Let's wrap it up!

Jen over at She Likes Purple did this fun year-end wrap up, so I thought I'd follow suit. But first, go here and look at how swollen my feet were this time last year. YUK!
Hope everyone has a fun New Year's eve and a wonderful 2009. 2008 has certainly been a year like no other!


1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

Gave birth! Via major abdominal surgery! Two-in-one...whaddya know?

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don't remember making any last year. This year, I am hoping to settle into myself a little more and figure out the fine balance of motherhood and work.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

That would be me.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thankfully.

5. What countries did you visit?

None. We were doing good to get out of the house to go to the grocery store and work!

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Emotional stability would be nice! (Fie on you, pregnancy and post-partum hormones!) No, seriously, I'd love a little more time to myself. That is something that was very lacking this year. (see previous note about emotional stability...)

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

January 5: Dean's birthday!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Surviving the first year of parenthood AND buying our first home!

9. What was your biggest failure?

Gaining more weight before I'd lost all the baby weight. Oy vey.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Pre-eclampsia, diagnosed with PKD, and an evil case of whiplash in July.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Our house!!!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My husband's. He is such a wonderful father and has taken excellent care of Dean and me this year.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

There was some funky stuff going on at work this summer, which made for rough times. I won't go into specifics.

14. Where did most of your money go?

GAS and baby formula/food

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Moving to Alabama

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

"You Are My Sunshine." It's one of Dean's bedtime songs.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:?
a) happier or sadder?
b) thinner or fatter?
c) richer or poorer?

Happier; SOOOOOO much thinner, about the same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Said goodbye in person to more friends in NYC

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

cry

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Visited both families

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

Yes, with my son.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

LOST

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No, there's no time for any of that.

24. What was the best book you read?

Haaaaaaaaaa...does "What to Expect" count?

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

A classic Sesame Street video of Grover singing with Madeline Kahn. Dean LOVES it and it always calms him.

26. What did you want and get?

A baby, a house, a new job for my husband

27. What did you want and not get?

My size 6 body back ;) (Not happenin' kids!)

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

HAAAA! You don't even want to know the last time I went to a movie! We keep saying we're going to go, but we never do.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 31. Kitty watched Dean so Marcus and I could go out to dinner.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Winning the lottery!

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

"Today I"m going to stop wearing maternity clothes. Ok, maybe tomorrow." Then the Overhaul of October where I bought a whole new wardrobe.

32. What kept you sane?

Marcus, my family, my blog and my "Blog friends"

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Drew Sarich. sigh

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

The election.

35. Who did you miss?

My New York friends.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Dean! I've also really enjoyed getting to know my Aunt Maxine and cousin Heather better since we moved closer to them.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

Priorities become very obvious when you have a child. The little things tend to fall out of the picture so that big things, like playing with baby, feeding baby, staring at baby while he sleeps, can move to the front of the line. That said, you still have to make time for yourself every once in a while or you will go insane. A shower should be a daily occurrance, not a luxury.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

The night we met I knew I needed you so
And if I had the chance I'd never let you go
Oh, since the day I saw you
I have been waiting for you
You know I will adore you til eternity
So won't you please (be my, be my) be my little baby
:)

Happy New Year, everyone!

Just so ya know...

The Christmas decorations are staying up until January 6th. My friend Meredith helped me justify that decision by reminding me that January 6th is the last day of Epiphany, and therefore, the last official day of the holiday season. The real reason is that I want my mom and dad to see my tree and other decorations when they come for Dean's birthday party this weekend. And since we were gone for two weeks to celebrate with our families, I want to enjoy our decorations for a while longer. So there ya go. If you are among the guests for this weekend's festivities, prepare yourself for a little more Christmas.

In other news, Dean is slowly but surely getting used to sleeping in his own crib again. While we were gone, he decided that it would be fun to refuse to sleep except on male relatives or smack-dab in between Marcus and me. Aside from the 2am OH MY GOSH MY TEETH HURT screaming fit, we actually got some rest last night.

What's everyone doing for New Year's? We'll be preparing for the party this weekend. I'm baking the cake myself, a fact my father finds utterly hilarious. I may do a practice run, though I really don't need the extra sweets in the house. Our friend Lee is coming in on New Year's Day and I'm sure some of our students will be drifting back into town and coming over to beg for food...um, I mean tell us all about their holidays. :) On Jan. 2, we'll be cheering for Alabama as they play in the Sugar Bowl. (Roll Tide!) Then Saturday the 3rd is the big party for Mr. I'm One Year Old. (His actual birthday is the 5th, but who wants to celebrate on a Monday?) Every time I think about him turning one, I cry. Expect a lot of pictures because words will surely fail me in the coming days.



















Maybe if I just keep my back turned to her Mommy will stop crying and kissing my face and saying "Oooooooh, my baby boy is gonna be oooooooonnnnnnnneeeeeeeee!" Jeez, Mom. Can't a guy watch Johnny and the Sprites in peace?

Picture pages....Christmas edition!

Best Christmas present ever. :)















Dean had lots of quality time with his G-Mama!














He also took quite the liking to his Pop-Pop!!














Me, Dean and Mim (my dad's mom). I have had that sweatshirt since 6th grade. Are you horrified that I'm wearing it or impressed that I can still fit into it???




















Reindeer bum-bum! Hanging out with Grandma Willie (my mom's mom).















Dean checks out his new wagon.
















Family photo! Marcus, my mom (Grammy), Deano, my Dad (Papa) and yours truly. We clean up ok, huh? We added a little extra Merry to our Christmas by celebrating the first anniversary of my mom's kidney transplant on Dec. 19.















Double trouble...Dean and Adam.















Could you eat his face off in his monkey jammies?





















Dean got this cool zebra from G-Mama and Pop Pop. Marcus thinks it's awesome.





















Don't say I never post pictures of myself. My hair's even brushed in this one. You can't even see Dean's forehead bruise. ;)

Merry Christmas to all!

I hope everyone's holidays are happy and bright and full of wonderful things like family, friends and food. My grandma arrived today with an entire carload of fresh veggies, homemade cookies and candy and, most importantly, cheese straws.

I am horribly behind on my blog-reading. Last week was not a good week for me to be out of town with limited computer access. All the babies I've been following all year (AJU5, Kara, Megan, and others) turned 1! I promise to go back and read every entry on all of my favorite blogs that I may have missed.

Here are some pictures because BOY do y'all want some pictures! (Thanks for all the emails!)

Have a great Christmas, everyone!














Dean was REALLY happy to see his cousin, Adam. Adam eventually accepted the baby and they worked on sharing all week. By the end of the week, they were partners in crime...and dressed exactly alike...for three straight days.














See? The Handy Manny talking tool kit was quite popular.














Now he's in Oxford hanging with Grammy, Papa and 2 great-grandmas for Christmas!
I promise to upload more pictures tonight once the festivities have concluded and do an all picture post!
Have a wonderful holiday, everyone!!!

Still tickin', but we did take a lickin'

Well hi there! Remember me? We have been in DC this week (we're here til early Mon. morning) and computer access has been very limited. I haven't gotten brave enough (or dexterous enough!) to blog on my phone yet, but I'm sure that day will come soon. Anyway, we're having a lovely visit with the family. Dean loves hanging out with his big cousin, Adam. I would post pictures of them, but they seem to have hidden my camera somewhere. I plan to rummage through the couch cushions in a minute in an effort to find it.

Marcus and I went out the other day to do some shopping. It was fun to browse without a stroller, though I missed my little constant companion. The phone rang while we were in Borders. It was my mother in law calling to tell me that Dean had tried to impress her with his stunt-man abilities and had fallen off the bed and hit his head. The next 2 minutes are a blur of me dropping everything in my hands, searching for Marcus and trying to remember the name of our medical insurance. We got to the ER about an hour after they'd called and found Dean sitting happily in Grandmama's lap, HUGE goose-egg on his forehead, reading Pinnochio. He looks like he got into a fight and lost. Poor guy. We stayed for three hours of observation and were declared "Just fine" and sent home. In the meantime, Dean decided to impress the nurses with an amazingly stinky poop. And, naturally, we didn't have a single diaper. Fortunately, they had a loaner. It's always an adventure, isn't it?
Those of you who know me will notice that I am writing about this incident three days after it happened and am, therefore, able to have a good sense of humor about it. Because the day it happened? BASKETCASE!

We had a little birthday party for Adam and Dean the other night since they won't get to celebrate their actual birthdays together, and it was lots of fun. Dean tasted cake for the first time, and by tasted, I mean smeared icing in my hair and all over his dad's sweater. Adam eats like a champ and used a big boy fork for his cake. When I saw Adam for the first time this visit, (we haven't seen them since August) I teared up. I cannot believe Dean will be that big this time next year. Adam is a sweetheart and has taken quite a liking to his Auntie Jen. (Which doesn't thrill her AT ALL, let me tell you.;) )

We'll be doing family Christmas tomorrow, which should be a fun time full of babies in boxes wearing bows on their heads. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some couch cushions to rifle through so that I may take photos of said family Christmas!!

About that podiatrist appointment...

It very much did not happen. I spent most of this morning freaking myself out to the point of nausea over the idea of some doctor I'd never met cutting my toe. Yes, I had a human removed from my body (AND AN EPIDURAL!) 11 months ago and was hardly nervous about THAT, but my toe? OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH! Anywho, I picked Marcus up at work, came home and had lunch, fed Dean and got ready to go. I called my mom on the way to the doctor so she could distract me and explain one more time exactly what they were going to do. I got into the office, saw that it was clean and settled in a bit. I even read a little flyer about ingrown toenails. I had just finished filling out my mountain of paperwork and was sitting down to play with my new phone when the receptionist called me to her window and said "You knwo this is going to cost you $286, right?" I said "HUUUUUUUUUH????????????" Appparently all outpatient procedures are subject to our deductible, which we haven't met because we JUST GOT OUR INSURANCE CARDS THIS WEEK and have not been to the doctor since going on this insurance. (We have been taking a tacky print-out as proof of benefits when we take Dean to the pediatrician.) Anyway, I called Marcus, we shared a laugh, and I told the lady thanks, but I'd be keeping my ingrown toenail. It really doesn't hurt that much. I'll let my dad work on it tomorrow.

Who else thinks this woman should have told me about the cost of this on the phone when I made the appointment? Or maybe I'm dense and should have realized this ahead of time. Either way, they did not get my money today. (see previous entries regarding the money tree and its current emptiness)

We head out tomorrow for our holiday travel extravagganza! Forgive me if my blogging is spottier than usual. Hope everyone's days are merry and bright!

Things that do not sound like fun

Going to the podiatrist. Yet at 2:15 tomorrow afternoon, that is precisely where I shall be. I have a painful ingrown toenail on my left foot that I MUST get taken care of before we head off to holiday bliss. Am I scared? You bet! I'm willing myself not to think about the pain, but rather to focus on the fact that I am bringing my bedroom slippers for the drive home.
I realize that this paragraph is going to get a comment from my mom who has had this procedure done and assures me it's not so bad. I also feel guilty about whining about my toe hurting since my mom had someone else's organ put into her body last December. But what can I say? She's a tough old bird. Perhaps in comparison to my c-section it won't seem so bad...I wonder if they'll give me an epidural? Can't hurt to ask!

I spent the majority of this week struggling with a stomach virus. BLEH. The only good thing about said virus is that my weight loss has now hit the 20 pound mark. That's a heck of a way to lose three pounds, though. If I return from our holiday food fest (aka: Visiting our families) at the 15 pound mark, I'll still be happy. I fear my mother in law will serve fried pork chops and my grandmother will make divinity, so the odds are not in my favor.

It is supposed to snow here tonight. I moved back to the south to avoid such things and currently have no clue where my scarves, gloves or winter hats are. My child also refuses to wear socks and, often, pants, so we will not likely be going out tomorrow. Except me, to the podiatrist. In bedroom slippers.

We cleaned, we cooked, we partied

What a weekend! For years, Marcus and I have dreamt of hosting "The Lane Formal." It would be a fabulous holiday gathering for our co-workers and/or students, inspired by the Guinn Formal, a party one of our professors hosted each year while we were in college. We always looked forward to the Formal. It was a chance to ditch your backstage blacks or funky paint clothes and wear something dressy or quirky, show off your best dip recipe and spend some time with your fellow students and teachers outside the classroom. Once it was evident that Marcus and I were going to be a family forever, we started daydreaming about the day when one or both of us would land at a University and we could throw a lovely holiday bash of our own. And last night, it finally became a reality.

We decided to start out small this year. Until after the first of the year when Uncle Sam gives us money back for having a baby, buying a house and having lots of taxes deducted from our paychecks each month, the money tree is not in full bloom, so the house is still not quite where we'd want it to be to throw an all-out bash. Just for this year, Marcus and I only invited the 11 students from his advanced classes. All are upper-classmen and were allowed to bring one guest. What resulted was about 20 very well-behaved, dressed-up, delightful party guests! And they ate EVERY MORSEL of food we made! Yay for easy cleanup.

What's that? You want to see pictures? Well, ok!



















Here is our Christmas tree. I LOVE our Christmas tree! Even though we left all those ornaments at my mom and dad's house, our tree ended up being pretty full! Auntie M made us some adorable ornaments that I was thrilled to add to our collection and we picked up some "filler" ornaments at the 50% off sale at Lowe's.
Please don't judge our ugly curtains. We bought them at Big Lots just to have something over the window before we figured out the color scheme of the room which, thankfully, does not include that shade of green (they are really much uglier in person. They have a paisley pattern, too.). See above comment about the money tree to find out why we haven't bought new ones yet!















Here is our fireplace, which hosted its first fire of the season last night. Marcus was in charge of the mantle and I think he did a fantastic job. The garland and wreath are new, the candles, Santa and snowman were my grandma's. She gave them to us when we were in Oxford for Thanksgiving, along with her cake plate.















Here's the buffet. I have no idea why the picture wants to lay on its side. Please tilt your head to the left to view it properly. Tiiiiiiilt. Ok, see? It's cute, right? There was a ton more food on our dining room table. Our menu included the Cheeseball of Happiness, crostini with pesto and sundried tomato (a HUGE hit), mulled cider (another hit), marinated cheese, Texas sheet cake, corn dip, artichoke dip and the usual drinks. Oh, and BBQ cocktail weenies served straight out of the crockpot. Because I'm southern and that is what we do.

Ok, ok, enough with the house. I know what you REALLY want to see.



















Dean was rockin' the green velvet. And the knee socks. One of his shoes even stayed on ALL NIGHT! He was, needless to say, the life of the party.

The students came dressed in a variety of "theatre formalwear." We had an elf, a gingerbread man, lots of girls in cocktail dresses, a few young men in suits, and a group who dressed up like each member of the theatre faculty! (Made me glad I'm not officially on staff yet!) Here's Zach, who we refer to as our oldest son, as Marcus.



















In case you can't fully see it, his shirt says "You sure do got a purty mouth."
Marcus teaches movement classes, so he has to wear sweatpants and t-shirts. To keep things fun, he wears goofy PJ pants and t-shirts with funny sayings a lot. And, naturally, his Alabama hat.
Marcus had planned to wear a suit, but decided to go the funny route instead. He wore chaps (yes, he owns chaps. Help me, Jesus. Notice they do not appear in the picture. I had to "free" him from said chaps about an hour into the party.), his cowboy shirt and some sneakers because his boots dry-rotted and I made him leave them in NYC. I bought a gorgeous purple dress, but got overly paranoid about showing too much cleavage and not being able to eat enough cocktail weenies and gave myself such buyer's remorse that I returned it. I'm glad, though, because it gave me the courage to "just see" if I could fit into the dress I wore to my 30th birthday party. And whaddya know? I haven't talked about it on here, but I've lost 17 pounds since we moved to Montevallo. HAPPY JEN. Just a few more pounds and the pesky pregnancy weight PLUS the pesky summer weight will be a thing of the past. I'm in my skinny jeans full-time now.

So, a nice night with good times had by all. We look forward to this becoming an annual event, something the rest of the faculty joins in on, the alumni return for, the students get excited about and that we look forward to hosting each year.

Our last "months-old" birthday

My little boy is 11 months old today. I say little boy because he is seeming less like a baby every day. I wish I could bottle moments with him to save forever. This age (all of babyhood, really) is so precious and is flying by so fast. I try to remember everything he does so I can tell him about it later, but I'm sure I'll forget so much. I want to remember how he smells, what it feels like when he gives me an open-mouthed kiss on the cheek, his two teeth scraping against my skin, the sound of his laugh when I blow on his belly. I know one day soon, he won't let me kiss his feet or nibble his earlobes. He won't want me around when he takes a bath (and GOD FORBID I sing "the song" when he's 5 years old!). Other things I want to remember:
*Dean LOVES tags. He would rather play with tags than whatever the tags are on. When we put his crib together, we cut all the tags off and gave them to him to play with. He was in Heaven. Christmas may be very easy this year...
*His favorite thing in the world to watch is "Don't Forget The Lyrics." He thinks they are singing to him. Dean doesn't watch a lot of TV, but he perks up whenever he hears a song, so this show is lots of fun for him.
*Whenever he's so cranky I can't console him with books, I log onto Youtube and play a classic Sesame Street video of Grover singing with Madeline Kahn. He LOVES this song.
*It is apparently hilarious whenever I put the binky in my mouth the wrong way so that he can come up and grab it from my mouth the right way. Unsanitary? Perhaps. Adorable? Definitely.
*He has this cute little shriek he does whenever he sees other kids. He gets so excited. I hope he's always a social being.
*If I can get a belly laugh out of him, I will keep doing whatever brought about said belly laugh until he's so bored with me that he just wanders away.
*I love that whenever he makes a new discovery or feels a new sensation, his eyebrows shoot up expressively.
*I love it when he wears footie jammies with animals on the feet.
*His hair is OUT OF CONTROL when he wakes up. Add his snaggle-toothed smile to that and how can you resist him?
*He sometimes sings in falsetto.
*He checks in with me. A lot.
I know soon he'll be into his own thing and I'll go back to work and our little Mommy-and-Dean Universe will not be the same, but these past few months have been amazing and I am so, so thankful to have my little boy.
I have to go stare at him while he sleeps now.

How very 21st Century of me

Last Tuesday night, I logged onto Facebook and found out I'd lost my summer job.
Let me clarify. Theatre West Virginia, where Marcus and I work in the summers, lost $100,000 in government funding. On Tuesday of last week, the board of directors decided to close the doors, thus cancelling the 2009 summer season. When I logged onto Facebook, our artistic director's status said "TWV board has decided to close the doors. We would need 100 people to give $1,000 in order for us to stay open." Ugh. I immediately wrote to her, asking what we could do to help. I have no idea why a fundraiser was not thought to be the first plan of attack. However, this week the board has allowed them to start a huge fundraising effort. To my knowledge, they have already collected over $2,000. Marcus and I are going to be sending out a letter to everyone we can find who has ties to TWV as well as to a lot of our theatre contacts. Our goal is to try and get 20,000 people to give $5. Money is tight right now for everyone, but $5 seems like a reasonable amount, even for our employees who are college students. If TWV is closed this summer, that elimnates over 100 jobs in theatre. We cannot let this happen. Not only does this elimnate a huge employment opportunity for college students and early career professionals, it also puts educators and working artists like Marcus and me out of work. And, the most tragic part to me, it pulls the year-round educational tour off the road and puts TWV's 5 full time employees out of work. The tour travels all around the state of WV playing to elementary and middle school students. For most of them, it's the first theatre experience they have had. For some, it will be the only one they will have. The work we do is so important. Please send up a prayer and good thoughts for TWV and let's hope we don't have to close our doors this season.

On the off chance that you are interested in donating to TWV, email me. Address can be found in my full profile. Thanks!

The funniest thing in the whole world

...is apparently me transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer. BELLY LAUGHS. Oh, to be ten months old. (11 this week. GAH.)

One more--for me

Ok, after the whine fest "Oh poor Jen, she didn't finish NaBloPoMoBloPop" post of two days ago, I thought I should just get over myself and post my 30th post. Sure, it isn't the "right" way to do it, which is to post once each day, but at least I'll go to bed tonight knowing that I kind of did it.
I also wanted to give a shout out to YOU, my readers. Your comments and emails make me so happy and I love reading your blogs. I"m thrilled to have made some new "blog friends" this month and to have discovered some great new reads.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to catch up on my DVR'd shows. :)

PS: If you have any topics you'd like me to write about, let me know!!

Home again, home again, but not for long

Holy clingy baby, Batman! Over the past 2 days, Dean has developed some serious separation anxiety issues. He wants all mommy all the time. Cute? Yes. Charming? Sure. Flattering, even? Absolutely. Also back-breaking, exhausting and sort of annoying when you would like to do something like go to the bathroom or eat. Poor guy.

This week the official holiday madness starts. We came home from my mom and dad's armed with Christmas decorations and serving platters. However, I think we forgot the big box of ornaments they gave us. (Poo! We somehow managed to accidentally steal 3 of my mom's outfits from the closet, though. Woops.) We did make off with the small Christmas tree that was in my room for years and years and years. It is now sitting happily in Dean's room. We decorated it as soon as we got home this afternoon. He likes to look at it while getting his diaper changed. This week, we'll go get our big tree for the family room. We're going with an artificial one this year. (Don't want to tempt bugs or vacuum needles...though a real tree would be nice...maybe in a few years when we host the holidays at our house.) We'll be spending the week before Christmas with Marcus's parents in VA, then flying back to spend Christmas with my family in MS. Then it'll be back home for a round of New Year's guests and Dean's first birthday party. And then I will need to go to the spa.

AND as if that all weren't enough, we're hosting a Christmas party for some of Marcus's students! This weekend! AAAAAAH! Who wants to babysit?

Na-Blo-Blew-It

I cannot believe this. At 11:48 last night, I woke up when Dean screamed for a bottle. I went to the kitchen, noticed the time and went "Oh, no." I didn't blog yesterday. It completely got by me. We got up and headed to the Grove at Ole Miss to tailgate at 8am, then Dean and I came home for him to nap. I checked my email quickly, but got caught up in that and didn't blog. Then my mom and I went to lunch and shopping, then we all went to some friends' house for dinner. By the time we got home and got Dean to bed, we were ready to fall asleep, too, and it just slipped my mind. I got back into bed to feed Dean and told Marcus I hadn't blogged. He said "Go write one really quickly!" But both my parents were asleep in the room with my mom's computer and I knew my dad's laptop was password protected (it's for work), so I was out of luck. I am so, SO disappointed. NaBloPoMo was something I was doing just for me and as silly as I know this sounds, it was important to me to be successful at it. It meant that I was taking at least a couple of minutes a day for myself. Don't get me wrong, I had a good day yesterday, I just wish I hadn't fallen off the wagon, so to speak. I"ll try again next year, I guess. On the bright side, I did discover a ton of fun new blogs to follow this month and made some new blog friends. I also increased my readership. I would have liked to have done 30 posts in 30 days, though. Oh, well. Alas and alack!

Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart

I have so much to give thanks for this year. The following list hits the highlights, which are pretty momentous. I hope wherever you are that you're having a wonderful, restful holiday. Leave a comment and tell me what you're thankful for this year.

*My mom's kidney transplant. If you haven't heard her story, you should. (Visit my December 2007 archives) The generosity of her donor, Bradley, the amazing success of her transplant, the wonderful care of her doctors...we couldn't have asked for a better Christmas gift last year. She truly has a new lease on life.

*Dean. Oh, Dean. In all the years I dreamed of having a baby, I never could have imagined one as perfect as the one we got. He is a perfect blend of Marcus and me and I adore him more each minute. Truly the biggest blessing of my life.

*Our new home. What a great thing to own the place you live, to make it yours and put down roots. The move to Montevallo was a good one.

*My husband's job. He's a wonderful teacher and he's finally in a place where he's not stretched in so many directions that he can't find his head with both hands. He has a great support system and is flourishing as a professor. His job provides us with enough to live the life we've wanted to live for a long time.

*This blog. Especially since our move, this blog has provided me with an outlet for my emotions, friendly feedback from all my readers and a place to call my own.

*Coffee. Because man, oh, man, was I missing it this time last year!

I hope your year has been as blessed as mine. Happy Thanksgiving.

Three Lanes safely delivered to Mississippi

I have been trying to figure out a topic to blog about for an hour now. Instead, I'm sitting here busting a gut laughing with my mom. I think you'll all forgive me if I don't write an eloquent post tonight. We really need to giggle at our husbands right now.

For your amusement, however, here's a sample conversation between my mom and me.

Mom: I got pie.
Me: I like pie.
Mom: You want pie?
Me: I like pie.
Mom: I got Redi-Whip, too. For the pie.
Me: I like pie.
Mom: You want some?
Me: Ok!

And that's how it is.

PS: Due to popular demand (and about 15 comments and emails!), I promise to make a video of the bathtime song this weekend and post it here. Prepare yourself.

A break from the norm

Tomorrow, Deano, Marcus and I will load up and travel to my parents' house in Oxford for the long Thanksgiving weekend. We are all looking forward to a break. Dean is ready for "unbridled fun" as my dad says, and Marcus and I are jazzed about a full night's sleep and some food we didn't buy or cook ourselves. We have decided to go easy this year--we're eating at Cracker Barrel! That means NO cooking, NO shopping and NOOOOO cleaning! Yay! It also means no leftovers, but that's ok because we're going to a family party Friday night that's going to involve chili and a football game and tailgate Friday afternoon, so we're sure to stuff ourselves sufficiently.

We went to the college to have lunch with Marcus today and all the students looked like walking zombies. Many of them are closing HAIR tonight, so they have been stretched thinner than thin these past couple of weeks because of the production. They all need a break from classes and college life, I think. We've fed 3 of them dinner on at least one occasion over the past couple of weeks. See? I'll make the transition back to academia just fine--they're not even my students yet and already I want to take care of them!

I think back to my college days and remember how completely and utterly DONE I was by the time Thanksgiving rolled around each year. We were on the quarter system, so our first quarter ended in November, just in time for a lovely 2 week Thanksgiving break! My first day home, I would present my mother with her special gift (my laundry), eat at Abner's (my favorite chicken place) and go straight to bed for hours and hours and hours. It was usually the first night I'd slept more than 6 straight hours since the school year started, and also the first night in a month or so that I wasn't in rehearsal until at least 11pm. My parents worked hard to make my trips home relaxing for me. Comfort food was served, favorite restaurants were visited, shopping trips were planned, nostalgic movies were watched. Nowadays, we do a lot of the same things. This weekend, we'll get to visit with some old buddies, meet a new baby friend, see an Ole Miss football game and go to church with my mom and dad. And I have a hunch it'll feel like one of those quarter breaks from college. (Don't worry, mom, I'm not bringing our laundry!)

Now if you'll pardon me, I have to go finish cooking my very healthy and well-balanced dinner which consists of Velveeta Shells and Cheese and Coke Zero. It's "Eat What You Can Find" day here in the Lane home. Guess how you play!? ;)

If you're traveling for Thanksgiving, please do so safely and have a great trip!

Today I was a good mom

I think I'm a pretty good mom most days, but today seemed like a REALLY good day. We got up this morning, had breakfast and got Dean settled into "baby jail" to do his morning routine, which involves talking to every stuffed monkey we own, making sure all his musical toys still work, then reading every book in the house. (I should mention that I am usually in baby jail WITH him while he's doing this. Got a mental picture now? Good.) Our friend Alli left after her weekend stay with us and I got to work. By 11:30am, Dean had taken his morning nap and I had done 3 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes (in my dishwasher, which miraculously started working again when the power flashed off this weekend! Hallelujah!), swept and mopped the kitchen, switched out the hand towels in the bathroom (I am a bit obsessive compulsive about hand towels in the bathrooms) eaten lunch and sent two work-related emails! I'm on fire, I tell you! After lunch, Dean and I played for a while, then he showed me how well he can climb the stairs. We stood at the front door and looked out at the rain, then he somehow got dirt on his hands. I took him up to the bathroom sink to wash his hands and you would have thought we went to Disney World. He BELLY LAUGHED at the water and started trying to splash. So I pulled the stopper and let some water puddle in the sink so he could splash. Soon we were both soaked. He grabbed a hair elastic and was trying to play with it, so I decided, what the heck? Let's go swimming. I stripped him down and tossed him into the tub with his toys. He had a BLAST. He splashed and crawled around and explored parts of the tub that were new to him. At night, our bathtime is fairly routine. Daddy runs the water and washes the hair. I wash the body, Daddy helps rinse and keep baby from drowning and gives comfort when Mommy splashes baby in the face. Then Daddy stands baby up so Mommy can wash his bottom parts (and there's a song we sing), then out we go into the hooded towel and off to bedtime. I think Dean enjoyed his little swim party. I was proud of myself for being impromptu and not getting frustrated when he got us both soaking wet. I want to be that mom on the commercial who sprays her kid with the kitchen sink sprayer. (By the way, if you ever want to mess with a member of your family or your roommate, put a rubber band around the "trigger" on the kitchen sink sprayer. They will get HOSED the next time they turn on the sink. HILARIOUS! Learned it from my mom!)
Deano's down for his second nap of the day and my kitchen has been scrubbed with Clorox. There is one glass in my sink and there are 2 garments in my laundry basket (they require gentle cycle with like colors, so they will likely be there a while) and there is not one board book on my floor. I'm going to stop writing now and breathe it all in while it lasts.

Aquariuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus!

That song will be stuck in my head for the rest of my life. I'm sure of it. We saw HAIR last night and that song kind of sticks with you. It was a good production and Marcus and I were quite proud of the students. Alli, our friend who's in for the weekend, even did our hair for the occasion. Let her loose with a straightening iron and look what happens:














We look kind of emo.
(That's me wearing real clothes and makeup, by the way. Haven't seen that in a while, have we?)

Dean had a swell time with Brittney. HIS hair was out of control and could have used some time with the straightening iron:














I can't believe there are only 7 days of November left. Aren't you glad? Cause then NaBloPoMo will be over and you don't have to read about us straightening our hair every day? :) That also means CHRISTMAAAAAAAAS is almost here and I am SO excited. I'm also gearing up for Dean's first birthday party. If anyone has any genius ideas about what we should get our little guy, please let me know. We would like to get him something memorable, not just a toy. (Grandparents seem to have the toys covered, thank you very much.) Marcus keeps threatening to re-wrap all his Christmas gifts and give them to him for his birthday. Anyone have any good suggestions?


For those interested, the Publix penny item this week was bleach. You had your choice of regular or lemon flavored. I thought that was a weird choice, but I got some anyway! Cause it was a penny!

God Bless Brittney Hunt

Because she is keeping my child so I can GO OUT TONIGHT! WITH ADULTS! IN REAL CLOTHES AAAAANNNNNNNDDDDDDD MAKEUP! I may even wear jewelry. Wow. I have cabin fever, can you tell?
We'll be going to the college tonight to see their production of HAIR. Not my favorite, but WHO CARES? I WILL BE OUT! WITH ADULTS! :):):) Dean's girlfriend Kate is coming over to also be babysat (oh, God, did you see the bad grammar!?!?!?) by Brittney. Fun is sure to be had by all.
I'll let you know how it goes.

In other news, Alli is visiting this weekend to pick up her wedding dress (made by Brittney Hunt. She's so talented--sewing AND babysitting! Wow!). For lunch, I served brownies and cheeseball of happiness. Gourmet, that's me.

Freaky Friday!

What up, peeps!?!? Dean here. (That's how they talk in New York. I was born there, you know.) Today's been an exciting day, so mommy said I could hijack her blog. I was hoping she'd let me blog again during NaNaBloPop or whatever it is y'all are calling this month. I don't get it...all I know is she gets up every morning, feeds me, then puts me in baby jail so she can type while she guzzles many cups of coffee. Whatever floats your boat, mom.

Anyway, we registered our new car today! I liked the DMV. It has good echoes. I think the lady helping us was really impressed with my singing abilities, and especially liked it when I did my high-pitched scream. (All the ladies go for that one.)

I played in my saucer and had some toast while mom did some cleaning, THEN we picked up daddy and went to tour my new daycare! It was nap time when we got there, but a couple of the kids were up. I immediately spotted a big boy (I think he might be 1 already) wearing an I Love New York shirt. I was like, "Hey, Buddy! That's the land of my peeps!" I got down and crawled toward him and he ran away. I chased him, though, so we could be friends. All the teachers seemed really nice and the room was very clean. AND everyone gets their own bed to nap in! I might bring some pictures of monkeys to hang in my bed to give it a little touch of home. They even have this cool table that you can SIT IN (it has built in seats!) to eat lunch! Think of all the surface area I would have there to cover with food! I'll bet they'd be impressed by the way I rub turkey in my hair. I'll have to be sure to show them that trick the very first day! And they have snack time, which is my favorite time of day. I think it'll be a cool place to go while mommy and daddy are at work next semester. Mommy kept telling daddy "See, I didn't even cry!" I don't know why she would cry. That's just weird.

This week, I found a cool new book at our house! Here is a picture of me looking at it.














Mommy says it's from a store called Victoria's Secret and that it's not nice for me to keep looking at it and ESPECIALLY not nice for me to chew on it. She also said I should tell you that this is the picture of the week and you should go to town writing captions. (But don't be dirty because my GRAMMY and PAPA read this blog.)

Later, peeps! Gotta go get my beauty rest. (Because guess who DID NOT HAVE A NAP AT ALL today!?!?) :):):)

I got nothin.

I'm having a weird day. So, let's play a game, shall we?
Lay it on me: YOUR FAVORITE GUILTY PLEASURE.

Mine is Glamour magazine. I LOVE Glamour magazine! I started reading it in college. I will never, ever wear high-end designer clothes, but I like to look at them. Glamour has great hair and makeup tips and has recently added a financial advisor to do a column about how to get the most bang for your buck, savings, retirement, etc. They have fun lists like "Top Ten Things each woman should have in her bathroom" and a column written by a "real guy" so we can know how men think (haha) and sad stories about people with illness who triumph thanks to medical technology! They also do neat celebrity interviews and choose the Glamour women of the year and such.

One of my favorite things is "Where has YOUR Glamour been?" which features pictures of women standing on top of the Pyramids in Egypt with the magazine or reading it while scuba diving in the ocean. My friend Kitty and I were all geared up to send in a picture of me in labor reading my Glamour. It was even on the "what to pack" list for my hospital bag (a lot of good that did me...you'll see what I mean if I ever post Dean's birth story). I opened my new issue of the magazine 2 days before I had my baby and wouldn't you know it? Some woman is sitting there hooked up to a fetal monitor, Glamour magazine propped up on her baby belly. She totally stole my idea. And they went on about how cooooooool it was that she brought her Glamour to the delivery room and how they bet she'll be suuuuuuuuch a Glamorous mom. Yeah.

I also enjoy the Fashion Do's and Don'ts. While I was in New York, I was always terrified of ending up on the Don't page, so I paid a little extra attention to what I wore outside my apartment, lest a Glamour photographer be on a stake out for bad fashion at the bakery next door and snap a picture of me in mis-matched yoga pants and a holey sweatshirt. (I have obviously lost this fear since moving to Alabama. If they could see me now, they'd have an entire page of don'ts!)

Anyway, when I get my Glamour, I open it immediately and rip out anything that smells (perfume ads) or is made of cardstock and causes the pages to flip open. Once Dean's in bed, I read it from cover to cover in one sitting. Yay, Glamour.

What is your guilty pleasure?

What's in YOUR purse?

I admit that I totally stole this idea from Jennifer at Playgroups are no place for children, and she admits to having stolen it from Ali, so there ya go. But it was fun. Let's explore the weird contents of Jen's purse, shall we? (I probably should have taken a picture of my purse, too. It is, as you can see, rather large.)

I have a lot of "normal" purse stuff, like my wallet, my phone, keys, etc., but I was surprised at a few of the things I found. Such as:

*A $50 gift card to Baby Gap that I FORGOT I HAD! One of our NYC neighbors thought Dean was a girl when he was born (?) and bought him a precious little white dress and lacy sweater, which I returned. I got store credit on a gift card and still have not spent it. Looks like Mama's going shopping!

*A sock. My sock. Just one. (bottom right corner) I have no idea.

*3 packs of gum, not a single one in a flavor I enjoy.

*Approximately 398 feminine hygiene products. You know, cause you need that many.

There are also some other more normal (well, normal for me) things like Dean's pig on a ring (Great for entertaining children in the grocery store), my lactaid pills, the little tool and extra links for my Italian charm bracelet, several Dulcolax pills that spilled into the bottom of my purse (leftover from those pesky post-partum days), a makeup sponge, baby nail clippers, my mini-Leatherman multi-tool, one of Dean's books, 2 flavors of hand santizer, 2 kinds of lotion, my "sea bands" which are supposed to help nausea associated with morning sickness or sea-sickness (and which do not work for either---hence the Dramamine), my coupon holder, a keyring with no keys and my business card holder.

So what's in your purse (or wallet) that might be considered out of the ordinary?

(I tried to make the picture bigger so you could see it better, but it kinda turned into a fuzzy mess...woops.)

NOOOO! This is NOT happening now!

So, my wireless card is dead. At least I think (and hope)that is what's wrong. I cannot seem to connect to the internet on my computer. I tried for 3 hours last night and again this morning. I have finally given in and moved over to Marcus's computer, which is not making me happy. His computer is fine. I even kind of prefer typing on his keyboard. But I miss MY computer. It has my bookmarks and my pictures and a purple background and my shortcuts and it's MINE. Guess Deano and I will be going to Best Buy today to get some help from the Geek Squad. [Speaking of which, did you know that they really drive that silly little car when they come to your house? It's true.] I cannot believe this is happening, especially during NaBloPoMo (or as Marcus calls it, NaNaBloPop).

I had a fun post with a picture for today, but I need my computer to do it. Boo. SO, let's see. What can we do instead? I know, in honor of my mom's birthday (happy birthday, mom!!), let's have everyone tell me about a birthday memory. It could be a cool party you had, a nice gift you received, whatever you'd like to tell us.

One of my favorite birthday memories is from this past year. Dean was about 7 weeks old on my 31st birthday. We'd had a particularly rough night, preceded by an even rougher day. This was around the time we found out that he's a little lactose intolerant, so we were experimenting with different feeding techniques. The doctor had recommended that I only feed him "sensitive" formula (no lactose) for an entire 24 hours to see if that made a difference. I was still nursing at this point, so needless to say, we were both miserable with him on just bottles of new formula. He woke up at 5am, was not too happy when I popped a bottle in his mouth, and half-heartedly ate. After he was done, he burped, spit up, then nuzzled in for a cuddle. Then he looked up and smiled at me. His very first smile. Just for me. On my birthday. Kind of made the fact that I'd only slept 2 hours that week worth it.

You can't look away

You must visit this blog.

Cake wrecks

As a baker of cakes, I am always nervous about someone "judging" my cakes. After looking at this site for about 2 hours the other night, I have a new confidence in my cakes. My favorites are the ones where people have obviously put on the order form "I want sprinkles" and they write it ON THE CAKE! Check it out. It will make you giggle.

In other news, Dean has grown approximately 3 feet over the weekend and is currently sitting in baby jail with a Victoria's Secret bag on his head. Whatever floats your boat, man.

And the winner is...

AJU5's Mom!! Yay and congrats. A long time reader, AJU5's mom could probably use some pampering--they are in the middle of a huge home renovation. Email me your address and I'll get your prize in the mail. (Eva, I haven't forgotten about you! I've just been to lazy to go to the P.O.!)
I used random.org to pick the winner. You can roll a virtual die. It's totally fun.

Happy Sunday, everyone. Our weekend was good. My friend Meredith came to stay with Deano and me while Marcus was out of town picking up our car. (Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, new car!) The insurance people, by the way, never showed on Friday to pick up the wrecked car. Color me surprised.

Here are some picture from our weekend.














This is our car, or what's left of it. (Look over to the left. That silver thing sticking into the picture is the bumper.) If they don't pick it up soon, I'm going to decorate it for Christmas.














Dean met Santa. Unfortunately, this picture is better than the ones I bought. We may have to try again. See his cute sweater, though!?!? When I noticed Santa was at the mall (with NO WAITING!), I called Marcus. He said to buy that kid a Christmas sweater and give him to Santa! Meredith and I always have a crazy time together, but add a baby to the mix and hilarity is sure to ensue. Picture, if you will, the two of us shoved into the bathroom at JC Penney changing a wriggling Dean out of his one-piece outfit and into jeans and a sweater. We had an audience by the time it was done. But it was worth it. ;)



















Dean also got his first pair of "big boy" shoes from Stride Rite. (We had a gift card from The View.) He went completely insane in the store, probably just happy to be freed from the stroller. He tried to crawl back to the store room. He tried to climb a display. He drooled on the saleslady. But we came out with a cute pair of "pre-walker" shoes that are supposed to help him learn to walk. I like that he doesn't seem to be able to pull them off easily.














Mostly, Dean enjoyed visiting with his Auntie Meredith. I think she likes him a little bit, too. :)

Everyone have a good week!

Five by Five by Five

There's still time to enter yesterday's caption contest! Just leave your caption in the comments section to be entered in the random drawing for the Beauti Control Herbal Serenity Instant Manicure and Handcream!! Drawing will take place on Sunday. Woo hoo!

Five Things, courtesy of Sheri at www.unexpectedbliss.com .

Five things I was doing 10 years ago (1998)

1. Completing my final year of college.

2. Flirting with my (then future) husband. :)

3. Driving my Dodge Shadow.

4. Wondering what was next

5. Living in a brothel. (5 or more unmarried, unrelated women living under one roof in Louisiana is considered a brothel. Yee Haw.)

Five things on my to do list

1. Make my blog better. Awesome even.

2. Finish my syllabus for next semester’s class.

3. Lose the &*%^$^ baby weight.

4. Get the dishwasher fixed. (*Top Priority)

5. Find a new cell phone service.

Five things I like to snack on

1. Kit Kats

2. Chips and salsa

3. Ruffles and onion dip

4. Twizzlers

5. Pears

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire

1. Pay off all bills

2. Buy a huge hunk of land and move our families there.

3. Buy a house in the Florida Keys

4. Travel all over the place

5. Give, give, give

Five jobs I have had

1. Sno-cone maker (best job EVER)

2. stage manager

3. teacher

4. personal assistant (worst job EVER)

5. Mom (ok, THAT'S the best job EVER)

Caption Contest Friday!

Here it is, Friday already! Dean and I just dropped Marcus off at the airport and are now chilling at home. He got me up at 4;55am. There will be many naps today.

Today's caption contest features a great prize! My friend Amy, who sells Beauti Control, has donated a great 2 piece set from their Herbal Serenity line. One lucky winner will receive the Show of Hands Instant Manicure and Moisturizer! This stuff is amazing...I own it myself. It makes your hands so smooth and shiny! All you have to do to be entered in the random drawing is leave a comment in the form of a caption for this lovely picture:



















That's my husband, Marcus. Yeah.

Have a great weekend!

My birthday's in 3 months, for those keeping count

I have apparently lost the ability to cook overnight. Last night, I made dinner. Sure it was a simple menu, but I worked in a new chicken batter (salt-free, no less!) and made sure we had a green vegetable and such. This morning, I got up with Dean at 5:47 (imagine that in all-caps, if that were possible with numbers) and made strong coffee and cereal. As I sat down to eat my Cheerios, Dean made me a little present in his diapee, so off we went to change. By the time I got back to my bowl, the cereal was icky and soggy, so I tossed it. And, of course, that was the last of the box. I wanted to make cookies, but just couldn't justify having those for breakfast. Dean fell asleep at 7:30 and I went and got back into bed. Marcus grunted at me. I told him I wanted cookies. He said he did, too, so I went and put some in the oven. (we got some of the break-apart ones that you just pop in and bake.) I burned the bottoms. Once Marcus went to work (early, by the way, probably so he could stop and get something edible on his way to class), I decided to make eggs. I don't know what I did, but they were a weird texture. I give up. I do, however, think this is a sign that I should go to Chik Fil A for lunch. ;D

Marcus leaves tomorrow morning to fly to DC to pick up our "New" car. His dad is letting us take his 2004 Honda Accord because he just got a snazzy 09 model. We are SO excited! He'll pick it up and start driving home Saturday, stopping to spend the night with his grandparents in Knoxville. I HATE it when Marcus is not with us, but I'm not as bummed this weekend because Meredith is coming! I haven't seen her since March when she and her husband came to NYC for a visit. Many of you will remember Meredith from previous blogs about how I almost ruined her wedding by becoming pregnant right before the big day and how I nearly put out people's eyes by shoving my already-swelling-newly-pregnant body into my bridesmaid's dress. Seriously, if I had been a minute more pregnant, we would have had to go to the mall to find me something else to wear. Anyway, good times are sure to ensue. I think we're going to the Galleria. Just for sport, I'm going to let her be in charge of dressing Dean all weekend. Maybe between the two of us, we can get his diaper on without breaking a sweat.

Be sure to check back tomorrow, when my blog will hopefully be more inspired and entertaining, and when there will be a new caption contest with a randomly awarded PRIZE!!!!!!!!!

Some fun things my little boy has done this week

Taken this picture of me, which, except for the fact that I have no mouth or chin, ain't too shabby.



















Ridden in a duffle bag. You know, because the 2 million and 20 toys scattered on our floor are just not enough to hold his attention sometimes.



















Ok, this picture does not do justice to what happened here. Somehow, Dean's right leg ended up in the left leg of his PJs and the right leg was just kind of hanging over to the side. I have no idea what's going on at the top, but it kinda looks like a toga.














Become obsessed with (and fearless about) the stairs. He crawls to them all the time and tries to climb. We finally had to build a barricade. And yes, we sang a song from Les Miz while we built it. Because we are JUST THAT GOOFY!














Done a little light reading. See the red thing? It's his new "book rack." (see the proper use of quotation marks there, by the way?) It's really a magazine rack, but I got it for 68 CENTS at the Target dollar spot to keep his books for him. And he dumps it out. And swims in the sea of books. And it is precious and makes me oh, so proud that he would rather look at books than do almost anything else these days.



















Fallen asleep on his daddy. In bizarre positions.















Cheered for the Crimson Tide against LSU. He said overtime makes him nervous.



















Played in the leaves. Which makes him super happy and giggly.















Worn cute old-man-style Spiderman flannel PJs. And apparently begun practicing yoga.

How's your week going?