What Romance Means to Me - TADBJ

This, dear friends, is a great question and one that I'm glad my friend at Toddler Awesome thought to ask.

What does romance mean to me?  The answer is worth pondering and possibly revising regularly.

From my perspective romance is:

• Loving my husband and supporting him.  
• It is providing a restful, safe place for him as a confidant, comforter and lover so that no matter where we are he knows that he is home.    
• It is fighting for him when he needs me, but also letting him fight for me.  
• It is respecting his leadership by helping with the decision making and helping him lead effectively and appropriately.  
• It is helping him find balance when life gets crazy.  
• It is helping him accomplish what he wants to accomplish. 
• It is letting our children believe that their daddy "hung the moon," while also teaching them that he's human and fallible, but worth loving and respecting anyway.  
• It is taking time out from my busyness to give him a hug and kiss and tell him that I love him - showing him that he is a priority.  
• It is not letting him get away with less than his best and making sure he knows that I think he's incredible.  

Romance is

• My Hubby loving, supporting and providing for me.  
• It is his willingness to fight for me and let me know that I'm worth fighting for.  
• It is leading me when I need led, but respecting my opinion enough that we can make decisions together.  
• It is helping me improve on myself while also complimenting my good qualities.  
• It is helping me get where I want to get and accomplish what I want to accomplish.  
• It is teaching our children to respect and honor me.  
• It is letting me sleep in sometimes when I'm really tired.  
• It is going above and beyond to let me know that I'm loved and appreciated.  

The Five Senses - TADBJ

What my five senses are experiencing right now:

See:  My computer screen and a slight reflection of the lamp behind me.  Also the clutter on the desk that is threatening to eat my computer monitor.

Hear: Baby Two's Baby Einstein video.  It's almost over.

Taste: Chocolate Ice Cream.  Shhh... don't tell.

Touch: I feel a little warm in an unseasonable long sleeve tee because I need to do laundry, lol.

Smell: NOTHING.  Which is a great thing when you have three cats and two babies living with you.

What are your senses telling you?

My Favorite Foods - TADBJ

It is so hard to pick a favorite food or even a favorite restaurant.  So I'm going to give you a list of my 5 favorite foods.

1. Tomatoes.  I've loved them since I was a little, little (little) girl.
2. Guacamole.  I especially like my homemade variety.
3. Mexican.  Just about any old Mexican restaurant will do.
4. BoJangles cajun chicken biscuit with fries.  Mmmmmm...
5. Roast with all the trimmings.  Potatoes, carrots, green beans, rolls, etc.

Now that my mouth is watering I'm going to go find something to eat...

10 Songs I Think My Readers Should Hear - TADBJ

In no particular order... (drum roll please)...

1. Starfish - Sister Hazel - Somewhere More Familiar

2. How Many Kings - Downhere - How Many Kings

3. All Men Will Know - Acappella - Radiance 

4. Lord Save Me - Acappella - Radiance

5. When You Come Back Down - Nickel Creek - Nickel Creek 

6. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen - A Night At The Opera

7. The Show Must Go On - Queen - Innuendo

8. Africa - Toto - Toto IV

9A. Dream On - Aerosmith - Aerosmith

9B. Dream On - Kelly Sweet - We Are One 

   

10. What Heavenly Music - The Vocal Union - All Around Me

Now for an honorable mention that probably should be in my original ten but simply didn't fit the format. My good friend Amanda Rickard is an excellent musician.  She wrote a song a while back by the name Go Ahead and Cry.  It is definitely worth a listen.  You can listen to it on her MySpace page here.  Please let me know what you think! 

Our Favorite Vacation - TADBJ

Having taken a long weekend this week I'm a bit behind, so please bear with me while I catch up!

We haven't really taken vacations since the boys were born.  We like to go visit "Mammaw and Pappaw" in Memphis sometimes.  We also like going to Charleston, SC where I lived from ages 7-14.  We just go visit, stay with family or friends and do a couple of the tourist-y things while we 're there.  Mostly we go to spend time with people we love.  I rather enjoy these trips and think that for our family they qualify as a vacation, but for purposes of this Journal I will write about the vacation we hope to be able to take one day.

There are lots of places we'd like to go for a vacation.  Disney World (where we went on our honeymoon), LA (where we both have family), New York (I've never been), Scotland (we've been on mission trips and always said that we'd go back for pleasure), an Alaska cruise (my parents went once and it sounds like a lot of fun), I could go on and on.  We'd like to do a vacation with the boys, without the boys, with extended family and without.

When I asked Hubby where he'd most like to go on vacation he said that Disney World tops his list.  I loved Disney World when we went but I think I'd most like to go to New York.  I mean, I've never been but I've heard so much about it.  I want to see all the big buildings and city bustle.  I want to see good theater on Broadway.  The thing is, I don't really know what all we'd do on a Vacation there because I've never been.  Half the fun would be finding out.

Where do you recommend going for a vacation?

What I'm Most Proud of - TADBJ

This is a hard one for me.  One of my fellow bloggers said about writing her introduction that it was like a job interview when they ask you to tell them about yourself and you blank.  Thats kind of how THIS question is for me.  It's like when they ask you to tell them what your strengths are or to list your top qualities.  Inevitably there is a, "Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhh..." moment in my head.  It must not last as long as it feels like it does, because very often, I get the job.

I guess what I am MOST proud of is my boys.  I know that seems like a cop-out answer, but it really is true.  I'm very proud of my children, how cute they are (yes, I'm biased, but everyone tells me its true), how well behaved they tend to be (not always, but most of the time), and how much they are learning and growing.  I love my babies and that's just how its supposed to be.

I'm also proud of the fact that I have birthed two babies naturally.  I'm even prouder of the fact that I learned from my mistakes the first time.  I'm also proud that I had such a great experience each time that I actually look forward to doing it again (Thank you, Hypnobabies).

These are the things I'm most proud of.  It's actually good to think about that question and answer it for myself.  It really puts things into perspective and reminds me why I love being a mom and why I want to be a doula.

A Day in the Life... TADBJ

This is the second theme in the Blog-Journal Project - a timeline of my day.  Are you sure your ready for this?  Okay.  A Day in the Life of The Cloth Diaper Adventurer looks something like this:

• 6:30am - Baby One (nearly 2) wakes up and plays in his crib.  Hubby and I roll over and pretend not to hear.
• 6:45am - Baby Two (8 months) wakes up and plays in our bed.  I try desperately to open my eyes and interact with him.  Baby One begins to cry.
• 7:00am - I start to feel guilty for leaving Baby One crying in his crib.  I put pillows all around Baby Two and go get Baby One who immediately says, "Daddy!  See 'em!"  I take him to see Daddy at which point he says, "Bobble" and I go fix a bottle while the boys play with Daddy.
• 7:30am - We all meander out of the bedroom and into the living room.  I change diapers and leave the boys to get into trouble play while I fix breakfast.  The boys watch one of their Your Baby Can Read DVD's while they eat.
• 8:30am - I get myself and the boys dressed while Hubby gets ready for work.
• 9:00am - The boys and I go for a walk.  We get back in time to see Hubby off to work and catch the tail end of Sesame Street.
• 9:30-11:00am - I try to take care of housework, blogging, writing, checking my email, etc.  I just do as much of it as I can.
• 11:00am - LUNCH TIME!!!! Yay!!!  I like food and so do the boys!  Then we kill time until...
• 12:30 or 1:00pm - Naptime!  Baby One naps.  Baby Two and I sometimes nap during this time too.  Otherwise it's more blogging and/or housework.  This is some of my most productive time.
• 3:00pm - Baby One wakes up, takes a bottle, gets his diaper changed, gets a snack and plays.  I put Dr.Oz on the TV.  Again, I bounce between the computer, housework, and playing with the boys.
• 5:00pm - I fix dinner.
• 6:00pm - Baby One and I eat.  At this point I just try to keep the boys occupied and out of trouble until...
• 9:00pm - Daddy comes home and then the boys go to bed.  Hubby and I relax, talk and try to capture the last romantic sparks that haven't been killed off in the day's hustle and bustle before we pass out at 11:00pm or midnight.  

Wow!  You never realize how busy you are until you write it all down!  Good grief!  No wonder I'm so tired all the time!