Memorial Day 2010

My son on Memorial Day. Every bite of corn was followed by "Mmmmmm!".

Thank you to all of those who have sacrificed and lost (and won) so that Matt and I can raise our family in a safe haven. We are eternally grateful.

My own little pieces of randomness

Thanks to citymouse, I was inspired to add my own pieces of randomness.

The wedding weekend was very fun but tiring. I laid in bed with Evan this morning, neither of us wanting to get up. He had his head on my chest, and while I rubbed his back, he rubbed my belly. What a wonderful way to start the morning.

Evan has a very cool tie shirt that my friend Jen made him. Complete with a hockey themed tie of course. Check it out, she makes them to order if you think your child is just dying to have one.

 The other day Evan wanted to go outside on his tricycle. Complete with Lightning McQueen helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads. Those are thanks to cousin Griff who passed them down, with healthy scrapes in them already. Glad to know they are broken in. Evan enjoys putting all the pads on, but it doesn't usually last very long.

That's all for now, I'm getting frustrated with this blogger cause I can't get everything to sit where I want it to. Drat.

My Review of NERD FLASHCARDS

Originally submitted at UncommonGoods

Geek up the nursery with artist Tiffany Ard's hilarious and brilliant flashcards for your little nerd-to-be. The complete set of 26 alphabet cards teaches young scientists their ABCs. A is for Atom! H is for Hydrogen bonding! While this set of 12 illustrated number cards will help your baby c...

NERD FLASHCARDS

Cute and Dorky (plus some learning too)

By Leebah from Sykesville, MD on 5/17/2010

 

5out of 5

Gift: No

Pros: Easy To Use, Durable, Colorful

Best Uses: Every Day Use, Learning

Describe Yourself: Quality Oriented

Primary use: Personal

Really neat! We as parents will learn from them too. A must for any child with engineer parents. :)

(legalese)

Movie Reviews by a Mom

(Note, down another 2 pounds today, almost back to my pre-weekend weight).

I forgot to include this link yesterday in my talk about movies. I can't remember how I stumbled upon it, might have heard her on the radio. But her website is great, she reviews movies not for their technical grades, but how the movie fits as pertains to families. Some G rated movies don't have any good morals to tell at all, etc. She gives letter grades to movies, and will note if there is cursing, nudity, etc. which if you haven't seen a movie you may not know. And may not want to see movies twice.

Media Mom by Nell Minow

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Quick picture from the aquarium at the Pittsburgh Zoo. We were in a walk through tunnel. One of my favorites.

Updates and Cups and Boobies and Violence

I mean, how can this title not make everyone want to read this? :)

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Diet updated: I'm starting week three. My total weight loss so far:

*For the first 2 weeks, between 16 and 19 pounds.
*Add one weekend trip to St. Michaels and the wine fest (Becca's Bach thing), plus 5.5 pounds.
*Subtract another 2 pounds this morning, back on the diet, and purging all of the salt my body held onto from the weekend.

All in all, not too bad. I'm still following the Medifast recommendations. It really is making me realize the things I eat. Even when I was not on the diet this weekend, I actively skipped a lot of empty calorie things (some rolls, etc) because they didn't look that great. And why waste calories after all the work unless it was something I would really enjoy?

So I'm down a total of about 15 pounds and I'm happy with that. I'm going to St. Mary's this weekend so I'll be able to try on my dress again and make sure it still fits. :) It was tight before, so this should be good.
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A proud family moment:



Evan's first visit with the Stanley Cup that the players hoist above their heads.

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Also, since I was gone for two full days this weekend, I picked that time to finally wean Evan. Once and for all. Phew. I miss it already, I'm not lying. But I really wanted to get this taken care of before the wedding. Needless to say we have had some rough mornings. Evan goes to sleep like an angel now (I'll post about that another time) but still wakes up early almost every day. This is exacerbated by the fact that the other adults in the house start getting up and getting ready for their day at 4 am.

So now, he wakes up, and he knows he's not very happy, but he can't figure out why. It usually takes a while before he starts going "Bah Bah's??" and then he cries. Like everything else with young toddlers, this too shall pass in a few days. But it already has me thinking about the next one. Even though our life is too busy to breathe sometimes, I can't wait for another newborn. I mean, who else will rub my belly with their super-soft teeny weeny hand? One of the great benefits of nursing for sure.

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Evan at Easter, hunting plastic eggs with Catherine, they all had cherry tomatoes inside. He loved it.



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Now for the talk about boobies and violence. (Disclosure: My child is less than 2 so I don't know how I will feel as he gets older). I seem to run into this more and more, people have no problem letting their kids watch semi/violent movies at what seems like a younger age. And maybe for some kids it's no big deal. I know even stuff on regular tv really bothered me as a kid. But if said shows/movies have any mention of sex or nakedness it's a no no. If it shows boobies? Forget it. I'm not talking about showing people doing it or anything. It just seems to me that this is strange. I mean, murder is illegal, sex is not. The naked body is not inappropriate. Not sure if I explained this very well, but I gave it a shot. I'm sure I'll revisit the issue as our boy gets older. Maybe then I will see it from a different perspective.

Malarkey, Medifast, and me

I've started a diet. I know, I know, that word usually makes the people I live with run screaming for the hills. I tend to get a *little* grumpy when deprived of the things I love. I mean, I love food. Not because I get depressed, don't know what else to do, or all of those other stupid things they show on TV. I love it. Steak is yummy. Lobster, mmmm. Pasta, please I could live on mac n cheese for the rest of my life.

But there are many reasons I need to lose weight. And I feel if I throw them out there it will help motivate me more.

- Better health all around
- I want to have another baby and I would have a better chance of doing it au naturale if I am in better shape
- I just don't look hot in a bikini right now. You're shocked right?
- Want to start riding horses again, and right now it's just not fair to those poor things
- Play better ice hockey. (okay I know it's possible I'm just as crappy with a skinnier body but I should at least have better stamina)
- Becca's wedding is in a month, and I'd rather not be the heaviest I've ever been in a bazillion pictures

So I started on Medifast Sunday. I figured something that doctors support and helped Coach Freidgen (Maryland Football gigantor) lose 100 pounds was worth a shot. The first 3 days were MISERABLE as my body transferred from burning all the carbs I usually eat to burning fat. I faltered the second day, we went to softball and the hot dogs and nachos were too much. But I threw half the nachos away, so that's a bonus.

So I'm still going (day 6 already). I'm going to say my starting weight is X. I didn't weight myself until Tuesday but I figure I couldn't really have lost much since Sunday (uh nacho disaster?) As of last night, I was down 10 pounds. But I'll give that a +/- 3 pounds cause everyone's weight fluctuates a bunch during the day.

But oh cheese and crackers I do miss you so................

E-man and his Vacuum

We already know the boy likes to clean. Brooms, mops, swiffers, now he's into washing dishes with you, etc. But he especially loves the vacuum...

(Back story: Evan was born on a Tuesday morning. That evening I sent Matt out shopping at Kohl's because I had a 30% off coupon. We needed a new vacuum and the coupon expired that day. I mean, we saved like $80! His mom called to see how the new baby was, and he says "Fine I guess, I'm in line to buy a vacuum". So this makes me think hard about what household thing we should buy on the day our next child is born. It seems to make a large impact.)

...and our vacuum is big and heavy and he's always trying to pull it down on his head. So we finally bought the miniature one. It's a Dirt Devil, makes noise, has the foot release, a front light, and actually sucks up some dirt too. He played with it the entire first day. Here we are vacuuming together.

Random Musings

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I just can't stand the word "Chillaxing", especially when it's uttered by a middle-aged engineer at work. I mean really, are we living in Cancun? :-P

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I'll admit when I walk through the food court at the mall, I love when they are always giving out the samples on toothpicks, mostly of bourbon chicken. Usually I grab them, but it doesn't normally affect what I eat/don't eat. However, the other day I grabbed a toothpick with a piece of cheesesteak, it was chicken, ranch, onions and melted cheese. Holy heck it was good! It actually sucked me in to getting one for lunch (which ironically was okay, not great). Matt couldn't believe it, as I am definitely not a sandwich person. So those toothpick people actually do bring in business apparently.

As an added bonus, when we sat down to eat, a friend of mine was at the table right next to us, so we asked her to join.

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There are sad things in life, people sick, hurt, abandoned puppies, etc. But sometimes it is the bizarrest things that make you sad. Like that old IKEA commercial about the lamp that they put out to the trash in the rain, and replaced with a new one (directed by Spike Lee apparently).



A while ago I was at a stop light and there was an abandoned pudding snack pack cup in the gutter, unopened. I felt sad for that poor snack pack that would never provide it's greatness with someone. Not that I would have dug it out of the gutter, but really? I sound like Adam Sandler, but was is it about snack packs that are so great? They aren't even very expensive, though it does seem to get harder and harder to find ones that aren't suger-free. Blech. I tried to get a picture of the lonely snack pack, which would make this post so much more exciting, but I was too far away.

(side note: I drafted this post the other day, but went grocery shopping last night, totally bought chocolate pudding snack cups. mmmmmm)

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Bye Bye Mommy

When I drop my child off in the morning, he pretty much throws out the bye bye as he is walking away, looking for his breakfast and his favorite Valerie. Not even a backwards glance.

A little part of me is sad, doesn't he love me?

But mostly my heart is so very thankful for the wonderful family that cares for him everyday. My boy is never upset when I leave him, never not wanting to go. Yet he is without fail extremely happy when we pick him up.

Here's to good mothering, whether it's your own child or not.

Miracles on the Frozen Pond

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice. On this day in 1980, in Lake Placid, NY at the Winter Olympics, the US Men's Hockey Team defeated the heavily favored Soviets. Comprised only of amateur and collegiate players (no NHL dynamos), they went on to win the Gold Medal.

I was only 3 at the time, so I don't remember it. But those I have talked to who do, even if they weren't hockey fans, remember it in all its excitement. It was a proud moment for our country, and I can't even imagine how great it felt for the skaters.

I own this book (though I'm embarrassed to say, I have not finished it).




My 17 month old son grabbed it yesterday off of the book shelf, raised his hands in the air, and yelled, "GOOOOALLLLLL!" I should also mention that that is his reaction to anything hockey.

He also did this when he saw a picture of my niece celebrating her own win the other day. This picture makes me proud. As it does her parents, I'm sure.



Another pic of Matt and I when we had *2* hockey teams, we were the Maroons. This was during the days when Matt still let Becca and Julie die his hair blond from time to time.

I love the game of hockey.

I love that I am the captain of a team that loses more often than wins, but is laughing the entire way.

I love that it is something I can share with my husband, my family, my nieces, nephews, sisters, brothers, and someday my children.

I love that it is a cold winter sport, because hot outside stuff is yuck. So even in summer, going to play on ice is always refreshing. Ok, sometimes stinky.

I love that I have made some lifelong friends playing hockey. People that are now a part of our lives that I would never give up.

There are things in my life that obviously come before hockey; God and my family take top billing of course. But it is a wonderful way to spend time with the ones I love. To watch it in the Olympics is very exciting.

So today, here's to Herb Brooks and the 1980 Gold Medal winning US Ice Hockey Team. We are all very proud.