Erm....  Hi. 

Where to start? 

Some days, I think life is out to get me. 

Some days, I think life is easy.  

Today, well, I just don't know.  It's not exactly like there is middle ground between the two.  So here are the good things I have to report: 

I am now 33.  I have always liked the numbers that have two of the same.  11, 22, etc.  They have always been good years.  I see no reason 33 will be less than good. 

Honey bought me a new hairpin that is awesome.  I only put this because thinking of how much stress he went through to find something I would like makes me smile...  Not that it makes me happy to stress him out, but, it's nice to know he really thought about a present I would like, and worried about the the fact I might like it.  The pin is nice, and I actually really like it,  but he wanted me to like it...  you get the idea. 

I got an encouraging phone call today... I know this is vague...

I spun a pretty bit of silk.  This means I can weave a bit more of my scarf.

A note to my son...

Hey sunshine, 

You are officially the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I love you more than I can say...  Your daddy gets a bit miffed when I say that, but it's true. 

Your current favorite activities when you get home from daycare are nursing, eating solid foods, and playing trucks with your mama.  - Not necessarily in that order.

Your mama's favorite activities when she gets home from work are playing trucks, feeding you, snuggling you, and hanging out with your daddy.  Again, not necessarily in that order.  Although, playing trucks is right up there! 

At this point, I don't know who you will be.  Maybe you'll be an engineer.  We are related to  a lot of them.  Maybe you'll be a non-engineer like your mama.  There aren't a lot of us in the family.  Maybe you'll be a chef, or a librarian like your adopted aunt Jessi or an IT guy like a lot of the menfolk in your family or your adopted uncle Kevin...  Maybe you'll just be yourself.  Not a lot of folks get to do that, but that's my hope for you.  I hope you can be you, and never feel the need to apologize. 

You scare me sometimes.  You fall asleep in my arms so readily.  You smile when I sneak - not so stealthily - around the corner - and give the baby belly laugh.  My hope for you, and for myself as well perhaps, is that you will always find joy in someone not so stealthily sneaking up on you and grinning.  Long live the belly laugh, and individualism.

Love, your Mama. 

Yikes.  I fail at blogging.  I haven't posted in ... um... Actually, I fail at a lot of things.  My house is a mess.  I make no apologies.  My hair is a mess!  I haven't had a trim in  um...  a very long time.  I'm thinking it's a good six months or more.  My career, well, that's a different post.

Come to think of it, that's not a whole lot of things to apologize for, considering my kiddo is only 8 months old.  Here's a secret confession, sometimes, I think I blame him for my inability to clean, when in retrospect, my house was never that clean...  I mean, it was tidy enough, but it was never white glove. 

Anyway - life in a nutshell...

Malcolm = awesome, even if people do persist in spelling his name incorrectly.  Malcom?  Who on earth would name their child this without the second L...He crawls.  He says Mama.  His mama saying melts my heart every time.  He likes baths, waving, and snuggling.  Also, did I mention he says Mama! 

Matt = insert something glowey and mushy here.  I don't dare be too descriptive, because I know my brother reads my blog - Hi kid bro! - and I don't want to embarrass him. 

Me = tired! 

So here's a story for you. 

One lovely evening I was sleeping.  I don't get much sleep, so this was somewhat novel.  Then I woke up, and felt something warm and cuddly snuggled up against me.  In my sleep deprived state, I decided it was my infant son.  Like I said,  warm and cuddly...  So I thought - "oh crap, fell asleep nursing kiddo" - got out of bed, picked up the warm cuddly lump and started toward the kiddo's bedroom.  The husband's voice stopped my - saying "Honey, what are you doing?" 

I have to admit, at this point, I got mad.  I mean, I'm a sleep deprived new mommy, working my proverbial rear off, and just altogether somewhat touchy.  So my ever so kind response was "Putting the baby in his crib.  If you were awake why didn't you take him to his crib."  The "Jerk" at the end of that sentence was ever so kindly implied. 

His response of "Oh sweetie, that's the cat."  wasn't exactly expected... Poor Matt.  My irritation isn't exactly rational at 3 AM.  

Yeah.  It was our long haired black cat. In my defense,  Mal has fluffy PJs!

I vaguely remember looking down and recognizing the fact that Bug the cat was in my arms purring.

I have no excuse.  But Bug the cat is still awesome.  So are my M boys. 

Baby's here!

Whelp, the baby's here. He's the cutest thing on the face of the planet, and I'm just about as thrilled as I can be in spite of my massive lack of sleep. This is all.

B

Why hello 2011, where did you come from?

I have a theory about blogs. As long as you think people are reading them, you'll update them with whatever information your brains spills out. Alternatively, you'll update them when major things happen, and it occurs to you that it would be a good blog topic.

Today, I fall in to the second category. Whoa Nelly, I'm pregnant. There. I wrote it. Does that officially make it real?

Actually, I'm fairly excited. The Seamonkey (TM) is due around the first of February. Yes I'll be finding out what the gender is, because I'm too impatient to wait the full 4 minutes it takes for my toaster to get done - (not a euphemism, my toaster takes forever). However, I'm going to attempt to not tell anyone, because I figure if you know when the baby's coming and what it's gender is, there really isn't any news to share on the big day. We'll see how well that works out. We do have some names picked out, but those aren't going to be shared yet either. So - given the lack of helpful information in this post, we move on to trivialities.

I've come to the conclusion that the whole "Mommy Brain" thing is real. I'm loosing IQ points as I type this. The other day, the fella asked me if I wanted ice in my ginger ale. I looked at him very seriously, and said, "No, the ice won't fit in the can." He looked at me funny, and it took me a minute before I realized what I'd said. Yeah... One of my finer moments.

As far as the year in a nutshell goes -
January - attempted to not get out of bed until there was warm weather.
February - got a new job.
March / April went by in a blur.
May - Went to London with the fella for our anniversary. Oooh, there's a forthcoming blog topic for you!
June started traveling back and forth to the middle of nowhere Wisconsin for work - 14,000 frequent flier miles to date! We are planning a nice trip somewhere.
July - Discovered the evil that is morning sickness and exhaustion. Found a really great Chinese takeout place. Yes, the two items are directly related.
August - has been pretty low key. Book club, and board games have dominated the social scene, Work's been pretty steady for both of us, and we are attempting to go through the spare bedroom and make it baby worthy. The drainage project from (*#&$ is still going on. So if you drive past my house, and notice the pile of gravel sitting in the front yard, please don't comment. I'll probably bite your head off.

That about sums up. Cheers!

One of my girlfriends and I went to a ballet class last. Now I know that spinning is not a full contact sport or anything, and I know I haven't danced in say -forever, but I've been pretty good about working out, and didn't think it would be that bad. Class went well! I had a blast, and the teacher was awesome. I didn't have to wear a leotard, and my friend's mom played the piano for class. I felt great afterward, all stretchy and loose. The feeling actually lasted through this morning. Let me tell you, it's seldom I wake up in a good mood, and even more seldom that I don't need coffee to fake said good mood. But this morning, I still felt amazing. I went to work all charged up and convinced that I need to go to ballet class every week.

Well, I sat at my desk all day. My thighs have officially rebelled. They told me, and I quote "You suck. You used us, and abused us. Now you shall pay." All I can say is Ow?

The fella and I have been planning a vacation for a long time now. Last October, we planned a cruise, only to cancel it about 6 months out because we were buying a house. Love the house, still don't regret the decision. So then we got married, and put off a honeymoon so he could start his new job. Also a smart decision if you ask me. We were finally ready to book tickets to London, when we made our list of things we wanted to see / do while we were there. Seeing a play at the Globe Theater was at the top of both our lists, and their season doesn't start until next year. So we decided to do a mini-vacation this year, and London next year.

We talked about Las Vegas, but neither of us like to gamble, and we don't do the whole club scene. We talked about camping in a national park, but the fella isn't an outdoorsy type. We talked about Gencon, but timing didn't work out. Enter John Stewart and Steven Colbert from stage left.

So yeah. There's this Rally to Restore Sanity in DC on the National Lawn. We kinda thought it was a good idea. Then Colbert decided to have a competing March to Restore Terror. We are going. To which, you might ask? Does it matter? I respond.

If we go to the John Stewart side, I will carry a sign that says "Insert Explicative Here." If we go the to Steven Colbert side, I will wear a pink suit, and pillbox hat and a button that says Sarah Palin for President, 2012.

Scads, I love Halloween!

Total happy gushing. Don't mind me.

Well, it happened. The fella and I are hitched. My black dress raised nary an eyebrow with my aunts. I think it is mostly because they were forewarned. It was a balmy 95 degrees F, in southern Indiana, and the sun shone all day. Our pastor was a very nice lady from a Methodist Church who smiled a lot. Our readings, after much negotiation between the fella and I consisted of: My Love, by Robert Burns, a piece from The Irrational Season, by Madeleine L'Engle, and the lyrics to Grow Old With Me, by John Lennon.

We got married on my grandparents farm. There is a beautiful area on the edge of a pond that has a natural bower of trees where we arranged our ceremony. I can't help but think that Big Pa Jack and Grammy Lillilan would have liked the fella, and would have been thrilled.

My husband (I almost wrote fiance there!) looked amazing in his tux. My brother was an adorable best man. My cousin made the cutest maid of honor ever. She dragged me kicking and screaming to get a manicure and pedicure, as well as having my hair professionally done. I don't mind admitting, there is a first time for everything. I actually had fun being a girl for a few days. That said, don't expect French Tips, next time you see me.

My dad cried while walking me down the aisle. I sniffled, and blamed the pollen count. My "something borrowed" handkerchief came in handy when in the middle of a prayer blessing our wedding rings, my eyes started suspiciously watering. I am still officially blaming the pollen count.

My mom made me a garter. It was made out of pieces of her wedding dress, and my maternal grandmother's wedding dresses. I cried. She sniffled. We both tried to blame it on allergies. I am "pretty sure" that is something I will keep.

Our Ring Bearer carried our rings which were wrapped up in a handkerchief that my aunt had made, which had Irish lace that my paternal great grandmother collected prominently featured.

My cousin baked our cake, which turned out beautifully. She designed it to look like hat boxes. It tasted darn good too! We told the florist to be creative. She was, and my flowers were amazing. My pots of Gerber Daisy's as centerpieces were splendid, and made great wedding favors.

The Nerf Guns and board games were an excellent addition to our reception, that I highly recommend to anyone having an outdoor wedding.

My friends and family turned out in force. I think my college buddy from Montana gets the award for most distance traveled. It was so great to see everybody.

My cousins challenged me to a game of beer pong. My college buddy and I totally won. I worry for the next generation of college students if they can't bear a pair of rusty old ladies.

In short, we had a great time. Our wedding was lovely, our reception was fun, and I can't help but think (If you will pardon the cliche), that for the fella and I, the best is yet to come.