A Legacy of Love

 Today I have a love story to share with you.  Today also happens to be my husband Matt and I's 12 year anniversary, but this love story is not about us; it is about the Nagles, who built our house and raised their family here for nearly 50 years.  One of their daughters, Therese, has written for "The Good" before ("Home Again"), and is a faithful reader of this blog.  She has written a beautiful tribute to her parents and their love story.  When she sent it to me, I couldn't wait to share it with all of you, because it includes some of my very favorite things:  Iowa City, a sappy love story, and a house full of kids (which happens to now be my house!)  And so, without further ado, I give to you...

Destie and Jack:  A Wonderful Love Story

I love to read. Love it, love it love it. Mostly fiction, but I am a fanatic about the morning paper. I don't read romance novels. That is not my genre. I sometimes fantasize about writing a great novel, or just writing in general. But, nothing I write would do justice to what I was privileged to experience first hand. My parents – Destie Monnig and Jack Nagle.

They met decades ago in Iowa City. My Mom was an undergrad, and my Dad was in law school. There is some confusion about how it all came about. Newman Center picnic, my Grandma telling my Mom... Jack Nagle wants to go to the picnic, why don't you pick him up? My Mom, driving the family car, picking my Dad up, her younger 12 year old brother needing a ride to boy scouts and asking my Dad (in the passenger seat) for the $.05 dues. All these years later, I like the idea that my Mom was driving and embarrassed by her pesky younger brother.

Nagle wedding

The picnic is legendary! We all talk about the Newman Center picnic. The picnic started it all! At some point, they started dating. And, my Dad moved back to Davenport (his home town) and started being a lawyer. He proposed. My Mom said yes! They had a great wedding and honeymooned in New Orleans.

They settled in an apartment in Davenport. They were a family. And, they starting expanding that family. They had kids, moved a few times, had more kids, bought a bigger house, the family grew, they had more kids, and settled on building a house (which my Dad helped design) as the ultimate home.

Ok, my parents were great parents. But, but, but, they loved each other and they were the best life long partners. That was the best thing they did. They loved each other. They supported each other. My Mom did so much and my Dad supported her career pursuits. He was so proud!



Dancing to their song

My parents loved each other. They were each other's rock. There was romance. There was passion. There was - as my favorite uncle pointed out before my wedding –friendship. Friendship is what its all about.

One of my favorite stories....years ago, my parents were spending the winter in Florida. I flew down for a couple of days to spend time with them. We were out at dinner with an old client of my Dad's – a woman I had just met that evening. A song came on and my parents looked at each other and immediately stood and said “This is our song, we have to dance.” I had not known that before that night. They had a song. But, I always will have a soft spot for Tony Bennent singing about leaving his heart in San Francisco.

My parents set the foundation. There IS such a thing as life-long love stories. They were married 65 years. My Dad died last January. November 23rd would have been their 66^th wedding anniversary. I like to think that my Dad is listening to Tony Bennent. And dancing.

 

 

A special thank you to Therese Nagle-Kiser for sharing the wonderful love story that was the foundation of the home in which my growing family now lives. I don't know if we will ever be as big in number (they had TEN kids!), but I pray that we will be as big in love as they were.  Today as we celebrate our twelve years together, Matt and I will be thinking of the example that Destie and Jack set.  Happy Anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Nagle. 

Saying Goodbye.

On Tuesdays we talk about finding the good in our home. Well, this story takes us back a few years...

...Matt and I had found our first home, in a tiny little town called Wilton, Iowa.  About two days after signing the papers and making it ours, I said to Matt, "We need a dog." Growing up, I always had a dog. When I was little, we had a little pekingese named Squirty.  Unfortunately, Squirty was lost in the fire in our house when I was ten.  Soon after, we got our sheltie puppy, Molly, who was with us until my last year of college.  And now, it was time for Matt and I to get our first dog for our first house.

We knew we wanted to buy from a shelter, not a breeder or a pet store. So, we visited nearly every shelter in the Iowa City area, but didn't find "the one".  Then one day at work, I was searching online and found her: a female beagle named "Patsy". And she was just down the road from my office! So, as soon as my work day was done, I ran down the three blocks to the shelter and asked to see her.  Yes, she was the one! Matt met me there, and we told them we wanted to take her home.  They let us take her around the block on the leash, and she was so happy to get out of that cage.  I loved her right away; I knew I wanted a beagle, and although she wasn't full beagle (her short, fat legs were definitely something else!), she was perfect to me.  They told us that she had lived with an old man who got sent to a nursing home, and no one was aware that he had had pets inside his house, so she and some cats were alone in the house for about a week until someone found them.  Poor thing! 

Maggie and Maizee with the new family of three!

And so we brought her home, and I re-named her "Maggie". (We didn't like Patsy, and my mom's name is Patti, so it was just too funny).  The first night, we put her in the $80 kennel that the shelter had sold us (telling us that she loved the kennel and it would be a comfort to her), and she cried the entire night.  The. Entire. Night. From then on, she slept in bed with me.

We lived in our house in Wilton for a year and a half, and since I was pregnant with my first son, I did a lot of laying around and resting. Maggie was in heaven.  She would literally lay on the couch with me all day long when I was sick and exhausted; she would just lay her head on my ever-growing tummy and snore the day away. 

Maggie and Sam snuggling

Then when we sold our house, we temporarily moved in with my parents, who have a little dog named Maizee. The two of them became best friends right away.  Maizee loved having a bigger dog there to protect her from the cats! They would literally snuggle and lay on the couch together all day long...and since they are almost the exact same coloring, they almost looked like a mother and her baby.  About 8 months later, we had found a house, and it was time for Maggie to leave. Although I hate to admit it, I don't think she ever really wanted to leave my mom's house. She had found her home there.

Trying to get in the Christmas card picture

Fast forward...I gave birth to Cooper one week before moving into our new house, and then 18 months later I was pregnant for the third time.  Needless to say, I had a lot less time to lay around on the couch and snuggle with my dog.  Although I wish I had more!  Maggie had gotten older, lazier, full of allergies, and was beginning to forget where to go to the bathroom.  With a three year old, almost-two year old, and a pregnant belly, one night I just broke down crying and called my mom after cleaning up yet another potty-mess of Maggie's.  I didn't know what to do.  My mom calmly says, "Sara, it's ok.  Just bring her to my house.  She likes it here, and Maizee misses her anyway. It's fine."  I am forever grateful for that moment, and I hope my mom knows it. I was so exhausted and didn't want to get rid of my dog, but at the same time didn't know how to keep up!

Looking older :(

Unfortunately Maggie didn't get better at my mom's...instead she got worse.  She was there for about 6 months, and by the end had my mom in the same miserable, helpless boat as I had been in. Maggie's time had come...she was so miserable, and in so much pain from her constant battle with allergies. We knew it was time...but we just didn't want to face it.

And so my mom made the appointment.  As soon as I heard the words, I just broke down and cried to Matt. Even though I knew it was best for Maggie, it didn't make the whole thing any easier.  On Tuesday, I drove home from work with a heavy heart.  I stopped at McDonald's and got my girl her last cheeseburger; she was so happy when she ate it.  And then we got in the car for the last time...my mom and I were already crying.  By the time we got to the vet's office, we had the receptionist crying, too.

On Tuesday we said goodbye to my friend, my snuggle-buddy, my "baby before my babies".  She was not the best behaved dog in the world, but she was good to our kids, and she had to put up with a lot from two toddler boys, believe me!  And she loved me.  She really did.  She loved me, and she loved my mom. 

And now she is resting...no more itching and scratching, no more getting older.  And as I held her little paw (she had the cutest paws) in the vet's office, I remembered with a smile the first time I saw her that day in Iowa City, and I reminded myself that we gave her a good life. A really good life.

Goodbye Maggie. I have spent the last three days crying about losing you, but I will try to remember the happy times we had with you in our lives.  Your loud snoring, your even louder howling at the doorbell, and your un-ending love of food. Any food.  We love you Maggie, and you will be forever missed in our home.

The Big Day.

Well, tomorrow is it. My first day back to work since giving birth to my precious baby girl, miss Nora Jean. Of course the emotions are running high...but I think I'm doing pretty good.  She is currently laying on my lap as I write this post, snuggling me and saying (with her eyes, of course!) "no, Mommy, don't go back to work!". Or at least that's what I'm telling myself...

As I put my boys to bed tonight, my mind wandered to my other "first day backs".  With Sam, I was finishing my Master's Degree when he arrived.  He was born in August, and he attended my graduation in December, all decked out in his hawkeye gear.  I got a teaching job for the following fall semester, so I ended up having an entire year at home with him; the school year started one week after his first birthday.  What a long day that was, my first day away from my first baby boy.  I missed him so much, I didn't know what to do without him.

With Cooper, I was teaching until about two weeks before he arrived, in May.  Therefore, I had the entire summer with him, and returned to work at the end of August, when he was three months old.  I remember feeling guilty that I had spent an entire year at home with Sam, and Cooper only got three months...

...and now it's Nora's turn. Her due date was the first day of school this year. Literally.  So, of course, I had to make other plans.  I ended up teaching online for the first four weeks of the semester, and tomorrow marks week five of the school year, so it is my first day on campus. Luckily, Nora decided to arrive three weeks early, so I actually got seven weeks at home with her, instead of the four that we were expecting.

Now that the day has arrived, I can not imagine how I would have gone back when she was only four weeks old. No way! It will be hard enough to leave her at seven weeks tomorrow! When I have left her (for a few hours at most), I have felt like a piece is missing. I know it's cliche, but it's true. And with our other babies we lived with my parents part of the time and had a lot more help with them, so this time I've felt even more attached...it's basically just been me, feeding her and putting her to sleep and taking care of her all the time.  She's attached to me, and that will make it even harder for me to leave tomorrow...

...but, as always, I'm going to look for the good in the situation, and I will end this post on a happy note.  Because, in the end, we have so much to be thankful for as young parents.  Not only do we now have three healthy, wonderful children, but we have a boat load of family right here in our own town, and our babies have never in their lives had to go to someone that we don't know and love very much; in fact, they have only stayed with non-family once!  Crazy!  We know how lucky we are in that respect, we really do.  Matt and I frequently talk about how we don't know what we would do if we lived far away from our parents and family members, because we usually don't go a day without seeing at least one of them and our kids are so lucky to see their grandparents so much. 

So now, as I head to bed tonight, I am choosing to be thankful for the life that my husband and I have...one in which I don't have to work full time, and that I can be home with my babies all summer long.  What a blessing!  And most of all, I am thankful for the fact that when I go to work each morning, my children are in the care of people who love them.  However, that doesn't mean that I won't be shedding a few tears as I drive away tomorrow...

The Perfect Card

Last weekend we went out with our friends for our 5th anniversary.  We went to a nice dinner, and then met my cousin Elyse and her husband Ryan at the movies. Elyse handed me an envelope and said "Happy anniversary", and then she and Ryan started laughing.  Of course I wanted to know what the laughing was about...as soon as I opened the card, I understood.

Apparently, Elyse had told Ryan to take a stack of their mail and shred it before throwing it away.  Well, our anniversary card was in the stack...

When they realized it, Ryan said they could just go get a new one.  But no. Elyse said it was the perfect card for me and Matt, and it was the only one left at the store.  I have to admit, I would have done the same thing.  There is nothing like that feeling of finding the perfect card for an ocassion...before I had kids, I would walk up and down the card aisle for a ridiculous amount of time before choosing the right one. (Now that I have three kids under 4, people are lucky if they even get a card from me, lol).

And so...they taped it back together. And in the end, it really was perfect. The card was perfect (just like Elyse said it was), and I will never forget how hard all of us laughed there, in the middle of the movie theater, when she gave it to me.  I guess you just never know how happy a crumpled up, ripped piece of paper can make you.

The Perfect Day.

Five years ago today, I walked down the aisle to my happily ever after.  As most of you know, I have been in love with Matt Meehan since we were sixteen-year-old high schoolers. We went to class together, went to all the dances together, graduated together...I went off to college, and Matt spent every weekend in his car driving to visit me.  And then one night, as we drove back to Iowa City after Thanksgiving Break, he turned to me in the car (yes, while driving) and asked me to marry him.  Two months later I left for my semester in Spain (longest five months of our lives!), and when I returned, the planning began...
...on September 8, 2007 (Matt picked the date because it was 09-08-07 and therefore it would be easy to remember), I woke up as a single woman for the last time in my life.  As I put on my make up and did my hair that day, surrounded by my closest friends and family, I could not stop smiling at the thought of marrying my best friend. As the ceremony began at 4:00, I hid behind a door in the back of the sanctuary and watched the entire thing...as it got closer to my walk down the aisle, I could see the excitement growing on Matt's face.  I will never forget how he looked that day, as I peeked through the glass window and watched him wait for me.
Our ceremony did not go by without a hitch (the sound person played the wrong song twice), but if you ask me it was perfect.  ALL of our friends and family were there...all of the special people in our lives.  Our vows were beautiful, and as we said the words "you are my best friend", both of our voices cracked with tears. I get goosebumps just thinking about that moment.
The rest of that day was spent celebrating with our favorite people.  Food, dancing, fun times.  We literally danced the night away...we were still out there on the dance floor as they began sweeping up the floor and tearing down the decorations.  Matt and I got into our stickers-and-balloon covered car and drove downtown to our secret hotel room (you will understand this if you know our friends...or if you knew them at that point in our lives. if they knew where our room was, there would be NO privacy whatsoever! Gotta love them though!)  Matt carried me across the threshold of the hotel room, and as we collapsed from exhaustion onto the bed, we both realized that we had not eaten dinner.  Matt disappeared for about 20 minutes, and came back with the most delicious grilled cheese sandwich I have ever eaten (along with some candy bars and a pop, all of my favorites!). 

The day was absolutely perfect.  It TRULY was.  The weather was perfect, the wedding was perfect, the reception was perfect, and we shared every minute of it with our favorite people in the whole world.  I would not change a SINGLE thing.

Five years later, and I love him more with every year. He is the husband I always knew he would be...in fact, he's more.  He has given me a beautiful life, one that many girls would truly kill for (well..probably not truly kill for, but you know what I mean!), and the three most wonderful children in the entire world.

Happy anniversary, Sparky.  You are my favorite.

Give Me A Break

Project “clean up the house” has been underway at our house for about a week now.  I’m still not sure if the other four people who live in my house are aware of this fact, but anyway…

…in the last two months, I have given birth to my third child, gone back to two of my teaching jobs, and started a bakery with some family members…just to mention a few things.  Throw in writing for two blogs, making baby blankies, and packing us all up for a weekend away from home for a wedding (I’m still un-packing, and we’ve been home 10 days), and it’s safe to say that my house needs some attention.  Especially considering these next two months include hosting a baby shower, two different weekends with out-of-town guests, and an open house for the bakery. Whew!

So, as I’m knee deep in toys, laundry, Halloween decorations, and half-packed bags (did I mention we are going on a mini-vacation two days from now? Yeah…), my son comes downstairs to find me and says “Mommy, can we go for a walk?”  I had just gotten into the “organizing” groove, I had piles and piles of things to do…and yet, the thought of a walk seemed heavenly.

To be honest, it was.  Walking outside with my family, my three boys and my precious baby girl, was exactly what I needed.  The Fall air was crisp, perfect.  My sons laughed, my daughter looked around at the trees towering over her stroller, and my husband and I shared some much-needed adult conversation.

As I tackled Project Clean Up later that night, I did it with a smile on my face.  I pray that God always reminds me to take a break.  Especially when the break includes spending quality time with my four favorite people in the whole world.

The house can wait.  (That’s pretty obvious!)

 

 

The Best Birthday Ever

Monday, August 6, 2012 was my 28th birthday.  At 28 years old, I don't really feel the need to celebrate or receive birthday gifts (even though my family always makes us all feel special on our special days).  But this year I got the best birthday present I've ever received...my baby girl!

If you've been following the blog, you know how extremely uncomfortable I have been for the last 3 or 4 months.  Contractions, back pain, false labor...and all of that after a first trimester full of nausea and daily vomiting! Disgusting but true!  I was SO ready to have this baby!

Happy birthday mommy!

After she arrived on August 4th, we spent the next two days recovering and falling in love with her in the hospital. I have cherished those days with all of my babies--no cleaning or cooking to do, none of the daily stresses or worries, and most importantly, time with their daddy, who works so many hours and rarely has days off with us.

And then on Monday, on my birthday, we got to take her home! As we drove up the street by our house, we saw her two big brothers jumping up and down on the sidewalk at the corner with their grandma and grandpa. I will never forget that sight, seeing my boys so excited for their sister (and their mommy!) to come home.

Happy, happy birthday to me.

Magic Sauce?

A few nights ago, I went to a little party with some of my friends from the Quad City Moms Blog . There were 8 or 9 of us there, and 4 of us are currently pregnant. So, naturally, the conversation got around to pregnancy stories and birth stories.  LOTS of stories!

Anyhow...Wednesdays we look for the good in food.  This week, I was looking for the magic in food!  As we discussed our pregnancies, our labors, and the births of our previous children, we started talking about ways to jump-start labor.  I am currently between 36 and 37 weeks, so I guess I can see why people don't understand my rush to have this baby girl.  However, I have been having consistent contractions, back pain, headaches, insomnia, ....the list goes on, for over 2 months now!!!  So, when two of the girls at the party (who are sisters) mentioned that they both went into labor after eating homemade spaghetti sauce (and their other sister did, too!), I was itching to make some sauce of my own!

super fresh herbs...NOTHING smells better!

I googled the validity of spaghetti sauce putting women into labor, and it turns out it's a pretty popular story!  There is a restaurant that has become famous for women going into labor after eating the eggplant parmagiana, but it turns out it's really the fresh oregano and basil that can have an effect on the body and make the uterus begin to contract. So.....yesterday I loaded up my boys and we went to the grocery store for some crushed tomatoes and some veggies to put in our sauce.  On the way home, we stopped at Chef Laura's garden for some very fresh oregano and basil...we even watched her cut it off the plant!

As I made dinner last night, I almost laughed at myself.  I was cutting up so much basil and oregano, you would have thought I was making dinner for 30 or 40 people!  Nope.  Just me, Matt and the boys (and my dad stopped by, too).  Needless to say, the sauce tasted very strongly of herbs!!  After eating a too-big portion, I literally felt like I had eaten a garden.  Then we sat down and waited to see what would happen...I actually did start having a lot of contractions, some even big ones and quite uncomfortable!  But...as you can assume since I am writing this blog right now, the contractions did not lead to a baby!

So I guess the magic sauce didn't work for me.  But, in the end, Matt and I had a good laugh, and I have to admit, it was a pretty good dinner.  Good food and a good laugh...it doesn't get much better than that!

The final product:  Good. But not magic.

Tapas, Batman, and a Milkshake in a Purse

This wasn't exactly a surprise...but this weekend we took a spontaneous trip to Iowa City for a double date night.  On Friday night, Laura and I were talking about how badly we wanted to eat at Devotay (remember the post about Devotay, right? Community Spotlight: Devotay).  When the two of us go there, it's never-ending plates of tapas coming to the table...and now, we are both pregnant.  Yikes!  And since my birthday is coming up next week, Laura said she would take me there to celebrate.  So, when my mom said she could keep both of the boys on Saturday night, the plan was set:  double date in Iowa City.
It was a great night.  I'm sure it will be my last trip more than 10 miles from home, considering my due date is only 4 weeks from today.  And there's nowhere I would rather go on my last trip than Iowa City!  On the drive there, Laura and I joked that we were going to order the entire menu...turns out that wasn't far from the truth.  And everything was delicious.  When I eat there, I literally feel like I'm sitting outside at a bar in Spain eating tapas and people-watching.
After dinner, we headed to Coralville to see the Dark Knight Rises.  Since we dragged our husbands all the way up there for dinner, we decided we should at least go see the new Batman movie.  We filled our purses with snacks (literally...in fact, Laura's purse was holding a milkshake from Whitey's and a cup of iced-tea from Chik-Fil-A...hilarious) and went in to watch the superheroes.  The movie was good, our tummies were full with delicious food, and we had a great time enjoying each other's company.

A good, spontaneous date night in one of my favorite cities.  Good food, good friends, and most likely my last date night with my hubby before we become parents of three.  This is one happy girl.

Ridiculously Happy About Pillows...

I just had to post about this...Matt has been making fun of me for days.

As you all know, I have done the majority (and I really mean majority) of the decorating in my home from garage sales, hand-me-downs, or clearance racks.  Last week I made a new contribution to one of my favorite rooms (my sun porch) and it has been making me happy every day.

We were out in our garage sale caravan (there were about 10 of us!) last week, and there was a sale with a ton of decorative pillows.  Most of them were marked between $4-$6, which was actually probably a good deal (those things are so expensive!), but I really didn't want to pay that much.  I saw two big yellow ones that I knew would look perfect on my little couch in the sunroom, so I walked over to check the price.  No tag.

I walked up to the girl who was having the sale and asked her how much she wanted for the two yellow pillows. "Oh, let's just say $1 a piece.  How's that?" 

Perfect!  I couldn't wait to get them home...they are literally a perfect match to the yellow decoration (also from a garage sale) on the wall above the couch (a hand-me-down).  I keep walking out there just to look at them...pathetic, I know! I'm 8 months pregnant and physically miserable...I guess it only takes a little thing to make me happy these days!  Anyhow, last night I said something again about how perfect the pillows look out there.  Matt just started laughing and shaking his head.

So I guess I will spare Matt another "perfect pillow" comment and share it with you all instead!  Remember to look for the good in your home...you never know how much it might cheer up your day!

So happy :)

Cardboard, Styrofoam and Duct Tape: Good, Cheap Fun.

Franklin the Knight

The other day, Sam and I were reading one of his Franklin the Turtle books.  In the book, Franklin and his friends are going to play knights, so he makes a costume.  Sam asked me if we could make one, too.  Of course I said yes, but I really had no clue how to do it!  Luckily, his daddy was almost home from work.  As soon as Matt walked in the door, Sam bombarded him with questions about how they could make a knight costume just like Franklin's.  And then the project began...

Daddy and Sam

Since I'm on moderate bed rest, I was laid up on the couch while the whole thing took place (which was probably a good thing, because my dining room literally  looked like a battle had taken place!). 

Getting excited...

Anyhow, watching the two of them walk to the garage, and hearing them tear apart the box from our new air-conditioner, just put a smile on my face... 

Helping Daddy...

About an hour later, when Sam emerged wearing his new cardboard knight hat, his cape from his aunt Annie, and his new styrofoam sword, I was amazed.  It actually looked just like the picture from his book!

Sam the Knight!

You just never know what's going to make your kids happy...or what will keep them occupied for over an hour!  So, the next time you are out searching the clearance aisles for bargains, remember that sometimes (many times) all our kids need is some quality time with their mommy or daddy, or their grandma or grandpa, or whoever is special to them.

I hope I never forget the day that Sam and his daddy made their knight costume. He is a lucky boy to have a daddy like that.  (and yes...they did make an extra little sword for little brother Cooper to have when he woke up from his nap!)

My two little knights :)

25 Random Things

So, I’m looking through my Facebook and find a note from February 9, 2009. It was one of those “forward this to your friends” things that I usually don’t do, but it interested me because it was just called “25 Random Things About Me”. I liked how open-ended it was, and it was fun to think of 25 random things to describe me…plus, I got to read what my other friends had to say about themselves, and that was fun, too.  Anyhow, when I found the note I thought it would be a good thing to share with you readers of my blog…so I started reading it again (I haven’t read it since I wrote it 3 years ago!), and when I got to the final thing, #25, I just knew that it had to go on the blog! 

“25 Random Things About Me”

1. Always put God and family first. The rest will just fall into place.
2. My husband is my very best friend in the whole world...and I wish I knew a non-corny way to say that!
3. I always knew I wanted to be a mother, but I never knew HOW much until I saw my son's face (Samuel Roark Meehan, born 8/22/08).
4. I have travelled to 7 countries on four different continents. I love traveling!!...but no matter now much I love it, the best part is always to come home.
5. I speak fluent Spanish and am nearly-fluent in Portuguese. I have also taken courses in Italian and Japanese.
6. I love to wear black. My grandma hates this, and continues to buy me brightly-colored clothes, but I still prefer black. Or gray. Or brown.
7. I am an only child, but would love to have a big family of my own. I wanted six kids and Matt said 2 or 3, but we finally compromised and said 4...I still think I can convince him to go for 5.
8. I have a SMALL group of very close friends. They know who they are, and they will be my friends, or better yet family, for life.
9. My wedding day was THE best day of my life. (Sorry Sam...the day you were born was an EXTREMELY close 2nd, but the contractions and pushing were the deciding factor!)
10. I love pasta. Any day, and any way. I love pasta.
11. I have 2 of the best parents in the whole world. They made my childhood fun, they are the reason for any success I have in life, and they are already the best grandparents EVER.
12. Matt and I would love to start our own business and work together someday.
13. My cousin Elyse is the closest thing I have to a sister, and I don't just mean that because I love her and all that sappy stuff. We fought to the death in our carseats, and the battle continues today.
14. I love Christmas. Christmas music, buying Christmas presents, sappy Christmas movies, Christmas cookies...everything Christmas I love.
15. I hope that I never take for granted the fact that I honestly love my husband's family. And my mother-in-law's cooking. After 8 years, I still can't get enough of that fried chicken...
16. I wish I could speed-read. There are so many books I want to read, but I open one and start thinking about a million other things.
17. A few things I hate: socks in bed, food touching other food on my plate, people who are fake, sports commentary (have you ever REALLY listened to what they are saying?), bad posture, hearing people chew, and sitting "on the end" at the movies.
18. I love being named after someone (my grandma, Shirley Hope). I think it is a wonderful thing to be named after someone your parents knew and loved. I plan to give all of my children this gift--Sam is named after my grandpa and my dad.
19. Matt and I bought our first house in January 2008. My favorite part? Having ALL of my stuff in ONE place! From Kindergarten to High School I only moved once...but during college I moved 9 times! yuck...
20. I will not allow myself more than 5 minutes to put on my make-up everyday. Any more than that is ridiculous. But yes, I wear make-up everyday...even if I AM at home all day with the baby.
21. I love to take pictures. I ALWAYS have my camera, and usually have a spare in my purse.
22. I am 5'5" and 115 pounds, and I had a 10 pound baby. In what universe does THAT make sense??
23. I hope that 25 years from now our marriage looks something like my parents' marriage.
24. My remedy for a clutter-filled house: If it doesn't make you smile, throw it out!
25. My motto in life: Look for the good in people.

One word: Cheesecake.

Now THIS is what we call "looking for the GOOD in food"!

For as long as I have known my husband (12 years now), he has talked about how good his Aunt Susie's cheesecake is.  So, when we visited her in Texas this January, he sweet-talked her into giving us the recipe.  About 3 weeks after we got home, I decided to make it for Matt for Valentine's Day.  Man, did I wish I had gotten the recipe earlier along in these 12 years!

I made it with the pineapple topping from the recipe, and it was absolutely delicious.  It turned out super tall, and we shared it with the whole family! Seriously, people were coming back to my doorstep for seconds...it's that good!

And so...Matt told me I needed to start making one every week. Ha! Truth is, I thought it was a great idea, but we wouldn't be able to get off the couch and go to work if I did make one every week.  But now it's been 4 months since I  made it...and tomorrow just happens to be my wonderful husband's 28th (golden!) birthday...

Happy birthday to Matt, we are having cheesecake again!  Enjoy the pics...I haven't gotten Aunt Susie's permission to share the recipe just yet, so if you are scrolling down and looking for it, sorry! But if you live anywhere near us, just swing by the house tomorrow...but make sure you come early, because I'm sure it will be gone quick!

MMMM Happy Wednesday, Happy Birthday Matt, and Happy Cheesecake Yumminess!

Can't you just taste the creamy goodness looking at this picture???

Happy Mommy, Happy Home

My boys were going through a rough time sleeping-wise.  Sam, who is 3, was getting too big for his little toddler bed, and was coming into our room pretty much every night.  Cooper, who was still 1, was not out-growing his crib in size, but he was rolling around all night long and beating himself up on the bars of the crib, hence causing him to also come to our bed.  Every night.  At this point, I was in the early weeks of my third pregnancy, and suffering terrible “morning” (AKA “all day”) sickness, and really needed some sleep.  I mentioned to Matt that we should think about moving them to their new bedroom, since we would be doing it in a few months anyway, to prepare for the baby coming.  I brought up the idea of getting them twin beds, and some people laughed, since Cooper is so tiny, but I just needed a solution!  After weeks of talking about it, and not sleeping, we finally went out and got them their twin beds and started moving their things to their new room.  That was almost 4 months ago. The results were amazing—they slept all night, almost every single night!

Until Summer hit….we have a really old house, and even though we do have central air, it really does us no good on the second floor.  Matt and I already have a window unit in our room (purchased at a garage sale…of course!), but the rest of the rooms are nearly unbearable in this heat…including Sam and Cooper’s room.  As soon as the temperatures spiked, we were back to the same old story…Sam would come in our room, and an hour later we would hear Cooper crying on the monitor.  As soon as they got into our room with the air conditioning, they were out like lights until the morning.  The solution was obvious:  we needed another window unit!  However, if you know my husband (whom I love dearly!!), anything that costs more than $3 requires contemplation. J

Until today! This past week has been terribly hot, and I’m not enjoying one minute of the old routine.  The boys are bigger, my stomach is bigger, and our bed is still a Queen size bed.  Not a good combination.  I’ve been nagging Matt to no end—I’ve even been recruiting family members to yell at him about buying a new unit!  So today, we head over to my in-laws’ house to see Matt’s aunt and uncle, who came in from Texas last night.  After a mere mention of our hot and sticky situation, Aunt Susie and Uncle David say “Matt, we are taking you tonight to get an air-conditioner”.  I can honestly say that I could hear the “Hallelujah Chorus” in my head.  Finally!

Boys helping Uncle David

As I write this post, Matt and his Uncle David are working hard at getting the unit in the window.  My boys are in their jammies, and I am practically drooling at the thought of a good night’s sleep.  On Tuesdays we look for the good in our homes…on this Tuesday, the good in my home is sitting on the boys’ windowsill, and I am very, very grateful.

Thank goodness for the sweet-talking family from Texas.  I don’t know their secret for talking my husband into things, but I will find it out…it could come in very handy!

Hallelujah.

Life is funny.

It is now 12:33 AM.  The truth is, most of the posts that you read are written after 12:30 AM...I guess I just work well when everyone is sleeping.  But tonight was different.  I had some time this afternoon to organize some of my plans for the blog, and I felt so accomplished after sorting through my stacks of ideas and getting them into the right compartments in my folders (yes, I have already admitted to an obsession with office supplies).  So, around 10:30 I come upstairs to take a shower, then I'm about to lay down in my bed and turn my laptop on.  Matt is laying in the boys' room, and I assume he will be going back downstairs to play his video game while I write tomorrow's post (we are lame...I know!).  I go in to check on him, and we end up sitting in our room talking for the next two hours.  It's one of those conversations where you feel like you are talking about everything and nothing all at once.  We talked about our past, we talked about our kids, we laughed...sometimes when I look at him it's like I remember every single moment I've had with him, all in one instance.  And, as everyone always says, sometimes we just say nothing at all.  If you don't have someone in your life that you can do that with, then I hope you find someone soon.  I could lay here with him all day, not saying a thing...not promising that we wouldn't fall asleep, but still! And so, after all of my work this afternoon and all of my planning, when Matt finally got up and said he's going back downstairs to play his game, all I wanted to do was write about this, about these last two hours with my husband, my best friend, the father of my children.  Ironic that today just happens to be Father's Day. He ran downstairs to get me a glass of water (and let's be honest...a candy bar, too), and when he came back, the baby girl was going crazy.  He put his hand on my stomach, and we could both feel her foot--yes, you can actually tell that it's her foot!  It is both the weirdest and most wonderful thing all at once.
Tonight's "date night" with my husband was not planned.  We did not get dressed up, we did not go out to dinner, and in fact we didn't even know we were on a date while it was happening.  But, to me, tonight was perfect.  Life is funny sometimes, the way we fuss around about how we look and what we should do for fun, and then in the end some of our most memorable times happen when we get out of the shower and sit down on the bed--no make up, in our pajamas, with no agenda.  I love him so much.  And that is looking for the good in life.

My Favorite Person.

So, after the last two Saturday posts about hugs and kisses, and the whole idea of “looking for the good in people”, I just can’t go another day without writing about my favorite person.

When I was 15 years old, my friends and I went to a party.  I ended up on a barstool in a friend’s basement, shamelessly flirting with a boy I had gone to junior high with but never even met.  He was one of the only people at the party who had already had his 16^th birthday, and was therefore talking about his car.  I don’t remember what else we talked about, but I know that my friends and I made fools of ourselves.  The next day, my friend told me that she had a crush on him.  I didn’t want to tell her that I did, too, so instead I set them up to go to a little dance together at our school. The rest of us girls went without dates, so we were all together that night.  Fortunately for me, my friend backed out and decided it wasn’t really what she wanted…but it was what I wanted!

I will remember that fall for the rest of my life. I remember sitting in my childhood bedroom, “chatting” with him online and him asking me to be his girlfriend. I remember sitting at a football game…he gave me his sweatshirt, I wore it home that night, and didn’t take it off for the entire weekend.  I remember my mom just smiling at me.  I remember telling my friends, “this is the one”. Of course, what sixteen year old doesn’t say that about her boyfriend? 

For the next three years of high-school, we were together every day.  We laughed, we fought, we formed a circle of friends that lasts a lifetime.  We made memories, we went through the ups and downs of life together.  We graduated high school, and the cycle started all over again—we laughed, we fought, we even broke up for a little while, and then one night I saw him again and knew, it just couldn’t be the end.  He was there with me through it all—dorm life, apartment life, exams, even my 40 page thesis. 

And then one night, after a long night of cards and good times with my family, we got in the car to drive back up to school.  About halfway there, he turns and says to me, “what would you say if I asked you to marry me right now?” (yes, he was driving at this time!). I say, “of course you know I would say yes”, and then I see the white box in his hand.  I have never smiled so much or so hard in my life—all the way to the apartment, where he got down on one knee, and slipped the beautiful ring on my finger.  We spent that night drinking sparkling juice and watching movies in my tiny twin bed in my apartment.

Then I moved to Spain for 5 months…the longest 5 months of our lives.  When he came to visit me there, I literally felt like my heart would beat out of my chest before he got off the plane.  When I saw his face, it was like I had gone home again.

On September 8, 2007, I woke up ready to marry the love of my life.  I wasn’t nervous, I wasn’t worried about anything going wrong, and it didn’t.  It was the perfect day.  I remember sneaking into the back of the church with my bridesmaids, and stealing a peek at him through the window.  All at once, he looked like the 16 year old on the bar stool, telling me about getting his driver’s license, and yet at the same time I could see in him my future, our future—our life, our children, our happy ending.

Three months later, I wanted to start a family.  He looked at me like I was crazy, and yet in the same breath he said “yes, we should”.  And so we did.  Nearly 9 months to the day after he said “yes we should”, we welcomed our son into the world.  Since then, we have lived in two houses, welcomed another son, and will soon be welcoming our daughter.  We have celebrated ten wonderful years together, we have taken trips together, we have even bought a mini-van.  Together. 

At 27 years old, some days I can honestly sit and remember that warm summer night like it was just yesterday, as if I had just written in my journal the words “I have to go, Matt Meehan is talking to me on the computer!” (yes, I actually did that).  I still have the sweatshirt from the football game…in fact, I wore it the other day, and I smile every time that I do.  That circle of friends that we formed in high school is the same circle of friends that surrounded us on our wedding day, and the same circle of friends that we welcome into our home as often as possible to this day.

My favorite person in the whole world is my husband, my best friend, my partner in life.  I love him for the shy, adorable sixteen year old that he was, and for the strong, confident man that he has become.  We have grown up together, we have shared some of the best days of my entire life, and the best part is the thought of how many more we will share.  How we will watch our children grow, how we will watch our love grow, how we will someday sit on rocking chairs on our front porch and drink lemonade.  I don’t have this story without him, I don’t have any story without him.  He has given me two (almost three) of the best gifts anyone can ever receive—he has made me a mother, a wife, and most importantly a better person.  He takes care of me, he works enough for two or three husbands and never complains, and yet he still finds time to stop and buy me my favorite candy bar on his way home from work.

If you are thinking this is sappy, you are right.  And if you are thinking that you should be jealous of me, you should be.  My life is not perfect, and we do have our ups and downs.  We argue, we yell, we disagree.  But then we hug, and we kiss, and we always go to bed in the same bed.  I love him more than I could ever say, no matter how long this blog goes on and on…

And so, as we “look for the good in people”, I pray that I never take for granted the friend  that I share my life with, my home with, my bed with.  He has given me a life that I love, children who have stolen my heart, and a love that everyone deserves to have in their life. 

This one is for you, Matt.