Lucky Thirteen

"Hey, what are you doing tonight?"

(Pointing at my cheerleading uniform) "Going to the game."

"Oh yeah, but what are you doing?"

(Again pointing at my uniform) "Uhhhhh, cheering?"

"Yeah, I got that. But do you do anything afterwards or do you just cheer?"

(Awkwardest laughter ever) "Uh, yeah. I do stuff after."

(Painfully) "Well, do you want to do something with me?"

(Literally squealing) "Yes!"

"Alright. I'll see you at the game."

This epic conversation changed just about everything about my life thirteen years ago. Man, what a catch I was. The real bonus in this entire scenario is that John claims he didn't see me skip, literally, back to my table of friends exclaiming, "John. Wahlers. Asked. Me. Out!"

John and I met during my sophomore year in Spanish class, Ms. Hiner's class, and I was immediately in love. Seriously. He was coolly quiet, hands down the cutest boy I'd ever seen, and always laughed at me and my friends' jokes or smiled as we loudly belted out the lyrics to Shakira's Estoy Aqui (a seriously great Spanish song). And everyday at lunch I'd find some excuse to pass by his table. Subtle. He swears he told his friends he was going to date me, but nothing happened. He had a girlfriend, I had a boyfriend, and the year passed.

Sometime during my junior year a friend told me John was in his class and told him he wanted to ask me out. But nothing happened until we bumped into each other walking out of school and fell into an awkward conversation. We repeated our walk to the parking lot the next day and the next day, and things got progressively less awkward as the week progressed. By the end of the week, the Friday after Valentine's day, I got up to throw my trash away at lunch and John walked over. And well, you know, THE conversation ensued. When John asked me if I still wanted to go out before we pulled out of the parking lot later that afternoon, I tried desperately to make up for my squealy yes, with a "sure if you want." Idiot.

Some first date highlights...

§  John showed up just before halftime of the basketball game. I'd spent the first half of the game obsessively watching the door and scanning the crowd.

 

§  At halftime, I followed him outside, and when he asked me where I lived so he could pick me up after the game, I pointed. No, my house wasn't across the street. It was at least a mile away, and shockingly, John didn't have a clue where I lived from me pointing at the water tower.

§  He got out of the car and came to my door. Something none of my other boyfriends did. What a catch. He was immediately bombarded by my mom, sister and all the cheer moms. Just a little overwhelming for a first meeting.

§  For our first date, John took me to an apartment party (classy) where two of his guy friends stripped down and raced to see who could swim the length of the pool faster (super classy).

§  I quietly puked in the bathroom. I've always been the lamest drinker.

§  My ridiculously early curfew made us jet early, but when John grabbed my hand as we walked to the car, I thought I just might die.

§  John asked for my number when we got back to my house. I wrote my name on the piece of paper, just in cases.

§  He kissed me. Three of the most G-rated, sweetest kisses ever. I think I actually did die. What a smooth operator.

 

And from that night on, we've talked every single day. We've walked through some of the ugliest and most beautiful moments of each other's lives together, and for too many reasons to detail, we just work. It hasn't been a perfect thirteen years, but we decided a long time ago that being together is home. And there truly isn't a better place to be. Lucky thirteen, right boss?

Happy Love Day!

Love spills over at our house for family, friends and each other, and I'd never pass up a day to celebrate that! And while John and I have loved each other for twelve Valentine's Days, this is our first year with Charlie. Our first year to celebrate a new kind of love - the purely overwhelming kind.

 

My sister gave me the book How Do I Love You? shortly after Charlie was born, and the end of the book explains this overwhelming kind of love better than I ever could...

 

How do I love you?

It's impossible to say.

 

For if I had a million days

And time enough for all the praise,

I couldn't tell you all the ways...

 

I love you.

 

Happy first Valentine's Day, Chuck. I'll be your number one valentine as long as you'll let me. And Boss, well, you know - this life doesn't work without you, and I love this life.

Happy Valentine's Day from us to you! Thanks for your friendship, support and most of all, your love. We love you.

 

photo by: Alison Eden Photography

 

Sickly Grateful

Charlie and I spent our first night together in the bathroom with a pile of towels for a pillow and a beach towel for a blanket hoping the warm shower moisture would clear those nostrils. Before he went down for the night, I could tell he was getting congested, and sure enough an hour into his normally seamless slumber he woke up just miserable. I dropped some saline in his nose while John set up the humidifier and tilted the crib mattress, and Chuck sweetly fell back into a deep slumber. Somewhere in my subconscious I must have known we were in for a long night. I couldn't get to sleep and sure enough around 11 Charlie woke up in a rage. An inconsolable rage. I pulled him into bed with us, normally an instant calmer only to find him more frustrated. So we hit the bathroom, and he sacked out. And of course mid-night, I started getting sick too. The pits. The absolute pits - being sick with a sick little one. It's been a long couple of days, but being sick and sad has made us wildly grateful for...

1. Super Dad mode. John jumped in on Sunday and didn't look back. I took two naps while the boys played.

2. A sick kid whose still crazy fun and cute. Even with snot flowing down his face, he's beautiful.

3. Sweet friends who bring a Super Bowl party to you when you can't come to theirs'. And Doritos...nacho cheese Doritos...god, they're delicious.

4. Two nights of family bed. They weren't the most restful nights, but waking up next to that little guy is just too good.

5. Veggie casseroles on the doorstep.

6. Naps. Long, sweet naps.

7. Humidifiers. Not because I think they're really helping Charlie sleep, but I do love walking into his room to find him bouncing and waving in the "smoke". A young clubber on our hands.

8. Beautiful days at the park. Every kid had Chuck's same cough and snot drip. And the walk there with Stan was just what we needed - fresh air.

9. Shopping therapy. Target's boys' clothes are cuuuute.

10. A sanitized house. I believe in the power of clean sheets.

9 Months!

Motorin'! Nothing could describe this month any better. The first part of the month was pulling up and dragging, and then about mid-month Charlie just got it. Something clicked, and he threw those knees underneath him and hasn't looked back. The standing and the crawling has left us with a few bumps and bruises, one fall off the deck (again mom-of-the-year here) and a slight obsession with trying to escape out the back door, but otherwise, I'm so grateful for the mobility. Sure he gets into Stanley's water, and the trash in the bathroom, and well, everything, but it's so fun to watch him really play at playgroup and crawl around at the library and "sprint" from the den to the kitchen just so we'll pick him up. He's a total kid, and we're loving it.

We went to the doctor today, and it seems as though my month eight predictions might have been a bit off. He's 21 lbs and 15 oz - alright Char, I'll give you the 22 lbs - which puts him in the 80th percentile. Gasp...he's starting to level out and slim down which I guess is good because otherwise he really would be 64 lbs by the time he turned one. He's 30.5 in. which still puts him off the charts for height...have I mentioned how proud this makes John?!

This month Charlie is obsessed with the sandbox (a converted plastic pool) that sits in the back corner of our backyard. Between that and the bench GiGi and Pops got him for his baptism, I think we sit out there for at least an hour every day. And if we haven't made our way out to the sandbox that's only because Charlie's feverishly practicing pulling up and walking along the edges of our chairs and bench on the deck. We've rediscovered books this month. He couldn't sit still to get through even his favorites for a while, but after achieving the end-all-be-all feat of crawling, he can now settle in for a good read. Other than crawling, maybe my favorite thing this month is Charlie's laugh. It's still this full-belly chuckle, but this month he'll get so tickled he can't focus on whatever he was doing. For real, fall down laughter. Stan has also become even more of an obsession this month because now Charlie can be in his biz-nass at all times. Stan is so sweet to him, and every once in a while he'll bring his toy over by Charlie and play a little tug-o-war...Charlie's dream. And we're still talking, gibberishly, but we're talking. Charlie continues to yell - ahhh-ah - when he wants something, especially food, or when he senses a good echo. But he's also got a pretty great grunt working this month when he wants to get your attention. And of course, the ma-ma-ma-ma-mas when he wants to be picked up. I'd like to claim he's calling out for me, but he says it to everybody. The little player.

 

 

Now for the downer, this month was marked by some serious sleeping woes that I think we're on our way out of, but I'm not totally confident. Almost every. single. nap. was a battle. I tried pushing nap time up...maybe I was letting him get overtired. Wrong. I tried one nap...maybe he wasn't tired enough. Wrong. So we've been patiently (not so much) working through it. I think most of the problems started around the time of the crawling. He had these super amazingly awesome skills to show off, and the moment he was on his belly he couldn't help but crawl around. I literally found him exhaustingly crying and crawling in circles in his crib one day right after I laid him down. Can't. stop. crawling, Mom. Misery. I'm hopeful we're on the other side of the sleep regression...like, wishing and hoping and thinking and praying.

For the moms that want it - he's up at 6:30/7:00, takes a nap around 9:00 for about 45-60 min, takes another nap around 1:00 for about 60-90 min., and then is down for the night at 6:30/7:00. He's nursing (yes, Kevin...nuuuuursing) four times a day - waking up, after first and second nap, and before bed at night. And he's eating three meals a day - 4 oz of veggie/fruit puree and a handful of blueberries or cheerios or lima beans or peas or whatever else he can feed himself - with two snacks normally in between nap and lunch and nap and dinner. House and home. Eating us outta house and home.

Month nine. Three months until the big numero uno. I got all choked up today at the doctor's office making his one year appointment - I can't believe we're already there. Life's sweeter because of you little Chuckster. So very much sweeter.