Happy News

Jen had her baby, Andrew "Drew" James on Friday morning: 8:03 am, 8.13 lbs.

I've seen a few phone pics, but that's all. He looks like Jen, and she said he has a lot of blond hair. My sister has the kind of blond hair that turns white in the summer and stays blond even when she's almost 30 and has had 2 kids. I asked if that made her happy, she said, "I guess so." Her other son, Jackson resembles her hubby more, so even though she's not jumping for joy, I know it secretly makes her happy to have maybe passed on her blond hair.

I can't wait to meet little Drew. We're going up next Saturday to visit Jen, Scott, Jackson, and Drew and Sunday for Easter brunch at my mom's. Since it's spring break, I can even make a few goodies for everyone.

The double good news is that her body started its thing again, but the doc was ready and got the bleeding to stop right away! I'd be surprised if she wanted to have more children, but if she does, she'll be able to.

I'm thankful for:

• a new healthy nephew
• a healthy delivery for Jen
• Cinnamon Crunch bagels
• Spring Break
• a good weather forecast for the week

Happy Thoughts for Jen

I wrote another post for this, but then decided since it's about my sister's life, I better not publish it without her permission. So to keep it short and simple...
My sister, Jen, is having a C-section tomorrow to deliver her second son. She had major complications the first time around (baby was fine, but she wasn't). The doctors, Jen, and Scott (BIL) are all prepared for a repeat. They are scared, but prepared.

I pray for a healthy baby, a healthy mom, and no complications.
Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts.
Say a prayer of your own please, even if you don't know Jen.

Today I am thankful for:
1. 23/24 conferences over
2. Anna got in her carseat this afternoon without a fight!
3. thoughts of a new baby in the family

My Weekend... Mine, All Mine

Bryan went to a supplier visit near his parents' house, and he took Anna with him so she could spend time with Mimi and PaPa. It was just me (and Shelby, who makes me feel safe when I'm home alone) from Thursday night through Sunday afternoon. I hated to see them go, but it was also nice to get to do whatever I wanted without time limits, without worrying about what Anna needed, and without hearing Bryan say, "We don't need to go shopping."
So, here's a quick summary of my weekend:

• 3 good night sleeps
• 2 mornings to sleep in
• 1 day of conferences
• 1 walk with Shelby
• Joseph-Beth and Artique on Friday night
• massage and pedicure on Saturday
• shopping with Tara on Saturday: Target (I got a ton of stuff - mostly clothes for Anna for the summer) and Carters
• shopping by myself: American Eagle (gift card used on flip flops and sun glasses), Gap (2 pairs of jeans, a polo shirt, and a pair of leggings for Anna - gift card and $), Kohls (a few shirts and picture frames). I think I'm good on the shopping thing for a while. Sometimes I just have to get it out of my system.
• watched New Moon on Saturday night! It was so good.
• normal Sunday stuff: grocery, Sam's Club, laundry

I had a really enjoyable weekend getting to do things I don't normally get to do, or at least not for the full weekend. But the best part of my weekend was the HUGE hug I got from Anna when they got home; she just held on tight and let me hold her while we talked. She's getting so big, and I love her so much.

Today I'm thankful for:

• Anna's big hug
• Anna and Bryan got home safely
• getting to sleep in
• a regenerating weekend
• strawberries

My Babe is 30 Tomorrow

My Babe, as in my first Babe, my true love, my hubby, my BFF, my Bry is turning the BIG 3-0.

Yes, his birthday is on St. Patrick's Day, and no, he's not Irish. He just got lucky like that. He often gets St. Patrick's Day themed gifts, such as green shamrock boxers, a St. Paddy's Day plastic beer mug that changes green when filled with a cold beverage (I use this for cleaning, not drinking), and other green novelties. I didn't get him any of those things this year.

Bryan doesn't get too excited about his bday. I like to let everyone know it's my bday so they can make me feel special - whether they want to or not. Not B, he just says it's any other day. WHATEVER! It's his day. It's his day to get all the attention, to choose the dinner place, to open presents and get excited, and to hear "Happy Birthday" at dinner (this actually won't happen except in our home, because if I tell the restaurant people it's his bday, I will not be his favorite person).

I wanted to think of some really fun and clever gifts. I didn't. He's getting:

• two year subscription to This Old House magazine - he likes it.
• a 3D Rubix Cube - he wanted it for Christmas and didn't get it.
• a pack of bubble tape - I just thought it would be a fun gift. He would eat all his bubble tape at once; I ate mine little by little till it got stale.
• I guess you could also say he got a new car.
• Dinner with his two favorite girls!
• Make believe desert (because he doesn't want to eat real desert and have his belly hurt because he doesn't have the will power to stop eating the delicious shortbread or key lime bars).

Love you Bry!

Post edit: Opps - I forgot.

I am thankful for:

• going to the store after work with Anna and having a positive experience
• Anna didn't hit anyone when I picked her up at day care
• caramels

Another post edit: Oops, not opps. I told you I was a bad speller.

New Car!

We've been discussing our needs for a larger car. We had the Venza for a year for free, but that went back to Toyota at the beginning of March. With all of our family out of town, it makes it tough to travel without an SUV or something big to carry all our stuff - especially at Christmas time. We would end up getting our all of our gifts when one of our parents could bring them to us - usually in the spring...Merry Christmas! We also never have any way to get big items to our house.

So yesterday we drove to Cincinnati, dropped Anna off at my Mom's, then went to Kings Toyota. It's an awesome place to look for a car because it's all INSIDE! The cars are all unlocked, they have a huge selection, and you can get in and out of the cars and check things out as much as you want without feeling annoying to the sales people.

We finally decided on the new 4 Runner! We didn't have to negotiate price since we get B's Toyota discount plan, which is really nice, but it took awhile to get different prices with different $ down. We traded in the Lexus, so I went from fast and little to big and tough.
I'm happy with the new car, and I am determined to keep this one for at least 10 years.

I am thankful for:

• a lower car and insurance payment
• birds chirping in the morning
• Monday is over - for this week

in honor of the 100th post...100 things about me

I'm going to write these 100 things because it's fun to talk about myself.

1. Bryan and Anna are my two favorite people. They are tied. I cannot pick one over the other.
2. I am an only child. My mom's only.
3. I am one of 4 children. None of us have the same 2 parents.
4. I went to Catholic school from 1st - 12th grade.
5. I went to an all girls high school. It has it's good and bad points.
6. My first kiss was to a boy that worked at the game room at Treasure Island in Las Vegas. It was a really bad kiss. My sister watched from the peep hole. I was 16.
7. I had the same BFF from 1st grade to 10th grade. She stopped being friends with me when I started dating her ex-boyfriend.
8. After I broke up with my college bf, I wrote down a list of qualities I was looking for in a bf.
9. I found all of those qualities in Bryan.
10. Dating Bryan was drama free. I didn't want to change him. Those are 2 of the ways I knew he was "The One".
11. I had the BEST time at my wedding. It was so fun. My sister gave a wonderful speech - it was the only time I cried that day.
12. We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We had a great time.
13. I had a C-Section to deliver Anna. The doctors told me they wouldn't let me try to have a vaginal birth. I didn't mind.
14. Anna's cry after they delivered her was the best sound I had ever heard in my whole life.
15. I would like to have another baby - maybe in a few years.
16. My girl's name: Audrey Carmen. This could change.
17. My boy's name: I have no idea.
18. I try to keep my life balanced. I strive for the right mix of mommy, wife, teacher, and me time.
19. I was diagnosed with type 1 (juvenile) diabetes when I was a freshman at college. I was almost 19. I manage.
20. I was diagnosed with Meiner's Disease when I was 24. I get vertigo. It's mostly horrible.
21. I no longer eat/drink: chocolate, alcohol, caffeine, or fake sugar because of the Meiner's Disease. Chocolate is the most difficult.
22. I eat a low salt diet.
23. I don't mind people asking about my health issues, what I have to do to stay healthy, or any of that stuff.
24. I LOVE fruit, baked goods, and ice cream.
25. I love to read, but I used to hate it when I was in school.
26. I read all 4 books in the Twilight series 3 times. It's a problem, I know.
27. I am more recently addicted to Nora Roberts' novels. They are easy and fun to read.
28. My two favorite books are: Gone With the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird
29. The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LaBlanc changed my life.
30. I only keep the books that really mean something to me or that I really love. I sell the rest.
31. I can not sing well, but that doesn't stop me from doing it.
32. I am not an animal person.
33. I have a dog. I like her, but I would have been fine if I never got a dog.
34. I like the zoo because I don't have to touch the animals.
35. I do not eat mac and cheese - not Kraft, not Velveeta, not homemade. I think it's disgusting.
36. I heard or read somewhere that everyone is better at 3 things than everyone else.
37. I can only think of 2 things that I'm usually better at: baking cookies and directions. There are probably plenty of people who are just as good at those things.
38. Graeter's is my favorite ice cream. The no chocolate thing has put a kink in my choices though.
39. I love 80's movies, especially: 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, Footloose, and Goonies.
40. At one point in my life I had the words memorized to Annie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dirty Dancing, Grease, Beauty and the Beast, and the Little Mermaid. Much of that stuff was erased with motherhood.
41. I don't remember the last movie I saw in the theater. Babies and movie theaters don't mix.
42. Target is my favorite store.
43. I like shopping by myself.
44. I have yet to find a pair of jeans that I love. I'm probably too cheap.
45. I'm a saver that tends to have fun spending now and again.
46. I would rather live near the beach.
47. I love to be in the sun and hot.
48. My favorite time of the year is when we can have the windows open and feel the breeze.
49. I am not adventurous.
50. I have never lived alone.
51. I want to travel to Italy.
52. I want to travel to Ireland -I can thank Nora Roberts for that one.
53. I'm proud to say that I'm a teacher.
54. I enjoy teaching first grade.
55. If I wasn't a teacher I would still work with kids.
56. When I was younger, I only knew that I wanted to be happily married and be a mommy.
57. I'm thankful I have those two things.
58. I have a BS in Business Administration. I knew it was the wrong place for me, but I finished anyway.
59. I wanted to get a BA in Art History. You can't get a job with a major like that, but I would have loved all of my classes.
60. I have a MA in Teaching. I knew it was the right place for me.
61. I do not like crowds. I don't like bumping arms with strangers.
62. I do not like going to crowded places with traffic jams when you are trying to exit.
63. 3 of my friends from high school are still my closest friends even though they live far away.
64. I have one BFF in Lexington (Tara). She's actually living in Alabama for the year, but she'll be back.
65. I am a homebody.
66. My Reading Recovery training has helped me teach kids to read. It was really tough, but I'll always be thankful for it.
67. I like to use a blanket while I'm watching TV - even in the summer.
68. I only sleep on one pillow, and I do not like if Bryan puts his hand under it in a way that raises it.
69. I enjoy MTV's reality tv shows - it's a vice; what can I say?
70. I usually cry when I watch Oprah.
71. I wish that I was more motivated to dress nicely.
72. I do not wear high heals unless they are wedges, and even then, it has to be for a good reason.
73. I am a night person that has had to adapt to waking up at 5:30; it kind of stinks.
74. I wish I could go to bed at 12 and wake up around 8 or 9 everyday.
75. The only part of working out that I like is the cool down.
76. Our other house was really cute. I had a vision early on, and carried it out easily. I'm struggling with how to decorate our new house. It's nice, but I haven't figured out how to put personal touches on this house.
77. I do not like to wear sun glasses.
78. I have 20/20 vision.
79. I had to wear glasses from the pharmacy one time. I had just gotten out of the hospital from being diagnosed with diabetes. The blood vessels in my eyes had been clogged with sugar, and I couldn't read my notes to study for exams or highlight the March Madness brackets we were doing in our dorm - both important.
80. I believe in ghosts.
81. I saw a ghost in college once. I was taking a shower. I looked up when I saw something in the vent; a vent that was covered with carpet squares and the leg of a futon. It was a black outline of a person's head, neck, and shoulders peeling the carpet squares back and looking down in the vent. I yelled at it, you know for being a perv, because I thought it was my male roommate who had his bedroom in that room. He wasn't home. My BFF was in her room, my boyfriend at the time was downstairs. The boy that lived in the room felt someone in bed with him one morning when he was in fact alone in his bed.
82. When Anna was an infant, she used to stare at the ceiling. I like to think that she was staring at my Mimi who died when I was in college. I talk to her and ask her to look out for us.
83. I talk to Jesus and the Universe, too.
84. I believe in karma and believing in what you want.
85. I do not like to speak in front of crowds.
86. Sometimes I say things that I think only to realize later that I might have been rude when that wasn't my intention.
87. I cuss to much. I'm really working on this because I don't want Anna saying bad words.
88. I like any form of the f-word best.
89. I am not a button pusher, but I live with two people who are.
90. I rarely ever lie. I am not good at it.
91. My favorite color to look at and wear is red.
92. I hope to help Anna be her best self, even if her choices wouldn't be my choices.
93. I like routine.
94. I used to suck my thumb. My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Walker, would not let me suck my thumb at school, so I had to stop. I got a doll from Toy's R Us when I finally did it.
95. I started biting my nails when I stopped sucking my thumb.
96. I quit biting my nails when I started dating Bryan. A sign? maybe.
97. I was and am still a very bad speller. I frequently open a Word document to check the spelling of words - even when I'm teaching.
98. I try to value each child in my classes while also getting work done. It's a fine line to walk, but it's important to me to let each child be who they are. Some days are better than others.
99. I worry about Anna. What parent doesn't worry about their baby?
100. I am thankful for the many blessings in my life, especially Bryan and Anna.

Today I am thankful for:

• sunshine
• a nap
• kisses from Anna

#99 - All About Blueberries

Here are the ways we love blueberries in our house:

1. Anna can eat endless amounts of blueberries as a snack, with peanut butter toast for breakfast, weekend lunches, and at dinner. She has probably eaten 1/2 cup of blueberries at one sitting, and could continue to eat more if we put them in front of her. I'm guessing her teachers are L-O-V-I-N-G, loving us at diaper time. It's mostly disgusting. Anna doesn't care; she just loves to eat blueberries.

2. This is the BEST recipe for blueberry muffins with streusel topping. If you try to tell me you don't love streusel topping, I will seriously have to consider your sanity. I found the recipe on www.allrecipes.com. Do yourself a favor and buy some blueberries (don't forget the lemon, too). Then go home, mix the ingredients, bake the muffins, and relax while you enjoy the World's Best Blueberry Muffins (with a dab of butter) - at least the best ones that will come out of your house.


Today I am thankful for:

• sunshine and what felt like warm weather
• Anna slept through the night - 2 nights in a row!
• Girl Scout Cookies