Finish the Sentence, Part III

I puffy heart this link-up :)

1. I laughed so hard I cried when...my sister failed MISERABLY in her attempt to photo-bomb a picture I was taking a few weeks back, and instead ended up on the floor with a sore knee. You had to be there, but man. That was hilarious.
 
2. My high school...was pretty typical. Popular kids, band geeks (HOLLA!), jocks, smarties, all that stuff. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it, though.

 3. It really pisses me off...when I turn on the kitchen faucet and Mike someone has left it on the spray setting. Because ohmygosh I SOOOOOO wanted my drinking glass splattered with water instead of filled with it. Good thing I love the guy. :)

 4. In ten years...I anticipate running three boys to three different sports/games/practices. And enjoying every minute of it :)

 
5. If I could erase one thing...it would be that d-bag I dated twice. UGH. I know we all have at least one, but I wish I could slap those memories outta my head. I mean (and as my mom loved to remind me), he didn't like butter, for crying out loud...

 
6. In 1999...I was a freshman/sophomore at the local branch campus of OSU. And ready to move out of my parents' house. Crazy how you don't realize how good you've got it when you're in it, amiright?

 
7. Honestly...is a completely ridiculous way to start a sentence. Obviously you're being honest, right? So honestly, can't we just get on with it?!

 
8. To me, Sushi...reminds me of the first Mike I ever dated (for those of you keeping track out there, I dated four Mikes before finding my Prince Charm--errr, Mike). And that first Mike was a tool (geez, we're covering all of my relationship fails in this post, eh?). Haven't had the slightest desire for sushi since then.

 
9. Someone really needs to invent...a process by which we people can apparate. Seriously. That's the one thing from Harry Potter that I wish wasn't fantasy. I would just love to think myself somewhere else sometimes...

 
10. The first time I drank alcohol...to excess? I was underage BUT on international waters and therefore legal (yay, cruises!). I remember splitting a bottle of champagne with 40ish guy at our table, then stumbling UP the stairs to our cabin, crying as the bingo numbers were called to quickly for me to keep up, and finally insisting that we MUST have hit choppy waters when I fell off the toilet. Glamorous is my middle name.

 
11. The one question I would ask God is...not why are we here, or why can't He let Cleveland win SOME kind of championship in my lifetime, or why my sons have F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S eyelashes when I have to use a magnifying glass to find my own. No,what I would ask is what the hell heck He was thinking when He took my mom far too soon?
 
12. Lindsay Lohan...is a trainwreck. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Monthly Mumbles, April Edition

10. First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers to everyone involved in yesterday’s tragedy in Boston. In addition, my utmost respect to the first responders; whether police, medics, volunteers, or civilians, I am humbled by your selflessness.

9. Finally found this old picture of me (I think I was 9 months???) to prove that Justin favors my side of the family--just a bit...

8. F.R.U.S.T.R.A.T.E.D beyond belief that my knees won’t allow me to get past the first week of C25K. I mean seriously. It’s the same reason I had to quit last time. I haven’t run since last Wednesday, and I’m still having a hard time going up and down stairs. Doesn’t help my woe-is-me attitude when it comes to my physical prowess at all. I’m taking advice and looking for solutions, but so far, no dice.

7. I would pay someone very good money if they could somehow get Nolan to go to sleep at night. He used to my champion at bed time—until he figured out how to climb out of the crib. The big boy bed hasn’t helped. He asks “Go bed, Mommy?!” in the evening because he thinks it’s time to PARTY DOWN in his & Aiden’s bedroom. So then we have to keep going in there for AN HOUR OR TWO, put him back in his bed, threaten him, put him in timeout—and none of it works. L Hoping this is just another one of those really freakin’ annoying stages.

6. My mom’s birthday is this coming Sunday. L

5. New blog design in the works. I love my current design, but I’m also excited for a fresh, clean look!

4. Justin’s 4-month well visit revealed that he’s a whopping 15 lbs! Not bad for my peanut who entered the world at 6 lb 4 oz. Dude likes to eat. I even mixed a little sweet potato into his rice cereal last night. He approved. J

3. Aiden had another round of testing for Celiac disease, which again came up negative. In case you’re not familiar with the whole drama story, the kid has NEVER been a good eater. It’s been a fight (and I do mean fight) since Day One. At his five-year well visit, he weighed 29 lbs. Which is the size of a two-year-old. Le sigh. So next week we have a consult with a GI doctor to see if we can figure this whole thing out and/or try something new. I sure hope there aren’t any blood draws because he hated that like WOAH.

2. Don’t think I’ve mentioned it here in the blog, but my sister is expecting again! SO EXCITED! Now she can enjoy all the stupid “pressure” that comes with the possibility of having our family’s first girl (there are currently 5 boys between my sisters’ & my kids). Because, you know, we she gets a say in it and all.

1. The warm spring weather has finally arrived. I’ve been trying to get the boys outside as much as possible because OHMYGOSH does the daily intake of fresh air help bedtime. JJJJJ

Our Week in Instagram

Disclaimer: Posts with words to return soon. It's been A. Week.

Monday 4/8/13: In the waiting room before the terror that was

his blood draw. No Celiac disease. The mystery continues.

Monday 4/8/13: Helping Daddy with his homework. Love that goofy smile :)

Tuesday 4/9/13: Four-month well checkup. Littlest is 15 lbs. Not so little anymore.

Wednesday 4/10/13: SO proud of you, Ohio.

Even though it didn't last, temps in the 80s were GLORIOUS.

 

Wednesday 4/10/13: I found all these books in Nolan's bed 

when I went to check on him. He'll be on "Hoarders" next week.

Thursday 4/11/13: A baby boy in overall shorts. I DIE.

Friday 4/12/13: Five minutes until the weekend. GLORY BE.

Friday 4/12/13: Unplanned dinner date with Aunt Abby = Good Times

Our Week in Instagram

Saturday 3/30/13: Someone rolled over for the first time--

and then repeated it four more times!

Saturday 3/30/13: Chalkin' it up to a good time (ba-dum-ching)...

Saturday 3/30/13: Easter egg coloring went surprisingly well

AFTER Nolan ate one of the dye caplets.

Sunday 3/31/13: I imagine Easter in heaven was pretty sweet for Mom.

Monday 4/1/13: This DOES NOT HAPPEN.

And Aiden was actually helping Nolan with the words.

  

Tuesday 4/2/13: First rice cereal--he did GREAT!

Thursday 4/4/13: Fell asleep waiting for the doctor

in the exam room. First ear infection ever at 5 years old.

 

Saturday 4/6/13: Family fun time at the park :)

Saturday 4/6/13: GNO :)

Four Months Old

Well that month sure flew by.

We've had a lot going on, between Aiden's 5th birthday, a couple of holidays (St. Patty's & Easter), and the season starting its much-too-slow change from winter to spring.

Somewhere along the way, The Littlest became a four-month-old.



And at four months, Justin:

--has not altered his sweetheart of a disposition. He is just an absolute joy of a baby to be around. My dad was telling me it must be something about the youngest child because my brother was the same way as a baby.
--sleeps like it's going out of style. He rarely fusses AT ALL when I lay him down for the night, even if he's not quite sleepy. His brothers could really learn something from him.
--continues to be a chunky monkey. I wouldn't say he's fat (well, and mean it, anyways, because I call him fatso all the time (!)), but when holding him, you can tell he's just solid. No official weight until after Tuesday's well visit, but I'm super curious to find out his actual stats.

--is a CHATTERBOX!!! Obviously it's early to be thinking about such things, but I wonder if he'll talk sooner than Nolan? He's already trying to jump in his brothers' conversations. Makes my heart happy.
--has some seriously ticklish armpits. He giggles like crazy whenever I need to change his outfit.
--recently found his thumb. The kid hates pacifiers, but he'll suck the heck out of that left thumb. It's especially cute, though, because he uses the rest of his left hand to grab his nose. I'm still trying to get a picture.
--is already eating rice cereal. We're just a touch early, but I think I've done this enough times to tell he's ready. And he hasn't disappointed; he giggles through the entire feeding, but he gets it all down.

--rolled from his belly too his back four times in a row last weekend. And thought it was about the funniest thing ever.

--has me wondering if he's already teething a bit. We've had quite a few dirty-fart diapers lately, along with rosy cheeks, hands in the mouth, and a the occasional touch of grumpiness (which was not there before). I can't feel anything in those gums, but I'm pretty sure something is going on.

--is getting more hair! It's growing pretty nicely on top--they only place he didn't have any at birth--but it's all rubbed off around the back. Oh well, it'll even out in time.

--seems to be a Buckeye fan. Good thing, because I was worried. :)

Check out how he compares to Aiden and Nolan at four months!

Virtual vs. Real

I love the blogging world. It's great to {virtually} meet new people from across the country and get a little insight into lives of folks I otherwise would never have known.

That insight, however, can cause one to do a little self inspection.

For example--glimpsing the lives of other bloggers sometimes has me questioning how I present myself.

I guess I am not what you might consider to be “girly.”

Probably a good thing I ended up as a mom to three boys, huh?

Seriously, though. I’m a fanatic when it comes to my sports teams. I curse like a sailor (though usually only when the kiddos are out of earshot). I prefer beer to wine and mixed drinks.

I hate nail polish. WAY too much maintenance. And so all those photos of artsy-fartsy nail designs on Pinterest? Yeah, I don’t get it.

Don't get me wrong--I enjoy a good manicure and/or pedicure every, oh I don't know--15 months or so? (File this under "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That.")

My sister asked if I’d head to Sephora with her at lunch yesterday, and wanting to get out of the office for a bit I figured, hey, why not.

I was totally out of my element in there. And yet I bought a pallet (a pallet!) of eye shadow. Which I’ll probably return.

Makeup in general has always mystified me. My mom didn’t wear it, so that was never a thing that was passed down.  

I make attempts every once in a while to “educate” myself on how to apply the stuff (thank you again, Pinterest), but I never feel like I pull it off successfully.

Hairstyles and I are in the same boat. I’ve got natural spiral curls that probably would look better if I devoted more than five minutes to them in the morning.

If I’m in the mood and have the time, sometimes I’ll straighten those curls, but the time mood doesn’t come often.

I’m always at war with myself when it comes to this crap. Part of me wants to get motivated to try new things and make myself more fashionable/presentable/whatever (usually it’s the part of me that’s just watched an episode of What Not to Wear while downing a sleeve of Thin Mints).

The other part of me subscribes to they’ll-accept-you-as-you-are-so-let’s-eat-that-other-sleeve-of-Thin-Mints-‘kay?

I don’t even know where I’m going with this. 

Am I just lazy? …or clueless?

…or both?

I understand that bloggers are typically only putting their best selves out there on the Interwebs, and so obviously the perception is that they've got it all put together. I'm guilty of that myself on some level (notice the straightened hair in my profile pic?).

And so with that in mind, I suppose I'll just keep discovering new blogs, meeting new bloggers, and understanding that while we all appear to have our sh!t together, realistically, we've all got our flaws quirks.

And that's totally cool.

Not forgotten

Ten months ago today, I spoke to you for what I had no idea would be the last time.

I was complaining, as I often did. I had just finished with Nolan's second hearing check, and I was beyond frustrated that they wanted me to come back a third time "just to make sure," even though his readings were normal. I felt like they just wanted the money.

I was also 12 weeks pregnant and in the throes of the I'm-SO-HUNGRY-but-if-I-eat-anything-I'll-probably-see-it-again-soon period.

And you listened, and then told me that you weren't feeling well, so we could talk again later.

Only later never came.

Instead, the phone call I got was from Dad, saying you were being rushed to the hospital.

And then ten minutes after that, a phone call from Megan to say that you were gone.

Each moment from that day still haunts me. Even ten months later.

We celebrated Easter without you yesterday. Another holiday come and gone.

We visited at Grandma's house, and it was just as lively and LOUD as always, with belly laughs galore and grandkids running around everywhere, including my exhausted boys.

But your laugh was missing. I could always pick it out above the roaring atmosphere.

How I miss that laugh.

Each time I told the story of Nolan eating the egg-dye pellet, I longed for your reaction.

I'm afraid that I'm getting used to you being gone. And I hate that.

I imagine Easter was pretty neat for you yesterday, being up there with the King and all.

And despite how selfish it makes me, I would so much rather have had you here.

Love you, Mom.