I love long weekends!

Seriously, every weekend should be a three day weekend. But I guess then, as my husband pointed out, if every weekend were a three day weekend, we would be complaining that they were too short and wishing for four day weekends. I guess this doesn't officially qualify as a "Monday Update" but we're going to categorize it as one.

Friday, I had the late shift at work (meaning I had to work until 5:00 instead of 3:30). We had pork chops for dinner, which were quite tasty (I had to look at my texts with Josh to remember what we ate). Friday night is when the slow crawling of Caroline had begun; by slow I mean at a snail's pace. By the end of the night, she had started crawling a wee bit quicker, more like the tortoise in the famous fable.

She is obsessed with the tutu in this "touch and feel" book.

Saturday, Caroline let us sleep until 7:20am (her baby internal alarm clock woke her up at 7:20am every day this weekend). Josh made us pancakes and sausage for breakfast, while Caroline and I explored her nursery (she crawled in circles around the room). We did a lot of lazying around the house and playing with Caroline all day. She started crawling between her nursery and our bedroom which was adorable. We ate leftover pork chops for lunch and I feel like we went somewhere or did something, but my mind is drawing a blank as to what in the world we did.

Saturday night, around 5:00, we headed over to our friend Laura's house so she could babysit Caroline. It was Caroline's first official time being babysat at someone else's house. She was apparently a very good little girl. Josh and I went to Marie Livingston's Steakhouse. I had a pretty awesome Groupon that was almost expired, so we had a late anniversary dinner. We started off with our cocktails. We asked for the drink list and every drink listed was way too frilly-froo-froo for us. So, I ordered a dirty martini and Josh ordered Jack on the rocks. My drink was DELICIOUS and his was, well, it was a shot of liquor on ice. I never thought I'd like dirty martinis but I now find myself wanting another. Our first course was some delicious french onion soup - very tasty but hard to eat because of all of the cheese. Second, I ordered a glass of Merlot and they brought out our salads and our bread - the salads were typical salads and the bread was YUMMYYY. My wine was really, really good, as well. After that, I ordered another glass of wine (don't judge; all of this booze was included in the Groupon and Josh had to drive) and our main course arrived. We each got NY Strips, which are served with a delicious sauce on top. I got a veggie skewer and Josh got a potato. The steaks made me realize why this place is so expensive - they were AMAZING. We split a Kaluah brownie for dessert, which was delicious. We then headed out, went to get our baby and talked to Laura for a while, and then took our exhausted baby girl home. It was such a fun date night - we should do it more often :)

Hello there, my pretty.

Sunday, Josh once again made us breakfast while the little lady and I further practiced our crawling. She was crawling from the living room to the kitchen to help her daddy cook. I ran a "baby stock up" errand to Target, where I somehow ended up with Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale in my cart. How does that always happen? *wink wink* Josh and I ate pizza for lunch, and then had a wonderful day with Caroline at home. We then went to a local Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda, for dinner. I got a margarita and chimichangas! We were the only ones in the restaurant and it was overpriced but it TOTALLY hit the spot! We then relaxed at home with our lady for the rest of the evening and watched "It's a Disaster" on Netflix, which was very entertaining.

I LOVE PUMPKIN BEER!!!!!!

Having lunch on the deck!

Yes, it's another booze picture. I'M AN ADULT!

A big plate filled with amazing unhealthiness.

Monday, you guessed it, Josh made breakfast while us ladies played. She started crawling more around the house including up and down the hall. We had a fun, relaxing morning, and then headed out for our man errands v lady errands. Josh went to Home Depot and his archery store (which was closed) while Caroline and I went to Bed Bath & Beyond, Michael's, Marshall's, Old Navy, and Babies R Us (the girly stores). She now has three new pairs of shoes (they're required in the next room at her daycare) and we have the stuff to baby proof the fireplace (she's obsessed with the fireplace). She was SUCH a good shopping buddy! She didn't fuss once and never even needed a bottle. We had fun!

Seriously, when did my baby get so big?

Raised by wolves.

We spent the afternoon watching a shark marathon on Sci-Fi. We watched Dinoshark, Sharktopus, SuperShark, and Ghost Shark. They were all highly entertaining (and all better than Sharknado). I made us some buffalo chicken dip and potato skins for us to eat in celebration of football. We didn't watch football while eating our snacks (the game wasn't until 8) but they made great shark marathon snacks! Josh was so engrossed in Ghost Shark, he barely even watched the beginning of the game, bwhahaha!

Shark movie marathon snacks, woohoo!!!

So, here we are, back at work - EWW! At least it's a short week :)

Oversharing at its Best

It's the moment you have all been waiting for. BATHTIME BABY!!!

Three Years!

Soooooo, this post is a day late, but whatever. Yesterday was our three year wedding anniversary. It was about as great as a middle-of-the-week anniversary can be!

We met for a delicious lunch at Vertigo Burgers & Fries AKA the most amazing "fast food" burger place OF ALL TIME. We both got the Triple Throwdown (beef burger, applewood bacon &  blue cheese, horseradish sauce, caramelized onions) and split an order of sweet potato fries (SO MANY FRIES). It was absolutely delicious and a great anniversary lunch. 

We then went to the mall to order Josh's anniversary gift. Yes, we ordered it together, because I didn't want to screw it up! We ordered him a Name Plate with his office nickname on it (Josh "Eight Names" Brian) with "Attorney at Law" underneath. He is SO EXCITED about this gift. I'm pretty much the best wife ever for thinking of it. Unfortunately, they are out of the name plate he likes, so he can't get the gift immediately, but he's still very excited!

We had a super romantic frozen pizza for dinner and then Josh went out to buy my gift (he has been busy at work, so he had not yet had a chance to purchase it) while I snuggled on my couch with my sleep-fighting baby. We had a good snuggle session and watched Netflix together. She finally nodded off in the swing literally as Josh walked back in the door. 

We exchanged cards (he got me the card I almost got him) and then I got my gift. He got me a new point-and-shoot camera to replace the one that broke while at Clearwater Beach. It was an absolutely perfect gift! I think we did pretty awesome choosing gifts for each other this year.

Just for fun (and because I have no motivation to do any work at the moment), let's take a little walk down memory lane. Here are some old pictures of the two of us; can you believe we have now known each other for nearly ten years? WE ARE SO OLD, GUYS.

College was fun.

Life in the "Real World" was fun.

Getting Married was Fun.

Life after marriage is fun.

Being parents is THE BEST.

An Overdue Post!

I apologize for the lack of posting. I am quite the slacker!

Please forgive my mommy <3

Last weekend, we were actually social. We got invited to a party of one of Josh's law school classmates. Their house is beautiful and the party was really nice. I think I forgot how to be social; it has been so long! We met some fun new people and Caroline had so much fun and was so well behaved. We were there for three hours and she did not fuss once. She made friends with some older friends and pretty much sat on the floor the entire time playing with her crab and alligator toys. It was a good time and it was nice to break out of our routine and hang out with our peers!

Last week was no fun because we had to deal with a sick baby. I got a call at 11:30am Wednesday that Caroline took a 90 minute nap (so rare for her that they actually worry when she naps), didn't have an appetite, and had two nasty blowouts. Poor little thing got sent home sick from school. I went to get her and she spent about an hour in my office and then we headed home. She had two more nasty incidents and was SO UNHAPPY. She was screaming. Not crying, screaming. I tried everything to calm her down, texted Josh that I needed help, and finally got her to calm down while he was on his way home. How? I got in the bathtub with her (which usually makes her instant happy baby) where she continued to scream. However, I put her on my chest to sleep and she instantly calmed down and fell asleep. So, we laid in the tub for about half an hour. The water got SO COLD but she was SO CONTENT. I guess that skin-to-skin contact is still soothing to them even at nine months old. Due to her tummy issues, she wasn't allowed at daycare on Thursday (24-hour policy), so I took the morning off of work to take care of her and Josh took the afternoon off work to take over. She was feeling so much better on Thursday, so it was a very enjoyable day!

We had a nice, relaxing weekend. We had an Outback feast Friday night. Caroline was so good the entire time and was watching and talking to the people around us. She almost fell asleep in her highchair while eating her bottle, which I'm sure was hilarious to people around us. Caroline fell asleep on the drive back home and we put her straight to bed - Outback is exhausting :)

Saturday, we went to the mall, where I got two new belts (mine are slowly dying). We then went to Babies 'r' Us where we got Caroline a new changing pad cover (her changing pad is also slowly dying). After that, we went to the new Dick's Sporting Goods where we bought nothing, but scored a free beach ball! A note to my food friend: it was a lazy eating day... Dunkin's for breakfast, Chickfila for lunch, and frozen pizza for dinner! We enjoyed a three-way video chat with my parents and my sister - technology is amazing!

Sunday was the ideal lazy day. I watched Caroline in the morning while Josh did yard work. Unfortunately, it was cut short when he got bit/stung by something, so for fear that it may have been an ant he took a bunch of Benedril and slept for a few hours. Luckily, he didn't have an allergic reaction, so it must have been something else. Caroline and I watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame and played on the floor. It was fun :) Once Josh woke up, I went to Target and Publix. We then watched Tucker and Dale v. Evil on Netflix; to any friends who enjoy dark comedies, we definitely recommend it! We then gave Caroline a bath, ate some dinner, and watched the, for lack of a better term, shitshow that was the MTV VMA's. Food friend, we once again had Dunkin's for breakfast, I ate popcorn for lunch, and I made beef stroganoff for dinner.

Yesterday was Caroline's nine-month birthday! At nine months, she loves clapping, says "mama" repeatedly, can stand unassisted for about five seconds at a time, loves spinning in circles while sitting down, can pull herself up, and can crawl very slowly (she's the tortoise, not the hare). She's outgrowing her 6 to 9 month clothing and fitting into her 12 to 18 month clothing. She has her two bottom teeth and has a lot of hair; it's just so blonde she still looks bald! She still hates her vegetables and loves her fruits. She can now pick up and take bites of food (pancakes are super fun). She is very happy, laughs when we play peekaboo, and loves her furry brothers and sisters. I adore my sweet nine month old!!

Here are some more pictures of my Sweet Caroline on her nine month birthday!

Road Trip!

This weekend our little family took a roadtrip to Clearwater, Florida. The furry members of our family stayed behind. It was a fun weekend... until you get to paragraph #7. I will leave you in suspense until then.

The trip down wasn't bad at all. I sat in the back with Caroline the entire time, so she could get a bottle whenever she needed one. She slept for about two hours of the trip and only got fussy about half an hour before we got to Clearwater. What calmed her down? Disney videos on my phone. She loves The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. She would cry every time I took the phone away to pull up a new video.

Once we got to Clearwater, Caroline saw her great grandma, and met her great grandpa and uncle. She adored everyone; I think the feeling was mutual :) We ate some delicious baked spaghetti, and hung out until bedtime.

Saturday, we woke up and ate eggs and sausage. Then, Josh, Caroline and I joined Mike at the Tampa Bay Buccaneer training camp. Caroline had so much fun watching the football players. She had more fun watching (more like creeping on) the five-month-old little girl behind us. Her first football experience was definitely a success; I know her uncle was thrilled.

After that, we went to Clearwater Beach. I had never been there, and it's really nice! The area reminds me a lot of Virginia Beach. There's no boardwalk, but the streets and stores were a lot like Virginia Beach. Caroline had A BLAST. Unfortunately, my camera decided to break as soon as we got to the water, so I only got a couple pictures. Luckily, Mike took some pictures with his phone. Caroline had a blast playing in the surf with her daddy. She took some dips in the water, as well (mostly to wash the sand off of her) and LOVED playing with the sand. Luckily, none of it ended up in her mouth. She had an absolute blast. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay very long; didn't want a lobster baby!!

Later in the day, we went to Josh's Aunt and Uncle's house for a nice gathering. I had a delicious strawberry daiquiri! Caroline got to go swimming with her daddy and uncle and had SO MUCH FUN. She is such a water baby. They just pushed her all over the pool in her baby float and had a grin on her face the entire time. She also LOVED their two American Bull Dogs and kept smashing her face into theirs. She is a fearless little thing! We had a great time hanging out. They made delicious food and the company was great.

You know that not so fun thing? This is the paragraph where it begins. I left the gathering with Caroline early because 1) it was almost 9pm and past her bed time and 2) I felt like absolute crap. We got back, it took her forever to go to sleep, but when she finally did I literally collapsed into bed. Everyone else got back like half an hour after I went to bed and all was well. 1am hit, I wake up, I feel SO BAD, and had to run to the bathroom and, yeah, I got sick for the first time in recent memory. Like, really sick.

A few hours later, I'm sleeping and hear Josh run to the bathroom and, you guessed it, he's sick, too. He was back and forth between the bathroom for the rest of the night, so we of course got no sleep. When we had to wake up (due to a very happy, but awake baby) I felt better than Josh so I had baby duty. I felt like absolute crap, but he felt worst. So, he slept all morning (with frequent bathroom trips), while I did my best to take care of the lady while feeling ick-tastic. LOVELY STORY, HUH?

We said our goodbyes, and managed to make it on the road around 2:00. The trip was surprisingly uneventful. Caroline was, once again, amazing. I got my appetite back, so we made a pitstop at Chipotle. We made it back around 7:00, so we made great time. Josh fed Caroline when we got home and then went to bed. I hung out with her in the living room and we watched the Teen Choice Awards (AKA the TV program that makes me feel REALLY OLD) until she finally dozed off around 8:45. I then collapsed in bed and slept great.

Somehow, we were both back at work yesterday. I think we have concluded we finally got some sort of food poisoning from either beef jerky or lettuce. PS: I wanted to add more photos to this post but technology hates me! Oh, wellllll.