I need to be watered...

Monkey and I headed to our local pool today and I realized that the days of a pool with just a diving board are becoming a thing of the past. When I was little, we'd beg my my mom to drive us to the neighboring town 20 minutes away because they had an awesome waterslide. You stand there for 15 minutes, inching your way up the flaming hot metal staircase just for that 30 second ride, and then climb the ladder and get back in line again, The pool we went to today had at least 5 slides, a lazy river, a big tower that doused you with buckets of water...basically what you'd only see if you went to a water park back in my day. Since I am a total water loving fish, I was in heaven. Of course, Monkey and I were relegated to the kiddy pool, which with it's synchronized fountains was definitely not boring. But I have decided that some people take yearly trips to Vegas or go skiing in Colorado, but my ideal yearly vacation spot would definitely be more of the sun, sand, and surf persuasion. Give me lots of sunscreen, a boogie board, a shady place to rest when I need a break and I am in heaven. So for a brief moment today, I imagined I was on a beach somewhere, soaking in the sun, and the roar of the pool crowd was replaced by crashing waves. If I can't be on the beach, our pool will suffice, but I need to be watered (beach watered) next year :)!

Todays new word is...

Bagglers. Bagglers are the heap of French fries that wind up at the bottom of the bag when you get fast food. Similar to the etiquette of calling "shotgun" to get dibs on the front seat, the first person to call "Bagglers" gets the displaced fries at the bottom of the bag. And that, ladies and gentleman, is your fun fact of the day.

Wonderfully random misc.

I am currently singing along with "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations, feel free to sing along...

As I was fooding Monkey this weekend, his mouth full of carrots or prunes or another stain inducing puree, he paused and then had the biggest sneeze I have ever heard/seen come out of the little guy and instantly, the floor, the table, the baby, and I were covered in a fine mist of whatever Monkey was eating. I am tempted to write in to Resolve carpet cleaner and let them know that I think this is a much more realistic situation for their next commercial, plus it is a lot more realistic than their commercials with a mother who yells from the kitchen "That's okay!" when her child spills grape juice on the pristine white carpet (she may have said "That's okay," but you know she was thinking "can't I have anything nice?"). I didn't figure they would go for my other suggestion, which occurred when I approached our Christmas tree with a glass of wine only to see our cat project himself out of the middle of the tree. My wine glass got tossed in the air in the chaos and as the Hubs was helping me clean up the carpet, he wasn't saying "that's okay." He did show his forgiveness by getting me a new glass of wine...in a cup with a lid and straw :).

We had a great weekend, our friends Joel and Angela came to visit and had never been to Legends, one of our favorite places in KC, so we got to give them the tour. We did some shopping, got some wine, had a great dinner, and played arcade games at Dave & Busters. The Hubs was happy to have someone who enjoyed playing games that involve killing space aliens and flying virtual helicopters and I had someone who'd play the less violent, skillful games like Skeeball with me. Monkey had so much to watch and see, which kept him entertained, plus he got his first taste of ice cream. Monkey had his 9 month well child check today and I set up his appt for his 1 year appointment and that hit me like a ton of bricks. Has it really been 9 months? I know I have enjoyed each day, but it is amazing how fast they have come and gone. Monkey is so close to crawling, has just sprouted his first tooth with a second one getting ready to cut through, and on Thursday he said "Mama," well, more like mamamamamamamamama, but I will take it :). Thanks for peeking in on us, have a great week!

I am the luckiest...

Six years ago in March, my friend told me would really like to fix me up on a blind date with her brother in law and after a few days of thinking it over (and a phone call to another friend of mine who was from the same tiny town as my "would be date" who assured he me he was "exactly your type,"), I said I would. Five years ago in May, my blind date turned boyfriend took me to the centerpiece of the KC Plaza, the J.C. Nichols fountain, and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him, and I said I will. Four years ago today, doors opened up and I heard the Trumpet Voluntary and saw almost everyone I treasured in my life in the same place at the same time. And then I saw that wonderful man from my blind date at the end of the aisle...and I said I do. I won't bore you with sentimentality, but I have to say that from our first date and phone call (and the 7 hour marathons that followed), I was in awe of two things: 1) The Hubs simply fascinated me. I loved the 20 different paths our conversations would take and how he was a bottomless wealth of useless information. 2) Prior to The Hubs, I always felt self conscious of certain personality traits I felt I need to play up or play down about myself. With him, I was just myself...wonderfully, comfortably, not always glamorously myself. And he loved me that way. I remember thinking, "How do I know if he's the one?" and one day it hit me as I was driving to see him: No matter what happens in my life, good or bad, he is the one I want by my side. And as we danced to our first song as husband and wife, these were the lyrics that played and remain forever in my memory of my Hubs and that wonderful day:

"Where was I before the day, when I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it every day, and I know that I am the luckiest."

Learning with the Bryans

Okay, children, gather round the glow of the magical computer screen and be prepared to learn the meaning of two new words and a discipline strategy. They (whomever they are) say you should learn one new thing each day...since you are learning 3 things today, I give you my full permission to read this posting then go to bed or lounge around for three straight days...I'm sure "they" would approve also. Okay, put on your remembering caps, here we go:

Burgle (burrrrrr-gul): To take or "permanently borrow" a possession from your spouse. This would include money found on the counter emptied from ones pockets, ones favorite football shirt being used as one's spouse's favorite sleeping attire, etc. ex: "Please don't burgle the money I left on the counter, I need for coffee to start my pulse in the morning."

Fooding (foo-dings): The act of feeding someone who is distracted or has just learned how to spit, spray, or smoosh the food back at the person doing the feeding (usually used in reference to infants or inebriated friends). "The fooding isn't going well, I think Monkey has only ingested 4% of the two containers I have attempted to food him."

When I was growing up and my brother, sister, or I were not being perfect angels (this happened twice...maybe three times), my dad would look at us sternly and say "Do you want a mushishik?" For the life of me, I have searched the net to find the right spelling, but it was a Lithuanian or Polish word for spanking. Now this made my father look great because he certainly didn't sounds like he was threatening us, all people knew was that none of us wanted a mushishik and we seemed much more reserved and somber after it was offered to us. The only time mushishik backfired was when it was offered to my then 2 year old sister who replied from the back seat, "No Daddy, no monkey s**t." My dad is not made of stone, I swear I think it is the only time I have ever heard that man giggle :).

Thank you for learning with the Bryans, now go enjoy your three days off!

Father's Day

May I begin by saying that one of the best songs for this day is "Gracie" by Ben Folds and although it's from a father to his daughter, I listened to it every day as I drove back and forth to the NICU to see Monkey. It's a pretty good sentiment for any parent to their child, check it out here.

I am in awe of the whole parenting thing in general, but I love how The Hubs brings something to my son's life that is completely different than what I do. Granted we both contribute love, teaching, and songs with silly lyrics usually involving his name and personality traits, but there is just a different dynamic between mothers and fathers. I love that The Hubs and Monkey have their own little routine on the weekends while I am at work and that when we went to Indy, it was the first time The Hubs had been away from Monkey since he came home from the NICU... and how rough that was on him. And it makes me realize that part of what makes The Hubs a great father is the example he had from his father. And part of the reason I chose such a great guy to spend my life and raise my kiddos with is because I had such a great dad. Physically speaking, you can't get more opposite than my father and The Hub's father :). But I am so incredibly grateful that we both were raised by fathers who took a lot of interest and pride in being a dad.

Happy Father's Day!

WFMW: From diaper bag to purse

A woman can never have enough purses and I seem to follow that rule. I have a my
"you'd never guess I was a mom" purse, my gianganto purse that doubles as a diaper bag (awesome deal from Target for $14.99), and my work bag I take when I work on weekends. I get a little tired of switching the essentials (wallet, keys, phone, etc) from bag to bag and only a few times of missing one of these things lead me to my solution:

I bought an inexpensive black make-up bag from Target that I throw all of my essentials into and that way when I switch bags, I just have to grab that and put it in the new bag. It also works if you are hauling the diaper bag and just running into a store, you can grab the make up bag and take it in with you.

For other great tips, check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer!

We're baaaaaaaaaaaack...again :)!

Yes, we got back from our Indy trip a week ago and I have been a very naughty, slacker blogger. I have been keeping up with my other "picture-a-day blog," Everyday in Oz, which has been a lot of fun. For those of you life me who have started endless journals and been so diligent in writing in them for a week or two, this is a great alternative. I know that at the end of the year I will have a lot of great pictures of our every day life to scrapbook (oh don't get me going on that...I still haven't scrapbooked my wedding and I will be celebrating my 4th anniversary next week!). I am hoping to get super motivated and print the pictures out, put them in a scrapbook or album and just write under them what I've written on the blog.

The Indy trip went well, Monkey did great on the flight there and back and was spoiled with all kinds of love and attention from his Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie Jess, Uncle Bub, Aunt Tara, and cousin Mare Bear. It was great to have a whole week to really enjoy time with my family, usually we are in town for a holiday or event and it feels like we leave wishing we'd had more down time to just sit and relax. Auntie Jess's Baccalaureate Mass and Graduation were great and she looked beautiful. She did an amazing job of juggling graduation festivities and making time for us, which meant the world to me. My favorite was the day after graduations she stayed at friends and came home at 6 a.m., put on a cute little sparkly dress and proceeded to sleep on the couch for 6 hours... but she looked fabulous :)! We went to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, which has been one of my favorite places since I was a kiddo, went swimming for the first time, and went to the park with Mare Bear. I got to drive around my mom's little PT cruiser while we were there and let me tell you, when you drive an SUV, driving that feels like driving a go cart around town :). Check out Everyday In Oz for pictures if you'd like :).

In Monkey news, he is sitting up on his own, is SO close to crawling, teething like no other with NO signs of teeth yet, and as of this weekend, has started saying "bababababa." It is amazing to me how much he has grown and fast his first year is going! I can't believe we go for his 9 month pictures at the end of the month!

We got some comments while we were away, and I appreciate them so much! Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings and share your thoughts!