Daydreaming

Work is pretty slow. I've spent most of the day on a really boring reporting project in excel. Bleck. It reminds me of my short lived auditing career when I contemplated stabbing my eyes out with my pencil hourly.

So what's a girl to do when there is absolutely no brain power required at work and George Strait is crooning over her pandora station?

Daydream.

And blog.

You think I'd be dreaming up a marvelous rustic wedding for next year with hay bale seating and mason jar lighting galore...nope.

I'm fantasizing about turning our quiet little homestead into an itty bitty farm with gardens and chickens and pigs and maybe a horse or donkey or goat. Add in a pond with a rope swing and a little barn somewhere and I'm certain I'd be in heaven.

We definitely don't have enough land for all of that and I would have a lot of learning to do but doesn't it sound so magical? It would be the absolute perfect place for The King to grow up. We could pick vegetables, berries and flowers. Feed animals and pick worms. Go swimming. Climb trees and build forts. He'd learn all sorts of manly things from dad and I'd take lots of pictures and soak up every precious moment of his childhood.

I think I was born to raise boys and make a life with a man that has rough hands and a soft heart.

Sigh.

Maybe I'll pitch my idea to dear ole dad tonight...

Wish me luck!

Slackers

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You're welcome

Country and Cold Cans

I bought this album a few weeks ago and have been meaning to tell you about it ever since. I also bought Home, which I should probably tell you about too since we're on the topic of Dierks. Maybe later though. I like this one better.

Country and Cold Cans was released in August of this year and I'd like to say that whoever is in charge of setting his dates is pretty darn stupid. Dierks is touring with Miranda next year so maybe that's why they waited? I don't know. I plan to attend the concert so I'll probably just talk to him about it when I see him.

If this was released in June I would have totally listened to it on repeat every single day. I might have even had a beer. Just kidding. Maybe, like, two years ago, I would have been slugging Sam Summers on the beach to this one. It's now my kitchen cleaning anthem. See what being a mama does to you? 

The EP is only 18 minutes long but it's a solid 18 minutes of carefree summer fun. Every single song makes you want to rewind back to those 80 degree days, "pop a top" and relax with some good friends. I do not recommend listening to this in say, February, when the winter blues have set in and all you really want is summer. That might make you go cray cray.

I don't know who came out with this idea first but Luke Bryan also releases these short, party anthem type EPs. I highly recommend him as well and love them just as much. His are a little more college themed but fun all the same.

My thoughts:

1. Country and Cold Cans - So friggen true. Can't have one without the other. This reminds me of the 8,000 country concerts I've been to over the years. Beer drinking is a given.

2. Grab a Beer - Just head bobbing, toe tapping fun. Nothing more to say. 

3. Back porch - I'm hoping this will be my 2013 summer. I can just picture it now. The King will be ripping around our yard, chasing dogs and picking berries, while Papa Bear gets his grill on and I try to tan my pastey skin. I probably won't be drinking any beers and will likely burn but hey, a mama can dream. 

4. Summer on Fire - Makes me want to jump up and down. 

5. Tip it on Back - This one is on the radio now and I actually sing it to The King almost every day. He's trying to figure out how to hold his bottle so I instruct him to tiiiiiiiip it on baaaaaack. Formula. Not beer. 

Enjoy!

Where's the Kleenex?

I returned to work in October after five marvelous months of maternity leave. When I first went back, The King hardly noticed I was gone. He never made a fuss when I left in the morning and usually stared at me blankly when I returned home. As you probably guessed, I was not thrilled about The King's lack of excitement and affection.

Fast forward nearly two months later and The King is an entirely different little boy. I can't believe how much has changed.

The bad news first; he now whines and fusses when I leave. I feel awful for him but our sitter, Meg, tells me that he's usually fine after a few minutes and completely forgets I'm gone. Sad for me, great for him.

The good news and best part of this whole working mama gig, he is SO darn excited to see me when I get home now. You know that reaction your dog has when you get home from work? Wagging tail, panting, drooling, jumping and barking? Like, "where have you been all my life, I have missed you so much, I couldn't stand another second away from you, pet me, pet me, pet me!"

If The King was a dog he'd act just like that.

Today was a new level of excited though and the whole point to this post. Normally, Meg stands with The King in front of the window so he can see me pull in. She helps him wave and I stand in the middle of the driveway, like an idiot, waving back...at her. Then they meet me at the door and I get a smiling, happy baby, grabbing for his mama.

I love so much that she does this by the way.

Well today I snuck into the living room and found them playing on the floor. I said "Hello" and The King snapped his head around to see me, grinned ear to ear, and then CRAWLED over to me. That's right. He crawled over to me and whined for me to pick him up.

Cue the waterworks.

I have never been so happy, excited, terrified and sad all at the same time. It definitely wasn't a very coordinated crawl and was really pretty ugly but that's not the point. He crawled.

(practice round over the weekend)

I can't believe that my little boy has grown so fast. I was looking at pictures of him from this summer and it made me so sad. You really don't realize how little and perfect they are when you're trying to survive on four hours of sleep and PB&J sandwiches.

I wish I could stop time and just live in this moment for a little while. Every day he is learning something new and I'm so proud of him. It's really just so amazing to watch them turn into little people.

You can bet that I rocked and snuggled The King an extra couple lullabies tonight. He nestled right into my neck like he always does and I breathed in that yummy baby smell with a full heart. I'm scared that I'm going to wake up one day and all of this will have passed me by so I made a promise to slow down. Stop and smell the roses, ya know?

I've also promised to rock The King to sleep until he's 40. My sincerest apologies to his future wife.

And I was worried about Grace...

Hard to believe but The King is still sick. He now has some sort of stomach virus causing him to shit like 300 times a day.

At least it's not boogers.

On top of being miserable, the poor bugger has a bad rash on his bum now. Per the direction of everyone on the planet, I've been trying to air it out as much as possible. As you can imagine, that's risky business.

Well here I was worried about the puppy ruining the carpet and The King is the one marking his territory all over the damn place. He has managed to go number 1 AND number 2 (twice) on the blanket/floor!!! Both of the number two incidents took place this morning before mama left for work. Daddy grabbed the wipes and then ran for the hills gagging so I had a nice mess to clean up and two loads of laundry to do by 7am.

What. The. Hell.

He needs to air out so I have to let him but really kid? You're for real? You're taking it to a whole new level bud. I'm totally putting this in your baby book and telling all of your future girlfriends when you're 16.

That's what moms are for, right?

Preach

Countdown: 23 days!

Thank you abc family for making the month of December that much awesomer! For those of you who live under a rock, they count down to Christmas with a classic movie(s) each night. Here's the schedule.

I'm totally going to let The King stay up late to watch these some day. You know, in like, five years. Hopefully it's still playing. Remember how awesome TGIF and Saturday morning cartoons were? I'd still be watching if they were on.

I am currently on a mission to buy all of the movies they play. I seriously love Christmas that much and the little kid inside me desperately needs them. Except for the Grinch. I refuse to buy that one unless it's the old cartoon. I'm watching it right now and I can't get over how creepy it is. The person who approved Jim Carey starring in a children's Christmas movie should be hung by their toes in the Rockefeller Plaza tree. At the top.

I am so feeling the Christmas spirit tonight though. If only I had some milk and cookies...

Check me out.

Yes, I have a tacky tree with colored lights and a hideous star. Yes, my ornaments are mismatched and most are wicked old. Yes, I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.