Three Zero

February 10, 1983. My first birthday. If you do the math, you'll figure out that I just hit a major milestone. The big 3-0.

Some people hate any mention of big birthdays. I personally don't really care. While I'm not bothered by "30," I wasn't in to doing anything super outrageous to celebrate. When you have a tight budget like ours and you have a small person living inside your uterus, a flashy Vegas 30 isn't in the cards.

So instead of my dream 30 bonanza of a wild weekend in Europe or Vegas or both, Bradford took me out to lunch and shopping and Jeremy took me out to dinner at a tasty Greek restaurant. Jeremy even got to leave work early and stopped to pick up a woman movie I've been wanting to see (The Help) for us to watch together after Bradford went to bed. I blew out candles on a whoopie pie. All in all, it was a dream 30- a quiet day with the XYs I love most.

I feel good about where my life is at 30. If you had asked me 10 years ago what I wanted my life to be like at 30, I think I have all of the things most important to me covered. I think the list would look something like this:
1. Be a college graduate (Check. Goal accomplished May 2004.)
2. Be happily married (Check. Met dream man a week after accomplishing Goal #1. Marriage goal accomplished April 2008. Dream man has nice muscles and flashy title of "doctor". Bonus points!)
3. Have kids or be starting a family (Check. Goal accomplished April 2010. Bonus second child goal expected completion is March 2012.)
4. Have a dog of my own (Check. Goal accomplished August 2007 with the adoption of Brodie.)
5. Own a home (Check. Goal accomplished May 2010.)
6. Buy and own my own car (Check. Goal accomplished November 2004 with purchase of car and November 2009 with final car payment. December 2009, car 100% mine.)
7. Have no debt. (Goal briefly accomplished from December 2009-March 2010 with no more car or student loan payments and no credit card debt. Massive amounts of debt began again in April 2010 with birth of first child followed by purchase of first home and Jeremy's graduation from med school aka massive amounts of med school loan debt.)
8. Win the lottery (Total bust. But we did win a new TV)
9. Have a job I love (Goal accomplished right out of college in 2004 working college admissions. Drudged through a few years at UVA with jobs I did not love. Now working much-loved job of stay-at-home mom and bonus job of field hockey coach. Dream job of "woman of leisure" not achieved, but that's what 40 is for.)
10.Travel some place new every year. (Goal not entirely accomplished. I haven't been some place new every year, but perhaps every other year. Since I turned 20 I've added Hawaii, Colorado, and California as new states and Italy, Germany, Bahamas, and Jamaica as new countries. Vatican City too if you count that as a country, which it technically is. Not too bad. )

So all in all, I'm very happy with my life at 30. Cheers all around!

More Pics Sent to Jeremy

As I said in my last post, I frequently text Jeremy photos of what's going on at the home front while he is at work. Here are some more favorites.
Yesterday morning, I sent Jeremy this photo. Bradford was having a tantrum before he even had his first bite of breakfast. When I grabbed the TV remote, Bradford started chanting "Ernie! Ernie! Ernie!" I told him that Ernie wasn't on. Then he hasked for "Elmo! Elmo!" I once again explained that Ernie and Elmo were not on TV at that time. He was angry. For the record, Bradford has only been allowed to watch Sesame Street for about a month. I started allowing him to watch thinking that when Baby Deuce is born, Bradford can be happily occupied by Sesame Street for one hour each day, which would give me one guaranteed free hour to tend to things around the house- chores, meals, or just cuddling/feeding/changing/bathing Baby Deuce. Bradford was in a bad mood all day because "Ernie" wasn't on. This morning, he demanded Ernie again. Bradford is grounded from "Ernie" until further notice. If watching one show turns him into a monster after one month, he's not allowed to watch it anymore.

At about 10:30am, I sent this picture to Jeremy. If you look beyond the hideous floor, you can see a shattered glass mug. Two hours had gone by since I told Bradford Ernie wasn't on TV, and he was still angry. Like I said, the kid is not allowed to watch little boy shows on TV anymore. That glass mug was a souvenir favor from one of the Gettysburg College "Snow Ball" winter formals. When Bradford threw it on the ground and broke it, I cried. Pregnancy hormones do not mix well with mementos of college getting smashed in little boy fits of rage. When Bradford saw me crying, he started laughing. Bradford loves to break dishes. He's broken several glasses, a shot glass, bowls, and plates. These broken dishes were glass, stoneware, corelle, and even plastic. Nothing is safe. I'm so over little boy fits of rage. For the record, this behavior clearly comes from Jeremy's genes. Jeremy was, after all, the little boy who kicked a hole in the wall of his house because he didn't want chicken for dinner. Thanks, Jeremy. Really nice of you to pass on your anger management issues to our kid and then go off to work long hours leaving me alone with your angry spawn.

On Friday, I sent this pic to Jeremy with the message, "Awesome. Now he tries to stand in the cart." Yes, this pic was taken in a Target. Like I said in my last post, Jeremy gets a lot of Target pics.

Of course, Bradford isn't bad all of the time, and Jeremy certainly doesn't want to hear all about how rotten Bradford can be while he's working long hours. I sent this pic to Jeremy so we could share in G'burg pride how cute our son looks wearing a G'burg hat. Go Bullets!

Bradford was trying to wear my coat here. Obviously he ran into some trouble when he put his head in the sleeve.

In the "Weird Things Bradford Does" category of pics I send to Jeremy, would be Bradford's borderline OCD when it comes to his love of collecting like objects. On this day, Bradford collected several pairs of my shoes and organized them, by matching pair, in his bug chair.

Another "weird" pic. Post-nap, I found Bradford like this. It's how all the cool kids wear their shirts now I guess.

Steelers game day. Jeremy was working during the game. I sent Jeremy this pic so that he would know that Bradford and I were watching the game, and Bradford was wearing Steelers clothing. Jeremy could also tell from the pic that the Steelers had just scored and Bradford was engaged in the game based on this pic alone. Bradford can say "touch down," and when he does, he always throws his right arm into the air excitedly.

I sent this pic to Jeremy to show him that I caught the ghost in our house on camera. I've been telling him since we moved in that our house is haunted. I've heard the sound of someone walking up the stairs or running water or other strange noises when I'm home alone with Bradford. Our house ghost isn't scary though. The ghost doesn't make as much noise now as it did for our first year in the house. I like to think it's because the ghost has come to accept us as the living residents of this house and approves of our decorating choices. Maybe the ghost was more restless when we were new in the house because it was wondering if we were ever going to do something about our hideous kitchen.

Sometimes, Jeremy will get a pic like this that serves as a reminder that little boys are gross, but completely cute at the same time.

Here's another "weird" pic. Bradford took all of his toys out of this crate (as you can see in the background) and then sat in it.

Jeremy got this pic during one of our library outings. Bradford loves the puzzles in the children's section.

I sent this pic to Jeremy when he was working nights back in early September. It was before we announced that Bradford was going to be a big brother. I told Jeremy that Brodie obviously knew what was up since he, knowing dogs aren't allowed on couches, decided to snuggle up next to me and rest his doggy head on my belly anyway.

Sometimes Jeremy gets pics of Bradford's bath time shenanigans.

So many "Bradford is weird" pics sent to Jeremy. Here's Bradford taking things out of our recycling bin and standing them up on end.

In other recycling news, I sent this pic of our recycling bin to Jeremy with the message "Why is our recycling bin covered in slugs?" Strangest thing ever. In the month of October, our bin was plagued by slugs. I don't know where they came from or why they loved our recycling bin so much, but I was glad when they eventually moved on.

I always send Jeremy a pic of Bradford at his latest doctor's appointment. Here's Bradford at his 15 month check-up looking ever so cute running around in just a diaper, socks, and shoes.

Sometimes Jeremy gets pics of the weird things Brodie does too, like building nests in the shade.

And sometimes Jeremy gets pics of the weird things other animals do. One day I thought it would be fun to take Bradford to feed the ducks in a nearby pond. It ended up being a terrifying experience when the swarm of ducks and geese lead by this rogue in front jumped out of the pond and came after us demanding more and more bread. Bradford did not like that one bit. What happened to the nice ducks who would just float around in ponds calmly and nicely accepting bread crumbs when I was little? I'm never taking Bradford to feed the ducks again.

During pool-weather, I sent Jeremy a lot of pics of Bradford's swimming fun. I figured Jeremy would espcially like this pic because Bradford appears to be flexing his muscles.

Sometimes I'll send Jeremy pics of the projects I'm working on around the house, like when I painted this mirror.

Sometimes I'll send Jeremy a pic like this with the message, "Wish you were here."

Oh look, another Target pic. Bradford and "Mirror Bradford" having a play-date in the changing room.

Another bed-time sleeping photo for Jeremy. Bradford used to love sleeping like this with his butt in the air.

Sometimes I send pictures to Jeremy of Bradford eating like a dog, which he does often. He either wants to be fancy and use a fork, or revert back to the stone age and eat like a dog. Go figure.

I sent this pic to Jeremy a year ago with the message, "Bradford seems to have some type of a skin condition. Do you know anyone in derm you could ask about this?"

Jeremy used to get a lot of pics like this one of a 10 month old sleeping Bradford. Ah, those were the days. No tantrums and fits of rage that resulted in my things getting broken, just lots of blissful sleeping time. Jeremy can expect a lot of pics like this after Baby Deuce makes its appearance next month!

Photos From My Phone That I Sent To Jeremy

I frequently take pictures with my phone and text them to Jeremy when he's at work. I love how it is a modern way of staying connected to each other during his long days and nights at work. There are, sadly, many days when he doesn't get to see Bradford at all due to leaving the house so early in the morning (he left before 5:00am yesterday) and coming home after Bradford's bed time (one night this week he got home after 9:00pm). Texting him pictures of Bradford, Brodie, or other random things like couches for sale is a way I can let him know that we're thinking about him, love him, and appreciate all of the long hours and hard work he does to financially support our little family. What did residents due before cell phones had cameras? They must not have known what their kids looked like at all.
So this happened Thursday morning. Bradford got into my make-up and applied liquid eye-liner. I promptly snapped a photo with my phone's camera and texted the picture to Jeremy. Later, when I showed the picture to Bradford, he pointed at his eye and said, "dirty." Good to know he recognizes that he didn't do a stellar job of making himself look presentable.

Sometimes, I send Jeremy pictures of Bradford at bed-time when he can't be there for story-time and to tuck him in. Bradford has recently started requesting books be in his bed at nap or bed time. The Ernie in the pic was mine when I was little. Bradford adores my old Ernie and even says "Ernie" with the cutest little boy voice ever.

Sometimes I send Jeremy pics of Brodie looking cute. I sent Jeremy this pic moments after getting home from running errands. Brodie is not allowed on our couches, as couches are for humans only. However, seeing as we are weeks away from the arrival of a new baby, it's time for Brodie to start up with his "big brother badness" like we saw prior to Bradford's arrival. Cue the counter-surfing, food stealing, trash hoarding, furniture climbing etc.

I sent this pic to Jeremy to illustrate how Bradford has recently become aware of the existence of Bloody Mary.

Sometimes I send Jeremy pictures of the weird things Bradford does throughout the day, like the time he tried to move the big rug in the family room.

And sometimes I send him pics I know will make him smile, like when Bradford was doing this in his bug chair.

Sometimes I send Jeremy pictures that show when Bradford is a terror, which I think make Jeremy secretly happy he's at work and not the one trying to buckle a little boy who is angry that it is time to leave the playground into his carseat.

Or sometimes it's a picture of Bradford having a meltdown at home with the attached message "It's not even 9:00am and we're already dealing with tantrums."

Sometimes Jeremy gets a picture illustrating the little streaks of independence and glimpses into big boy behavior. Bradford set up this little picnic himself.

Sometimes I send Jeremy pictures of Bradford's latest artwork. In this case, Bradford drew on his own face with a purple crayon.

Bradford and I love to go to Target. I sent Jeremy this pic back in December when Target had Christmas decorations in the store. The message I sent to Jeremy with this pic said, "I asked him if he wanted to go look at the Christmas trees and he said please." Yes, Bradford still cocks his head to the side every time he says please. Jeremy gets a lot of Target pics sent his way. Sometimes he'll text me back with a quick message like "while you're there, I need multivitamins."

Sometimes I'll send Jeremy a pic that requires a closer look. I think this pic was captioned "Can you find Brodie?" Brodie loves sleeping in the sun.

Sometimes Jeremy gets a picture with no caption at all. Just a cute image of Bradford.

Here's another cute image of Bradford that Jeremy got one day at work. Bradford loves the playground.

Sometimes I send Jeremy pics of our trips to the zoo (aka Petsmart). Bradford loves looking at all of the animals there.

And sometimes I'll take pictures of specific animals, like this guinea pig, and include a message like, "If we got this guinea pig, I would name him Harvey Dent."

Sometimes, when sending Jeremy pictures of our adventures about town, I'll send a pic like this and say, "Guess what store we are in."
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Stay tuned. More phone pics I've sent to Jeremy to come!

Hammer, Hammer

I'm a couple weeks behind in what's been going on in our life, but since only about 2 people read my blog anyway, did anyone actually notice that I only had one post for the entire month of January? The last time I only had one post in a month was in September 2009 when we announced this.
We recently had an exciting nerdy homeowner weekend that started with this image of a couch I texted to Jeremy one day at work. It was being offered for sale at an extremely discounted price for two days (or less if their limited supply sold out) and would ship for less than $10. We've been wanting a sofa for our living room since we moved in, and I had my heart set on either a shade of turquoise or purple for our living room sofa. I also said I would never order furniture over the internet without having seen it in person. We're also poor, so our living room sofa dreams were indefinitely put on hold... until I saw this beauty for sale for a remarkably great deal, so great, that I decided I would break my rule of buying furniture sight unseen. I immediately texted the screenshot to Jeremy (who was at work) with a "What do you think? Should I order it?" I told him that it said assembly was required, and I didn't know if that meant we just had to put the legs on or if we had to stitch the upholstery on the couch frame ourselves.
He just said, "Does that couch look like what you want?" I said, "I think so." He said, "So order it." I love my husband.

Less than a week later, this giant box arrived at our house. The UPS guy was super nice and actually brought it in the house into the living room for me. Earlier that morning, a UPS freight truck (not a delivery truck) over-turned on I-95 south of Richmond. I joked with Jeremy that our couch was on that truck and was now in the woods on the side of I-95. That's what you get for ordering a super sale couch over the internet. When the box arrived, it was dented, busted in all sorts of ways, and we decided that our couch was definitely on that truck because that's the kind of luck we have. If you look closely at the box, it says that the couch was made in China for a company in Illinois. The retailer we bought the couch from was in California. Our couch had traveled from China to Illinois to California to Virginia. No wonder why the box was busted.

This is what the box looked like when opened. Jeremy was excited that there was going to be so much assembly required. I was happy that we didn't have to actually go so far as stitching the upholstery ourselves. When the couch was assembled, the scene was something like this. The giant couch box was now the favorite toy of one happy little boy. The couch itself fits perfectly into our living room and we are super happy with it.

It was instantly clear that Bradford was ready to live in the box for life. I eventually moved it down to our family room where it stayed for a week and took up almost all of the free floor space.

Bradford put all of his toys and Brodie's toys in the box. He took meals in the box. He shredded magazines in the box. He colored on the box. He would lay down in it, say "nah-nigh" and pretend to go to sleep. That box was the best thing ever in my life. Sure our family room looked like crap with a giant box in the middle of it, but it was a week straight of Bradford not messing with our stuff.

The day after Jeremy put the couch together, he decided to open up another box. He was in a furniture building frenzy.

Voila! We now have a new desk with a wonderful new feature: a cabinet for the computer with a child-proof lock on it so Bradford can no longer press the power button while Jeremy is studying or I'm writing blog posts. And that brings me to the title of this post, "Hammer, Hammer." With all of that furniture building in one weekend, Bradford learned the word hammer. He says it perfectly, and he always says it twice. He has a toy hammer that he loves to wave around too.

Last weekend, Jeremy's dad (Pappy to Bradford) and his lady friend Kim came for a little visit. It was just the occasion for our first group photo on the new couch. Bradford clearly wasn't in the mood for a photo-op when this was taken, but Jeremy's smile proudly boasts "I built this couch! I'm the best!"