Bloggy-McBloggersons

Hooray for new years and new Blogs!  Katie, of Beth & Katie (hey- you guys sound like a famous rock duo!) has a new home in cyberspace, to go along with her new home in real-life.  Congrats, Katie! (And congrats Beth too, since I never gave you a formal DIVA shout-out)

Also my cousin Eric has finally started a movie blog.  Check it out at www.middleofnowheremoviereviews.blogspot.com He has mostly great taste in films (I say mostly because he hates the Harry Potter series, and how can anyone hate Harry Potter?  It's just wrong!) and can give great lengthy insight to the movies he sees.  Eric's a filmmaker moonlighting as a high school English teacher, and could be called the Zach Braff of Cannelton, IN.  You should check out his reviews and add your own witty banter in the comments section to encourage his blogs.  I hear bloggers like to get feedback in the form of comments just so they know their words are being read and appreciated... not that we don't love you too, Silent Lurkers everywhere, but the acknowledgement of a comment every now and then is a more tangible and quantifiable form of appreciation.  I'm JUST sayin!

Masterpiece Teether

Yesterday was the day from Hades with Bradley. At 7 1/2 months he's finally starting to cut his first tooth- one of the bottom middle ones, and as a result, he's miserable and making me miserable right along with him! I feel so bad for the little guy, as I know his gums are hurting, plus he's congested too. I don't know whether or not being stopped up is a related problem to the teething, but it makes sleeping impossible for Bradley.

From the minute he was up yesterday at 6:30 am (an hour earlier than normal), he was fussing all day long, especially whenever I so much as thought about leaving the room. His 2 daily naps were minimal, and he didn't fall asleep last night for good until 11 o'clock!! I felt so frustrated because every time I would rock him and get him to sleep, the minute I put him down in his crib he would wake up screaming again.

Add onto this that Kentucky lost last night to Ole Miss, and you can chalk it up to a Teeth-totally fun day all around. Today has been better. Still no tooth, but while he was up with the birds at 6am, Bradley took a really long nap to make up for some of the sleep he lost out on last night. I'll be sure to post a picture once the pearly white shows up, but until then, here are some pics of Bradley gnawing his way to comfort!

44th & fashion forward

I woke up this morning giddy with optimism. It's Inauguration Day, I informed Bradley. He looked at me and smiled. I doubt it was because he understood what I was saying... I doubt it :o)

Today Barack Obama became our 44th president of the United States. I was glued to CNN this morning- scanning the crowd shots for Heather & Jacob, and for Brian's sister Sarah who were there somewhere among the throngs of people. What an exciting time for our country to have a fresh new leader taking office. I learned this morning that Barack Obama is the 5th youngest president. The others?

4. Ulysses S. Grant

3. Bill Clinton

2. JFK

1. Teddy Roosevelt

It was phenomenal to see the areal shots of the masses of people crammed into the national mall area. I don't envy the position President Obama has going into office. Times are tough in the US economy and things often get worse before they get better. Obama's speech this morning echoed this somber tone, but it was still driven and encouraging. I have no doubt this new regime will jump into things full speed ahead and guide us out of this crisis we are in.

In more DIVA-typical topics, I thought the first family looked great! Yay for the exit of the frumpy, dull Bushes, and hooray for a more fashion-forward family coming into office. Both Obama girls looked extremely well put together and cheery in their fitted j crew coats this morning, and Michelle Obama I think is just gorgeous. I loved her gold ensemble today, and am eagerly anticipating what she'll wear to the inaugural ball tonight. She is one classy-looking lady!

Engagement Pics

Mom, domestic goddess, and add one more to the list: photographer-ess extrordinaire!

Laura and George needed an engagement picture of them taken for their wedding announcement in the paper, so I volunteered to take a few of them in the back yard. Here are some of the good, the bad, and the ugly:

Yeah... getting the two of them to smile at the same time was quite a feat!


Laughing at the "wild weenie" running around the yard

This is when George made the Gopher face invoking one of our favorite you tube videos!

The future Murdochs: Laura, George, and Julius
The winning photo

Buy you a Drank

When T-pain made the phrase popular with his song, Buy you a drank, I'm sure the hip-hop community never imagined an anti-energy drink carrying this namesake. Yes, now after enjoying the wings your Red Bull gives you, you can "slow your roll" (I'm not making this up, that's their official slogan) with Drank, an anti-energy drink infused with melatonin & rose hips designed to relax you!

Oh NO they Dih-nt!!!

Oh Yes, they did! I read about this in the paper this morning, so it looks like Drank is now available nationwide at your favorite munchy-stop- er, I mean, convenience store. Or you can click here to Buy you a drank!

Bundled baby

I have finally found a reason to enjoy winter!

having a ball today- foot & basket, that is

I've been relatively quiet on here lately about my favorite sports teams, but I can be quiet no longer.  While Brian's teams had lousy endings to their seasons- the Packers fizzled and didn't make the playoffs, and Wisconsin who started the season ranked lost their minor bowl game -my Kentucky Wildcats won their bowl game, and the Titans finished the regular season number one in the NFL!

Today the Tennessee Titans will take on the Baltimore Ravens at home, and you had better all be watching as my team continues to beat their opponents, and will probably continue to not get any love from the rest of the sports world.  But it's playoff time now, and all bets are off.  Every game is a must win, and brings us one game closer to the Superbowl.  But I get ahead of myself.

Now it's basketball season too, and the Big Blue also plays Vandy today, so it's a full day of tv watching for me, perfect for this yucky rainy Saturday.  Now the only decision that remains is what color of blue do I wear?

Lucky Number 7 months

On January 7th, Bradley turned 7 months.

• His sixth month was marked by settling into a daily routine with eating and napping (but still not unfortunately, sleeping through the night!).
• At 6 1/2 months, the chunky monkey was a little over 17 1/2 pounds and was 26 1/4 inches long.
• He's sitting up all by himself, though I usually keep a boppy pillow behind him, and an eye on him anyways, as he had an unfortunate run-in with a shelf in his room last week.
• Bradley is also a Boob Man. He hasn't taken to eating solid foods all that enthusiastically, nor have his bowells agreed with the solids either! We are slowly but surely changing that, but you can't help the guy for his preference for Ol' Bessie.
• The lifesaver toy for this month has been his new exersaucer from Grandma & Grandpa B. How did I survive without this? Bradley loves bouncing in it, and it gives me anywhere from 15-30 minutes of uninterrupted time.
• Teething has begun, but no pearly whites have appeared just yet.
• Still no discernible babbling other than laughs and squeals of delight, and impatient whining whenever the food isn't ready right this second, or no one is paying him full attention! (Is it too early to teach him there's no crying in baseball, or breastfeeding, or in restaurants??!!)

The little guy is so much fun. I never thought I would get so excited over a poopy diaper, or love someone so much when I see him smiling at me from his crib in the morning! I share fellow new-mom Rachel's sentiments that Bradley is in his golden age right now- easy as far as babies go because he still isn't mobile, but is old enough to sit up and play now. The time will come soon when he'll be scooting and crawling all over the place, but for now, I'm reveling in the fact that at least the munchkin will stay where I put him for the most part, and I'm crossing my fingers that month 7 for Bradley will be the lucky month where he finally allows mommy to get some sleep!

Congrats, Grad!

With all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas holidays, my sister's big accomplishment didn't get the attention it deserved, but as of December 13th, Laura officially graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in history. It was a long and winding road to get to this place, but I am so proud of her for taking her time and committing to finishing school. It took Lulu a few different schools, and a few extra years, but she finally did it. Let the Big Girl job search commence!

College Grad with Mom & Dad

Lulu & Juju in their matching caps! The MTSU alumni engaged couple

Christmas Day 2008

So here we are for Bradley's first Christmas morning. He was up at 6:30, but I think it was closer to 7:30 before everyone was up and ready for the opening of presents to commence. First things first- Bradley's presents from Santa- we went through each present, and he had the most fun helping me tear the wrapping paper. There was so much going on, and so many toys surrounding him that it was a bit overwhelming for both of us!

Bradley helping mommy with the wrapping paper!

Bradley's reaction of his new TMX Cookie Monster

Christmas 2008- Bradley's first Christmas

Bradley had so many presents that he didn't make it through opening all of them before it was time for his morning nap, so he came back after the nap for round 2, and Christmas breakfast. He also decided that Christmas morning would be the day he decided to finally commit to eating solid foods. We brought out the high chair for the occasion too! (Up until this point I had been clinging stubbornly to feeding him in his Bumbo seat, which he has outgrown.)




Christmas night we opened our stockings, and I took the opportunity to take pictures of Bradley literally in his stocking, it is so big! The new rule in the house has been that only items that fit in the stockings may be given as stocking stuffers, so Grandma B got Bradley's stocking extra-big to get around this stipulation.

Bradley and mommy on Christmas night
Bradley (aka Santa's Baby) with Grandma & Grandpa B

It was definitely a bittersweet day, with Brian and I not together on Christmas, but we attempted to each appreciate the time spent with family and I enjoyed being able to capture all the moments of Bradley's first December 25th. Thank you so much Grandma & Grandpa B for making this a great first Christmas for Bradley. He got so many toys to play with that he should never be bored, as long as someone is right there with him to play of course!

Christmas Eve Recap

Christmas was really weird for me this year. Brian was in Tallahassee with his mom, and Bradley and I were here in Tennessee. Nevertheless, it was Bradley's first Christmas, and so we made the best of a bad situation.

Christmas Eve was spent with mom and Laura in the kitchen all day, and everyone finishing up last minute gifts and wrapping. We attended the usual Christmas Eve service at Brentwood Baptist. The highlight for me came at the very beginning of the service when country music songwriter Neil Thrasher (apparently also a BBC member?) sang his Christmas song "A Baby Changes Everything" with a string quartet accompanying him. It was simple, beautiful, and powerful. These are the things I miss about not living in Music City. Church music is good wherever you go, and the potential for songwriters and country music artists popping in and performing is always in the realm of possibility.


When we got home that evening, it was time to take family pictures. All of a sudden, the dogs started to bark, and we realized that someone was at the door. Mom answered the door, and in walks this woman holding a tub of Moosetracks ice cream, and directly behind her is a man who I can only assume is her husband, carrying a suitcase. They are standing in our home, looking at us expectantly, and we are each thinking that we have no idea who they are, but each one of us assumes somebody else recognizes our Christmas Eve guests. It only takes a few seconds of the strangers panning across the room before they realize they are at the wrong house! "What number is this?" the woman asks. "1421" Mom replies. "Oh, we're looking for 1425!" The ice-cream-laden lady responds with a laugh. The couple back their way out the door, meanwhile commenting to mom that they like our Christmas decorations anyways! It is all we can do to not bust out into a raucous laughter right then, and so we wait a couple of seconds after the door shuts behind them before we allow the laughter to escape!


After our unknown and unexpected guests left, we continued with our family photo session in front of the tree.
While dinner was cooking, Laura and I carried on our Christmas Eve tradition of opening our presents from each other, and Bradley surprised me with a gift to open that night as well- a new camera- although I think he might've had some help shopping from Grandpa B!

Christmas Eve Dinner was absolutely amazing! Laura and Mom never fail to outdo themselves. We had a marinated and herb rubbed beef tenderloin, sauteed brussel sprouts, fried apples, and garlic mashed potatoes. I'm not usually much of a meat eater, but that night I had 2 helpings of the steak, along with everything else! My compliments to the chefs!

After dinner, which was later than usual, I scrambled to get Bradley to bed at a semi-normal hour, but took the time to get his Christmas Jammies on, and then pose him for pictures with cookies and milk for Santa!

However, I had a good hunch that what Santa really wanted was not cookies, but rather cookie dough, so there's that picture as well!

After the little one was asleep, we rounded out the evening by watching The Holiday that I had just received as a gift earlier that evening, and went to bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads.

TGI2009

I can say with quite certainty that 2008 has been the best and the worst year of my life, so I welcome 2009 with open arms! In lieu of the expected New Year's Resolutions, here are the things I anticipate the new year will bring:

• Bradley's first birthday in June
• Going back to work- whether that be a full-time or part-time job
• Laura & George's wedding in March
• Finding out once and for all if Bradley's hair will be blonde or red
• Bradley's first words, steps, and finally sleeping through the night (please, God, let this one come soon!)
• My last birthday in my twenties (I'm depressed already!)
• A renewed, restored relationship with Jesus

Here's a few shots of Bradley in his special New Year's outfit, compliments of Old Navy. I'm ringing in the new year today by having a traditional new year's day dinner with our family friends the Reeds, in which Sandy will bring her famous corn bread, and mom will make everyone take at least a bite of cabbage and black-eyed-peas, the northern and southern traditional foods supposed to bring luck and money in the new year! I'll also probably start Harry Potter book 7 again since I just finished re-reading book 6 this morning. Nothing like a cold winter day to curl up in bed and read a good book! That's it for me. Happy New Year's, everyone.

The fire's still burnin'

Today is my parents' 35th wedding anniversary. 35 years ago today they tied the knot, and then drove to exciting and romantic Nashville , TN for their honeymoon. They never left.

As their anniversary present to each other, they bought new gas logs for the living room fireplace. A friend of the family commented that the gift symbolized that after all these years, the flame's still burning strong. On the contrary, I told my dad, it represents that all you two do is saw logs together!

Congrats, Mom and Dad, on a long and happy marriage. Thanks for the wonderful example you've set for what it means to be a loving and committed husband and wife.

A very DIVA Christmas

Every year my college music BFF's get together for our annual DIVA Christmas get-together. When we were in school, it was always dinner out together before we all left for the holidays. Ever since, Nashville has been our meet up spot since Ari & I both lived here, and Conley would fly into Nashvegas before heading to Kentucky to spend Christmas with her family.

This year, sadly, we were only able to manage a 2/3 DIVA convention, with Ari unable to attend (we missed you, Ari!). So Conley and I got a few precious hours together and exchanged Christmas pressies. She hadn't seen Bradley since he was a few days old, so of course we had to take plenty of pictures!Aunt Conley & Bradley... the shirt he has on was a baby shower gift from Conley and today was its maiden voyage, now that he's big enough to wear it! The sheep and sleeper were Christmas presents from her. Also if you look up close, Bradley now has what I like to call his "old man hair" that covers his ears!

Conley with Bradleys Junior and Senior

the 2/3 DIVA quorum (we miss you, Ari!)

Grandpa B & Bradley, showing off his preppy duds! I still maintain that real men wear pink!

Christmas is almost here. I can't wait to see how Bradley handles all the chaos and see his interest in opening presents. A quick shout out to Emmy Sue- Happy Eve of the Eve!

Santa's Baby

Do we ever get tired of seeing pictures of Bradley? I think not. Then again, I am a proud mama and recognize my partiality.

We took Bradley to the mall to meet Santa, and darn it if my boy wasn't the cutest kid in line! One little boy a few people ahead of us even asked his mom if my Santa-outfit-clad-infant was "Santa's baby." The mom turned around and shared this with us as I beamed with pride.

Bradley was too little to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, but the good ole' Kindermusik song came through for us with us some big smiles for pictures.

Blah-blog

Suddenly I'm not in the Christmas spirit anymore, but I'm trying for Bradley. This is his first Christmas and I want it to be special. I stumbled upon this site for free blog layouts and thought I'd give it a try. This one's called "Sassy Santa." I know this is a sorry excuse for a blog post, but Rhonda Lu beat me to the "Who throws a shoe, honestly?" joke with the Bush shoe-ducking fiasco.

7 Things

Well, Natalie "tagged" me to do this, so I guess I have to... or should I say, I'm compelled to.

7 Things I Want To Do Before I Die...
1. Get a dog
2. Have another baby
3. Visit Hawaii
4. Learn to play the guitar
5. Go back to South Africa
6. Have a reason to wear one of my many formal dresses that I accumulated through college
7. Be a good mom

7 Things I Can Do...
1. Play songs on my toothbrush
2. Sing
3. Read a book in a day
4. Eat until way past I'm already full
5. Write
6. Make people laugh
7. Obsessively organize

7 Things I Can Not Do...
1. Shop and talk on the phone
2. Run a mile without stopping
3. Be completely satisfied
4. Hate the color pink
5. Park straight in a parking place
6. Be spontaneous
7. See my family as much as I'd like

7 Things I Say Most Often...
1. Poker? I don't even know-er! (or some version of that)
2. Bradley
3. That's what she said
4. I'm going to Walmart
5. PTL
6. Bless his/her heart
7. Like

7 Celebrity Crushes
1. Brad Pitt
2. Mike Row from the tv show Dirty Jobs
3. John Krasinsky
4. George Clooney
5. John Mayer
6. Johnny Depp
7. Tom Brady

Tag: Ari, Bethany, MAB

Handel-ing Things

Saturday was my first performance with the Pensacola Choral Society. It's P-cola's version of the Nashville Symphony Chorus, but it's apparent we aren't in Nashville anymore Toto!

Every Monday night I go to rehearsals while Brian watches Bradley and somehow manages to get more housework done in 3 hours than I do all week sometimes. Every Monday I begrudgingly go, knowing I'll have fun and enjoy singing once I get there (I did this most Mondays in Nashville too, to be fair), and every Monday while I sit in the choir room of Pensacola Junior College, I think about Dr. Mabry, director of the NSC, and all the hard work we put into Handel's Messiah last year. And then I snap back into reality and look around at the much smaller, less talented, and much older chorus in Pensacola, and I wallow in self pity for a minute and think how much difference a year can make.

A year ago I was pregnant with Bradley. I sang in a brand new, state-of-the-art Schermerhorn Symphony Hall, with a professional chorus, and I sang my butt off and perfected every nuance of Handel's masterpiece with fierce concentration, an abundance of joy, and a proud appreciation for what we as a choir, and I as a singer, had accomplished.

This year Bradley is 6 months old. Saturday night I sang in a church gymnasium with plastic folding chairs for the audience. I dreaded the concert, embarrassed at how amateur our performance was going to be. And I wallowed in a good amount of self-pity as I drove the 45 minutes out to BFE where the concert was held.

But you know what? Handel's Messiah is still Handel's Messiah no matter where it's performed. And sure there were mistakes made all over the place; we sang at one volume level the entire time: forte, and our pitch was less than perfect, but as much as I dreaded that concert, something miraculous happened that night. I sang with a joy and passion I have been lacking for longer than I can remember. My voice felt strong and clear, and I worshipped God through music paying more attention to the text than the notes! And when it was all said and done, I was glad I had sung.

To be certain, I miss Nashville for more reasons than I can count, the Symphony Chorus being one of them, but I am still pleasantly surprised when I find reasons to be happy here too.

An added bonus to Saturday was that Ann, Jim, Jesse, Brian, and Bradley were all there to hear me sing, and Bradley loved the concert! He stayed awake the entire time, and bounced on Ann's lap to the music. Maybe he recognized the music from last year's in utero hearing?

St. Nicholas came to Florida twice this year! Brian and I opened our stockings from each other on Friday night before Ann, Jim and Jesse got into town, and then we let Bradley see what St. Nick brought him.

Sunday, St. Nick came again, this time with packages that he brought to TN and then shipped to Florida. I tell you, that St. Nick sure makes his rounds!

St. Nick brought us lots of candy, candles, Christmas socks, and Walmart gift cards, and Bradley got some baby's first Christmas ornaments, and lots of new toys.

6 months!

I cannot believe it, but we have hit the half-year mark. Yesterday was Bradley's 6 month birthday. It also happened to be the day that baby Wesley made his grand appearance into the world- congrats Wes & Jess! So now Bradley has a new best friend, right next door.

I can't emphasize how true the cliche phrase is that everyone has been telling me since Bradley was born- "enjoy the time while they're young, they grow up so fast." Our little chunky monkey has exploded in size. I'll have the official measurements next week when we go for his checkup, but my back and shoulders which ache after I carry him around for very long will attest to the fact that he is big for his age. Also, perfect strangers comment on how cute he is (of course!) and then ask how old he is. When I say 6 months, their reaction is always the same- their eyes widen, and then they say something like, wow, he's a big boy, or something similar.

The other thing people are always telling me is what a happy baby he is. I guess I lucked out there because Bradley really does have a cheerful disposition most of the time. He's sitting up now, as long as he supports himself with his hands, or we prop him up from behind. He also "swims" on the floor, and supports himself great on his stomach now. We had been feeding him one meal of solid food every day, but certain digestive issues have caused me to hit the pause button there. It seems my son has inherited my bathroom irregularity! Bradley wasn't all that interested in eating from a spoon anyways, so we'll pick it back up soon. I'm not terribly concerned. One other fun thing that Bradley discovered this month was his toes! He lays on his back and holds onto them, which I snapped a picture of yesterday on his actual 6 month birthday. Maybe the next 6 months will pass more slowly! ha!