Cheers To You Sissy

Happy Birthday to my big sis today!  I can't believe she's 37.  How did we get so old?

She's my best friend, a great mother and someone I can always count on to be there for a much needed vent session, no matter what the topic.

I'm lucky to have two wonderful sisters.  One of the big reasons why I truly feel it is so important for Mia to have a sibling.

My sisters are so important to me and I don't know what I do without either of them.

Shannon and I have a great connection.  We have far surpassed our days of adolescence when we didn't get along, she would try to suffocate me with pillows and make me pick up dried up dog poop out of the yard.  Yes, yes she did.

When I found out I was pregnant with Mia and was able to finally go set up my registry she was the first person I called.  I was so excited to get to that point because let's be honest it's way more fun to register for a baby than a wedding.  But where to begin and what do I really need, thank goodness I had her or I'm pretty sure I would have had all the wrong parts for her bottles.

She has always been a great person to go to for advice.  She's a phenomenal mother and much of what I go to her about is about motherhood, parenthood and sometimes work.

She's raising two daughters.  One who is almost 7 and then other is about to turn 5 this fall.  She worked before babies and stopped to stay home with them and she is now slowly venturing back into the working world.  I'm just proud of her.

She's come a long way as a person.  She's much the intravert, something I am not, but she has really opened up and spread her wings the last few years.

And of course, what would be a birthday without a Happy Birthday video from Mia.  I have a feeling this will become a tradition.

Sunday we will celebrate with dinner at her favorite Mexican restaurant and I'm so excited to celebrate what will be her 37th amazing year of life.

Cheers to you Shanny!

I love you!

xoxo,

Melly

SWW

This week I'm Saying So What if:

• I watched American Ninja Warrior with the Hubs Monday night and liked it.

• I let Mia cry out a 14 minute tantrum on Sunday night.  She was calling for me the entire time.  It broke my Momma heart a bit, but I held strong.  Girl's got to learn right?

• Mia watches too much TV and spends too much time on the iPad.  It's not like she's watching Real Housewives or Jersey Shore with me.  And yes, I was one of those Moms that said she wouldn't watch a ton of TV.  Who was I kidding?

• I don't go to the movies, like ever, but this Joe Manganiello character may actual get me to coordinate a girls night to go see this Magic Mike movie.  Yum...eeee.

• Even though they are so great for her, I am soooooo ready for Mia's swimming lessons to be done.  2 weeks, 8 nights, a full 14 hour day for that many days...I'm exhausted.

• I find E cards on Pinterest to be hilarious.  Some of them just straight up make my day.  How is this not funny?

Link up with Shannon at Life After I Dew...these are so fun to read.

Happy Hump Day!

Tweeps, Peeps and Everything In Between

I love to write.

I have a undergraduate degree in Secondary English Education and a Master's degree in Education.  I enjoyed sharing my love for reading and writing with kids for the three years that I taught high school English, but the politics and other BS were more than I could handle, so I chose to explore other opportunities outside of education...

I digress...

Writing has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember.

I just like to speak on paper.  After leaving teaching, I went from being consumed with reading and writing most of my days to very little of both.  And then came Mia and then I stopped reading and stopped writing all together.

Through a recommendation of my cousin, I started blogging in 2009.

I never thought that blogging would provide the connections and believe it or not friendships that it has provided for me.

Example.

Through blogging and Twitter, Gina and I figured out that we lived in the same city at a time when I was exploring a new gym to join.  Ms. Namaste herself encouraged me to join her gym and boom, that's how we met.

And through that relationship, I met (well I should say virtually met her via the internet, not in actual human form) Lindsey.

Since they are both teachers, they have a bit more flexibility with their schedules in the summer and had made several mentions of trying to get together for a day at the zoo with our kids.  As I've mentioned before our zoo here in the Lou is a amazing.

So we figured it out.

Last Friday we met up for a day of F U N!

All of the kids were so cute together and it was a great day to get to know these women even better.

Checking out the trees and bugs on the way in.

Cheese.

We tried at a group shot, but I kind of like this one better.

Petting the stingrays

Trying to keep all the kids out of the water.

Choo Choo Taaaaain, in the words of C man himself.

Choo choooooo

We ended the day with a little body art.

Girlfriend fell right to sleep. 

Her pick - the Pink Kitty - meeeeow.

Getting picture ready for sending a text to Dadda.

Night night kitty.

It's amazing how something can become something you never expected.

Does Everything Happen For A Reason?

I told myself that I wouldn't do this, but for whatever reason I'm been thinking more and more about it every day.

If you've been following along for a while, you'll know that the relationship that I have with my MIL is not the "greatest."

She showed her true colors right after we bought our current home and shit really hit the fan around Mia's first birthday and since then I've made the decision to just keep her out of my life.

The Hubs still sees her and Mia does on occasion, but I have not seen her for 8+ months.

Just recently the Hubs and I have been talking about the lack of relationship that we have with his side of the family and that it has been weighing on both of us.

My Hubs is a pretty stressed out person.  Running his own small business is a constant 24/7 operation and requires a lot of time, energy and detail.  Throw in me, Mia, yard work and life, the man goes all day, every day, almost 6 days a week most weeks out of the year.  He really doesn't need anything else to add to his level of anxiety and I know the situation with his mother does NOT help.

We do a ton with my family and see them on the regular.  His family, not so much.  Everything with them has to be an event and nothing could just be on a whim.  Whim is fun sometimes!

I had a long talk with my Mom last week when she and I took Mia to CFA for dinner before her swimming lessons.  My Mom and her MIL (my Dad's Mom, my Grandma) weren't real "tight" either so I knew she would be a good one to ask and talk through this with.  I had explained to her that I'm just at a place where I need to move forward, move past my feelings and try to make things better.  She encouraged me to do that.

I haven't seen my SIL, BIL, my nieces or my MIL or FIL in a long time...

and then came Sunday.

Hubs and I decided that nothing says Happy Sunday like a pretty awesome salad from Olive Garden.  I don't know what it is about that salad, but it's deelish.  We aren't chain restaurant eaters (ok except CFA and Red Robin), but every couple of years we crave their salad and breadsticks.  Weird.  So off we went, as Mia and I were returning from our second trip to the bano since arriving, guess who was walking in to eat.  You guessed it - my MIL and FIL.  Anyway, my MIL giggled her uncomfortable I don't know what else to do giggle to get through our brief conversation.  It was awkward, but I started to think that there are higher somethings pushing us together to try to heal this relationship and make this family better and more united.  Maybe? Maybe not?  But shit like that doesn't just happen.

I'm one of those that believes strongly in the fact that everything happens for a reason and this is proof of why I do.

This Sunday the Hubs parents are having a BBQ and we're invited.  Initially, as usual, I was just going to stay home, but I have decided to go.

Sunday I plan to say something to my MIL because as much as she thinks time heals all wounds and that there is no reason to discuss the past, some of the things she said and did are not things I can just "brush off."

So I'm going to keep it light and keep it quick, but I want her to know that I'm ready to move on and start anew.

After all, there are kids involved and at the end of the day I don't want to have any regrets so I will try to heal our relationship.  I will try to be the bigger person.

Only time will tell.

Happy Monday!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Time with my girl.

Time with my other girl.

Time outside with new shades and guitar bubbles from VBS.

Heading to the grocery in purple socks and red sparkly shoes.

Wearing Momma's shades because if I say no she will quickly remind me that we share in this house.

A whole bag of Haribo gummies all to myself.

Swimming lessons with Mia's BFF.

A man and his dog (why so fuzzy, no bueno).
It was just these two before Momma moved in (in sin, gasp).

Time to myself on a Sunday, curled up with a blanket, my Haribos and  the Real Housewives during naptime.

Seeing old pictures and reminiscing.
This is Mia and Kaelyn at their first swimming lessons together two summers ago.

Have a good weekend! I'm off tomorrow and will be busy playing at the zoo with Lindsey and Gina and their adorable boys!  Mia and the boys, should make for some great Instagraming tomorrow (melissaw13).

SWW

Linking up with Shannon again from Life After I Dew for So What Wednesday....

So What If:

1. I stayed up until 12:30 last night, bad Momma.

2. I've been laying off the sauce a bit more these days, but last night I indulged a bit more than I should have on a school night.

3. I read 2 chapters of Fifty Shades yesterday during work.  I was sucked in and couldn't put it down after lunch.

4. After seeing my OB a few weeks ago (she's amazingly wonderful), her last comment as I was leaving was, "I hope to see you sooner than later."  This year, I hope she's right.  Last year when she mentioned whether we would be having a #2 I thought, that woman is crazy.

4. I'm not overly concerned about my weight at the given moment.  With the baby fever rocking, I'm not sure I care that much.  I'm concerned about my fitness, not the numbers on the scale.

5. I'm kind of excited that if we get pregnant right away that would mean a St. Patty's baby and for this Irish girl, that my friends is freakin' awesome!

6. I've been stalking my ovulation calculator even though I know when I'm ovulating.  Maybe if I check it once a day that means it will really happen.

7. I keep a list of baby names, as they pop into my head, at my desk at work.  I've been doing this for a while.

8. I have my calendar marked for my fertile days for the next 7 months.

9. I'm clearly baby obsessed at the present moment.

10. I've started pinning nursery ideas.


Happy Wednesday!

Questioning My Ability

I tweeted about this Sunday night.

After a pretty good day and an awesome 3 hour nap (Mia, not me unfortunately), we had a rough, rough night.

Mia's 2 1/2 and closer to 3 now than that 2 1/2 mark.  She knows right from wrong and she knows how to push buttons.  Managing her ability to push has been pretty easy for the most part.  Some days worse than others of course.  She's too smart for her own good sometimes, but still not smarter than her Momma.

Like every Sunday night, it was bath time, about 7:00.

She seemed off since she had woken up from her nap, wasn't sure if it was the heat of the day (we had spent the afternoon at the park) or the bitty cough/cold she had been dealing with the past few days.

After cleaning her up, as usual I let her play for about 20 minutes.

I always give her a 5 minute or 10 minute warning before I get her out.  She doesn't like to get out of the tub, she loves it in there and always has.  I know she doesn't know minutes, but learning them starts somewhere.

When it was time to get her out, she start flailing her arms, kicking her feet, splashing water all over the bathroom.  And she let our the loudest NOOOOOOOOOO, with the fullest of attitudes, that I had ever heard.  I was stern with her and told here that is not a way to talk to her Momma, or anyone for that matter. Luckily the Hubs heard the ruckus and saved me at the best time.

I took a shower while he proceeded with the rest of the bedtime routine.

I was sad or more like, Holy shit, what the fuck was that?  Who was this child?

I get it that every day is not rainbows, puffy hearts and unicorns, but last night hurt my heart.

I was emotional about it and it really had me questioning my ability to emotionally and physically handle being a mother of more than one child.

Can I really do this?

Is it too much?

Am I not cut out for this?

After my shower, I went and laid with her and we talked about why she and Mommy were both upset.  She gets most of what we talk about, I can see it in her eyes.

She didn't fall asleep easy that night.  In fact, she fell asleep just as we were going up to bed at 9:30.

Last night was challenging.  When you think you can handle anything and the balance of life feels good, then have a moment where you think you can't even handle what you are currently doing, it pulls hard on the ole' heart.

Life's tough, but I guess it's not meant to be easy.

When In Doubt, Use a Chalkboard

I made my own chalkboard last fall for Mia's #2.  I wanted something different, but personal for her guests to share special messages to her while also getting a picture of everyone decked out in their Halloween costumes.

Well we bust it out everyonce and a while and while trying to figure out what to get the Hubs for Father's Day I thought we could make him something pretty special.

My Hubs does not buy much for himself and even if he does think of something he wants, he almost never buys it.

So this year I got him the Weber charcoal grill that he's wanted for quite some time because let's be honest BBQ from a charcoal grill is just way better than a gas grill.

With most holidays, especially his birthday and Father's Day I always try to do something a little bit more personal and who wouldn't want pics of their own kid, especially Ms. Mia with all her spunk, her growing blonde locks and that smile that could melt a room.

I hope you guys had a great Father's Day weekend!

On This Sunday...

We celebrate my Dad

I couldn't have asked for a better one.  

He's the perfect Dad in so many ways and 

he has a huge heart and 

always puts his family before anything else.

and my FIL

This man has a good soul and is one of the reasons my husband is as successful in his business as he is.  Hard work, dedication and pride in what you do are important.

and most importantly this one, my Hubs and Mia's Dadda.  

To the man that does everything and works so hard for this family, Mia and I love you so very much 

and appreciate you to the moon and back.

Happy Father's Day to all the Daddy's out there!

I hope you get a day to do whatever it is that makes your heart happy and full.

Friday Funnies

Happy Friday!  

So pumped this work week has about come to an end.  Ready for some home and family time.

Thought I share a couple of my recent favorites!

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Have a GREAT weekend!

SWW

Linking up with Shannon again today for So What Wednesday!

So What if:

• This is my 3rd week that I have not, I repeat, have NOT, seen the gym.  I'm in a funk and we've been gone the past 3 weekends for this, that and the other and I'm tired.

• I'm actually challenging myself to not drink this work (notice the adjective "work") week.  Yes this is a challenge.  Momma loves her vino, but after Memorial Day weekend, birthdays and anniversary celebrations I'm giving my liver a break.

• I've not bought anything for the Hubs for Father's Day nor made any plans.  I did earn 1 Point though because I have asked him what he wants to do, he just didn't give me an answer.  He's not a big "let's celebrate me" type of guy.  However, I do have a fun picture idea...we'll see.

• Mia already has her 4th of July outfit, including matching sunglasses.  There is something about that holiday and my need to dress my child in red, white and blue.  I'm not that way with anything else really.

• I'm thinking of re-decorating our master bath even though we haven't even started on our kitchen renovation.  I better rob a bank soon.

• I watched two straight hours of Teen Mom last night.  TWO.  I need more crap TV in my life.  I just sat in the dark, by myself (Mia was sleeping; Hubs was working upstairs) watching the trainwreck.  The drama and crazy that is Amber, I don't even know where to start with that one, however I quickly remembered how much I love sitting on my ass doing absolutely nothing.

Saturday

We celebrated our 5th year of marriage.

That same day, 5 years ago, we said "I do" on the sunny, sandy beaches of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

This weekend we took a little anniversary celebration staycation filled with food, drinks, conversation, togetherness and some alone time sans Mia.

We reenacted our engagement weekend really.

We stayed in the same hotel as we did the weekend we got engaged.

We went to a Cards game Friday night just like we did our engagement weekend (he proposed to me inside the stadium, not the big production billboard style, just a quiet moment between the two of us but inside the stadium).

We lunched Saturday at the same place we lunched on the Saturday of our engagement weekend.

The whole weekend was perfect.  Where our livers may need some recovery time, we needed this weekend.

Time away is important.  It's amazing how quickly those 5 years have gone.  Amazing.

I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

Have a great week!