20 Months Old!
Posted on | June 8, 2011 | 1 Comment
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted and I have a lot to write about, but it is going to have to wait. School is killer right now and I’ve been spending as much time with the family as I can.
Posted on | May 2, 2011 | No Comments
Osama Bin Laden is Dead.
Posted on | May 2, 2011 | 1 Comment
Those are five words that we have been waiting nine years, seven months and 20 days to hear. 3519 days.
Over 2600 killed when the Towers Came down.
Over 125 killed in the Pentagon.
And 256 lives lost on four aircraft. The total death toll surpassing that of Pearl Harbor.
Over 5,885 men and women have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The most notorious face of evil is now no more, resting where he truly belongs. Knowing that I was involved in the fight against terror makes me proud, but I am even more proud that I am a part of this great country, fighting for the freedom of those that can’t.
Osama Bin Laden was the master mind of the biggest attack on American soil. We’ve been at war for 10 years because of that attack. I’ve lost friends and collegues.
This is a big deal.
America is celebrating more than just his death though. What about all the innocent men, women, and children that were killed at the hands of Al-Queda? The lives that we never even hear about. It’s more than Osama’s death that is being celebrated. It is the end of a reign of terror perpetrated by this man. Granted, someone will fill his shoes, but Osama was the tie that kept Al-Queda together. Hopefully without him, they will break off into various groups and not have the power they once had. This is far from over and it’s a big deal.
And it irritates me that there are people out there that just don’t get that.
We are a country STILL at war, despite the lack of media coverage. We’ve built school and outfitted hospitals. Repaired roads, provided electricity, and established running water, but that is not what gets reported. Our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters continue to die every day, fighting for freedom……and there are still people that just don’t get it. The same people that have no idea how good we have it here in the U.S.A. The freedom to choose our religion, read what we want, listen to any kind of music, send our daughters to school, and not be fearful to simply leave our house. We are truly lucky to live in this country.
It’s a big deal. And I get it.
Amen, Tina Fey!!
Posted on | April 19, 2011 | 1 Comment
While at Borders this past weekend, I saw that Tina Fey has a new book out. I didn’t think much of it other than it being ANOTHER celebrity attempting to cash in on writing their own “memoir”. However, after reading the excerpt below, I am really rethinking my previous opinion. If the below is any indication of the rest of her book’s content, I might just have to pick up a copy and perhaps obtained a new girl-crush.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Prayer for a Daughter
“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.
May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.
When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.
Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.
Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.
May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.
Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.
O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.
And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.
And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.
Amen.”
-Tina Fey
Feelin’ hot, hot, hot!
Posted on | April 11, 2011 | No Comments
Today was HOT. I check the outdoor temperature around 10AM and it was already reading 91! Reagan decided that 6:45AM was an acceptable time to wake up on a Saturday morning so we spent the better part of the morning doing chores around the house. Ash was in Nashville doing a bike race, so I knew that I had some time to get things done. I had three baskets of clean clothes that needed to be put away and considering the recent weather, decided it was time to take the winter clothing out of my closet. After organizing my closet and putting all the clean clothes away, I started some laundry and made some lunch for Reagan. Once she went down for a nap I had a little time to myself and spent it watching some high-quality television in the form of The Real World. I haven’t watched a season of The Real World in YEARS and for some reason decided to DVR this one.
After nap time Reagan and I went outside to draw on the driveway with chalk. Reagan loves it and tends to draw on everything: herself, sippy cup, clothing, Kaia.
Trying to carry all the chalk. I love that every time she is concentrating hard she sticks out her tongue.
Again with the tongue. I LOVE this bathing suit and the fact that it came with a bathing cap. I was shocked that she actually kept it on most of the time. She has a new found fondness for hats.
Sharing a nectarine with Daddy. She put a hurtin’ on it.
Daddy taking Reagan into the little “pool”. She is not fond of walking on the grass so Ash had to walk her over there.
When we first took her out there she did not want to get in. The water coming out of the hose was FRIGID. After some time though, the water warmed up and she had a blast splashing around and playing with the little fountains that were squirting up in the middle.
Some baby throwing.
She was trying to chase after Ash here. Right after I got this picture she fell right on her butt and made the funniest face. I always miss those moments.
Our pretty girl! Her eyes look SO blue!! (I had a really hard time editing this picture. It was over exposed, and shes half shadowed. Plus I just have the basic editing program that came with my Mac. I kinda like the vintage-y feel of this picture though. Not perfect, but I like it.)
For comparison sake, here is a picture of Reagan last summer at the beach. I know that she was bald, but MY GOODNESS! She was REALLY bald.
18 Months Old
Posted on | March 30, 2011 | 4 Comments
I still can’t believe that Reagan is 18 months old. It is amazing to watch her little personality develop. Every day she is saying new words and this weekend she actually put two words together and said, “My baby”. She is obsessed with babies. Baby dolls, pictures of babies, babies in magazines, babies on TV. She LOVES babies. She never sits still, unless Elmo’s World is on and even then, she only watches it for a few minutes. She climbs on everything! I am thinking of signing up for toddler and parent gymnastic classes. I really think she would love it.
She is still a great little sleeper. At bed time, Ash takes her upstairs for a bath. After she gets her bath and teeth brushed, I come up with a bottle (yes, she still gets one bottle a day and no, I don’t care if she is too old to get it), we sit in the rocker and I read her a few books. She really doesn’t drink a whole lot but as soon as she is ready for bed, she hands me the bottle, climbs out of my lap and stands by her crib. She goes down, says night-night as I leave and we don’t hear another peep from her. Most mornings Ash has to wake her up and she takes a two hour nap at day care. She definitely takes after her mom and dad in that aspect.
We are officially the parents of a toddler!!
Music Monday: Songs We Love to Hate
Posted on | March 28, 2011 | 1 Comment
Every morning on my drive into Nashville I listen to The Bert Show. Typically I’m not a huge fan of morning radio shows. I never found anything that they talked about interesting, especially first thing in the morning when I’m still trying to wake up. Let me just say, I LOVE this morning radio show. They actually broadcast from Atlanta, but are partnered or something with a Nashville radio station. A new segment they recently started is The iPod from Hell. Basically it’s 90′s music that they hate. Apparently they’ve done this before but decided to do it again thanks to Rebecca Black and her new song/music video Friday. Some love it, others hate it. Me, I’m pretty much undecided, however on more than one instance I have found myself singing this damn song in my head.
I’ve decided to do my version of The iPod from Hell with Songs We Love to Hate. Most of these are from my high school and college days and bring back some crazy memories. I remember LOVING these songs and for some, still do. Others are now just annoying. Here are my picks!
I have a feeling that Reagan will be dancing her little butt off to some of these!
Finger Painting!
Posted on | March 9, 2011 | 2 Comments
Today I was planning on going into Ash’s office to organize all the FRG “stuff”, but decided to stay home with Reagan. I love staying home with her and really didn’t want to take her to day care. After she ate lunch, I decided to see how she would do with finger painting. I had bought finger paint a while ago, but just haven’t had the chance to do it with her. She LOVE it. Surprisingly she didn’t try to eat it at all.
Half naked baby to make sure that paint doesn’t get on her clothes. Every few weeks Reagan’s day care sends home a holiday related craft for us to do and bring back into day care for her to hang on the wall. This month’s is a shamrock.
Finger painting isn’t complete unless you paint your belly!
Reagan saw no problem with having painted herself and made it known when I cleaned her off.
Reagan, 17 months
The next Picasso?
Birthday Weekend
Posted on | March 9, 2011 | No Comments
I have to say, I had no idea that there were such elaborate plans for my birthday. On Thursday, as I was leaving clinical, I got a phone call from my friend Caroline, asking me to pick her up from the Nashville airport. She had flown in as a surprise! It was such an awesome and unexpected surprise. We spent the night just hanging out and catching up.
I had another 8-hour clinical on Friday and headed home as soon as it was over. We ordered some Indian take-out for dinner and as we were finishing up Ash told me that he had good news and bad news. The good news was that my birthday weekend wasn’t over yet. The bad news was that he had to go out for a few hours and do “something”. After finding out how long he was going to be gone, I had a feeling that he was going to the airport to pick someone up, but I had no idea who. Caroline and I (mostly me….) were exhausted that night. We hung out with Reagan, gave her a bath, and put her down for the night. We watched some trash TV (AKA The Jersey Shore) and I ended up falling asleep around 9PM. Lame, I know.
Ash called at 10PM to let me know he was down the road and to let the dogs out. If we don’t put them out, they bark when they see his car pull up and wake-up Reagan. In walked my cousins from Pennsylvania! I had NO IDEA they were coming for the weekend. That wasn’t everyone though! On Saturday afternoon, my roomie from Iraq and her husband came sauntering into our house. It was so great to see everyone!
Ash had booked our regular babysitter (who is awesome and a nanny during the week!) and we headed into Nashville at 5PM. We had reservations at Sambuca and dinner was amazing! It’s been a long time since we’ve had a meal like that. Ash and I ordered the Buca Beignets (donut like pastry stuffed with mozzarella & prosciutto, with jalapeño-basil & balsamic glazes) as an appetizer and I had the chili-rubbed scallops for my main dish. My martini, the Grape Expectations (SKYY Infusions Grape Vodka, lavender & cranberry juice) was quite possibly the BEST martini I’ve ever had.
After dinner we headed downtown to The Big Bang, a dueling piano bar. It was A. BLAST!! I do remember at one point during the night (I think around 10PM) I knew that it was either time to go home because I was so tired, or time to ratchet it up a notch. That notch being SHOTS! Probably not my best decision, but we had so much fun! It’s been a lot time since we had gone out for the night, and we spent a good part of Sunday recovering.
Yesterday we had a little celebration. We went out to dinner at the Blackhorse Pub and Brewery. It’s one of our favorite places to eat. Ash made my favorite for dessert: strawberry cake and chocolate icing. He made cupcakes instead of a cake so that he could take the extra into work with him.
He was also nice enough to get me a pack of diapers and denture cream. Apparently he thinks he is funny and forgot that he is actually older than I am!
Reagan definitely enjoyed the strawberry cake, minus the chocolate icing. Too much sugar before bedtime!
I also got a new camera! A Nikon D3100, so now I will have much better pictures to post. Now I just have to figure out how to use all the features
Tags: 30th Birthday > Blackhorse Pub and Brewery > friends > Sambuca > The Big Bang
Music Monday: Spring Break
Posted on | March 8, 2011 | No Comments
I’m on my spring break right now and let me tell you, it couldn’t have come fast enough. School was starting to take its toll on me and I was ready for a break. We’re not doing anything too crazy this week, although my 30th birthday is tomorrow. We celebrated this weekend and I will post pictures in the next few days. We had a blast!
When I think of spring break I think of the sun, beach and fruity drinks. That’s the same thing these songs make me think of.
keep looking »
Hi! My name is Erin and welcome to my little slice of the internet. I'm a 29 year old OIF veteran, lover of Patriot football, Zumba addict and full time student. I started this blog to keep my friends and family informed on our growing family. My husband is on active duty and the Army has us stationed far away from our families.
In August 2010 I began my graduate studies at Vanderbilt University. I am studying to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and plan on graduating in August 2012. It has proven to be a tough exercise in time management and balance, but anything worth it requires hard work!!
Thanks for stopping by!
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.babyloveblog.com" title="Baby Love"><img src="http://babyloveblog.com/wp-content/themes/BabyLoveBlog/images/baby-love-button.png" alt="Baby Love" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
