beautiful weekend

I don't know about you but we've had such gorgeous weather here over the last few days. I'm finding it hard to stay inside...in fact I'm sitting out on the deck right now typing this post. I've got the ghetto fence up and the doggies and I are enjoying the nice weather...until the rain comes that is.

Mr. Football and I had a pretty relaxing weekend. I worked Friday night so I slept half the day Saturday. Cookie, Mr. T and Reverend X came over Saturday night for dinner. We played some Mad Gab...we're pretty cool I know. Sunday was our local March for Babies which went pretty well. We had about 20 people on our team which is double of what we had last year so I felt like I accomplished something. It was a 3 mile walk which would have been just lovely except that it was 80+ degrees, which I'm not complaining about but they ran out of water...at every station. So unless you were part of the front of the group, you didn't get any water for the entire walk. I saw a few of our NICU grads which is always fun. Its always a good feeling when a parent remembers you and shows off their miracle. That's the reason why we're there afterall.

Needless to say after the walk, I crashed on the couch for a few hours. The hubby then made dinner and I laid on the couch all night after that. I have to give credit to all of the dad's out there supporting their pregnant wives...I know it can't be easy. I don't think Mr. Football had any idea what he was getting himself into. Hopefully this first trimester exhaustion will pass soon and I'll be back to normal...as domesticated as I can be that is...

Well I'm off to keep the dogs from attacking the neighbor dogs. Have a lovely day!!

Exciting day...

Here is the exciting post that I promised...

My bestest friends Cookie and Mr. T got engaged last night!!! He had orginally planned to propose this October in Disney World since that is where they met but plans change and he couldn't wait any longer. So this week he called me and told me he had a plan. He decided that since he couldn't actually take her to Disney he'd take her to the closest Disney place here...the Disney Store of course! She was so surprised. We are so excited for them and can't wait for their wedding!!! (maybe that will be at Disney World...)

Also today is Mr. football and I's 6 month anniversary! It seems like our wedding was just yesterday... 6 months has just flown by. I'd love to say that being married has changed our lives but really it hasn't been that different. We're still the same people, living in the same house who enjoy the same things. But I guess thats a good thing, we don't feel like we need to change ourselves in any way.



We're having a great time being married and we have something else to share...

We're having a baby!

I'm a little over 9 weeks along and we're expecting our little one to arrive in November. Surprise! It definitely was for us at least but we couldn't be happier or more excited.

Have a great weekend!

Spring!!!

The last two days have been wonderful...and by wonderful I mean its been in the 50's so yay! Close enough to summer for me, well almost.

Yesterday Mama P, Bryson and I hit up the outdoor mall for the afternoon. It was such a nice day, besides the wind. We walked around most of the afternoon (in flip flops of course) and did pretty good purchases wise. Bryson enjoyed his day with the girls I think. He was too cute, just jabbering away all afternoon. He even ate pretty well at lunch, because of the chemo he doesn't have much of an appetite so even getting him to take 3-4 ounces by bottle is good (most 6 months old take double to triple that in a sitting). He's such a doll baby.

I'm very picky and since I like to consider myself "curvy" I don't like stretch or skinny jeans, so I was pretty excited to find my favorite pair of jeans available, in my size, and on sale! It was a good day. I also picked up a few cute T's since they were on sale too...How could I resist?

Yesterday night Mr. Football and I met up with Cookie and Mr. T for some frisbee golf. We made it through 9 holes before the wind became too much. I'm already "challenged" enough in the sport I don't need anymore obstacles.

Today ended up being another beautiful day, despite the forecast of rain. So I put up our "ghetto" fence and let the dogs play outside. (Sidenote: We bought our house because we loved the layout and it had a pretty good sized yard with a deck. Our garage however is detached, which is pretty common in our area and set behind the house. The entire backyard is fenced in, except the driveway since you have to drive behind the house to access the garage. We thought we'd figure out how to fence it in later....Well almost 2 years later we still don't have one. I just don't know if I'm willing to block the driveway permanently with a fence and no longer have access to the garage. So on the days I let the dog's play outside I have to take Jax's pen, which is a Petyard, open it up and block the driveway...hence Ghetto Fence)

*Note* This is not Jax and this is not my house. But this is the pen I have for him.

They had a lovely time running circles around the yard, barking at neighbor dogs and playing fetch, so much so that during a much needed water break Jax had to lie down to finish drinking. Seriously, I think I have the laziest dogs ever.

Tonight they're both passed out on the couch. Bring on the warm weather!

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to "Not Me! Monday" hosted by the talented Mckmama! This is where we can confess all the things we didn't do...Because we all obviously live perfect lives and never do anything wrong. So here are the things I didn't do this week...

I did NOT take a blogging break this week. I would NEVER completely neglect all of my blog friends that way. I did NOT forget to check my blog for several days and then decide, whats a few more? Not Me!

I did NOT have a melt down at work one night. I was NOT overly stressed and overly tired and I did NOT take it out on everyone. I did NOT decide that I need to take a break from work-related activities for a little while...

We did NOT have a scare with Bryson this week. He was NOT back in the hospital for his 2nd round of chemo and he did NOT have an episode where he turned blue for several minutes. We were all NOT totally terrified and the doc's did NOT think he may have had a seizure. Scary. He's NOT doing totally fine now and he may NOT get to go home tomorrow.

Silly boys, always finding a way to scare their mama.

Our new dining room table did NOT come on Tuesday! I'm NOT totally excited and I did NOT go out that day and buy new stuff to decorate with. The delivery men are NOT coming back again this Tuesday to bring my last dining room chair that they claim "wasn't in stock" even though I waited for everything to come in before I scheduled delivery.

I did NOT learn at our NICU Nursing conference this week that it is inappropriate to have "relationships" with the patients. They did NOT spend an obscene amount of time telling us this was against the law...our patients are babies, whether their our patients or not isn't that always against the law???

The hubby and I were NOT totally lazy this weekend, literally we did nothing. I was NOT the instigator of this and I did NOT sleep more hours than I was awake. He was NOT totally bored...poor hubby.

We did NOT doggysit Maliboo, Mama Cookie and Mr. T's pup this weekend so they could roadtrip to Florida. (Good thing I was being lazy this weekend because who doesn't want to roadtrip to Disney??) She did NOT make me realize how lazy my dogs are (they fit right in) because she was sooo animated. Some people say that after having 2 kids adding more is no big deal, well I did NOT learn that that doesn't apply to dogs.

Maliboo...please excuse the green fuzz. She thought her bed was too firm.

The dogs have taken over...sorry for the quality, it was late and I only had my cell phone.

Well those are the things I most definitely did NOT do...what about you? Make sure to check out Mckmama's blog for more "Not Me's!"

Not Me Monday!

Thanks to Mckmama, I now feel like I have something to look forward to on Mondays...her fabulous blog carnival "Not Me Monday" where we can all share the things we would never admit to doing...Here goes!

After deciding a few weeks ago that I need to get my butt in gear and work some extra hours for our mini-vaca's this summer, I did NOT decide that I've had enough and I'm burnt out from working extra hours. I also did NOT think that maybe we don't need to go to all of the weddings this summer...

While at our Kick-off Meeting for March of Dimes I did NOT get tearful when the Ambassador family shared their story of their previous 24 weeker who is now a little over 2. I was NOT completely excited when after I walked in he looked at me over his little glasses and said "HI Mrs. Not-so-Domesticated!" (Ok he said my real name but I wrote that for blogging purposes). I also did NOT completely blank out during everyone elses speaches because I was too busy watching all of our NICU grads running around. I DON'T really have a great job...

I did NOT spend hours on a poster presentation with Little S this week for our Conference. I am NOT totally impressed by our really awesome chest cavity that we built on the poster as a visual aid for our disease. I also am NOT totally annoyed that a poster we spent hours on, other people spent minutes on and are getting the same credit.

I was NOT completely intimidated at our Benefit for Bryson meeting on Thursday. I did NOT let all of those opinionated "helpers" walk all over me. I did NOT want to quit as the chair of the event, just a little.

The hubby and I did NOT have a little or big spat one night while I was at work. (when I work a lot of days together or a lot of overtime, we might get a little nasty with each other) I was NOT thouroughly mad that he had made plans for an out-of-town overnight excursion and not tell me about it until the night before. I was NOT so mad that I didn't even want to give him the girlscout cookies I had bought him when I got home that morning...(he didn't go btw, and I shared my cookies)

I did NOT ask the hubby if I could go on a roadtrip to Florida with my bff Cookie next weekend...he did NOT ask me if I remembered our fight mentioned above...

We did NOT have an exhausting weekend playing cards and bowling with our friends. It was NOT super fun, and we are NOT huge dorks...

I am NOT exhausted thinking about my week ahead, and its only Monday...

Well it's a good thing that I didn't do any of these things this past week. What didn't you do??

finally!

On my drive home this morning from work my outside temperature read 51 degrees....51!!!! Its raining, which is ok because the snow is finally completely melted. Can it be possible that spring is almost here?

...Ok probably not. Its supposed to be 30 again this weekend but thats still better than the negatives. I figured since its just balmy out I'd post our pics from this weekend.

The hubby and I...doesn't he look thrilled

Mama Cookie and Mr. T

Me and Little S

A very intense game of Phase 10

Yeah, we're super dorks.

My super super cute snowboard...

One of the few good things that came from the ex...

And a quick B-dawg update:

He had his first chemo treatments this weekend and everything went well. He tolerated the treatments very well actually. He's been awake and happy. He loves to look at his toys and watch his baby einstein dvd's. He has been throwing up a few times a day, especially with meds but once he does he's a happy boy again. It's hard to imagine him being a sick baby, because he doesn't look sick, or act sick. But he's just proving how very strong he is...and what an infectious smile he has.

Lets go!

This afternoon we are leaving for our ski trip. While it makes me sad to leave with everything going on I think it will actually be a good break. We're driving 4 and a half hours north to play in the snow...something that I've been complaining about all winter. But I'm actually really excited about it.

About a million years ago (or maybe in high school) I was a snowboarding junkie. I'd go several times a week with my Mr. at the time...we'll refer to him as "Mr. Not-so-Motivated"...and I was pretty decent. When he and I decided to part ways, I shoved all of my snowboarding paraphernalia in the back of the closet and locked it away with all my resentful feelings toward him. This included the brand new snowboard and bindings that he had given me that Christmas.

When Mr. Football moved to the blistery north he kept making comments about wanting to go skiing, he's NEVER been out on the slopes. So for the past 3 years we've tried to plan a ski/snowboarding trip for his birthday since he was conveniently born in January...peak snow sporting time. This is the FIRST year we've been able to plan a trip.

I hesitantly dug out all of my snowboarding gear and my snowboard and decided that it doesn't bother me all that much. Actually my snowboard is quite cute and I'm pretty excited to use it for the first time ever (since I've had it for a million years, or 8...) I did have an anxiety attack last night at work about the whole situation. I was thinking about things I needed for the trip and realized my bodacious booty is a little lot bigger than it used to be and that it may not fit into my gear anymore. Side note, I tried my stuff on tonight and it does fit...phew!

So tomorrow Mama Cookie, Mr. T, Mr. Football, Little S and I will be heading north to enjoy the slopes. I'll be using my downtime when I'm sore and I don't can't ride anymore to be checking up on all the blogs I missed during the last week. I want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all of the prayers and encouraging words. We're trying to deal with this horrible situation in the best way we can by being there for our friends. They have a truly amazing spirit and I KNOW that they will overcome this. If you'd like to read her views and feelings please let me know. She has her own site where she updates on his progress and visitors can leave comments. I know she finds a lot of peace reading the comments left on her site, so leave me your email and I'll send you the link.

And since I just can't resist showing his adorableness, I had to post these...

They have a wonderful friend in their lives who happens to be a photographer. They met when their engagement photos were done and she has continued to follow their lives through their wedding, pregnancy, birth and newborn shots. When she found out about Bryson she went immediately to the hospital to offer comfort and support. In the process she was able to capture these amazing photos. These were taken the weekend before surgery. They will have these to remember their precious little boy in the perfect body he was born in. Thank you for being a wonderful friend JP, they are blessed to have you in their lives.

Let me introduce you to...

I completely believe that you have the family your born into and the family that you make...

I feel so lucky that the Mr. and I have such a wonderful family. I'm the youngest of 3, I have an older sister who is the best big sister that anyone could ask for. She's married to her junior high sweetheart who has always been a big brother to me. I also have a big brother (whom I've mentioned in my blog once or twice) who is always there when I need him. Mr. Loves-football-more-than-life is the oldest of 2, he has a younger sister who he's close too. We have amazing parents who have always supported us in everything that we do. We love our family but distance is our issue, my parents live the closet...an hour and a half away...

I grew up in the suburbs and had the same friends my entire life. I graduated high school with some of the same people I graduated pre-school with. Leaving for college was absolutely devastating. I knew that I would always have my "home" friends but I had no idea what it was like to have to make new friends. Now I can't imagine my life without these friends.

So I'd like to introduce you to my other "family"...

These are the people who are in our lives everyday...the people we call when we need a favor, the people we have spent countless hours with, the people that I blog about...

First, I want to introduce my bestest, my beloved, "Mama Cookie"...

I've known Mama Cookie since the 7th grade. We met in Student Council and quickly became friends. We both went away from home for college, about 30 minutes from each other. We always car-pooled home together all 4 years...Like I said we were always friends, but we didn't become "best-friends" until our sophomore year of college. We were both going through similar situations with dead-beat boyfriends and heart-wrenching break-ups. She was my rock when I thought my world was crumbling...She's the kind of person who hold your hair back after a rough night, who eats cookie dough with your for days strait, who will go on any road trip anywhere for no reason at all, she will be patient with you while you sit in front of a computer for hours on end waiting for a deployment email...she'll be there for you for your surprise proposal even though she had plans to go out of town, and she'll stand next to you on the biggest day of your life. I had no question that she would be my maid of honor, and I cannot wait until I can return the favor..

She's always been Cookie to me, a childhood nickname, but mama came about because she's the god-mother to my 4 legged children. She's found her other half, Mr. T, and I couldn't be happier for them. He's an amazing boyfriend and friend and he's hilarious. Not a day goes by that he doesn't make me almost pee my pants...

Next I'd like to tell you about the *P* Family...

I met Mrs. P at work...they pretty much call us "twins". Obviously we look nothing alike, but we're similar heights, builds, and we're always together. She is exactly to the day 1 month older than I am, she married her soul mate almost 1 year before I married mine and we live down the street from each other. We were in their wedding and they were in ours. They are truly an amazing couple that I learn from everyday...especially now. They had their first child, Baby B last September and its been amazing to see them transform into parents. I'm not sure where life is going to take us but I know that this family will always be a part of it.

This is Baby B...he's the sweetest cutest baby I've ever met. I'm sure I'm biased but I don't care. In the short 4 months I've had the privilege of knowing him, I'd gladly walk through fire for him. He fills my heart and makes it just a little easier to wait to have one...and harder too I guess. I'm so excited to watch this sweet boy grow up...

Then there's Little S...
We call her Little S because look at her, she's tiny! I also know her from work, she started a year before I did and pretty much taught me everything I know. She's an amazing person, she has a heart of gold. Shes the type of person that will bring you chicken noodle soup when you don't feel good, she'll spend hours on wedding projects just to give you a break, she'll make you a beautiful blue charm to wear on your wedding day...just so you have something blue. She's the type of person I strive to be...She's also the girl who has stolen my brothers heart. They met at our wedding, they walked together actually and have since been inseparable. I'm excited about their relationship and I'm excited to see where it will go...

And finally, Reverend X and Mr. G

I've known the Reverend since 7th grade also, we went to junior high and high school together also. She and I took a trip to Idaho when we were 16 to visit another one of our friends and had the most amazing summer ever. After high school she moved away but we still stayed close. Last summer while planning our wedding our officiant backed out at the last minute. I wasn't sure what I was going to do...then I remembered that the Reverend was an internet ordained minister. I called her immediately and the rest is history. I wasn't sure how our ceremony was going to go since we are so close, but in the end it was better than I could ever imagine. She and her mister, Mr. G are so funny together...hence their Christmas picture. We're hoping that they will move closer to us because we love spending time with them!

I felt like I needed to formally introduce all of my blogging friends to my "family"...Since this blog is about my life, and my life revolves around my family and friends it just makes sense. We are so fortunate to have this close group of friends to fill in as our substitute family. I'm thankful everyday for them and I couldn't imagine my life without them.