Y3W: One BIG Weekend

One this day 5 years ago, I married my best friend.... 5 whole years ago! It has barely felt like 5 years, but here it is, staring us in the face! It's fun to look back and remember the day, but our marriage grows stronger and better with each passing year. I feel very accomplished today!

Two years after our wedding, I was overdue in my pregnancy by 4 days and I was huge and I was scheduled to be induced the following day, on the 17th of September. I didn't really like the date and had had the 18th in mind for my son's birthday during my entire pregnancy. So, on the 17th, I waddled myself to the hospital at 5am, was hooked up to all the machines and waited and waited...and then waited some more. I waited until it was 1:49am when it was finally time to push... 15 minutes later, at 2:04am, on Thursday, September 18th, Vincent Alexander came into this world!

 I can't believe that on Sunday I will be the mother of a 3 year old! A walking, talking, thinking, vibrant, adoreable, hilarious, smart, passionate little person.

Life is amazing!

So, with two very important dates so close together, we have one BIG weekend! Tonight, my husband and I will have our first date night since Audrey was born - yes, she's almost 5 months old - we like to do family things with our kids, so it's not like we've been hermits! Tomorrow, is Vincent's big 3rd Birthday Spidey Party!

I'm excited to celebrate all.weekend.long.

Your Three Words Link up:

Wordless Wednesday: 5 years

In honor of our 5 year wedding anniversary on Friday...

This is what 5 years of marriage looks like:





And... we're in need of some serious family of four pictures...

A Trip to the Tresure Chest!

Vincent's school has put into place a new sticker reward system. Once a child accumulates so many stickers for completing tasks and following the rules, they get to take a trip to the treasure chest where a plethora of jewels and toys await.

The first week, Vincent brought home a craptastic wrist watch that wouldn't stay fastened to his wrist. Every time it would fall off, he'd become increasingly upset. "Great," I thought to myself, "the treasure chest is full of a bunch of cheap toys designed to torture me during the ride home!"

The next week, Vincent brought home a plastic toy car, that he played with on the way home and then forgot about it - Phew, no issues!

Yesterday, I walked into Vincent's classroom and he proudly exclaimed that he got to go to the treasure chest today! I can only begin to imagine what item he will be pulling from his cubby and almost flinch as he flings his arm forward to show off what I can only describe as the biggest, most sparkly-purple cocktail ring that I have ever seen adorning his hand. I take a second to process what I am seeing and then give him the biggest hug as I praise him for his good behavior.

The rest of the evening he showed off his ring proudly to all the kids at the sitter's house when we picked up Audrey, to Audrey, and of course, to Daddy as well.

My kids never cease to amaze me! Vincent's enthusiasm for life is contagious and his ability to find joy in the small things in life is something that I wish will continue on throughout his life.

I can't wait to see what he brings home next week...

Hilarious Daddy Moment

If there is a slight chance that my husband will make a mistake in dressing our children... it will happen!! Most of the time, if I have my life in order, I can lay out Vincent's clothes to try and minimize the damage, but sometimes it is beyond my control. So, I try not to get too upset when I pick Vincent up from daycare to find he's wearing plaid shorts with a striped shirt, or when he was a baby, there were many times I discovered a backwards onesie, but the wardrobe malfunction that occurred on Saturday is the most outrageous to date...

On Saturday, I was a hot mess! I was tired, the house was filthy from travelling for the past 3 weekends,  I had to be at work to give a presentation at the annual leadership conference, and we had friends coming over for dinner. It was the perfect storm of craziness! Amongst cleaning, grocery shopping, and getting myself ready and out the door for work, Alex had taken care of our kids by getting them dressed and fed. Everything seemed normal....

I got home around 4:30pm and was greeted by a happy toddler, almost pre-schooler. The VATech Hokies were playing, so Alex couldn't be bothered as Vincent proclaimed, "I have to go potty!" I escorted him to the bathroom and turned on the light. It wasn't until he had finished and began to pull up his underwear that I saw it... the missing bloomers to one of Audrey's dresses.. being used as....underwear! How those little 0-3 month bloomers fit an almost 3 year old, what my husband was thinking when he put them on - these thoughts raced through my mind as Vincent, somehow reading my mind, proudly stated that they were his "dinosaur underwear."

So, what did I do? After asking and getting a shrug from Alex, Vincent got to wear his teenie tiny, bikini cut looking "dinosuar underwear" for the rest of the day and I got a mental note to make sure I took extra care to keep the kids' clothes separated!

What Were You Doing?

"Amy!! Wake up, turn on the TV... it's like a movie! Wake up!" Shouted my frantic roommate as as the door to our tiny dorm room flew open and she rushed in.

"Huh? What? Remember I don't have class until four on Tuesdays?" I challenged back as my roommate searched for our remote control, located it, and turned on the television.

When I finally managed to open my eyes, sit up, and put on my glasses, I could hardly believe my eyes. What was happening? Why was it happening? What was going to happen next? My 17 year old brain could barely comprehend the magnitude of the images before me.

This is where I was the day the World as I had known it died, the day of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Ten years ago I was a baby, a 17 year old Freshman at the beginning of my very first semester at college. I was worried about making friends, writing papers, and getting myself to class and parties. Ten years later, I am a working mother of two and the World is a very different place, very different.

Today, I sat in church and heard the Gospel. The Deacon was preaching forgiveness and I couldn't help but sit and contemplate this notion and think about what I was doing on this day in 2001 and about the thousands of people still suffering and missing their loved ones.

What were you doing?