I quit my job after having Lucy four months ago and am now a stay-at-home-mom. You can read about it here. My days are usually spent at home with Lucy, sitting on the floor and playing with her and trying different things to keep her attention until nap time. Sometimes we go out and run errands or just go shopping to look at things. I usually go in the mornings because it works better for us and we mainly go to the grocery store, Walmart, or Target. Lately I've noticed that all of these places have something in common: the shoppers mostly consist of moms with babies and kids that are too young to go to school.
Just this morning I went to Target and it seems like every person I saw was a mom pushing a stroller around the store or pushing a cart with a baby carrier in it. I even ran into one of my friends who had a baby two months after Lucy was born. She is a teacher so is not usually out at that time either, and we discussed how all the moms are out now! When I was working, I would work extra time during the day on Monday-Thursday so I could leave work early on Friday. Friday afternoons were when I did most of my shopping and the people I would see out from 2pm-4pm were definitely not moms with kids!
Being a stay-at-home-mom certainly has opened me up to new experiences and a whole new world! Some of them big, some of them little and probably silly like this, but it's my life now. And I love it!
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
August 21, 2009
Ross and I got engaged four years ago today, an absolutely perfect day! Our proposal was so wonderful! I remember it like it was yesterday - getting my dinner invitation in the mail, getting ready for dinner, eating dinner together, driving to the park, walking to the bench, reading "Our Book Of Love," Ross getting down on one knee and proposing, saying yes and hugging and crying, him putting the ring on my finger, celebrating with sparkling grape juice, taking pictures, calling our family and friends.... Oh all of it was just absolutely perfect!
Thanks for asking me to marry you, Ross. I love you!
You can see our engagement night pictures here.
Thanks for asking me to marry you, Ross. I love you!
You can see our engagement night pictures here.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
The College Class of 2017
I've taken this from a friend's blog. He posts about it every year and I though you might enjoy reading it!
Since 1998, Ron Nief and Tom McBride of Beloit College in Wisconsin have prepared their annual Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones of this year’s class of incoming freshmen to our colleges and universities – the class of 2017. Most of these students were born in 1995, so the list helps us to see is how much the world has changed since then.
When the Class of 2017 arrives on campus this fall, these digital natives will already be well-connected to each other. They are more likely to have borrowed money for college than their Boomer parents were, and while their parents foresee four years of school, the students are pretty sure it will be longer than that. Members of this year’s first year class, most of them born in 1995, will search for the academic majors reported to lead to good-paying jobs, and most of them will take a few courses taught at a distant university by a professor they will never meet.
The use of smart phones in class may indicate they are reading the assignment they should have read last night, or they may be recording every minute of their college experience…or they may be texting the person next to them. If they are admirers of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, they may wonder whether a college degree is all it’s cracked up to be, even as their dreams are tempered by the reality that tech geniuses come along about as often as Halley’s Comet, which they will not glimpse until they reach what we currently consider “retirement age.”
Though they have never had the chicken pox, they are glad to have access to health insurance for a few more years. They will study hard, learn a good deal more, teach their professors quite a lot, and realize eventually that they will soon be in power. After all, by the time they hit their thirties, four out of ten voters will be of their generation. Whatever their employers may think of them, politicians will be paying close attention.
Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. Prepared by Beloit’s former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief and Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride, the list was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references. It quickly became an internationally monitored catalog of the changing worldview of each new college generation. Mindset List websites at themindsetlist.com and beloit.edu, as well as the Mediasite webcast and their Facebook page receive more than a million visits annually.
The Mindset List for the Class of 2017
For this generation of entering college students, born in 1995, Dean Martin, Mickey Mantle, and Jerry Garcia have always been dead.
1. Eminem and LL Cool J could show up at parents’ weekend.
2. They are the sharing generation, having shown tendencies to share everything, including possessions, no matter how personal.
3. GM means food that is Genetically Modified.
4. As they started to crawl, so did the news across the bottom of the television screen.
5. “Dude” has never had a negative tone.
6. As their parents held them as infants, they may have wondered whether it was the baby or Windows 95 that had them more excited.
7. As kids they may well have seen Chicken Run but probably never got chicken pox.
8. Having a chat has seldom involved talking.
9. Gaga has never been baby talk.
10. They could always get rid of their outdated toys on eBay.
11. They have known only two presidents.
12. Their TV screens keep getting smaller as their parents’ screens grow ever larger.
13. PayPal has replaced a pen pal as a best friend on line.
14. Rites of passage have more to do with having their own cell phone and Skype accounts than with getting a driver’s license and car.
15. The U.S. has always been trying to figure out which side to back in Middle East conflicts.
16. A tablet is no longer something you take in the morning.
17. Threatening to shut down the government during Federal budget negotiations has always been an anticipated tactic.
18. Growing up with the family dog, one of them has worn an electronic collar, while the other has toted an electronic lifeline.
19. Plasma has never been just a bodily fluid.
20. The Pentagon and Congress have always been shocked, absolutely shocked, by reports of sexual harassment and assault in the military.
21. Spray paint has never been legally sold in Chicago.
22. Captain Janeway has always taken the USS Voyager where no woman or man has ever gone before.
23. While they've grown up with a World Trade Organization, they have never known an Interstate Commerce Commission.
24. Courts have always been ordering computer network wiretaps.
25. Planes have never landed at Stapleton Airport in Denver.
26. Jurassic Park has always had rides and snack bars, not free-range triceratops and velociraptors.
27. Thanks to Megan's Law and Amber Alerts, parents have always had community support in keeping children safe.
28. With GPS, they have never needed directions to get someplace, just an address.
29. Java has never been just a cup of coffee.
30. Americans and Russians have always cooperated better in orbit than on earth.
31. Olympic fever has always erupted every two years.
32. Their parents have always bemoaned the passing of precocious little Calvin and sarcastic stuffy Hobbes.
33. In their first 18 years, they have watched the rise and fall of Tiger Woods and Alex Rodriquez.
34. Yahoo has always been looking over its shoulder for the rise of "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.”
35. Congress has always been burdened by the requirement that they comply with the anti-discrimination and safety laws they passed for everybody else to follow.
36. The U.S. has always imposed economic sanctions against Iran.
37. The Celestine Prophecy has always been bringing forth a new age of spiritual insights.
38. Smokers in California have always been searching for their special areas, which have been harder to find each year.
39. They aren’t surprised to learn that the position of Top Spook at the CIA is an equal opportunity post.
40. They have never attended a concert in a smoke-filled arena.
41. As they slept safely in their cribs, the Oklahoma City bomber and the Unabomber were doing their deadly work.
42. There has never been a national maximum speed on U.S. highways.
43. Don Shula has always been a fine steak house.
44. Their favorite feature films have always been largely, if not totally, computer generated.
45. They have never really needed to go to their friend’s house so they could study together.
46. They have never seen the Bruins at Boston Garden, the Trailblazers at Memorial Coliseum, the Supersonics in Key Arena, or the Canucks at the Pacific Coliseum.
47. Dayton, Ohio, has always been critical to international peace accords.
48. Kevin Bacon has always maintained six degrees of separation in the cinematic universe.
49. They may have been introduced to video games with a new Sony PlayStation left in their cribs by their moms.
50. A Wiki has always been a cooperative web application rather than a shuttle bus in Hawaii.
51. The Canadian Football League Stallions have always sung Alouette in Montreal after bidding adieu to Baltimore.
52. They have always been able to plug into USB ports
53. Olestra has always had consumers worried about side effects.
54. Washington, D.C., tour buses have never been able to drive in front of the White House.
55. Being selected by Oprah’s Book Club has always read “success.”
56. There has never been a Barings Bank in England.
57. Their parents’ car CD player is soooooo ancient and embarrassing.
58. New York’s Times Square has always had a splash of the Magic Kingdom in it.
59. Bill Maher has always been politically incorrect.
60. They have always known that there are “five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes" in a year.
http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2017/
Since 1998, Ron Nief and Tom McBride of Beloit College in Wisconsin have prepared their annual Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones of this year’s class of incoming freshmen to our colleges and universities – the class of 2017. Most of these students were born in 1995, so the list helps us to see is how much the world has changed since then.
When the Class of 2017 arrives on campus this fall, these digital natives will already be well-connected to each other. They are more likely to have borrowed money for college than their Boomer parents were, and while their parents foresee four years of school, the students are pretty sure it will be longer than that. Members of this year’s first year class, most of them born in 1995, will search for the academic majors reported to lead to good-paying jobs, and most of them will take a few courses taught at a distant university by a professor they will never meet.
The use of smart phones in class may indicate they are reading the assignment they should have read last night, or they may be recording every minute of their college experience…or they may be texting the person next to them. If they are admirers of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, they may wonder whether a college degree is all it’s cracked up to be, even as their dreams are tempered by the reality that tech geniuses come along about as often as Halley’s Comet, which they will not glimpse until they reach what we currently consider “retirement age.”
Though they have never had the chicken pox, they are glad to have access to health insurance for a few more years. They will study hard, learn a good deal more, teach their professors quite a lot, and realize eventually that they will soon be in power. After all, by the time they hit their thirties, four out of ten voters will be of their generation. Whatever their employers may think of them, politicians will be paying close attention.
Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. Prepared by Beloit’s former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief and Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride, the list was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references. It quickly became an internationally monitored catalog of the changing worldview of each new college generation. Mindset List websites at themindsetlist.com and beloit.edu, as well as the Mediasite webcast and their Facebook page receive more than a million visits annually.
The Mindset List for the Class of 2017
For this generation of entering college students, born in 1995, Dean Martin, Mickey Mantle, and Jerry Garcia have always been dead.
1. Eminem and LL Cool J could show up at parents’ weekend.
2. They are the sharing generation, having shown tendencies to share everything, including possessions, no matter how personal.
3. GM means food that is Genetically Modified.
4. As they started to crawl, so did the news across the bottom of the television screen.
5. “Dude” has never had a negative tone.
6. As their parents held them as infants, they may have wondered whether it was the baby or Windows 95 that had them more excited.
7. As kids they may well have seen Chicken Run but probably never got chicken pox.
8. Having a chat has seldom involved talking.
9. Gaga has never been baby talk.
10. They could always get rid of their outdated toys on eBay.
11. They have known only two presidents.
12. Their TV screens keep getting smaller as their parents’ screens grow ever larger.
13. PayPal has replaced a pen pal as a best friend on line.
14. Rites of passage have more to do with having their own cell phone and Skype accounts than with getting a driver’s license and car.
15. The U.S. has always been trying to figure out which side to back in Middle East conflicts.
16. A tablet is no longer something you take in the morning.
17. Threatening to shut down the government during Federal budget negotiations has always been an anticipated tactic.
18. Growing up with the family dog, one of them has worn an electronic collar, while the other has toted an electronic lifeline.
19. Plasma has never been just a bodily fluid.
20. The Pentagon and Congress have always been shocked, absolutely shocked, by reports of sexual harassment and assault in the military.
21. Spray paint has never been legally sold in Chicago.
22. Captain Janeway has always taken the USS Voyager where no woman or man has ever gone before.
23. While they've grown up with a World Trade Organization, they have never known an Interstate Commerce Commission.
24. Courts have always been ordering computer network wiretaps.
25. Planes have never landed at Stapleton Airport in Denver.
26. Jurassic Park has always had rides and snack bars, not free-range triceratops and velociraptors.
27. Thanks to Megan's Law and Amber Alerts, parents have always had community support in keeping children safe.
28. With GPS, they have never needed directions to get someplace, just an address.
29. Java has never been just a cup of coffee.
30. Americans and Russians have always cooperated better in orbit than on earth.
31. Olympic fever has always erupted every two years.
32. Their parents have always bemoaned the passing of precocious little Calvin and sarcastic stuffy Hobbes.
33. In their first 18 years, they have watched the rise and fall of Tiger Woods and Alex Rodriquez.
34. Yahoo has always been looking over its shoulder for the rise of "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.”
35. Congress has always been burdened by the requirement that they comply with the anti-discrimination and safety laws they passed for everybody else to follow.
36. The U.S. has always imposed economic sanctions against Iran.
37. The Celestine Prophecy has always been bringing forth a new age of spiritual insights.
38. Smokers in California have always been searching for their special areas, which have been harder to find each year.
39. They aren’t surprised to learn that the position of Top Spook at the CIA is an equal opportunity post.
40. They have never attended a concert in a smoke-filled arena.
41. As they slept safely in their cribs, the Oklahoma City bomber and the Unabomber were doing their deadly work.
42. There has never been a national maximum speed on U.S. highways.
43. Don Shula has always been a fine steak house.
44. Their favorite feature films have always been largely, if not totally, computer generated.
45. They have never really needed to go to their friend’s house so they could study together.
46. They have never seen the Bruins at Boston Garden, the Trailblazers at Memorial Coliseum, the Supersonics in Key Arena, or the Canucks at the Pacific Coliseum.
47. Dayton, Ohio, has always been critical to international peace accords.
48. Kevin Bacon has always maintained six degrees of separation in the cinematic universe.
49. They may have been introduced to video games with a new Sony PlayStation left in their cribs by their moms.
50. A Wiki has always been a cooperative web application rather than a shuttle bus in Hawaii.
51. The Canadian Football League Stallions have always sung Alouette in Montreal after bidding adieu to Baltimore.
52. They have always been able to plug into USB ports
53. Olestra has always had consumers worried about side effects.
54. Washington, D.C., tour buses have never been able to drive in front of the White House.
55. Being selected by Oprah’s Book Club has always read “success.”
56. There has never been a Barings Bank in England.
57. Their parents’ car CD player is soooooo ancient and embarrassing.
58. New York’s Times Square has always had a splash of the Magic Kingdom in it.
59. Bill Maher has always been politically incorrect.
60. They have always known that there are “five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes" in a year.
http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2017/
Monday, August 19, 2013
Our New Chair
Over the weekend we purchased a new chair for our kitchen table:
We bought Lucy a high chair! She's almost ready for solid foods, but is now still just nursing for her food. We decided to get the high chair now to have it and to start getting her used to it. I had planned on keeping it by one of the windows, not at the table like it is in the picture. That was a bit crowded, though, so just removed the matching chair and scooted the high chair up to the table. I think it will work out very well for us! The high chair is easily adjustable so can go higher if needed. I hope Lucy likes it!
Friday, August 16, 2013
One Year Ago Today
I'm a big dates person in that most of the time I can remember what I was doing one year ago today, five years ago today, ten years ago today, etc. I've been able to do this since junior high. Sometimes it's kind of annoying because I remember things I don't want to. Other times, though, it's really fun, like today. One year ago today, August 16, Ross and I found out we were going to have a baby! It has been so much fun to me this week thinking back to this time last year. The few days we spent wondering if the symptoms I was experiencing actually was pregnancy or something else.
I had gone on a "girl-cation" to the beach at Biloxi, MS, with three girlfriends the weekend before and I remember that while sitting on the beach one of my friends asked if we were thinking about having kids. I told her we were and that we were looking forward to it. Little did I know that I was actually pregnant during that conversation!
That week I was really tired, I had to go to the bathroom overnight (which never happened to me), my period was late (which it had been starting a day or two early the previous months), and a few other things that made me think I was pregnant. Ross and I talked about it a lot and we were excited, but a little nervous, too! We wanted to have kids, but neither of us thought it would happen so fast. We really only "tried" (which I hate that expression..trying to get pregnant) for about three months. We both thought it would take a year, just because.
We didn't want to take a bunch of pregnancy tests, so wanted to wait a few days after the signs showed up. We talked about when to take a test and decided to take it Friday morning because the morning is the best time to take the test and that would give more time for my period to start. Well, Thursday afternoon we were texting about it and decided to just take a test that night after work.
I remember it all so well! I got home and went in to talk to Ross in his office. We were both a little nervous, but realized we had to do it sooner or later! I changed my clothes and got the test and started the process in the downstairs bathroom. When I was done I put the stick, face down, in the sink. We were going to let it sit for a few minutes. I remember being so excited and smiling when I put it in the sink because I saw a positive line starting to form! I didn't tell Ross that, just waited until we both looked at it. After waiting a few minutes we looked at the stick and it was POSITIVE! We were pregnant!
We were both so excited, nervous, scared, happy, about every emotion possible probably! I started laughing and I think we both cried a little. Ross was excited but had a very overwhelmed and nervous look on his face! We spent the next hour sitting on the couch just talking about being pregnant. We were both surprised that it happened so fast! We decided to go out to dinner and ended up at Houlihans. During dinner we made plans on how to tell our family and friends. Oh such fun times to think back on! Read more about it and see picture here!
Now it's just amazing to me that one year has passed and we have a 3 1/2 month old beautiful baby girl who we love so much. It's just crazy how many changes can occur in just one year!
I had gone on a "girl-cation" to the beach at Biloxi, MS, with three girlfriends the weekend before and I remember that while sitting on the beach one of my friends asked if we were thinking about having kids. I told her we were and that we were looking forward to it. Little did I know that I was actually pregnant during that conversation!
That week I was really tired, I had to go to the bathroom overnight (which never happened to me), my period was late (which it had been starting a day or two early the previous months), and a few other things that made me think I was pregnant. Ross and I talked about it a lot and we were excited, but a little nervous, too! We wanted to have kids, but neither of us thought it would happen so fast. We really only "tried" (which I hate that expression..trying to get pregnant) for about three months. We both thought it would take a year, just because.
We didn't want to take a bunch of pregnancy tests, so wanted to wait a few days after the signs showed up. We talked about when to take a test and decided to take it Friday morning because the morning is the best time to take the test and that would give more time for my period to start. Well, Thursday afternoon we were texting about it and decided to just take a test that night after work.
I remember it all so well! I got home and went in to talk to Ross in his office. We were both a little nervous, but realized we had to do it sooner or later! I changed my clothes and got the test and started the process in the downstairs bathroom. When I was done I put the stick, face down, in the sink. We were going to let it sit for a few minutes. I remember being so excited and smiling when I put it in the sink because I saw a positive line starting to form! I didn't tell Ross that, just waited until we both looked at it. After waiting a few minutes we looked at the stick and it was POSITIVE! We were pregnant!
We were both so excited, nervous, scared, happy, about every emotion possible probably! I started laughing and I think we both cried a little. Ross was excited but had a very overwhelmed and nervous look on his face! We spent the next hour sitting on the couch just talking about being pregnant. We were both surprised that it happened so fast! We decided to go out to dinner and ended up at Houlihans. During dinner we made plans on how to tell our family and friends. Oh such fun times to think back on! Read more about it and see picture here!
Now it's just amazing to me that one year has passed and we have a 3 1/2 month old beautiful baby girl who we love so much. It's just crazy how many changes can occur in just one year!
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Did You Ever Think You Would Have So Much Fun?
I hear myself asking Ross this question a lot lately:
Did you ever think you would have so much fun...
...watching a baby take a bath?
...taking a walk with a baby?
...playing with a baby?
...watching a baby sleep?
And the list could go on and on. It's amazing to both of us how we are having so much fun with Lucy! Neither of us have ever been "baby people." I never played house or with babies very much when growing up. I was more interested in playing school (which you can read about here) when growing up. I never even had a babysitting job.
Neither one of us had "baby fever" when we got married. Our plan was to wait 2-3 years before having kids so we could enjoy our married life and do a lot of traveling. We both wanted kids and talked about it off and on over our first 2 years of marriage and decided we'd start trying to get pregnant in the spring of 2012. The more we talked about kids, the more excited we got about that part of our life, but I don't think either of us imagined how exciting it would end up being! Sure, the first month was rough - lack of sleep, crying, make that screaming baby that we had no idea how to console, lack of sleep, being nervous handling such a tiny little thing, and did I mention a lack of sleep?
It has been so much fun to watch Lucy grow and learn new things these last 3 months. She has gone from 8 pounds to about 14 and has discovered her hands and feet, she can sit in her bumbo chair really well, she's almost ready to roll over, she is "talking" to us, she loves to splash in her bath, and I could go on and on. It's amazing how we just have so much fun watching her. We do love her so!
Did you ever think you would have so much fun...
...watching a baby take a bath?
...taking a walk with a baby?
...playing with a baby?
...watching a baby sleep?
And the list could go on and on. It's amazing to both of us how we are having so much fun with Lucy! Neither of us have ever been "baby people." I never played house or with babies very much when growing up. I was more interested in playing school (which you can read about here) when growing up. I never even had a babysitting job.
Neither one of us had "baby fever" when we got married. Our plan was to wait 2-3 years before having kids so we could enjoy our married life and do a lot of traveling. We both wanted kids and talked about it off and on over our first 2 years of marriage and decided we'd start trying to get pregnant in the spring of 2012. The more we talked about kids, the more excited we got about that part of our life, but I don't think either of us imagined how exciting it would end up being! Sure, the first month was rough - lack of sleep, crying, make that screaming baby that we had no idea how to console, lack of sleep, being nervous handling such a tiny little thing, and did I mention a lack of sleep?
It has been so much fun to watch Lucy grow and learn new things these last 3 months. She has gone from 8 pounds to about 14 and has discovered her hands and feet, she can sit in her bumbo chair really well, she's almost ready to roll over, she is "talking" to us, she loves to splash in her bath, and I could go on and on. It's amazing how we just have so much fun watching her. We do love her so!
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Mail....Again!
You know I like to send and receive mail and last week I received a very special piece of mail in my mailbox:
Ross sent me a card in the mail. I love this! He could have saved a stamp and just put it in our mailbox, or left it inside for me somewhere, but I love the fact that he actually mailed it. Thank you, Ross! You do know me so well!
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