Aerosmith ROCKS!!!

I don't think it is a secret that my family (the Mercer clan) loves Aerosmith. While it is safe to say that my parents grew up with their music, it is also safe to say that my sister, brother and I grew up with Aerosmith music as well.  Their style and lyrics have transcended the decades...or something like that.  I am very excited to introduce Aerosmith to my own daughter (and any subsequent kids)...but I will wait just a little bit longer (due to a lesson learned when my brother taught his pre-school class the lyrics to Love In An Elevator....oops!) until Sophia is at least a little bit older.  Oddly, my brother, who is now 18, had never seen the band perform until this last Thursday night when he, my sister and I went to the most recent concert. 
The band members are all older than my parents but still seem to have a successful group (despite a break up here and there and a smattering of rehab situations...) that continues to tour.  I have seen them perform and handful of times and really only the last time a couple of years ago was a bust.  'Ol Steven Tyler was on drugs or in some sort of pain (jumping around like a crazy person for several decades can take a toll, I'm sure) and cut the show short.  At one of my top 5 concerts ever, we saw Fuel as the opening act and then Aerosmith, in which Steven Tyler himself handed his half drank Gatorade to my sister!  It was awesome. 
Anyway, back to this particular concert.  It is probably safe to say that Aerosmith won't be making too many more tours.  Maybe one more, if we are lucky.  Sophia and Cooper will surely never see them take the stage.  I'm super glad that Dillon was able to attend this one (my Dad and him actually drove to Ohio or somewhere like that a couple years ago for a concert and found out when they got there that the show had been cancelled.  Bummer.) with Sara and me. 
Cheap Trick opened.  I must say, I'm not much of a Cheap Trick fan.  I sort of hate that song, I Want You to Want Me.  Can't really put my finger on why, but there it is.  Anyway, we got to our seats with only a few Cheap Trick songs left.  Perfect timing, if you ask me.  We had gotten pretty good seats, second row in the second section at Philips, on the right side of the stage.  Much closer to the action than we were for the NKOTBSB concert (which was actually the last concert I went to, about a year or so ago).  The crowd was pretty much just what you would expect an Aerosmith crowd to be.  Quite a few older patrons, haha.  Many scantily clad ladies.  Actually, before we went into the arena, Sara and I were in the bathroom with two over dressed ladies who were literally putting on more make-up than I have worn in the last three months combined.  Not exactly sure what they were getting so dolled up for, it's not likely they were going to be noticed by the band or anything.  Whatever.  Anyway, a guy with a gray ponytail and a Hawaiian shirt  who was one row in front of us provided an entertaining show for us with his drunken dance moves. 
Once Aerosmith started, I was totally surprised at how great they sounded.  I guess after the last time I was just expecting something other than the greatness that they are.  So glad they proved me wrong.  They totally still have it.  They rocked that place out!!  Sara and I screamed our heads off and sang at the top of our lungs (I mean, that is just what you are supposed to do, right?).  Dillon was a little more subdued (haha, he did stand up but I wouldn't call his moves 'dancing' exactly) but I could tell he was enjoying the concert too.  Probably taking in the legends that he had waited so long to finally see in person.  (Just my interpretation, he didn't actually say those words)  The band played for almost two full hours.  There were only a few newer songs that I didn't know but I still found myself wishing for some old favorites.  I suppose if Aerosmith played all the songs I love to sing along with, they'd be up there for a few hours, at least.  Guess they are at an age where they need to conserve their energy, haha. 
If this was the last time I will ever see Aerosmith live, then it was a good way to go out.  I sure hope they have one more tour in them.  The only thing that was truly missing from the concert was having our Dad there with us.  He had a trip out of town, otherwise I know he would've been there rocking along too (with slightly less embarrassing dance moves than Hawaiian shirt guy....and at least he would never be caught dead in a Hawaiian shirt!).   He introduced us to Aerosmith, so it is only fitting that he be there with us the last time we see them perform live.  That is why I will keep up the hope that there will be at least one more awesome tour left in the amazing band that is Aerosmith.  :-)
I will leave you with some pics I took at the concert...all from my iphone, so they aren't the best quality...plus it's hard to take pictures when you are trying to sing at top volume! 

The three of us siblings, waiting on the best band ever to take the stage!

 Steven Tyler and Joe Perry! 

 Joe Perry...this guy can PLAY the guitar!

 The whole band...loved the Aerosmith logo on the stage. 

 Steven Tyler leaning over and singing right to some lucky person in the front row.  How awesome would that be to be right in the front?!?

 And again, signing in the faces of the crowd on the side of the stage closest to us.  I mean, not close enough, but as close as he could get to us, haha. 

This picture didn't turn out so great because of the lighting....but it was for the encore...Dream On, and Steven came up playing this grand piano and Joe is right there in the front just killing it on the guitar.  Mmm, chills!  It was so awesome.  Great end to a great concert!  :-) 

I Don't Care

Last night, before the Aerosmith concert (which was AWESOME, post to come for sure), my sister and brother and I sat down to have a quick bite to eat in the CNN center before going in to the concert.  Dillon and I chose to get Chick-fil-a.  And while we were eating, ironically, we had to listen to the whole debate on the recent "Chick-fil-a debacle" coming from a giant TV in the atrium of the CNN center. 
Been living in a box and don't know what I am talking about?  Basically, head of Chick-fil-a says he opposes gay marriage. 
And this is apparently HUGE news, worth every single talk show and radio show and random person in the country debating over....if he should have an opinion. 
I will take a moment to say that if you read my blog at all, you know that I pretty much stay away from controversial issues and blog mainly about personal things, or things that affect me and my family.  Well, this is not one of those issues, but since it did affect my enjoyment of my original chicken sandwich with a side of fries last night, I have decided to just add my two cents on the matter. 
And those two cents are that Dan Cathey can think and say whatever he wants to, I am still going to eat a chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-a and am still going to order grilled chicken nuggets for my daughter and am still going to make my husband pick me up whatever in-season milkshake flavor is being sold when I want one (hold the whip cream and cherry, please).  His opinion of gay marriage (or world peace or how to best decorate a living room or the best vacation location or really any topic at all) does not affect me.  IF he decides to inject steroids into the potatoes that make the waffle fries so they are huge mutant potatoes that produce five times the waffle fry...well, that would pretty much affect me and then I guess I would stop eating the waffle fries.  But I'd still visit Chick-fil-a for a banana pudding milkshake. I personally do not base my consumption habits on the personal beliefs of top company execs. 
I guess I am confused as to why the guy can't have his opinion, even if 100% of the population may or may not agree with said opinion (is there ever 100% agreement on any opinion??).  Maybe news is slow?  I just think surely there has got to be more pressing matters to report on and debate over on our news channels. This news show that I was pretty much forced to watch (it was piped through the loud speaker and the TV hanging overhead was probably a 200 and something inch at least) was focusing on the fact that Chicago or somewhere was possibly planning on cancelling plans to add a Chick-fil-a to the city due to the comment.  I guess the city can have their opinion that they don't like the opinion of Chick-fil-a but I don't know if it's legal to prevent Chick-fil-a from opening a restaurant there (I'm definitely not a lawyer....but my brother-in-law is...whoo hoo!!).  Anyway, I know of at least three Chick-fil-a's in my area that I can go to if I get a craving (have I mentioned the awesome milkshakes?!) so that doesn't particularly affect me either. 
Furthermore, in this instance, I think even if he didn't outright say it, we already know what the founder of Chick-fil-a might think on certain matters.  It is a company formed on Christian values.  I mean, come on, they are closed every single Sunday (is it just me or does anyone else totally crave Chick-fil-a every Sunday?!).  I bet he's against abortion too.  I guess as long as he doesn't say it out loud, it will not be a big deal to those that don't personally share that same opinion.  I thought we lived in a country that you are free to say out loud whatever you believe in...I'll have to check Wikipedia though and get back to you on that one.  :-)
I am not a lover of fast food but I can't find anything to complain about with Chick-fil-a.  The food tastes good, the people that work there are super friendly and serve you fast and with a smile.  You can actually find "good for you" options on the menu.  (Not the milkshake, but once in a while you've got to indulge!)
I sure hope no one else cares that I will continue to enjoy my Chick-fil-a. It will most certainly affect me (negatively) if I am flour-bombed while trying to enjoy my sandwich (what was Kim Kardashian flour-bombed for? I can't even remember anymore....) and fries. And you should never mess with someone while they are eating. That could just get ugly.  If someone does care about what and where I am eating....well, that is just weird.  If I become obese because I have a peach milkshake from Chick-fil-a for breakfast, lunch and dinner, well, ok, go ahead and intervene. 
While I personally don't care what the founder or any of the other employees think of many issues unrelated to my food service, good for Chick-fil-a for sticking to their core beliefs.  I know my family will still continue to eat their chicken, waffle fries and milkshakes as much as we can afford to (money wise and health wise...we don't always choose the most healthy menu options, haha).  And I'll just have to get over those Sunday cravings!
While we are talking about things I don't really care a ton about.....every time I turn on the radio someone is talking about the "huge controversy" over Kristen whats-her-name cheating on Robert Pattinson.  If I did care, would I be shocked?  Not really.  I don't know either of them (barely know of them, I can't say I am a vampire fan) but I can safely say I didn't really see their relationship lasting forever.  And that is the extent of my discussion on that, because even that is a stretch on how much I care to talk about it!

Cell Phone Photo Dump

 Sophia wanted a 'backpack' like Cooper.  She asked us about it every day for like 3 weeks.  The thing is almost as big as her!! 

 Trying on her third pool float thing. 

 And using it in the pool....success!!  Third time is the charm on flotation devices for her!

 Playing kitchen with Uncle Dillon.

 Walking around in Mommy's shoes.  Not too long after this picture was taken, she barfed all over this cute outfit.  And the carpet.  And some got in my hair.  SO gross. 

 I love this pic.  It's my new cell background pic.  She just looks so grown up, not like a baby anymore! :-)

 Cute little puppy-toweled girl!

 She decided to dump the noodles out of the dish, for easier access, I guess.  Oh well.  She ate almost all of it, so I just decided to not make a big deal of it.  And took a pic instead.  Haha. 

In the chair in my parents room....ready for Grammy and Grampa to come home from their trip!  

Guest Post: Sophia's First Movie at the Theater

This post is written by my husband, Michael.  I did not have the 'priveledge' of accompanying him and Sophia to her very first movie in the theater, as I was busy setting up for Michael's 30th surprise birthday party.  Apparently I missed a lot!  Here is his first person account of the milestone. 

Well, about a week before the big event, Nicki mentioned that perhaps I should take Sophia to see Madagascar 3 with her Dad and Cooper.  Although the idea did sound like fun, I was reluctant.  I know my daughter and know how much trouble she has being still and quiet for extended periods of time.  When I expressed this concern to my wife, she immediately turned my concerns around, telling me I have no faith in our daughter and never want to take her to do anything fun.  A bit extreme of a reply I thought, but the guilt trip worked and I decided we would try to make the best of it.  I had Sophia somewhat excited about the adventure and she even would reply "Be Quiet" when I asked her what you have to do at the movies.  I was actually starting to be a little optimistic that maybe this would go better than I thought, and with her Grampa and Cooper there too, it should be a really fun time.  Nicki loaded me up with little bags of snacks for the movie, just in case.  We dropped off Nicki, picked up Grampa and Cooper and were on our way.  We were on time, so decided to swing by McDonald's to have a snack before the movie.  This was another first for Sophia, and even though we are not hardcore about what she eats, we do make an effort to be somewhat healthy, so McDonald's has never touched her lips.  We got a 6 nugget happy meal to share with a Sprite for me to drink (she already had water).  She ended up eating about half a nugget with no breading and maybe 2 fries.  She did want to try the Sprite, because it was in a little kids cup, and I figured we are having an adventure today so I was ok with it.  Sophia however, was not ok with it, as she immediately let the Sprite fall out of her mouth as soon as it hit her lips.  Although a little messy, I am glad that she does not enjoy the empty calories of soda.  Anyways, we were back in the car and on the road to the movies.

We arrived to see the last 2 previews.  We grabbed a seat near the aisle, just in case, and settled in.  Cooper, being the veteran movie-goer, settled in well, sitting on Grandpa's lap the whole time quietly.  I attempted to get Sophia to sit on my lap, but she did not want to, so she had the seat to herself.  She looked quite cute sitting in the big chair, and I thought, I will be sure to get a picture before we leave to send to Nicki (I didn't take a picture at the time because the theater was already dark and a flash would be annoying to other movie patrons).  Well of course the two previews we saw were some of the scariest previews at a G rated movie, or at least Sophia seemed to think so.  In her defense, the first one was something about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and others fighting evil, which was portrayed as a scary, shadowy looking man.  Needless to say, that didn't go great, so I opened up the fruit snacks and mini marshmallows and prepared myself for the next 90 minutes.

The movie started and Sophia did ok.  A little noisy, but nothing inappropriate.  I was already tearing fruit snacks and marshmallows in half before giving them to her on a continuous, but slow-pace, because I realized as long as she thought another snack was coming, she was pretty good.  After about 20 minutes, Sophia became scared, not sure if it was the noise, or the dark, or just something else in general.  I believe a few of the things said were "Where's Mommy?", "I like it no", "Turn it off", "Go Outside".  I tried a couple techniques...bribing her with more treats, and reasoning with her...neither worked well, and she was starting to become louder and more upset.  I was not going to torture my daughter nor ruin everyone else's movie, just to get her to sit through the movie, so I told her we could go outside.  In my haste, I left both my cell phone and the diaper bag in the theater.  Luckily I was sitting next to Grandpa, so I knew they were safe, but I had no way to text my wife "I told you so".  After about 5-10 minutes sitting outside of the theater, Sophia was calm and seemed receptive to the idea of getting back in the movie.  That lasted about 3 minutes, but I was able to get my phone so the remaining hour or so I knew we'd be sitting outside wasn't as bad.  I decided against any "I told you so" texts, though I was thinking it in my head.  I figured it would be better to share in person anyways, when we got back to her parents house.

Sophia was really good during our time outside the movie, being her cute self.  A couple times we made it through the first door of the theater, but never through the second.  She enjoyed walking around, talking to people, and just exploring.  She did take a liking to the Finding Nemo advertisement, so I told Sophia she could go see that in the theater with her Mommy, which she surprisingly seemed ok with.  I did take a few pictures of Sophia playing during our time outside the movie which I am putting at the bottom of this post.  I used IMDB to get the movie length and confirmed with the attendant exactly when the movie would end.  About 5 minutes before this time we headed back in.  I was able to give her some gummy bears, which helped those minutes remain bearable. 

After the movie, we headed back to the Nicki's parents house.  I was prepared to tell her that my hunch that Sophia was not ready for a movie was correct and even though she guilted me into the movie, she was wrong.  Unfortunately, I didn't get that chance, as we arrived to a better surprise party than I could have imagined.  When I did bring up that I was right, Nicki's response was "I thought the same, however I had to get you out of the house for the party".  Anyways, I am glad I got to take Sophia to her first movie and even though we didn't watch it, I did have a really good time hanging out with her outside of it.

 Just Hanging Out, this is more fun than in there

Going for the High 5

I'd like that ice cream cone please

Odds and Ends

Just some random things going on in our busy lives right now....

Tonight I'm participating in a Zumbathon...it will be the first time I've ever done Zumba! I hope I don't make a fool of myself, but if I do I guess that's ok...it's for a great cause (Hope From Hallie). :-)

We move my little brother to college three weeks from yesterday! How is it possible that the summer is almost over and it's already time for him to start college??!!

Three weeks from today, we should be able to move into our new house. The date was pushed back a little bit, but that's ok...don't want to rush the generous people working on making the house perfect for us!! I can't even put into words how excited I am for us to get moved in and settled into our new home.

I've been looking into preschool/mothers morning out programs for Sophia. I don't know if I'm ready for her to start school, but she's more than ready!
Six weeks and six days from today my sweet little girl turns 2!!! Not that I am counting or anything, haha.  I really need to get on the party planning.

I'm trying a new diet...using the MyFitnessPal app on my phone, I'm counting calories and tracking my workouts. I hope by doing this I can shed about ten pounds or so. I even talked Michael into joining me on my weight loss 'adventure'!!

Along the same lines as thr previous statement, I have been playing Wii Sports a ton...my brother and husband just flick their wrists and barely move to play tennis or baseball or bowling...I, on the other hand, can't play a game without moving all over the room and putting my whole body into it.  I assume I'm burning a lot more calories than they are at this activity.  ;-) 

I am over all the rain and thunderstorms we've been having.  Each day that Sophia and I plan to swim in the pool, it is either way too overcast or raining.  Boo.  My tan is definitely suffering this summer!  I guess the plants enjoy it though.  Me, not so much. 

My sister is moving into her new house in just a couple weeks, maybe even a tad sooner!  I'm excited to be able to go and visit her and have our own guest room to stay in (instead of monopolizing Coop's room!) and for the kids to play in her awesome backyard.  Plus, it's so cool that we are both moving into new homes in the same month!  What are the odds?! 

My parents will finally be back from their trip overseas tomorrow.  They've been gone almost two weeks, visiting Amsterdam, Poland and Paris (it's a work trip for my Dad and my Mom went with him).  We haven't gotten to talk to them too much, so I am looking forward to seeing pictures and hearing about their travels.  Sophia is definitely looking forward to Grammy and Grampa getting back....she asks where they are every morning. 

It is time for us to really start packing up our condo.  I am not really looking forward to this at all.  Packing just isn't fun.  But I try to keep looking at the reason we are packing up....to move to a new house....and that motivates me a little bit more. 

I've got to find time to blog more.  I am not quite on track for my goal that I made at the beginning of the year to blog at least 100 times in 2012.  I started off well...but the last few months have been really busy and I've slacked off some.  Prepare for some (hopefully not too) boring (and possibly short) blogs, so I can get back on track.  :-) 

30

I wanted to post this yesterday, and actually started to write it last week but things got busy and I didn't get a chance to come back to it. As of yesterday, my husband is officially 30 years old!

I am SO lucky to have him. He takes such good care of Sophia and me and I couldn't ask for a better partner to go through life with.

When I first met him, I thought that he was so young...I mean, yeah, younger than me, but just so young. Although I did feel a lot younger myself then compared to now, haha.  Now I totally forget that I am older, he has shown me that he is definitely mature beyond his age. I am very glad that I ended up with the one person that is meant for me. I feel like for a long period of my life I wasn't sure if there was that one perfect person for me out there, the person that could be my best friend and other half. Michael and I really became best friends first and then I realized that he was the one for me. I am so glad that we found each other, am so glad that we are together. Now that I have him in my life, I couldn't imagine being in this life without him.

And I could type all day about how wonderful of a father he is to our little girl. Sophia loves her Daddy SO much. And he makes sure she knows just how much he loves her back. Not only that, he will participate in any of her care, from diaper changes, to meals, to bathing, to cleaning up her throw up (while I try to not gag). I love to watch him read to her, to cook fake meals in her kitchen together with her, to cuddle with her. He is so patient with her. I know when we have more children someday that he will be just as wonderful a father as he is with Sophia...and I look forward to that!

Of course, not everything is perfect all the time, every relationship has its moments.  We have to work through things just like every other couple does.  Sometimes we miscommunicate on issues...sometimes we have differing opinions on how to approach things.  But we respect each other and can work through those things to get back on track with our relationship.  And we feel stronger after getting through the relationship trials together.    

A funny story (well, it's funny NOW, it wasn't so funny yesterday), every morning I text Michael when Sophia and I get up and then he calls us whenever he gets a break in work (to see what we're doing and so he can let me know when he'll come home from lunch). Since we are both asleep when he leaves for work, it's always nice to talk to him to start our day. If he has meetings, usually he'll send me an email to let me know when he won't be able to chat, or he'll respond to my text that he's in a meeting and let's me know when he can call back.
Yesterday morning, I got a call early that we needed to meet at the new house to pick out some things. No big deal...except Michael had taken my SUV (the only car we have with a car seat) to our storage unit to drop some things off and also ran to Home Depot to pick something up before work, with the plan to just bring it back to me at lunchtime. Except now I would need it before that, to get me and Soph to the new house on time. So I called his cell, no answer, called his work line, nothing, then sent him a text to call me ASAP. Normally, at this point I would usually get a text back, even if he was to busy to call. But nothing. Ok. I sent a brief text of why I was calling and waited a bit (no response) then finally got in the shower. But in the shower, my mind started to work overtime. Michael doesn't like for me to go to the storage unit alone (or with Soph) because it isn't super safe...and yet I knew he had gone there super early, not to mention the area of our closest home depot isn't exactly super safe either. I started to wonder if he COULDN'T respond, maybe because something had happened to him. I decided that I would try not to freak out until a full hour had passed...I was sure I would hear from him by then.  So I continued to get ready (Soph was sleeping this whole time).  The possible scenarios were getting worse in my head but I wanted to think of a plan of what I would do.  I decided that I would call his work and have him paged.  If that didn't get him on the phone, then I would talk to his boss to see if he was even there at all...and then, if the answer was no, I would know that something was wrong.  When I was done getting ready (and Sophia was starting to stir at this point) I looked at my phone...it had been an hour and 15 minutes since I had first called/texted Michael.  I pulled up the number in my contacts to call his office...and my phone rang and it was finally Michael.  He was, in fact, in a meeting the whole time.  And had left his cell phone in his office, so he never saw my texts or half a dozen calls.  I wanted to be annoyed (I will never understand why, if you have a cell phone, you would just leave it somewhere random) but was so relieved that I couldn't even do much more than start to cry while I tried to yell at him for not having his phone on him....I had really thought something terrible had happened.  He calmed me down and apologized for scaring the crap out of me...and then I was finally able to tell him why I had been trying to get ahold of him.  Certainly not an emergency by any means, but with me not being able to get in touch with him at all, and knowing where he had planned to be that early morning, it felt much more urgent to connect with him.  Clearly we have our miscommunications at times.  :-)  I'm just glad it was a miscommunication and not something truly wrong. 

So Michael's 30th birthday might have gotten off to a shaky start, but after that we had a great day!  Made some final decisions on our new house.  Michael got the afternoon off work so we ate lunch with my sister and nephew at Mall of GA and then walked around the mall a bit.  Got home and straightened up for a potential renter to come over and view the condo (which seemed to go quite well).  Had a good dinner and got to spend family time together.  And after Sophia went to bed Michael and I got to relax together.  Perfect day! 

I love my husband and Sophia loves her Daddy SO much.  I can't wait to celebrate the next 30 years of his life with him....and even more!  Happy 30th Birthday, honey!! :-) 

Our Condo

We are still going to own our condo even when we move into our new house.  With the way the market is now, we wouldn't get very much if we tried to sell it.  Not that we have to make a killing or anything, just that it would be preferable to not take a loss when we sell it.  So for the next year (or maybe two, just depending) we are going to rent out our condo.  (I posted previously about our rental search)
I thought I might post the pictures we took of our condo as it is now....maybe someday down the road I will miss it and want to look back at how we had it set up and everything.  It is, after all, the place we brought our first born home to.  :-) 
So here is a mini tour of our home now (I resisted the urge to type 'a mini tour of our mini home'....guess I did it anyway, haha). 

Our living room.  My uncle made the built in bookcases and I will definitely miss those in the new house.  Wish we could bring them with us...but they are in there pretty good!  I have had a dozen different configurations of couches and chairs....this seems to be the one that looks the best, but doesn't offer a ton of seating.  And with no windows I always kept most of the lights on to keep it as bright as possible. I liked that on big football weekends we could hook up the tv from our bedroom on the other bookcase and have two games going at once! 

This is the sun room, that is just off the living room. (I am taking the pic from the couch) It has been so many different things.  First, it was an office with a desk and some book shelves.  Then I had a love seat against the window.  After that I put my treadmill in there....it was pointed towards the living room so I could see the tv while I worked out!  And finally, it is now Sophia's playroom.  I used to pull the gate across (and there is another gate that is pulled across to keep her out of the dining room) and leave her in there to play while I worked out in the living room (to a dvd or fitness program with On Demand) or if I had to do some chore that didn't need her help.  Now I don't bother caging her in so much, she'll just stay in there to play on her own anyway. 

The dining room...the wall with the small mirror used to be a half wall of mirror...it was unattractive and we had it removed when we did renovations.  Usually our table is half covered with stuff and in the corner you can't see we have a stack of boxes to move to the new house, haha. 

The kitchen.  Small, but serves the purpose.  I am not a gourmet chef, by any means, and sometimes I feel like we could use a little more cupboard space but there is a nice pass-thru over the counter on the right side (that you can't see) so it has a more open feel than you can tell in this picture.  I had to buy the fridge when I moved in....so I just bought white to match the other appliances that were already there.  In our new house we will have a bigger, double door fridge that I am excited about.  Guess it doesn't take much to excite me, huh?

The first room you get to is Sophia's.  She has two good sized closets (and believe me, they are both full of her clothes).  She is still in a crib, but we already bought her big girl bed for the new house.  I think I will probably put both the crib and the big girl bed in the new room and just slowly transition her once we move in.  I have to take her paci away too (which she only sleeps with) so I don't want to force too many changes on her at one time (not to mention the actual move itself).  I like that there is plenty of empty space in her room...she loves to run around and play in here.  For a second bedroom, it is pretty good sized.  I know that past roommates I have had put queen sized beds in here with space to spare.  But there really isn't a lot of space for two kids to share this room (my opinion, which Michael didn't agree with....glad we don't have to worry about that, haha). 

The master bath.  Yeah, it is small.  It is the same size as the second bath (which I didn't bother to post a pic of).  We renovated both, but really did the works on this one.  New tub, new tile on the wall and floor.  New sink too, the pedestal actually added some room from what was in there previously.  There is a linen closet to my left of where I am standing to take the picture...it's technically in the master bedroom, but all our bathroom stuff is in it, since there isn't a ton of storage space in the bathroom (and simply isn't room for it).  Now that I am looking at the picture, I see that there isn't toilet paper on the toilet paper rack...hahaha...Sophia likes to take it off and unroll the paper and she must've taken advantage of the fact that I was busy taking pictures of the house.  Well, by the time I used the bathroom it was there, so we do use toilet paper in our house, in case you weren't sure!! :-) 

And finally, the master bedroom.  The only other way we have had it set up is with the bed on the side of the room where the dresser with the mirror is (and it was on the side where the bed is).  The wall with the dresser is actually longer so shortly before we had Sophia we set it up this way so that the bassinet would fit on the right side of the dresser.  And then we just left it this way cause it works out just fine.  You can sort of see Michael's dresser on the very right of the picture.  On the other side of that is the door to the walk in closet.  I am basically standing in an alcove to take the picture, the linen closet is on my right and a vanity is on my left, with a mirror over it.  I basically just use that area to dry my hair and keep some of my stuff.  But it was nice to have anyway.  I always envisioned making it more like an office desk, but with it right near the bathroom it's not the best place to keep a computer (with all the steam from a shower that could ruin a computer) so we never did it.  I thought the bedroom was a good decent size for a two bedroom condo....but I am still very excited to be moving up to an even bigger bedroom with a substantially bigger master bathroom.  :-)

Interesting facts about the condo....before Michael and I were even dating, he helped me paint the master bathroom and most of the other living spaces.  I had two different roommates after I bought the condo before Michael and I got together and he moved in with me.  And for a short time, I even lived there alone.  It really didn't start to feel cramped until Sophia came along.  I guess all the baby gear and toys just multiplied and added to the cramped feeling.  I actually found the condo listed on craigslist...I saw it some time in August 2005...and then again in early November and at that time the price had dropped a lot.  My old boss went with me the first time I looked at it.  And then a couple days later I went back to look again with my parents and the next day made an offer.  By the end of November the place was mine!  So I have lived in this same condo for 6 and a half years.  Pretty much the longest place I have ever lived since before college.  And for a while I was moving almost every year.  Friends and family were so sick of moving me, haha.  I gave them a good break, but now I'm on the move again!  This time we will surely stay put for a loooongg time.  And I am excited about that, even though the event of moving is never fun. 

While I couldn't be more excited about our new house, there are a few things that I will miss about the condo.  Nothing physical, but the memories there.  It was a purchase that made me a legitimate homeowner.  Michael and I hung out countless times together before we started dating at the condo watching movies and having "incidents" (an inside joke...not a dirty one, trust me!).  Then we dated and got engaged and he moved in with me and it was our first married home.  And then we brought our precious baby girl home there.  She has learned to crawl and walk across the floors there.  It has been a great first home for us.  But now it is time to grow and move on.  And I couldn't be more happy or more thankful that our little family will be moving, together, to a new larger home to continue making memories!  Good-bye little condo! (well, technically not good-bye for a few more weeks, but you know what I mean!)

Our New House

This is going to be our new house!!

A few posts ago when I posted three seemingly random pictures I included this one...and it is not random at all, it is the home that we will be moving into very soon!  Our projected move in date is August 1st, if all goes well with all the interior work that needs to be done.  It is a foreclosure home, but it is getting all fixed up for us before we move in.  They had already put on a new roof before we even saw it, added new air conditioning units and made other repairs to get it ready to list.  But we saved them from having to pay a realtor for the listing and so they are also going to paint all the walls and put down carpet and wood flooring throughout the house and granite in the kitchen.  Basically make sure it is all ready to go for us!  I could not be more excited. 
Sophia is very excited as well.  She talks about the 'new house' a lot and her new room.  She says 'big new room' and 'big playroom' a lot.  The house has two sets of stairs (one in the front and one in the back off the kitchen) so we will definitely be investing in some good gates (as she has fallen down the stairs at my parents' house a total of three times).  And there is a third set of stairs leading into the basement, so that door will be getting a new lock that she can't reach.  It is on a corner lot and there are a lot of trees to shade the backyard.  Right now we don't play outside too much at our condo because in the front is basically a parking lot and driveway where cars go by and the back is very narrow (and the neighbors sometimes don't pick up their dog poop, gross) so it's not that great for playing.  This house will be perfect for outdoor play.  In fact, we were at the Pottery Barn kids outlet and found an inflatable turtle and beach ball on clearance that you can attach a hose to and they become sprinklers...I can't wait to set them up for Sophia to run through in the yard. 
The inside is really big.  About three times what we have now.  Sure, it will be more to clean (four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, formal dining and living rooms, family room, kitchen and eat in area) but I am totally ok with that.  Oddly, I am looking forward to that.  Our stuff will be able to be spread out over the larger area, as opposed to being all cramped in our current living situation.  Even when I clean the house now, I never really feel like the place is super clean, just because there is still stuff everywhere.  I guess I notice it more now with the addition of Sophia and all the stuff that babies have, and the increasing amount of toys she has.  There just isn't space for it now and in the new house, there will even be room to grow. 
The basement is giant and as of now is unfinished.  I look forward to someday turning it into a nice guest suite on one side and a good party room/man cave on the other.  Plus there is a clear spot for a bathroom, which it looks like it has already had the plumbing set to add there if we ever wanted to finish it. 
There are plenty of closets and storage spaces throughout the home too.  The master closet is about twice the size of our master bathroom now.  Sophia will have a walk in closet, the 4th bedroom has two closets (one of which is walk in) and the room that will be the guest room for now has a walk in closet as well.  In the kitchen there is a large pantry, a separate wet bar, and a huge closet just in from the garage that could be a coat closet or additional pantry room.  The laundry room is huge, with a sink and several different cupboards for storage.  I can barely even fit in our laundry room now to get to the washer and dryer. 
The back porch is big, with a built in bench along the far side of it.  There is plenty of room for Michael's new grill and a nice patio set....when we finally find one!  Since we haven't had all of this room and amenities in our condo, we will definitely have some wide, empty spaces for a while!  But I definitely look forward to finding the perfect pieces to compliment what we have already to fill up our home. 
I am excited that our new master bedroom is big enough for a king size bed, that both of us will be able to get ready in the master bathroom at the same time (his and her sinks, plus a little room for just the toilet), that Sophia will have her own bathroom and playroom, that our house won't be attached to anyone else's house, that we will have a garage, that we can cook out on our grill on our own back porch, that our driveway has lots of room for friends and family to come over and visit, that we will be able to have a guest room so that our out-of-town friends and family can actually stay with us and not at a hotel or on an uncomfortable pull-out couch, that we will be in a swim/tennis community with young and growing families and can hopefully make lots of new friends, that we have found a home that we can grow into and hopefully expand our family in the future.  I can see Michael and I growing old together here, raising our children and sending them off and then enjoying this house for years afterwards and welcoming our kids and their kids back for celebrations and holidays. 
I don't know how we got so lucky and fortunate to come across this perfect situation, this awesome house that will be ours in just a few short weeks.  But I sure am thankful for it!  And I can't wait to post more about it, about our moving experience (ok, that might not be great, moving is never fun!), pictures of the inside, pictures of our family enjoying life in our very own single family home!  I am definitely one grateful and excited girl!!

Successful Surprise

I have been SO busy.  Clearly I can't do everyday busy things and also keep up with this blog.  But I was busy with planning a surprise 30th birthday party for my husband, so hopefully that is a good enough excuse. 

It was pretty tough to coordinate all the facets of the party...who to invite, what food to serve, how the surprise would go down.  I was constantly messaging on Facebook and emailing with various people for the past two weeks or so...and trying to keep it all a secret from Michael.  That was the real tough part.  I invited many of his friends from Florida (which only 1 came....thanks, Nate, I know Michael loved seeing you here!) and several from work (most of which came, there were a few who couldn't), plus our usual family friends.  I knew that if I planned it as a pool party at my parents' house, he would probably never suspect that it was for him...and I even ended up not telling him anything at all about people coming over.  The tricky part was getting him out of the house....my Dad and Cooper and Sophia helped with that....Michael and my Dad took the two kids to a movie so the rest of us could set up at the house and the guests could arrive.  Funny thing about that, it was Sophia's very first movie at the theater...and she hated it.  So Michael spent pretty much the whole movie in the theater lobby with her, haha.  He says that he is going to have to write a guest post about that, since I wasn't there to experience Sophia's first movie and it was definitely blog-worthy! 

Anyway, while we set up, I kept in contact with my Dad by text and he alerted me that they were almost home....so everyone headed out to the front porch to surprise Michael....and when he drove in the driveway, he drove right past all of us without even barely looking!!  So we all had to go back in to the garage and wait for him to get out of the car....not quite the surprise that I was thinking, but he was very surprised to see us all there.  Here he is when he finally saw all of us.....

He was super surprised to see his friend Nate, from Florida.  Nate had actually emailed and said he would be up here next weekend....it totally threw Michael off the trail, haha. Then I had one more big surprise for Michael.  We walked into the back so I could show him what I got him for his birthday...a grill!!  Living at the condo, we have never been able to have a grill.  Now that we will be moving into a new house in a few weeks, we have a nice big back porch, with a perfect spot for a grill.  I picked it out myself and it was one that Michael had already researched (and approved, ha) on Consumer Reports.  I know that once we move in and get the grill over there, I will be eating grilled out everything for who knows how long.  Yay. 

I didn't get too many other pictures the whole day.  It was so much fun though and I got to visit with everyone who came and got to enjoy seeing Michael have a good, relaxing time.  I'm glad it was a great party, with a great turnout, and that the surprise didn't get blown before the big day.  I was sure he would figure it out, but he said that I really got him good! 
I was definitely worried that Sophia would blow the secret...she kept randomly naming off some of the party guests and when she came to Party City with me to buy some decorations, she took a great interest in the giant bow I was buying to put on the grill.  She kept saying "big bow, big present" over and over.  She also sang Happy Birthday to Daddy most of the time we were in the store.  And this was like two weeks ago!  Clearly I will not be taking her with me when I shop for his Christmas present!!

I am very happy with the way the day turned out.  Michael actually doesn't turn 30 until the 16th of July.  So we'll probably do a little something on that day to celebrate.  I am so thankful to everyone who came out this weekend to celebrate my husband as he welcomes in a new decade (finally joining the same decade as me, haha).  I think that he is wonderful, a great husband and father and friend, and I am proud that so many others recognize that as well. 

Happy early birthday, Michael!  Sophia and I love you so much and hope you enjoyed your surprise party as much as we (I, haha) enjoyed planning it for you! :-)