Mommies & truth #5

By now you know a few things about me. Among them, I'm a horrible blogger, I love my family and I speak my mind...sometimes too freely. With that said, I will not promise to improve the timeliness of my blogs and I will not stop speaking my mind because that makes me who I am, however, I will continue to profess my love for my family.
My mother is amazing. I'm not the only one who thinks this. Aside from all the folks who tell me she's fantabulous, my kids think she hung the moon. When I say, "let's go see Nonna," their faces light up. Even Liam, at such a young age, knows just how special she is. We have a special relationship. She loves me unconditionally, tells me I'm beautiful, listens when I'm upset, comes to my rescue, prays for me, likes spending time with me (most of the time) and even gives me a proverbial kick in the ass when I am in need of one. That's just a sampling of why she's awesome. My mothering habits stem largely from her. She has an astounding faith in God. Through my personal struggles with life, she has been there for every milestone, every tragedy with love in her heart, and for that I am forever grateful. If I can be half the mother to my boys as she has been to me, I'm doing pretty well.

Mama, I love you.

Truth #4
In keeping with the theme of mothers, I'd like to share that I have two angels rocking in the arms of Jesus and my loved ones that have gone before me. I have shared about one of them, but due to the lack of public acceptance of children out of wed lock, the other has slowly drifted into silence. We don't speak of it often and that causes guilt in my heart. Our second angel is no more worthy of my heart than our first. So, here I sit and tell you that I am the mother of 4, not 2.

Watching Ryan and Liam grow makes me wonder what the other two would be like at 5 and 3. I am comforted through the realization that God blessed me with them. They were tiny beings that taught me the true miracle of conception and life and to never take either one for granted.

Truth #4

Yeah, I've been slacking. I'm sorry, but life has a way of throwing multiple baseballs straight at your face all at one time.

Anyway, on to the 4th truth...

I HATE MOVING. Brett and I, my in-laws and a couple fabulous friends helped us move 5 miles down the road yesterday. We rented a 27' Uhaul thinking that it would be enough to move us in 1 trip. Think again my friends! How much is too much in regards, to toys for 2 little boys? The answer to that is a full 27' foot truck load. Yes, 27' of toys. TOYS! Toys that couldn't just go in a box. Swings, power wheels, basketball goals, Little People, tonka trucks, jumperoo, play mat, every "sports stick" known to man (golf clubs, lax sticks, etc.)... the list goes on. I'm in the process of rethinking birthdays and Christmas this year.

This move was brought on by the owner of the house we were renting putting it on the market.We had 1 day to move everything, clean and turn in the keys by 5pm yesterday. We made our deadline thankfully! If we didn't make our deadline we would have had to pay double rent and we didn't want to (and couldn't) do that. I wasn't in love with the house on Brook St. by any stretch of the imagination. We loved it when we saw it, but after we moved in, we quickly realized it didn't fit our family style. Kitchen too small, an upstairs bonus room we never use, too small bedrooms, crazy bathrooms, weird floorplan and a useless backyard.

So after 15 exhausting hours of heavy lifting we've moved all of our "junk" into a 4 bedroom, ranch with a 2 car garage, big kitchen, HUGE living room and 2 full bathrooms! It's the simple things that I used to take for granted that make me happy now. When we looked at the house on Brook St. 15 months ago we didn't notice that one of the bathrooms didn't have any power outlets. Do you know how difficult it is to dry your hair without an outlet to plug it in to? Little things like that make moving worth it.

I have "battle wounds" from our move, I'm a walking zombie today and getting ready for work and school this morning for the 4 of us was beyond challenging. However, we are moved and on the way to better living! :)

Cheers to boxes!

Truth #3

I'm annoyingly superstitious. Members of my family laugh at me. Here is my top 10 list:

1. Do not walk under a ladder. I once made Ryan walk in reverse back under a ladder after he had done it in an effort to cancel out the negative energy that he had just caused.
2. Do not split a pole if you're walking hand-in-hand with someone. Brett does this on purpose.
3. DON'T SPILL THE SALT! And yes, I will throw it over my left shoulder if you do. Brett also does this intentionally.
4. Do not cross the path of a black cat unless you "cross" him out. There are smeared crosses all over my windshield above the steering wheel in my jeep. Brett just shakes his head.
5. Do not see the bride before the wedding. Not only this, but also don't walk down the aisle to your soon-to-be husband prior to the actual day. I had a stand in during my rehearsal.
6. Fridays the 13th are bad. Hide! I used to really hide, but I can't do that anymore.
7. Always enter using the same door you used to exit.
8. Pennies - If you see a penny heads up, pick it up. If you see a penny tails up, flip it over and leave it alone. Yes, I do this regularly. Quick story: When we were painting Ryan's nursery before he was born I walked into his room and found a penny, heads up sitting in the dead center of the floor. I picked it up and put it over the door in his room. It never left until we moved.
9. It's bad luck to let a flag touch the ground. Not to mention disrespectful.
10. Dreaming of death means someone is pregnant. This normally holds true.

Yes friends, I'm odd. I'm not sure what has prompted my superstitions. My guess would be a number of events throughout my life. Eh, who knows. Don't abuse my weirdness! My anxiety level may go throw the roof! :)

Truth #2

I believe in love at first sight.

Cheesy, right? Well, not for me. I met Brett when he interviewed me for an internship at a golf course in June of 2004. I remember the entire experience, word for word, minute by minute, feeling by feeling, as if it were yesterday. I remember he was wearing black pants and a black & red striped polo. **I have the shirt in one of my memory boxes. He was THE. MOST. BEAUTIFUL. THING. I had ever seen. This uncontrollable feeling of 'I have to be with this man' came over me. As soon as I snapped back to reality I looked at his ring finger. Surely this gorgeous piece of God's work is married. NOPE! No ring! Ok, Ashleigh... game on! I sat down, participated in my interview as professionally as my melting heart would allow. At the end of it, I got up and shook his beautiful hand and left. I couldn't get in the car fast enough to call my Mama to give her the good news; I'm getting married! Well, not exactly, but I certainly found the man I was going to marry, whether he knew it or not. She laughed at me.

Fast forward to the next day: I get a phone call while I'm sitting in the lobby of my college gym. The conversation went like this:

B: "Hey, Ashleigh. This is Brett."
A: "Uh, who?"
B: "Brett. From Anderson Creek."
A: "Oh! Hey!" - ok, so not only do I now feel like a complete idiot, but I feel like a complete idiot while on the phone with my crush... as if I'm 13 again.
B: "So, can you start this weekend?"
A: "SURE!" (SCORE!)
B: "Ok, I'll see you at 6:30am"
A: "uhhhhhhhh... yeah, ok. 6:30"

That Saturday was a whirlwind. Trying to keep my mind on learning a point of sale system when I'd rather be learning all about this man who was teaching me was hard. It was like I stepped in a time machine and went back to middle school again. My palms were sweaty, my hands were shaky, I was clumsy. What was this feeling? Oh yeah........ L-O-V-E! I was in love. I was deeply, madly in love with this man whom I'd spent all of 2 hours with.

I got through the day, I went home and I thought about him. I went back to work on Sunday. My eye candy was there with me too. He made working weekends seem like a vacation. I was addicted. I was addicted to Brett.

Then he left. He left me and went to Mexico. Now, keep in mind at this point I had not given any inclination that I was interested in him. Ok, so interested might not be a strong enough word. He had no idea that I was obsessed with him.

Midway through his Mexican adventure, he texted me, "Do you miss me?" WHOA! I was beside myself.

He came home on a Sunday afternoon. We went out that Monday. He moved in with me 2 weeks later. We got married 2 years after that.

So see.... Love at first sight happens and it happened to me.

A new game - 30 truths

An old friend of mine (man that sounds awkward... like we're old or something) blogs and I follow it regularly. She recently did a blog entry series she named "30 truths." For 30 days she revealed a truth about herself. I thought it was awesome and I learned a lot about her that I didn't already know. So, I'd like to "steal" the idea from her and do my own 30 truths series. So, for the next 30 days, in addition to my regular updates and antics, I will be offering truths about myself. Many of you know that I have no "filter"... so as a precaution and disclaimer my truths are my opinions, of which everyone is entitled to their own, and it is not my intention to insult or offend anyone. Not to mention, this blog will one day be seen by my children. I will not put anything on here that I wouldn't want them knowing later. We all have our secrets, right? :)

With all that being said, my first truth will be "safe" and tame...


Truth #1: I love NC State

If I could go back to college, I'd go to State. Actually, I would not trade any of my college experiences for the world, but I would want all of them to take place in Wolfpack country.

I was born during the NC State vs. Duke football game. My papa and uncle were at that game. I'm assuming had my Deddy not been busy helping my Mama through her breathing, he would have been there too. Regardless, my Papa was the first of my extended family to hold me in the hospital. Several years ago, Papa gave me his ticket stub from that very game. He framed it and wrapped it up and gave it to me for my birthday.

Wolfpack football gives me the chills. The good kind of chills. It's a thrill that I could experience every minute of every day if it were possible. Football season is by far my most favorite time of the year. One day we will have season tickets of our own. And MAYBE one day, NCSU will have a decent basketball team. :)

Luckily I found a fellow State fanatic to marry. Our children are born and bread to be Pack fans. They have no choice in the matter. Some of my best memories have taken place at Carter Finley Stadium and I intend to continue the family tradition for our children. Maybe one day I'll be able to give my grandchild a ticket stub I used on his/her Birth day game.

*Cool side note - the t-shirt Liam is wearing above has been passed down to every child born into the Radford family since my brother was born. Same shirt, different babies! Papa would bring it to the hospitals when meeting each one of his grandchildren, with the exception of me.

Just pictures

Ryan helping Brett blow out his birthday candles.

Liam's 5 month pictures - why yes! He's wearing Christmas pjs in February... :)

Ryan and I made Valentines for his friends at school

More birthday for Brett!

Ryan, Liam and Aunt Tara!

Playing trucks with Grandpa

Liam loves bananas!

Liam & Dee Dee hanging out

Ready for the snow!

Ryanisms

I can't express in words how awesome our weekend was, and we didn't really do a whole lot, at least not compared to normal. Friday night Brett worked late so Ryan, Liam and I hung out at home, played games, watched Spongebob and played. On Saturday my Deddy came for a quick visit to drop off a new heater for Brett's studio. We visited for a while then Brett went into work. Ryan, Liam and I went to see a friend's soccer game then had a late lunch with them afterwards. I had my first Thirty One party on Saturday night (I'm a Thirty One Consultant) so I dropped Ryan and Liam off with Brett at work and went to my party, which doubled as a girls night out for me because I knew everyone there. (Score! My party did great! - *Thanks Caroline!) Sunday we hung out around the house. Brett was off and I had a goal on completing ALL of the laundry that was overtaking my laundry room. I swear, laundry breeds itself in my house. No matter if I do one load each evening I can never catch up. Potty accidents, spit up and drooly sheets & blankets create a constant battle between me and my washing machine. Anyway, I completed all but 1 load. Whoo hoo! My washer and dryer were breathing a sigh of relief when I went to bed last night. Anyway, Brett washed both cars and I was wonder-woman in the kitchen. I decided to cook one of Brett's favorite meals, but also cooked dinner for tonight as well. So I had 2 dinners going at one time. I'm looked forward to going home this evening and being able to play instead of cook! Our menu tonight: Chicken Tortilla Soup! YUMMMMM! All in all, this weekend was great. We had some great family time outside in this beautiful weather. I hope it's here to stay because I really hate the cold. Oh, and it is not going to be long at all before Liam becomes mobile!

Ryan kept me laughing this weekend. I really do think we could do a reality TV show just on him. He takes "Kids say the darndest things" to a whole new level. So, in honor of him, here is a compiled list of my favorite Ryanisms:

Ryan picks up a penny out of can of change and smells it.
Me: "Ryan, what are you doing?"
Ryan: "smelling my pennies because they're wonderful."

"Mama, I'm a bathtub-peein'-machine!"

While cracking my knuckles (bad habit, yes I know), Ryan asks, "Mama, why are you smashing yourself?"

"Mama, I don't like to eat boogers or bugs."

"Mommy, Carter wants a french fry. Carter can't have french fries because he's a dog."

"Mama, I can't hold my pee pee or my penis will fall off."

"Boo-yah!"

While on the way to our families homes for Christmas:
Ryan: "We're going to the circus, Daddy?"
Brett: "No Buddy, we're a traveling circus. We've got animals, midgets and everything."
Ryan: "Oh, ok."

"I have the bless yous, Mama."

Me to Ryan: "Ready Freddy?"
Ryan: "No, I'm ready Ryan."

While watching Rihanna perform on the MTV Music Awards on TV Ryan says "Where's her shirt? She needs to put on a shirt!"

Ryan: "I don't want to clean the house."
Me: "Me neither, but it needs to be done."
Ryan: "I don't want it to be done. I like a mess."

Ryan to Brett: "You're not a man! You're a little girl!"

On the way to the drug store to pick up meds for Ryan:
Ryan: "We're going to the farm cause they have my medicine there."
Me: "No, the pharmacy. The drug store."
Ryan: "Yeah, the farm. That's what I said."

Ryan: "Daddy, I got lots of candy!"
Brett: "Oh, yeah?"
Ryan: "Yeah, it's called Trick or Treating!"

Me: browning chicken for dinner
Ryan: "Hey! Turn that chicken down! It's too loud!"

Ryan to Brett: "Hey nutball, come here!"

While eating spinach & chicken alfredo, I say to Ryan (as he's stuffing his face), "Eating that spinach will give you big muscles!" While processing my comment, he finishes chewing, holds out his arms, looks at them, then at me and says, "They're not bigger!"

"Mama, I want to pee like a river."

"Mom, these trees look like my broccoli!"

Ryan: "Daddy, I can't see the tv."
Brett: "Why?
Ryan: "Cause your guns are in the way." (Referring to Brett's arms.)

Ryan: "There's my Daddy, Mom!"
Me: "No, that's not your daddy."
Ryan: "Why?"
Me: "Because I didn't marry that man."...
Ryan: "Why?"Me: "Because he's not a pretty man."
Ryan (to Brett when he got back in the car): "Daddy, you're a man."