from naptimes past

 I was so happy for him when he started playing with his feet! It may be a weird thing to be proud of, but it was one of those first steps of self discovery.He was becoming an independent-thinking little baby boy, no longer a "helpless" infant. 

 That's a 3-6 month size sleeper.

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.)

such a big boy

I got Daddy's chair! I like XBOX!

Slow down, sweet baby.

a few reasons why I love my son's dad

So, a while back, I mentioned a draft of a post I had brewing listing the 100 reasons why I love my son's dad. While I'm sure there are more than 100 teeny tiny specific reasons, I've realized that a lot of them can be lumped into categories or situations.  

So, in honor of our first Father's Day (yes, I KNOW it was LAST week, this is the minimum amount of time I need to get pictures out of the camera and into the blog) here are the top 10.

1. The Work Dads. He's got his own little support system of other dads that he's friends with at work. Baby's got a runny nose & slight fever... is he sick or teething? Ask the work dads. When should we start feeding him solids twice a day? Three times? Ask the work dads.
2. He fits right in with my family. I know we all have families we'd consider a little crazy or unconventional, but seeing him jump right in with all the aunts and grandmas makes my heart happy. My mom loves him, my grandmas love him
3. He always knows how to make me feel like a million bucks - I get massages, there is a text waiting for me every morning "I love you! How did you sleep?" and throughout the day "How's pumpeen?"and dinner every night (for a time, while we were still getting used to our weekday routine it was even delivered to the couch).
4. This man was born to be a dad. Watching them together makes my heart explode into a million pieces, reform and then melt into a puddle on the floor. True story.


• Oliver's was the first diaper he'd ever changed, and now he doesn't think twice when it's diaper time. 
• He's better at getting boogers with the blub-sucker-thing. (Aspirator. I know the word, it's just more fun to say booger-sucker-dealy.)
• He can make the kid LAUGH. Like the really good bubble up from the gut kind. Even a few months ago (was it really only a few months ago) when the most we got was an errant smile - Nick was the first to get those smiles on command. EARTHQUAKE!!! (The "earthquake" is where you lay the baby on his changing table, grab opposite corners of the pad & wiggle.)


5. We have that couple-with-mental-telepathy thing. The kind that can get annoying to others if we do it too much, like finishing each other's sentences and my only having to say EPIC! or BAZINGA! and he'll fall over laughing. This just makes life more fun & easier on both of us, I think. Like when a to-do list includes things like "pee floor" & "piz/sal" we don't have to question what it means.
6. There's a lovely division of labor in our house - and we don't get pissed at each other for slacking... parenting & our marriage come first... housework is way down on the list.


• I don't do floors - he doesn't do laundry
• I don't do yard work - he doesn't do the checkbook
• I don't do boogers - he doesn't do nail clipping 


7. Our nightly bottle ritual: bottles are already clean since he's made that part of his afternoon naptime chores. *love* I fill the Dr. Browns with a lovely breastmilk/formula cocktail, he washes the pump bottles. I get lids & write labels, he gets Ollie's lunch packed. Carrots or sweet potatoes for lunch tomorrow?





8. He's been making Ollie's baby food. It's so sweet how excited Nick gets over pureeing some pears. To quote: "He took one of my favorite things - food - and made it even better!" He's even started a garden. What's growing?


• Squash
• Zucchini
• Tomatoes
• Beans
• Peas
• Carrots


9. He does things that need to get done - I know everybody's all like: DUH! but it's so many little things that add up to me not having to keep this stuff in my brain. Not just things like the trash, it's replacing the bulb in the bathroom night light & keeping the dog's food & water full. Big, important, life-altering tasks.
10. I love my son's dad because we chose each other, he said I do, and without him I wouldn't have my little guy.

Because of him...

I am patient.

I feel overwhelming love.

I am nostalgic for last week.

I know worry.

My heart now lives outside of my chest.

My life is full of joyful, scary vulnerability.

 My emotions echo his whims.

My life is as it was meant to be.

My family is complete.

I am truly happy.

It's a major award!

My first blog award was given to me by Her Momma. Check out her blog, everybody. You think Ollie's hair is awesome? (You're right...) Check out baby Lovie... she is OMG THOSE CURLS SO CUTE OMG THOSE CHEEKS! So thanks for the award, Momma!

Now, to accept this award I have to list 10 interesting things about myself. I guess these are "honest" "scraps" about me. Oh, so clever.

1. I have never seen Toy Story or Monsters, Inc., which totally blows Nick's mind.. They are now in our Netflix queue.
2. I really dislike food with bones. It's not my idea of a good meal to have to work to get the meat off of chicken wings or ribs, and it makes me feel a little weird and caveman savage-like to be pulling the meat off of animal bones with my bare hands.
3. There has been much debate in our family about which way to face the silverware when loading the dishwasher. Both sides have their merits: Face up? It probably gets cleaner, not being shoved down in the basket thing all jammed together. Face down? After the cycle is done & it's time to unload your hands never touch the part you put in your mouth or the sharp knife blades. The world may never know. Hm. This is supposed to be "interesting" and also about me. Is it interesting enough for me to admit to flip flopping on this issue? No? Sorry then.
4. I hold my pee a lot. I don't know why.
5. My son is 7 months old today. I have some pink nail polish on my toes that is older than he is by one day. Klassy!
6. I met my husband in high school. Short version: he dated my friend, they broke up. We dated, and broke up. Seven years later we met up again and were instantly in love. It was like we had never broken up, except for the part where we learned from our past mistakes and realized what we wanted & didn't want in a relationship. We like to say we had to break up in order to get the stupid out of the way.
7. I have 2 step sisters. I never mention them because I never see them. And because I don't like them.
8. I am a huge Star Trek nerd. The Next Generation rules all. (HI, Mae!) I got this love from watching with my Dad and it's one thing that makes me feel close to him.
9. I am a football fan. A Cleveland Browns fan at that. There. I said it.
10. I probably could have come up with more interesting things, but I am a blog slacker and I wanted to get this post up for Tornado Tuesday! Hi, new friends! Here's a picture of my kid! 

OK, to finish up, I'm supposed to nominate other bloggers for this award. So, here are 5 folks I would like to know a little more about! 

• Laura at Cameron Crazy Mom
• Karey at Family of Five
• CiCi at Giggle, Giggle, Hiccup
• Mrs. Boom at The Story of Baby Boom
• Lisa at Queens Mama

Giggle-fest!

My favorite is the belly-laugh breakdown at about 1:10.

Sorry for the crappy crap video quality. I guess iPhones can't do it all.