happy new year!

Here are my plans for 2014:

1. No fast food in January.
2. Write more, either here or elsewhere.
3. Drink at least 64 oz. of water a day.
4. Connect with a friend at least once a week.
5. Be kind to myself, relax and find joy in simple pleasures.
6. Save ahead for planned expenses like vacation, next Christmas, etc.
7. Refine my morning routine; be on time to work.
8. Cut out time-wasters. (Unsubscribe!)
9. Do one thing each day that will not need repeated.
10. Focus on my marriage. We are so, so worth it.

Thursday thoughts. Parenting ponderings.

I was just thinking that it's ridiculous how our priorities in life flip as we get older.

When you're young? The only thing that matters is playing.

Toddlers, Preschoolers, Little kids... it's all about getting through the boring stuff to playtime. Recess is everyone's favorite subject!

As teens, it was hanging out with your friends, talking/texting/flirting, singing along to the radio... all playing.

Then as young adults: Everybody's working for the weekend... (what's up! showing my age!) Let's do some day drinking, play some videogames, or watch Legally Blonde for the 48th time.

Now, with a child, we still work toward the fun times... but adult fun (shut up) is different. Sometimes it's the family vacation we've been planning for. Sometimes it's just an hour to read. Most times (for me, anyway) it has to do with getting some time to just not THINK. Getting a pedicure, playing candy crush, reading a book on my Kindle like a damn grown up.

Anyway.

The other thing is sleep. I love sleep. My brother and I decided that if we started a band we'd call ourselves "Defenders of Sleep" because we've taken a lot of crap from people over our love (and ability) to sleep.

If I could sleep 15 hours a day, I'd be thrilled just to have the time, with no other responsibilities. But honestly, I don't know if I could physically sleep that much anymore. (I'd give it a try, though.) I never thought I'd say this, but since becoming a parent I just... wake up sooner. I don't "need" more than 9 hours of sleep and I don't just knock out cold until somebody yells at me anymore.

I'm obsessed with Oliver's sleep too. Not exactly in that way that all parents are, like just generally wishing for "more sleep". But I want him to go to sleep, and stay there... it's irrationally important to me that he gets ENOUGH sleep. So much so that I will give in to the threenager stalling tactics just so he will fall out sooner. Because the fact that I have to wake him up at 7 every morning is a killer mom guilt moment. Basically, my little precious angel snowflake should be able to sleep until the morning sun fairies gently kiss his eyelids awake.


*And also, I'm maybe jealous. If Nick wanted to help me to go to sleep, and would sit and pat my back and rub my hair? THAT WOULD BE OKAY.

oh hey, May.

(Insert something here about how I randomly feel like blogging after an extended time of not blogging.)

And then, we jump right in.

The other day Oliver found a "credit card" (an old gift card with no balance left on it). Since Mother's Day was coming up, Nick asked him what he was going to buy to buy for Mommy. He said, "ummmm, Doc Hudson!"


for me

I got my nails done about two months ago. I still have some remnants of that polish left over on my toenails, and it looks downright shameful.

I am waiting not-so-patiently for my cell phone upgrade so I can get an iPhone. June 2nd you will find me at Best Buy or the AT&T store. My mom, husband, and pretty much everyone on Twitter has one, so getting a new phone with zero learning curve will but super sweet. I may or may not have put a couple cases and screen protectors on my Amazon Wishlist.

We have 3 vacations planned for this summer, along with a couple of day trips. We are going to be one busy family. But with the super warm spring we've already had, the happy fun times started early.

We went to Chicago with the Masons last weekend and had a really great trip. Oliver was a sweetheart in the car for 5 hours each way, and while there he played nicely with his friend the whole time.

flyin in the sky (Sky Deck at Willis Tower) on Friday May 18th

My boys have no fear. I don't know what it was... I don't think I'm super afraid of heights, but I could not step out on that glass balcony. Oliver was on there for maybe 5 minutes and I was ready to vomit.

We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo for the whole day on Saturday, but I don't have those pictures with me right now. In two weeks, this will not be a problem anymore since I will be able to take them with my OWN PHONE.

So, if I said I will post the pics from the zoo soon, would you believe me? :)

the daddy on the bus

Nick has quite often taken issue with many commercials and some TV shows and how they portray men. You know the ones I'm talking about... the commercial for a vacuum cleaner where the lazy dude on the couch can barely be bothered to lift his feet as the woman gleefully pushes her new vacuum past him. Practically any ad for a cooking gadget or grocery store will show a wife shopping for and preparing dinner for her family in a healthier/faster/less clean-up required way.

Not that these things aren't the "norm" I guess, and not to say that many women aren't perfectly happy (or expected or at least not resentful) doing these things for their family. But the point is, it's not always the women doing the cooking and/or cleaning, and certainly in this day and age, the men in our lives don't plant their butts on the couch every night and weekend and not lift a finger to help around the house.

So the other day, after dinner, Oliver started randomly singing "The Wheels on the Bus" while we prompted him what line to say next.

The wheels on the bus go...? Wound and wound!
The doors on the bus go...? Open-ann shut!
The wipers on the bus go...? Swish-wish-wish!
The baby on the bus goes...? Wah Wah Wah!
The mommy on the bus goes...? Shh Shh Shh!

All through the town!

There doesn't seem to be any daddies on this bus*?

So we made up some words, totally in jest (and out of ear shot) about what the daddy on the bus might say.

The daddy on the bus goes [boobs and beer!]
[nachos and farts!] [porn and war!]
The daddy on the bus goes [work work work]
All through the town!

*I did find one website that referenced the parents on the bus going shh shh shh, and also the mommy on the bus saying I love you and the daddy saying I love you, too. But I thought our version was funnier.

dear Trent...

Happy Birthday to the sweet son of my best friend.

See you this weekend, Mason family!

Post It Note Tuesday

 

 

where I'm from

Thanks to Metta at 365 Days: 30+ Mommyhood (another 30 year old first time mom!) for setting up this blog hop! Here's my take on “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon.

I am from coffee cups,
from Kleenex, two-liters and Rock Band drums.
I am from a half acre of suburbia
dog hair and the smell of fresh cut grass.

I am from the weeds in the gravel driveway
the climbing tree in Papa & Gramma’s backyard, cut down in old age
whose long gone limbs remember
as if they were my own.

I’m from Hohn thumb and the fifteen-cent game
from Mary Arndt and Great-Grandma on the Mountain.
I’m from proudly crafted sarcasm and the ya-ya sisterhood
and from friendships made at Friendly’s.

I’m from “nutso-crazy” and “put your foot down, Papa!”
       “Can I spend the night?”
I’m from every other weekend, plus alternating holidays,
from the six of us.
I’m from General Hospital, The Farming Game, Yes & Know invisible ink,
       Are You Afraid of the Dark?
from the Lorain County fair, sidewalk chalk art and Pat Benatar.

I’m from Cleveland and Germany and Spring City, Tennessee
from banana pudding and the perfect potato salad.
From a young country couple who went to Georgia to get married.
       The man who left his young family to find work
       and taught himself everything he needed to know;
       his wife who remembers the date and every detail of every event.
He would have been happy to stay home, but dutifully went everywhere
she wanted to go
I’m from the countless photos, obituaries, and newspaper mentions
       cataloged religiously and kept in the sewing room.
I’m from “I have my whole life to be with this man I love!”
from family and friends, here and gone, then and now, loved and lost.

I’m from replacing bad memories with newer better versions
from learning as you go
from Nick’s hugs and Oliver’s smiles
making the best of the time I have surrounded by the ones I love.

Notes to myself

Dear Sara (age 5),
Do your classwork! You're a smart kid, you know what you're supposed to do... Once you buckle down and just do it already the look on your teacher's face when you hand it in first instead of dead last will be something you won't forget. Keep it up and maybe this won't be the start of a long procrastination streak in your life?


Dear Sara (age 11),
You're right. This school sucks. Those girls are awful and mean. I'm so sorry. You'll grow out of that hair and after some minor medical treatment your skin will clear up. Just keep your head in your schoolwork, because even though you feel miserable, you'll look back and remember a couple of really nice teachers. One of whom gave you an "S" pin because she wanted to make you feel special, which you'll hold on to for at least 20 years.


Dear Sara (age 15),
Don't date him. He's get you into way more trouble than he's worth.


Dear Sara (age 16),
Oh, please don't hurt him. You have no idea right now, but he's the one for you. The one you'll love forever. I know it doesn't seem possible, but it's true. If you must break up with him, make sure not to be a jerk. You want him to remember you in the best light possible.


Dear Sara (age 17),
Try to hold on to this happy, confident version of yourself. Things may not be perfect, but as you finish up your senior year in high school you'll feel your best: a good friend & a good student with a clear path.


Dear Sara (age 18-20),
For the love of big butter Jesus do NOT date him. He'll virtually ruin your freshman year of college. I'd tell you to go to class, but even with extra prodding you'd only go enough to get a passing grade. NOT COOL. You're not a fun person to be around right now, but go ahead a lean on your friends and Dad. They'll surprise you. Listen to Jen. She will be a will always be a voice of reason, compassion and comfort for you, and you will be forever grateful that that she was there for this phase of your life. It will make your friendship stronger.


Dear Sara (age 22),
Deep breath. You're going to make it. As much as you might feel that way now, you're not stuck. This is not your life. You don't have to marry him. Try not run up your credit card, don't spend all your money on eating out at restaurants and freaking BOOZE.

DO run screaming from the state of Ohio. Even though it sucks to leave behind your friends, moving in with Mom and getting to become friends with her will end up being one of the best decisions you've ever made. And when Nick moves in it will be awkward at times, but the relationship he'll gain with Mom will make you all happy and grateful for the time you spent together.


Dear Sara (age 26),
Use some damn hand sanitizer or something so you won't get the flu the week before your wedding. Don't worry about it, the fact that you attempt to run down the aisle to Nick and Dad having to slow you down will end up being a fond memory. Make a copy of the video for Mom now so she's not still waiting for it in 4 years.


Dear Sara (age 29) (one year ago TODAY),

It's a boy. He's going to be perfect. You're going to be happier than you ever thought possible.

Don't listen to what anyone else has to say. You look good in that shirt. You CAN have a natural, med-free labor. In fact, you're going to look labor, delivery and even recovery in the eye and say I OWN you.

Talk to Nick more about how he's feeling. It's easy to wallow in pregnant self-pity, but don't forget that he's expecting a baby too.



(Family: click on any of the links below to read other bloggers' letters to themselves.)

when stalking pays off

So, I love giveaways. I love entering them and I love winning them. I don't know where this lucky streak came from, but I haz one. It's like a strange alignment of the stars & planets & moons or something. It's really freaky actually, but I have been lucky enough to win some really great products (of course, why would I enter to win some crap?) but I won't go into detail, I don't want to sound all braggy and lame.

Now. Modern Bird Studios. I have been stalking their giveaways for months, to the point that I joined Twitter to get the extra entries. (And then, luckily for me, they tweet links to all their giveaways - making it extra easy to stalk them!) Anyhow, they have this seriously cool take on modern art by turning your photo into a unique awesomesauce two-tone painting. Hand painted. Seriously a lot of work.
So, I won a giveaway. OH SNAP! After much hemming and hawing over which picture to choose... we chose this one:

NOW, the next very ultimate other hard part. Also: Lame. I have been pestering them and going back and forth and trying to figure out what color combination to get! Here are my current options, please help me decide! Remember: the final result will be painted on wood, so some texture will come through.

Click on this collage to get a really good look at all of them.

What do you think? Please halp, internets!

Swagger.

OK. We don't have cable anymore, so I'm going to use that as my excuse for not having seen this commercial earlier. Thank goodness for other awesome bloggers like Emmie Bee and Kristi who post things like this where I will (eventually) discover them. If you've seen it already, please enjoy again. If not, you're welcome.

Blatant Attention Whoring

If you read my blog, please comment whenever you stop by!

I mean, it has been lovely just typing my thoughts and feelings and hitting the "Publish Post" button to sent them off into the abyss of the internet, but a girl can always use some warm fuzzy feedback!

(Because I know no one would dare leave feedback that is anything but warm and fuzzy for someone 8 months pregnant, right?)

Seriously, though. No pressure. Just a simple "I read this today" would do the trick. I really just want to know you were here!

Brought to you by the letter "Z".

I've gotten myself into something here. I was doing some blog reading, and one girl was handing out letters for something called a meme. It's like one of those Facebook things where you're supposed to name ten things that you love, but they all have to start with the same randomly chosen letter. I got Z. HA!

Here goes:

1. Zzzzz's. I seriously love sleep. Anyone who knows me knows that I LUUUV sleep.

Not only is sleep usually the best cure for most ailments... sometimes the only reason I get out of bed in the morning is that I promise myself I will go to bed early that night.

I think it might be an inherited skill, because me and my brother have always been sleepers...

10 hours? Been there, done that. 12 hours? Most Sundays! 14? Now we're talkin'.

We've decided that if we were going to be in a band together (Like Hanson! Only not nearly as gimp!) we would name the band Defenders of Sleep.


2. Zuma! An awesomely fun game which requires the player to have only one two skills. The ability to use a mouse and see colors. One of my very favorite ways to waste time while I should be balancing the checkbook.


3. Zach Braff. Oh, J.D., could you be more cute, silly, freakish and heartwarmingly honest?
Also, I wish the "Zach Braff Effect" could have a counterpart called the "NinjaPanza Effect", where I would have a say in what bands/artists* do not get airplay.

*tangent alert - I'm about to go off here...*

See, it would take a LOT of time and effort for me to decide that a band/artist* is SO GOOD that they would deserve some serious promotion. On the other hand, I can decide when something SUCKS within seconds of hearing it. That's my gift to give to the world. Veto power.

To have an influence over what bands got radio play would be really REALLY cool... but I have issues with that kind of responsibility. I barely tell anyone about this here blog because then people might read it, which would mean I'd have to post on a regular basis! Oh, the pressure! But, I digress.

*cuz no one except for silly ol' Alicia Keys plays an instrument anymore

4. Zooey Deschanel. How cute is this girl? And she can sing!! Check out her band here.
If there is anyone in the free world that a) reads this and b) hasn't seen Elf, get thee to the video store!

(I would have posted a pic from Elf, but I like her better rockin' the brunette.)

5. ZZ Top. This is not really a specific love of the band, although those 2 guys DO have some really awesome beards.

(The letter is Z! I'm struggling here!)

Plus, the song La Grange gives me warm fuzzies because:

a) It's fun to play on Rock Band. (I'm the drummer... I got sucked into this game by my giant video game geek husband whom I adore and was only trying to appease. Joke's on me.)

b) My mom told me a story about when she and my dad were young, still dating, and this song was popular on the radio. They would sit around with friends and do this foot-tapping, knee-slapping jig that would be way too hard to describe. Nevertheless, it was a sweet story about happier times and I appreciated it.


6. Zoos. No, really! I really do like going to the zoo!

OK... well, think about it, have you ever gone to the zoo and had a bad time? There you go.

The elephants are my favorite.

7. Zero Puncuation. So silly. I discovered this from hubby watching G4. I mostly paid attention because they were making fun of Halo. So sue me.

8. Zillow. I was way into checking this site back when we were buying our house. Now, I kind of hate it for telling me what I already knew... the value of our home has dropped since we bought it. Shit. No refinancing the mortgage for me.

9. The cursive letter z. Because it's in my last name and I like to write it.

Yeah that was a cop-out. I don't care.

10. The Zodiac. Fortune cookies, Magic 8-ball, Ouija board... they got nothin' on the good old Libra, Virgo and Scorpio. I am a Scorpio, married to a Libra. It's funny how you can make life into what you want, and then turn around and make some random gibberish about Saturn being in your house of Finance into:

"Oh my God! I should be getting some money this month? Hey! And my tax return is due any day now!!"

Scorpio Love & Relationships Daily:
It's not too early to start planning your summer vacation. Talk to your honey about where you'd both like to go. Having something to look forward to will help you get
through the rest of winter.

"Oh wow! Nick and I started planning our summer vacations already... I'm so glad the stars thought this was a good idea! Maybe we should book our hotel now...?"

Name droppin': My letter came from Tia, who got her letter from alexa. These are two of my new favorite things to read. Everyone should check them out!