I Love the Weekends

Five days of the week, I'm up and out of the house before Matt and Stella wake. I kiss Matt on the forehead and sneak into Stella's room before I leave to look at that little sleeping angelic face. I always want to hug and kiss on her, but I resist so I don't wake her. I miss her instantly when I walk out the front door.


We like to sleep in on the weekends, however Stella likes to start her day around 7 am. She usually wakes up happy, chatting away and we let her do so until she gets upset. I then happily scoop her out of her crib and scurry back to our room to lay her on her pillow between Matt and I.

We lay there and talk to her. We tell her how much we love her, how cute she is, smile and giggle with her. It's our time to laze around in bed and snuggle on our baby before we start the errands and chores that come with the weekend. It's just 2 mornings out of the 7 that I get to see that beautiful face wake up and smile at me. It's what I want to see those other 5 mornings.

AAahhhhhh, I love the weekends.

Looking Back Before Looking Foward

I remember the turn of the century, the Y2K scare, the big parties. The BIG 2-0-0-0. I know exactly what I was doing - laying on the couch suffering with depression and a nasty cold. It seemed fitting to be sick on the couch during such a grand event I didn't care to be a part of anyway. Now that this decade is ending, I want to take a quick look back before focusing on the future. Walk with me, if you wish.

(2001) A year later, I had managed to "break the chains" of depression and started living again. After just over 2 years of sleeping, feeling numb and being completely disengaged, I suddenly felt...like I could breathe. (It was weird how it had happened too, like the light switch just flipped on one day.) This year is the year I met Matt. This is the year we moved in together. The year he graduated from college.

(2002) I went back to college. At 30. Enough said.

(2003-2005) My life was completely taken over with studying, tests, books, notes, classes. I was a robot going through the motions of life as a college student. I seem to vaguely recall a few much needed drunken nights after final exams. Matt and I also took our very first big vacation together. We took 8 days in between semesters and visited New Orleans, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. It was what I needed before beginning my final year of school.

(2006) We rang in this New Year with a bunch of friends on a Carnival Cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. I don't remember much of this cruise which tells me I had one fantastic time! In May, much to my surprise and relief, I graduated with my Chemical Engineering degree. After graduating, I fell into a funk again. Not as bad as before, but definitely a funk. I had spent the last 4 years running at such a high level of stress, I didn't know what to do with myself. It took me awhile to learn to relax. Matt and I were also unsure of our relationship at this point. School had taken so much of my time over the past few years we weren't sure if we knew each other any longer.

(2007) Matt and I became engaged. Obviously, we worked on our relationship and decided this was the right decision for us.

(2008) Wow! This was an exciting year FULL of changes and new adventures. In February, I interviewed for a new job in Northern Virginia and was told the same day that I got the job. A week later, I was told I had four weeks to get my stuff together and move up to Virginia. In March, I moved 1000 miles away from my fiance one month before our wedding. (Yeh, just a bit frantic) After several flights home for weekend visits, Matt and I married in April. I came back to Virginia to work one last week before we took off for our 3 1/2 week European Honeymoon where we visited parts of Italy, Greece, Monaco and Turkey. I then left my new husband in Florida, moved in with my friend Sarah, worked and waited until July when Matt moved up so we could finally start our married life together. Whew!

(2009) Another exciting year for me. In early January, we bought our first home. A three story town home just minutes from my job. It needed a bit of elbow grease, but once we were done (in October) it was exactly what we wanted. We renovated the kitchen, laid new carpet, painted every square inch and stained/sealed the deck. Also in January, we found ourselves pregnant with our first child. In May we learned the sex of the baby and in early October, we were proud parents of a 9 pound baby girl. We were also lucky enough to spend one month back home in Florida visiting with family and friends and showing off our daughter before I returned to work.

As this decade draws to a close, and I look back over the past 10 years, there isn't one thing I regret. I have a wonderful husband, a healthy and beautiful baby girl, a nice home, a good job, fantastic friends (both far and near) and a loving family. This decade started off gloomy but I wouldn't change a thing. It has made me stronger and grateful for what I have. I can honestly say I'm beginning a new decade happier than I have ever been. I'm looking forward to the changes and challenges 2010 will bring.

Happy New Year!
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* If you're lucky and I feel ambitious tomorrow, I'll see what pictures from the past 10 years I can dig up to share with you.

A Brief Visit

WOOT!

I know what some of you are thinking. I know that some of you don't have the relationship that I have with my husband's parents. I admit, I am very fortunate. I love my in-laws. They are fantastic, wonderful, supportive people and I'm happy they visited.

And no, I'm not buttering them up to ask for anything. I just really like them that much.

The funny thing is, they were only here a few hours. They are on their way to Russia for a few weeks and happened to have a 7 hour lay-over at the airport. Since we are so close, we picked them up and were able to show them our apartment, around town, the local battlefield park and have a yummy lunch before taking them back to the airport.

It was good to see them. Although after they left, I began to feel isolated and far from home. I know as Matt and I settle, make friends and plant roots, we will begin to think of this as home too. I'm still having a difficult time adjusting though.

Speaking of missing home - Matt and I finally were able to get library cards here now that we've got our drivers licenses. We were both pretty excited as we both like to read, the library is within walking distance from our apartment and it looks all new and pretty.

Alas, it sucks. Seriously.

It is all of those things I've mentioned but finding any book thats on my "TO READ" list is a whole lot of wishful thinking. We are missing our old little local library in Florida that always had what we were looking for. This one - not so much. If they do have it, they only have 1 or 2 copies that gets transferred from library to library and have a waiting list a mile long. We are very disappointed. Oh well, we will have to make do - I'm sure theres a book swap store around here somewhere, and I'll be raiding Sarah's books too.

(Oh Sarah, FYI, I stole Fight Club. K?)

Speaking of books. We wandered into a big chain bookstore today and it dawned on me...books have gotten expensive! I've bought plenty of books at a chain before - these prices are not new to me. I just very suddenly recalled books being so much cheaper. Didn't little ol' paperbacks use to cost $5 or something? Huh?

Hmph. Stoooopid library.

Brothers

Sarah and I are half way through our trek from Virginia to Florida - somehow, April has creeped up on us and I'm told that my wedding is in 5 days. We've stopped in South Carolina for the evening and so far, the kids have been fantastic. Really, who has almost 4-years olds that can ride 7-8 hours in car seats this well behaved? Someone remind me to take parenting classes from Sarah and Gabe at a later date.

I will tell you one thing, traveling by car is hard on the diet. I'm so full right now, I'm not sure I'll be able to eat again. I'm pretty sure the pitcher of Sangria from the restaurant next door hasn't helped. Ugh.

Anyway, on with the real topic of this post...

The Ushers

My family is extremely important to me and I knew the moment Matt and I decided to get married I wanted all of my siblings involved. So, I asked my three younger brothers to be our Ushers. I’ll introduce them to you now.

Michael, the oldest of the three, will be 24 years old at our wedding. He is 11 years younger than I am. He is quiet, but not exactly shy. He is strong willed, smart and very capable. He is a great father of three handsome boys, Michael Jr.(5), Timothy (2) and Kyle (1).

His talent with mechanics absolutely amazes me. From the time he was very young, he was taking things apart and putting them back together. Trying to figure out how it worked. That desire to ‘figure it out’ only intensified as he grew up. As a young teen, he was finding things around the house to fix or put a motor on. I remember he built a working chainsaw from old parts and motors he found around the house. As he moved into his late teens/early twenties, he was taking apart car engines and putting them back together. He’s the guy I call when my car is making that weird noise. He’s worked on all of the cars in the family at least once, probably more.


Baron is in the middle, born when I was 14 years old. He will be 21 years old at our wedding. That age - when you begin to figure it out, make better choices for yourself, and really start to grow up. He is also a great father of a handsome boy, Braeden (2).

He is nothing short of a clown. He loves to play, joke and laugh. He’s extremely quick witted and always has a smart remark ready to fly. I’m convinced he could be the next Jim Carrey. Our Mom used to spend a ridiculous amount of time in the deans office at his school because he was always up to something. She used to call me and say, “Guess what your brother did today?” I was scared to ask. He is also the salesman of the family. I swear that boy could sell a bridge over the ocean in Nebraska.

Baron lived in Georgia until recently and every now and then he would get a few days off and decide to drive down for a quick, random visit. Just off the fly. I never know when he’s going to call and tell me he’s an hour away from my house and wants to know if it’s ok if he stops by. I love to be around Baron, his love of life never ceases to amaze me.

John is the youngest. He will be 17 years old at our wedding. Yep, that’s right, the last teenager in our family. John and I are the most alike. If you haven’t already noticed, we have the same cheeks. Those chubby cheeks that people like to pinch, the ones that will never allow us to grow up. We also seem to think alike. He calls me often for help with his homework and gets frustrated like I used to because, “they are teaching slower than I learn”. I get it. If the teacher couldn’t keep my attention, no matter how hard I’d try to focus, I would eventually drift off. I see those same frustrations in him. He is very bright and talented and ready for the world to keep up with him, not vice versa.

At a young age, John took to dancing. I remember, the first time I saw him on stage, I was amazed. He had such a great stage presence. He didn’t look nervous at all, he was completely comfortable up there. He left dancing a year or so ago and is now into karate and every time I check, he’s got a new belt or two.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve watched him quickly grow up and turn into his own person, which is odd for me when I think that he was born 1 month before I graduated high school. What makes it worse is that Matt and I just recently gave him his first car - I’m not old enough to do that and he’s not old enough to drive. Right?

I’m very proud of all my brothers. They’ve all had their own bumps in the road and troubles, but they’ve overcome, learned from it and moved on. They are all very different from each other but they are all wonderful brothers to have. I’ve watched them grow up from boys to men (not to be confused with the boy band) and I couldn’t be more proud to have them as brothers.

And…We’re Back!

Matt and I flew home yesterday. We left “feels like” 11 degrees in DC for 54 degrees in FL. As far as I’m concerned, that is a perfectly acceptable exchange. Right?

It snowed Thursday and it TOUCHED ME! It was a close call, but I survived. I haven’t seen snow in years and it was exactly what I remembered, beautiful when it’s falling and new then quickly turns to a slick, muddy and yucky mess. Friday, Matt and I visited Arlington Cemetery. I never realized how big that place really is. The pictures we’ve all seen just don’t do it justice. I also learned that the absolute, hands down, worse thing about living up North is an OHMIGAWD cold toilet seat at 4am. YOWZA!

Anyway, we had a good time visiting with Sarah and her family – despite the toilet seat temperature. We stayed up late, caught up, played games, drank a lot of beer and ate some good food. Just my type of vacation!

As for Daddy, he’s still in the hospital being all cranky. He was supposed to be released Friday, and then Sunday and then, well, he’s still there. He’s better, but not as well as I would hope at this point in time. Thank you for your well wishes and warm thoughts – please keep them coming.

So, what has happened while I was away, anything good? I’ve got some blog reading to catch up on and a few posts in the works. We’ll catch up soon, I promise!

**Update: Daddy came home later this afternoon and is doing much better. He can wobble around on his knee a little bit, his white blood cell count has stablized (which means his antibiotics are working this time and he's getting better) and his pneumonia is slowly going away. He still has 6 weeks worth of IV antibiotics (at home) to go through, and of course, they will have to remove the pic line when it's all done, but after all he's been through (knee surgery, drain tubes in/out of his knee, IV's in and out, not being able to walk, inserting the pic line for the home IVs, and being just plain miserable) that should be cake.
Welcome home, Pa, I love you!

And...We're Off!

Off to DC to do some work (Matt), exploring and catching up with old friends. I'm leaving warm Florida for freezing DC. I'm trying not to think about it. Bbrrrrrrr...

We'll be back in a few days.

In the meantime, send warm and fuzzy thoughts to my Daddy who was put in the hospital today with Pneumonia. You may also want to send warm thoughts to the Doctors and Nurses taking care of him - 1) So they make him better very very quickly and 2) that he doesn't get too stubborn and sarcastic with them. He HATES hospitals/doctors and LOVES to be a smart-ass!

I love him to pieces!
Thanks!