5 Years

It seems to strange to me to say that today is our 5 year anniversary.

For some reason that feels like a long time.  So much longer than 4 years.  Maybe it is because I probably can't call us newlyweds anymore.  Although I don't think we have felt like newlyweds in a VERY long time.

I just can't even believe all that the last 5 years has entailed:

-  Phil's dad's Liver Cancer
-  The PE Exam
-  Infertility
-  Thyroid Cancer (diagnosis, LID, RAI)
-  Cancer Free
-  A puppy
-  Getting pregnant
-  Having a baby
-  Losing Phil's Dad
-  Buying a house
-  Phil finishing his PhD


What's funny is that when we were picking out the song for our first dance, we kept going back to Steady as We Go by Dave Matthews Band.

And the basic message of the song is that no matter what happens, we'll get through it.  Steady as we go.  And that's exactly what the last 5 years have been.

I know everyone says it, but I really did get the best guy out there.  Through everything we have been through, Phil's been an absolute rock.  He works hard.  He's kept his focus.  He's kept us on track.  He's kept me going when I didn't know if I could.  He goes along with my crazy ideas.  He is kind (everyone likes him more than me).  Marrying that guy was, without a doubt, the best decision I ever made.

Phil, I'm so glad I followed you around at Ryan's birthday party.  :)  I love you!  Thank you for being amazing during 5 of the best and hardest years of my life.  Here's to 60 more!

Oh hey... A blog post! (aka Life Lately)

I'm not even sure when the last time I blogged was.  I could look, but I know it was A LONG time ago.  We took a family trip to Texas at the beginning of March and I don't think I have really blogged since.  I think the only person that noticed I haven't been blogging is my mother-in-law (Hi Faith!).

The truth is that I have missed it.  Blogging, that is.  I still read some blogs.  I still comment on some, but not too many.  I miss the outlet.  And I miss the community.  Towards the end, I was feeling discouraged because the community part for me wasn't as strong.  But it's just like anything, it always takes time.  One foot in front of the other.

So I am going to give blogging a go again.  But with a little less pressure on myself.  For the time being, here's what has been occupying my time for the last 3 months.


1.  Henry
No big surprise here.  He turned two and is now OBSESSED with dinosaurs.  And mildly obsessed with trains.

Of course being 2 means we are also dealing with some of this:

{This tantrum resulted because I got him the snack he asked for.  Obviously his life is horrible.}

And boy has it been FUN!


2.  Sickness
Despite the ear tubes, Henry has had 2 bouts with ear infections (1 in only one ear, the other in both ears).  I do think the tubes are helping him not be in as much pain, so I won't say they haven't been worth it.  Not to mention that the tubes mean we can just use ear drops for the treatment.  He's getting pretty good about the drops.

{The dinosaurs come EVERYWHERE with us}

We have also had the awesome opportunity of passing some stomach bugs and sinus infections around.  Gotta love daycare.  I have heard that the first 2 years of daycare at the worst.  By that calculation, we only have 4 months left of constant sickness.  Not that I am counting or anything.


3.  Work
Thankfully, work has been busy.  I recently made the discovery that my entire evening is much more enjoyable if I can get off work at 4:30 instead of 5.  That half an hour may not seem like much, but 30  minutes in the evening is the difference between eating at 6 and eating at 7.  Traffic makes that much of a difference in 30 minutes.  I actually get to see Henry and spend time with him now.  It is AWESOME!  However, between leaving earlier and being REALLY busy, I have been going to work as early as possible.

Like 5 or 6 in the morning early.  And that means early to bed.  It makes for not a lot of blogging material.


4.  Work
I've been so busy at work that we actually hired someone else.  In the long run, this is going to be wonderful.  I wasn't able to progress in my career because I was bogged down by work that I have been doing for years.  In the short term, training someone is HARD.  Mostly because I have to get my work done and check someone else's.  That means I am having to work even more.  Nights and weekends.  And it looks a lot like this.

{Memorial Day evening}

{Sunday afternoon}

Working in the sunshine was about twelve kinds of wonderful though.  I mean, if you have to work doing it outside with some iced tea isn't so bad.

In other work related news, I got a standing desk.

Actually, it is so much cooler than just a standing desk.  It is motor-controlled so I can either sit or stand.  Is it sad how excited I got about this?  Probably.


5.  Healthiness
A fitness trainer I know offered her workout program for free to her Facebook friends as long as we agreed to beta test it for her.  So far, it is so crazy hard.  I'm a month into it and already have noticed some serious changes.  I have 8 weeks left and I am already looking at purchasing a similar type of workout system when it is over to keep the changes coming.

And it is crazy how when you are working your butt off with exercise, it kind of makes you not want to ruin it all by eating total crap.  So I have been spending some time and energy figuring out some healthier recipes and cooking.  The bad news is that we spend more on groceries and I feel like I am constantly cutting up fruits and veggies.  The good news is that Phil has lost like 5 lbs.



So that's pretty much it.  I need to get my writing mojo going again.  I have a feeling this post was somewhat painful to read.  No fear, it's just like riding a bike.  Hopefully.

5 Things Friday: What the WHAT?!? Edition

So I may have taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging in the last month.  Life... it's busy.  And frankly, when you are working 45-50 hours a week, there really isn't too much to blog about.  The creative juices weren't flowing.  And I really don't want to fill my blog up with stuff just for the sake of posting.

The good news is that after A MONTH, I actually have some stuff to blog about.  And I figured what better time to start back up than 5 Things Friday.

This list is comprised of the shocking "SERIOUSLY?!" moments that have happened basically in the last week.  It's been a good one.

1.  I was at the ENT the other day (for a hearing test) and the doctor was giving my neck an exam.  What that had to do with my hearing, I have NO idea.  He starts at the top of my neck, working his way down, and vocalizing all of the things he feels along the way.  Lymph nodes, carotid artery, thyroid...

Thyroid?!

Me:  Um... I don't have a thyroid.

Dr.:  Ok, let's check again...

Proceeds to re-do neck exam, and when he gets to where my thyroid should be,

Dr:  Well, right here, I feel the cartilidge.  I just assumed you have a small thyroid.  It's not like you have cancer though.

Me:  I did have cancer.  Which is why you'd better not feel any thyroid in there.

Starts neck exam AGAIN.

Dr:  No I don't feel any residual thyroid tissue in there.

Yeah, I feel like I'm in such good hands.

This might not seem like a big deal, but if I have thyroid tissues, that means my cancer has come back.  So it kind of is a big deal.  In the past, this would have really freaked me out.  But I had an ultrasound and bloodwork done in December that showed NO thyroid tissue in my thyroid bed and the bloodwork showed NO sign of thyroid tissue (aka cancer).  But I honestly can't believe that it happened.


2.  Later that same day, I went to a committee meeting.  We have had these meetings almost every month for over two years, so when the meetings first started, I was fairly pregnant.  And if you recall, I was not a small pregnant woman.  I was one of those unfortunate, not cute, chubby pregnant ladies.  And I have since then lost all that baby weight.

Like a year ago.  So I was a little confused when TWO people said:

"You look really different since the last time we saw you!"

Granted we haven't met in probably 3 months, but I was a little confused.  So I asked, "Oh yeah?  How so?"

Response, "Well didn't you recently have a baby?"

2 YEARS AGO!

And it would have been one thing if these were large meetings (they aren't) or if I was silent during the entire meeting (I'm not) or if it were just one person (but it wasn't).

I guess I should get rid of the shirt I was wearing.


3.  I'm not going to go into details on this next one, but let me just say this...

When you are interviewing for a job, it is probably best to NOT look down the employers blouse while shaking her hand good-bye.

Just a piece of advice from me to you.


4.  I was taking a drink of coffee and missed my mouth.

{Don't worry... we won't really have people sleep in the kitchen}

Can we say "Professional?"  I suppose it could be worse?  Like I could have dropped chili on the plans.


5.  My family was together a few weeks ago and I casually told a story mentioning that I had baby fever.  Here are some examples of the response I got:

"Not yet!"

Downcast stares with a subtle head shake.

At least one person looked at Phil and said, "No."

I'm probably the ONLY one left in my family that will have kids, so this reaction surprised me.  They all LOVE Henry.  And I'm pretty sure I didn't get a say in their family planning.  It just seemed like a strange reaction.

I mean, look at Henry:

He's so cute!  Obviously we should have like a dozen more babies.



So hopefully you have a good weekend and nobody says (or does) anything weird to you!

Recipe: Tomato Salad

I'm not a good cook.  I can't whip up a recipe off the top of my head.  And truth be told, I didn't come up with this one.  My sister-in-law made it once when we were over for dinner.  And I was HOOKED.  What's make it even better?  It's healthy and it is SUPER easy.

Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

Sunburst Tomatoes

1/2 can of Black Olives

1/2 container of fresh mozzarella  (I got these Chiliegine from Trader Joe's)

Olive Oil

1.  Cut tomatoes in half.

2.  Cut olives in half.

3.  Cut mozzerella into similar size pieces (depends on what size of mozzarella you get).

4.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and stir

Seriously, I could eat this whole bowl for an entire meal.  I've made it at least once a week for the past few weeks.  It is SO GOOD!!!!

Henry's Awful Parents

Despite all of my hopes that this week would start off great, it did not.

We had a little hiccup when Henry's medicine accidentally got dropped on the floor.  Turns out the lid wasn't on all the way... we had a bit of a mess.  It was an accident but still annoying.  When I first called the pharmacist this morning, she explained that I might end up having to pay full price for another prescription.  It would have been like $72 for 2 or 3 doses.  Thankfully, the doctor's office said we can just use what we have left and to let them know if it seems like Henry's ears are bothering him again.

But that wasn't the only reason yesterday morning was hard.

According to Henry, it was also hard because we are awful parents.  Below is a list of all the wrongs we, Henry's parents, committed yesterday morning:

1.  We made him get out of bed.
2.  We took off his jammies.
3.  We changed his messy, wet diaper.
4.  We made him put on comfy clothes.
5.  We didn't give him his blankie fast enough.
6.  We walked out of his room too quickly.
7.  I tried to give him some cereal.
8.  Phil tried to let him pick a pacifier.
9.  We took him out of his seat once he was done with his medicine.
10.  We made him put his Batman sweatshirt on (the same one he wouldn't take off yesterday).
11.  We put him in the car.
12.  I tried giving him his cereal again.
13.  I tried giving him his pacifier.
14.  We backed out of the driveway.
15.  After he had calmed down, I tried giving him his cereal again.


Obviously, the list of wrongs goes on and on.

He cried so much yesterday on the way to daycare, his face was still splotchy when we got there.

{It wasn't as cute as these older pictures depict}

He calmed down after I sang "The Point of No Return" from Phantom of the Opera.  I didn't get applause but the lack of crying was reward enough.

The worst part was the Phil and I let Henry's tantrum affect our moods.  We definitely need to get better about keeping it cool and calm when he is acting up.  Because I'm 100% positive it will happen again.

I'm really hoping that Tuesday morning goes better, but I won't really know because I am at work super early (read: 5 am).

A weekend of cuteness

We didn't go on any adventures this weekend.  No mountain climbing.  There were no parties thrown or anything like it.  It was a pretty uneventful weekend filled with lots of family time, a little working out, grocery shopping, trips to Costco.  And it was awesome.

 I have a tendency to overschedule, so weekends spent relaxing are kind of nice.

Here are some highlights from our weekend of nothing.

{Our own Batman, reading about Batman}

{FaceTime with Grandma while wearing Daddy's hat}

{If we say, "Do you want to call Grandma Faith?" he immediately runs over to grab the computer with a big smile on his face}

{I was able to give him a haircut thanks to 101 Dalmatians and Daddy handing him dried blueberries one at a time.  Other than the fact that his sideburns are even, it isn't too bad}

{Reading books with Daddy.  He had to have his Batman sweatshirt on, but couldn't be wearing pants}

I feel like this is going to be a great week.  I was able to finish something Friday afternoon that I spent all week on, literally staring at a sheet of paper for 2 days.  So even though I have a big deadline this week, I get to start with a clean slate.

Let's have a good week, people!

5 Things Friday

Friday the 13th.  I'm just super excited it is FRIDAY!!!  I have high hopes for my productivity at work today.  I'm going to knock several things out of the park today, I just know it.  :)  Here's a mix of random for you on this fine Friday.


1.  Because tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I'm sure every daycare/preschool/classroom is celebration Valentine's Day today.  Henry's baby room is no exception.  I have to admit that I had a hard time buying into classroom parties last year when Henry was a legit baby (not a toddler).  I mean, he could barely crawl so I'm pretty sure the concept of Valentine's Day was lost on him.  But now that he is talking, I get more and more excited to celebrate holidays with him.

But I still don't think he needs candy.

So I scoured the internet (ok really just Pinterest) and found THESE cute printables.  I decided I would rather the babies in his room get doughnut holes than a lollipop.

So here are Henry's Valentines:

2.  There other day on Facebook, I saw this article from Buzzfeed.  And because I am a HUGE Potterhead, I watched the video.

But it brought up something about the last movie that REALLY bothered me.  And it is visible in the video above.

Through out the all of the books (and the movies)  characters mention over and OVER how Henry looks just like his father except for his eyes.  He has his mother's eyes.  In case you aren't a weirdo and can't remember, his eyes look like this:

BLUE.

Very blue.

The little girl in that video... what color are her eyes?

BROWN!!

Why?!  I mean, this seems like something that CGI or colored contacts could have easily fixed.  I mean, did they not notice this?  It seems like such a necessary casting detail to pay attention to.

{image from HERE}

This really has been bothering me.  :)


3.  Toddler tantrums are pretty much a daily occurrence in our household.  In a way, it kind of makes me feel like we are doing something right.  Like we aren't raising a spoiled child who gets everything that he wants.  But they still suck.

Last night, he had a MASSIVE tantrum when we were leaving Grandma's house.  It lasted probably 10 minutes, including when I was putting him in the car.  And the only way I could get him to calm down was to turn all sound off in the car and be totally silent.

It didn't take but 15 seconds of that and he was calmed down.

Maybe it was a fluke.  Or maybe it was magic.  But I am definitely going to try that again the next time he has a tantrum in the car (which I'm 99.9% positive WILL happen again).


4.  Because things have been so busy at work (and they aren't showing signs of calming down any time soon thankfully), I have been making a conscious effort to take care of myself a little.  And that means I am taking more baths.

When we were house hunting, I had basically 2 things on my "must have" list.  One was the master bedroom had to have room for a king size bed (Phil is a big guy and I like my space when I'm sleeping).  And the other was I needed a decent bath tub.

5.  When I was making Henry's Valentines, I needed a stapler to attach the printable to the baggie.  It suddenly dawned on me that we don't have a regular stapler.  The only stapler we have is this one:

I found it kind of amusing.


Have a good weekend!!


Linking up with September Farm and The Farmer's Wife