I have been hit with the suburban wife stick

My husband gave me this for our two year anniversary:


I was really pleasantly surprised! I had been wanting one since our last one died. But it was a want not a need so it wasn't on our priority list.
So far we've only cooked the dogs' dinner with it and made one meal. Which was disappointing. But I know it's got such potential so I'm still looking forward to putting it to good use!
And look what I stumbled across: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ (found it while tooling around Facebook. Oh how I love FB, you little sinful thing, you.) **CORRECTION: MY BUD, A LITTLE HAWAII IN INDIA SENT THIS TO ME BUT I PLUM FORGOT! THANKS FOR SENDING THIS TO ME, JEN!**
Have mercy upon this workin' mama and send me your yummy slow cooker recipes!

All that's missing are the pups ...

When the daily grind gets on my nerves, I try my hardest to remember what really matters and how truly blessed I really am.
When people say or write, "I love my life" I tend to think they are cocky. So what I will say/write is that I feel very fortunate and these two people (and pups) fill my heart.
Oh, don't you worry. I'm still sarcastic and have plenty to gripe about it ;) But, in my 30s, I'm so glad that something kicked me in the rear and gave me some real perspective. My household, family and friends are so dear to me. Love, love, love them. I meant it 100% when I wrote in my little FB profile, "I surround myself with wonderful, amazing, intelligent, giving and loving people. I believe I am the company I keep and they make me strive to be a better person. I think my family and friends are exceptional."

In cyber-mourning

As I was visiting the links I put on the side of my blog way back when, I realized that there are a lot of dead blogs out there. I'm related to a few of them.
I miss you guys. And I'm thankful for the less-than-handful left that I have to read. Sure, I read some written by strangers. But I used to have just as many written by people I know. Some were friends that moved away. I even had a few that I had grown closer to because I got to know them better through their blogs.
But just like all other sources of social networking and media, it appears to be evolving and changing faster than I can keep up.
We are a dying breed, my friends. I say, bring the blog fad back!

Happy Friday, love bugs.

Sometimes I hate being a new parent ...

... because I get so paranoid about change. And if there's anything a baby does is CHANGE.
Since our little one was four weeks old, she's been sleeping in a Snuggle Nest.

This is how it works:

The Bun slept in this when she was in our room. I think it helped make her transition to a crib and her own room as easy as it was.
But things are a-changin'.
She slept horribly last night because she has rolling over down to an art. In fact, she threw half her body over the side of the Snuggle Nest one of those times. Of course, this made sleeping uncomfortable and she cried.
Tonight we say goodbye to the Snuggle Nest. My baby is now freely rolling all over the crib. I'm sure it sounds like there's nothing to worry about it. It's a crib, for crying out loud. It's MADE for babies. But I am thinking of all sorts of crazy predicaments The Bun can get into not having her baby bed. Her training bed! You don't know what kind of trouble my Little Houdini can get into. Only this mama knows which is why I'm paranoid.
And here is yet another great example why I hate being a new parent. "Get it together, woman!"

Most fun. To Date.

OK, I think this is it. I think six months is my favorite age. So far :)
I have a pretty fantastic baby. Yah, yah, all moms say that, right?
Well I'm a pretty honest person. I'm nice, too, so I don't share my thoughts if I think they're too mean or inappropriate. But I'm pretty honest.
Some parts of these past six months have been really hard. And some not so fun. (Like the sleep deprivation.) But I know I've blessed with an easy going baby. I have to say, though, that right now is probably when I'm having the most fun with her.
She gives big smiles. Well, she has for a while but it also goes along with her being more active. Her hand-eye coordination is so much fun to watch now. For instance, she's had these toys dangling on the handle of her carseat (which doubles as her stroller) forever. Well, just about her entire life, shy of two weeks. She's FINALLY batting at them. I told The Man, I bet she thought, "Finally! These GD things have been teasing me this entire time. Now I can finally show them who's boss!"
Oh yes, side note. To amuse ourselves, both The Man and I give her voices and obviously, thoughts. If what we say she's thinking is true, she is one of the most sarcastic babies in the world. We've both said that if she is anything like us, she is going to be one smart ass child. Hopefully, it's possible to be both a smart ass and respectful :)
The Bun moves around a lot. She figured out how to flip on to her stomach. Freaks out The Man because it's practically beat into your head that babies should be put on their backs to sleep. I'm not so freaked out because I'm a tummy sleeper and have been since birth. Anyway, when we stopped swaddling her, she figured out how to flip from her back to her tummy (she's known how to flip from her tummy to her back for a while - have I bored you yet?) Now that she's figured this out, she sleeps for longer periods of time. In other words, she sleeps really well. Like 10 hours well.
It's hard to give examples of why she's so cool to watch now. But she is. I've loved her ever since I knew she existed. But it's exciting to see her grow and become more aware and engaged. And it's even more fun getting to see her personality evolve.
Yup, this is my favorite time. And I hope it just gets better.

It's been nearly 15 years ...

since I saw some of my aunts, uncles and cousins. Well, they're more family friends but basically people I grew up with but haven't seen since I graduated from high school. The only reason I remember that is because most of them were at my graduation party.
Why does it take a death in the family (or close knit group of friends) to bring people together?
An uncle passed away this week. He and my aunt have been family friends since I can remember. Probably way before I was born.
My sister had this really cool idea at her wedding reception. Instead of subjecting the single women to catching the bouquet (I've always hated that), she asked all the couples to get on the dance floor. Every couple of minutes, the DJ would say something like, "If you've been married one year or less, please leave the dance floor" "If you've been married five years or less, please leave the dance floor" until he was up to fifty plus years. This particular uncle and aunt, at my sister's wedding, had been married the longest and his wife got my sister's bouquet.
That was almost 11 years ago.
From what I understand, his health had been failing him for quite some time now. While I've always liked him, we've never been super close. But I'm sad that he's gone. He and his wife had a long and lasting marriage that we young bucks can only hope and dream of. And I also think about how my parents and how they're getting along in age. It makes me sad. I try ignore the fact my dad walks slower and my mom's becoming more and more physically challenged.
And now with The Bun here, I see how precious time is and how much I want her to know her Nana & Papa and to love them with all her heart.

Is blogging the new VHS tape?

Oh Facebook, what have you done?!
I know I've written about this before. Apologizing to all 1 1/2 people that read my blog for not writing nearly as much as before. I used to write so much! And then ...
Facebook.
Well, I'm sure having a baby, a full-time job, two puppies and, oh that's right, a husband!, have something to do with it.
I miss writing. I like reflecting and seeing what I cared about or deemed interesting a few years ago. And this here blog has been with me through three jobs! Luckily, only one man who's still around ;) (Shout out to The Man who knows I write about him here and on FB. Of course, it helps that I write exceedingly flattering things about him.) But the small group that once served as an reciprocal audience has gotten A LOT smaller. Should it matter? I mean, I'm supposed to be writing for myself! But it is fun to get feedback and some sort of reaction.
*sigh* Well, I'm going to stick it out. Maybe Facebook, like computers, will be passing fad.