blog game extraordinaire

Yippee Skippy, I got tagged in two blog games!

Once by Cici, who is my homegirl. Go visit giggle giggle hiccup, you guys! Rules: answer the questions. Tag 5 people to answer 5 new questions.

Then by Mrs. B at messily ever after! Click it! You won't be disappointed! This one didn't have "rules" just answer questions and tag some more peoples. This works out beautifully for me, so I can just tag all the same poor saps.

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From Cici:

(1) If you could have a guy's mind for just a minute...what question or piece of understanding would you want to take away from the experience? What is it really like to walk around with something in the way all the time? Like, when I was pregnant, it felt like Oliver's head was getting in the way, making me walk funny. How do men walk with penises. Final answer.

(2) What was your favorite childhood place of travel? um, I guess Georgia, since we went there so many times (every summer) and my aunt/uncle/cousin lived in a development with a POOL! Whoa! Awesome!

(3) Can you pat your head and run your belly at the same time? (DO IT!) Yes I can.

(4) If your life had followed a different path from what it is right now what do you think you would be doing right now? Or perhaps, what do you wish you could have done perhaps in another lifetime? I'm going to take the easy answer here, but it's the truth. I really can't imagine my life, if it had been different, being any better than it is right now. I love my family, I am so lucky to be Oliver's mom. I mean, seriously.

(5) What is one goal that you've set for yourself to complete in the next year? Ugggggg I should have goals, shouldn't I? But I can't come up with anything that doesn't involve doing less than I do now. Ha!

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From Mrs. B:

1.As a child, what did you want to be when you "grew up?" Are you doing it now? I vividly remember telling my parents I wanted to be a bus driver. No, I am not a bus driver, but I do still think it would be cool. Those are some great hours...

2.What is your favorite, quick go-to recipe on a busy evening? Um, ok. Let's say I had to cook for some reason, like Nick is feeling sick. I would probably make brinner (breakfast for dinner). Pancakes, or even easier, waffles! Bacon & eggs. Quick & easy!

3.Do you burn candles in your home? If so, what is your favorite scent? I don't burn candles... but I used to. I actually have one of those Scentsy things now. My favorite scent usually falls into the fruit category... lemon is good, or a good clean laundry scent.

4.What was the best vacation you can remember? My honeymoon pretty much rocked. Vegas, baby!

5.If you have a wedding album, how often do you look at it? Where is it stored? Oooh I never finished (or started) on our wedding album. I have a stack of stuff with which to scrapbook our trip, but it never happened. Now I'm going to get in trouble. Thanks a lot.

6.What is the thing your treasure most about motherhood? Oliver has so many people who love him, which is so, so great. He's awesome, and funny and adorable, and the best thing about being is mom is that he's MINE. (of course, he's ours, honey...) He comes home with me, gives me bedtime hugs, smiles at me in the morning. He only has one mom, and it's ME. MINE.

7.What is your favorite day of the week and, why? Saturday, easy. 24 hours of hanging out with my guys, with no Sunday night blues.

8.Are you doing anything to be more "green" or earth-friendly? Er, uh, we recycle! We part-time cloth diaper!

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Alright, now here are my questions for my peoples, which are Jess, Christina, and Diana.

1. What are your top 5 all-time favorite movies? (Also, what's your favorite "guilty pleasure" movie that you could watch 100 times and never get tired of it even though everybody thinks it's silly?)

2. If you could go back and teach your former (younger) self one lesson, what would it be?

3. I just realized I picked three girl moms, so I'll ask... what situation or challenge have you come across where you thought "man, this would be different if I'd had a boy!"

4. What kind of camera do you have? (Do you love it? Want to throw it out the window?)

5. What do you usually do to celebrate your birthday? Do you have a favorite birthday memory?

6. Tell me something I didn't know about you/your family/your blog/whatever!

Wordless Wednesday: the King

I live you

A simple typo, that wasn't changed by auto-correct.

I hit the "i" instead of the "o"...

but I like the meaning, just the same. It implies more than "I love you".

Not to say that "I love you" doesn't or shouldn't mean a lot...

But: when said 10 times a day, isn't it true that anything can lose a little of its meaning?

It's the feeling you intend to get across, and it's all you really need to say... when I tell Nick "I love you" I absolutely mean it from the bottom of my heart.

So I think next time "I live you" comes across I'm going to leave it.
Because it's true. I live him.

bye bye breastpump

In June, we started supplementing my breastmilk with formula on a daily basis because we started making bigger bottles since he was chugging every drop we were sending to daycare.

Here were my initial, irrational thoughts:

• what if he thinks it tastes funny
• what if he gets constipated
• what if this makes my supply tank
• I thought there'd be more bullet points here

Here are the thoughts I had a few minutes later:

• at some point, everyone goes through this
• which not only means I'm not alone
• we made it over 6 months!
• how funny can it really taste?
• the kid could probably use some variety
• it's just formula. there are worse things that could happen to him...
• like he could be hungry!

What all this means is that I didn't my mind feeling guilty at the end of a workday when I came up short.

And he's fine. OMG NO WAY. And I'm OK with it too, because I have to be and why not?

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Now that he's almost one and hasn't breastfed in about two weeks?

• He's still sleeping through the night - seriously, this kid is an awesome sleeper. I know it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that he's not nursing anymore, but his sleeping habits didn't change as he weaned, so we got that going for us, which is nice.
• Solids have been a fun adventure! More posts on food to come, I promise!
• I can drink a cup of coffee at 5 pm without repercussions
• Bye bye, breastpump!
• Hello, wine!
• He's still such a playful, happy guy
• I definitely still have my moments where I get all sad about it and miss that "special time" we used to have together, but I think about it less often than I thought I would.

Like I said before, I never really planned on full time nursing, it was just something I figured I'd try. But I loved it, and wouldn't trade that time we had for anything.

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So now, we look forward. My baby is becoming a little boy, and he's so sweet and smart and funny that I'm actually feeling myself letting go of the past and maybe even living in the moment!



Oliver "Squiggy" Panza

in his first highchair



Wordless Wednesday: exersaucer

Guest Post: The New Guy

t's only fitting that my first "guest post" come from my husband Nick! When I wrote about how the cable company changed my life and so many people commented about how they didn't think they could live without cable, my first reaction was "that's what we said!" I guess Nick had the same response, and felt so strongly about how the change has impacted our lives in a positive way, that he FINALLY agreed to let me post his thoughts here on the blog! *Please* leave a comment to make sure he feels the love!

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I've thought about doing this for a while now...

Hi. I'm Nick. I'm Ollie's dad. How's it going.

Sara has been doing this blog for a while now and has tried to get me to write on here a couple of times. I've never been a blog type dude, but I figured "What the hell?" I will warn you now. I tend to ramble from time to time. You are just going to have to deal with it.

Having said that, I challenge all of you. For one week, pick two or three shows that you watch often, and only watch them. Nothing else. I've learned over the past 8 or so months that we haven't had cable, that I was really missing a lot. Go outside and play with the dog. Plant a garden. Go for a walk. Play a video game with your kids and husband/wife. (Guitar Hero is lots o'fun, plus you don't have to listen to raffi or whatever for a few minutes.)

Just Ollie, Sara, and me, in our own little slice of reality. I think we both stopped and (insert cliche) smelled the roses. We just enjoy looking at the world through a whole new set of eyes. Now that Ollie is getting closer to the big 1, to watch him learn and experience all this stuff that's totally new to him is entertaining enough.

Plus, Time Warner Cable service sucked.

- Nick

how the cable company changed my life

We cancelled it. That's right, no cable TV.

We cancelled the cable because ever since we brought Oliver home we were spending time with him and we weren't watching the shows when they first aired anyway. Plus, I noticed that when I was home and had a little while to veg on the couch I'd rather watch an old movie that I'd already seen 10 times than try and find something new to entertain me every half hour, ya know?

fear & loathing in las vegas, yes?

So we were paying about $100 a month to DVR our few favorites. As far as surfing, that was becoming a luxury that we rarely had time for, so the TV just became absent minded clicking for semi-interesting background noise. $100 a month for DVR & noise that just distracted us for the best, pure joy entertainment possible, our son!

hugs!

So now, watching TV is special again. Aside from the whole Cleveland Sports Team Who Shall Not Be Named debacle that we have to drive elsewhere to watch, it's worked out really well. And imma go order one of those converter box thingys so we can get the local channels and solve that.

We bring the laptop to bed & watch our shows, (The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family & Parenthood) off the internet. On Friday nights (or some weeknights that have been particularly stressful days) we snuggle into bed with the computer and a snack and relax together. After the babe is tucked into bed we have an hour to ourselves to unwind. TV is special again because it's an occaisional event. We take care of our boy, and then take care of ourselves by laughing together & snuggling under the covers.


us, only younger