Day 31: 01.31.10

You may wonder why a plate of half eaten, picked apart food is worthy of a picture. It is because it's my husband's dinner plate. I have known my husband for 6 years, 8 months, and 9 days. I have never once seen him leave a plate with food on it. Ever. All the moms out there know... Lord help me if this means the Manchild is also coming down with something.

Day 30: 01.30.10

Last night's mystery solved! Maris is sick. She woke us up with a fever in the middle of the night. It only got worse today. Sad little panda.

Day 29: 01.29.10

Maris never falls asleep anywhere but her bed. I can't remember the last time she slept in the car or fell asleep while I was holding her. She was fading fast tonight right in her rocking chair. Wonder what's up.

Day 28: 01.28.10

How does one small child gather so many clothing items?

And diapers? Geez! Sadly that's not even a 1/4 of them I'm sure.

This was my big project today. Organize Maris's clothes and get them up into storage. We also took down her changing table. *sniff, sniff*

Day 27: 01.27.10

I read on another blog that January 27th is National Chocolate Cake Day. Well, I'm certainly not going to argue! My only concern is whether or not York Peppermint Pattie Brownies count as chocolate cake. Methinks they do.

That's homemade butter crunch underneath there. I suppose I can't twist that AT ALL to make it fit the chocolate cake category but I'm eating it anyway. Don't judge.

Day 26: 01.26.10

Today we had dinner at our friends' house. Heather and Bubba had us over to their new place for taco night. Poor Maris's chair didn't attach to their table for some reason. She had to sit like a big girl. You can't tell from the picture, but she couldn't really reach. It was pretty comical.

Day 25: 01.25.10

This means nothing to the blogging world right now. But in few days it will. I'm working on a project.

Day 24: 01.24.10

My husband's least favorite phrase from me: "I saw ______ on HGTV. Do you think you could do that in our house?"
My favorite phrase from him: "I can try."
He's never let me down.

Day 23: 01.23.10

No permanent damage from last night's drama. But um, hello? When did my baby lose all her babyness?

Day 22: 01.22.10

I have two today. Are you allowed to do two in one day?

This is Maris and her friend "Yonny" (Johnny). My friend and I made a plan to take them to Playground World for free play. I should do a review. It's a great idea and a wonderful place, but I don't think I'd take Maris back until she's 1) old/big enough to climb on LARGE playground equipment or 2) has the understanding to not run in front of swings (shout out to all the strangers who yanked their swinging children away from all the toddlers running into the line of fire.)


I think this has been my scariest mom moment so far. Almost two hours after going to bed, Maris woke up screaming. I went to her immediately (definitely a different cry from just not wanting to be in bed), calmed her down, covered her back up, and began to sing to her. As I sang to her, I ran my fingers through her hair. That was when I discovered she had twirled her finger through her hair to a point of getting it stuck. No wonder she was screaming! When I couldn't untangle it and free her finger I called my husband up to help. He ended up having to cut her hair to get her finger loose. I never saw it (lights weren't turned on until Johnny came in), but he said the finger was blue. He's a nurse so I trust when he says she was actually close to having permanent damage. Thank goodness I like to play with her hair as much as she does! Crisis averted, cuddles with Mommy, and back into bed without so much as a peep.

Unfortunately, I have the first lock from a haircut a little earlier than I wanted to!

Day 21: 01.21.10

Remember how I said she thought she was in charge? Well she is NOT supposed to be on that couch. Caught in the act. Maybe she thinks we don't see her. She does kind of blend in.

Day 20: 01.20.10

I really didn't want to introduce my husband to the Internets like this. However, it was too freaking funny not to snap a pic. Maris asked him really nicely demanded (by saying Dada over and over and hitting the floor of the crate) that he get into the kennel. Then, although she can't physically do it, tried to lock him in! So there he is. Meet Johnny.

Day 19: 01.19.10

Maris is waiting patiently for her spaghetti dinner. She always sits like that. Hands folded. Super polite. Are all babies like this?

Day 18: 01.18.10

The inaugural use of the new Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. (Thank you, Husband.)
And in case you are wondering- that ^ became this:

PB & J Muffins

Day 17: 01.17.10

Maris has had a busy weekend! Today she met with all her boys. Left to right, that's Nathan, Colton, Maris, Braeden, and Arthur. Braeden and Maris held hands a lot today. Hmmm...

Day 16: 01.16.10

We forgot the camera when we went to see Jason and Jenalle at their new place. They are all moved in and we visited them for dinner! Lousy camera phone picture but it was the only one we took today. Maris is using a few sheets of tissue paper to make a bed!

Day 15: 01.15.10

A playdate with our buddy Jacob. Turns out my girl is something of a bully. She knocked him on his rear for no good reason. Earned herself her first real time out. I'm pretty sure she wasn't phased.

Day 14: 01.14.10

My husband wants me to be fat. Thanks, Honey.

Day 13: 01.13.10

Yogurt mornings are always a little messy. Even though it ends up on her nose, she's getting really good at using spoons!

(PS - We are clearly a little boring in the winter!)
(PSS - Maris is 20 months old today! Mah baby is growing up!! I'm pretty sure she's going to move out and get married tomorrow.)

Day 12: 01.12.10

Oh to have curls like this. I don't have curls. My husband has really short hair but he assures me it is not curly. Wonder where they came from... Wonder how long they'll stay...

Day 11: 01.11.10

Allow me to introduce my dog. She thinks she's in charge. Thus the expression on her face questioning how I dare photograph her while she is cuddling with my husband.

Day 10: 01.10.10

The sun was out! The snow on the roof was melting. I love the way clear icicles look against a bright blue sky.

Day 9: 01.09.10 (Domino's Pizza)

We don't order much pizza or take out, don't eat out a whole lot, and never buy fast food. Mostly this is because of Johnny's No Carb Diet. It is too hard to manage when you didn't make the food yourself. However, last week, after seeing the commercial for Domino's All New Pizza, we promptly hopped on the computer, and ordered two large pizzas and cinna-stix.

First of all, the new seasonings they put on the crust were to die for. Delicious garlic and butter based goodness. Mmmm. It was so good I had to write a kudos letter. It was also a complaint letter because only one of our pizzas had said goodness on it. I e-mailed their customer service and within one day had an e-mail from a rep at the corporate level. The day after that, a call from the manager of the location we ordered from. He offered us an apology and a $20 credit to order again.

Which we did today. And guess what happened when we got our pizza home. Only one pizza had the special new seasonings! Because I now think I might just be going nuts, Johnny called and inquired. We found out again, that both pizzas should have had the new crust... just like last time. There was no mention of another credit. Nor should there have been since we were already eating for free.

Two morals of the story:
1) Go try the all new pizza from Domino's Pizza! It is yummy!
2) When you pick it up or have it delivered, check to make sure the pizza is actually all new before you pay!
(okay 3) Domino's has wonderful customer service)

Day 8: 01.08.10

My brother currently lives in Colorado. I'm a homebody and prefer to never live more than 1.75 miles from my parents. So, the only time I am jealous of him is when he gets to watch Cleveland sports in a loge or suite in Denver. D, I miss you tons, but have fun and go CAVs!

Day 7: 01.07.10

Trying out taking pictures at night. Plus, snow is kind of the big deal today, tomorrow, Saturday... It might never stop. I love it.

Day 6: 01.06.10

See that middle hook there? The empty one? That's where my keys are supposed to go. I retraced my steps. I searched all over the house. I spent 45 minutes. I even asked the 19 month old if she knew where they were. (To her credit she did look around quite seriously for 38 seconds in an effort to help.) I gave up, looked out at the freezing rain, and decided it was a good day to stay home anyway.

I did eventually find them. Correction - Johnny found them. In his coat pocket. His coat was hanging in his locker. At work. In Brecksville.

Day 5: 01.05.10

This is a new regular occurrence at our house. Putting things on our feet. And by "our" I mean her. Now that she's mastered it, it's all she wants to do. At least she has the grippers in the right spot!

Day 4: 01.04.10

One of many snowy days during the first week (month? how long is this going to go on?) of the year.

Day 3: 01.03.10

And here we have MY version of a bokeh. Not great. But not horrible. I could have picked a better subject. And the distance and lighting are way off. Guess I have a ways to go.

Day 2: 01.02.10

Photo credit: J Blaze

I told Johnny I must learn the art of bokeh. So this was his way of showing me an example. It's my girl so I love it no matter what. Also, it was the only picture snapped that day and thus, winner by default.

Day 1: 01.01.10

Why not start the year and project off by celebrating two of the things I love most. Sports (O-H-I-O win!) and family. I love my mom's pants.

Project 365

I had been toying with the idea of starting a blog as one of my 2010 resolutions. Project 365 seemed like a good way to start. (Though I am still working on a regular blog as well.) Read more about the project here.

I have to admit, I will probably need to credit my husband for some of the photos, but I plan to take as many of them as possible. I am excited by the prospect of honing my extremely lacking photography skills as well as sharing a little bit about our life. It will be tough. I am not good at doing things day in and day out. I like routine, but this seems like grading papers during my teacher days. I always got tremendously back logged. I welcome the challenge.

So, without further ado...