Finally Friday

It's Friday... where the heck did the week go???  It's funny how even though I'm not "working" anymore, I still look forward to the weekends.  That's when Brian and I usually run all our errands and hang out with friends and each other.  Tonight Wes & Jess are watching Bradley for a little while and Brian and I are actually going out on an official date!  Woo hoo!  I used to think it was so cheesy and unnecessary for married couples to go out on dates.  You see the person all the time, I thought, why are "dates" necessary?  Well buddy, don't knock it till you've tried it- especially once you've got little ones in the mix!  A night to dress up in my nice clothes and be a wife, and not a mom, for a few hours is something to get excited about.  (Of course I'll worry about Bradley the whole time I'm gone and will be elated when I get to pick him up later on, but still!)  The plan for tonight is to go out to the Boardwalk on Pensacola Beach.

Speaking of the little chubster, here are a few of the latest photos of Bradley.

Bradley examines his Pooh Bear

The "Nakey Baby" and all his chub rolls, sitting in his Bumbo seat

Happy after his bath, and enjoying some Tummy Time

The little rascal has started to suck the same two fingers I did as a kid, except here it's his left hand.  I have yet to pay attention if it's the same hand every time.

I plan on being an informed citizen and taping the Presidential Debates tonight, and watching it later, unlike Nerd-Alert Heather whose Friday Night plans include watching the debate with some friends!  (Just kidding- I think it's awesome that they care enough to make their plans revolve around this political event.  More of us should be so sheik.)

Sunday Night Fever

Well you can tell by the way he uses his sleep, he's a woman's man, no time to peep...

I caught the little guy sleeping like this last night, and I exclaimed to Brian, hey, he looks like John Travolta!  So the blog title and picture opportunity were too good to pass up!  It was too risky a move though to try and manipulate his pointer finger up, so use your imaginations.

weekend recap

We had a great weekend.  Me and Double B (that's Brian and Bradley) went over to Wes & Jes's for dinner.  Jes fixed alfredo noodles and cheesy potatoes, and Wes grilled steaks.  It was delish.  Then on Saturday, we returned the favor and had a bunch of people over to our house (I counted 8 adults plus Bradley).  The weather was awesome.  I went to the pool with Bradley, Wes and Jes, while Brian and a few other guys put together our new storage shed.  Sunday we went to church, and the pastor gave an awesome sermon about Moses.  He also quipped a few lines that I loved:

The head can only absorb as much as the rump can take

There's no U-haul pulled behind a hearse

We relaxed the rest of the day, ate leftovers from the cookout for lunch and watched football.

Bradley is getting cuter every day.  He's now started to really laugh and squeal when we tickle him.  In other news, Brian is sick with some kind of bad cold, and now my throat is hurting so I fear the worst is in store for me.  I don't care so much if I get sick, but I'm dreading Bradley catching whatever we have, and not being able to comfort him.  Keep your fingers crossed that all my hand-washing, and Lysoling the house will keep him healthy!  Here are some of the latest pics of the little one:

Bradley and me at the pool

A happy baby, content after enjoying the pool and a mid-afternoon snack

My boys smiling at each other... watching them together makes me love each of them more!

Our little man holding his head up this morning

NF-L if I know

I've got a sick hubby and a sleeping baby, so I'm stealing a few minutes to myself to catch up online.  I'm checking all the NFL scores as Brian and I are in a pool together with people from his work.  This week we picked 8 games correctly, 5 incorrect.  That will be 9 or 10 correct based on the Steelers game still in progress, and tomorrow's Monday night football, and 11 correct possibly with the game postponed from Hurricane Ike.

(A quick shout out to Conley, who's in Houston and survived Ike, albeit without any power still at this point)

Anyways, I was reading a recap of the Titans game today when I stumbled upon what I think must be the funniest quote from football this weekend.  This came from TN Linebacker Keith Bulluck:

I got hit with a piece of box and pretzel wrapper flying around.

Yep.  You heard it here second (after reading it on ESPN).

In the NFL, our teams the Titans and the Packers are 2-0.  In College pigskin both the Kentucky Wildcats and Wisconsin Badgers are 3-0.  We are happy football fans these days.  Bradley even had his Blue on in honor of gameday yesterday!

3 month update

Baby Bradley is now 3 months old officially, as of Sunday, which coincidentally enough, was Grandparents' Day.  A belated shout out to Grandma & Grandpa B, and Grandma Ann!

We took Bradley to the doctor last week to make sure he is still gaining enough weight and to see about the excessive fussing and spitting up our precious little one has been doing.  We got no helpful answers on the crankiness and baby urp that keeps finding its way onto all of my shirts, many of my pants, our sheets and couch among other things (and that is with burp rags catching the majority of the stuff!) but the doc assured us that Bradley is healthy, and basically told Brian and me, this too shall pass.

Bradley is weighing in at 12.4 pounds and is 23 inches in length.  He can still wear some of his 0-3 month clothes, but has graduated to wearing mostly his 3-6 month gear.  This makes me both happy and sad- happy because I have a whole new wardrobe to dress my little doll in, but sad because, like everyone says, they grow up so fast!  He is making fun squealing noises when he gets excited, and loves to have his tummy and feet tickled.  The swing is still my lifesaver in the afternoons, where Bradley takes most of his naps, and he's still sleeping in the bedroom with Brian and me in his bassinet.  I still haven't quite figured out the trick to getting him to sleep all night long without his pacifier falling out, and him waking up and wanting it.  Until I solve that problem, I'm not moving him into his crib in the nursery, lest I be trudging down the hall at 2 and 4 am to replace a dropped paci.

One cool thing Bradley and I are doing together now is Kindermusik.  It's a weekly mommy-and-me music class with moms and babies ages newborn-1.5 years.  Bradley is the youngest in his class, but he seems to enjoy it so far.  We've had 2 classes, and he likes moving to the music, and is especially curious at looking at the other babies.  I like it because it gets me out of the house, introduces music to Bradley in a structured way, and lets me get a workout too, standing, sitting, rocking, and swaying with a 12 1/2 pound baby in my arms!

Guess that's all for now!

Weddings and Funerals

This past weekend was full of ups and downs.  Brian, Bradley, and I made our second trek up to Tennessee for a wedding and a funeral, both for which I was asked to sing.  My childhood friend Dana passed away last Monday night.  She was a seemingly healthy 27 year old girl, who was there one day and gone the next, making it the most heart-wrenching funeral I have ever attended.  I forced myself to hold it together until the end, after I sang Amazing Grace.  What do you say to the mother who tells you she wishes it had been at her daughter's wedding and not her funeral that she had wanted you to sing?  

Dana's passing was a reality check for all of us.  We know we are never promised tomorrow, yet we live like we have an eternity.  As I ran through the words of Amazing Grace in preparation for the service I found a glimmer of hope at the end of the third verse:

Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come

twas grace that brought us safe thus far, and grace will lead us home.

I realized after hearing these words again that God is with us in the best and most difficult times.  He will never leave us, and by leaning on Him we can get through whatever life tosses our way.  It's so hard not to question God when He takes a person in the prime of their life, but I have to go on believing that there is a reason for everything, and know that in the Big Picture, Jesus is in control and will lead us safely home if we will let him.  

That same day after the service, we piled in the car and drove up to western Kentucky for my friend Ellen's wedding.  Ellen and I were potluck roommates our freshman year at UK and have stayed friends ever since.  I was so honored to sing for her special day, and stand next to her as a bridesmaid.  

About an hour outside of Nashville I realized in horror that I had left the cd for the song I was supposed to sing in my car (dad was driving)!  Luckily we were near Clarksville, so dad hopped off the interstate, pulled in front of a Hilton Garden Inn, and we used his laptop to steal internet from the hotel, downloaded the track again, and were back on the road in minutes.  Once in Princeton, Brian bought some blank cds from the Walmart down the road, and I had my soundtrack to sing along with for the rehearsal that night.  I heart technology!

We stayed in this shady motel in Princeton, KY- hop over to TAR for a long overdue shout-out to all things not right.  For a small town though, Paglia's where the rehearsal dinner was held had some of the best pizza and service I have ever had!  Ellen said that place is the only sit-down restauraunt in Princeton, but buddy, if that's the only place I could go to eat I'd be one happy camper!  

Ellen and I at Paglia's Pizza

Saturday was a gorgeous day, sunny and 80 degrees.  The ceremony was beautiful, held in the quaint, country Crider Baptist Church, and Ellen was the picture of the classic bride, complete with "Shelby hair!"  I have never been to a sweeter wedding- the church was surrounded by corn fields, the food was in the fellowship hall, with a tent outside.  Along with the usual nuptual fare they served homemade punch and lemonade, cream candy, country ham and biscuits, and Ellen handmade white chocolate suckers and individually wrapped them for guest favors.  Bless her mom's heart, Betty was up at 5 am making those biscuits and ham, but they sure were tasty.

Freshman Friends:  Stephanie, Ellen, and me

Mr. & Mrs. Jason Mach

Ellen, our gorgeous Bride

One funny story was that some old white haired lady turned around and asked Momma B how old Bradley was.  Mom replied that he was 3 months, and wasn't he just the cutest grandbaby ever?  Grandbaby, the woman exclaimed, I thought he was yours!   My mom got the biggest kick out of that, and it sure made her day!

Congrats and Best Wishes, Ellen and Jason!  I'm done with weddings for a while- it's been a hectic season, but next on our list is the Big One:  Laura & George on March 14th, 2009!  The countdown is on!

Gratuitous baby pictures

Just so you don't forget how absolutely adorable my little munchkin is, here are a few of his latest photo ops!

Able to hold his head up now, here he is in his Bumbo seat

wearing the outfit that Jim's mom gave him

I kid you not, my son posed himself like this in the bathtub.  He's such a stud!  I only put the washrag on him so I could take his picture without it classifying as kiddie porn.

Bradley sitting in his bouncy chair, holding his soft puppy dog.

"I love mommy-" can you blame the kid?!

Hurricane Aftermath

Yes, that's right.  To be festive, we made a pitcher of Hurricane mix that we'd been saving from our trip to New Orleans.  We even got out swizzel sticks and straws!  What better night to make hurricanes than when we were waiting to see what Hurricane Gustav would do?  Amber and Mobes came over (Mobes is a nickname based on his last name, Mobley, but I have a hard time remembering to call him James when Brian's always referring to him as the latter) and we had a girls versus guys game of Taboo.  Guess which team won?  Sorry guys, maybe next time.  Or not.

Monday after the worst of the storm had passed us, me Brian and Bradley headed out to Pensacola for a little shopping.  Curiosity brought us over to P-cola beach to see the waves for ourselves.  This was taken around 4 in the afternoon, and just to give you an idea, the worst weather we had was earlier that morning around 6:30 am.  I can only imagine what the waves must have looked like then.

I will say that despite my morbid fascination with tropical systems, it's a little different watching the storm on tv from land-locked TN as opposed to watching the storm head right towards you on the coast.  It's very ominous.  Lucky for us (and only to my mild, and yes, sick disappointment) Gustav missed us.  And once again, someday I'll figure out how to get the fascinating weather-channel quality video uploaded to my computer.

Labor Day weekend part one

Labor Day weekend continues, and we're waiting to see where Hurricane Gustav makes landfall.  Depending on how far west the storm hits we'll get a lot of rain and wind, and are under a Tropical Storm warning now.  Either way, looks like this storm is going to give us more action than Fay.

College football season is now officially under way.  Saturday me Brian & Bradley, along with Grandma Anna, Jim, & Jesse went to a sports bar in Pensacola to watch both the LSU and Wisconsin games.  They both won, and Kentucky beat U of L today for the second year in a row!  The SEC is a force to be reckoned with always (except for poor Miss St!).

Sat. night we all piled into Jim's truck and drove out to Sandestin (about an hour from Gulf Breeze where we are) and went to Baytown Wharf, which is a really cute touristy area on the water with little shops and restaurants.  As is common with coastal cities, a freak rainstorm passed through just as we were parking the car, so we dodged raindrops from the parking lot all the way to an underground parking garage, thinking we could cut through and get to the wharf on the other side.  Let's just say we got more than our fill of the parking garage by the time we zigzagged through and finally made it up to ground level, and waited for the rain to subside.  I say subside, and not stop, because the men decided the rain had "quit" after 10 minutes of waiting, so we went ahead out into the wet weather towards the wharf.  I was slipping and sliding in my flip flops, soaked from top to bottom trying to push the stroller through the sprinkling precipitation.

We settled on one of the first restaurants we found, and had a nice dinner outside on the covered porch of this cajun, new-orleans-style place to satisfy our hunger, and dry off.  I was a much happier camper after I got some food in me and let some of the water on me evaporate.  After an interesting feeding session with Bradley in the ladies' room, Grandma Anna, Jesse, and Bradley took off walking, and me, Brian, and Jim walked into this little club where they were advertising free draft & well drinks, and no cover charge till 10 pm.  It was your typical middle-aged-tourist club where they played your favorite disco hits of the 70s and 80s.  This was the second time Brian and I have been out since Bradley has been born, so we each had a couple beers and shooke our groove thing for a few minutes before meeting back up with the others.  We made the loop around the wharf, and I fed the fishies off the dock, finally heading home around 10 pm.  Our little man was all tuckered out, but we all had a good time visiting.

a photo op in the giant chair

cross dressers!

Due to Gustav making his approach today, Ann, Jim, and Jesse went ahead and left to avoid the heavier trafic, so now Brian and I are gearing up to have Amber and Mobes over.  More on that to come later!

Fay-ked Out

I know you're all thinking by now that no blog means the Tropical storm blew us away.  Hardly.  Fay was downgraded to a tropical depression by the time it got here, giving us a smattering of misting rain, and a few wind gusts and that was it.  Never fear though.  As we speak, Gustav and Hanna (Montana) are churning in the Caribbean right now, so who knows?  Maybe my lifelong dreams of being in a hurricane will be realized before you know it.

Sucky Salesmen

Remember the good ole days when I always seemed to have a random, funny story to share?  Turns out you only have to go as far as your neighbor's house these days to experience the hilarious blog-worthy anecdote.  Jess called me the other day just as I was about to start dinner, asking me to come over for a minute.  I was worried b/c she didn't day what she wanted, so I scooped up Bradley and off we went.  Turns out she had been hoodwinked into watching a demonstration for Kirby vacuum cleaners, and didn't want to be in the house alone with a strange man who really creeped her out.  (As in, loosening his tie, creepy!)

So I pulled up 2 chairs, and we watched for an agonizingly-slow hour and a half, as the vacuum cleaner salesman version of This Guy tried to sell us an overpriced cleaning machine.  Now I did sales for 3 1/2 years, so I did not envy the job this poor kid was trying to do.  He was obviously nervous having 2 lovely ladies stare at him in silence as he feebly attempted to show us how wonderful this kirby vacuum cleaner was.  He began sentences and trailed off, and  I could see the script he was trying to go over in his head, striving to cover all his bases.  He came dangerously close to catching his necktie in the "easy to use" vacuum several times, so I couldn't help myself when I asked him if he ever got it caught.  No, he said.  Not yet, I thought.

While he went through all 150 attachments the vacuum came with, it was glaringly obvious that this guy had no idea what he was doing.  Poor Mr. Boom-Goes-the-Vacuum at one point mistakenly labeled the dusting attachment as the pet groomer, realized his mistake as he saw and identified the real pet groomer, then commented, but you could also use this one as a pet groomer too.  It was embarrassingly painful to watch, and for his sake I hoped the demonstration wouldn't take too much longer since it was obvious from the beginning that neither one of us were going to buy a vacuum cleaner.  No such luck.

As he struggled to get the vacuum apart, I sarcastically remarked "looks easy," which fell on deaf ears as he agreed with me enthusiastically.   It was all I could do to keep a straight face the entire time as he went through his pitch, tried to demonstrate the poor quality of Jess' vacuum, but not being able to figure out how to turn it on, then couldn't get his own vacuum to start, asking Jess if the plug worked, then realizing it was because part of his vacuum wasn't attached! 

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, his boss, and his boss' boss showed up as well.  Apparently there was a car-full of them working the entire neighborhood.  Each guy tried to help our kid out, and attempted to one-up each other in salesmanship, but only managed to come off smarmier and smarmier.

And all for the bargain price of twenty-ninety-five (that's 2 thousand dollars, he clarified for me, thanks) and 2 hours of your time that you'll never get back, you too can be the proud owner of a Kirby vacuum cleaner!

The Fayte that awaits us

Hey yall!  As I sit here typing this, Brian is making us breakfast, and I can hear the wind gusting outside the window.  It's an overcast day and the heavy rains are on their way.  Yes, we are ready and waiting for Tropical Storm Fay- my first ever Tropical Storm experience.  I saw on TWC this morning where Jim Cantore was at Panama City Beach, where so far the beaches were still relatively calm.  Apparently there were even sandbags at a local park for residents to go and pick up to prepare for Fay.  Admittedly I was kind of excited at the looming storm ahead, even though since we don't live right on the water, we have no need for the sandbags.

I'm not sure what to expect from this storm, but I have my raincoat and video camera ready, to bring my own weather channel fantasies to life.  We'll see what kind of a camera man Brian makes!  So far the three of us are safe and sound in our little house and don't plan on getting out in the torrential rains (don't worry Mom!).  This is Amanda Vilendrer, Tropical Storm aficionado, signing off!

Painted Love

Monday Brian had a day off of work, so he and I tackled a home project I've been dying to complete.  We finally painted our guest bathroom!  It's a little brighter color than what I'd anticipated, but I've never been one to shy away from bold colors, so I'm satisfied.  (Any of you who know Amy Helms, this is the same shower curtain she has in her bathrooom!  What can I say?  We've got great taste.)

Brian called the experience a Team Building project, and for us that was about right.  I only threw one tantrum, and he only flung one paintbrush.  Yes, I am openly neurotic and OCD about getting paint on the baseboards and floor, and the way I think the painting needed to be done. A guy can only take so much 

neurosis in such a small space!  A few pages of my vampire book later, and several deep breaths, and I was ready to paint again!

Afterwards during the "clean up process" we had more fun than the actual painting project!

the DIVA's guide to L&D

I've been meaning to do this for a while now.  I read this awesome book when I was preggers called the Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy (thanks Beth for recommending this!) and laughed all the way through it.  It's a no-holds-bar approach to telling you the details you really want to know from the perspective of a fellow Girlfriend who's been there, done that.

Well I decided that after having Bradley I would share my own insiders guide to Labor & Delivery- the DIVA's guide if you will!  Here are a few tips for you mamas-to-be; print this and save it for when the time comes.  It will have you looking and feeling fabulous when the time is right.

1.  Take the time to shower, and shave your legs before going to the hospital.

*This is assuming that your health and the health of your baby do not dictate you get to the hospital sooner, but it will make a world of difference of how you look and feel both before and after your baby is born.  Beforehand, it's great to distract you from the (ouch!) painful contractions you're having.  Afterwards, depending on how long you're in labor, and what kind of recovery you have, you have no idea when you'll want, or be able, to shower again.  It gives you peace of mind to not feel so gross after recovery if you can rest in the fact that it hasn't really been that long since you washed your hair.

2.  You're going to have your picture taken a ton, so fix your hair, and put on makeup. 

*Again, this assumes you and baby are healthy and in no great rush to get to the hospital!  I went through the bulk of my labor before I was ever at the hospital (I was at 7cm already when I was admitted) and I credit my lengthy beauty routine for getting me through it.  All I kept thinking of was how many pictures were going to be taken and that I needed to not look like a hag in them, so away I went, expertly applying foundation, lip gloss, and even eyeliner in between pausing to grimace and breathe through the pain.

3.  On the same topic of makeup- wear waterproof mascara!  

I made the mistake of Not doing this, and boy do I regret it!  After having Bradley, a few hours later the nurse helped me to the bathroom and I immediately regretting looking into the mirror!  Somewhere along the way my tears of joy had created rivers of mascara down my face without anyone telling me, and I cursed myself for being so droll.  A DIVA with any sense would have known better.  So take my advice!  Wear waterproof mascara!

4.  Bring a hairdryer with you to the hospital.  

They aren't hotels, most of them will not have this appliance for your showering convenience.  I also learned this lesson the hard way, remembering to pack my curling iron, which did no good when I realized I had forgotten a hair dryer.  

5.  Unless you plan on eating the hospital food, check into your hospital's policy on serving meals.  

If they bring the meals 3 times daily, and you don't eat them, you are charged regardless.  It would be great to save on this expense.  From my own experience, the breakfast wasn't too bad, but I didn't touch the lunch or dinners.

6.  BYOP.

You'll read this in all your baby books, but bring your own pillow.  You won't sleep much in the hospital, but when you can, yours is surely to be more fluffy and substantial than the crap flat cotton rectangle they call a pillow.

7.  Bring a new maternity nightgown to wear.  Nothing lifts your spirits like new clothes, and after being stuck in a hospital nightgown for who knows how long, you'll be grateful to have something fresh to change into sometime during your recovery process.  

"That's it, that's all.  Nothing more nothing less."  Hope these help you or a friend at some point to look and feel fabulous during a very important time in a DIVA's life. 

Sephora, so good

I have a confession to make.  Is it bad that the 2nd most exciting highlight of my day was the new Fall 2008 Sephora catalog coming in the mail??  (The first of course was that Brian got home from his work trip)

No longer do I live the carefree life of a single, early twenty-something where Sephora treats were regular and unabashed, but still I pore over every catalog and marketing email they send me about new products and update my wishlist on their website regularly.  Funny how life works out though, because with more and more of my days being spent at home, the need to get all glammed up is lost on a 2 month old!  Still, I can't deny how good a new eye shadow or lip gloss can brighten one's mood and make a girl feel gorgeous, so I continue to look and save up for those special occasions when I can purchase a cosmetic pick-me-up.

Olympic chatter

You should sit around and watch Olympics with my family. You really should. We have a blast making up our own commentaries whilst we watch the athletes. A few funny highlights from the past several nights:

Sasha Artemev mom says looks like he has rickets- he's scrawny, and has dark circles under his eyes. Mom is also obsessed with Jonathan Horton. Every time he comes on the screen she has to tell us how muh she likes him.

The swimmer Pieter van den I-have-the-longest-last-name-ever Hoogenband doesn't have a chance against American frat-tastic powerhouse Michael Phelps. "Fish Mouth" swimmer from Russia doesn't either. Funny how blase' it has become for Phelps to win another gold medal! Speaking of Phelps, fellow American swimmer Ryan Lochte is set to become America's most hated athlete if he beats Phelps at his own game, ruining Phelps' perfect chance at attaining golds in all of his events. You feel bad for Lochte, but you know he enters his race knowing what an underdog he is. Finally, you have a "Beavers" and a "Tancock" swimming in the same race... I wonder if they are friends? I'm just sayin...

Also in the world of gymnastics, Laura decided that if tumbling doesn't work out for Chinese gymnast Yang Wei he could have a rap career based solely upon his name alone (and then Michael Phelps could listen to him on his ipod before smashing another world record).

Speaking of the Chinese, it's pretty sad that the image-conscious nation would substitute a cute girl to lip sync during the opening ceremonies while the not-so-pretty one sings live backstage. It's the Chinese version of Milli Vanilli!

Yes, I have officially caught Olympic fever, and there's still another week to go!

Fancy a Photo?

Argh... I am starving, waiting for George and Laura to bring home my favorite- Blue Coast Burrito for lunch, so I figured I'd pass the time by posting a blog from TN with some pics from the week so far.

Brian, Bradley, and I rolled into town on Thursday afternoon. Brian couldn't get over how "cold" it was, and I couldn't stop thinking how Green everything was! It's good to be back in TN though. Not much has changed- the family is still fighting over whose turn it is to hold Bradley, with Grandma B winning that battle most of the time.

Our good family friends the Reeds married off their oldest son Andrew on 08-08-08, the main reason for us being in town. I was priviledged to sing at the wedding, and got through Ave Maria just fine despite hardly singing a note for months (well, besides the little songs I am making up for Bradley every day). The wedding and reception were beautiful, and it gave me a chance to dress Bradley up in some "fancy outfits!" See examples A, B, C, & D below:

Bradley in his fancy Pooh Bear outfit for the rehearsal dinner. (And that's spit up, not pee, on the bed!)

Our little family

Grandma B holding Little B in his fancy wedding outfit

The whole Bradley-Vilendrer-Future Murdoch gang at the wedding reception
Several minutes later... still waiting on that lunch. But it's good to be in Tennessee!

F&%k*#g S*&t!!!

Brian and I have recently been convicted about the words that come out of our mouths. The Bible talks a lot about our speech, and the damage careless words can do. As new parents we are trying to set a good example for Bradley and model the behavior we expect from him, but we realize we can't wait to start cleaning up our act once Bradley is old enough to imitate us. By then it will be too late, so we're starting now. For starters we are putting a quarter into Bradley's piggy bank every time we sip up and say a cuss word. So far Bradley has $6.25 in his bank thanks to our loose lips!

2 Months Today!

Today is Bradley's 2 month birthday!  Cliche, I know, but time really has flown.  We went for his 2 month checkup this week, and our little bugaboo is a whopping 11 pounds and 3 ounces now.  (So that's why my arms are ready to fall off by the time I get the carrier from the house to the car!)

Ok, so I'm not a professional photographer, but I was trying to go for the cute naked baby picture here, without exposing his private parts, and yet still displaying the keepsake shoes with his name and birthdate on them.  

I gave up trying to get everything in one shot, so here's the cute naked baby...

... and here are the keepsake booties

And finally, to show how big he is, here is Bradley with Coco, my favorite stuffed animal that I've had since I was a kid.

Telling a Tori on myself

Everyone is entitled to their own trash tv obsession.  Ari admittedly watches "Rock of Love," Laura's guilty pleasure is "Real Housewives of Orange County," and mine was "Kimora Lee Simmons: Life in the Fab Lane."  I say it used to be, not because I am too busy being a mom to watch trash tv- Please!  Truthfully I find myself watching more tv these days during nursing sessions, but sadly enough, we don't get the Style network here, so (Gasping in horror)- No Kimora Lee Simmons!!

Not to fear.  Turns out there is an abundance of trash tv out there, and I quickly found a replacement for Kimora:  "Tori & Dean's Home Sweet Hollywood" on Oxygen.  Yes, I'm ashamed to admit I watch the Oxygen network, and even more ashamed that I am glued to a celeb-reality show about Tori Spelling, not even my favorite character way back when, when 90210 ruled my middle school world.  (Although who remembers her before-they-were-stars role as Violet, Screech's girlfriend on SBTB??!!)  In case you haven't seen the show, it follows around Tori Spelling, her husband Dean, and their one-year-old Liam.  Tori's expecting their 2nd child, and may I say, had way cute maternity clothes, and on the season finale last night, Tori and I bonded.

There was a segment where a very preggers Tori served ice cream at Baskin Robbins' Bump Day this past spring.  Immediately it put things into perspective for me at how close together hers and my pregnancies were.  I went to Bump Day at Baskin Robbins with Natalie, and may I say, I was nowhere near as big as Miss Spelling-McDermott was at the same stage.  Guess I know what they mean now about 2nd pregnancies affecting you differently than the first!  Also, at the end of the episode was the birth of the new baby Stella, and her birthday was June 9, 2008- two days after Bradley was born.  

Call me crazy for getting just a teensy bit too obsessed with this show (hey, at least I'm not watching Lifetime!), but I felt a kinship with Tori, knowing we were going through our prego period at the exact same stage and time!  Okay.  Maybe just a little crazy.

One final sidenote, whenever I hear "Tori & Dean," I still think of Taureen Dean, the former FL basketball player.  Again, crazy, I know, but what can I say?  I think everyone's entitled to their own little trash tv obsessions.  Don't judge me.