thoughts throughout the week

What a week it has been already...and it's only Tuesday. Here are some of last week and this weeks happenings..

1.    Robert is loving football. He practices hard and crashes even harder! The Cougars won their first game 26-0 and lost their second 12-6. The second game was lost in the last TWO seconds. Such a bummer for the boys. But, they looked great and had fun...and really, that's all that matters.

2.    School starts next week. This has been the quickest summer of my life. Poor Robert barely had a summer. Between VBS and then football practice and karate, he hasn't had an actual day off. Besides the weekends. Crazy.

3.    I am in love. Yes, of course with my husband. And kids. And dog. But I have found a new love as well...Pinterest. OMG. So addictive. But, way better than playing cheesy games. I am not a game player. But I LOVE pinboards. This is right up my alley.

4.    I haven't been sleeping well. At all. I lay awake and just think and think. I hate it. I need sleep. I've been making an afternoon pot of coffee to get through the day. Oh well, this shall pass.

5.    I'm ready for October. Ready for cooler weather, for pumpkin flavored things...but most of all, I am ready for Eric to come home. I miss him. I LOVE fall. I am going all out this year. I love to decorate the house in pumpkins and berries and scarecrows.

Here's hoping for a good week...and some sleep!

watch out world...she's on the move!!

Carissa walks!! She has been taking a few steps here and there for the past two weeks, but yesterday she seemed to have got it down. She still likes to crawl, and be carried, but she knows what she is doing. I think she'll walk when she feels like it, crawl when she doesn't. Obviously, I am beyond proud of her. I sent videos to Eric, who is also very proud of our little girl. I can't wait until he gets home so that C can show off her skills!

Here she goes...

Six years...

It's been 6 years since I married my best friend. I thought about what to write here, on our Anniversary...I think that this sums it up. (these are my vows to Eric on our Wedding Day!)


I, Melissa, take you, Eric as my best friend for life...

All I know of love begins and ends with you...

With you, I have found someone that I always like to be with, no matter what we do.

With you, I have discovered how much it means to be able to share hopes and dreams, good times and bad times.

With you, I have found warmth, understanding, and a depth of caring that has touched my heart.

With you, I have found not only the love of my lifetime, but also my very best friend.

You have changed my life in so many ways. Without you, I would not be the person that I am today. You have showed me the true meaning of love. Before you, I never knew that feelings like this were real. From the moment on the beach, I knew that you were the man that I was going to marry. I realized that I didn't want to waste another minute of my life without you in it. I was, and still am, willing to go anywhere or do anything in order to stay by your side for the rest of my life. Since that day, we have both grown and changed in so many different ways. We have loved, and also lost, and I do believe that it has made our relationship stronger by the day. We now have something else to look foward to, the arrival of our son, Robert Joseph. There is no doubt in my mind that you will make an amazing father. You have so much love inside of you, that I do believe he is already the luckiest little boy in the world. I know that we are ready to accept this challenge and face it head on. Whatever life throws our way, we will be able to handle, because we have eachother. You have made me not only the happiest, but the luckiest woman on Earth. I do not know where I would be without you. We are now beginning the journey of marriage. I can not wait to spend the rest of my life with you, the man that I love, the father of our son, and also my very best friend. I know that I have everything that anyone could ever want...Someone who shares the same values, shares the same dreams..Someone who understands the parts of me that other people don't even know exist. I have found the most amazing man in the world, and I promise to love and respect you for the rest of our lives.

I promise to share everything with you, to talk about our ideas, our dreams, the little everyday things that make us laugh, and the not so little things that we can't help worrying about.

I promise to give you my love as a place you can always come to for acceptance or the simple comfort that silence brings when things left unspoken can still be understood. But most of all, I promise to love you for the rest of my life, to wake up every morning with you by my side, knowing that no matter what happens we will be able to come home to each others loving arms.

I promise to grow old with you, to watch our life unfold, and our dreams, one by one come true...

I promise to love you forever...this is my solemn vow.

Happy Anniversary, Eric. I love you.

#72

Robert got his Football Jersey tonight! He has Erics old number...72!! He is so excited. His coach did a little ceremony to hand them out. All of the kids were really excited. Coach also asked me tonight how old Robert is...when I answered that he is still 5, he said "that's insane, he talks like he's 30." Pssshhhh. Tell me about it.

thoughts throughout the week

I am slacking at this blogger thing. I'm not very good at it. I sit down every night to write Eric an email, and when I am through, I don't really feel like writing more. Oh well. Onto my mid-week random thoughts...

1.    I don't know if I have said this yet, but Carissa has THREE teeth. She is now also taking up to SIX steps. Where is the time going?

2.    I saw a Basset Hound puppy the other day. I fell in love. I want one. Now.
                                         

3.    Robert had his first scrimmage tonight at football. They played against the other Cougar flag team. It was awesome. I didn't realize that I would be "that Mom." But, lo and behold, I can scream motivating things with the best of them! Here's a video of their post scrimmage "Cougar Jacks"...probably a little grainy.

4.    I miss my Mom. It was so so so nice to have her here for three whole weeks. If you complain about your parents, or take advantage of them, STOP. You don't know how lucky you are. I so wish my mom lived around the corner...to watch my kids grow up, to be there to talk to...(and my Dad...I love you too, Frank!)

5.    Yes, I call my Dad Frank. No, he is not my Step-Dad, either. My parents have been married almost 29 years. I call my Mom, Mom and my Dad, Frank. I need to stop. It's terrible. Eric tells me all of the time to stop, but come on...I've been calling him by his first name since I was a kid. How terribly disrespectful. Sorry Frank Dad!

6.    I found this in Eric's CD collection. Ummm, babe...When were you jamming out to "Barbie Girl?"

7.    In three days I will have been married to my best friend for six years. I will for sure blog about that on Saturday!

Hope you are all having a splendid week! (haha, the word *splendid* reminds me of my brother, Rob...and Mr. Gassner, my 8th Grade French teacher...and the amazing impression that Rob did of Mr Gassner that used to land him in detention...ahhhh, the memories!)

three...no! four steps!!!

I feel like I have fallen off the face of the blog-Earth.

Sorry.

CARISSA WALKED.

Okay, she took a few steps. Maybe she isn't "walking." buuuuut, she sure is trying! She stands and claps. She LOVES to clap. Today, she decided to take a step towards me...and then another...and another! Three steps! And then another! FOUR steps!!!!

Wow. I was impressed. And then I cried. Ohhhh, I was sad. I am so proud of her. I really, really am. But, she waaaaalked. That makes her not so much of a baby. And that makes me sad. Robert started walking three days before he turned seven months. That is YOUNG. But, with him, my first born, I was so so excited! I couldn't wait for him to meet milestones. Now, with Carissa, I want everything to go slower.

I love watching my children grow. They amaze me everyday.

world breastfeeding week

Some of you may know that I breastfeed Carissa. You may also know that I did not breastfeed Robert. I can try every excuse in the book as to why I didn't with Robert. It hurt, he wasn't latching, he didn't get it, blah blah blah. Truth be told, it was hard and I gave up. I pumped...kinda, for about three weeks. That was that. I always felt a pang of guilt, giving Robert formula. I am in no way preaching, saying that formula is "bad" but I always kind of felt like crap giving him a bottle in public. I'm weird.

Then came Carissa...oh my sweet, sweet girl. I told myself and Eric from the beginning that I was going to breastfeed her. I think Eric just went along with me, thinking, 'suuuuuure you will.' While I was pregnant, I bought nursing bras, a breastpump, nursing tanks. What I did NOT buy were bottles. OR formula.

The evening that Carissa made her way into the world is one that I will never forget. I will one day post my birth story, but for now all I can say is that when she was finally brought to me to cuddle, I put her to my breast and OMG, she did it. She latched on! She was a pro from the start!

I have friends and know many people that have had so much trouble with breastfeeding. With Mastitis, or tounge tie, with family members not agreeing with their decision...and they keep going. It makes me sad that I didn't try harder with Robert, but SO proud that Carissa will be TEN months old tomorrow and we are still going strong. I like to say that Carissa taught me what to do. I was clueless. She was a natural.

I won't post any pictures of myself actually feeding her, but I will say that it is such a beautiful bonding experience. From the very beginning, she would look up and me with her big blue eyes, and I would know that she knew who I was. Who I am. Her mom. I am doing the most natural, wonderful thing for my child and I love every minute of it.

I will probably wean her within the next five-six months, and that's okay. I never planned to nurse a four year old! So, with this week being world breastfeeding week I figured I would share my story.

first football practice

Today was Roberts first day of football practice!

Enjoy these videos of practice!

I sat there watching him, just thinking how about the years to come and how much fun we are going to have. He has not been able to stop talking about practice since we got home! I am so excited for him.