Happy Birthday to V and Happy Anniversary to Me and B!

Yesterday, we celebrated our son's 3rd birthday and my and my husband's 8th wedding anniversary. V was due on August 8th, 2006, but because he was breech, we went ahead and scheduled a C-section/external version. My husband wanted to schedule it on a Friday, so he could have an entire week at home with me, and it ended up being scheduled on our 5th wedding anniversary! The night before, I remembered that I hadn't bought anything for B for our anniversary. When I mentioned it, he pointed to my belly, and said, with a smile, "What do you think that is?". So, V was our big present to each other! On the morning of August 4th, 2006, we went up to the labor and delivery floor of my husband's hospital. The nurses strapped monitors on me, and we found out I was actually contracting every two minutes, but I wasn't laboring at all. Because V was breech (head up, feet down), my OB/GYN tried to turn V around by pushing on my stomach, but the little guy just wouldn't budge, so we went ahead and did a C-section. He was born at 9:44 am, and he was 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and 20 1/4 inches long. He came out with a full head of black hair, and I immediately thought he looked like my husband. Both of our families were at the hospital when he was born. Though I was full of drugs from the C-section, I still remember that those first few hours were very happy ones.
Yesterday, I decided to take V to the local mall. He always wants to run into the "Build-A-Bear" store to push the buttons and play on the computers. I thought it might be fun to actually make a stuffed animal for his birthday. We went to Subway for lunch first, and as we were eating, a massive thunderstorm blasted through our city and took out all the power in the mall! We waited and waited, and after two hours, I was about to leave the place, when the power suddenly came back on. We went back to the store, and V and I made a stuffed cat. He was more into the buttons and computers, so I ended up dressing the cat (named "Cally"). We went to Target, too, because there was a set of Matchbox cars he wanted. When we came home from our shopping trip, we discovered that the power in our house had also gone out during the storm. It didn't come back on until around 7 pm! I made dinner on our grill, which is luckily hooked up to a gas line. Then, B, V, and I sat around and caught up on things we couldn't do without power. I was working on a sewing project, and around 9 pm, we were going to have V blow out candles on a cupcake, but he had fallen asleep! He was just worn out from all the excitement of the day. B and I decided we'll celebrate his birthday with candles later today or tomorrow, when B can be there, too. B and I really didn't do much to celebrate our anniversary. We're saving that up for next week, when we get to spend four days at Gen Con (and at a hotel) alone! ;)
We had an awesome trip to Charleston, South Carolina, last week, and I'll try to post pics of our trip later.

V celebrating his birthday while in Charleston, SC

V and his new friend, Cally

Happy Anniversary, B! I love you!

The Snooty Fox, and Vacation Time!

After we first moved to our new house, I took some pics of the wonderful wildlife in our area. Even though we live in a small city, our neighborhood is so near wooded areas that we constantly find deer and rabbits in our backyard (and sometimes our front yard). This week, we've had a newcomer!

Twice this week, I've caught this little guy loping through our back yard to the front yard and across the cul-de-sac. This is the first picture I've been able to take of him, since he stopped for a few minutes before wandering off. I'm not sure where he lives, but I'm happy to see him, as long as he stays safe in our neighborhood and nobody runs him over!
Also, it's vacation time again! We're heading to Charleston, South Carolina, with my husband's family. We've decided to rent a huge house near the beach this year. I'm looking forward to (hopefully) some sun and sand and ocean. I'm praying the weather there won't be as crazy as it has been here. We'll have Wi-fi in our rental house, so I'll try to post pics at some point next week.
Have a great weekend/week, and be safe everyone!

V, Laurie Berkner, And A Webcam

I don't think I mentioned I got a new laptop recently. When we moved to our new home, B bought himself a new Sony Vaio for work (and entertainment) purposes. I took over the five-year-old HP laptop and used it for all sorts of things, namely the Internet and e-mail. A while back, the hinge that connects the monitor to the keyboard and keeps it upright broke because a certain little boy in our house kept standing on the closed laptop when it was on the floor. I didn't mind because I could hold the monitor up with one hand and type or use the mouse with my other hand. Slowly, the hinge started breaking even more and little bits and pieces that should have been inside started falling out. One night, while watching "Juno" and checking my e-mail, the entire monitor blacked out and went all pixely. I couldn't see a thing! So, the next day, B and I went to Best Buy, and I bought my first laptop--also a Sony Vaio. I love it! And, something I've just started using is the built-in web cam. I hope to use it for Skype and taking pictures. However, it's also great for those little moments when your video camera isn't handy and you'd love to catch them for posterity! Observe:

My New Specs

So, I got a request for pics of my new glasses. I didn't intend to buy Juicy Couture glasses, but they were the only ones that really looked the best. Plus, I got Transitions lenses, so I don't have to buy/wear separate sunglasses. Here are the new spectacles:

They're not a drastic change from my last ones, just a different color (brown), and a somewhat boxier shape. Oh, and definitely chicer. I like them, and I'm glad I finally got my new prescription. Hopefully, these will stay in good shape for a while, considering the screws stripped out of my old glasses, and the lenses were being held in the frames with jewelry wire!

The Birthday Girl

Yesterday, I turned 32 years old. I really can't believe that I'm in my thirties. I guess when you're really young, you think that 30 is old. Then, you get there, and you realize that it's not at all. A lot has happened in the past year. We've moved to a new town, I've made some great new friends, I'm closer to my family, and I just feel settled in life. Some days that's really good, and some days it's not, but that's okay. I spent the first day of my 32nd year on this planet with the two men in my life. Even though I got up before the boys, my husband still made me breakfast in bed. Then, I went to the eye doctor to pick up my new glasses (Juicy Couture; I couldn't help myself), and we went to the mall to do a little shopping. I also picked up an iced mocha from Panera Bread, one of my favorite morning drinks. I don't get it very often, so it was a real treat. At the mall, I bought a couple of cute tops from Old Navy to wear with a skirt I'd bought there previously. I just happened to be wearing the skirt at the time, so it helped me to find exactly what I wanted. The only bad thing about the day was my husband had scheduled a surgery, even though he wasn't on-call over the weekend. I guess he decided that he wanted to be responsible for that particular patient. He sort of apologized in his own way for scheduling it, but it didn't bother me too much. I've gotten used to him having to forgo holidays with the family because of his job. Happily, the surgery didn't take very long, and he was home fairly quickly after it was over. I spent that time playing a fun video game, called "Viva Pinata", on the XBox 360. It's a cute little game, very family-friendly, and very similar to "The Sims". The player builds gardens to attract living pinata animals. You can get them to "romance" to make more pinatas, and you can plant different seeds that grow into plants to feed and/or attract the pinatas. It can be very addictive and sometimes frustrating, but I always seem to come back for more! After both my husband and I had spent some time on the XBox, we loaded our son's diaper bag up and took him over to a friend's house. Then, Hubby and I went to see the new "Star Trek" movie. It was phenomenal! We both agreed that the retcon to the series' plot was done very well, and I adored all of the main characters. The cinematography was beautiful, the acting was superb, and overall, it was just a fun movie to watch. It will definitely be a film I add to my DVD collection. Afterward, we headed to a local Italian place for a very late dinner. I went ahead and ordered a glass of Mosel Riesling wine, which B and I shared. Actually, we shared the entire dinner: appetizer, salad, bread, entree, and dessert! It was very nice, and enough food for both of us. The rigatoni con pollo (large tube pasta with chicken, wilted spinach, roasted tomatoes, and an alfredo sauce) was excellent, and I absolutely loved the tirimisu. It was a little pricey, but we had a gift card, and since we shared the entire meal, we only paid about $15 (including tip) for dinner. Since "Star Trek" has been in theaters for a while, it had moved to the $5 per screening rate, so all told, we only spent about $30 or so for our entire evening out! It was a great way to end the day, and I'm so glad we were able to spend it together. Oh, and my husband tried to get me a bread machine for my birthday, but none of the stores around here carry them for some reason. He ended up buying it on-line, so I look forward to receiving it in the mail. It's always fun to get new appliances! And, I'm looking forward to the next year of my life, as well.
Namaste,
Amanda

My Son, The Talker

I realized, recently, how verbal my son has become this year. It's been really hot lately, and Wednesday afternoon, I decided to pull his kiddie pools out to the driveway, so we could cool off a bit. I absolutely love his little rigid pool because I can lay out in it, and there's still enough room for him to play, too. The water felt great, and we both had fun splashing around and trying to get as wet as possible. At one point, I sat back and looked up at the sky. The clouds were big and fluffy, and I thought it might be fun to do a little "cloud-gazing" with V. I pointed to one and said it looked like a dragon with fire coming out of its mouth, and then, a hissing snake. He looked at another cloud and said it looked like "Franklin", which I assumed he meant "Franklin, the Turtle" from the Noggin Channel. In a way, the cloud did look like a turtle. He said another one looked like a "doggie", and one more looked like "Wii Bike!", which is his name for the game, MarioKart. I really could see what he was seeing in the clouds, and I marveled at how imaginative he's become just over the past month or two. I've noticed little things that show me his intellectual and verbal growth, and they all amaze me. He's started "reading" some of his books to himself, and at bed time, he likes to read his favorite book, Moo, Baa, La La La, along with B or I. He answers questions fairly clearly and asks for things, as well, though sometimes, it takes me a few tries before I get it right. He can count up to ten, knows a few of his shapes, and even knows most of his colors, though he likes to argue with me when I try to explain that blue is blue, not purple. I love that he knows his own name, and one day at the park, he even introduced himself to a much older boy, pointing to his chest and saying "I Vincent". Sometimes, he wants me to carry him "downstairs" when he really wants to go "upstairs", but at least, he understands the concept. Just this past week, I noticed him answering the puppy, Blue, on "Blue's Room" when she asked a question. He did it with Dora on "Dora the Explorer", too, saying "yes" or "no" when her backpack was trying to find the right tool for her job. It really kind of floored me that he suddenly started "participating" instead of just passively watching his favorite shows. He sings along with many of the shows' theme songs, though he gets embarrassed when I notice and hates it when I try to sing with him. Lately, I've been telling a lot of new moms I meet that he'll be three years old in August. Every time I say it, I can't believe that it's already been three years since his birth. The time has really, truly flown by, and lately, my son never ceases to amaze me. I really hope I can keep up with him in the coming years, so I don't miss anything new and special. Like, today, when I noticed he was upset about something. I said, "Are you mad?" and he said, with a pout, "Yeah". When I asked him why he was mad, he said, "Because..." How did my baby suddenly get to be so grown up?!?

Marseilles Dress SHABBY APPLE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I just can't pass up a giveaway for a pretty dress! Plus, the makers of said dress help women living in poverty. It's a win-win situation all around! Yay!

Marseilles Dress SHABBY APPLE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!