I love that it is ok to be different!

I absolutely love that none of my friends or family are just like me. How BORING would that be?!?!? I of course have many friends with fun similar hobbies, likes, dislikes, etc. But no one is exactly the same!

Erin- my CLOSEST friend. We love everything crafty. We love to eat, especially at cheesecake factory where we always order the same thing (thai lettuce wraps and a santa fe salad, 86 the black beans).

We both have 1.5 year olds, we both worked in human resources (actually together, at the SAME company- thanks for the hookup Erin). But we are different. Boy are we different. We try to stay away from the topic of politics because we disagree so passionately, that it just is not worth it! I do admire her passion though! :)

Michelle- my sister. We both love to eat yummy fresh things(are you sensing a theme about food here?!!? What can I say, I love to eat!). We both love nothing better than to curl up with a great book (maybe the new nicholas sparks)

  and read a weekend away (well, before I had Owen..). We both love shopping, decorating, and reading fun things online. But Michelle is such a career oriented person and I just never was great about that. Sure, I had jobs, but I just never took them seriously enough to want to make it into a career. I guess I just never figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up. Michelle is VERY successful and i admire that about her!

 

Leslie- my BLF (best local friend, well except for the fact she is no longer local). Leslie and I met on the day that we moved into this house, when Owen was 3 months old. About 2 minutes after meeting her I whipped out my boob and started nursing Owen. What can I say, the kid needed to eat. And you know what, she was not offended one bit! We immediately connected over our love for great TV shows (she is actually an extra in Vampire Diaries, how cool is that?), our love of bargain hunting, couponing, and meal planning. We differ though in the fact that Leslie is an AMAZING baker and well I pretty much only make chocolate chip cookies. Leslie went to pastry school and is a RIDICULOUS cake maker. Check this out!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? SUCH TALENT!

And last but not least, JOHN- the husband. We both love cooking, Alaska (a recent development for me), the Lord, spending time with our son Owen. We both went to Christian colleges. John was a DJ, music was my life. We both love saving money and getting a good deal. Neither of us really care to shop unless it is a quick in and out kind of thing. But BOY are we different.

The most obvious difference to us is food. John LOVES meat and I could never eat meat again and I would be just fine. John would love nothing more than to cook me a steak dinner with lobster on the side. That would be my worst nightmare! John loves to hunt, and I hate the thought of innocent animals being killed (spare me the talk about overpopulation, i know hunting is necessary, i just do not like the evidence of it being hung in my house!) John loves to get 10 hours of sleep a night, I would rather stay up reading blogs most night than go to sleep (yes I regret it in the morning!)

Johns idea of a perfect vacation would be camping up in the mountains, going hunting early in the morning, and cooking the kill on the campfire that night because of course there is no electricity in the camping spot. That sounds TERRIBLE to me. No, i have never gone camping, and I really do not care to!  MY idea of the perfect vacation would be going to a fun city, such as NYC, for a week. Going to Broadway shows, doing the fun touristy thing, walking through Central Park, eating at the most amazing restaurants, going back to the hotel to order ridiculously overpriced room service, dressing up and going to a fun piano club, or something like that. Definitely something fun in the city.

John’s hobbies include hunting, 4 wheeling, lacrosse, smoking meat (haha). My hobbies include blogging, photography, sewing, other crafts, and cheesecake factory. Yes, that can be a hobby!

Wow, we are REALLY different!

But you know what is amazing, as different as Erin, Leslie, Michelle and I are, our friendships work because we all bring something else to the table. If we were exactly alike what the heck would we talk about? We would get so bored. We can share stories and help each other grow because of the different interests we all have.

And John and I work because we have enough in common to  be able to live together (most days :) ), but enough differences that we can have our own hobbies on the side to not lose ourselves!

I love to embrace the differences, and not let them come between friends. Even if some of them do believe in socialism.

(sorry, had to throw that in)

The girl who got abused by her couch

It is no secret around here that I seem to have lots of medical mishaps. They always turn out ok, but at the time they are pretty tricky.

Like for example my pregnancy with Owen. Not at all a cake walk. I threw up every day, 5-20 times  a day (more towards the 20 most days) for the first 28 weeks. I had 9 or so trips to the ER, countless hospital stays due to a multitude of issues. I had placenta previa, pre-term labor, and I was technically in labor for about 5.5 days. And then my water broke twice.

Or how about that time I had a crazy GI dysfunction and ended up hospitalized for 4 days with pancreatitis.

And today, well today I got beat up by my couch.

Yup.

My couch.

 

Looks innocent enough!!!!

But it caused THIS…..

(do not continue if you can not handle the sight of blood)

…

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

Eh. Don’t ask.

Lets just say there was literally a puddle of blood on the floor.

 

OUCH!

Anyone need a good cry?

This video is amazing! Rachel is a mother, a wife, and her husband has been battling 2 forms of cancer since October 2009.


Rachel's Birthday Letter - Hi-res from Kristian Anderson on Vimeo.

18 months old!!!

My baby boy is not such a baby anymore, huh?

Last week I drove up to Pennsylvania to pick up my guy. He had been there for a week since I was having my surgery- and I can not tell you how thankful I was that he could be there since I had such complications! I got to him on Thursday which also happened to be his 18 month birthday!!! A year and a half. WOW!!!!

First, here is Owen a year ago!!!

 

HOLY COW! He was so tiny! I do not even think he looks like the same child now!!!! At 6 months he was just mastering rolling all the way over and drinking out of  a sippy cup. He had 2 tiny teeth, weighed 15lbs, and nursed 6-7 times a day!

Now Owen has 16 teeth (only 4 left to get!), weighs about 24lbs, and is mastering running and jumping! His favorite foods are cheese, crackers, mommy’s tomato  mozzarella salad,  chicken, sweet potatoes, and mandarin oranges.

He loves being silly and tries to always make us laugh!

“Look Mom, I am standing on my head”

Owen is happy MOST of the time and had an infectious smile! He can brighten anyone’s day!

 

He still adores riding around in his car. We brought it inside since it has been so HOT outside. He loves to ride it all through the house.

       

Of course he does have his moments when he is not happy, but tickles always make it better!

 

He is such a busy boy, always squirming around. It makes it very difficult to get a self timer photo of Mommy and Owen!

 

Owen loves playing with his airplane, puzzles, trains, and tractors! He is such a boy!

 

He still loves his “Joey Doll” and Transportation Ted that Mommy made for him!

Owen we love you so much! You continue to bring such joy to Daddy and I! You love to play and sing. You dance when you hear music. You see the glass 1/2 full which is such a great lesson for our whole family. You show us unconditional love. We pray that in the next 6 months we can continue to teach you, show you how to love the Lord, and spend as much time with you as possible. We are so excited to share the holidays with you this year because you will really enjoy the food, family, and festivities of the next 4 months. Thank you for being such an amazing son! We love you!