Burnin' Love

Some days the mama job is a difficult one.  Those days are usually the ones the baby doesn't feel well, like today.

Mayhem nearly drove me past the point of insanity with his nonstop whining yesterday, but after partying like it was 2009, i.e. dragging out all the toys like some sort of mini-madman on a search, he rewarded me by sleeping nearly six hours straight.  Ya'll, that's an eight month record right there!

This morning, my little cupcake fell asleep in the stroller on our walk which never happens.  That was my second clue, the first being the new tooth I found in his mouth yesterday. 

He has been so pouty pitiful today, wanting to be held and loved on constantly.  So I have.

He's just sat quietly in my lap against me most of the day and has had a slight fever so I am really getting a taste of what the velveteen rabbit must have felt like when the boy had scarlet fever.  

There's even been some laying on the couch staring at the walls going on.  Even babies need to space out sometimes.

He's got a cough, too, most likely from a summer cold and is just the saddest little puppy you've ever seen.  So much "I don't feel good!" drama!

It drives me crazy and I love it at the same time.  I want the whining to end and him to happily go back to playing with his toys, but I'm like, "Sit in my lap and let me love on you if that makes you feel better," too.  It's pretty awesome knowing that your presence is absolutely needed for healing.  This mama job can be hard: conflicting emotions, difficult days, tough love or cuddling, there is no manual and there are so many guides, but right now it's my favorite.  So I put him to bed with a dose of medicine and just a diaper for jammies tonight and hope tomorrow is easier.

Love Right Now

I've fallen in love hard with this little boy.  It just kills me how sweet he is sometimes (sometimes he's a little devil!  strong willed? most likely.)

I love picking him up and how his little baby arms go up to my neck and he lays his head on my shoulder.  This is probably more accident and coincident than purpose, but I love it just the same.

I love how he smiles up at me with the pacifier still in his mouth and sometimes he throws a free hand up like he wants to touch my face.  I love kissing those chubby cheeks and the back of those linty little hands.

I'm loving being his mama.

Also, selfies are hard!

Does a Love Text Count?

I got this from Boots this afternoon.

"I wish we would of picked a sooner date. 
I am ready to be your husband."

House Hunting

Apparently, my computer has lost its mind and unanimously voted that the relationship between it and my camera's memory card has ended.
They're no longer speaking.
(Sigh.  I never thought it would come to this.)
Therefore, I cannot show you any house pictures that I took Tuesday on the latest mission.
I'll just have to tell you instead (again!)

The House with the Red Carpet Porch was the first house we found.
Boots has been stalking it online for a week or two and we finally decided to check it out.
Drove out to The House with the Red Carpet Porch's neighborhood and matched up the numbers.
The house is cute.
It has a big front yard and a stone wall on the left side like The House on the Left.
A big kitchen and big living room with a side porch covered in red carpet.
We saw the pictures online and really liked it but once we got there we nixed it.
Location really is everything.
The neighbors across the street have toilets in the yard.
Waking up in the morning and seeing somebody's shining hiney on the pot out my kitchen window is not my idea of starting the day off right.

We turned around real quick-like and went one street over to our next address (this is kinda like geo-caching, right?)
The Wood College House.
The name tells it all.
Big, beautiful cedar house stained brown.
Big front porch.
Big yard.
Big carport.
Open the front door, step inside, big racket from the door pulling the linoleum back.
Not a good sign.
(I was feeling hopeful about this one because there was a huge pile of pennies in one of the carport windows.
I figured if that many pennies followed me to that house, it had to be a good sign.)
It had obviously been lived in by many college kids.
The carpet was nasty.
Nasty, nasty, nasty!
The walls all had stains and big holes knocked in them.
The furniture was nice though.
And for sale.
Boots said, "Can we buy the furniture but not the house?"
Sure these are minor asthetic problems but living in an old frat house for the rest of my life isn't exactly home sweet home either.

The last house of the day has no name yet.
My creativity for names has run dry with this house.
The Secret Garden House?
The Enchanted House?
The Mc House?
The Yard House?
I got nothing.
You've probably guessed by now that this house has some kinda yard.
Oh, yeah.
You drive inside the gate and there's trees, bushes, flowers, grasses, shrubs everywhere!
Its like you just stepped inside Better Homes and Gardens or something!
You walk through the carport into the living room where the walls are painted butter yellow.
So cozy.
The walls in the kitchen are painted a pale mint lime green with white cabinets.
The doors on the white cabinets are painted pale mint lime green to match the walls with little hummingbirds painted on the tops of them.
The lady's taste is eclectic but mine is too.
The dining room, oh, the dining room.
Its robins egg blue.
So pretty.
Boots' grandma's furniture would look so good against those walls.

The whole house is just gorgeous and I wish I could post the two pictures of the front yard that I took but, like I said, my computer and memory card aren't speaking and I can't figure out how to help them reconsile their differences.
You'll just have to trust me when I say that this is my dream house and I didn't even know it.
It just feels like home.
I want this house to be my home.

Boots and I are negotiating with our realtor lady and the people that own the house.
I hope this one is the one.

In the meantime, I'm dreaming and scheming, trying to come up with a good name.

Dear Boots,

I love you.
One down, fifty to go.

Rachel

'you are always in my heart and your always on my mind and when it all becomes to much your never far behind and there is no one that comes close to you that can take your place, because only you can love me this way'....
Author Unknown

To My Dear Rachel

When I saw you I was afraid to meet you. When I met you I was afraid to kiss you. When I kissed you I was afraid to love you. Now that I love you, I am afraid to lose you.........Author Unknown

This Is How It Started......

I got The Ring last night.
Boots and I are engaged!
I knew it was going to happen last night.
Here's how:
Boots called, "I'm getting off at two, coming to see you after work,"  I'm all, "I'll see you at six."
Six o'clock rolls around, no Boots.
I start to get worried, maybe he's perished on the highway or something.
I call him, no answer.
I'm really worried now.
He texts me back, "I'm working a wreck."
He calls me after he finishes up with his wreck, "Where are you?" I ask.
(Words of Boots in blue.)
"I'm on 468."
"Why are you there.  That road goes nowhere near my house."
"I meant the cut-off road."
"Oh! In Rileyville?"
"No.  The one down by the Academy."
"Boots, that's not the cut-off, that's the long way."
"I know where I'm going!"
We hang up, he calls back.
"Hey!  You wanna go to Bilwagan's?"
That's where our first date was, I know something is up now.
"Uhh......well, we just started cooking.  Let us discuss it."
Boots finally arrives and decides that he doesn't want to go to Bilwagan's now.
I'm thrown of the scent.
We eat (fishsticks), he goes with me to Target for me to buy my groceries.
I'm really thrown off now.
We come back and that's when the dog gets momentary possession of The Ring.
I said, "I'm going to take the dog out."
Boots says, "Oh, I'll do it."
I go talk to my roommate about some tv show called The Good Wife, walk back into the living room and the dog still hasn't been outside.
I pick up the leash, reach down around her collar to snap it on her, and I feel this metal circular thing kinda like a key ring on her collar.
When I finally see what's attached to her collar (that I know wasn't there earlier!) my face goes red and I feel so hot I start sweating and had to go stand outside on my front porch!
Wow!
I feel like the girl on Father of the Bride, "I'm getting married!  AHH!!!!"
Yay! 
I'm so happy!