happy memorial day!

we celebrate this day in honor of those who have served and fallen in the line of duty, serving in the armed forces. i am proud of all of my family members who have served and are serving in the armed forces, and proud that bella has such a brave daddy.

in my family, on my dad's side, my grandfather served in the navy, my uncle served and fought during the gulf war in the air force, my dad was in the air force and my aunt and cousin are civilians with the air force. on my mom's side, my uncle served in the air force. and of course my husband is currently serving in the air force.

we may not always agree politically (and i mean throughout history) with our commander in chief, but there are men and women who, on a daily basis, in all parts of the world, put their lives on the line and have put their lives on the line so that we may enjoy freedoms, like playing outside without fear. putting our children in schools where they are free to learn. speaking our mind about things that matter most. writing this blog. reading this blog. you know, that simple stuff. that most of us take for granted.

so for those fallen, thank you for the ultimate sacrifice. to my husband and family, i am so very proud of you. and to friends who are currently in iraq and afghanistan, come home safely.

happy memorial day.

hello 26. nice to meet you.

this year has been a whirlwind, and it's not over yet. but yesterday was my birthday and, well, it's a day all about me. so how could i not be excited? i mean, really?!

for as long as i can remember, my birthdays have been pretty spectacular. my mom should have won an award for best birthday party thrower. for my 10th birthday, she rented a hotel room and i brought 9 of my closest friends and we slept all over the place. i woke up on a lawn chair by the pool. sweet 16? we were "going out to eat with our friends" which turned out to be a restaurant full of just about everyone i knew. and of course i got a car. which was waiting outside with a bow on it (at least that's my memory. really, the insurance lady ruined the surprise when she called and told me i was added to the policy. so my dad brought it home the day before. but let's not ruin the moment). birthday's ere a really big deal in my house.

so when i left home, i kind of had an expectation that that would be the way birthdays were for the rest of my life! fortunately, i have a husband who likes to do what i want. so i have pretty awesome birthdays still.

this birthday was no exception. my first year being a mommy we went to, where else? DISNEY WORLD. only.....we didn't make it to disney world. or sea world. or even wally world (wait......yes we did......). we went to WONDER WORKS. never heard of it? us either. so we went.

no, this picture isn't upside down. the building is. the coolest thing was that in the "basement", aka, 3rd floor (upside down building. get it?) there is a high ropes, black lit course. it was a pretty cool place, full of experiments and fun science-y things. and lots of 2nd graders.

we walked up and down the street, we ate at some fun places, and we got some much needed alone time (thanks mom!!). and bella gave me the gift of cutting her first tooth! yep. thanks bel, your crying was a wonderful addition to our weekend getaway!

you see that little booger poking through? she's real proud of it. and likes to show me how sharp it is by leaning over and chomping on my arm/finger/ear/leg/toe/pretty much anything she can put in her mouth. fortunately, she hasn't linked eating with chewing yet. because that would be bad news.

and while it was MY birthday, someone else decided it was time for her to grow up.

that's my girl. up on her knees. starting to actually crawl.

i have a mom car.

no, no. not a minivan. nothing against minivan's or their drivers. some of my favorite people drive a minivan. i grew up in a minivan. but, i have never thought of myself as a minivan driver. for one, i only have one kid. so i don't have the need for one. for two, i'm not ready. mentally, i'm just not there yet. just like, i am still holding on to my skinny jeans. i can't quite fit in to them anymore (who said i ever could?), but i am clinging to them with all the desperation of "one day" and hoping that, miraculously, they will make me skinny again.

we decided to look around at some cars. joel wanted the nissan leaf. ok, i'm down with that. zero emissions, no gas, plug in. wait. crap on a stick. we don't have a garage, which means....no outlet. ok, so, we aren't going to save the planet. at least not in the next 6 months or so.

we talk about some cars. decide we might want a ford, maybe another hybrid? so we head over to the lot, "just to look". and there. it. is.

aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........

let the haggling begin! i won't bore you with all the details. but we got it and are happy. and that's what matters. and i give bella credit for that, for wooing all the salesmen. the girl's a charmer.

mmmmmmm.....gotta love that new car smell.

finally, something she got from me!

her love of food. figures. how have i figured this out? i gave her some.

and. she. lovedit!

this is actually our 3rd night of rice cereal, and she can not be more pumped about it. when i started mixing it, she started squirming and crawling towards me and squealing at the TOP of her lungs! here's how it started.

2 nights ago, we sat down with a mixture of mostly breast milk with some rice cereal.

**side note: yes, i am making her food. i decided to start her on earth's best certified organic whole grain cereal. after some research, this was a healthier alternative than making rice cereal on my own. BUT i will start making her food after about 2-3 weeks of this, and THAT will be an experience all of its own.......**

she wasn't so sure about it. ate most of it, but left about 1/3 of the cereal. i counted this night as a success. most of it got in her mouth, and she seemed pretty excited about it. you can see her eating for the first time, here.

night 2-last night, she was quite a bit more interested in her food. when i brought it over, she immediately started reaching for it. she ate faster and more. she finished off the whole thing. and seemed very satisfied. night 2? success.

night 3. tonight. the girl gulped it all down. and BEGGED for more. this was her, when it as all gone.

then she started to full out WAIL. so i made some more. about half of the original serving. she leaned forward with her mouth wide open, like a little baby bird, waiting for her worm.

so. my kid is an eater. just like her momma. here's hoping i can instill healthy eating habits in her from the get go, so she doesn't have her mommy's other love. edy's cherry chocolate chip ice cream.

i swear, she NEVER does this.

this has become my new mommy mantra.

bell: wwwWWWWAWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

::old ladies stare, shaking their heads knowingly, men of all ages scoff and walk quickly away::

me: "i swear, she is never like this!" (knowing full well that whenever she is hungry/tired/dirty/bored/looked at strangely, she is, indeed, like this.)

i don't know why i feel the need to justify my crying baby. i mean, that's what they do. they cry. but for some reason whenever we are in public and she starts to wail, i start to get all sweaty and red faced. because i can hear it in my head: "i wish she'd get that baby to shut up", "why did she bring a baby out of the house, anyway", "if i wanted to hear a screaming baby, i would have one". i feel the eyes all around the room, staring holes into my head, urging me to "get that kid out of here".

but then, she stops. i feed her/change her/get her to sleep and when she wakes up again, she is the most precious, happy, snuggly little thing you have ever seen.

then the old ladies come up to us and tell me how she looks like the gerber baby, and how lucky i am to have such a perfect little one. and then bella flashes her million dollar smile and my heart melts, and i forget about the sweat on the back of my neck and behind my knees. that girl has me wrapped around her littlest finger. the one i like to pretend to munch on, because it makes her giggle.

and here it is.....

how joel proposed. a friend suggested i share this story. so, here it is!

a little back story (for my plethora of new followers who don't know me personally). joel is a diamond in the rough. he is a man's man. outdoorsy, rugged, not sentimental (at all), only gets emotional when he hears sad stories about puppies and babies (true story). but. he is incredibly romantic. when he wants to be.

this is a semi long story. so MORE back story.

1st date-we went to college together at UNC charlotte and there is this little shopping center near the campus centered around a lake. we ate at this pizza joint (i really can't remember the name) and it wasn't anything special, especially since we were broke college students. but it was all full of butterflies. lovey dovey, i know......

our favorite place to eat-mcalister's deli. who doesn't love soup in a bread bowl and a big ol' sweet tea?? and it's cheap. and we were poor. (noticing a trend??) but we ate here a lot.

our first valentine's day-we went to a beautiful park in charlotte, had a picnic, walked around, played in the rain. oh yeah, it was raining. but it was wonderful and fun. and again, full of butterflies.

fast forward a few months. joel asks my dad for permission (he's old fashioned like that) and then begins to take me on a string of dates-mostly very fancy, like, you know.....olive garden. and randomly he would get down on a knee. to tie his shoe......or....pick up a fork. (if you're wondering, yes i had an idea that a proposal was coming). come october, still no ring. i had told joel that if he was going to propose, i wanted at least 9 months to a year to plan a wedding. and knowing our timeline, i knew that window was closing soon.

ok now to the real story. he picks me up one day from my dorm. i don't know what we are doing, except that he has the whole day planned. we head over to mcalister's and he buys 2 sweet teas and 2 salads. next stop, that nameless little pizza place i mentioned earlier for a nice big dessert. then we head over to brixx pizza oven for a wonderfully yummy pizza. finally we get to that same park from our first valentine's day.

now i have to say, at this point in our relationship, i was very desensitized to the idea of a fancy proposal. i had really started thinking that it would be incredibly random. so i wasn't really expecting anything. especially not this day.

we get to the park, gather all of our "picnic" gear and start walking toward the picnic area. we get halfway there and joel turns to me.

joel: will you go get the lighter from the car?

me: it's ok, we don't need candles. i'm hungry.

joel: just go get it.

me: no, why? i just want to eat.

joel: (in a very stern voice) go. get. it.

so i huff, loudly, turn around and go get. i get back to the table and joel has the table cloth all spread out, candles and food set out, music playing. very cute. we eat our dinner backwards-dessert first, then pizza and salads. after we're done eating i start cleaning up all of the stuff, blow out the candles and pack everything up. then joel stands up and does that little "whip the table cloth out from under the place settings without pulling the plates off" thing. only, there is nothing on top of the table cloth.

me: ooohhh. good job honey, you didn't break a thing! ::giggle giggle, snort::

joel: look.

me: at what? (yeah, i'm clueless.)

joel ::nods towards the table::

i look down and carved into the wood of the table (which i'm pretty sure is destruction of public property but why let a silly thing like the law stand in the way of true love!?) are the words, "WILL YOU MARRY ME?". my first reaction-"aw, that's cute! someone carved that into the table!!"

i look back to joel, who now is on one knee, with a ring in his hand. like i said. i. am. clueless.

obviously, i said yes, and almost immediately started planning.

skip ahead 8 months. may 20th, 2005.

5 years ago today, i married my best friend. really.

he makes me laugh, especially when i am angry. usually at him.

he makes me cry. but in a good way. like when he comes home and jumps on the floor to play with our baby. even before he has taken his shoes off.

he knows me, sometimes better than i know myself.

he sharpens me, mentally and emotionally.

he gives me confidence. he believes in me. he encourages me.

he leads me. he guides me. he walks beside me.

he is my better half.

when he isn't around, i do silly things. like throw the keys away (it has happened).

most of all, he is part of who i am. without him, i am only half of a much better whole.

i love you honey.

let's get real

yep. that's my living room. at 8 in the morning. you see that laundry basket there, in the front? that was there yesterday, too (it's clean, i promise), i just haven't "gotten around" to folding it.

wanna know why??

that girl. right. there. that's why she's in a basket. because as soon as i start folding laundry, she sneaks up behind me and topples a pile of towels on top of her head and guess who has to fold them AGAIN. can you guess?? no, not joel.

and look what i got done while she was in that basket

i know it doesn't look like much, but these diapers are all lined and ready to go! which makes mommy happy!!! and you know what that means........

i get to take pictures of my smiling with my baby!!!!!! which like, sooo never happens.

::insert sarcastic eye roll::