Here I am.

Updates:

 

Clean bill of health! WooHoo!  Got my latest blood work back, every single thing within normal limits. Everything. So happy!!!  I didn't realize how I was semi-holding my breath for a long time, and just let out a huge, huge sigh of relief.

 

Matthew is, pretty much, potty trained.  Took about a month off (as Kelley suggested- thanks lady!), went back to it a couple weeks ago, and it took a bit of work/determination, but Matthew pretty much got it within a few days.  He is in underwear full-time and rarely has an accident.  He's had a couple, but they don't happen often.  He stays dry most nights too, but I've put him in cloth training pants for nights just in case.  I really decided I have no interest in changing sheets in the middle of the night!

 

Mike and I have our NYC get away in about a week!  Mom is flying in on Wednesday and Matthew will love spending time with her.  Mike and I will MORE than enjoy a long weekend away without a child! Our first since having Matthew!

 

Matthew has started preferring showers to bath.  Here he is modeling his towel after his shower:

 

He is also such a little wanna-be-like-Daddy.  Mike was hanging some things for me last weekend, and Matthew went running to get his tools to help:

Additionally, he loves to fix cars:

And bikes:



 

Good times, good friends!

Eh, for once I don't have much to say, so here's some pictures.

Going to the rodeo! Yeehaw!

 Me and Chrissie

Matthew and his bff Tyler

Matthew eating his green dessert on St. Patrick's Day.

Ready for date night.  Sorry Matthew- you weren't invited! 

He doesn't look too sad about it.

Mike's birthday present from our friends.  Buckled in safe for the ride.

Going out for an adult-only dinner for Mike's birthday.  Our friends TJ and Chrissie came out with us, and we devoured some food and have a great time!

P.S. anyone else think my husband looks like Simon Cowell in this picture?? Weird.

I got away.

By myself.  No toddler.  No husband.  Just me.

Last weekend I drove up to visit my friend in Dallas.  I got there later afternoon Saturday and left Monday around noon.  It was NICE.  We shopped, we ate, I just enjoyed being responsible for no one but myself.

Here are some of my favorites.  Please keep in mind I only had my cell phone for pics and I didn't take pics of everything I should have.

Sprinkles cupcakes.  Yummy.

Something sweet my friend Susan had taped to the mirror in the bathroom for me.

The ooey gooey delicious fried chocolate pie.  (yes, yes...I ate too much sweets this weekend! So totally worth it.)

Our awesome buys from our shopping day at Canton.

If I had any other pictures it would be (yes another food one) a photo of the Bob dip at the Mexican restaurant we ate at Sunday night.

My good friend Susan.  What can I say? She's just a down-right good person.  Lucky am I to call her a friend.

And 2 very sweet faces.  The newborn, less-than 2-week-old face of sweet baby Rhodes and his big sis, Brenna-Marie.  Luckily I was able to crash their party and get a quick visit in before I had to hit the road home to get the dog to the vet.  Brenna-Marie has just the sweetest little personality and I swear to you, I could sit and talk to that girl all day and not get bored.  And she would be spoiled rotten because I'm telling ya, all she'd have to do is ask for something in that sweet little toddler voice, and it'd be hers.  And Rhodes? Well come on...newborn sweetness.  And their mom? She's a rock star.  If I looked even half as good as her less than 2 weeks after having a baby, I'd be in magazines for sure.  You know how you always see those celebrities in print just days after giving birth (c-section no less!) and you're like..."yeah right. Photo shop!".  Some people really do look that good after having a kid.  Or two. 

All in all, a great weekend!  Too bad my family seemed to fall apart in my absence.  Within 2 hours of my leaving the house, my husband hurt his back and pretty much couldn't move all weekend.  Had to call in reinforcements and have my cousin watch Matthew Saturday evening.   My dog had to be taken to the vet for a limp.  And the day after I got home Matthew's nose wouldn't stop dripping, followed up by the cough that don't stop.  So you see...I needed a break. 

Catch-up

Playing catch-up here.  Seems I've gotten quite behind!

So, first some pictures I forgot to post last week:

Breakfast time!

I hosted a very fun Bunco night 2 Fridays ago.  12 ladies, wine, food, some dice...good times!

All set up and waiting for the girls to arrive:

Matthew and I got a new bike and toddler bike seat.  We love it!

Matthew helped me make pizza:

Here's where I want to tell you a story.  If you know me, you might know that I was fairly adamant about not taking the sneak approach to healthy food and vegetables.  I fell into the popular belief of well that does nothing to help him learn to LIKE to eat those foods.  I truly believed that.  And then I had a kid.  A toddler who no matter what I try (and yes, he's had green beans on his plate no less then 30 times, and various other vegetables), he is picky.  Picky and stubborn.  And yes, I still want him to learn to like those foods, but for crap's sake, I also want to get a few morsels of something healthy into the kid.  You go ahead and call that bad parenting.  I call it desperation. 

Thus, we rolled out a homemade whole wheat pizza dough.  We mixed a packet of organic butternut squash baby food and a packet of peas/green beans baby food, into our pizza sauce.  We spread said sauce on pizza and covered with turkey pepperoni and cheese.  I did not sneak per se....Matthew helped; he saw the whole thing.  And picky little toddler ate HALF of the pizza for dinner that night. (and yes, I've reconsidered buying Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook)

I will also tell you that in smoothie form, I can add at least a cup (a WHOLE cup) of spinach leaves to it and he loves it.  I've decided smoothies need to be served daily.  He gets yogurt, milk, fruit, spinach, and sometimes some other pureed vegetables in fun drink form and guess what? He loves it. Booyah.

Also, when I put the yogurt into the smoothie, well, it avoids this:

"What? I'm not doing anything."

"Oh yes, yes I am.  And it is FUN!"

Name that tune.

I kid you not, I spent an enormous amount of time this morning trying to figure out how to share these songs with you.  I had them as audio clips that I created on my iPhone.  I am a tiny bit technologically challenged, but I finally figured out how to convert them to mp3 files, then I had to upload to make a movie, then I had to convert that into a .mov file.  Then I uploaded to youtube.  The hours when Matthew was at school would surely have been better spent cleaning my house.

Anyway, I just put a couple of pictures in the background because I had to have something on there to make it a "movie"...pay no mind to them.  I put absolutely zero thought into which pictures to choose.  At that point in time I was just bound and determind to figure this out.

Turn your volume down a bit--Matthew has perfected his singing into more of a "screaming".  He does whisper at a few points, and you'll be tempted to turn up the volume....DON'T DO IT!  You'll be bombarded with some very loud sounds I like to call "toddler-song".

We started with a couple of duets to get him warmed up, then he transitioned into a few solo's.  And oh me oh my, the solo's take me to my happy place.  I literally had tears rolling down my cheeks at how funny he is when singing.  After I uploaded them I realized this may be another one of those "it's really only funny to me because I'm the mommy" moments, but being the queen of overshare, I'm blogging them anyway. 

Don't worry if you can't quite place the song....there's a lot of garble in there.

One year.

One year ago today, my life was forever changed.  I was 10 weeks pregnant, and very excitedly looking for a new house in Texas.  On this day last year, Mike and I went to our first appointment with the new OB here in Texas (we were in the process of moving).  I still have not forgotten, nor will I ever, the horror of that ultrasound.  Seeing a big black empty gestational sac still haunts me some days.  The week that followed was a blur.  The months that followed are kind of a blur too--another miscarriage, leading to an awful diagnosis of Grave's Disease.  One thing, then another.  I have changed so much in this year! Good and bad.  I am still bitter, but it doesn't consume me.  Little by little I've been able to accept this last year as a challenge that I rose up to meet and conquer.  I am stronger than ever;  mentally, emotionally and physically.  I live in excitement of finally getting the "go ahead" from all my doctors(hopefully in a few more months!) to try for another baby, as well as some fear of what that will be like.  I fear there will be more worry than excitement.

In any case, I said a year ago that the pain and shock of that miscarriage was not going to be swept under the carpet like it didn't happen.  It happened, it's in my past, it will always be a part of me, but I'm moving on.  I have no idea what my future holds, but I do know, as always, I love this life I'm living.

I am, afterall, Livin' the Dream.