Flashback

I just scheduled my little B-Man's 9 month check up appointment today.  I know...he's already 9 months!  Our previous doctor said a 9 mo isn't essential since there aren't any shots needed.  The more I read (thanks, TheBump!) the more I felt like he really should go for a check up!  It's good to check where he was developmentally, etc.  Anyways, I can't believe my baby is actually almost 10 months at this point.  AH!  That made me go look back at photos from when B was born.  His birthday is actually 4 days before E's so I even found a picture of my two favorite boys on E's birthday last year....

Fuzzy pictures because I didn't want to use the flash!

Fun fact: E used to play hockey and is looking to get back into it.  His brother got him a helmet for his birthday last year...but it was a little small.

Anyways...back to my main point. I'm not going to go through my full on birth story.  I cringe when I read those.  Let's just say that the day Brady was born was an interesting one!  I was on my way to work, about 730/8 AM driving on the highway when I started to feel really uncomfortable.  I actually got off the highway and told E I thought I might be in labor.  Now, E works in the city so he was on a train to work. Not exactly easy to have the conductor turn that bad boy around for one person.  We had a plan in place in the event that I went into labor at work, so we decided to stick with that (I knew I wasn't going to pop right then, don't worry!).  I got to work and quietly told a couple of co-workers that I thought I was in labor but I wasn't really sure. They looked at me like I was crazy! But since I wasn't sure I actually worked for about 45 minutes.  Once I figured out that I was actually in labor, my girls put my plan into action! We headed out - Jocelyn drove me in my car and Kerin followed behind us.  While I was in the car, I called the hospital and spoke to a nurse telling her I was coming in because I thought I was in labor. She actually said it didn't sound like I was in labor, so don't come in because they'd just send me home. I told her that was not an option and I was coming in. She scheduled an appointment with my doctor (whose office was thankfully at the hospital) because she didn't believe me. 

We drove to the train station next to the hospital, waited for Eric to arrive and I actually ended up leaving first and Eric met me in the hospital. After seeing my doctor she agreed I was in labor and sent me over to maternity.  Now...most soon-to-be mom's have a "Go Bag" that is properly packed.  I did not. I had a couple of things I thought I needed. No camera. Nothing for E.  I don't even remember if I had anything for B in there other than a hat. Either way, E had to go home, feed the pup and grab some extra stuff.  I got checked in and settled...just waiting for my epidural (no chance I was foregoing those magic meds!).  

By the time E was coming back to the hospital, it was around lunchtime so he had stopped at McDonalds to get something to eat before coming back to the hospital (since I couldn't eat anything).  Turns out he was in such a rush that managed to lock his keys in the car. Yup...it's true.  Good thing B wasn't born until later in the evening so he didn't miss much!

I don't think I've mentioned this on the old blog here...but I had begged my doctor for a C-section. BEGGED.  First off, the idea of a human growing inside of me? Right, some people say it's a beautiful, magical experience. It's not. It's uncomfortable, nauseating, heart-burn inducing....and the list goes on.  The idea of actually pushing a human being out of me? Gag. No thanks...I wanted NOTHING to do with it. But my doctor wouldn't let me.  There was no medical reason for a C-section.  So when labor came? I was terrified. When my doc said I could start pushing? I think I was in shock that the time was actually here and I actually had to face what was going to happen.  But for being my first, I was in labor for 12 hours and pushed for less than an hour.  And let me tell you....it was the first 4 days after B was born that were the worst (we're talking couldn't walk, hurt to laugh, uncomfortable to sit...) and not the actual number.

My entire birth experience took place without a birth plan.  I think not really having many expectations made it a lot easier.  B was 8 lbs 7 oz when he was born and 20.5 inches long.  Most people responded with "wow that's huge" and now I can't believe what a tiny little peanut he was when he was born...how have you already grown so much my little man???

I know she's controversial, but...

So Miley Cyrus has definitely turned a few heads over the last few weeks.  She's honestly one of those people that I can't believe I'm writing about because I hate to give her the satisfaction of knowing that I'm just one other person giving her more attention and publicity.  But I can't help myself.  As hard as it's been to accept...Miley will never come across this little blog of mine.  Her performance at the VMAs was...interesting, to say the least.  I tried to ignore it.  It was weird, watching a 20 year old girl, Hannah Montana all grown up and rubbing a foam finger all up in her business.  Strange. I used to babysit a lot...so needless to say, I've watched a lot of Hannah Montana.  This....this is not Hannah Montana. She's definitely shed that image.  I know in a lot of ways America is afraid of sexualization...sometimes I wonder why.  Why aren't we all more open about our sexuality? Why aren't we proud of our sexuality?  Why are we so afraid to show it?  Why, if you do all of this, is it frowned upon?

Well, Miley. You've just taken it to a whole new level. You, and this video, and your VMA performance, that's why people are afraid to show their sexuality.  Because when not done tastefully, this is what we get.  Being proud of who you are, showing that your sexy and confident is one thing.  But your Wrecking Ball video...is a little over the top.  You're 20.  And you're engaged. And you're naked, rubbing your lady business on a wrecking ball and chain.  I'm mortified for you. No one needs to see that. What happened? But well done, because here I am writing about it.

Well, friends, I'll let you decide what you think... Oh, and if you're at work? You may want to wait until later to check out this little gem...

Live More Weigh Less

You guys...I know I'm new to the blogging world.  But have you heard of the amazing Sarah Jenks? Well neither had...until yesterday.  It's crazy how you can find new and refreshing blogs weekly just from reading your "regulars." These ladies probably don't even know that I read their blogs...but weekly I check in over at How Sweet It Is because I know I'm going to find a bunch of amazing recipes.  Well, Jessica linked over to this super inspiring post, which naturally lead me over to Sarah Jenks.  All I had to do was read one paragraph to be on board.  So let's back up: Kristen over at Dine & Dish (still with me?) posted about not committing to do all or nothing anymore.  Her post was about me right? I know that when E reads her post he's also going to think she's writing about me.  That diet that I needed to start five, six years ago? Yep...still on hold until, you guessed it, "tomorrow."  I always commit to go all out.  I'm going to start a great diet and keep on it forever, yeah! I'm going to work out like crazy! Remember, after all...I'm going to run until I don't jiggle anymore.  I should know better by now. I make crazy commitments that end up being virtually impossible for me to fulfill.  I've worked out only a handful of times since that last post. We're already up so early that I know I won't workout in the morning. At night by the time B-Man is sleeping, I'm exhausted and I'm lucky if I'm awake for another hour. And at work? Well the time always gets away from me and I never seem to have the time.

I realized I've been struggling to find a balance in my life.  And it just gets too easy to blame it on the circumstances of life...whatever they are. Sarah's Live More Weigh Less challenge embodies finding balance.  In even the smallest ways.  So you know what? I'm going to do as many as possible.  Just looking at the first week I think I might have to rearrange some of the days, because I joined late, and I can't go hiking on a Friday that I'm working.

*Sigh* I'm not sure why writing this whole post has made me feel so much more at ease, but it has.

We're also going to look at houses today.  I probably shouldn't be as hopeful as I am.  But there is one house we're [hopefully] going to look at that I am most definitely crushing on.  The home is gorgeous (from the pics...) and backs up to a little lake.  I guess all we can do is wait and see!  More on that tomorrow!

Girl Crush, Anyone?

Don't get me wrong now.  I love my hubs...but there are some good looking ladies out there these days!  This post was definitely inspired by the amazing Carolyn over at Plum Noir Vintage and her Things I Love post....I should just call this girls I love.  If I had to choose...these sexy ladies make my top 3!

I don't know what it is about these three but they get me every time.  Okay, I know exactly what it is.  They're hot! And two of them are hot mommas...even better!  I wasn't even trying to make this a post with minimal clothes on but it just so happens that these were my favs!

1. Kate Upton - I don't think this even needs an explanation.  I mean...have you seen the Cat Daddy?  That hair...those eyes...that body?! Even if you have no interest in women...she should make you think twice!

2. Kourtney Kardashian - I haven't been able to keep up with the show lately, but I'm pretty sure she's the main reason I watched any of the Kardashians.  I think she's the smartest of the three and a nice balance of boldness between Kim & Khloe.  And let's face...girlfriend's not afraid to be who she is  (even if it means no deoderant while breastfeeding)!  I do think she gets annoying sometimes...but I'm super envious of how good she looks...after two kids!

3. Kendra Baskett - Weird...she'll always be Kendra Wilkinson to me...from Girls Next Door.  Her laugh is annoying...annnnd let's be real, she's pretty dumb.  But I love her tomboy style and even though she's not 100% real I'm pretty envious of her bod!

So tell me, who are your girl crushes?!

Love Story

Our love story began back in the spring of 2007.  Our wedding invitations actually had a reference to girl meets boy, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl get married.  But it's the details that are the interesting part, right!?  E and I went to a little university in New England together.  We were actually in the same French class from day one.  Me? I was the over-achiever in the class who actually liked French.  In fact, it was my minor.  Everyone else? And please note, by everyone else I believe I mean the other 12 people in the class.  They were there to get an elective out of the way because they had taken French before in high school.  E and I didn't really talk a whole lot in class.  We sat on opposite sides of the room and he was actually pretty quiet.  Our first actual encounter took place when I was coming back from studying before midterms on a Thursday night and he had been out with some friends being his mischievous self.  Now, even though we didn't interact much, we did live in the same building - he lived two floors beneath me.  And to get into our building there were two sets of doors.  Anyone could get in the first but you needed a fob in order to get into the second.  I came back from studying to find E, a kid from French class sitting in between the sets of doors because he didn't have a key fob.  I think I said something of the lines of "You okay, pal? Need to get in?" Well he looked up at me...paused for a second and said "oh yeah, you're that girl from French class that everybody hates!"  ...And thus began our love story.  Ok, ok that's not where it began.  And *apparently* E didn't really mean that everyone hated me, just that they didn't like me putting so much effort into a class that they just needed to get through for an elective credit.

Turns out at the start of the next semester, someone decided to move his seat next to mine.  And now the love story really begins.  Any thoughts as to how he initiated some actual flirting with me? By kicking my flip flop off any chance he got.  At first it was a little irritating, but the more I talked to him, the more I liked him.  We became friends and chatted quite a bit, chose each other as partners to do some French projects together.  And then it got to be sometime in April.  He told me that his anniversary was coming up and that he didn't know what to get his girlfriend. Now I can't say that I was floored because I knew that he had a girlfriend.  I wasn't trying to steal him away [necessarily] but I thought we were flirting a lot and got along really well so of course I was holding out hope that something would happen.  My heart was crushed when he asked me that.  I was in a place where I thought we were on two completely separate pages.  His anniversary came and went and he still had a girlfriend.  A few weeks came and went and we still talked and flirted but I didn't have a whole lot of hope.  Until we were working on a French project one day. And my roommate was out of town.  We talked. laughed, looked at pictures and I enticed him with so French rap played some really awesome music that he fell in love with before he fell in love with me somehow managed to put up with and see that I wasn't really that fake and was just trying to impress him.  I honestly don't remember how exactly we ended up talking in bed and cuddling but we did.  I remember things started to get passionate, and I told him no, he had a girlfriend.  He said okay and we just cuddled.  But when he started to kiss me again...let's just say it lead to a night of passion [sorry, mom!].  I spent the next few days with a knot in my stomach...not wanting to talk to him, address it or tell anyone else about it.  We ended up meeting in the library one night (why the library? I can't answer that...) and I don't remember what we talked about.  What I do remember is that he still had a girlfriend at that point.  The "in between" here is really all a blur.  What I do remember is that one weekend (probably only a week or two later), he called me up one evening and told me that he had ended it. It was over and he didn't have a girlfriend.  I had been cleaning our dorm room because it was towards the end of the year and we were getting ready to move out...I didn't want to see him right away because I was covered in dust and cleaning materials.  When I was finally ready to see him, I called him and no answer.  I waited a bit, called him again...no answer.  Weird since I thought we were going to hang out.  I went to study with a friend and texted him once or twice but hadn't had an answer.  It wasn't until later that night that I came back to my room and he texted me back saying his ex had come back to try to convince him that it was a mistake and they should be together.  Good thing that I was texting and calling him that whole time. Anyways, you know what they say, the rest is history.  We've had tons of adventures since then.  Adventures, trying times, joyous times and just plain crazy times.  Since most of our stuff is in storage right now I don't actually have the pictures that I took of us from our first date, but I suppose I can always update this posting later on with that.  For the record, we walked to a restaurant right off campus for our first date because neither of us even had a car!

Epic Fail...and some success

Well it's true.  Do you remember this post? Unfortunately, I do too.  And I don't have good news to report! I worked out twice last week.  Twice.  Unacceptable. That for sure was an epic fail.  BUT I'm still determined, and I am going to get better.  The worst part is that I didn't even do anything over the long weekend!  We went and looked at some houses (with no outcome, again) and I didn't workout once.  In fact, I think I took about 1500 steps one day.  For anyone who knows how many steps you need to get in a day to be considered active (*ahem* Carolyn) don't judge me. I was super lazy this weekend.  But we enjoyed some quality time with the B man this weekend, and you can never argue with that.  Plus, before we went house hunting, E and I drove about half an hour away to an estate sale (yep, half an hour in the opposite direction from the houses we were looking at).  E found this sale posted online and spotted some China that we figured we could flip.  So we drove out there, and the folks running it meant business. We thought some things would be set up outside or you'd just be able to walk inside and take a peak at what you might want, so we showed up about 20 minutes early.  Well, wouldn't you know, we actually got a number and ended up lining up to get into the house.  Luckily we were in the top 10 of people to get in so we got there right away.  We scooped up the China (AKA I happened to find it and E got stuck wrapping and packing every single piece of it while I changed B's diaper and played with him in the car) and headed out.  Before that we had stopped at a yard sale, as well and I had grabbed four books for $1, total.  Turns out the books I grabbed are actually collectively worth about $30!  E was awesome and somehow took pictures and listed everything the same night! Just as well since someone already bought 2 platters from us and one of our other pieces already has a few bids!  I guess he found a steal?

It's pretty, too!  Unfortunately, this picture doesn't even do it justice....and even worse? I'm pretty sure the only pictures taken this weekend were from our estate sale finds...and all taken by E! The good news is that we'll be away for the weekend and some of the time it will be just me and the B Man but E should be able to spend some time with us, too...and I've already got my camera all charged up so we'll be ready to go!