Belated Birthday PIctures Post

Rick's birthday lasted a few days (a la Voticky style!) this year and I only managed to snap a few pics. Nevertheless, thought I'd share them!

Opening cards and presents...

Trying out his new Diaper Dude (thanks Fancy!)

Blowing out the birthday candles...

My first attempt at an ice cream cake! (Thanks Lynne for the awesome recipe!)

And around here lately, school has started and football season is about to begin. The hustle and bustle of the school year coupled with the anticipation of a new Michigan football season has this house buzzing. Pardon me for taking a little blogging hiatus for the next week or so... but I'll be back with baby updates galore as we enter the third trimester and final stretch next week!

Happy Birthday, Ricky!

Today is a special day. Today we celebrate the most handsome, loving, and genuine man I know.

Today we'll feast on a special dinner, eat some cake and make wishes for the year to come.


My wish for you this year, Rick, is that every dream you have had about being a dad becomes a reality. I wish for you that the joys of parenting outweigh the frustrations, and that the hope and excitement you feel right now waiting for the little bean to arrive stays with you forever. I hope you remember each day how loved and special you are. You are a true gem. May you feel extra sparkly today...and every day.

 

And of course, one of the greatest things about Rick is that he's a twin! Happy Birthday, Lori... hope you are "rocking it" today, too! 

Father's Day

For Rick.

Though technically, you're not a dad yet, it seems only natural to wish you a happy father's day. I get so excited thinking about you as a dad. I have so many fears and doubts about parenthood, but the minute I start to panic, I picture you with our little peanut and instantly, a smile appears on my face.

I know what an amazing dad you're going to be for so many reasons. You don't have one selfish bone in your body. The sparkle in your eye when you come home to your little family. The excitement and energy that bursts out of your pores when you're around Elliott, Reid and Izzy. The love you are not afraid of to show to everyone around you...all the time. Honestly, I'm still not sure what I did to deserve you as my partner in life, but I am so grateful and excited to share this journey with you. I can't wait to watch you fall in love with our little turkey.

Cheers to you, Daddy-to-be!

And to our own dads and grandads -- Happy, happy father's day to you. Thank you all for setting examples of what it means to be great dads. We're so lucky to have you as role models and teachers.

Spring is Here!

Though today's frigid temperature would lead one to believe Spring has not sprung yet, in our house, we are welcoming the new season with open arms. Because gosh-darnit it's April, and in my book that means Spring.

Fall is definitely my favorite season, but Spring sweeps in as a close second. I mean, the term Spring Cleaning alone makes me drool with excitement. I love waking up to sunshine instead of dark. I love the tulips and blooms of color that spring up around the neighborhood. The park is full of life again and the city has come alive for the next few months!

Perhaps one of my favorite elements of Spring is that Rick takes over a lot of the cooking. The grill and the meat smoker are his two loves (after me and Maizey, of course!) and I take full advantage of his love for cooking outdoors. So today, we threw some kabobs and fresh corn on the cob on the grill and welcomed the new season with our forks.

Initially, the name of this sauce caught my eye today at Whole Foods. "Soy Vay"... what Jewish girl could pass that up? Turns out it's awesome! I look forward to merrily marinating with this stuff for a long time! 

Of course, I had to reward my loving husband for whipping up such a fantastic Sunday meal. So I baked up some cheesecake brownies from scratch (of course, recipe available upon request).

Happy Spring everyone! 

Day 104: Be Still My Heart

*Note: Though posted today, 2/15, this was written late last night, but I fell asleep before I could post it :)* 

Today is Valentine's Day. To many, it's just another day. To some, this day brings with it sadness. To me, Valentine's Day brings a lot of love, hope and a reminder to be grateful for the many people who love me and whom I love so dearly.

For the last 27 years, I've had the sweetest Valentine. Every year, my dad would buy my sisters and I flowers and chocolates. He told us each that we were the best Valentines he could have dreamed up. My dad made me feel special and loved. Even when boyfriends and husbands came along, the flowers and Valentine notes continued to come. Just like always, I received flowers from my very first Valentine.

I'm pretty darn lucky that I not only have one fabulous Valentine, but two. Rick and I do a pretty good job of showing affection and appreciation to each other on a regular basis, so Valentine's Day just seems like a good excuse for us to go on a date, drink champagne and eat lots of chocolate. In the past, we've gone out for dinner on Love Day. This year, it seemed silly to dress up on Monday evening and leave the poor pup to fend for herself. So, I cooked up a fancy meal, brought out the crystal and china and chilled some bubbly. There was a lot of love sprinkled into this meal:

Rick came home with a beautiful arrangement of flowers as well as a collection of my favorite perfumes in mini sizes to carry in my purse. All around sweet:

 We ended our night curled up in bed and decided to flood ourselves with memories of the most love-filled day we could both remember. June 27, 2009.

Today was a day full of love. Pure, simple love.

Day 79: My Hero

He's made many appearances on the blog in the last 79 days, but he hasn't had his own post dedicated to him and it's about time. There's a lot of reasons why our marriage works. We are complete opposites and balance each other out very well. We have different strengths and weaknesses, and today, Rick's talented ability to take over projects and chores that deal with our finances made me very happy. You see, for the last several weeks he's been working on refinancing our mortgage. When he first asked me my opinion on the matter and wanted my input on how we should proceed, my blank stare was met with a, "want me to handle it?" Yes, please!

Tonight, we signed the papers and Rick did a fantastic job working out all the kinks, as usual. I love him for a lot of reasons, and today, he proved to me again why he's my hero. Thank you, Ricky, for taking charge of the daunting tasks that make my stomach churn. I'll stick to the laundry. :)

Ok this isn't from today, but he looks just so darn handsome! Very heroic, don't you think??

Day 75: Bed Head

I love Rick the most in the mornings. I've told him this for years, and it's just because he's so darn cute when his eyes are all squinty and he is trying to motivate himself to get up. I also think I appreciate him in the morning because there are only two days a week when I actually get to wake up with him. Perhaps one of the reasons I love my mornings with him so much is his awesome hair. And by awesome, I mean hilarious.

Rick has the best bed head of anyone I know. I think it's gotten wilder and funkier over the years, and I just think it's adorable. Some days are funnier than others, but each one brings a huge smile to my face and a deep chuckle that I can't seem to contain.

Forgive me, honey, but I think it's only fair to share this little piece of happiness with everyone else:

Day 74: Celebrate

There's no doubt that this week was full of emotional ups and downs. Moments of victory met with moments of concern and reflection. Rick got some good news on Friday at work, and we decided we should celebrate his successes, my successes, Reid's surprise birthday, and the simple fact that we indeed have so much to celebrate. So we went on a very impromptu date and drank champagne. We smiled and laughed and focused on the positive.


On a side note: Monica -- I hope you had the most fabulous weekend. I love you to bits!

Day 60: Happy New Year!

I love new beginnings. They excite me and fill me up with hope and wonder. This year was a fantastic one. I fell in love with a little puppy, gained the most adorable niece, did a lot of soul searching, and found a lot of happiness.

While the thought of going out on New Years Eve typically makes me throw up a little in my mouth, this year, I was excited to ring in the new year with some of our close friends and celebrate a birthday and engagement all at the same time! We had a really fun night out, and when the clock struck midnight, I welcomed the new year with a kiss and hug from the man of my dreams.

I really feel so blessed, and am so thankful for such a wonderful year. I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store. I just know it's going to be a good one!

Day 46: Hockey in Luxury

Rick scored some pretty fancy seats for the Blackhaws/Red Wings game Friday night. He was given four box seats from a client, and we took full advantage of all the perks that came with it. I had never been to a Blackhawks game before, nor had I sat in a luxury box before. Needless to say I was impressed. The box was stocked with booze and food, and the seats were amazing.

Even more, sitting in the box next to us was a former Red Wings player who Rick got to meet. If you know anything about Rick, you know his passion for Detroit sports teams. I don't see Rick get giddy often, but when he came and asked me to take a picture of him with this guy he had a smile on his face similar to the one I used to have when I went to a Backstreet Boys Concert. So cute.

The boys checking out the goods...

Rick and his celebrity moment!

Day 44: My Top Chef

Today was a long day. With tutoring after school, running to Target to get some last minute necessities, and picking up Maizey from daycare, I didn't get home until rather late. Evenings like these leave me wishing for a personal chef, but usually carry-out is our answer. Tonight, instead, Rick grabbed a beer, rolled up his sleeves and threw together some fajitas. What a treat it was to be cooked for, and I have to say he did a great job. Babe, you can cook for me anytime! :)

Day 17: Dateversary

Dateversary (n): the anniversary of a couple's first date.

It's a term I coined, and though Rick may have issues with civilians creating new words (see refudiationnation.blogspot.com), I feel the word merits attention.

We have celebrated our dateversary (well, mostly I  have forced Rick to celebrate it) each year in style. We would go on fancy dinner dates, we bought gifts for each other and rehashed that first weekend we met in 2005. On our first dateversary after we got married, Rick told me that he didn't feel like we needed to mark this momentous event anymore. He said we now had a "real" anniversary. I reacted as anyone would expect -- I was devastated. I'm pretty sure he could see my heart sink into my stomach as the tears welled up. It took all of 30 seconds for him to retract his statement. We agreed that we didn't need to do fancy dinners or exchange presents, but that weekend was too important (to me) to not celebrate.

This framed picture is on our bedroom dresser and I look at it everyday. It's not the greatest picture of us. My eyes are squinty, and Rick's hair looks like he just rolled out of bed. But, it's a meaningful picture for many reasons. It's our first picture we ever took together. It was taken at the first Michigan football game we ever attended together. It was taken exactly 5 years ago today, on the weekend we met for the first time -- on our dateversary.

So while June 27 is our official anniversary, and what I consider to be the greatest day of my life thus far, I will never forget the butterflies I felt on November 18. And, I hope I never do.

Day 15: Struggling

I'm sitting here staring at the computer, and I'm struggling. It's not that today was a bad day. Nothing traumatic happened. I didn't cry (congrats to me!). I just couldn't think of one monumental thing that made me happy today. So here's a brief list of a few things that did bring a smile to my face today:

1) Maizey cuddling with me last night (she usually prefers Rick, so I was feeling the love this morning)
2) Good laughs and friends in the car ride home
3) Rick greeting me at the door when I got home (it was a late day at work for me!)
4) New boots showed up on the doorstep today! (I think I like them... can't decide yet)
5) Funny emails/videos from students
6) Wine

You decide on the boots.... verdict's still out.  

Day 11: Date Night

Rick and I haven't gone to dinner, nor had a night out, just the two of us in a ridiculously long time. So long, in fact, I really can't remember. We love to travel and go out with friends, and between work events and family obligations, the time has just slipped away. We scheduled our date weeks ago. We had to put it on the calendar to make it stick, and we did. I got dressed up, he sprayed some cologne, and it felt like we were dating all over again.

We went last night to a fondue restaurant called Geja's. We had a gift certificate to spend, and we haven't had fondue in years, so it seemed perfect. The place is really romantic and quaint. Dim lights. No windows. Flickering candles. We vowed not to talk about the consistency of Maizey's poops. We promised to not look at our watches and rush through our meal. Phones were turned off and email wasn't being checked. There was nothing special to celebrate last night. It was just a perfect ending to an insane week. All the worries and chaos of our lives melted away for a couple of hours, and when we got home, we quickly fell into a deep and happy food coma.

Day 10: Pump it Up!

It's been hard this week waking up in the pitch black. Between the darkness and cuddly Maizey sleeping in our bed now, the 5:00 am wake up call is brutal. As I got in my car this morning and ran through the list of things that needed to get done before 7:45, I turned on the engine and saw this:

No, I wasn't staring at the ridiculously early time that I am forced to leave in the morning.... but the full gas tank that magically appeared overnight! I absolutely despise pumping gas. I cringe watching my money slowly crumble away. The smell makes me gag, and I worry the entire time that somehow, the car will blow up from a spark of someone's cigarette butt. Not normal, I know. 

What I do love, is how my husband knows how much I hate filling up the car. I love that he takes my car when I'm asleep to fill it for me. I love that when I say thank you to him for being so thoughtful, he tells me I'm the thoughtful one and I deserve it. Love. 

Tonight, my gas tank runneth over. 

Day 4: The Zing

 Rick and I were in Ann Arbor for the weekend with his family. And on Friday, happiness came in the form of a sandwich. We met the gang at Zingerman's Rick's Mecca for dinner. To be honest, I'm not even the biggest sandwich fan, but my husband has a love affair going on with this place, and we can not make a trip to Ann Arbor without having at least one meal at the Zing. Rick took me there on our first date. At the time, I was less than impressed when we pulled up to a deli, but looking back, I can't imagine our first date being anywhere else.

Our visit to the Zing this weekend was like most of the past. But each time we go, I appreciate Rick's passion for the sandwich a little bit more. The way his eyes light up when he ponders the menu (which he has memorized) makes my heart melt. I adore the way he spends our entire 4 hour car ride asking my opinion about which bread he should choose for his sandwich. His love for Zingerman's is nothing but endearing. My sandwich on Friday was delicious, but the perma-smile on Rick's face that night was the sweetest part of my day.

Day 3: Where's Daddy?

Since we got Maizey, coming home after work has been an exciting time! As soon as I open the door, she barks to remind me that she's downstairs and would like to get out! If I come home and don't hear that sweet little reminder, my heart stops until I get downstairs to check out the damage that she's done.

For the last few weeks, after she eats dinner and I'm either a) cooking dinner, b) doing work, or c) lounging around... Maizey patiently waits by the door. She stares out that door until Rick shows up, and when he does... it's as if she hasn't seen him in years. The excitement she shows when he walks into the house is the exact excitement I feel inside when I see him, too. I just don't pee excessively and lick his face raw to show my affection :)

So, we'll wait patiently for Rick to come home tonight. And in the meantime, I'm going to indulge in some additional happiness -- a glass of wine and a dose of Oprah!