Our wonderful babysitter came to our house to keep Ryder on Wednesday to change things up a bit. She cleaned, did laundry, and cooked for us! Yes, our second home cooked meal in 6 months. Baked chicken, homemake mac & cheese, and green beans. You're jealous aren't you! JM walked in and said, man it sure is nice to come home to a home cooked meal. Yep it sure is John Michael, now get on that!

Every now and then we get into a discussion about the roles of parents. Last night as we were bathing Ryder, he asked, "When are you going to start bathing Ryder by yourself." {He has asked me this one too many times} Then I asked, "When are you going to start bathing Ryder by yourself?" He said, "I bet you are the only mom who has never bathed their child by themself." I'm sorry, but I am uncomfortable getting Ryder out of the tub by myself. He is heavy and slippery and how and I supposed to wrap him up in a towel before he starts shivering? The only time I've bathed him by myself I was so scared he was going to slip right through my fingers, and that was like 10 pounds ago. It's just easier with two people. Period. If the help is there, why not utilize it? ... I still love you John Michael. I know you are reading this because you have become my #1 blog fan. He asks me several times a week if I've updated the blog yet and if not, when am I going to? Back to parenting, the way I feel is that we should do everything equally. JM said last night that I am supposed to do more because I am the mother. I understand mothers should do more emotionally but when it comes to household things, the way I look at it is this: We both work full time. We share the responsibilities at home. End of story. I am very thankful that JM agrees with this method because I can't imagine those wives that do it all. Thank you for being so much help hubby =)

FIVE FACT FRIDAY

1. I'm not just really good at any one thing, such as: singing, playing an instrument, sewing, crafts, sports, cooking, painting, drawing, etc. I wish I had a specialty so that when someone needed help with something, they would think, oh, I'll call Brittany....she's good at that. I need to come up with a hobby.
2. I get called two names that are not Brittany on a regular basis. For some reason, people who know that my name is Brittany, get it confused with either Bridget or Tiffany. This mainly happens with people who call my office. I'll answer the phone and hear "Can I speak to Bridget?" Sometimes I'll say, well this is Brittany. But most of the time I'm too nice to correct them.
3. I worry too much about people getting their feelings hurt. I also do everything I can to avoid someone feeling embarrassed. I have always been this way. I can remember when I was younger, Kayla wanted Dairy Queen and I wanted Wendy's. My mom took us to both places because she is sweet like that, so we went to DQ for her first and when we got to the Wendy's drive thru, I made her hide her DQ bag because I didn't want to hurt the lady at the window's feelings for buying food at another place. Another time, I almost died of embarrassment when my mom asked the lady at McDonalds if she would throw away our Burger King bag. Now that I see how these people act to customers, I'm pretty sure she didn't give a flip where we ate. Hey, that is just less ketchup she has to give out (why do they get so mad when you ask for extra ketchup?)

4. I gained TWENTY lbs freshman year...luckily lost it by sophomore year. Now, this would not have been such a problem if it was spread evenly all over my body. But it wasn't. It was in one place, and that was my FACE. Holy cow. Now you all know where Ryder gets his balloon head from =) When JM and I met summer before my senior year, a big group of us always hung out at my friends Ashlea, Devin, Meg & Lindsey's house. They had this picture framed of all of us from freshman year and every time I went over there I would hide it so he wouldn't see it. It became a joke. They would find it in random places. Under Ashlea's bed, in the kitchen cabinet, etc. The good thing is, he never saw it. If he had, I'm not sure he would NOT have continued the relationship.

5. You will find this very strange, but I know my sister's entire kindergarten class roll. I can say it as fast as I can say the abc's. Don't believe me? Hendrick, Leanord, Corbin, Bridget, Matthew, Barrett, Crystal, Kelly, John, Kayla, Kerri, Wesley, Jessica, Marcus, Hollis, Phillip, Lindsey, Laurie, Brett, Brittany, Ricky, Shea, Amber, Annalee, Ashley, Casey, William, Valencia. I can't memorize jack so I don't know how I memorized this, or even why for that matter. I think it started when we used to play school and she had a list of her class roll and I guess I would "call roll" and somehow it stuck.

This week in pictures:

Get me away from this crazy dog! NOW!

Look, I can do it all by myself!

Getting a good nights sleep...

...So I can wake up with a smile on my face!

I'm making progress with the sippy cup.

I can sit up now...BUT, I can't get there by myself just yet.

Sippy Cup Drama

We are having some issues getting Ryder to drink from his sippy cup. We've tried for 5 days now and all he wants to do is hold it and knock it around all over the place. If I'm not watching closely, he'll bang his face with it. Wonder if it has anything to do with the way it looks?

Yes, his daddy picked this one out. When he got home from Kroger and I pulled it out of the bag (yes I know I shouldn't complain since he went out to get it), this is how the convo went:

Brittany: Why did you get the girl one?

JM: I didn't get the girl one, I got the red one

Brittany: What were the choices?

JM: Red or Green, so I got red for boy

Brittany: So you got the red one with flowers for boy? What was the picture on the green one?

JM: {Throws cup}

Okay, maybe I went a little too far hassling JM on why he bought a girly cup, but come on!

Just look at him, he's so cute no one will even notice, right?

Five Fact Friday

Before I begin...don't you like my new header? I'm not savvy with things like this and I wanted one so bad I watched a tutorial on how to do it. Proud of myself because I don't like doing things that I have to read the manual for.


1. I'm afraid of rubber bands. If someone does that thing where they hold it with their two pointer fingers and act like they are going to shoot it at you, I start to tense up. Last night we were sitting in the bed watching TV and JM did this me. He was holding it really close to my face and even though I knew he would never let it go, my heart started to beat really fast. I calmly asked him to get that thing out of my face and he continued to hold it there while snickering. I want to grab it from him but I was too afraid to move thinking it might blast off into my face. Then I started to get really mad. I think he got the hint.

2. Almost all of Ryder's cutest outfits (the john john's, etc), come from thrift stores in Clinton. I have several Kelly's Kids outfits that came from there, all 25 cents each. Just put it in the wash and throw a monogram or applique on there and wah-lah, good as new. My mom is my personal thrift store shopper. Beat that!

3. I used to want to write books. When I worked at Reed's we sold the book "Homesick" by Sela Ward (she was on the show Sisters...grew up in Meridian). It was a memoir about her life in Mississippi & Hollywood. While I was staying in Starkville over the Thanksgiving holiday for work, I read it in between customers and got inspired. Since I was stuck in Starkville by myself without school work, I began to write. I saved what I had started to a floppy disk and tucked it away to finish later on. I have no idea where that disk is today.

4. When people ask "What is your most embarrasing moment?", I have several that come to mind...one which happened very recently.

• When I was about ten I went to the local neighborhood pool. I took off my t-shirt, then my shorts and I guess I was just on a roll because then I took off my bathing suit top. I even took a few steps toward the pool when I realized I was topless. Luckily I wasn't one of those "early developers."


• In 9th grade I was cheering at our pep rally and I had to "go up" (you know where the girls below hold your feet and you are up in the air doing the arm motions). Well after the pep rally a few friends told me that the whole time I was up my cheerleader skirt was stuck in the TOP of my bloomers, so my whole behind was showing.


• The worst one yet... Now I know this isn't something many of you want to visualize, but in the airport a couple of weeks ago I was in the handicapped bathroom pumping between flights. Not only is it loud in airport bathrooms, but the pump can put out some noise as well. I was really bored pumping because it takes about 7 minutes so I was looking down at my phone texting and before I knew it, I look up and the door is wide open. I have no idea how long it had been open because I didn't hear it due to the loudness, but no one was standing there (I'm sure they moved to the side so they wouldn't have to embarrass me). If you have ever pumped before, you know what I mean by this: it was either drop the pump and milk go everywhere or drag the thing while still attached out to pull the door closed. If this was a little bathroom it wouldn't be hard, but you know how huge the handicapped bathroom doors are. I'll stop right there, but trust me, it was humiliating.

5. I'm a Reality show junkie. I watch them all. The Real World, Keeping up with the Kardashians, The Real Housewives of NY, New Jersey, Atlanta and OC, Kell on Earth & Rachel Zoe Project (my two favorites), Dancing with the Stars, Millionaire Matchmaker, The Girls Next Door (old cast), The Bachelor/Ette, The Hills, The City, Kendra, don't make me go on. Wednesday night on American Idol Lacey Brown got cut... now I'm not so much going to miss her vocals, but I'm sure going to miss seeing what she's going to wear each week. That girl has fabulous style!

Spring Forward has me "Looking Forward"

With it being spring break week, I've been thinking about all the things you look forward to as a child/teenager/college student (spring break being one of these things). Do you remember how big of a deal it was, say to get to a certain age so that you could do certain things? Or get to a certain time in the year or in your life so you could do these things? I do. Here are a few things I remember "looking forward to" in my younger years:

• Getting my ears pierced. My mom would not let me get my ears pierced for so long. You had to be a certain age to get it done alone and I sure couldn't wait that long. She finally gave in. Then, when I turned whatever that age was, I got my second hole. Then my cartilage. Then, the dreaded belly button piercing on my senior trip (something that pregnancy made me regret tremendously, so ugly). She was not happy about the latter 3. I remember being asleep on the couch when I got home from the trip and she lifted my shirt up and gasped. I don't think she really believed I did it when I called to tell her.


• Getting my braces off. Luckily, I was younger when I got them so I was younger when I got them off. I remember the day clearly. I was in 7th grade a Clinton Jr. High and I got back from the ortho around lunch. The first person I saw was Lindsey and she said, "Let me see your teeth!" I am weird about people seeing things before the finished product, i.e. my home (another day, another post). So, like a ventriloquist, I hummed the words, "No, not until I put my lipstick on." She didn't understand why this was, but it's just one of those things. I felt like my teeth would look better if I had lipstick on so I had to go to the bathroom to put it on and then I showed her. She was so annoyed at me by this point that she didn't even "freak out" over my new and improved pearly whites.


• Getting my drivers license. So now you see why I was so distraught over failing that test. It was the end of the world I thought.


• Turning 17 so I could go to an R movie.

• "Making" cheerleading each year. Or "making" tennis. I wanted these things so bad and thought I would just die if I didn't get them.


• Turning 18 or 21 so you could get in the places your friends were without having to use a fake i.d. How funny are the i.d.'s we used in college? I wish I still had all the ones I used so that I could scan them and show these people's faces. No resemblance whatsoever. I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm pretty sure I remember one of my friends getting in somewhere with a guys i.d...or maybe it was a black person. Whatever the case, I remember thinking "Gosh I wouldn't tell anyone I got through with THAT i.d."


• Getting a later curfew. At the time you are so bitter about having a curfew, getting grounded, etc. But now I realize if you don't have parents who have rules, you turn out like, well, those people whose parents didn't have rules.

I got to thinking about what all I have to look forward to these days. One being that I look foward to watching my kids go through these phases of life. Can't wait to be with both these boys on our journey ahead.

Workin' It

I wish I could catch him when he's really going but he's kind of camera shy. Everytime he hears the little beep of the video camera turn on he stops. So I was lucky to catch this one.

A Failed Attempt

Yesterday I got off work at 4:00 and decided to go home and get some house work done before picking up Ryder at 5. Then I decided to surprise JM by cooking dinner. You may ask, why would this be a surprise, isn't that what wives do? Well, as you all know Ryder turned 6 months this week. How does a full-time working mom cook dinner on a nightly basis? I hear about these super moms, but I don't get it...obviously. So for the past 6 months we have either gone out to eat, made tacos, frozen pizza, cereal or sandwiches, unless JM does the cooking. I was very excited about my plan and started pulling out cookbooks left and right. What to make? Since we are pretty low on ingredients it took forever to find something I had the ingredients for. I started the search. Frozen chicken CHECK. Sour Cream CHECK (only because it was left over from taco night). Ritz Crackers CHECK (only because we snack on them constantly and dip them in peanut butter). Cream of Chicken YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT! Can you guess what I made? That's right, poppyseed chicken. I needed a side and out of the thousands of canned goods we stock up on, all we had left were purple hull peas CHECK. Then, I found a can of crescent rolls in the fridge that expired this week IT'S MY LUCKY DAY - CHECK. I even spiced things up a bit and sprinkled parmesean cheese on the rolls before I baked them. I thought of that all by myself. So, I'm running around like mad trying to have the chicken boiled by the time I need to get Ryder. So I call to see if JM can. No, he can't. But while we're on the phone he asks what we want to do about dinner, I say let's just do cereal or a sandwich or something. He agrees and we hang up. About an hour later I have everything cooked and have even had time to clean up my mess. During clean up I went ahead and made Ryder's bottles for the next day and I mixed 2 oz. of formula in the bottles because I'm running low on milk. Around this time JM calls again to say he stopped by Kroger to pick up a frozen pizza (surprised?) but that he's on the way home. Finally, I hear the garage. Ryder is napping and of course as soon as the garage opens I hear him crying. I run in there to pick him up so that I can be in the kitchen in time to see JM's reaction. The crying gets louder and I can hear that JM is in the garage on the phone, so I go to the bedroom to nurse him and in comes JM on the phone. I hear him open the fridge then he comes in the bedroom to see Ryder (still on the phone at this point). There is no acknowledgement that dinner is on the stove, he just kind of tickles Ryder and continues to talk on the phone. As soon as he hung up he said a few words to Ryder and here is what follows:

JM: "What the heck is that chocolate milk you put in Ryder's bottle?"
Brittany: No words spoken, just that face like 'are ya kiddin' me'? (I know he is joking about the chocolate milk and is talking about the forumla but I don't say anything).
JM: "The chocolate milk, what's with that?"
Brittany: "Did you notice anything when you walked in?"
JM: "Dinner?"
Brittany: "Yes."
JM: "Oh yeah, when I walked in I thought maybe you had bought a candle that smelled like dinner."

I think somebody owes me!

BRECKENRIDGE PICS!!!

Six Month Stats

Weight - 17 lb. 12 oz. (50%)

Height - 26 in. (50%)

Head Circumference - 45 cm. (75% - shocker)

Getting nervous about my shots

Getting sugar after my shots

Starting tomorrow we will begin babyfood 3x a day. A fruit with rice cereal for breakfast and a veggie for lunch and dinner. Since my last post where I think I said he takes milk 5-6x a day, something miraculous has happened. He takes milk 4x a day and his last feeding is usually 7 p.m. We put him down at 7:30 and he sleeps until the next morning. I don't know how he dropped that last feeding, but he did. There is no way we'll be this lucky next time around, he is too perfect. We're also going to start juice once a day in a sippy cup. That's my update.

Ryder turned 6 months yesterday and goes to see Dr. Penny on Thursday for his checkup, will post his stats after the appointment. JM and I, along with Payton and Jan just returned from a week-long ski trip in Breckenridge, CO. It was JM and my first time to ski and it was a blast! JM was skiing blues the second day. Me, I just stuck with the easy greens. No need in hurting myself, right? I just wanted to enjoy the ride, literally. The town was adorable and we ate and wonderful restaurants every night. One night, the guys even surprised us with a sleigh ride to dinner! So many people are freaking out that we went without Ryder...we knew he was in good hands and it was good to get away. Of course we missed him terribly and called home quite frequently, but we enjoyed the time together. When I saw him for the first time once we got home, the first thing I thought was HE'S HUGE. He looked so long. On a personal note, I was so proud to have saved enough milk for him to use the entire time we were gone, and even had some left over!

Speaking of milk, Ryder is eating four 6 oz. bottles a day and then I nurse him once or twice when I get home from work, and he has continued to sleep through the rest of the night, usually waking around 7 a.m. It is a beautiful thing. He eats a container of stage 1 babyfood mixed w/ rice cereal at 9ish and 5:30ish. This will probably increase after we see the doctor on Thursday, so we'll see.

Since I was gone on Friday, here are my facts:

1. I smell everything. The good, and unfortunately the bad. I just have to smell it. JM says I like to smell stuff so much because I can make my nostrils get really wide. Whatever.

2. Every single time I've flown over the past 2 years, which has been about 5 times, I've gotten taken aside to have my carry-on looked through. This past time they pulled out my breast pump to check for explosives.

3. I love to read. I've been reading books since I can remember. My dad is a big reader and I get it from him. I collected all the various series when I was a child, Boxcar Children, Baby Sitters Club, you name it. But I hate non-fiction books, like the self-help or money maker, or even the devotional books. I know it is terrible to say, but I just have a hard time following them. I've read every John Grisham book written (currently on Ford County) and I love a good girly novel. You know the ones based in NYC and the main character is a publicist or pr person ...those.

4. I failed my drivers test the first time. Not the written part, but the driving part. I remember like it was yesterday. He said to take a left turn at the light and instead I took a left turn into the entrance right before the light. I pulled in the lot thinking it was all over and I heard the words... You JUST failed. He rose his voice so loud on the "just". I was so mad.

5. I have worked since I was old enough to. No one asked me to work, no one made me work, I just wanted to. I've haven't been unemployed since I turned 16. In my high school years these jobs have consisted of: YMCA Cheerleader Coach to the youngins, Sno Biz and waitress at Xan's Diner. In college: MSU Cheer Camp Counselor summer after freshman year, Reed's Department Store all through college, Atvantage Title Abstract Company was my first job out of college, and now I've been at the Chamber of Commerce for 3 years. Sometimes I regret working through college because I had to work on Saturdays and over the holidays when everyone was home with their families, but I'm proud of myself for doing it when I didn't have to at all.

getting bundled up and ready to go to mrs. connie's

I love my book from papa and becca

where we found peanut when we saw us packing for the trip... in ryder's bag of clothes that are too small in his closet... shaking

hanging out with my nanni and cousin ann
dressed in my man clothes
eating dinner with my cousin sellers (9 months) WILL POST PICS OF THE SKI TRIP AS SOON AS I CAN!