Brush them in the bathroom

Damien has a habit that drives me crazy!



At night, when he goes to brush his teeth with the Sonic Care toothbrush, he doesn't stay in the bathroom. He walks around the bedroom, the living room or follows me around. If I am in the bedroom watching TV, he stands right in front of the TV, so that he can hear it. Then I can't hear it over the toothbrush. He knows I do not like it when he does this, so now I just give him the look and off he goes.  However, I do give him kudos for his great dental hygiene. He always rinses, brushes, floss and rinses again every night. I, on the other hand, am not so dedicated. I hope Dylan doesn't take after me in that respect. I chalk it up to being lazy and just wanting to get in bed. 

Does anyone have any pet peeves of their significant other or family members?

Microwave quandary

Everyone knows the rules of the microwave when it comes to metal....you don't put it in the microwave, right? Well, Damien and I thought about it, and wondered how then does the microwave shelf, which is metal, not blow the thing up.

Last week, our microwave went out and we had to have a repair man come out. After he was finished fixing it and giving us helpful hints on our appliances, he asked if we had any questions. Damien looked at me and said, she does. I smiled real big, and he said, you wanna know how the metal shelf doesn't blow up your microwave. I laughed. (Apparently, he gets asked this a lot.)

He explained that it has some kind of reflective coating and that it's also stabilized on the plastic hooks. (Of course, he said it more techy.) He said that you could put a bunch of screws in there and it wouldn't do anything, but I am not going to try that.

Just wondered if anyone else thought about this or are we the only ones with too much time on our hands. (This was thought of pre-Dylan. I can barely think of anything now and days.)

Chillaxin at Oaklawn

Chillaxin...what's that? It's a little bit of chilling and a little bit of relaxing. Thus Dylan in his lounge chair...

Our church holds events at the Oaklawn Estate (as seen on HGTV's design star). Last night, we got together as a church family to eat together, a la picnic style and share in some baptisms. If I remember correctly, there were 4 kids and 5 adults that were baptized. Of the adults, our friends Jill and Glenn (you may remember from previous posts that they had a baby 10 days before we had Dylan) got baptized.  We are so excited for you!!

Flashback Friday - Birthday Boy

It's official, Damien is now on the backside of 30. Tomorrow, he will be 36, and it's his first birthday as a Dad.  

Damien, I hope your day is filled with joy, love and laughter.  

He's got the HUTZBAH!

If you know me well enough, you know that I am not one for confrontation. I like to sweep things under the rug and ignore them, unless you really make me mad, but that's another story. When it comes to customer service issues, you do not want me handling them. If I get a "no", then I am like, "oh okay, thanks" and I let it go. Damien, on the other hand, is the exact opposite...thankfully. I guess since he has to deal with customer service issues all day long, he makes it a point to get things his way. He doesn't take NO for an answer.

For example, a few weeks ago, I was trapped into buying a vacation to Vegas for 4 nights for $60. I thought it was a great deal and I couldn't pass it up. (mind you they called during a moment of weakness, I was sleep deprived and feeding Dylan at the time). I have been to Vegas 3 times, and I really do not care to go back, but we got such a great deal on the trip since Damien is a diamond member with Hilton. When the guy started spouting off my confirmation number. I snapped out of it and told him I wanted to cancel. He informed me that it was too late, and to cancel it with Hilton (I think this was a third party timeshare thing.) He said, Hilton is not going to loose your business over $60. I told Damien what I had done, and he said he would take care of it. He called a few days later and after speaking to a few people (the first few people said NO), we no longer had to go to Vegas.

Then, the other day, I called the hospital to check on getting a discount on a bill that we already paid. The deal is, if you pay the bill in full within 10 days, you could get a 35% discount. We didn't know this, so we just paid it all. With the discount, we could get $215 back. I called 3 times and spoke to different people, and each one of them said "NO". The account was already closed and could not be reopened. My response, Okay, thanks anyway. Damien asked if I talked to a supervisor, and I said no. Cue Damien, he called and asked to speak to a supervisor. Now I don't know what he said as he told me to go back to the bedroom, but he worked his magic once again. Our check should be in the mail soon.

All this to say, when we have issues around here, Damien is the man to get them resolved. I never have any success. I just roll over and show them my belly. I guess he shows them his teeth :)

Cue the water works

I saw this clip on the Today show this morning, and I cried my little eyes out.  If seeing it once wasn't enough, I rewound it twice and watched it three times. Then I found it on you tube and watched it 2 more times. Of course, I cried every time. It is the sweetest thing that I have seen in some time.

Turbo Benjamin

Yes, Benjamin is his middle name. I wanted to give him a middle name, so that when he was in trouble, I could call his full name. 

How did Turbo become a member of our family?  I was dating this guy, and I knew he wanted a dog. Valentines Day was approaching and I thought that would be the perfect gift.  I went to the local animal shelter and began looking for the perfect dog. (The whole experience was very traumatic, as I hate going to places like that, as I want to rescue every dog.) The perfect dog would be a small, energetic one, as my boyfriend (BF) was living in a fraternity house and he couldn't have a big dog running around. I saw this cute little rat terrier. The workers got it out for me, and it just shivered in my hands. This wasn't the energetic dog that he would want. Through the tears, I saw this white fluffy dog jumping on the gate. He was a little guy. I asked them if I could see him.  They got him out and informed me that was as big as he was going to get. (Which was a total lie, he must have been about 3 months old.) He was perfect...on a side note, I didn't even know he was a he, until I got home. I was so upset, I didn't even think about asking or checking. The whole way home, I cried and told him that I had saved him.

Turbo was given to my BF that day, and he already had his name picked out.  Thankfully, not many people know how his name came about, people just assume his name is Turbo because he's fast. However, he's actually named after Turbo Dog beer. Turbo moved in with BF, and they were buds.  Time came when the BF moved out of the fraternity house and into an apartment. His roommate's father signed the lease for them, and he informed the BF that he didn't want any pets living there as he would not be responsible for them.  I couldn't have Turbo at my apartment, as my roommate was allergic. BF's parents wouldn't take Turbo as their poodle did not like him, and I didn't want to burden my parents. We began looking for someone to give him to.  After much searching, my grandmother's friend took him. We dropped him off, and I cried the whole way home. Well, I called my mom that night, as I had gone back to Chattanooga, and I asked if she had heard how Turbo was doing. She told me he was doing fine, that he was right beside her.  The lady didn't want to keep him. She had put him in a run, and he was barking and digging out. My parents were so great in that they said they would keep him until we finished college. Right before I graduated, BF and I broke up, and since Turbo was in my custody and he had no means of keeping him, I kept him.  

Well, if it weren't for our relationship, I would have never met Damien, as we met at the dog park. I took Turbo there almost every day after work, and Damien went there with his and his roommate's dog.  So you could say Turbo was the reason we met, fell in love and got married. Who knows if I would have met Damien otherwise. 

Turbo is the best dog. However, he doesn't really think he is a dog. He sleeps on the bed, like a human, with his head on the pillow.  He doesn't always play with other dogs. Often when we would go to the dog park, he would sit on the bench with the humans and watch the other dogs play. 

He's a lover, a cuddler, a great listener...an all around sweet boy.  We get stopped all the time by people wanting to know what kind of dog he is (our best guess is husky and retriever). People think he is the cutest dog, and they cannot believe how old he is. Everyone thinks he's still a puppy, and when I say that he is 10, they are shocked.  

Now, Turbo does have some bad qualities.  The most embarrassing, he's a crouch sniffer. That's right.  Whenever someone comes in the door or if he meets someone, he sticks his nose in their crouch. I think he does this as he knows they will put their hand down there to move him and thus in turn, pet him.  Also, he's a digger. Now this doesn't bother me so much, but Daddy doesn't like patching up the yard where little mister has been digging.  Lastly, which isn't really his fault, he is terrified of beeping noises. When I moved back home after college, I got an invisible fence for him, so the whole beep then shock terrorized him.  When we get a text message, phone battery is going dead, smoke detector battery going dead or dryer beeps, you can find Turbo running to the back door to go out or opening the door and going out like he did at my mom's house recently. However, last week, we got a security system installed and we didn't think about the beeping it would make. After the guy installed it, he started punching in codes and the crazy began.  Turbo was so scared that he even slept outside one night, the entire night...that was a first. He hid in the closet or under the bed. 

Thankfully, he is finally getting use to it and doesn't hide all day.  He actually started barking at the back door when he wants back inside. (there for a while, I had to drag him inside.)  

Other things Turbo (aka Boo Boo) is scared of...fireworks, lawn mower and thunder. Basically any loud noise. One time, I came home, and Damien was mowing the grass. The back door was wide open. I asked Damien why he left the door open, he said he must not have shut it good. Well a week or so later, I was mowing the grass and Turbo was on the back porch. I happen to look up and I see him open the door and go in. I couldn't believe that he figured out how to open the door.  That stinker.  

We love him very much, and I couldn't imagine what life would be like without him.  I know that day will come one day, but I don't want to think about it now.  

yabba dabba doo feet

Damien will probably kill me for this, but I just had to post a blog about his feet.  For some time now, I have given him a hard time about how his feet remind me of Fred Flintstone's feet, so the other night, I had Dylan in my lap and was acting like I was taking his picture, but secretly took a picture of Damien's feet.  Can't you just see his feet driving the Flintstone's car around town or bowling? Let's call him twinkle toes :)

So many countries

Ok, so I have the neocounter on my page that keeps track of how many visitors come to my page and where they are from. I am wondering who are these people visiting from other countries?  I have 74 different countries. Are these people wandering upon my page or intentionally coming to it. I'd like to know?  If you are an international visitor, let me know.

The pump speaks

During my first trimester, I found a group of girls online who were also first time moms due in May. These girls are awesome and even after our births, we still keep in touch through the babycenter.com website, and a few of us, are keeping in touch through our blogs, myspace and facebook. Well, a few weeks ago, I had the luxury of talking, on the phone, to a number of the gals on our "official conference call". While we were on the call, one gal was on her break at work and was multi tasking...phone in one hand and pump in the other. The sound of the pump brought me to ask the gals, have you ever noticed that your pump sounds like it saying things?  I went on to mention that mine often said: nipple, nipple, nipple.  A few of them laughed at me and suggested that I get more sleep. 

I just have little quirks like this, so I made a point of telling Damien about my little game. Sometimes, he listens in and offers up what he thinks the pump is saying.  (Although, between you and me, he's not very good at it.)  

One of the gals, on the baby board, posted a message just for me yesterday, informing me that I was not alone (again thanks Holly). Come to find out, other women have pumps that talk too. One of the women, comment #12, also stated that hers said nipple.  This just proves, that I am not crazy. 

Other things my pump have said to me include: lactate, waffle and the weirdest Barack O. Now I am chalking that one up to too much media coverage on the presidential election as we know my stance on him if you are a regular reader :)

Another weird quirk I have, since it's weird confession time, I count when I pee.  Yep, that's right, 1, 2, 3, etc until I am done. When I was pregnant, it was funny. At the beginning of my pregnancy, when I had to pee real bad, I would count to about 21.  Towards the end, when I had to pee really bad, I made it to about 12 :)  It's not just a pregnant thing, I do it all the time. 

Anyone have a quirk they want to share?

Head Strong

Dylan is getting stronger everyday. He's not a fan of tummy time, but I tell him that he has to do it, so his little neck can get stronger.  I can't wait until he can hold up his head all the time.  Once that happens, and he starts walking, goes to school, I will wish for the day when he couldn't hold his head up. 

Nana's boy

It's no secret that my mom had been on Damien and me for a while to have a baby.  In her words, we needed to "get on the stick." I tried to tell her that it was get on the ball, but she insisted it was get on the stick.  When we found out we were pregnant, we wanted to wait 12 weeks before telling anyone, and it was the longest 12 weeks. However, we wanted to make sure that the pregnancy was okay before telling everyone.  The end of the 12 weeks fell on my mother's birthday, so her birthday gift would give away our secret that I had been dying to tell (so much that would tell strangers).  

Damien and I went to the park and found a huge tree branch/log and we stood on it with our arms spread open (think ta-da, implying that we had got on the stick).  We had the photo framed. Along with the photo, I ordered a charm that said Nana. She got a charm bracelet for for Christmas the year before, so for every holiday, I had gotten her a charm so she expected it, but she had no idea it was going to be a Nana charm.  

She opened the picture first, and she was like, oh that's a good picture of yall. Then upon further inspection, she was like what's that your standing on?  What does this mean? I think she knew but she didn't want to get her hopes up.  I think everyone knew, as my sister in law, Chris, started crying which prompted my mom to start tearing up.  Then I insisted she should open her other gift.  She opened the charm and said oh it's a Nana charm.  Chris looked at me and said, does that mean what I think it means? Damien and I said, we're pregnant. My mom couldn't believe it, so we went inside to find the ultrasound. I was gone maybe 1 minute and when I came out she was hanging up her mobile phone. She had already called her best friend Janice to tell her.  

My mom was elated. At first, we weren't going to find out the sex, which put a cramp in her shopping.  She insisted that we were having a girl. She was the only person that said a girl.  We found out the sex on Dec 22nd, but had the tech put it in an envelope as we still weren't sure. We decide to wrap the ultrasound picture revealing the sex and put it in my mom's stocking.  While she was opening gifts, she really couldn't read anything since she didn't have her glasses on. I was like, this is not going to go as planned. She finally got to the picture and she was like, oh I got my own picture of Dylan (that was going to be the name regardless of the sex). She said, "It doesn't do me any good since it doesn't tell me the sex." I said, it should but since you don't have on your glasses.  She sprung up from the chair and raced to find her glasses.  (Mind you Damien and I don't know so we are waiting in anticipation as well).  Finally, I hear "penis, it says penis." Let the shopping begin, and it did. 

Fast forward to present, and my mom is still the excited grandmother. She's always taking pictures of him, talking about him and talking/playing with him. Damien said that he thought Dylan looked like my mom. My mom ate that up and now she talks about how he looks like his 

Nana.  While she did want a girl initially, she said she wouldn't trade him for anything, but she still wants her girl.  She's already told us to get on the stick. 

I am so thankful that we did not move to Cleveland as I have someone to turn to when I have struggles, like I did this week. It's nice to get out and get some help when you need it, and I can't say that I would have that in Cleveland.  With the way gas prices are now, it would be expensive for me to drive to TN or her to OH on a whim.  God is good.

Hey Birthday Boy ~

While this technically constitutes as "moving" the rock, it's still not in it's permanent spot, so the bet is still on :)

On another note, I hope you have a great birthday neighbor!!!

Mommy WIsdom #3

8. Strangers feel some kind of connection with your baby and feel they must touch him/her.  Hands off!!! I am enforcing the, you can look, but don't touch policy.  

9.  Everyone has advice on everything when it comes to taking care of your baby, from feeding, to diapering, to colic. 

10.  You never get sick of hearing how cute your baby is, and in our case, how much hair he has. 

11.  There's nothing like a big toothless grin to brighten your day. 

How we spent our 4th

We spent our 4th at my parent's/grandparent's house (no they don't live with each other, but next door).  My Grandaddy got up early and put some ribs and chicken on, while my mom drove to pick up the shoulder of pork that he had ordered.  Needless to say, there was lots of food for the family to enjoy.  

Pictured here from left to right: Miranda (my neice), Chris (my sister in law) holding Dylan, Michael and Bradley (my identical twin nephews) , Cameron (my cousin) , Billy (my brother) and Greg (my cousin)

Miranda, Chris and Dylan

Nanny and Grandaddy

Then there were some reliving their youth: my brother, Billy on his dirt bike. Mind you, he's my older brother by 5 years. I tried riding the dirt bike, but as a mom, you think of stuff like breaking bones and being out of commission. 

Back at our house, we sat on our back porch to watch the fireworks. We our towards the front of our neighborhood, so our back porch faces several subdivisions and we have a great show every year.  It's always nice to watch other people's fireworks.  We'll let them blow their money.  Note to Dylan, we will not be buying fireworks when you get older...we may buy you some sparklers or something.  Yea, we are boring and cheap like that :)

Damien and Dylan

Milk Man

Damien and I have a fun game were we like to make up songs for the dogs. Dylan is the latest victim.  

(to the tune of the Fire Man by George Strait)

They call me the milk man, that's my name.

Runnin' my mouth all over town lookin' for a boob to claim.

Every baby wants what I got,

I can suck'em dry, on the spot.

I'm the milk man, that's my name.

Flahback Friday - July 4th

This was Tyler and I last year on July 4th at our friends' pool party.  

Damien, Tyler and me at the house.  (Looks like we are going to Diddy's All White Party)

Boom Boom...it's only July 2nd

As I listen to some of our neighbors shoot fireworks, I thought I'd write a blog about it. Premature fireworks have always been a pet peeve of mine.  Around our neighborhood, people will shoot them the entire week leading up to July 4th and sometimes the following few weeks, and it really irritates me. Why? I don't know, maybe because it's not just July 4th. It happens with every holiday, it seems: Memorial Day, New Years, Easter, Labor Day, etc.  You get the picture.  Any opportunity to shoot fireworks, they take it.  I am all for other people blowing their money to entertain me on the 4th, but not all week long.  Turbo is very scared of fireworks and hides in the closet. On top of him being scared, now we have Dylan who sometimes wakes easily, when he is startled.  If I work really hard to put him to bed and he gets woken up, I will be one mad mother.  

Green Wednesday #3

Out and about --

• Opt not to get a receipt at the ATM. "If everyone left their receipts in the machine, it would save a roll of paper more than 2 billion feet long—enough to circle the equator more than 15 times,"
• If you are a coffee drinker, take your own mug to Starbucks. They will give you a 10% discount.
• Get a hybrid - more and more car manufactures are coming out with hybrids

huh?

Is it just me, or does anyone else have problems with these verification "words"?  I type them in, click enter and then I get a new word since I didn't get it right.  UGH! It makes me feel stupid sometimes.