8 years

One cat.
Two beautiful babies.
Three homes.
Four million kisses (an exact count I'm sure!).
Five Mexico vacations.
Six cars.
Seven jobs.
Eight years.

Happy Anniversary to my love!

Oh, the tantrums.

I know they've only just begun and are bound to get worse before they get better, but it just seemed to come on all of a sudden. (We had him checked out at his 20 month well baby visit just to rule out any kind of ear infection or other reason for the moods). My ever so sweet little boy has been throwing wild tantrums several times a day since Sunday afternoon. Who knew waking up from your Sunday afternoon nap could be so disconcerting?

Mama has now experienced her first public trantrum. At least it was in Babies 'R Us, but it still did not stop the glaring stares from strangers and pregnant soon-to-be mamas. Call me crazy, but I never thought my child would be one of those screaming kids in a store.

I have also experienced tantrums because it was time to eat, he finished something he liked or I gave him something he didn't, because we couldn't watch "Mick", his train ran out of batteries, or he couldn't find it at all and the list could go on. I know it's all normal and part of toddlerhood and sometimes his fits are downright funny, especially when we look at what caused it in the first place. I just wish they wouldn't happen so.much so quickly. At least give me some time to adjust to it first!

Amidst one tantrum yesterday, I did manage to teach him how to say the words "help" and "please". We've been working on please for months, but I think he finally got it! At least it's something positive.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

It's hard to believe it's been 7 years! Happy Anniversary Ryan! I love you and can't wait to see what's in store for us.

Snow Baby

It snowed for the first time enough to get Tyson dressed in his snowsuit and take him outside to "play" in the snow. He did not appreciate it at all.

Oh, and I'm a bad mom for failing to realize that his mitten came off his little hand. Sorry Tyson!

Tyson's First Christmas

Tyson celebrated his first Christmas with Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa H's house:

Sitting atop the giant stack of gifts:

Hanging out with GG Hill


Waiting to open his presents

At home with Mama and Daddy on Christmas morning:

He's getting good at opening presents



Ooooh!
The wrapping paper is more fun than what's inside!

Tyson and Daddy

Laughing at the silly kitty

We had a wonderful Christmas with family. Thank you everyone!

Tailgate

Tyson and I went and tailgated with Ryan and Troy before the Colts - Patriots game. It was Tyson's second tailgate and he was a little trooper!

It was pretty chilly, so Tyson was all bundled up in his Colts gear:



Hanging out with mama:



Fox and Tyson:



Colts Family:

Lazy Weekend

I'm thrilled to have no plans this weekend. We've been so busy with the holidays and then having family in town last weekend that it's nice to know we can do what we want for these two days.

I slept in until after 10 this morning! It's pretty unusual for me, especially lately. I haven't slept well at all this week. I'm still getting over a cold that started last weekend. The cold has resulted in me waking up multiple times during the night. I also woke Ryan up every night, so he didn't sleep well either. He blames it on my snoring (I had a cold!).

Weekend to dos:

-work on the nursery
-laundry
-install new shower head
-clean and tidy the house
-lunch with the ILs tomorrow

Sounds good to me!

Happy 5th Anniversary to Us!

I cannot believe how quickly time has passed, but today is our 5th anniversary! Happy Anniversary Ryan! I love you.

History.

It's crazy to think that our baby will be born at a time in America where history is being made. He or she will born into a country that has voted to make a change and show our future generations how much different life can and will be. I'm excited for our country and I'm excited for our baby!

Living History

As a Barack Obama supporter, I am thrilled with not only the outcome of the election, but also the fact that my very own Indiana voted BLUE! Regardless of whether you like Obama or voted for him, I hope you can join me in congratulating him on the race he ran, the fact that more people voted in this election than any other election in recent history and that the world is celebrating with us today.

I have high hopes for the future of our country and everyone will be watching to see if Obama can deliver. I believe he will.

Baby Holt Made His/Her First Trip to the Polls!

When I voted today! :)

And, now Baby Holt gets to enjoy this Obama cupcake, courtesy of Holly!



Go Barack!

VOTE!

Ryan and I went to vote early this morning and only had to wait 1.5 hours. Not too bad in my opinion! Afterwards, we went out for breakfast.

My coworker, Holly, brought in these cute Obama cupcakes to work today:



Now, I'm anxious for the work day to be over so I can go home, put on my PJs and watch the election returns. I just hope I can make it up late enough to see the winner! Go Barack! :)

I'm totally late, but I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by hopeful #1 at Happy Hopefuls to list 8 random things about me. Here goes...

1. I've lived in Hawaii and Germany. My dad was in the Army while I was growing up and we got to live in these amazing places. It really gave me the love for travel!

2. Although I claim to be from Indiana, I was actually born in Davenport, Iowa.

3. I have 2 tattoos. One on my right foot and the other on my left hip.

4. My husband and I first met when we were 19!

5. I have the most random taste in music. My iPod playlists have been known to span the likes of Poison to Norah Jones to Britney Spears, all within a few songs of each other.

6. I work in a practice with all women. Not a single man in our office! It's a terrific group and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Surprisingly enough, even though we are all chicks, we have very little drama.

7. I am the only person in my family that does not have an '8' in my birthday. My dad was born on the 8th, my Mom on the 18th and my brother on the 28th.

8. We're expecting our first baby in May 2009! The biggest reason why I have sucked at blogging lately. My mind has been consumed elsewhere!

Tourists in Chicago

We visited Chicago earlier this month for Soniya and Erick's wedding. Before heading home on Sunday, we played tourists in our former city:

For us, a visit to Chicago is not complete without stopping in our old neighborhood for brunch at Lou Mitchell's.

Jade and Zoran joined us!

It makes me miss the city! :(

Taxes.

For those that know Ryan, you know that he knows exactly what is going on with every aspect of our money at any point in time. Even though I make fun of him endlessly for our family month-end close, I appreciate his efforts and that he looks out for our future.

For that very reason, Ryan has been calculating our 2008 tax liability already. We both started fabulous new jobs in June that brought pay increases (yay!), but it also brings more taxes (boo!). Last week he calculated that we would owe roughly $8,000 in taxes next year if we continued on our current path. Yikes! Since Ryan is an accountant, but not the kind that does taxes, we opted to meet with a tax and financial planner.

Today, we met with Jason, the tax planner. I left the meeting unhappy. For the remainder of the year, I get to have NO fun. No extra spending money and no shopping because virtually all of my paychecks need to go into my 401k for the rest of the year in an attempt to defer taxable income. For those who are wondering, I was contributing to a 401k at my old law firm and my new firm is so brand new that we don't have a 401k plan set up until September. Oh, and on top of having no money of my own for the rest of the year, we will still owe roughly $3,000 in taxes in April.

Awesome.

In my world, there has to be something we can do about this...anything at all. But no, not for us. Jason's only response was to have some kids. Those are great little tax deductions, but too bad the tax benefit does not come close to how expensive they will be.

Good-bye to decorating my new work office, my home office, and everything else. The rest of the year is going to be no fun. Ryan knew I was unhappy and as he kissed me good-bye and we parted ways in the parking lot, his only words to me: "vote Republican".

Boo!

Fun Things for August

1. My new pedicure color, A Rose at Dawn, Broke by Noon. From OPI's Las Vegas collection. I've had this color before, but it has been re-introduced into my life. It's a fun, flirty summery color and I love it!



2. The Olympics. Call me a dork, but I LOVE the Olympics! I am setting the TiVo to catch all of the great action in HD!



3. Two weddings. We're attending two weddings for two great friends this month in Chicago. The first is Soniya's wedding, taking place this weekend. The second, is my dear sorority sister, Amber at the end of the month.

4. Our granite install later this month!

5. Our annual lake weekend! Taking place the weekend of August 15-17.

Our Big Life Changes

I posted a little while ago about changes that were soon to come about in our lives. Now that we've told our respective employers, the secret is now out...Ryan and I both started new jobs within days of each other.

Ryan's is a chance to work in industry rather than consulting. It's also supposed to keep him home much more often, which I can't complain about. During conversations with some of his new coworkers, they told him they traveled very infrequently. Not sure how he ended up in Montreal on business this week, though!

My new job was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. My prior law firm split and one of the partners formed her own firm. She put together an amazing group of attorneys and I feel very lucky to work with them. I'm still practicing in family law, but I get to continue working with my mentor as well as a few of my old coworkers.

Life is good. Cheers!