Spreken zie sassy?

Why yes, yes I do speak Sassy!

It's Been 7 Wonderful Years!

***** This post is written in retrospect. *****

We are celebrating our anniversary a few days early this year. Our potential buyers are coming down next week and hopefully we'll be signing a contract on our actual anniversary.



John cannot even half-way imagine how happy he makes me. He has no idea how much easier my life is with him in it. As I sit and try to put into words the whys of my love for him, I'm bombarded with memories of the 'things' he does. But it is so much more than things. It's who he is that makes him do the things he does.

Yes ladies, he is a dirty diaper changing pro. He cooks, he cleans, he fixes cars, computers, houses, gives awesome foot/back rubs, loves God, loves his momma, loves his daughter, puts me first in all things.

He'll watch a chick flick, picks up his own socks, and buy me oreos without them being on the shopping list. He is my calm, my funny, my adventure, the sunrise in my new day, my levy when the tide of life tries to overwhelm. He makes me laugh, makes me strong, makes me confident. He actually makes me more than I really am.

He may not be perfect (those are his words - not mine) but he's perfect FOR ME. And I thank God every day for putting him into my life and guiding my path so that John and I would meet, become friends, and later marry.

Okay, so enough of the mushy stuff.



How did we celebrate?

We left Bean with grandparents and spent the day in Orlando. The Gaylord Palms resort puts on a fabulous winter experience...ICE!



It's every scene of The Night Before Christmas carved out of....wait for it....ice!





It was incredible...one of those things you had to be there to see.





Then we enjoyed many of the Christmas events happening at the resort during the holidays. Had lunch at a fab Italian resturant and then later hot cocoa, and then even later we had some drinks in the Key West section of the resort.



It was a great day for the two of us to reconnect. I admit we did talk about the baby a little bit, but hey - we both love her to pieces so who can blame us. =)

Ear Doctor Check Up

Today we another check up with Brooklyn's ear doctor. She doesn't mind coming to this office because....well the pictures explain it all. Check it:

Why hello huge bear. Sure I'll hug you!!

What's that you say?


Oh.....OKAY!

Homeward Bound Part 1 - Prep that House!

We are on our way to buying a house big enough for our current and future family. Oh joy!

But first we need to sell our condo.

Before I met with any realtor we eliminated the clutter in all of our rooms. This meant finding a storage unit to put any of the crap that we didn't need for the next few months. And by 'crap' I mean anything that would remind a potential buyer of the itty bitty 1067 square feet of living space.

Things we put in storage?

~ Our recliner. This opened up the living room, giving a nice flow to the combined living/dining area.

~ A tall bookshelf crowded with books. I felt the open wall space would give buyers the ability to visualize different uses for this part of the living room.

~ Two of our dining room chairs. Six chairs and two bar stools really suffocated the small dining area. With the leaf in the table removed and only four chairs, you see more space around the table.

~ We emptied the attics so the buyers could see how we finished the attic flooring and how much of their own crap they could shove up there.

~ Any kitchen appliances that haven't been used in 6 months went into storage. We didn't want buyers to see that the kitchen couldn't even house our own normal sized appliance collection, leaving them to wonder where they'd put their own stuff.

~ One of the dressers in our bedroom was removed for the same reason as the recliner and dining room chairs.

We polished up the kitchen (since it is the crowning glory of the property) making sure to take any clutter off the beautiful granite counters.

John tackled any projects that were left unfinished from years past.

I had to take pictures for the realtors to use on marketing websites. Well, I didn't have to , I chose to because I don't trust other people to take the best ever photos of our property.

But I have a confession to make. Despite all my efforts to de-clutter, I still had to move junk from one room into another, take a picture, then move the junk back. Repeat for each room. I think the resulting photos turned out really nice though.

Shame on me!

How did I just gloss over my birthday? It was this past Sunday but the festivities have gone on for a solid week.

Thursday - singing & much cake at the small group gathering.
Friday - dinner with my fabulous in-laws.
Saturday - dinner with aMAZING husband at the fondue joint.
Monday - dinner with my pops.
This coming Saturday - dinner with my mom & sister.

What did I get for my birthday? 6 lbs.

Seriously though, John bought me a 75mm-300mm zoom lens for my camera and a sweet camera bag for ladies - you know, the kind that is useful AND stylish? Check it here. And "the baby" got me a little power shot camera to keep in my regular purse. Why? Because women love options! And John knows this. And that is part of why I love him. Oops, I mean the baby knows this and that's why I love her.

Anyway, this is the first pic I've taken with my zoom lens. I hardly even had to move from my patio chair.



It's a red shouldered hawk (had to look it up) and I've seen it checking out the neighborhood for about a year. On this day he was hanging out on the neighboring roof, probably scoping out some of the tasty future entrees local squirrels.

Halloween Pic

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I love going to the park with John and Brooklyn. They are so photogenic.

Blah blah blah words words

Mommy, my ears hurt! I know that's what Brooklyn would say if she could. She's had many ear infections since March and is currently on her third week of battling the most recent infection. The doctor recommends we see an ENT to have tubes put into her ears. Yay. On one hand I think "how much more will this little girl have to go through" but then I'm gently reminded of the families who may be dealing with much worse for much longer. We can TOTALLY handle this.

We STILL haven't gone in for Brooklyn's 1 year pictures. It seems like something always comes up in the evenings. I suppose that years down the road no one will say "Hey, wasn't she really 1 year and 2 MONTHS in that picture?" so it is not a big deal. As long as they are done before her 2 year birthday.

So last night Brooklyn had this strong desire for the oven mitt she saw on the counter. I gave it to her and she stuck her entire arm in it and walked around the house like that for about 15 minutes. It was so stinking cute. Of course I took pictures.



She even wanted to take it to bed with her. However, it's the same oven mitt that my sister Heather used to put cheese into the bottom of to entice the dog to stick his whole head inside. Which he did. Every time. (And of course, I have pictures but can't find them!)

And finally, I stayed up way too late finishing a project that is SOOOOO AWESOME that I just can't stand not telling what it is. But I can because - in the rare chance that I DO actually keep this a secret - we are going to give them as Christmas gifts. Eeeeek! Keeping good secrets is SO hard for me.

Photo Update - For the Love of Goldfish

Yay! My Swing!!!

Birthday Girl

We celebrated Brooklyn's birthday yesterday. I can't believe I now have a one year old baby. The party was great. Many sweet people came and showed their love to Brooklyn. These are only a few in attendence.



And she got a ton of loot. Her pretty party dress made her the belle of the ball.



The cake, food and decorations were top notch.





She played SO WELL with the other little kids. I'm very proud of her.




Sadly, there are no cake smashing pictures. Brooklyn was tired and irritable at the moment we brought out the cake and all she did was cry when she saw it. Poor baby was in sensory overload. That's okay though. There will be other birthdays and other cakes to smash. I've learned to never hang your hat on certain expectations. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't. If you go into with that mentality, you won't be terribly disappointed when things don't go as planned. Roll with it, baby!

I'm so thankful to all of our guests. I'm especially thankful to my husband, my parents & my in-laws for all their hard work. They cooked, cleaned, shopped, baked, set up, cleaned up and did basically everything needed to make a party run smoothly.

Independence Day, 2010

My firecracker baby, patriotic sweetie and I went to a friend's house

for some food

some fireworks

and fun with friends.

It was a rainy afternoon but the boys improvised.

And Brooklyn got to wear her festive skirt.

Thank you, sweet baby

For being such a good sleeper. I know many parents who don't get to enjoy putting their kid to bed at 8:00 every night without a fight and then have that same child sleep until 7:30 the next morning. We are blessed. And we know it. We don't take one single moment of it for granted.



For being such a good eater. Whatever we put in front of you gets eaten. Yes, some of it ends up on the floor or in your shirt. And in your hair. And in your diaper. Which is fun to find later when we give you a bath. I was afraid I had ruined your palate by waiting so long to give you solid foods. I'm SO pleased that you are willing.



For being so entertaining. I love watching you sleep and how you continue to suck even when the binky falls out of your mouth. I love watching you play in the tub and how you try so hard to drink out of the faucet. I love watching you figure things out. How daddy makes you laugh, how sometimes you just want mommy to hug you, how you are so friendly to everyone you meet. And how you just have to see every bit of what is going on around you.



I love you so much, baby girl.

It's never too soon to start learning about chores!

When's my dang shirt going to be finished?

(Photo disclaimer: I know it looks like she has a 'load' in her diaper, but she doesn't. That is honestly how they hang.)


Brooklyn likes to help daddy push the vacuum back into the closet. Makes me laugh every time.

It takes a while

How do you write about death? This is my second occasion to do so and it doesn't get easier. My grandmother passed away yesterday. It was 3:38am on June 26th. She was 81. I keep having to remind myself that she's gone. It takes a while for it to register, I guess. My mind goes back to the last time I'd seen her...

{Our Four Generation Picture taken on Mother's Day 2010

It was Saturday evening last weekend (6/19/10.) And it was an accidental visit. I had called grandma to see if my mom was there. When grandma told me she wasn't, I didn't want it to seem like that's the only reason I called, so we chatted a bit. She told me my uncle and his wife had come over from Tampa to cook dinner for her and that John and I should bring the baby over for a visit. My sister Sarah was hanging out at my house so we brought her along with us.

{My sister Sarah, my daughter Brooklyn, & Grandma}

Truth be told, I could have drummed up no shortage of excuses to not go over. I'm not as close with my extended family as others are, so me NOT visiting people is the norm. But for some reason I felt like we should take the time to go over and say hey to everyone. It was a great time. I'm so glad I went.

We sat around chatting about the job situation (most of my family and I work at the space center), the effect the oil spill is having on our state, and sundry other topics. Grandma sat quietly, half contributing and half just watching the interactions.

When I asked her if she wanted a turn holding Brooklyn, her eyes lit right up. She held the baby until Brooklyn got too heavy and wiggly for her to manage. We all chatted some more, nibbling Hors d'œuvres (seriously, why can we not spell this orderves????) My uncle's wife told us how it takes grandma forever to eat a cracker with dip on it. Something that people normally pop into their mouths takes her 4 bites. We all laughed. Grandma can be so adorable.

At one point I noticed her sitting staring at Brooklyn. I asked her what she was thinking. She said "the baby is just soooooooo beautiful." I know grandma really loved her first great-granddaughter. You could easily see it in her eyes.



I was glad we went for a visit. But now I'm even more grateful for that time. I had no idea it would be the last time I'd see her. More memories will come to me. And I'll tuck them away somewhere on a scrapbook page so I don't ever forget. The funeral probably won't be for another week. I am looking forward to hearing what others in the family remember most about grandma. She will be dearly missed by us all.

{My grandma with her youngest daughter - my mom.}

Houston, we have tooth bud! And other news...

Just when I thought we'd have the only baby in history who would need dentures because she refused to grow a tooth, behold we have seen the nub. It's just the tiniest little speck of white on her lower right gum. The nub started making it's appearance on Thursday or Friday. And this explains alot about her mood lately. The poor little thing has a mini dagger pushing through her gums. I think I'd be at the very least a little cranky too. So 10.5 months old and her first tooth. Great job Butter Bean! You grow those teeth, girl!

Also, she's mastered crawling. Well, I use the term "master" loosely. She's mastered it as much as I think she's going to. She prefers to be upright on her feet and loves to walk around the house holding onto our fingers or doing laps around the coffee table. But if a toy is out of her reach, or she's tired of being in a particular room, off she goes on hands and knees. I know it won't be long before she's skipping and jumping rope. *sniff sniff* SLOW DOWN already, jeeze!



So we bought her the first pair of shoes. (Stride Rites...people say they are great.) Now if crazy people tell me stuff, I ignore them. But the people that said these shoes rock are sane, respectable and so far have given good advice. I love having friends who research the crap out of stuff. It makes my job much easier. "Hey Tracy, what shoes do I get...Stride Rites? Okay." "Hey Paige, what's the best car seat...Britax? Okay."



As for food, right now she likes bagels, ham, slices of cheese, still with the cheerios, cucumber, peas, and chicken from Chick-Fil-A. (Who DOESN'T love chicken from Chick-Fil-A?) Oh, and she ate the heck out of a chocolate chip cookie once, though dessert type food is still OFF LIMITS. (That's for you mom, if you are reading this.) LOL

She weighs 18.something lbs and is still sporting size 4 diapers. She is also still able to wear her 6-9 months clothing. We put her in some 12 month stuff only because it is so cute, but the pants fall down off her little hips. *sigh* Mommy wishes she had Brooklyn's little hips.

Well, that's all for now.