tag! you're it...

My first game of blog tag!! I was tagged  by Emily over at 2 Dogs & A Baby

Here's the Rules:
#1 Post these rules
#2 Answer the 11 questions from the person who tagged you
#3 Create 11 new questions for the people you tag
#4 Tag 11 people and link them to your post
#5 Let them know that you tagged them

My Answers to Her Questions:
1. What is your favorite time of the day?
I can't believe I'm about to say this, but....the morning (at least the mornings after everybody sleeps through the whole night).  Snuggling in bed with my 3 loves before daddy goes to work.  Everybody is rested and happy and giggly.  Love it!

Technically, this picture was from evening snuggle time, but you get the idea...


2. Do you have any kids?
Two beautiful babies. My peanut sized, very independent, 19 month old Boogie.  My chunky monkey, snuggle muffin, 3.5 month old C-Monk.

I never really noticed till now, but it looks like he's giving her CPR in the picture.  I assure you, she was fine  he just loves to give sissy kisses then say "nice" (because we always said "aww, that's nice").

3. What would your dream job be?
For the time being, I have my dream job: Full-Time Mommy!  I get to be with my kiddos 24/7; be there for every moment of their short childhood years.  This time goes so fast and I'm so blessed and thankful to be able to devote all my time to making it great.

Once the kiddos are in school, I'd like to rejoin the traditional working world, at least part time.  I miss my residents at TCK so badly!  I absolutely want to go back into the industry of working with older adults.  They are such an inspiring group of people to work with.  I'm very passionate about the cause of finding a cure for Alzheimer's and other memory stealing diseases.  I would love to work with older adults suffering from these diseases to help make their last years great and be there to support their families through the challenges that lay ahead.

That's my Poppy and the driving force behind that passion. Love you and Miss you!


4. Who is someone you look up to--that maybe doesn't know it?
There's a lot of people I 'look up to' for many different reasons. People who inspire me, people who encourage me, even people who show me who I DON'T want to be.  For this question, I'll pick on my friend Heather over at Sweet Peas & Sassafras.  I grew up with Heather and became good friends our last couple years of high school.  We went our separate ways for college, got married, had kids, but have been able to stay in touch through the wonderful world wide web.  In the spirit of blogging, she's the one who initially inspired me to start my own. She's always been a great writer and journalist and I can probably never match her wit, but I'm at least trying....

She also played a role in inspiring my passion for photography.  If you haven't checked out her work, you should...here's an amazing example:

I think this is hands down my favorite family picture.  Too bad C-Monk was still hiding in my belly.  Looks like I'll have to bribe Heather to take some shots of all 4 of us sometime...

Lastly, and most importantly, I look up to her because she's a rock star mommy.  She's shared her life through pictures of all the fun and silliness that ensues in their house and many times I've said to myself "can you be my mommy for a day?" For the last few months she's done it all by herself as her hubby took a short term job half way across the country! Every time I get stressed out dealing with my two kiddos by myself and start staring at the clock, waiting for J to come home and save me...I think of her and how she just powers through, don't know how she does it!


5. What the best part about being married?
Wow, it's hard to pick one thing. I guess the best way to explain it is not being afraid to fall cause you know someone will be there to catch you.  J is absolutely the biggest support system in my life. He's my foundation, always there holding me up.  I've always been a very anxious person; a worry wart if you will.  J is very level headed and laid back.  Anytime I get overwhelmed (which is often), he's there to calm me down. I don't know if this is true for all marriages, or if I'm just lucky. I love knowing that he will always be there; it let's me breathe a little easier...

6. Morning person or night owl?
Night Owl.  Always have been. Looking back I think it's because of my dad. Yes, he's a night owl too, but I don't mean just genetically I get it from him.  Growing up my dad worked so hard for our family.  He was gone all day till about 6:30 every night and on business trips all the time. I got into the habit of staying up late to just spend time with him, because sometimes that's the only time we had.  We didn't do anything wild and crazy, but would just sit on the couch and watch random TV shows and movies. My mom is quite the morning person and would head to bed long before us, so it was just me and him; hanging out, spending time.

Gone are my days of being able to make up for it by sleeping till noon (man, I don't remember the last time I did that, but it sounds A.Ma.Zing!).  Having babies has definitely made it easier for me to get up early, but I still don't like it...


7. What are 3 words to describe you?
Now I feel like I'm in a job interview...what should I say; hardworking? team player?...
No really, this is such a hard question.  Forces you to look at yourself objectively, which I'm really not good at.....


Open minded: (I guess that's technically two words in one) I definitely have an open door, open arms philosophy about life.  It is not my place to judge anyone for who they are or what they do.  It is my job to love them for those very reasons.  I'm willing to give advice from my personal experiences, but I will never cast my opinions upon you. Every single person is different (that's the way God made us). We all make mistakes. Every single person has walked a different path through life; paths that have shaped them into the person they are and guide them to make the choices they do.  It's easy to make judgments and put up walls against the unfamiliar, but I strive to embrace it.  If there's one value I hope my children will inherit from me, it's to love people for who they are. "owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law...and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to a neighbor..." Romans 13:8-10


Observer: My whole life my personality has been misunderstood.  People always classify me as "shy" or "reserved." But, those who really know me, know that these are not valid descriptors. I think the labels "shy" and "reserved" imply fear or timidness; neither of which are me.  I am merely an observer.  I love the details of life.  I love to watch interaction and process.  I love to learn how others live and think. I'm like a sponge, I love to soak it all up. Sitting in a mall or airport and "people watching" is an all time favorite activity.  I'm just fascinated by life.

Obsessive-Compulsive: Not in a "touch the door knob 5 times, followed by two claps and a turn or something bad will happen" kind of OCD, but...I like a routine.  I like order.  I like to know the plan.  As I mentioned before, I'm a worry wart; always functioning at a high level of anxiety.  It helps to ease my anxiety if I know what to expect.  I don't like surprises or sudden changes to my plan. With a hubby as laid back and "last minute" as J, my high attention to detail and planning is good to have or else we'd never make it anywhere on time or maybe anywhere at all for that matter, but it's also probably fairly annoying to those who don't understand my anxiety. J has definitely been a good balance and brought me down a little bit, but I'm pretty sure he still thinks I'm crazy...


8. What is one thing you don't like about yourself?
See question 7....my worry wart, high anxiety, OCD tendencies....sometimes I wish I could just let my hair down and fly by the seat of my pants...

9. Have you ever laughed so hard you wet your pants?
Yes, many times.  I'm often 'that girl' who can't stop laughing long after the joke is over; the giggles just keep coming.  The most recent, fall on the floor, pee my pants (because peeing your pants is much easier to do after having 2 babies) laughing moment involved my children.  It's definitely a story for their baby books...

I breastfeed C-Monk and since I'm home alone with both kiddos all the time, Boogie sees me feed her...I never really thought twice about it...

One morning when C-monk was about a month old Boogie jumped up on the couch and grabbed my boppy (the curved nursing pillow) and put it on his lap.  He then put his arms out reaching for the baby. I'm sure you can guess where this story is going, but in the moment all I was thinking was "aww, great idea buddy! With the pillow there, you can actually hold your sissy!"  So, I went ahead and laid her on the pillow....

Yes, Boogie proceeded to lift his shirt and try to breastfeed his sister!  I know I should have been the mature mommy and done something more responsible, but the giggles just erupted....I couldn't stop them....before I knew it I was doubled over in laughter....crying...and, yes, probably peeing my pants a little bit....


10. What was your favorite subject in school?
In high school: I loved journalism (yearbook editor right here, and yes, it was a class!). I guess I'm following that passion through this blog and my highly detailed baby books...my children will never feel like they missed out on knowing about all their milestones!  I liked health education and P.E. (I loved that we had 'special interest' P.E. classes, like dance!). Well, I ended up with a master's degree in this area, so I guess it made an impression on me...

In college: I obviously loved the classes related to my major.  My favorite was probably our exercise science lab.  I also loved all my gerontology classes because, well, I love old people :)

11. What was for favorite Superbowl commercial?
What Superbowl? What commercials?  I was too busy chasing toddlers and calming a screaming baby and entertaining guests and eating delicious food...

Here's C-Monk in the bumbo watching the 'opening ceremonies'

My Questions to You:
1. What is one of your favorite quotes?
2. What chore do you absolutely hate doing?
3. What sound do you love?
4. If you could chose to stay a certain age forever, what age would you chose and why?
5. I f you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
6. If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?
7.  Which celebrity would play you in a movie about your life?
8. What would the movie about your life be titled?
9. What was your favorite toy as a child?
10. Who is your best friend and how did you meet?
11. What is the most recent dream you can remember?


Bloggers I'm Tagging:
Stephanie at Letters From the Loux's
Heather at Sweet Peas & Sassafras
Valerie at The Kansas Perrys
Nicole at Furrow Family Fun
Sophie at Real Housewife of Kansas City
Becky at My life as wife, teacher, friend, etc

Yes, I failed at tagging 11 people. Emily (who tagged me) and I have too many blogger friends in common....guess I need more friends...

Anyway, Tag! You're it!!