My Husband

Today I'm linking up with Kandiland to brag about my spouse!  Mark and I have been together for almost 16 years.  We met back in the spring of 1995, working at Burger King.  I was only 17 years old and was clueless that this boy would turn into the man I would marry.

This is our first Halloween together.  Gosh, we were just babies!

I fell in love with him because of his personality.  He's kind and funny, very thoughtful.  He would write me poetry and songs, buy little gifts to make me smile.  He has the best smile, so big and genuine.  He is polite and sweet.  I had never been with anyone so wonderful.  We dated for 7 years before we got engaged.  We had amazingly fun times and lows so low that they still make me cry to think of them.  There were a few times that I didn't think we'd make it but we already had so much together.  Breaking up wasn't really in the cards.

So on Sweetest Day, 2002, Mark proposed with five tiny little carved out pumpkins.  As I opened each pumpkin, they said Will You Marry Me.  The last one held my ring.  It is things like that, that get to me.  He took so much time to make it perfect.  There was major thought put into it so that I could be proud of the way he did it.  So that I would tear up telling people how we got engaged.

So one year later, on Sweetest Day, we got married.  It was perfect.  I've never had more fun and I swear no one else's wedding could have been better (I know everyone thinks that though).

With this ring...

Man and Wife

We bought a house, planned on a baby.  We were lucky, the first time we were able to try for a baby, I got pregnant.  We were so excited!  After we found out we were having a girl, Mark would whisper to my belly every single day, "Hi Sghetta, it's Daddy.  I love you."  When he came home from work, he would ask how his two favorite girls were.  We made her room perfect.  He came to the baby shower and wore silly hats and cried at people's generosity for our baby who wasn't even here yet. 

Mark earned/won a free trip to Mexico from work.  Being seven months pregnant didn't stop us from going.  We went snorkeling, saw a whale and her calf while out on a huge pontoon boat, went deep sea fishing (I was the only person on the boat who didn't get sea sick).  We went on a diner cruise and I dance the Tango with a professional up on the stage.  We entered a dance contest.

We had the best time!

Mark never acted like I was a crazy woman even though I'd cry over improperly folded socks or a ruined batch of Christmas cookies.  He didn't treat me like an invalid either, though many people did.  He told me I was beautiful every day, which did wonders for my self-esteem when I was feeling huge and fat.  He played with all of the baby toys and dreamed about the happy future we would have with out little girl.




 

And one day late, she was here!  She was screaming and pooping all over the place.  Nothing would calm her down.  Then Mark leaned over her in the warmer and said, "Hi Sghetta, it's Daddy.  I love you."  Her eyes opened wide, her head swiveled to him, she stopped crying.  She knew that her Daddy was there.  She knew his love from the moment she was born.  She is so lucky to have him.

Now we are here, married almost eight years.  I know I love him for all of these reasons.  He makes me feel special everyday.  I love when we have time together to talk about anything and everything, politics, news, friends, our day, random things that just pop out of our mouths.  We hold hands when we're in the car and anytime we get a chance to, often while we are falling asleep.  Even with his snoring and teeth grinding and elbows to the head, I love sleeping next to him.  Knowing I can just reach over and snuggle into him if I need to, is perfect.  He is the person that I tell all of the news, what we talked about at GNI or dance class.  He lets me ramble on about my family and friends when they are all over me.  He talks me off of the ledge when I'm falling apart.  He makes me a better person. 

He is my best friend.

A Big Sucker

Back in October, we went on a family vacation to the happiest place on Earth, otherwise known as Disney World.  We spent eight wonderful days there and had a blast.  We went on a gazillion rides and saw every show.  Oh, and we ate, and ate, and ate.  The dining plan is absolutely fantastic.  You get so much food for your money.  We get the mid-level dining package which includes one quick service meal, one sit-down meal and one snack per person per day.  We always pack our own breakfast stuff, granola and protein bars, dry cereal, pop-tarts, because we aren't big first thing in the morning meal eaters.  But anyways, it ends up being a lot of food to eat and on this last trip we had 21 snack credits between the 3 of us.  On our last day at the park we had 9 or 10 snack credits left so we spent them at Goofy's Candy Co.  We ended up with so much candy coming home and it lasted us a long time, sometime into January.  We had only one piece of Disney candy left and Annabelle got it.

 It was one big sucker!  A strawberry flavored Minnie Mouse sucker to be exact.  Do not look at my messy house in the background, just look at the cutie with the sucker.

 So she did some posing for me until she was tired of waiting and needed to eat that sucker!

 Her first lick was pretty good.

 She seemed to enjoy the second one too.

Then she just had to play it up a little bit.  She loves to ham it up for the camera.

After we took the pictures, the sucker only lasted another 5 minutes or so.  She decided is was, in Annabelle speak, gusgusting (disgusting).  She threw it in the garbage.  Oh well, one snack credit wasted but at least we had a good time posing with the sucker, even if eating it wasn't in the cards.

A Baby Weekend

Finally Buffalo decided it would be nice this past weekend.  It's like Mother Nature woke up and realized that it's supposed to be spring.  So we did everything we could to be outside as often as possible.  On Saturday we went to the Zoo!  I have been needing some Zoo time for about a month now.  I was waiting oh so patiently for the weather to cooperate so that we could head on over there and we finally were able to.

One of our first stops was the Gorilla Habitat.  Recently, there was a baby gorilla born and I couldn't wait to see her.  Is there anything cuter than a baby gorilla?  I don't think so!

The happy family.  Dad Koga, mom Sydney and hiding behind her mom is baby Amari.

She finally ventured out without mom and I got a quick shot before too many people got in the way.  The Gorilla house was mobbed!

There was also a baby Giraffe born recently.  They didn't have them out of their house so I didn't get any great pictures.  She was sitting down so it's hard to tell that she's a baby.

Then it was on to all of the regular zoo animals.  Annabelle was disappointed not to be able to go on the merry go round or the train ride because they weren't up and ready yet.  I'm sure she is planning on some one on one time with the rides next time we go.



 We saw Lions, tigers and bears, oh my!  We did not take any pictures of the bears because the grizzly wasn't out and the polar bears were busy making baby polar bears.  We left the scene before Annabelle could start asking any questions! :)

She found a stick and was a happy little girl after that.  That stick went everywhere with us.  Luckily she didn't go to crazy and accidentally hit anyone with it!

Can you see the zebra?  He was hiding.

The Bison were not cooperating!  Turn around!

The lemur was pretty happy to lounge in the sun and get his picture taken.

Next stop, the Rain Forest Falls.  There are tons of birds and other rain forest-y types of animals all around.  If you happen to be inside at noon and 3 pm it actually rains on you.

I am madly in love with the anteaters in the rain forest.  I have no idea why but they are so ugly that they are cute.  Does that make any sense?  Anyways, I adore them!

Annabelle's favorite part is the bats.

And the swinging bridge.

No trip to the zoo is complete without a picture with the big fake rhino.

We found a fake pig to sit on too!

Our last stop of the day was to see the sea otters, who were too fast to get a good picture of and then the sea lions.

Then after all of the babies we saw at the zoo, we got a call from my friend Nicole.  She had to go in to have her labor induced.  her blood pressure was waaaay to high.  The newest member of her family, baby Nick was born.  He was 5 weeks early and only 3 pounds 6 ounces.  When we went to visit them in the hospital the next day, everyone looked good.  I was worried that baby Nick would look sickly or super scrawny, but he looked pretty good.  He's in the NICU but we watched him through the window and he was waving his arms all around.  He looked strong.  Nicole was in a little bit of pain from her c-section but seemed good, happy.  I think when she goes home and the baby stays it will be hard on her, but on Sunday she was just thankful that her baby was pretty healthy for being so small.

So it was a weekend full of warm weather, lots of outside activities and babies coming out of our ears!  It was fantastic:)



Headaches

I have had a migraine, of varying degrees, for 5 days.  Monday afternoon it started and it hasn't really stopped since.  There are times when the medicine works and the pain stops, though I still usually have all of the other symptoms and just that vague knowledge that the headache isn't gone.  Just waiting to attack again.  Right now I feel it throbbing in my temple, sliding down and coiling itself around the base of my skull.  It doesn't hurt a lot but it's there, nagging at me.

I have been getting these since I was in the eighth grade.  One a week, for most of my life, and they have been getting worse.  I've tried 5 different medications without much relief.  I've done acupuncture which helped a little bit but it just wasn't convenient for me at the time.  Now I'm trying chiropractic care.  I'm not seeing results yet but it's only been a week.

Here in Buffalo, there is a place called the Dent Neurological Treatment Center, and they are doing migraine testing there.  It is less than 5 minutes from my house.  They run commercials from time to time on the TV and this week I actually looked into it.  Their premise is that some migraines are caused by a heart defect.  It sounds like most people don't even know they have it.  If the defect is fixed, the migraines might go away.  I'm on the fence right now.  Do I possibly have surgery and get better?  What if something goes wrong?  I'd rather live with pain than be dead, unable to watch my little girl grow up.  Unable to grow old with my husband.  I admit it, I'm scared.  I'm going to try the chiropractor for a few more months and see how things go.  Otherwise, I may have to take more drastic measures.

Ketchup

Annabelle is addicted to ketchup.  It's a fact.  Everyone seems to know it.  She eats it on everything- chicken, pork, ground beef, steak, vegetables, even mashed potatoes.  Are there other people out there that love ketchup this much?  Most people look at her like she's gross for eating her food this way.  I'm just thankful that she's eating anything at all, because without the ketchup, food will not pass her lips.  If something tastes bad, she'll spoon some extra ketchup into her mouth to help her get it down.

Maybe you're wondering why I'm writing a whole post about my daughter's bizarre eating habits.  It's because we ran out of ketchup.  On Monday I made meatloaf for dinner with mashed potatoes and broccoli.  Now meatloaf isn't a favorite meal of mine but it's easy and it was cold out so it seemed like a good idea at the time.  That is until I realized we were out of ketchup.  I slathered Annabelle's broccoli with cheese and she ate it without too much complaint but then she was ready for her mashed potatoes.  Mama you forgot something!  Where's my ketchup?  The look of total disbelief on her face when I told her we were all out.  She eventually forced down all of her food but I was in the doghouse for the rest of the night, believe me. 

So I had originally planned on heading to the grocery store on Tuesday, but I ended up being sidelined with yet another debilitating migraine.  All dinner plans were thrown out the window because of our lack of ketchup.  I just wasn't in the mood for the whining and complaining from my kid.  Luckily we had a frozen pizza in the freezer, something that is rarely in there.  Woo Hoo for lent and buying something random that I can make for dinner on Fridays!

So today I did get to the store and I bought the biggest tub of ketchup that they sold.  Part of me though thinks that I should keep telling Annabelle that we're out.  Maybe I could get her off the stuff.  Or maybe not, I think I'm OK with her addiction. :)

Perfection

Have you even had a perfect weekend?  One that just felt so nice and relaxing.  I just had that weekend.  It may seem boring to some people.  It would have seemed like it was to me at one point in my life, maybe even next week I'll look back and feel like we did nothing spectacular.  But right now, it was just so good.

On Friday we went to McDonald's for dinner.  Annabelle has just become brave enough to play by herself in the play center there.  Before someone would have to go with her, usually Mark because those tubes make me claustrophobic.  Now she'll hang out there for as long as possible, sometimes attaching herself to another little girl and becoming best friends almost immediately.  After we played and ate, we headed on over to BJ's.  Usually I feel like we're so rushed in there, running up and down aisles at warp speed, but we decided to take it easy.  Letting Annabelle out of the cart to try out all the different patio sets they had out and perusing the book area for almost 20 minutes.  It was so relaxing and nice seeing what kind of books Annabelle found interesting.  The to cap off our night, we went to Coldstone for some ice cream.  Again we let Annabelle pick whatever she wanted.  We usually steer her towards something we know that she'll eat, strawberry, chocolate.  But she wanted the neon purple mixed berry frozen yogurt with gummy bears.  At least she enjoyed it is all I have to say because it was gross.

Saturday we went to brunch at my Aunt Pattie's house.  All I have to say is yummo!  Cinnamon rolls, eggs, french toast bake, bacon, sausage, bagels, and tones of fruit with a side of mimosa.  Oooo I ate so much but it was so good.  After we got home I was feeling woogie.  You know when you want to be doing something, anything.  Just not in your own house.  So Mark decides we should go to Dave and Buster's for dinner and some games.  We went through that $30 of game tokens fast, but hell we had fun so that's all that matters.

Then Sunday we decided to call up my in-laws to see if they would want to feed us and let us watch the Sabres game.  Luckily they had no plans and were up for some company.  My mother-in-law made grilled chicken sandwiches and french fries while we watched the hockey game in the living room.  Luckily the Sabres won the game, so we were happy the get those 2 points and a full belly in the process.  I wish every weekend could end up so nice:)

Wasting My Time

Last week, one of the little girls, I'll call her A., in Annabelle's class asked to play with Annabelle after school.  She was with her grandfather, not her mom, so I replied that we would talk next week and set a date.  Monday morning comes around and A. runs over and asks when we will have a play date, so I ask her mother if we could get together.  She replies that Tuesdays and Fridays are good but this Tuesday is busy.  She also volunteers to pick the girls up and that I could pick Annabelle up after a few hours.  Now I usually stay  during the play date but I was OK with the plans.  Then I didn't see A.'s mom pick her up or drop her off all week but that's pretty normal.  I'm always punctual and A.'s mom is not, whatever, we're different, that's fine.  But here's what annoys me. 

This morning, we pull up and see A. and her mom waiting outside the school.  Annabelle runs over and yells, "I'm coming to your house today!"  Then she gives A. a huge hug.  Neither of them say anything.  I don't have their address and have never been to their home so I was waiting for  something from their end.  The classroom door opens and the masses rush in and I lose sight of A.'s mom.  So I don't get to ask any of the pertinent info.

Two and a half hours later. I'm at the school and I don't see A.'s mom.  We get let in, hear the spiel, kids are released to parents.  We wait around for a few minutes but Annabelle's whining about a paper cut on her finger, so I get ready to leave.  As I'm walking out, I see A.'s grandfather walking in.

Now I'm mad.  I was under the impression that we had plans, especially because A.'s mom offered to drive the girl's home, let me off the hook.  She basically made the plans and instead of letting me know that it wasn't happening, she just ignores us!  I'm at a loss.  Both of our kids wanted to play together, we make plans and then you just bail?  Grow up!  If you weren't feeling it, just say you're busy this week.  I wouldn't keep pushing you.  I wasn't thrilled with having our kids having a play date anyways.  A. is so boy crazy, that it isn't even funny.  I don't need that rubbing off on Annabelle.  I'm just so annoyed right now I could scream.