Happy Anniversary to Me

Today is the five-year anniversary of the launch of this blog. In celebration, let's NOT go digging in the archives to see what sorts of things were on my mind way back in 2007.

Thanks, loyal readers, for continuing to read. I know you can't get enough information about my children, since that is apparently all I have to talk about these days. (Thankfully, about fifty percent of my readership is the children's grandparents, so they're probably still interested in their bathroom habits and whatnot. Or at least they pretend to be.)

Since I've been a little lackadaisical in posting lately, here are some quick tidbits to quench your lenexicon thirst. (Five of them, one for each year of the existence of this blog.)

1. After pretty much eating whatever I wanted the last few weeks (Halloween candy, anyone?), I mysteriously (ahem) gained back a few pounds. So I decided it was time to get back on the Weight Watchers train. Good timing, what with it being Thanksgiving week and all. I wonder how many points are in pumpkin pie, because you better believe I will be eating some of that come Thursday.
2. Milo just learned how to quote song lyrics in conversation. Daddy is so proud. If you're lucky, you will hear Milo say, "I'm so excited, I can't just hide it." (Yes, he reverses the order of "just can't." Give the kid a break, he's only two.)
3. I ran my first 5K in September. This probably deserves its own post. Maybe it will get one someday. I am also running the Turkey Day run on Thanksgiving morning and the Jingle Bell Run in December. I can't believe it, really. I just started running a few months ago, and I will have completed three 5Ks before the end of 2012. I think that might make me a real runner, a title I never thought I'd have.
4. Now that I've weaned Olive, I really want to go on a vacation. Just a few nights away from those early risers would be amazing. But we need a new water heater, a new roof, and exterior house paint, and we hope to complete the landscaping in the backyard next year. So a vacation isn't looking very likely. Sigh.
5. Our bedroom is inching toward being completely decorated. I don't know why it takes me about two full years to complete projects like this. We now have a headboard and all the furniture we want. Still need to sew the curtains and hang the artwork. I just need about two kid-free days and I think I could finish it all. Any volunteers?

Mini-Vacation

Last Thursday Andrew and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary by going on a mini-vacation to Weston, MO. It was our first time to go away together since we became parents and my first night away from Milo.

And it all went really, really well. Of course I missed Milo and wondered what he was up to. How was his bath? Did he get a bedtime story? Did he wonder where we were? He was with his nana, my MIL, and I know he adores her. But still. Obviously no one can take care of him quite as well as his daddy and me.

Andrew and I had a great time. We desperately needed a night away from our daily grind. It's wearing, working all the time, constantly doing chores and being responsible for a tiny person's well-being. We didn't have the time or the funds for a huge trip, so a single night at a B&B it was. We've never really spent any time in Weston, so it was all new to us. We wandered into every single store, sampled the local wine and beer, had a couple of great meals, and watched about half of a dull video on Lewis and Clark. But mostly we just had fun being together.

Happy Anniversary to us!

We saw this shop: Old Geezer's Mantiques. I thought it would surely be the most awesome shop in the entire town, but turns out not so much. The smell in that place made me nauseous, literally. It smelled like incense and cigars and body odor and a moldy old basement, all rolled into one overcrowded space. Gross.

Exploring Weston made us T-I-R-E-D. We had to stop to rest at least five times in a two-block stretch of shopping. Perhaps we should have napped instead?

When we got back, Milo was not nearly as excited to see us as I hoped he would be. He was happy we were back, even though he didn't give me the huge grin and excited welcome that I had imagined. But who can blame him, when going home meant leaving Nana and Grandpa Mark?

(Side note: I'm still nursing Milo in the morning and before his bedtime, but when I'm away from him, he just goes to bed without any milk. So while we were gone, Milo didn't get anything to replace his breast milk snacks. But I took my pump in case I needed some relief. And, well, I did not. At all. In fact, I went about 36 hours between nursing sessions, and still felt like there wasn't really any milk in there. Crazy. Makes me wonder if Milo isn't nursing so much as just hanging out and being close. Perhaps complete weaning will come soon?)

Third time's the charm.

Once you are married, are you supposed to stop celebrating all your previous “anniversaries”?

Today marks seven years since Andrew and I began dating. Or rather, it marks seven years since I gave in to Andrew’s relentless wooing and decided to give him another shot, since we had actually already dated and broken up twice before. And I’d already vowed that I was through with him, because a girl can only take so much heartache, especially from someone so handsome. And charming. And funny. And smart.

But because of the handsome/charming/funny/smart characteristics, I gave him another shot. So glad I did. Because now, seven years later, we’re still celebrating. Our official anniversary is now our wedding date, but surely it’s okay to remember all the little milestones that got us to where we are.

The next “anniversary”? September 2, the day Andrew unofficially asked me to marry him, closely followed by September 19, when I got the official, down-on-one-knee-oh-and-here’s-a-sparkly-ring proposal. Ah, memories.

Cake Update

I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath to hear what the year-old wedding cake tasted like. Or not. But humor me, people.

And. Well. All things considered, it wasn’t too bad. Certainly not all Miss Havisham-like. There was a pool of sugary liquid at the bottom of the container and the icing was slowly separating from the cake. And the cake was a smidge dry, like a cake would taste if it was brought in to the office for a coworker’s retirement party and then it didn’t all get eaten at the party (because seriously, who wants cake at 9:00am? and why are all retirement parties at 9:00am anyway?) and then it sat out on the filing cabinets all day and then the next morning you didn’t have time to eat breakfast before you left the house so you stopped for coffee on the way in and then you saw the cake sitting there and you thought, hmmm, it is only 9:00am but you did skip breakfast, and your coffee would probably be even better with some cake so you decided to have a piece and try not to think about how it had been sitting on the filing cabinet overnight and yeah. It was a little dry on the edge, but still edible. (Or that's how I imagine it would be, if one were to find oneself in such a situation. Definitely not that I have ever done something like that. No no no, not me for sure. nope, no way.)

So that’s pretty much how our wedding cake tasted after a year of being in the freezer.