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Monday, February 28, 2011

Getting Married for Real

So we are actually serious about getting married now that Joe is working, and we have three dates picked out. Since I know some people couldn't make Mony's baptism due to prior engagements, I wanted to give everyone a chance to weigh in on this- here's the three days; if any of them is super terrible or super awesome for you, let me know. I'm going to reserve the church by the end of the week, so let me know ASAP!

August 27
September 24
October 8

I'm leaning toward the August or September date because I think it will be a lot of pressure on Joe to have my birthday and our anniversary in the same week if we end up doing October 8.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Someone Tell James...


My brother totally needs to send these pics of him and Alexander to Like Mom Like Dad.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Jesus Loves Mony

The baptism went so well. I really couldn't ask for Ramona to be much better. She let Pastor Bob hold her and she didn't cry. She smiled and "talked" and was a total ham when he walked her down the aisle. She didn't object to her gown too strongly, and I was so touched at how many people showed up for her. Seriously, it really means so much to me that every single person who came was there- and there were more people who wanted to, but couldn't due to timing. We're really lucky to have so many people who love our little fish.


After the baptism, we all went out to breakfast/lunch at Bob Evans. We didn't all get to sit together, but we were near each other and were able to walk around and visit without annoying the waitstaff too badly. Ramona and Corinne had fun. How crazy is it that Corinne is a little under a year older than Ramona? She looks like a little girl here, and Ramona still looks like a chubby little baby. The difference a year makes...
After lunch, we went back to our place and Ramona opened gifts and the kids played. My nephews were in good moods and were being really fun. Reagan and Ramona were pretty cute together. At Thanksgiving Reagan said he "hates that baby" about Ramona, but yesterday he kept smiling at her and insisting that she said his name. I also found him in Ramona's room pretending to clean with her toy broom, and he took the baby doll stroller for a spin.

I don't know what was happening in that last picture. Kathleen's all, "Oh no she didn't!" and Alexander and Ramona are plotting something.
I loooooooove this pic of my mom and my sister Erin. This one is getting printed out and hung up somewhere in my house. Too cute.
Mitch was sleepy and cuddled up with the "Evil Monkey" that Jesus loves.
Me, Mony my mom, and Joe's mom. I like how it appears that I have no legs and am somehow levitating in the back.
I just wanted everyone to see how cute Corinne's outfit was.
Joe, Mony, Mony's full belly and the grandpas.

It was a lot of fun! So far I've only gotten pics from my cousin Brook (who looked so cute, but I don't have pictures of since she took all these. Seriously, she looked better at like 30 weeks pregnant than I look on a good day NOT pregnant!) But I'll post more when I get copies of the pics Joe's mom took.

We also went down to Columbus on Saturday to go to Elevator Brewing with Brook, Brett, Scott, and Corinne, but it was closed during lunch so we went to Barley's instead. We had a lot of fun spending the day with them, and I hope we'll get to see our Columbus relatives more now that we're back in Ohio. We also got another shirt for the brew blanket while we were down there, and considering that we'll probably get one or two more next weekend up in Grand Rapids, and we got two last weekend up in Royal Oak, it's been quite a month for the brew blanket. I also got to see a friend I hadn't seen in forever which was really nice. I wish we could have had more time and maybe a more relaxing venue (it's hard to shop when Ramona is involved) but I'm sure I'll see her again soon.

It was a really fun weekend and exactly the kind of thing I was dreaming of back when I was hoping to move back to Ohio- a weekend spent with family and friends and loving surroundings.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Pretty Awesome Valentine's Weekend

What a weekend and Valentine's Day! Saturday Mony spent the day with Joe's parents while Joe and I went up to Royal Oak to do some shopping and so I could take him for a romantic lunch at Lily's Seafood brewpub. We also hit up Royal Oak Brewing and got two new shirts for the brew blanket. We got some art for the living room, and a book for Ramona.

Sunday involved a three hour family nap, and it was much needed and lovely. Actual Valentine's Day I had to work and Joe made me fancy dinner (an appetizer of crackers with smoked salmon foam, an entree of steak and pancetta wrapped shrimp, and a dessert of creme brulee with a Bell's brewery stout to drink.) We also got our Michigan brewer's guild cards in the mail, and Valentine's cards from both sets of grandparents for Mony. But the big news was that our couch is finally being delivered today! At least it was- until Joe got a call about a job! He's at orientation this morning, which is why I'm home with Ramona instead of at work. The job is from 11pm to 7am Sunday-Thursday, so we'll still have weekends and evening together (even if Joe sleeps through most of the evenings) but it's perfect and we're excited.

I also met with my adviser last week and have everything set up to start class this summer. I'm taking two classes- one online and one in the classroom. The classroom one is only six weeks long, and Joe's mom said she would watch Ramona if we need her to, so we should be pretty set. So, it's been a pretty awesome Valentine's week for all of us.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Mony has a boyfriend!

Not really, but the little boy that is in her play group at church and she had fun playing at the chili cook off today. She said hi and waved and said bye to him which she has never done to anyone before! It was pretty crazy. I am overly proud of her for it. I guess now she waves to the TV and to other babies.

Joe didn't win the chili cookoff, but we had a lot of fun. They had musical performers from University Church (which is who we were raising money for at the cookoff) and they were awesome. Great voices and instrumentals and you could tell they were seriously having fun performing. Mony was quite a dancer and she ran around with her buddy and laughed pretty much the whole time. It was heartwarming and I'm glad we went. I wish I would have taken pictures. Oh, well.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

You make my heart feel super happy!

Oh the world of children's television. It really permeates my life. I've had a Yo Gabba Gabba song stuck in my head for two days- "For me? For you! Thank you! I love you too!" And when some of the Chinese women who work in my office were telling our boss about Chinese New Year the other day, all I could think about what Kai Lan and Yeye.

The fish is also very into books right now. She has a counting book of Easter Eggs she got for Easter last year, and she really enjoys it. It's mostly because I point to the eggs and count them and she thinks pointing is the greatest thing. If I don't point she gets pretty angry about it. Also, when I'm done reading it to her she usually sits on the floor looking at it by herself and mumbles her baby jibberesh while pointing at the pages.

She and Danzig use pretty much the same tactics to get my attention these days. Yesterday morning before work I was checking my email and drinking a coffee and Danzig jumped on my lap and kept getting in my face and making it impossible to drink my coffee and see the computer screen until I pet her. This evening, Ramona walked up and stood on the magazine I was reading until I played with her. Danzig has been pretty needy lately, though. I feel bad because I don't pay enough attention to her (although it could be argued I paid too much attention to her prior to Ramona's birth. Not everyone has a fake career and love interest picked out for their cat.) So I've been making an extra effort to cuddle with her lately.

Oh, and if anyone is trying to pick out a name for their pet, I recommend not naming it after Glenn Danzig, because trying to explain your cat's name to your pastor in the future might be really awkward. When we met with the pastor about Mony's baptism we were small talking for a bit and he asked if we had any pets, and when we said we had a cat he asked her name. "Danzig? What's that mean?" I explained it was the singer of a band that had a song called Halloween and we got her around Halloween and she's Halloween colors. Luckily he didn't ask anything further. Joe thought it was hilarious and kept joking that I should have told him to check out the Misfits. Somehow, I don't think our pastor would be interested in a band with a song called "Angelf**k." Call me crazy.

Anyway, tomorrow there's a chili cookoff at church, so we're taking the fish up there and I'm bringing some brownies and Joe's bringing some of his chili. He's toning it down a bit since he usually makes it crazy spicy for me. It should be fun.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Bad Meggie

Yeah, I didn't post for a week again. Laziness- I embody it. I finally got the ol' W2s and filed my taxes. Work was canceled on Wednesday due to the snowstorm, so I got to stay home and hang out with Joe and Ramona. My doctor's appointment was also canceled since it was on Wednesday, but I got rescheduled for today and it went really well. I had a nurse practitioner and she was awesome. So far, I can highly recommend UTMC's nurse practitioner staff. I also asked about the OB side of their practice and found out that they have a midwife team that's backed by an OB for complicated pregnancies or c-sections, and they deliver at Toledo Hospital. So, if we decide to have another one at some point I know what to expect.

There was nothing too exciting this week. Saturday was a super snow day, so we took Mony out to play in the snow while I shoveled. She enjoyed eating the snow, but not falling down in it. The snow up here is working on getting as high as she is tall, so she was just playing in an area I had shoveled. But it was slippery and she was in a snowsuit, so she was having a hard time walking. We were supposed to go out that night, but the snow kind of killed that plan and we stayed in and watched movies.

My mom came over Sunday and brought the gown- it fit! So it looks like Ramona will be baptized in the same gown I was baptized in. (You have to admit that's pretty cool.) We should really get some pictures of my baptism so we can compare pictures (hint hint, Mom.) After that we watched the Super Bowl at Joe's parents' house. Ramona wore her Browns outfit since it's the only NFL thing she has. (And really, isn't saying "Yay, Browns!" pretty much the same thing as saying "Boo, Steelers!"?) Obviously, that house full of Browns fans was happy the Steelers lost (although Joe was hoping for some magical way for them to both lose.) I was just glad there was nacho dip and beer. I'd post a picture of Ramona running around, but I left the camera there. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Yay, me!

I got my acceptance letter for school today! I will be able to start classes this summer. I think I'm going to take two on-line ones, but I have to meet with my adviser first. I am more excited about getting the acceptance letter than I thought I would be. I am also glad that it looks like I'll be able to take at least the core body of knowledge stuff online.