Cock Blocked

I've been silent on here about the Kentucky Wildcats this season, but after what can only be described as a humiliating loss against South Carolina, I have to rant and rave!  My beloved Cats cannot figure out how to handle the ball.  Tonight they turned it over 20 times.  It took Patrick Patterson until the end of the game to finally figure out how to muscle his way into the paint to get shots to fall without being blocked (SC had 20 blocks in this game... totally unheard of!) and Jodie Meeks, our star player couldn't make anything happen.  The rest of the team was practically silent... unless they were turning the ball over again, that is.

This was a must-win game to put us on top of the SEC east, and we've sucked it up so much again this year that there's widespread talk of Kentucky not even making it into the NCAA tournament.  What a frustrating time to be a Wildcat!

And the Oscar goes to

... I have no clue! Because I went to bed early last night. 2008 was a bust for me as far as seeing movies is concerned, so I had little vested interest in the awards last night. True, I do love watching the Academy awards for the fashion parade, but these days my Oscar knowledge is limited to the family dog, and the grouch from Sesame Street!

I read the recap in the paper this morning, and I'm sorry to have missed seeing Kate Winslet finally win her best actress award, but other than that, it doesn't look like I missed much.

I did get to catch some of the awards in between rocking a sleepy baby who for some unknown reason would Not stay asleep last night. I saw my favorite-Tilda Swinton- and the bevy of other actresses hand out the best supporting actress award, and I wanted to topple off my couch and into the tv and attack Tilda with some eyeliner. (Yes, I know, I need to give it up.) And I also saw a host of men handing out the oscar for best supporting actor. What, I texted Conley, is up with Christopher Walken's hair??!! I saw one shot of Marisa Tomei and she looked gorgeous. On the flip side, SJP & Goldie Hawn both looked haggard. But that's about all the first hand knowledge this DIVA has about movies' biggest night, but oh, that hour of uninterrupted sleep I got before Bradley woke up again was bliss!

Aw Ricky, I wanna be on the show!

Upon pursuing the Facebook status updates last night, I saw where my friend Kathleen had posted an update encouraging everyone to vote for Ricky Braddy on American Idol. Wait- THE Ricky Braddy??!! The one from Nashville who went to Belmont that I did a musical with? Was the gist of my comment to Kathleen. The very same, was her approximate answer. If you don't believe me, you can follow the thread on our Facebook pages. But I digress.

Ricky sang the male lead opposite of me in Pull-Tight Theater's production of Pirates in My Pants (or Penzance, take your pick) a few years ago. He's also the reason my 65+ year old director had to step in at the last minute and sing the part of the 21 year-old love interest with me, completely grossing me out with his lewd gestures. Stupid Ricky. Stupid strep-throat. But of course I am kidding... only about the part about Ricky being stupid.

He is a fantastic singer, and went to Belmont earning his commercial voice degree. I have no idea what he's been up to since, but now he's earned a spot on reality-mega-hit American Idol. I feel like Will Ferrell in Elf at the prospect of actually knowing someone on the show! Ricky!!! Ricky!!! I KNOW him!

I don't normally watch American Idol, but this has piqued my interest. Assuming he makes it past the next round (AI-avid-follower Heather gave me the inside scoop today and told me Ricky didn't get much air time, so that may hurt his chances) tune in to your tvs and vote for Ricky if that's your thing. Yep. That's about the extent of my excitement today.

We did... one year later

Today Brian and I celebrate our one-year wedding anniversary. It's so hard to believe an entire year has gone by since we said "I do." A lot has happened. We've had our share of ups and downs, moreso than most couples I'd venture, but we're learning daily what it means to stay committed and work through our issues to become better spouses and better parents.

Fortunately, we were able to celebrate Valentine's Day together and our anniversary up in Tennessee. For Valentine's, we shared a pizza and ate on festive heart shaped plates and used heart-print napkins to sop up the grease! Then last night we had our anniversary date night. Grandma and Grandpa B watched Bradley for us so we could take in a movie and dinner.

We opted for the lighthearted RomCom He's Just Not That Into You. (Emily- in typical romantic comedy fashion, it was just like heroine!) The film was nothing like the book, and I'd venture a guess that if the HJNTIY authors didn't need or want the money so bad for the movie rights, that they would have hated the script of this movie and the message it sends because it completely goes against the advice that the book preaches. I won't give anything away in case you decide to splurge and see this one (honestly though, it's more of a rental), but it was still a cute movie- just nothing like the book, which I loved.

After the movie, Brian and I headed over to Shogun for a little hibachi grill action for dinner. We celebrated our Valentine's Day dinner last year at this restaurant, so it had sentimental value. Our real place is Olive Garden, but for some reason that escapes me, we don't have one of those in Cool Springs. Nevertheless, dinner was yummy, but I sure missed Bradley, and was glad to see him afterwards. Both me and Brian were too excited to wait any longer to give each other our anniversary gifts so we did that at 3am since Bradley had gotten us up anyways, so that was fun exchanging gifts by nightlight! All in all, it was a great and reaffirming weekend, and I am thankful we were able to spend it together.

Here comes the Bridal Shower

If you ever have a chance to plan a bridal shower that coincides with Valentine's Day, do it! With all of the available decorations and obvious tie-ins with the day devoted to love, it makes for a great shower theme for your bride-to-be. We four bridesmaids had so much fun planning and decorating for Laura's shower yesterday, and I also loved that it was a classy brunch to boot!

For the first half hour or so we let everyone mingle and enjoy the delicious spread of food. For the brunch we served hashbrown casserole (good job, Leah!), pumpkin muffins, sausage balls, fruit & dip, mini ham & swiss sandwiches, baby quiche, cheese & crackers, and chocolate covered strawberries. The beverage centerpiece was a mimosa fountain, though guests had the option of sipping raspberry-flavored seltzer water (but who would choose seltzer water over mimosas anyways?).

Then we moved onto the games. We played two; the first was a word scramble of "Famous Pairs" with answers like "oreos and milk," "Sonny & Cher," and of course "George & Laura!" The second game was a wee bit more difficult- okay- a lot more difficult. There were 15 movie quotes about Love and you had to name the movie. I considered making this a matching game but I thought it would be too easy that way. I guess I thought wrong. The winner only got 7 out of the 15 movie quotes!

Next we moved on to embarrassing the bride-to-be. Ahead of time I asked George 10 randomly-difficult questions about himself that Laura had to answer to prove just how well she knows her future husband. For every wrong answer she gave, she had to chew a piece of bubble gum. Amazingly enough, she got 5 out of 10 correct so this display was not as uncomfortable for her as it could have been! I gotta hand it to her- the girl knows her man! She was even able to correctly guess how many first cousins he has!

Finally we let Laura unwrap her mountain of gifts. I worked on her bouquet of ribbons, while the other bridesmaids snapped pictures, kept a running total of what she got from whom, and kept the presents coming and the trash out of the way. Laura only broke one ribbon, which the old wives' tradition would tell you means she & George will have one child. Diane, George's mom was vying for her to break a few more ribbons!

Here is the bride-to-be opening her "QVC special" from Mom: collapsable bakeware! You can tell by the chef's expression that she's not too sure about this stuff! Apparently it's the "new thing" in baking these days. We'll wait for the future Mrs. Murdoch to report on this stuff.

I love this picture of Laura opening this gift, because with the heart decoration hanging in the background, it looks like a heart-shaped thought bubble coming out of her head! What's the blushing bride thinking of here? Probably her fiancee, this picture seems to say!

Here's Laura with Mama B & her future mother-in-law, Diane

These are the fabulous Bridesmaids/hostesses with Laura. From L to R: Leah, the DIVA, the Bride, Erin, & Rachel.

All in the family: the MOH, the B, and the MOB

The wedding is coming soon, and details are coming together quickly. My job this week is to finish the slideshow I've been working on for FOREVER it seems! Next up: the bachelorette/lingerie shower in 2 weeks!

the Skinny

I'm blogging to report there's nothing to report! I took Bradley to the doctor today because he's still only pooping about once a week. Considering his eating habits (still refusing to eat solids, and nursing 6 times a day) the doctor assured me this is still considered normal. Okey doke.

I am also bragging about the fact that I recently purchased a pair of "skinny jeans" in a size I can't remember the last time I saw (college? high school?) so to celebrate tonight, I wore my skinny jeans and ate 2 scoops of ice cream!

Finally, we are within the month mark to Laura and George's wedding. I have been playing wedding planner extraordinaire and staying busy as the MOH! This Saturday is Laura's bridal shower which we've turned into a Valentine's themed brunch. Once that's over I can relax a little bit. I am so excited for my sister and her fiancee. They really are perfect for each other. Tonight Laura told George she had got him a treat at the store. His surprise? Cottage cheese. And what's funnier is that George got a treat for Laura at the store today too. Her surprise? Fiber. Yes folks, they are a match made in heaven!

8 months today

Bradley is 8 months old today, though it's hard to believe!  Something about 8 months sounds old to me- older than I feel Bradley should be- and I guess it's because he's entered into the last quarter of his first year.  Some things he is now doing:

• Sitting up very well now
• Finally starting to babble recognizable consonants like "va va va" and "ba ba ba" (no mamas or dadas just yet though!)
• He cut his 2 front bottom teeth
• Standing with support from other people or furniture
• Sleeping through the night (ha ha, just kidding about that one!!)

Don't I wish he were sleeping through the night!  Sadly no, Bradley still likes to have his midnight and 4am meals, and I don't have the heart to make him cry it out and learn to do without those extra dinners, so I guess it's my own fault at this point for my lack of sleep.  But I'm also okay with that for now.  Nursing has been a very positive experience for me, and shoving more solid foods at Bradley in order to get him to sleep longer at night just doesn't appeal to me.  I've sort of accepted that my son is a grazer, and doesn't like to eat a lot at a time during the day, so he needs those extra meals at night to make up for it.

Anyways, off of that soapbox!

Life with an 8 month old is not all that different from life with a 7 month old.  Tickle games are still exciting to him, as is Peek-a-boo.  The exersaucer is my lifesaver, and the only time I can ever count on getting a shower or anything else done is when Bradley is sleeping.  Thankfully his schedule is predictable so that's helpful.  One other interesting thing to me is that I can usually tell what kind of day Bradley is going to have by how vocal he is in the morning!  If he's laughing and cooing, it's going to be a good day.  The other alternative is lots of spitting up and impatient squeals to get attention!  I'll leave it up to your imaginations to determine what kind of days we have more often than not!

We visited with Rhonda Lu this week and she grabbed my camera and took a few pictures of Bradley, so here are those for your viewing pleasure!

Wristy Business

After 9 long months of pregnancy, and the whole childbirth process, and who knew that having a baby could cause you physical pain long after the birth??

I've been battling wrist pain since mid December. It began in my right hand, so then I began to favor my left hand to try and give the rightie a rest, and you guessed it, the pain began in my left wrist also, with my right hand continuing to get worse. For weeks my family has been bugging me to go to the doctor, and for weeks I shrugged it off. Finally however the sharp shooting pain kept getting worse and Brian did a little research online and came upon this diagnosis: DeQuervain's Tenosynovitis- a specific form of wrist tendonitis, common in skiers and yep, new mothers!

Apparently the repetitive motion of picking up Bradley has inflamed the tendons in both of my wrists just below my thumbs, making it excruciatingly painful to do simple activities like brush my teeth, pick up my purse, and especially to lift my child. Up till now I have gritted my teeth and pressed on, but after reading about the condition online and (correctly) diagnosing myself, I realized that this was not something that would go away on its own, and could ultimately wind up needing surgery to correct if I didn't take care of it now. So I finally sucked it up and went to the doctor.

After seeing an orthopaedic specialist today and getting double Lidocaine shots, and 2 new wrist splints I should be good to go in a day or two. For now, the pain is worse (and yes, I can still type, as long as I don't use my thumbs!), but it will all be worth it soon. PTL for modern medicine! Oh yeah... and they want me to go to Physical Therapy 1-3 times a week but that ain't happenin. I think prescribing PT for something this minor is a tad overboard. So I'm right back to denying medicine and doctor visits for a while!

PS- a funny story about today... when getting a series of x-rays done I asked the x-ray technician if she could re-take that last one because I wasn't smiling in it! She cracked up!

Super(Puppy)Bowl Sunday

It's Superbowl Sunday and I couldn't be more apathetic about today's game. It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed since my live blogging debate about the cuter QB- Tom Brady or Eli Manning (of course it's Tom), 12 months since those weird Vitamin water commercials with the dancing lizards arrived on the scene, and 365 days (approximately) since the last Puppy Bowl!

I have Bradley all decked out in his Superbowl outfit- an adorable brown and blue ensemble with a football logo and stitching that reads "Future Quarterback" on it. Look out Peyton, you're going down, and I don't mean to the 4th floor!

I also laugh every year on Superbowl Sunday and dig up this video for the occasion, about who Jesus is not. (Jesus does not condemn you for watching football.) If you've never seen these clips they are pretty amusing.

Here's my lackluster cheer for the day- Go Cards- only because Kurt Warner is the comeback kid, and I don't want the Steelers having the most Superbowl titles of any team. Okay, I gotta go- the starting line up for the Puppy Bowl V is being announced right now as I type this!