and after that we immediately jump on our own laptops and don’t say a word to each other until we ask if the other is ready to go to bed or we are glued to the tv. Before last night i could not say that we had ever just sat down without any electronics on and spent time together. There were weights i was carrying and ones he was carrying as well that got lifted last night and it feels amazing. I am so excited to create our weekly schedule of night time events such as tv night, independent night, and electronic free nights.

During our conversation i also committed myself to giving up something for lent. To most people this will almost sound humorous but i think it will have so many position implications in my life and i am actually exited for the challenge. I am going to give up facebook. Not only do i stalk facebook and allow it to consume much of my time but it also has had a way within the last few months of putting me in a funk and i am ready to rid my life of that and hopefully the feelings that it has been creating.

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Sunday, February 14, 2010

My Valentine’s Gift to Alex

 

I made this video for my wonderful husband for Valentine's Day 2010 about our life .... thus far .... 2002-2010! Here's to many more amazing years! At the beginning of the video it says You + Me = ...... here's why. Alex and I were set up in 2002 to go to the prom together in high school. The beginning of our first conversation went like this...Him "Hey" me "Hey, What’s up?" Him "You + Me = Prom".

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Happy Valentine’s Day

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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Pick up lines for friends?

Early last week i stumbled upon a post about pick up lines. Of course most of them were corny, cliché, or just plain gross but some of them came with stories that led to a life long relationship. These pick up lines sparked my internal struggle with being a new stay at home mom in a city where i still don’t know many people. Asking myself the question of “What is a good pick up line for another mom”?

There is no doubt about it being a stay at home mom is a hard job even though it is the best job. It is 24 hours a day 7 days a week with no sick or vacation days but what makes it harder for me is living 600 miles away from both of our families. I find that there are so many days that i want to get out of this house and just go hang out at my moms or sisters for a little while for some adult interaction and a change of environment for Liam.

So I am sure you are asking yourself, what about friends? Ahhh yes, friends, i have one of those. When we moved to Indy a year and a half ago we did not make any close friends outside of our jobs, which given my situation now is not a good thing. I am so thankful that Erin and I share a friendship that was more than just co-worker to co-worker and that i still have her today to talk to and spend time with. I think one of the hardest things for me right now is that i became a stay at home mom right when the weather started to change and get cold. I have looked online so many times for activities that Liam and I could go to but it seems as though he is just too young for things like that (such as story time at the library). I have joined meetup.com and found what looks like a great stay at home mom meet up group but i have yet to contact the group because i still have those same feeling as an insecure teen trying to be accepted by a group of people that already know one another.

So here is hoping for A) we get transferred to a new city and i bite the bullet and join a mom’s group or B) we stay here and i meet someone during one of our walks around the neighborhood once the weather finally breaks of course.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Show Us Your Life – Valentine’s Memories

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This weeks Show Us Your Life topic is Valentine’s Day dates and memories. I am so lucky to have had the most amazing valentine for the past 8 years! We started dating in 2002 when we were set up for the prom and got married in May 2008. It is hard to believe that after 8 years together there are still days i get butterflies in my stomach when i hear the garage door open when he comes home from work. People often ask how would you describe love or how did you know that Alex was the one and my answer is always the same….i’d rather have a bad time with him than a good time with anyone else.

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For the past three years we have celebrated Valentine’s Day at home with a nice dinner. Valentine’s Day falls exactly between our birthdays, his is the 8th and mine is the 22nd because of this we never made a huge deal for Valentine’s Day.

So instead of telling you my favorite Valentine’s Day date or memory i am going to take some inspiration from this weeks episode of The Middle and tell you my top 5 favorite memories of our relationship thus far, not including our wedding or birth of Liam.

1. During the spring of 2008 Alex and I were living in State College and within weeks of our wedding. One of the things we got in the habit of doing was taking walks in the evening. It was the combination of the warm spring air after a long winter and the anticipation of our wedding in a few weeks that made those evening walks so memorable for me. I often think back to that time in our lives and wish i could relive it just once more.

2. In the summer of 2007 we took a vacation to Ocean City Maryland with Alex’s family. All around it was one of the most fun vacations i have had. Since i was always the young one in the group this was the first vacation that i was 21 and we were all able to go out together. One night we all went to Secretes and had a few to many Pain in the Asses (a drink) and then proceeded to go to a seafood buffet, oh the laughs we had that night. On that vacation we also took a boat ride to a small island and got to explore then had a fabulous dinner on the bay at one of my favorite restaurants. Alex and I also went for a walk on the beach one night. I know that it so cliché but it was special and is definitely one of my top 5 memories.

3. During my freshman year and Alex’s sophomore year in college we took two classes together, an art history class and a biology of aging class. Taking those classes together was fun because we were able to be together in a setting that we had never been before; plus the competitiveness between us brought us both A’s in both classes. In the spring our art history class took a trip to Washington DC to visit an art museum. DC was so beautiful because the cherry blossoms were just blooming. We had a lot of fun on that trip and it was one of the first times we were able to explore a whole new place together. Later that year I took a trip to Philadelphia with my integrative arts class and Alex was lucky enough to be able to come along too. The thing i remember most able that trip was sitting in a gazebo that overlooked the river were they were practicing crew. It was so peaceful and memorable.

4. Last summer we spent one night sitting out on our porch scouring the internet for reviews on baby products. I can remember sitting out there well after the sun had gone down trying to find the best of the best for our child. It was a great memory to me because i saw the excitement in both of us for the adventure that was a head.

5. Our time in living in Lions Gate is one memory that is at the very top of my list. I have said it before and I will again; if i was able to take Nigel and Liam (the two things we gained since moving to Indy) i would move back into that one bedroom apartment tomorrow. I never felt so comfortable as i did there. I loved every single thing about where we lived. I loved how we lived a little ways from the downtown, i loved the areas we used to go for walks in, i loved being able to go to Wegman’s after work and taking the back way home, I loved being able to walked to Weis for a small order, i loved all the names we had for our neighbors (Rocky and Rocky’s owner, The British Dude, Limp, The Serial Killer), and i loved being a short two hour drive from all of our family. It was a great time in my life and the memories that we had there will never be lost in my mind.

6. I decided to do six because number one and five were similar. My number six favorite memory is driving around Mountaintop looking at Christmas lights. For a few years we would stop and get coffee and then drive around looking at lights. We have now made this a family Christmas Eve tradition and i am so excited for many more years of fantastic memories.