I'm not a writer, I'm a mom...

I write this blog so that my kids will always remember the special moments in their lives. I'm not good at scrapbooks, diaries, journals, or even documenting the special moments with cute keepsakes. Instead I keep a large bin for each child where I throw their memorable items in hopes to dig through that bin some day and make something special.

I have a fear ~ a lot of fears really ~ because I am a mom. One of my biggest fears is leaving my children early or losing one of my children. I pray long and hard and I soak up every moment that I get with my kids. This is happening more and more lately as I read stories that say "hug your kids", "hold your kids closely", "taken too soon".

This morning I learned of the passing of a past coworker. She was one of the happiest people that I had ever met. She was a stylist at the salon that I was apprenticing at almost 15 years ago. She was seven years older than me, but treated myself and the other apprentices and new stylists like we were just as important to the salon. She was happily married to a man that she loved with her whole heart. She was positive about everything in life. We lost touch as the years past, but I learned that she opened a salon of her own ~ one of her dreams. She was successful, had two beautiful children, and had a life to be thankful for. Everyone that knew her loved her.

She passed unexpectedly. These words weigh so heavily on me. She was active, ate healthy from what I remember, and she loved Jazzercise. She talked to everyone about Jazzercise and even got us to join her once in a while. She was, in my eyes, a model-healthy-person. Yet an unexpected health tragedy took her life this weekend at the young age of 43.

I can't imagine what her husband, son, and daughter are feeling at this moment. You will be greatly missed Nicki.

Nicki's situation is my biggest fear.

I'm not a professional writer. I don't need people to comment on my blog. I just need a place to write my thoughts so that my kids can read them as they get older whether I am here with them or not. I need a place to keep my memories and hold on to pictures so I can look back and reflect. That is what this blog is for me. My memories, open, for everyone to share. 

Just One of Those Days...

It's Monday.  Back to work.  Back to school.  Back to daycare. 

How was our weekend?  Well, it was nice.  Cory had a meeting at church on Saturday morning, so the boys and I drove up to Watertown to watch Mariah compete with the UGHS varsity dance team in regionals.  I juggled the little monsters, fed them lots of not-so-healthy-food, and we cheered on Mariah.  The girls took 4th place so we will head up to State next!  Very proud of Mariah!  She is amazing! 

On Saturday night our friends came over to tell us all about two little babies that they hope to adopt soon.  They are moving forward with the process and hope to have these two little ones living with them within the next couple of weeks!  We are so happy for them.  They are wonderful people and these babies will be truly blessed with the love they will receive for the rest of their lives. 

While our friends were over we went through some baby stuff that I had in storage.  We sent them home with clothes, blankets, an infant carseat, and a couple bases.  After they left, Cory and I were talking and I mentioned how that carseat had been used by many babies and if we ever have another baby we would have to buy a new carseat... (they expire).  That is when Cory looked at me and said, "You need to realize, there will be no more babies."   He's told me over and over again that he doesn't want any more children.  That three is where we need to stop.  Daily/weekly/monthly... I have heard this over and over, but this weekend is when it really hit me. 

There will be no more babies... You need to realize... wow how those words hit me like a sharp knife through my chest.  This is it.  It's over.  I am a mother of three.  I am very grateful for the three children that we have and I love them more than I could ever put in to words.  They are my world.  They are my everything.  I've always wanted a big family.  I've always wanted five kids.  I started having kids when I was 18 years old.  Mariah was my first little princess.  The little lady that taught me what loving a child was all about.  She made me a mom. 

I'm 34 years old now.  I still want two more kids.  I still want... I still want... those are words that Cory likes to remind me of.  I am never happy, always wanting more, can't just enjoy what I have.  Oh how that is so wrong though.  I enjoy what I have.  I love and enjoy and feel no grater happiness than what I feel from my children.  I am a mom and I am proud.  I would give every minute of every day to be with those kids, but in reality that is not possible.  They need to go to school and daycare, I need to work, they need friends, I need friends, but in a perfect world, if I could, I would do everything with them.  Being a mom...that is my passion. 

You need to realize... these words just keep playing in my mind over and over.  I need to realize.  This is not my choice.  This is not my decision.  I am married.  I took vows.  We have to work together as a team.  Cory wasn't sure he wanted any kids when we first met.  Then he learned to love being a dad to Mariah and we decided to start a family together.  We had Ethan, then three years later had Carter.  It was a struggle.  I wasn't sure he was ever going to give in to a third child (Carter), but he did and I am truly blessed because of that.  I have three kids.  They are amazing.  They play, they fight, they love, they teach, they learn.  They are amazing. 

There will be no more babies... how do I come to terms with this?  I remind myself every day of how lucky I am to have the three kids that I have. I try to mute the longing for more kids.  I try to mute my desire to have a family with five kids that I have always dreamed of.  Maybe God has other plans for me?  Maybe I can only handle three?  I try to come up with reasons every day as to why I long for two more when I know that it is not possible.  My husband is done.  He doesn't want any more kids.  This is it. 

I will continue to be thankful every day for the moments that I get with my children.
I will continue to be grateful for how blessed I am to have three beautiful healthy children. 
I will continue to pray to God asking him to help me find peace, happiness, and a feeling of content. 

I always wanted to be a stay at home mom.  The old fashion family with five kids.  You know, where the husband works, the mom cooks and cleans and takes care of the kids, and everyone gathers together at the end of the day and spends quality time together. 
That didn't happen though.  We built a house.  I spend too much money.  We spend too much money.  I am so unhappy with many things about our house.  I am always trying to buy things to make myself like our house more.  It works for a short while, but deep inside I hate our house.  I hate it because it is expensive and not ideal.  I hate it because in order to live in our house we both need to work full time to pay for our house.  Not only do I work full time, but I also work part time as an independent sales consultant.  I do this for extra money to pay for things, to buy more stuff for our house, to buy things for the kids...

Life is stressful, life is busy, it's hard to get what we really want out of life.  Every decision made plays a huge part in the rest of our lives.  How do we find happiness in what we have?  How do I learn to be content? 

I Just Don't Understand

I am feeling disturbed today.  There are so many evil things that happen in this world.  It is scary turning on the news and watching the horrible and tragic stories come across the tv while we are going about our day.  There was a tragic incident this weekend that hit close to home for me.  There was a shooting in a salon in Brookfield.  A man took the life of his wife, two of her coworkers, and then took his own life.  One of those coworkers was a friend of mine from high school.  We weren't super close friends, but our lives crossed paths many times.  We had occasional get togethers and sleep overs at each other's houses during our sophomore and junior years.  We always had a lot in common.  We ran in to each other later on in life and realized we both had daughters within a year of one another and both named our girls Mariah.  She was a super kind and sweet person.  Always soft spoken and smiling. 

How could someone take her life for no reason?  I just don't understand it. 

I just want to sit and home and hug my family today. 

My thoughts and prayers go out to Cary Robuck's family and friends.  Also to the other victims family and friends.  Truly tragic.  Heartbreaking. 

Links:

Remembering Cary

Spa Shooting

And... it's October

Mariah has a job!  Her very first official job!  She is working at a local Farmer's Market and Gift Shop.  She was hired on as seasonal help, but is really enjoying it and hopes to get hired on year-round!  I have some great pictures of her first day, but haven't taken them off of my camera yet...

Carter moved up to the toddler room at daycare.  He is still adjusting.  We miss the infant room teachers a lot.  :-( 

Ethan is adjusting to the new school/daycare/preschool year.  His friends that were older than him have all gone off to kindergarten and now he is one of the oldest in his class.  He is adjusting and making new friends.

Daycare's play area is all sand.  ALL SAND. Which means every day when I pick up the boys they are covered in sand.  It's in their shoes, coated on their socks, in their hair, on their skin, in Carter's diaper.  Seriously it is everywhere and it makes me CRAZY!  The daycare is having a fundraiser for more playground equipment and sand... how do I tell them that I am not helping them with their fundraiser... because the sand is HORRIBLE! 

My brother and his wife are due to have their baby boy any day now!  So excited for them.  Baby Oliver Christian is going to be a very loved little man.  I can't wait to snuggle him! 

Well, that's all for now.  Not much for my first post in over three weeks.  Sorry about the lack of pictures... Just how I role lately. 

Happy October!

So Excited!

Remember this post about the Norwex party that I had?  Well, now I am joining in on the fun and becoming a consultant!  Yup, that is how much I love this stuff!  I am so excited to tell everyone about the fabulous products!! 

I Love My Blog

Some days, like today, I have nothing interesting to talk about, but I still ramble out thoughts of nothingness on my blog.  I love my blog.  I love looking back through my blog and wondering why I didn't start it sooner.  I've never been good at scrap books, I'm horrible at recording the kids milestones on paper or in any type of journal or baby book, and I'll be the first to admit that my memory sucks.  With that said, thank goodness for my blog!  I record it all here.  For all to read, some to comment, and mainly for my own documentation.  Thank you blogger.com for giving me this space on the world wide web to record life's happenings.  Without this blog my life's most amazing moments would happen, but the details would be forgotten. 

And a little more randomness for today:

I bought a rug for the family room.  Yes, carpet over carpet.  Some day I dream of a wood floor under the rug, but until then... double carpet.  Not my favorite look, but I wanted a rug. 

 I spray painted!  What did I learn?  ...that I like painting with a brush better, but it was still fun. 

The basement walls are finally getting decorated!  I am loving these pieces that I picked up at Pier 1.

Here's my latest little pinterest project.  I painted the clothes pins, hot glued them to a 4 foot ruler, and hung it on the wall.  I used the back side of the ruler because it lists fun measurement facts.  I love reading those facts to the kids.

My walls look really yellow in these pictures.  Yuck.  Here is a glimpse of the kids hallway.  Next up, new pictures frames and more of them.  That is Mariah's door at the end of the hall.  Can you tell?

My boys ;-)  Ethan drives pretty crazy so we put a bike helmet on Carter just in case he were to tumble out of the gator.  Carter holds on really tight though so I don't think we have much to worry about.  

Look at this little man go!  He is definitely walking!  He's a bit wobbly still, but is finally choosing walking over crawling.  Way to go Carter!

That's all for now! 

My Favorite Spot

Do you have a favorite spot in your house?  A place where you go to be alone, drink your coffee while the kids are still asleep, or talk on the phone without interruptions? 

I have a favorite spot.  It's small, but charming.  It's the first place people see when they walk in my front door.  We rarely use the front door so it's often forgotten space until one of us needs a moment away or a moment to watch the cars go by.  I love sitting on the bench while drinking my coffee on weekend mornings. I love even more when one of the kids quietly joins me.  I've even found the kids sitting on this bench with a book enjoying a little quiet time of their own.  Just a quiet little place to sit and enjoy.  

Just like that...life can change.

On June 9th around 9:00pm we were sitting around our bonfire in our backyard with my brother and sister-in-law.  The air was calm.  It was a beautiful evening.  We were relaxing and just taking in the surroundings while watching the kids play with glow sticks and roast marshmallows.  We could hear laughter and squeals coming from my sister's house just acres away from us.  This was a normal sound in the distance. 

Then it all changed. The still quiet air was interrupted by sirens howling down the street behind us.  This is a main street to the hospital.  The uncommon part was how each siren stopped as it got behind our home.  Blocked by a long row of trees, we were unable to see the lights. 

I called to my sister's house and jokingly asked if another car had flipped over on their front yard.  My sister didn't respond to my comment.  She was on her cell phone leaving a message for someone else.  She was calm, but frantic.  She responded to me by saying, "I can't talk, we had a kid under water".

I turned to Cory and my brother and told them Dawn's response.  They hopped on the ATV and dashed over to my sister's house.  The rest of us walked over moments later.  Shaking and praying the entire way over.  Completely unaware of who was under water. 

The squeals we heard were not of laughter, but of fear from the children when they realized the three year old boy had gone under water and was not breathing. 

The rest taken from: http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/with-call-dispatcher-s-cpr-training-helps-save-boy-s/article_384bf0a4-bacb-11e1-a7bf-001a4bcf887a.html

Lifesaving Award



WITH 911 CALL: Dispatcher’s CPR training helps save boy’s life


YORKVILLE — It was just an average Saturday night on June 9 when Julie Baker and her four kids decided to take a quick swim in a friend’s backyard pool.


The kids were in the water. The adults, having just counted all their heads, looked away from for a few seconds to apply some insect repellent.


And then it happened. Baker’s oldest son Brad, 7, started screaming. His 3-year-old brother, Danny, had slipped under the water. He wasn’t breathing. “I turned around and he was lifting him up to (his sister) Katie,” Julie Baker recalled. “He was blue with no pulse. It was terrible.”


Lucky for the Baker, and her friends the Scott and Dawn Loffquist, Racine County Dispatcher Emily Johnson was at the other end of the line when they called 911. Johnson, like all of the county’s dispatch technicians, had recently received some additional emergency medical dispatch training.

After immediately sending rescuers from the Union Grove-Yorkville Fire Department to the Loffquists’ Spring Street home, Johnson walked Scott and Dawn Loffquist through the steps of child CPR.
“I need you to put one hand on the forehead and put the fingers of your other hand under the bony part of the chin and gently tilt the head back,” Johnson can be heard saying during the 911 call. “Do you see him breathing at all? I want you to roll the baby onto his side and hold the baby’s feet.”

Scott Loffquist followed Johnson’s instructions by the letter, and a few seconds later Danny was breathing.

“Julie, he’s breathing,” Dawn Loffquist can be heard saying to Baker during the call. “He’s breathing, honey. He’s going to make it, honey. He’s going to make it.”

Danny ended up spending the night in the hospital, but the following day he was back at home and doing fine — “just like he was before,” according to his brother.


Johnson, 27, will tell you she was only doing her job, but on Tuesday the dispatcher received a Lifesaving Award for her efforts.

“Danny Baker is alive and well today as a result of the efforts from all of those involved, especially Dispatcher Johnson,” Racine County Executive Jim Ladwig said presenting Johnson with her award. “This truly is a success story. And, it’s important that we focus on and honor those that are responsible for doing great work.”


Getting ready for her 3 to 11 p.m. shift on Tuesday Johnson, who used to watch the show “Rescue 911” as a child, said that while she appreciates the recognition for her work the best gift of all was saving Danny’s life.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” she said. “It’s why I do what I do.”

(photo source) 

Julie Baker holder her three year old son Danny.  Emily Johnson on the right.  The miracle 911 dispatcher that helped my brother-in-law save little Danny's life. 

I need to paint something!

I have the urge to paint.  I want to paint all the trim in my house white.  I want to paint my kitchen cabinets white.  I want to add board and batten to my dinning room and paint it white.  I want to paint my laundry room cabinets white.  I want to paint an old dresser white.  I want to add some color to the walls in the basement with maybe a blue color?  I want to change the color or our mud/laundry room.  I want to get rid of the red paint in our half bathroom.  I want need to touch up the paint in my family room... or maybe just give the entire room a new look with a new color?

We've been in our home for over six years.  Most of the rooms are still their original color.  It's time to paint.  I need a new look for our home.  A brighter fresher more uplifting look.  I love splashes of color, but all of the brown's and dark colors are starting to make me feel boxed in. 

 Where should I start?? What can I get Cory to agree on? For some reason most of the homes in our area are full of stained wood, dark wood colors, lots of heavy wood patterns, and dark wall colors. If you look at southern homes they are full of beautiful woodwork, board and batten on the walls, and lots of white woodwork with beautiful dark wood furniture accents. I want that. White woodwork with wood furniture accents.

Look at this beautiful white and bright kitchen.  So fresh and clean looking.  I could cook and clean in this kitchen all day.  I hear birds chirping and sunshiny songs playing in my head when I look at this picture. 
 

(source)

And this dinning room with tall board and batten walls.  Dark color on top, but the white b & b makes the room pop with life.  I love the dark wood accents and colorful artwork.

Ahh to dream... and then to paint. 

Reply to Comments

I am excited!  I figured out another blogging secret!  I can now reply to your comments.  This is fabulous.  I don't get a lot of comments on my blog.  Most people tend to comment on my posts under my facebook links, but when I do get comments it bugs me that I can't reply without leaving my own comment.  I like replying to your comments.  I did a little searching yesterday and found this link. 

Threaded Comments:

Go to Settings
Click on Posts and Comments
choose the option Embedded

Go to Settings
Click on Other
select the full feed option

It was that easy! 

Rental

I have a rental vehicle. 

Luckily, it's a nice rental vehicle.

It's a Dodge Grand Caravan.  2012.  With lots of power-everything.  Power-everything-that-my-KIA-doesn't-have.  Hmmm I might want to just keep the rental. 

My KIA has had a door issue since I bought it.  The drivers side sliding door doesn't always latch and stay completely latched.  This is a huge safety issue and it's also really annoying.  Out of no where, while driving down the road, the lights will suddenly turn on inside the vehicle and a loud chime will start chiming.  It is extremely distracting.  It will not stop chiming and the lights won't turn off until I pull the van over and open and close the door.  Serious safety issue.

We took the van for an oil change around 5,000 miles and had them look for the door issue.  They couldn't find the problem because it wasn't currently happening so they did nothing to fix it. 

We took it back in for the second oil change around 10,000 miles and told them the issue with the door hadn't gotten any better.  They lubed the door and sent us on our way. 

This helped for a little while - possibly - until Thursday morning (April 26).  I dropped the boys off at daycare, started heading to work, got about a mile from daycare when the lights flashed on and the chime was chiming.  I turned the van around, called Cory, and told him it was time to head to KIA while the van was acting up.  Cory met me, took my van in while I headed to work in his truck, and talked in a we're-going-to-get-things-fixed-manner with the KIA dealership. 

So, KIA claims they fixed the issue on Thursday by changing out the door latch.  They just happened to have these parts in stock.  But, they are going to keep my van for a while and try to see if the issue occurs again. 

Wednesday, May 9th: I started this post on Friday, April 27th.  Here we are a week and a half later and I still have a rental... Only this rental isn't as nice.  On Saturday, April 28th I got my KIA back (which I've confirmed recently how much love).  On Monday, April 30th while driving to work.... the door did it's thing again.  So, back to KIA we went.  This time they gave me a not-so-lovely VW 2007 completely unloaded and yucky minivan.  I've been driving this vehicle for a week and a half and can't wait to get rid of it.  I want my KIA back.  Badly.  And I want the door issue to be fixed. 

At the Beach

Okay so not really the beach... but if you sit back in one of these comfy bright blue chairs, sip on your coffee and pretend its a cocktail, squint your eyes a bit, pretend the deck is the sand, pretend the grass and field behind us is the ocean, pretend the air is warm, well, then you are at the beach.  Ah ;-)

Some Weeks Just Bite

I am having a down day week.  Maybe because I'm a little tired.  Okay, a lot tired.  Or maybe it's because I'm thinking ahead to the kids being off of school over the summer and I'll still have to go to work every day.  Or maybe it's because the weather has been cooler again and extremely windy and I really don't like the wind.  Or maybe this cold I'm fighting has something to do with it.  Or the fact that my baby is almost 16 years old.  Or that my baby-baby is almost 1.  And that my middle baby is going to start school in a year and a half.  Guess there are lots of things that could be making me feel down. 

It could also be that my benefits cost is going to drastically rise in July and even after a small raise I'll still be bringing home less money per paycheck.  Or maybe it's the long to do list that we still have for our house after 6 years.  Don't get me wrong, I love projects.  I just hate things like spending a fortune to pave our long driveway.  Or saving money so some day we can build another garage to store all the things that come along with living in the country.

I'm also panicking over the what-ifs that come along with having two boys in the country.  ATVs, accidents, snowmobiles, accidents, dirt bikes, accidents.

Or maybe the "accident" worry is coming from asking my mom if she could take my daughter to Drivers Ed this summer.  No, I'm not worried about my mom driving.  I'm worried about letting go of Mariah a little bit more.

Doesn't feel like it was that long ago when she was learning how to drive her little pink sports car around the yard.  Just like Ethan does now, Mariah always had an animal in the car with her.  Notice the cute little kitten that she's holding on to? She's always been an animal lover.

This is going to be a really tough summer. 

Bang Bang

I cut bangs... again... every time I cut bangs I promise myself that I will NEVER cut bangs again, but a force takes over me and I get out the scissors and snip away and end up with bangs.  I hate bangs.  They are so cute on everyone else, but I don't have the right hair for bangs.  I have two cowlicks, one on each side of my forehead, and they make wearing bangs a nightmare, but I tend to forget that often.

So, here I am with newly cut bangs.  Notice the really thin piece on my right side?  It took me a while to get my bangs to lay like that.  The thin piece bothered me though.  I just don't have hair on that side of my forehead. 

I moved the thin piece over to the other side along with the rest of my side-bangs.  They were nice for about 10 minutes.  Then they started going in my eyes.

Which quickly made me come up with my new hairstyle.  I will be sportin' these cute clips holding back my bangs for the next many months until these bad-boys grow out.  What was I thinking?  I can't even say "live and learn".  I've done this too many times.  I am really digging my new hair color though.  I did an all over color instead of hilites.  So much easier to do on my own! 

Oh the Anger...

I spend a ton of time putting a post together for Ethan's birthday.  I went to post it from my iPad and the entire thing vanished.  I think I threw up a bit... I seriously spent hours over the past week putting that post together...

Not As Planned

Well, I didn't really have a plan, but if I would have put a plan together... this would not have been it. 

2012

Day 1: I had a horrible migraine and Carter started his first fever

Day 2: I had to call in to work to stay home with Carter and take him to the walk-in and sit next to tons of germ-infested people only to find out that Carter has a virus and nothing can be done right now to make him better. By the way... I used all my days for maternity leave so any day off through the end of June is unpaid.

Day 3: I went to work and left Carter home with Cory ~ which Cory enjoys, but is completely heartbreaking for me.  Then I took Ethan to daycare ~ which he normally loves ~ but today he clung to my leg and cried until a teacher peeled him off of me and tried to comfort him.  Yup, another heartbreak. 

One, Two, Three strikes your out....

Is there a reset button? 

All I want for Christmas... are Comments

I know you're out there.  Drop me a comment and let me know who you are.  I see my reader numbers go up daily.  I would love to hear from you.  It would be like a giant Christmas present to me.  It would give me warm fuzzies inside.   

I got a Christmas card in the mail a couple days ago from my favorite aunt and uncle (aww) and they wrote that they love reading my blog, but aren't sure how to post comments.  So, I thought I'd try to give a little step by step and see if I am any good at directions. 

To Post a Comment:

Click on what usually says "O Comments" under the post content.  A window will pop up that allows you to type your message.  If you get an error message asking you to allow pop-ups you can select okay, or allow pop ups on this site.  It's safe.  I promise I'm not sending you bugs.  :)

Type your message in the box.

Enter the word verification for security.

Then you have to choose an ID.  If you have an email address through google/gmail or yahoo you can select the Google Account.  If you don't then you should select OpenID. 

If you select Google Account you will have to sign in on the next page (it will take you there when you click Publish Your Comment).  Just use your email address and password to sign in.  Don't worry, it doesn't share this info with anyone.  Just verifies your identity. 

If you select OpenID (which I have never used so bare with me) then you need to have an account with LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, or AIM.  I have none of these so I am not able to give this a run.  Hmmm this seems difficult.  Maybe I should check my settings to allow for anyone to post without verification of who they are.

Okay, I opened things up a bit.  Now you can also choose from Name/URL (URL optional) or Anonymous.  Please don't choose anonymous.  I like to know who you are.  If you don't have a google or yahoo ID then choose Name/URL and just throw in your name.  If you have a blog I'd love for you to leave that in the URL.  I want to read what you write about too. 

Publish Your Comment and then await my approval.  I added the approval part since I opened this up to anonymous posts.  I want to keep this family-friendly people. 

Thanks!  I'm looking forward to your comments.  Don't make me beg ~ again.  :-)

Merry Christmas!

Can I Have a Couple More

Because I love these guys.  They own my world.

Carter thinks his feet are yummy

Oh yes, the bath time photo

Too much sun in the room for my phone-camera, but this moment was adorable. 

 Again, bad lighting, but he finished the whole puzzle by himself!

Full Moon

Does a full moon really bring craziness?  I am pretty sure there was a full moon on Saturday night.  Even an eclipse and a giant glowing moon if I am correct.  Normally I don't think much about that stuff and instead just jokingly throw the comment around "must be a full moon", but let me tell you I am starting to believe in the creepy effects of a full moon.  Or the crazy coincidences that seem to take place when a full moon is present. 

Saturday night we went to bed.  Carter hasn't been sleeping well lately (total understatement).  So I was up with him around 10pm, 11pm - 12pm... and on and on.  Around 11:30/midnight I realized the nightlight in our room was going from dim to bright, brought back my club dancing strobe light nights.  Anyway, I thought maybe it was burning out so I turned it off.  Then I heard a beeping from our living room ~ which usually means the smoke detector on our 16' tall ceiling has a dead battery ~  Cory asked what he should do about the beeping, because getting the giant extension ladder from the garage and changing the "beepin" battery (insert word) in the middle of the night did not sound like a fun idea.  So, we shut the bedroom doors and figured we'd deal with it in the morning.  Well, in the morning we had a bit more to deal with.  Turns out the battery wasn't dead, the night light wasn't burning out... instead the power was out.  We are guessing it was out for two hours.  The beeping noise was our battery back up sump pump.  The nightlight was working on battery power instead of electricity.  And... our fish tank back flowed and we lost over an inch of salt water through the bottom of our tank and on to our carpet, ceiling tiles in the basement, and basement carpet. 

Next time... we'll get out of bed and check out the "beepin'" situation.

This is what happens when parents are sleep-deprived from a boob-huggin-mommy-lovin' monster.

 

Martini

Yes please!  I am in lust with Martinis.  A while ago Cory and I went to a martini bar with some friends.  This was the first time I had ever tried a martini and I seriously fell for them.  Like a first snow fall, the smell of apple pie in fall, the fresh air after a rain storm, the scent of baby's skin after a bath, type of yumminess.

So, now we are makers of martinis on a regular basis.  Our first martini experiment consisted of Three Olive Vodka (yumm), blue curacao, and pineapple juice, with a couple pineapple cubes for extra delight. 

I should have taken the picture before I drank half of it, but I couldn't resist.

What type of martini should we make this weekend?