Priorities

This morning, around 1:45 I awoke to Hunter screaming bloody murder through the monitor. I went into check on him and pulled him up to me and we went back into our bedroom and sat on the bed and I rocked him back to sleep. He was sound asleep in minutes and I have no idea what had originally upset him. But we just sat there, rocking for 10 minutes or more because it had been weeks since I had had to rock my baby back to sleep and while I don’t miss the loss of sleep, I do miss the quiet bonding we had in the wee hours of the morning. Soon, there will be no more nights like this for me and Hunter and that thought made me cry. It makes me cry again as I write this. In a few months there will be another baby to rock to sleep in the middle of the night and I’m so scared that I won’t remember how special it was to rock my sweet Hunter. Sure, he won’t be so old that he will NEVER need rocked, but not like he needs rocked now, not like he did just two months ago. So now, when he does wake in the middle of the night, I will rock him just a few extra minutes before putting him back in his crib and forgo those extra minutes of sleep, because after all…which is really more important?

Please excuse me, I'm worthless

I am 100% a believer is Pregnancy Amnesia now because I do not remember pregnancy being this exhausting the first time around. Then again, by this time with my last pregnancy I had zero children to chase after and filled my days with court TV shows and Ellen. These days I’m working full time and spend my off hours entertaining my little Hunt Dog. I hate that I can’t be a dream mom and wife because I am just too exhausted. I want to sleep ALL THE TIME. With my last pregnancy, I was too busy throwing up to be tired. Now, when Hunter hits the crib, mommy hits the hay too. I have not made it to see the 10 o’clock news in well over a week, and even then, I’m lucky if I make it to the weather!

I tend to use my weekend to catch up on my sleep but Saturday we actually had plans to do something other than sit at home and take naps. I paid for it yesterday the same way that some of my childless friends paid for the few too many drinks that they had on Saturday night. I had a headache to rival any hangover and an exhaustion that no size of diet coke would stand a fighting chance at beating. It was worth it though.

Saturday we went to Kansas City to visit my sister, brother-in-law and my wonderful, adorable, always exciting niece. It was so exciting to see Hunter and Cami playing together. I cannot believe that we didn’t get any pictures of them together. Cami had fun showing Hunter all the fun things there were to do at her house. They shared a few puffs and took a Ritz cracker break too. I can’t wait for these two to grow up and to watch their friendship grow.

Here is the most recent picture that I have of the two of them together. How sad that I don’t have any from Christmas, or even Thanksgiving. Add that to the list of reasons that I am a horrible mother…

Far above the Golden Valley...

...Glorious to view, sttands our noble Alma Mater, towering toward the blue! Lift the chorus, ever onward, Crimson and the blue. Hail to thee, our Alma Mater. Hail to old KU!

College basketball has been in full swing for a few months now but the real fun is beginning this week and The Big 12 enters conference play. I love this time of year. I am fortunate enough to be the fan of a good college basketball team. Not so much can be said for my picks in college or professional football or professional baseball, I’m afraid.
Growing up, KU was OUR team. I don’t know where the love originated but my folks instilled it in my sister and me. I don’t have a very good memory, but I have several childhood memories that revolve around those Jayhawks.

* 1988 – Danny and the Miracles. I was only 5 when they won the National Championship, but I’m pretty sure that I remember that game…I think.
* Watching KU play at the Golden Harvest Classic in Kansas City
* The first game that I ever attended at Allen Fieldhouse was KU vs. Colorado. I couldn’t tell you the year but I remember Poncho Hodges played for the Buffs and every time he had the ball, the whole crowd would chant “Tube Socks, Tube Socks” I couldn’t tell you who won that game, Tube Socks is all I remember.
* Our parents bought us KU Basketball trading cards a few years in a row. I remember spending a lot of time looking at those things and picking out my “boyfriends.”
* I’m pretty sure that the first time I ever heard my sister use the word “sexy” was in reference to Rex Walters – she was maybe 15 at the time. Weird.
* The annual photo roster calendar that my dad would get every year that I always thought was SO COOL.
* The time my dad didn’t want to let my friend Michelle into our house because she was wearing a Duke shirt. Can you blame him?
* Driving to Lawrence with my dad to watch Roy Williams’ “I’m Staying” speech on the jumbo screen at Memorial Stadium the first time he was offered the UNC job. I suppose that is pretty moot now though.
* Meeting Wayne Simien in the halls of Leavenworth High School two years before he ever sported the crimson and blue.
* Two words – Mario. Chalmers.

There are some not so great memories out there too, but why give anyone ammo! 

KU is fortunate enough to have two rivals on the hardwoods, one in-state and one just across the state line. I’m not a typical fan in that I don’t bask in the losses of these teams, the only time that I really even care about either team is when they are playing against us, or if whether they win or lose a game directly effects KU in some way (i.e. Mizzou beats Texas so that KU can clench the Big 12, etc.). I could go into my feelings about the fans of these teams, but I have loyal followers that I don’t want to lose by calling the majority of KState and Mizzou fans a bunch of trash talking, bandwagon jumping jerks who tend to find more joy in a KU loss than they do in their own team's win – but whatever. I should mention that that is a lump judgement and does not specifically refer to any known reader of this blog, thus far.

Onward and upward – Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU!

Which team?

Boy or Girl???

Many people have asked whether we are hoping for a boy or a girl this time around. My answer is always the same – “All we want is healthy.” And though this may sound like a sweet little cop out, it is the truth.
Sure, a little girl in frilly little dresses with giant bows on her head dances around in my head from time to time. That three year old with white blonde pig tails and big blue eyes is sitting on my shoulder here and there. The sight of her dancing with her daddy on her wedding day already brings tears to my eyes.
But then there is that little boy, toe headed and dirty from chasing his big brother all over hill and dale. Hunter’s best friend and wrestling buddy. Having spa days to myself while Chad takes our little men hunting or Grandpa takes them fishing sure sound nice. And the money we could save on clothing is a nice bonus too.
We will take whatever God chooses to give us. Pink or Blue. We only pray that our newest addition be healthy (and if the baby is as happy and easy going as its brother, we wouldn’t complain one bit).

I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!

Apparently it has been about 100 years since I last posted anything on here. I would like to say that it has been because I have been far too busy to post but that is simply not the case. In fact, quite the opposite was true. For almost two months I had nothing BUT time as I had gotten the boot from work. I specifically chose NOT to write anything then because it would not have been pretty. I was dumpy, frumpy and just generally depressed about the whole situation. On top of that, I had just found out that I was expecting baby #2 which had me caught up in about 8 million different emotions as well as horrible nausea, debilitating headaches and pure and utter exhaustion.
But, now that I am gainfully employed (for now) and the nausea is starting to dissipate, it’s time to party! Since so many of my loyal and devoted fans have been begging me to come back and fill their world with my blogging wit – I make my triumphant return. Please note: By “many of my loyal and devoted fans” I mean my mom and my sister.
Now the only problem is: what exciting things can I share???
I guess I can talk about Hunter first. Holy Moses! He’s going to be a year old soon. This thought drives me crazy. I feel like just yesterday he was pooping everywhere and keeping me up all night. Oh wait, that WAS yesterday. Maybe not so much has changed. I’m amazed daily at the new things that he does. I got his food report from daycare yesterday and he had a waffle for breakfast! I don’t know why, but I was so excited by this. People keep commenting on the fact that he’s starting to look less and less like a baby and more and more like a little boy. That is such a sad thought and a happy one at the same time. He’ll always be my sweet baby Hunto, no matter what.
As I mentioned above, we also recently found out that the Hunt Dog’s baby brother or sister is on the way. Several people have asked if this was planned. My only answer to this is “Chad and I are adults, we know how babies are made, we were purposely not preventing this from happening and we are elated to be having a second child.” Did we expect to get pregnant this soon after Hunter was born? No. Did we want another baby? Yes. Are we nervous/scared/anxious/crazy to be having babies so close together? Absolutely. Are we happy/ecstatic/over the moon excited to be having a second child and giving our sweet baby boy and little brother or sister? YOU BETCHA!
Okay, I’m done ranting.
But I mean seriously, who wouldn’t be trying to have another one of these running around their house? TOO. STINKIN’. CUTE.