Little Things That Annoy Me

Why does Chip seem to think it is necessary for him to sit on my iPod? You are not an effing hen and that is not a baby chick. Please remove your white fluffy ass from my brand new toy!! And while I'm on it, could we please stay at our bowls to eat? I am talking to you white and skinny. That's right lil girl, there is no need for you to stuff your mouth with as much food as possible, run to my couch spit it out on the cushions, and then proceed to eat it and leave little dog food pieces all over my freshly cleaned couch! I promise that there is nothing scary over there at your food bowl. There is not some strange monster that will come out of your food bowl and attack you. And while we're having this conversation could you please work on the whole poop in the kennel thing? I know it doesn't happen all the time but it really shouldn't be happening at all. You are over a year old now, I have been as patient as I can be, I think it's time you were fully "potty trained." Mmkay? Thanks.

The Mrs.

Grrr...

So apparently I have a lot to learn about blogs. I wrote several posts the other day and since I was using "the old" settings on blogger, they all published out of the order I wanted them to. And how fair is it that the old settings are the default settings?!? Now that I have changed that there won't be any more problems. ::side eyes blogger:: right? Oh well. The one about my dogs is actually my new post! Just scroll down past my brother to see it :)

The Mrs.

My Brother

Since today is my little brother's birthday, I think I will pay homage to him here on my blog. I was an only child for the first 8 years of my life. And I have to say, I was pretty happy with that. I wasn't one of those kids that was constantly asking for a little brother or sister. Mostly because I grew up with other kids around to play with and partly because I liked my things exactly how I left them. I didn't want some little person coming along and messing things up.

So imagine my utter shock when I was looking through my mom's car and found a bag with a little blue stork on it and some cheesy saying about "expecting" or "new baby." I can't remember the specifics right now. So I picked up the offensive item and marched myself into the house and into my mom's room where I demanded to know if she was having a baby. I can remember her giving me this look and a little smile and then she said, "Yes, your going to be a big sister." I didn't really say anything, kind of a mumbled "ok" and then I went back to my room. For the next few months I grew more and more excited. Just think of all the fun things you get to do. You can feed the baby, dress the baby, and carry the baby around. Basically I planned to make this baby my bitch. :) But in a good way, I promise!

Then came THE day. It was early afternoon and I was outside playing when my mom said it was time to go. We went to the hospital and I hung around in the waiting room with my grandparents. After what felt like an eternity I was allowed to go to my mom's room and there he was. In all his new baby glory. My brother. And in that moment I knew that no matter what, I would always love and protect him. After a few days in the hospital (my mom had her tubes tied, ha, I think she wanted to make sure there were no more surprises!) my mom came home and so did Ryan.

I remember learning how to hold him, how to feed, how to burp him, and how to change diapers. I could tell what his different cries meant and respond to them faster than my granny (who stayed with us a while after he was born to help out). I learned to boil bottles, measure formula. I also learned not to leave plastic things near really hot burners and NEVER lick your finger after you make a bottle, that stuff tastes like shiz! And as he grew, my love for him grew. I watched him learn to walk, learn to talk. I was his "jenniper", and sometimes no one else would do. I also endured hour after hour of Toy Story, I think he actually managed to watch that so much he broke the tape. (I know VHS, I can't believe it either!) And when he started school, I was there to make sure that no one picked on him and that he always had his lunch money. I made sure he got on the bus and I watched him when he got home in the evenings.

And when I got married he cried harder than anyone else. And when I saw him crying I dissolved into a puddle of mush. There was my 6'1" "little" brother crying in front of our family and friends. Our ties are strong, although they have been tested. We live next door to my family so he is up here all. the. time. Which is usually cool, but some times you need alone time for, ahem, marital relations. And it still kind of skeeves me out to do it while he is in my house. But today, as I look back over our life together I think I lucked out. I know siblings who are much closer in age and they hate each other. I feel extremely proud and protective over him, even though he outgrew me years ago.

So, today little brother I say, I love you and I always will. Happy Birthday.

PS- you still owe me a dog wash! :)

Dogs...

So when I was little I had a black chow, his name was Bear. I loved that dog. We shared a lot together in his 7 years with me. I started school, we moved, I got a new little brother (and Bear got a new little annoyance!), we moved again, and then his life was cut short by some ass who didn't know how to keep a car on the road and ran into my yard while me and my dog were playing and hit my dog. I was so devastated, I had known this dog since I was 4 and here I was getting ready to start middle school and someone robbed me of my best friend. Needless to say I decided against any more pets for a long time. Then enter the Mr. and I deciding to co-habitate. I decided that we just had to have a pet and oh look an adoption fair. Lets go look, I promise all I want to do is look. God, that man was a sucker! Anyway, I went and I found the cutest lil pup I could and I took him home.

Of course, at the time home was with my mom who had no idea I would be coming home with an animal. Surprise! We made it through that first night of whining and pooping and being utterly disgusted by the poop (him and me). We bonded that first night, me and Chip. (That's his name BTW and I have no idea where I got it from.) In those first few weeks we survived worms, ear mites, and whip worms (a particularly nasty parasite that greatly mimics parvo, I was terrified for my little guy). And for this reason, I think, there has always been a stronger connection between Chip and I than Chip and the Mr. So after a few months of happily living together the Mr. petitioned for his own pet. So I went to our local animal shelter and looked through the kennels and it was heartbreaking. And in one of the last kennels I found this little beauty.

This is Panda and she is the smartest dog I think I have ever met. She is also incredibly opinionated and she has a very complex personality. And the Mr. and I fell for her, hard. She has grown into a really cool dog and while I sometimes fantasize about a Chip free home (especially when he takes it upon himself to mark EVERYTHING in sight) I don't think I could imagine a life without Panda. Since this is a dog post I figure I should include the newest addition. Since the Mr. and I are lazy dog parents and we kinda slacked off in the whole spay and neuter thing... we got a Runt. Now I know that name sounds terribly mean, but it was her nickname when she was born because she was, well, the runt. And we called her that for so long that when we ended up keeping her, we couldn't think of anything else. So without further ado, Runt.And I promise that is it. We don't have any more! Sometimes it feels like a zoo around here and while we sometimes jokingly threaten to get rid of them, we never would. We love them too much. After all, they are our first born, our fur babies. And life just wouldn't be the same without them.

The Mrs.

New Blog Yo...

So I have had a little practice at this blogging thing, but I digress. It didn't go as planned. I didn't have anything that I particularly felt was interesting and I was a little, err, lax in my blogging. :) So comes this blog. Where I hope that you dear internets can be my shoulder to lean on, my ear to bend, my bestie that is always there and I can tell anything to.
I have wanted to be a mom for a while now. I think meeting this dashingly handsome man may have had something to do with it.

We met in high school (my freshman year, his sophomore) and flirted with each other NONSTOP. Like seriously, I'm sure we made people want to vomit. Anyway, for one reason or another we never actually got around to dating. Although we did attend prom semi-together. (Another story for another time.) Flash forward to my first year of college. We began an over the phone relationship that was kinda like a crack addiction for me. I had to talk to him for fear of horrible withdrawals should I go for more than 6 hours without talking to him. This became a full fledged romance when we decided to date on November 5th of that year. A year passed and we hung out, had fun, became smitten with one another, and moved in together. (I know what your thinking, living in sin how could you? Believe me this gave me more worries than one would think but I am glad we did it.) So on our one year anniversary he asked me to marry him. (Which also happens to be a hilarious story which I will share at another time.) Of course I said yes. And on May 3, 2008 we were married in the sweetest little ceremony ever. I will never forget the rush of emotions I felt that day or the overwhelming sense of calm that came over me the minute I placed my hand in his. I was forever changed in the best way possible. Here was this wonderfully sweet man promising to put up with me for the rest of his life. Not just tolerate my insane insecurities, but love me for them. That was huge y'all. I am so grateful that God placed us in each others lives. And on days when he leaves his clothing lying around or a glass of soured milk in the living room, I just remind myself of this moment.

The moment the church doors opened and I saw him waiting for me at the front of church, looking completely uncomfortable in his tux. And then he looked up and his eyes met mine and the biggest, most boyish grin spread across his face. That will forever be etched into my memory. I don't think that I have ever felt anything quite like that, I love this man more than I love a good plate of BBQ, and if you know me then you know that that is L-O-V-E!

So this my ramblings. About our life, our marriage, and our journey to parenthood. So why don't you have a seat on our couch while I whip up some sweet tea and don't mind the doggies, their bark is definitely worse than their bite. :)

The Mrs.