Cuddle Time

Is there anything sweeter than cuddling with a little one? Our little guy was never a particularly cuddly kid. As a baby he was, I guess. He didn't really have a choice! As soon as he became more mobile he got focused on his independence. We'd get to hold him often, don't get me wrong, but he was often exploring or playing or just generally hanging out.

He has been walking (running) for over 3 months now. I don't know if he has finally realized that we aren't going to stop him from exploring or what, but lately he has wanted to cuddle. Not in that "I'm cranky and you have to hold me, don't put me down, I'll scream and cry like the devil if you even think about putting me down, hold me, hold me, hold me!" way, but in the "I just want to crawl on your lap and hug you for a while." way. Last night he even came over to me while I was sitting on the couch and put his head on my leg. He just stood there and let me stroke his hair and relaxed next to me. Pure bliss!

He has started giving big hugs now and is even making strides towards kissing. It sounds funny, but for the million or so kisses we've given him he's never been a kisser. He will mimic the sound of us kissing him, but he doesn't give us kisses back. Now he makes the face, puckers his lips and leans in. We have to come the rest of the way, but it is awfully cute to see! We really like our new cuddly boy. There is something so great about having our little one want to be so sweet with us and yet not be demanding or whiny about it. I tell him often that someday there will be a lady who he will love to cuddle with more than his Daddy and me, but for now I am awfully glad that he likes cuddling with us!

Sometimes there is just nothing as great as being a parent,
Heather

And Happy New Year!

Okay, lately it seems that I am on a 'major holiday--time to post' kick lately. However, as previously mentioned I may be getting every so slightly more energetic and I do plan to pick it up again! I always noticed that posting would get down for a while on some of my favorite blogs (Like Merchant Ships, Tammy's Recipes) and then a while later here came the announcement that there is a little one on the way. I understood then and I understand even better now!

I just wanted to post a Happy New Year to everyone out there. I hope it is a night of reflection, fun and safety! I'm such a mom, but I can't help worrying. Especially when the love of my life is going to be on the road. He's a musician and tonight is a night that you want to be booked. Due to some strange circumstances he isn't playing his normal NYE gig, but he is out there and I am looking forward to having him back home with me. My partying consists of putting the little one to bed, checking blogs, making a few cheese sticks and heading to bed early. Wow, I'm pretty boring! Actually, it is more like I worked today, I work a LONG day tomorrow and then I open on Saturday. I'll be a tired girl come Saturday afternoon! But, what a change from the partying nights of just a few years ago. And I wouldn't change it for the world.

What a wonderful, blessed year we've had in 2009. Our little one has grown like crazy, he is working on talking and mimicking, he's happy, he's healthy and he's the light of our lives. My husband took a leap, gave up his biggest client and is now pursuing his real passion full time. He did so in a not so great economy and is making it work! I'm so proud of what he has accomplished and will have to do a full post (or more) on what he has all done in 2009....TV in 7 states, radio in about the same number, played libraries all over the place! I've been able to do what I do best (being a wife and Mama) not quite full time, but way more than if I still had my 'big girl' career. I'm working, but doing so only enought to provide benefits that protect my family. When I am working I know our little one is having fun with his Dada at home. I've got a huge blessing growing and moving inside of me. We are warm, fed, and love each other. I really couldn't ask for more.

I look forward to seeing what 2010 has to offer our family!

Happy New Year to you,
Heather

Merry Christmas!

I'm up early on Christmas morning...why? I have no idea. Seriously, this is one of a handful of Christmas mornings that I could sleep in. In a no time we'll have a little guy that will be up early each year in order to see what Santa brought him and I'll have to be up with him. This year? This year he really has no idea who that Santa guy is and I could have slept for at least a few more hours and here I am awake!

One reason for my early wakefulness is that it has been raining like crazy all night long. Every so often we get some water in our basement if it really rains hard. Therefore my brain has been trying to figure out if things are moved enough that they wouldn't get wet if water came in. Finally I decided I'd go check it out since there was no shutting that switch off. Seriously, why was I stressing at 4:15 am? We'd deal with it either way.

We had beautiful snow when we woke up yesterday morning, but this morning I fear that the ground will be all brown and there will be puddles. The white Christmas may be gone already. Granted, we'll get plenty more white stuff throughout the winter, but I love pretty snow on Christmas. It just feels right!

I really feel like I should apologize to my poor little neglected blog and any of you that may still be reading! I do plan to get back to posting more regularly as it encourages me, gets me taking more pictures of our lives and is a great outlet. However, I've been slow for a good (actually, great) reason so I don't feel too bad. I've had to focus on doing what I can with the energy I've got and that focus has been my little guy, my husband, cooking, working and other fun things like laundry and doing dishes. When I have no energy it really is all I can do to keep meals on the table and the house somewhat livable. Thank goodness for a very understanding husband who picks up the slack!

Have you figured it out yet? We'll be adding another little one to our family in early June of 2010. I'm so excited and am grateful that I seem to be past the worst of the nausea and might even be getting back some energy. I really get drained when pregnant and this time around I can't just sleep the days away when I get home from work. The little guy keeps us hopping and he doesn't seem concerned about his tired Mommy's need for sleep! We will grateful get through this time though, in appreciation for the gift to come. I can't wait to be the Mommy of two!

Any ideas that you have to prepare our little guy for the next one would be much appreciated. He'll be about 22 months when this baby arrives. He now says/signs 'baby' and we've given him a baby doll of his own. He is getting very interested in pictures of babies and calls most kids (some years older than him) babies right now. I tell him about the baby in my belly, but none of it makes sense as far as I can tell. I'd love any tips that you may have!

Have a wonderful Christmas! It really is a blessed holiday and one that I am glad to be spending with my little family.

Heather

We're Back!

We got back from our long road trip on Sunday night and have been catching up and working ever since! Are we crazy for taking a now 16 month old on a 13 hour (each way) car trip without any electronic entertainment? And we even own a portable DVD player that we were given a few years ago. Everyone I've talked to thinks we are nuts for not using it.

But even so, our movie deprived child and his sleep deprived parents arrived home in one piece. We were thankful to be with family and now we are thankful to be back in our little home sweet home! Even if we did bring a nasty cold back from Arkansas with us. I guess there are only so many days that you can put 10 people who are not used to each other's germs in a house and not get sick. According to our calculations the number of days would 5. The end of the 5th day at least 3 people will come down with something pretty much all at once. We were like our own little science experiment!

I've got the day off tomorrow and am excited to get another load of vaccation laundry done, bake some bread, and jot down some of what has been happening around here.

Hope your holiday was wonderful and that your leftovers are eaten or frozen by now! Food poisoning is not fun for anyone :) And no, we didn't have any of that on our trip, just beautiful weather for biking and picture taking, great food, fun with cousins and wonderful hospitality by a great sister and her patient husband.

Heather

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, I've mostly been missing, haven't I? Just wanted to pop in quick tonight and wish anyone who is still hanging in there with me an early Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving. I love the turkey, the mashed potatoes, all the sides, all the desserts. I love being with people I love...even when things get crazy. And let's be real, we all know they will at some point! I have always thought of Thanksgiving as MY holiday. Seem selfish? Well, I think I am entitled as I was born on Thanksgiving day. I was actually born at 11:47 AM on Thanksgiving day in order to be present for the turkey dinner. And I haven't missed one since. Except for the one year that we had lasagna since we'd had the tradition turkey dinner the weekend before with extended family. And honestly, I still haven't forgiven my mom for that. I think I was about 10 when that happened. It haunts me.

This year we will be traveling to be with my sister, brother-in-law, the munchkins, my mom and my dad. It will be a LONG trip with the little guy, but I cannot wait to see him with their cousins! And after all the eating on Thursday we'll have to sneak in a little birthday cake on Friday. :)

Wishing you all a wonderful time of family, food, and fellowship. I promise an update about our crazy lives when we get back. It should explain my lack of attentiveness to this poor little blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Heather

Two Down, Forty Eight Or So To Go!

Today Mike and I celebrate two years of marriage. It is hard to believe that it has already been two years and at the same time it is almost impossible to believe that it has only been two years. At this point I really cannot imagine my life without him in it. We've been together just over 4 years total (1 year of dating, 1 of engagement and now two of marriage) and in that time our lives have changed so dramatically.

When we met I was working in school fundraising, living in my little starter house, I had a dog and a cat and I enjoyed the occasional cosmo or other fun martini. Mike was living at home, he had never taken a drink, and he worked for a state organization. Now we live together in a different home, have mine as a rental, have 2 dogs and a cat, I work at Starbucks part time and Mike does polka music full time (with a few website clients on the side), he only likes my family's vodka slush recipe, but otherwise still doesn't drink, I can't remember the last time I had a martini of any type and we are parents!

So I am totally copying Nettacow and posting some things about us and our wedding in honor of our anniversary!

1. Where/How did you meet? We met through e-harmony. Yes, we are like all those couples you see on TV, only none of them feature accordion players. I never would have guessed I'd meet my husband on-line, but it has worked out pretty good! Our first in person meeting was at the Olive Garden.

2. How long have you known each other? Our first date was on November 6th, so that is almost exactly 4 years. We had been e-mailing and chatting for a few months before that.

3. How long after you met did you start dating? We were obviously actively looking for a mate, so it was always pretty serious.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged? Just under 14 months. We had booked the hall already, but he didn't pop the question officially until Jan 1st of 2007.

5. How long was your engagement? Almost exactly 10 months. Jan 1st-Nov 3rd

6. How long have you been married? 2 years

7. What is your anniversary? TODAY! November 3rd.

8. How many people came to your wedding reception? I know I gave the hall the exact number (which they had never had happen before). I believe it was about 187 adults and then some kiddos for our Saturday evening reception. We also had a Sunday afternoon polka reception and I have no idea how many people came. Probably another couple of hundred.

9. What kind of cake did you serve? We had a tiny little cake for cutting that was decorated with a wedding couple that stood on my parent's wedding cake, my Grandparent's 50th anniversary cake and my Great Grandparent's 50th anniversary cake. The 'real' cake was an amazing creation of yellow cake with a cream cheese and fresh strawberry filling. The whole thing was frosted with the whipped cream type frosting. This cake is the specialty of the hall we used and is a big reason we had it there. It is unbelievably yummy. It was just going to be a layer cake and not even seen, but the owner/baker decided to make it special when he saw that we had wedding photos of our parents and grandparents on the cake table. He put a huge tree on it and used their wedding dates...like a family tree of weddings. This cake is still talked about by family members in other states. As in, can you bring that cake with you when you visit?

10. Where was your wedding? At St. Sebastian's church. Very beautiful church with not very great people. We quickly moved parishes after the wedding.

11. What did you serve for your meal? We had a buffet line. There were huge turkeys, roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans with almonds, corn, an awesome pasta salad, veggie tray, bread, and fixings. And the cake.

12. How many people were in your wedding party? We each had 4 attendants, 3 ushers, 2 flower girls and 1 little accordion carrying ring bearer.

13. Are you still friends with them all? YES! We don't see a few of them often enough, but they are great people.

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony? Not really. I choked up a bit a few times and boohooed my way down the aisle.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day? How could there be just one? We had such an amazing weekend!

16. Any funny moments? The flower girls (our twin nieces who were 3) kept running up and down the aisle with each couple. They looked like little fairies and brought lots of laughs while the procession was happening. The speech my sister gave turned into a bit of a threat (jokingly) and one of the larger groom's men stood up and said he'd take on my brother-in-law. Got quiet the laughs! There was lots of laughing!

17. Any big disasters? The rehearsal lasted for over 2 hours (seriously, not the best people at this church). The recording we were making of the mass didn't happen and we were SO disappointed! The musician played the wrong instrument during the procession, the only song we were specific about. But really, overall they were not disasters just disappointments.

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon? To the best cabin in the world. It resides in Cherryville, Missouri and everyone should go there. It is beautiful, romantic, and in our case led to our little guy!

19. How long were you gone? A week. Could have stayed forever.

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change? Would have changed churches and begged to still be married on that day. Probably would have considered a professional videographer.

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on? I'm on his left.

22. What size is your bed? Queen

23. Who pays the bills? I do the budget, he pays some of the bills on-line, he earns most the money.

24. What is your song?/25. What did you dance your first dance to? "Can I have this Dance?" Ann Murray...we did a real waltz to it.

26. Describe your wedding dress: Read about it here.

27. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding? How about a picture? These were mine.

And what my girls carried.

The mom's carried little bouquets of fall colored roses and the boutonnieres were roses like mine and other flowers. I made all the flowers the for the girls the day before and the boutonnieres the morning of the wedding. Everyone thought I was crazy, but I loved doing it and they turned out great!

28. How old were you when you got married? I was just shy of 32 and Mike was 28.

This is so much fun! I'm going to share more stories in the coming days, but more than anything I just want my sweet husband to know how much I love him! He is such a wonderful guy and I am grateful that we found each other. They say the first year of marriage is the hardest and I slept through the first 9 months of it (being pregnant wears me out). We sailed through that one pretty easily! They number two has been filled with parenting our little guy, focusing on Pint Size Polkas and just being a family. All in all it has been pretty smooth sailing too! We always joked that we were in this for 50 years and then we'd reevaluate. (Who knows, I'll be 82 then...maybe I'll be ready for an even younger man?) So, we've got 2 down and 48 to go and I'm looking forward to them! Thanks for choosing me.

Better than Jewels

For some women this would be laughable, but when I finally got tomatoes this summer I remember thinking they were prettier than jewels! They were so shiny and red and yummy and I was so grateful to have them. Tonight I was grateful all over again.





I didn't realize how late the evening had gotten when I looked up and it was almost 5 pm already. We typically eat at about 5 since that give us time to eat and clean up and spend some time with the little guy before he heads to bed around 7 or earlier depending on the day! Today we'd eaten a late lunch due to my work schedule. Then we headed out to enjoy an actual sunny day. We've had so few this fall that they are a real treat!





This weekend we were able to find an older single child Burley for a really good price. Okay, it was $20 if you must know. Seriously, is that a good deal or what? :) It is dusty, but in good condition. We figured today was a good day to take it for a spin and see if little guy liked it or not. What fun to actually get on my bike again! We used to bike a lot, but last summer I was very, very pregnant and then the little guy was too small for a trailer (and I was healing from his birth and had no desire to get on a bike and check how the healing was going and all). So basically it has been 2 years since I've ridden my bike. That ended today. And with any luck we'll get a few more rides in before the snow flies. The little one really enjoyed the trailer right away. He kept waving at me (Daddy pulls him) and smiling and laughing. We'll be enjoying biking as a family a lot in the future, I have no doubt!

So we got home from riding and then gave our dogs baths while the little one avoided his afternoon nap. Then I checked my e-mail and bam! it was 5 o'clock. YIKES!

I decided to use one of my spaghetti squashes that I bought at the farmer's market on Thursday. Last year we enjoyed some for the first time and I remembered I had done a spicy sausage tomato sauce with it. I cooked up some sausage, dumped in some onion and green pepper, opened 2 cans of tomato sauce I had gotten off of freecycle (a woman gave me 3 cases of 12 cans each and had more for others) and thought that would be it. I decided we needed more chunkiness to the sauce and ran downstairs again.

These tomatoes waited for me in their pint and quart jars. I added a pint of diced tomatoes and some seasonings and we were ready to eat in no time. I love my shelves and crates of canned goods. Seeing them makes me happy and eating them makes me even happier!

Happy fall eating,

Heather