52 Weeks of Romance

If you're a regular reader around here, you've no doubt heard my little spiel about Valentine's Day. In case you've missed it, here's the gist: I like the holiday, but more in the let's do something nice to acknowledge it together way, not in the let's spend lots of money and get each other really extravagant things.  It's always a challenge for me to come up with something thoughtful and useful for Josh.  But this year, I'm thinking I may have come up with a winner.
Like most couples who have young children (or at least the ones I'm friends with), romance often takes a back seat for us.  We're so busy parenting and surviving that by the time the kids are tucked in snugly to bed, we are both ready to check out as well! Josh and I have often talked about ways we could bring some romance back to our relationship, but oftentimes are discussions are a lot more talk and a lot less action.  With Valentine's Day being all about romance, I figured this was the perfect time to attempt to do something real about it.

Enter our 52 weeks of romance jar.  I spent a few days brainstorming romantic gestures...and of course, I turned to Google and Pinterest when I couldn't come up with any more!  Because romance has so many dimensions, I tried to touch on all of them in my list.  In the end, I came up with 52 acts...one for each week of the year.  My thought is that we will  pick one stick a week and then have the week to accomplish the task...this way, there's still a bit of an element of surprise as to when the things happen.
I'm hoping that my jar will cause us to be a little more thoughtful and a bit more connected.  And then Valentines Day will last all year, and not just one short night!

5 Years Ago

don't know if it's really on topic, but I came across this and thought it was funny...
and oh, so true!!!

Daylight Savings Time ended this past weekend.  In our house, like most others with young children I assume, that simply meant our kids were up one hour earlier and we had one more hour during which to try to entertain them that Sunday.  Quite the contrast from our pre-children days when that extra hour meant the bars would stay open one hour later (as 2AM fell back to 1) and we could gloriously relish in our extra hour of sleep the next day.  Yep, times sure have changed.
In fact, I started thinking of how many ways and how drastically our lives have changed in the last five years...some due to having children, some due to technological advances, and some just because...and honestly I was kind of taken aback!  Our lives are barely anything like they were five years ago!
Five years ago, it was Josh, me and Chipper living in our 1200 square foot  townhouse.  Now it's us, Chipper, and two little boys living in our 2400 square foot house.
Five years ago, I was a teacher.  I would leave the house around 7 each morning and get home around 4:30 each afternoon (after a stop at the gym).  Now, I'm a stay at home mom.  I still work out daily, but that's about the only thing the same with my daily routine from five years ago.
Five years ago, I would take Chipper for a walk when I got home from work.  Now poor Chipper barely ever gets a walk...maybe once every few months (in fairness, he does have a much bigger yard to run and play in and two boys that give him plenty of exercise!).
Five years ago, I would often get bored as I waited for Josh to get home.  I would check the computer, watch tv...heck, I would even lay down or take a nap some days.  I would eagerly await Josh's arrival so I would have someone to talk to.  Now I would give anything to be bored...or to have the chance to take a nap!  I still eagerly await Josh getting home from work, but for very different reasons these days.
Five years ago, we had our regular shows we watched...and if one of them wasn't on, we'd rent a movie to watch for the night.  Now it is rare that we watch any tv (except "Modern Family"!  I still have some things that I DVR, but I watch them while the boys are napping and Josh is at work.  Instead of unwinding with tv time at night, we do it with iPads and laptops.
Speaking of, five years ago, I spent very little time on the computer.  I wasn't on Facebook yet, I wasn't blogging or reading blogs, Pinterest wasn't even around yet!  So, I would check my email (which I now do on my phone whenever I get one) and maybe look at a couple things, but that was it.  Heck, we didn't even have a laptop...just a desktop that was upstairs, so my time on it really was limited.  Now, I have my laptop on my lap whenever I get a little down time...and then there's the time I check Facebook, Pinterest, or something else on my phone!  My use of technology has probably skyrocketed over the last five years...and honestly I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing!
Five years ago, I would make dinner once or twice a week.  On the other nights, Josh and I would go out to eat...and maybe even some drinks.  Now, we generally eat dinner at home four nights a week.  We still go out to eat on weekends (mainly because I feel very strongly that we don't have to give that up just because we have children), but even that has changed...
Five years ago, Josh and I would generally have casual bar night on Fridays where we would take in some happy hour (usually at the same place: Wild Wing Cafe).  We would sit at the bar for as long as we wanted and get our drink and eat on.  On Saturdays, we would usually have a tamer date night with a nice dinner out.  We still generally go to Wild Wing on Friday nights...but we sit at the tables instead of the bar and are there an hour or so max!  On Saturdays, we still go out to dinner, but obviously not at some of the nicer places we used to be able to go to!
Five years ago, we spent our weekend days sleeping in, running errands, watching a lot of , and getting some work done around the house.  Now our weekends are spent attending birthday parties, ODU football games (they didn't have team five years ago!), taking the kids on outings, and waiting for nap time!
Five years ago, we rarely got out of bed before 10 AM on a weekend (we weren't sleeping that long, but would lay in bed and watch tv).  Now, we're out by 8:30 at the absolute latest.  And if we do try to watch tv in bed, we have two boys jumping off the headboard while we do so!
I could probably keep going, but I think you get the point.  Life is different...in a lot of good ways, and in some ways that honestly I miss (like the laying in bed to watch tv on a Saturday morning!).  I'm sure the next five years will inevitably bring us even more changes, so I guess all we can do is hang on for the ride and see where life takes us!

Six Years...

6 YEARS.
1290 days.

2 adorable KIDS.

1 DOG.

2 ADDRESSES.

13 States Visited.

2 Islands Visited.

LOTS OF LAUGHS.

COUNTLESS MEMORIES.

Yep, as of yesterday (August 4th), Josh and I have been married for 6 years (and even crazier: if you count our years of dating, we have been together for over 10!!!).  Our anniversaries are super sentimental to me and typically make me very reflective.  I look back at where we were when we met, and when we got married, and all that we have accomplished, and all the memories we have made....and I'm just really proud of who we are now as a couple and as parents!

Like most marriages (I think), ours is not perfect.  We have had struggles.  We have had fights. Shoot, we've even gone to bed without talking a couple times (something I swore I would never do!).  

But at the end of the day, Josh is still my very best friend in the whole world and my perfect partner in the adventure that is our life.  I am a better person with him than I would be by myself.    No matter what we may face, I have 100% confidence that I will not give up on him.  And he will not give up on me.  And that together, we will continue to do the very best that we can do for each other and our family.  

Even though there may have been tears some days, there have been far, far, far more smiles and laughs...thankfully!  So many good memories...some created just from our daily routines and others from some of those super significant moments in our lives as a family.  At the end of the day, those memories are my most prized possessions and the best gift I could ask for.  

This year, we celebrated in the way we do most years: by going out to dinner sans the kiddos.

                                   

Of course, there was some gift exchanging beforehand.  Last  year on our fifth anniversary, it dawned on me that a six pack would make a good gift for a 6th anniversary...right?!?  So I stored that idea for 365 days and presented Josh with a very special 6 pack!  On each bottle, I had recounted one of my favorite memories we have shared from the past six years.

He was really excited by the six pack and is even planning to keep each of the (empty) bottles!  He even asked me if this was something I got off of Pinterest and when I told him it was straight from my own brain, he was really impressed...yay me!
Oh, and I also got him the baseball package for the rest of the season...so he can drink his beer while he watches!  And luckily, he got me a new iPad mini (I had dropped/shattered mine in the driveway about 6 months ago...maybe even more), so I will have something to entertain me while he watches baseball nightly for the next two months.

Party On

Pre-kids, Josh and I used to be out and about regularly.  Aaah, the good ole days, right?  Since kids, though, our social scene has changed quite a bit.  Honestly, we still are out most Friday and Saturday nights.  But the kids are with us, we're in the family section, and we're generally home by 8:30 or so.  No one is really knocking down our door begging to babysit our kiddos, so unless we have some sort of special occasion or event, Josh and I usually just choose to tote them along...and honestly they've gotten pretty good at eating out because of it!

But this past weekend the unthinkable happened.  In what will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, Josh and I had two adult-only parties to attend...two nights in a row! Which meant we had a babysitter and adult time two nights in a row!!!  Oh, and as a bonus, we got to get a little dolled up (bonus for me, not for Josh who hates dressing up, as you will see in his outfit choice!).  Holla!

On Friday night, we attended a retirement party for one of my friend's husbands.  Sadly, they were also moving to Philadelphia the day after the party, so it was also a good-bye party of sorts.  I haven't known Jess for long, but Colton has become really good buddies with her son, and we often do play groups with her and some of the other ladies in the pictures.  I can't tell you how nice it is to have found a group of friends...a group of people I genuinely like!...for me and the boys.
                                         
                                   
                                         
                       
                       
While those pictures are cute, the real story could probably be better told by the photo booth pics:
                              
Seriously, it was such a fun night, especially as the husbands got to meet...many for the first time...and miracle of miracle, Josh actually liked them...a lot (he can be pretty picky sometimes!).
And the next night, we headed out again...this time for Josh's company's annual Kentucky Derby party.  Oh, and I was in charge of the decorating:)  

Nothing says I'm classy, but still ready to party quite like a tuxedo t-shirt, huh?  Oh, my husband!  After the party, we stopped for a drink with some of his work peeps and then got home by our 9:30 curfew (Josh's parents were babysitting and were not going to have us being out any later...).

I can't tell you how nice it was to get out with my husband, be a little social, and have some fun just the two of us.  It certainly brought to my attention how important it is to maintain that aspect of our lives.  I guess it's time to start saving up for babysitters!

Registry Do's and Don'ts

Anybody else read Young House Love?  If you do, I'm sure you caught their post last week about the items they're glad they registered for, wish they hadn't, etc. Since we just hit our five-year mark as well, I thought it may be fun to try to take a look around our house and see if I could come up with my own version of that list.
Before we begin, though, my first bit of registry advice would be to make sure people know to get you stuff off your registry...somehow, someway!  I don't know if it was our guests or us or what, but we had a lot of people choose to buy us random keepsake kind of things like crystal bowls, picture frames, unique platters, etc. instead of items we had registered for.  Not to sound ungrateful, but it kind of sucked!  Not only were a lot of them not in our taste at all, but they also couldn't be returned or anything because we didn't even know where they came from.  5 years later, we still have most of them, but honestly, they just kind of take up space...it would have been much nicer to get some of the things we really wanted/needed.
Now that that's out of the way, let's first look at the registry successes, the things we got and still use and LOVE:

• first and foremost, our bar...from my very generous aunt and uncle...not only is it functional, it is also pretty and is over all an awesome piece of furniture to own

• Rachael Ray knife set: it has 2 basic, hardcore kitchen knives that we use for prepping just about anything in the kitchen
• lamps: we originally registered for them for our living room, but have moved them to the bedroom where they fit in quite nicely
• crock pot
• KitchenAid mixer (although we actually got it for the Christmas after our wedding)
• nice wood cutting board 
• Crate and Barrel wine glasses
• Crate and Barrel drinking glasses
• coffee mugs (although we probably only needed 2-3 and we got six of them!)
• spice rack, although honestly I'm not a huge fan of the rack, but the amount of spices in that thing is unreal...most haven't even needed to be refilled in the five years!  Plus, there's lots of random spices in there that I wouldn't have had on hand when I needed them
• Bakeware set
• Mixing bowls
• Stainless Steel cookware set (although I think it's time for an upgrade now!)
• our trash can...the only item on our entire registry that Josh was insistent on, I personally thought the $180 price tag on it was ridiculous but one of my friends wanted to make his dreams come true and bought it for him us...5 years later, it's probably our most used registry item if that counts for anything
• duvet
• duvet cover and sheet set...we actually replaced these when we moved into our house a couple of years ago, but I think it's pretty natural to shake those things up every few years or so, so I consider it a success because they served us well for those first few years
• towels...same as the duvet and sheet set

Failures, things we registered for and just shouldn't have:

• Our plates...by far my most disappointing registry item...I picked out these GORGEOUS Kate Spade plates that were listed as "everyday." My overly generous sister bought us the whole set...dinner plates, bowls, salad plates...and I LOVED them.  After about a week of using them, though, we started seeing crazy scratch marks all over them...and they just kept getting worse.  I have honestly never been so upset to have to return something in my life, but they were just getting destroyed and for that amount of money, it just didn't make sense.
• Martini and margarita glasses: I fell for the registry checklist mistake and picked out all the glasses.  Well, five years later, we've never used either...even when we did serve margaritas (I don't think we've ever served actual martinis!).
• Pizza stone
• Wok

Failures, things we SHOULD have registered for and didn't

• Basic white plates (see above about the plates we did actually pick)...we eventually made these our plates and I'm very happy with the choice...very versatile
• a set of silverware...we had hand-me-downs and thought they were good enough, which they were for a couple of years until I broke down and replaced them
• a vacuum, again we had a hand-me-down and actually still do (just a different one)...vacuums are expensive and while we need to take the plunge, that's just not something you want to buy...should have just registered for

The debate is still out on:

• our china...by far the most controversial thing on our registry (at least in our house!), and five years later, I still can't quite decide if it was worth it.  I'm definitely glad we have it when we go to use it (which is pretty much Thanksgiving right now), but at the same time, it was a lot of money that could have been used for other things, so I just don't know.  Hopefully, as the years go by, we'll use it more and more, and it will gain sentimental value and will totally be a success!

Tradition, Tradition

This Saturday marked five years of marriage for Josh and I!  I can hardly believe that we have already been married five years, but I guess we have 2 beautiful boys and 1 crazy cockapoo to prove it!  As we often remark, it has been a remarkable journey already...filled with lots of highs...and a couple of lows, but I feel so fortunate to have my best friend by my side through it all.
  As I'm sure you expect (at least from the post title), we have a few little anniversary traditions we have established that I thought might be fun to share.  And then after typing a whole post about them, I looked back in my archives and realized I had actually shared them with you last year (you can check that post out here if you're interested)!  BUT there are a couple of updates, so I figured I would share those with you instead...

Last year, I shared with you that I create a photo book each year as a way to formally document and preserve our year. In the age of digital photos with hard drive storage, I am glad I decided early in our marriage (year 2 to be exact) to start making photo books to document each year (or 2 in that first book's case).  Honestly, our first book was a little pathetic...about 20 pages of us in various places and some cute shots of Chipper as a puppy, but then Colton arrived...and the books got a lot longer and a lot cuter!  This year's book was 100 pages (the site's limit) and honestly may be one of my prized possessions.  I don't want to bash the old site I used for making these books, but I will tell you that this year I used My Publisher for the first time and was totally wowed by the quality of the book...not to mention the ease of designing it and the price (after redeeming a free extra pages offer, my book was only $35 before taxes!).
I tried to take a picture of the inside, but I'm afraid mine just don't do it justice...

I've seen other people do these books, but most do them at the end of the calendar year.  I kind of like that we do ours to document each year of our marriage instead.

Our other tradition involves another kind of book.  I found this "Anniversary Memories" book on the clearance shelf at Hallmark right before our first anniversary and decided to pick it up.  Last year I explained that while I didn't really like the look of the book, I did really enjoy the sentiment behind it.  I also reasoned it would be a pretty easy DIY project, so guess who finally got her act together this year and decided to DIY a similar book.
 I created this page (done in our wedding colors)

and figured each year we could print it out, fill it in, and then glue it into a plain scrapbook.  Much prettier, right?

And then since this was our five year anniversary, I figured now was a good time to shamelessly steal this idea that I'm sure you have seen on Pinterest.

I somehow convinced Josh to pose with me and our wedding picture and figure it will be a fun thing to repeat every five years!

As for our actual anniversary, we decided to play it pretty low-key considering our recent Richmond jaunt and a pretty big trip we have coming up to the Atlantis, BUT we did manage to get out for some drinks and a dinner sans the kiddos.  And, ya know, I often don't give my hometown enough credit because seriously how lucky are we that this was our view while we were out getting drinks?

And that doesn't even do it justice!  That's the Back Deck in case you're curious.  And from there we headed to 37 North, a new restaurant also on the water (kind of).  Both were fantastic!

So those are our little anniversary traditions.  What about you all?  Have anything fun you want to share?  I'm always looking for new things to try myself:)

If I Could Do it Again...

This Saturday marks five years of marriage for Josh and I (C.R.A.Z.Y, huh?).  I'm sure it comes as no surprise considering what I am now attempting to do for a living, but I loved every single second of wedding planning.  In fact, I loved it so much that I often joked with Josh that we would have to get remarried every five years just so I could plan a new wedding each time.
And then Pinterest came along and I was even more tempted by the notion of planning another wedding.
But, alas, here we are five years later and there are no plans for a remarriage/vow renewal/etc.  But Pinterest is just a click away, and I thought it may be fun to quickly look through it and find some things that I would use...IF I got to plan another wedding...

We did the whole formal, big, country club wedding the first time around.  It was really nice, but if I got a second wedding I would probably keep it more intimate.  And we would all rent a ginormous beach house like the one below (in Nags Head nonetheless) to hang out in before the wedding...this way it's like a whole week party.  

It doesn't necessarily go with the whole beach wedding vibe (but this is all pretend anyway, right), but I am loving the lace look.  And I'm especially loving the cut-out back!  So pretty.

And maybe Josh and his guys would oblige me and wear something bright and happy like this.

My bridesmaids wore long brown dresses (that sounds so awful, but it was actually pretty).  This time around, though, I love the idea of picking a color...probably something bright like coral or turquoise...and allowing each girl to pick out something that they liked in that color.  Kind of like below, but in a different color.

We didn't have a ring bearer (or flower girl for that matter) at our wedding, but now we would obviously have the two boys.  And they would HAVE to carry a sign like this.  Love. Love. Love.

Oh, and I would totally make sure we got some pictures like this beforehand.

As for the reception, I was totally happy with ours the first time around.  In fact to this day, Josh and I often have people tell us it was the most fun wedding they have ever had at a wedding.  And in researching this fake wedding, I learned that I may have just been a trendsetter because I came across Colin Cowie's (ya know...the mega wedding planner) recommendation of doing a station-style buffet...which is exactly what we did complete with mini grilled cheeses/shots of tomato soup, sliders, and pigs in a blanket at one station, crabcake sandwiches, hush puppies, and shrimp at another, a mashed potato bar at one more, and then I don't remember the last one.  My dad HATED my food selections, but I loved them and was very insistent on them at the time...and would probably repeat the same exact things this time around!

But this time I would also add a dessert bar...

And on that dessert bar, I would have smaller wedding cake, either ombre style

Or even this sprinkles cake that's ombre once cut in to:

The more I think about it it's probably a good thing I didn't get married in the age of Pinterest because I just spent wwwaaayyy too much time on there planning this fake wedding.  I can only imagine how addicted I would become if I had an actual wedding to plan!  So, I guess I'll just stick to living vicariously through others and helping them plan theirs (hint hint sister hint hint)

Surprise

A few weeks ago, I posted a little progress report on my 12 goals of 2012.  One of my goals for the year had been to continue our vacation tradition of getting away at least once as a family (with a trip to the Atlantis already planned and coming up soon) and once for just Josh and I.  I said in that post that Josh and I didn't currently have plans, but that I hoped to be able to squeeze something...even something small...in.
Well, sneaky sneaky am I because I actually already had a trip in the works.  It was actually Josh's birthday gift, and even though the chances my husband will actually read my blog are just about nil, I didn't want to go blurting about it just in case.
But it all started a few weeks ago.  You may recall I gave Josh a fun 35th birthday bash, but I also wanted to get him something as well.  Josh is one of those buy what he wants type of people, though, and I was really stuck coming up with something for him.  Plus, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something, though, because well...it's his money!  I came up with the idea of doing a mini-getaway, knowing a kid-free night would be a really special treat for my husband (and me, for that matter).  When my dad came through with some major assistance in scoring a great hotel at a crazy rate, we were in business!
Since we were only going to be gone one night, I wanted to do something pretty close to home.  This usually means either DC or Nags Head for us, but I wanted to do something different and somewhere even closer!  Richmond is a little less than 2 hours away (well, normally...of course it took us about 3 to get there this weekend due to ridiculous traffic), and while I have been there about a bajillion times for family events, shopping, and things like that, we have never really done Richmond as a destination per se...so that's where we decided to go!
We drove up Saturday, and after doing a little shopping at the Short Pump Mall, we checked in to The Jefferson.

picture stolen from website

The hotel itself is a Richmond landmark.  Supposedly, the staircase is the one from Gone with the Wind.  

corny posing in front of it

We didn't really have much on our agenda for the evening...just to have a good dinner and enjoy some quality adult time together.  So, basically, we did a lot of this

That's bar sitting if you can't tell...a hobby we used to pretty much dominate, but rarely get to explore anymore.  It certainly was nice to revisit it for a night.  And we did squeeze in that good dinner too. Josh and I had looked into a lot of Richmond restaurants and had even gotten suggestions from some of our local friends/family.  In the end, we decided to go with the Tobacco Company, a Richmond landmark.  We reasoned it may not be Richmond's BEST or trendiest choice, but it was certainly a staple of the city with good food, and since neither of us had ever been, we thought it was a good one to try.  Despite our crappy waiter and the marathon dining session that he was the cause of, it was a really good choice...exactly how we had anticipated...nothing outrageous, but good and classic.

the view from inside the Tobacco Company...
it's a 3 story restaurant and we were seated on the second floor

Josh enjoying his meal and company

So after stuffing our faces and indulging in a few cocktails, we headed back to the hotel for the best part of our vacation...sleeping...with no potential of waking up before we chose to wake up!!!  

While we both agreed that the night was certainly more get-away than vacation, it was such a nice treat to be able to spend some real quality adult time with my hubby...and it was nice to be so close to home that we could get home to our boys (including a certain baby that suddenly mastered crawling while we were gone!) quickly on Sunday.

                           

Date Night

Josh and I made a big point this Christmas of not over-spending on each other.  We didn't set an official budget, but both went into it with the understanding that neither of us wanted nor needed anything too big.  In doing so, one of the upsides (besides the obvious saving of money) was that it forced me to think a little and try to come up with some gifts that didn't necessarily cost a lot of money, but were full of meaning/thought/effort.
With that in mind, I came up with the idea of giving Josh a year's worth of date nights.  Basically, I lined up babysitters (it really pays to have family members living close by!) for a specific night for the first few months (and had them casually commit to dates beyond that) and then wrote out a note card for each month detailing when our date would be and where we would be going.
If you have children and/or know my husband, you know that these plans were hardly set in stone.  The idea was more to get out of the house, just the two of us...something we have really struggled with since Colton was born.

just call them Josh and Michelle...

                                             
When I first came up with my master plan, January 21st seemed like eons away.  But lo and behold, here it was...this past weekend...and that meant it was time for Date Night #1!  The plan was to go to Wild Wing Cafe, Josh and my Cheers of sorts.  We used to spend the vast majority of our Friday nights (and sometimes Saturdays too) perched right at the bar of this place, hanging out til whatever hour we pleased.  While we are still frequent visitors, we now sit at a table with our little family and are there for about an hour tops.  We had really looked forward to rejoining the grown up crowd, having as many drinks as we pleased, and staying out til some ungodly hour.
Well, like I said plans are rarely set in stone around here, and other plans were in store for us.  First, Colton woke up from his nap and promptly threw up.  His grandmother had fed him about 50 bajillion blueberries, and we were pretty sure that those were the culprit.  We debated cancelling the date night, but after observing him fro a few hours, instead decided to just stick pretty close to home in case an issue arose.
Luckily, we live close to Virginia Beach's Town Center where a Yard House had opened a few months ago.  We have been a few times for dinner, but I had told Josh on one of our first visits that I really wanted to go back when I could drink (they have something like 140 beers on tap...I'm not really a beer drinker, but I figured I could find something I liked with that many to choose from!).  So, off we went...
And we had a great time.  We sat at the bar, had a couple of drinks, got some dinner, watched the families attempting to entertain their children while dining (and smiled in empathy), and even observed a 21-year old birthday party or 2 (I mean, seriously, when did I get so old...they looked like babies!!!).
But at about 8:45 or so, we were done.  We were both ready to get home, get in our pj's, and just relax.  We were ready to see the boys (Colton was supposed to be sleeping but woke up and wandered out to greet us, get some loving, and head back to bed).  And we were ready to resume our normal nightly routine.
In the end, our date night was certainly not what I had originally intended it to be.  But we did accomplish the original intent...we got back to just being "us" for a few hours, the us that made this wonderful little family of ours possible.  And having that little family to come home to just made the night that much sweeter...

Josh Does Decorating

Those of you who visit here often may have noticed that Josh, my hubby, rarely gets mention...at least when it comes to my home decor projects. There is good reason for that! Unlike some other online decorating duo powerhouses, namely those Youngsters, Josh does not share my affection for decor, DIY, and the like. Before you feel sorry for me, let me assure you that his lack of passion usually works to my advantage. Basically, I have free reign to do what I please. Sure, there are some projects Josh doesn't love, but for the most part I think he's usually pretty impressed with my outcomes, content to have them in the house, and proud to claim them as "ours"...right, babe?
With this peaceful arrangement in place, you can imagine my shock (and frustration) when my hubby does decide to get involved! Why shock and frustration you ask? Well, look at his latest decorating contribution: 

also note his baseball bat stored in the corner...that's in case we have an intruder !

Notice how nothing about it fits in our current bedroom...not the colors, and especially not the martini...who has a martini picture in their bedroom?!?!
 We bought that back when we lived in the townhouse and had a martini theme of sorts working in our dining room/bar area. It was the first actual piece of art we bought (and actually still may be our only!), and at the time it's whopping $250 price tag was a pretty big deal. But since we moved to the house a couple years ago, it just has not fit with our decor. It has found a couple temporary homes, but in the end, it just gets moved back to the shed or some other junk yard of our house. I personally have no qualms about garage selling or Goodwilling this guy one day, but not Josh. It's not that he has some fondness for this print or something...he just doesn't like to "waste" things. I get it and all, but sometimes we outgrow things, right? 

And sadly (for my husband), I think we may have outgrown the martini picture. In fact, it stayed on the wall just long enough for me to snap a picture to share with you all, and then was taken down and returned to storage where it best belongs! On a positive note, its brief presence on the wall did prove to me that we definitely need some artwork flanking our bedroom window....hmmm, let the brainstorming begin!

What's in a Name?

My husband is a funny, good-natured, considerate man (among many other exemplary characteristics).  Unfortunately, though, he is also one of those people who just likes to make things difficult...know anyone like that?  I love him with all my heart, but I tell him all the time it must be exhausting to be him.  He literally takes hours to decide what he wants for dinner, drives around parking lots multiple times trying to find the right spot, and will argue technicalities on just about any point...seriously, I have threatened to call our local law school and enroll him in classes there just to give him a chance to get out all his debating tendencies!
So, I guess it should come as little surprise to me that a decision as important as our sons' names have been complicated and trying!  With Colton, I knew all along that I wanted his first name to start with a C.  In Judaism (well, at least in my corner of Judaism), it is tradition to name babies after someone has passed by starting their name with the same first letter.  My grandmother's name was Constance, hence the C!  In the months leading up to Colton's birth, Josh and I analyzed each and every boy C name in the book (we did immediately agree on a girl name, but obviously could not use it...go figure!).  He was hooked on Carter for awhile, but one day I was watching "The Real Housewives of Orange County" and ran into Jeanna Keough's son, Colton, and knew I was hooked.  In our musings, Josh had repeatedly thrown out the name Colt, so I figured this would be an easy sell.  Obviously, I should have known better...but about 3 months later, I finally got my husband to consent to Colton's name.  Although it took many more months to admit where I had found my inspiration for the name because if I had revealed that originally I can almost assure you Colton would not be named Colton!

Well, now it's crunch time to name our next child, who I affectionately have been referring to as Baby X!  True, he won't be born for about 9 more weeks, but I have some letters to order for his name display in his room, so we need to make a decision.  As usual, Josh and I are having a hard time agreeing.  The good news (and I knock on wood as I type this) is that since Colton's birth, we have not lost any more family members, so there is not an obvious choice of who to name this child after.  But I really want this child's name to have meaning and heritage like his brother's, so I have pretty much insisted that he be named after one of our remaining grandparents, Josh's grandmother or grandfather or my grandfather.  It took awhile to just get Josh to agree to this plan considering that now limits our name choices to ones that start with an R, L, or H, but he now seems to be on board (although you will see from the below list that he still insists on throwing some wild cards into the equation...I think just to push my buttons).   So, here's your chance to chime in:)  Below are the names that we have considered for Baby X.  To be honest, some have been given much more consideration than others, but feel free to vote for your favorite...
                             Tyler                                  Levi                                     Landon
                             Riley                                  Reece                                  Ryder
                             Rylan                                 Carter
And just in case it influences your decision, Baby X's middle name has been chosen...Shaine (not positive on that spelling) after my other grandmother, Shirley, who passed away about 15 years ago.
So, get voting friends!!!!  Seriously, I would love to hear what you think and maybe we can actually get this child named before he arrives:)

Bedroom Dilemma

I am back to once again ask you all's help, and this time, I really have my fingers crossed that someone out there has a good solution to our latest quandry over here.  Well, actually, this little dilemma is as old as Josh and my relationship...it just conveniently goes away for awhile, but then rears its ugly head again and reminds me just how frustrating it is.  So, what is the problem you ask?

***SNORING***

via

Yep, my lovely husband is a snorer.  Admittedly, his snores are not that loud, but they are CONSTANT.  They sound like horse noises (in fact, that's what I call them)...you know, that grunting noise a horse makes.  And once they start, I can't do anything but fixate on them.  And then I get frustrated and annoyed and pissed that I'm not sleeping.  So...I nudge Josh, or gently kick him, or grunt myself...anything to get him to stop and hopefully roll to his side.  Because for some reason, if Josh is laying on his side, we usually have peace. 

But my lovely husband is also pretty damn stubborn when he wants to be.  So some nights, he won't roll over, or stay rolled over, or even if he rolls, for some reason the snoring doesn't stop (in all fairness, most of this defiance is done without his conscious effort...he is asleep afterall).  So, then I get really angry, Josh gets angry, and we end up having an exchange like this:

    

     Me:  JOSH!!!  Seriously! (in a loud, exasperated tone)

     Josh: WHAT?!? (in an equally loud, exasperated tone)

     Me:  You're making the horse noises again!

     Josh:  Well, what do you want me to do...not sleep?

     Me:  Well, what do you want me to do...not sleep?

     ****And then Josh dozes off again***

Super, huh?  So I get up, gather Chipper on my way to the guest bedroom (he gets so excited that he is going to get to sleep with someone it's almost worth it), and take residence in the guest bedroom for the night.  I  know, I know...it's still a bed...but it's not MY bed...the pillows aren't the right firmness, the mattress isn't as comfortable, etc.  And then I sit there stewing about how I am stuck in this stupid bed, and my husband (who is the source of the problem afterall) is dozing comfortably in our bed, and then eventually, I fall asleep.

So, this is where I need your help.  For one, please tell me some of you out there have been or are going through the same thing.  And then, please, please, please tell me you have some magical solution....preferably to stop the snoring, but we'll even settle for some sort of "who gets out of bed" compromise, or something?  Come on blogworld...don't let me down!!!

Put the Ipad Down

Hi.  My name is Michelle, and I'm addicted to my Ipad.  Let me also introduce my husband, Josh.  He too is addicted to his Ipad.  Here's a little peak into our night.  Josh gets home from work, we eat dinner as a family, Josh washes the dishes as I give Colton a bath, the three of us play together until Colton goes to bed sometime between 7:15 and 7:30 (he wakes up super early, so the early bed time is a must), then we both take out the Ipads...I blog, read blogs, play some games, etc...Josh reads, plays games, watches YouTube videos, searches for who knows what, etc...until about 9:30/10 when we both put them down to go to bed.  

I'm sure you see the problem.  Sure there is some conversation through the night, but obviously, quality time with my lovely husband is severely lacking.  Back at the New Year, I made a resolution that we were going to have Wireless Wednesdays in this house.  Well, like most resolutions, that lasted about 2.4 seconds.  Josh was the first to cave in...he had to check something real quick, and soon enough, I too was checking something.  By the next week, we didn't even attempt it.  You see the thing is as much as I would like Josh and I to have some bonding time nightly, I also really enjoy my time with my technology.  After spending the vast majority of my day with 23 first graders and then tending to my adorable baby boy, it is really nice to sit down and be able to read/write/search/play without anyone interupting me.  While I haven't asked Josh directly, I know he feels the same way. 
So, what is the solution?  We do get some quality time together on weekends when our less hectic days lead to nights with the technology turned off, but is that enough?  Should we put more limits on our tuned in time?  But then again, by making rules and taking away a pleasure of both of ours, it then takes the quality time and turns it into an obligation which completely negates the purpose, right?  I'm sure (or at least I hope so) that we're not the only ones who have this issue.  How do you all handle technology in your abode, or does it handle you like it seems to do for us?

Happy Valentine's Day!

OK, I admit it.  I love Valentine's Day. It may be a scam cooked up by the greeting card companies, but I find it so refreshing that we devote a day to remind ourselves that there is love everywhere.  I saw this Hallmark commercial the other day, and seriously, it made me tear up a bit (and I'm not the tear up type):

I guess it just perfectly sums up why I love this day so much.   To me, Valentine's Day is not about fancy dinners out, jewelry, or even flowers (not that I complain if they happen to come, mind you)  Instead, it's about celebrating the us Josh and I have become.  It's about taking a day to appreciate fully how lucky I am to have this in my life:

That video was taken several months ago, but I still smile like crazy while watching my little family. 
Happy Valentine's to you and whoever makes up your "us."

Seven Years???

Josh and I met seven years ago today.  To say we started from humble beginnings is probably an understatement.  To make a long story short...we were at a bar, his food looked good so I started talking to him about it, we made out a few hours later (not at the bar of course), I swore it would never become anything...but obviously I was wrong about that.  Over the next few months (and now years), Josh and I grew into each other and into our relationship.  Above all, he made me a better person than I was before I met him and I made him a better person than he was before as well (he says that too).  As we grew as people, we had a lot of fun, fell in love, got married, and now have a beautiful life to show for it. 
I am so proud of the life we have built together.  I love coming home to my best friend each night, and I could not have picked someone better to share the journey of parenthood with.  Sure, we still have fights here and there (especially with the advent of parenthood), but we get through it because, well, because we love each other and at the end of the day, I know my life is better because I share it with my wonderful husband. 

aaahhh...the early days

Frequently, I think back to those early days of our relationship.  I think back to the days where we barely knew each other, when it took a drink to get a good conversation going (my husband is very shy).  In those early days, I swore Josh and I were "just having fun."  Well, we have had fun...tons of fun...but we also have done so much more than that.  I made Josh take this survey a few months ago as we were sitting around watching tv to test how well he really knows me.  In honor of our seven years, I figured today was a good day to share it:

1. I’m sitting in front of the tv, what I am watching?

Me: Real Housewives

Josh: Reality

2. Salad dressing?

Me: Ranch on side

Josh: Ranch on side

3. One food I don’t like?

Me: fried stuff

Josh: oysters

**in all fairness, I had a hard time with this one too

4. What do I order to drink

Me: wine or diet coke

Josh: wine or diet coke

5. Size shirt?

Me: medium, maybe small

Josh: small

(smart answer, huh?)

6. Size shoe?

Me: 8

Josh: 7

7. What would I eat everyday if I could?

Me: Ice cream

Josh: Ice Cream

8. Sandwich?

Me: Turkey and house from Taste Unlimited

Josh: Taste Unlimited

sidenote: if you are ever in Va. Beach, you need to try Taste Unlimited

9. Favorite Cereal?

Me: Frosted Flakes

Josh: “you don’t eat cereal”

***again in all fairness, I eat my cereal at school on weekdays, and he's right, I don't usually eat it at home

10. One thing I would never wear?

Me: leather

Josh: jorts

true

11. Favorite sports team?

Me: Steelers

Josh: Steelers

12. One thing you wish I wouldn’t do?

Me: overanalyze everything

Josh: get mad at me

13. Cake?

Me: ice cream or any cupcakes

Josh: ice cream

14. What could I spend hours doing?

Me: surfing the web

Josh: sitting by the pool

well yeah, that's true but obviously only in the summer

15. One talent?

Me: baking

Josh: decorating

We've come a long way, huh?



Happy weekend everyone.  Here's to hoping the Steelers bring home their seventh championship:)