Whew!

Late breaking news: Randy Moss signed a three year deal with New England after all. WHEW!!! Now that doesn't have to be an issue for the Packers. Hopefully Brett will be back anyway! I know what you're thinking: "Melody, you're blogging at 1am about THAT??!!! Don't you have anything important to say?" Well, frankly, no I don't. It's 1am. LOL I do, however, have to get downstairs to let the dogs out one more time tonight and then head back to bed. So....goodnight.

Proud parents

I mentioned in my previous post that our friend Stacy came over for supper on Saturday night. It was great to see her. I had to post part of an email she sent me. Here it is:
YOu and Mark have raised one wonderful little girl! I can't believe how smart and verbally intelligent HOpe is! She completely amazed me. there aren't that many 2 1/2 year olds that you can actually hold a conversation with - it's so awesome. i just wanted you to know that.
And this is from someone who knows kids!! Needless to say, I'm "busting my buttons" with pride right now. I mean, Mark and I think she's a pretty amazing little girl, but it's always really nice to hear that someone else thinks she's pretty amazing, too.

The sun is out today. YEAH!!! It actually rained here yesterday. Maybe that's a sign that spring might actually get here sometime between now and next winter. It's cold today though (high of about 22), but tomorrow it's supposed to be 30!! How sick is it to live in a place where you think that 30 is warm??!!! WINTER, WINTER, GO AWAY...and don't ever come back.

Pre-School Fun!!

Well, we did it. We officially registered Hope for pre-school on Friday. She tells people when we talk about registering her for pre-school that "Mommy had a tear in her eye." Yep. I have to admit I did. OK. So I know it's only pre-school and I know it's only two days a week (and only 2 hrs and 15 minutes each day), but still. It's just another sign that our little girl is growing up way more quickly than I'd like her to. Soon it'll be kindergarten and I'm sure I'll be bawling all day when that day comes. Now if we can just get the potty training thing completely under our belts, we'll be good to go!!

Just to show you how ready she is for pre-school: Mark took Hope for a walk today and she saw the geese in their echelon mode (the V flight pattern). She said, "Vacation." Mark couldn't figure out what she was talking about until she said, "V. Vacation. Violin." I think we have a smart one on our hands.

Last night we had our friend Stacy over for supper. It was so great to see her again. It's been way too long!! Hope fell in love with Stacy. It was so fun to watch her play....and Stacy was so good with her. Now maybe we could persuade Stacy to come and babysit so Mark and I could actually have a date night!!! What a concept! The last time we did that was in July of last year. I think it's time, don't you??

I'm going to a baby shower today for a friend who is adopting a little girl from Guatemala. Maybe she'll name her little girl Hope, too, and we can have THREE Hope's running around at Gethsemane. You can never have enough Hope, can you??

OK...on a sports note: I'm still waiting patiently (although it's getting harder and harder to do the patient thing) for Brett Favre's answer about retiring or not. Rumor has it he'll make his announcement this week. On a funny note (although some people probably don't find it funny): packersnews.com accidently ran a "dumby" page on their website last week. It was up for only 4 minutes and then promptly pulled down. The page said that Brett Favre was retiring. So Mark is convinced now that it wasn't an accident but that somebody knows something that we all don't know. I think it was purely an accident. I think they probably have both pages ready to go (Brett retires AND Brett comes back for another year) so when the decision is announced they can go ahead and put the text on it and get it up and running. I think he'll be back. And on a related note: one thing that might convince Brett to come back if he's sitting on the fence: Randy Moss. Did I just say that name?? UGH and YEAH all at the same time. I guess talks between Moss and New England are not going well, so it looks like Moss might start doing some free-agent interviews. The Packers didn't pick Moss up last year and I guess Brett was pretty ticked off about that. But I think if that's a way to get Brett to come back for another season, the Packers should do it. You have NO idea how hard that is for me to say. Randy Moss was a JERK when he played for the Vikings. Last year in New England he was pretty quiet though. Maybe he's growing up??? I think the Pack will be strong again next year and picking up Moss will just make them even stronger. And somewhere I read that Tom Brady said that wherever Randy goes, he'll go. Hhhhmmmm....maybe Brett's replacement?? I don't know if I could see pretty boy Brady in Green Bay though. I think I'd rather see Aaron Rogers. I love that kid!

OK...that's my take on the Packers and Brett Favre right now. I know you've all been wondering what I was thinking. LOL

Don't forget to move your clocks forward on Saturday night!!!

Great Progress!!

I think I found the key to Hope's potty training success: let her run around the house naked!! She has been doing pretty well with going potty in her "big girl chair lately", but today has been a HUGE breaktrhough. I decided to let her go naked and she even went #2 in her chair without me telling her to!! I realize that there will be set backs (she had a dirty diaper while trying to lay down for a nap this afternoon) and that she's not anywhere near being 100% potty trained yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the progress we've made with Hope's potty training in the past week will continue. Tomorrow we register her for pre-school and she has to be potty trained by the time school starts. Hopefully we're well on our way.

The year of the boy...

It really must be. My last few friends that have had babies have all had boys!! Today I heard from our friends Ali and Tom Pulford. They were due with their first baby on February 6th. I've been on pins and needles to hear the news. Elizah James Pulford was born on January 22 (they had some cell phone and computer virus issues which is why I didn't hear earlier) in Colorado Springs. Elijah weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and was 19.5 inches long. I'm so anxious to see pictures of this new little one. He's got to be absolutely beautiful. Ali sounds wonderful. I think Motherhood totally agrees with her! I told her we'd send her some Packer gear for Eli and she, being a Packer fan, said, "YES!! We have a few Viking things and a few Packer things, but I think we have more Viking things." That is just wrong. LOL Her hubby, Tom, is a Viking fan (everyone has to have their issues...hehehe WE LOVE YOU, TOM!!!). I should have picked up some stuff at the Packer Pro Shop last weekend at Lambeau. Anyway....I'm so glad Eli is here and safe and everyone is good. Now it's time to plan our next trip to the Springs to see the new family.

Speaking of the Packers...here are a couple of pictures of our little Packer fan!! We took these last weekend when we were in Appleton/Green Bay to see Mark. When we got out of the car at Lambeau she screamed, "We're at Lambeau Field!! We're at Lambeau Field!!!" Then when we ate at Brett Favre's Steakhouse that night I took her into the bathroom to change her diaper. She was laying on the changing table when someone came in. She said to them, "We don't like the Vikings. We love the Packers." The lady just laughed. That's our girl!!!

Godspeed, Andrew!!!

Here I sit at my desk with tears in my eyes. My nephew Andrew just called to say goodbye. He took his last test at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS, and he got a 94. He's officially done with school. Tomorrow he leaves for his next part of his journey in the Air Force. He'll be stationed for the next 2-3 years at Ramstein AFB in Germany. He was supposed to be able to come home for a couple of weeks before heading to Germany, but because the military is the military, he can't come home and is heading out immediately. I won't get to see him until Christmas unless I go over this fall, which is a possibility. I'm so proud of him and what he's chosen to do with his life. He's going to love it over there and he's going to do well. The scary part is that 95% of the Airmen and Airwomen over there end up getting deployed. Not all of them get deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, but it could happen. The good thing is that since he's in the Air Force, he wouldn't be on the front lines, but does that really matter with this mess of a war we've gotten ourselves into?? That's truly no consolation to me. I'm praying that he gets deployed to Italy. Now THAT would be perfect!!!

At any rate, Andrew has less than 24 hours left on US soil. I know I've said it before, but in many ways Andrew is like the son I'll never have. I think that's why I'm taking this so hard. I'm really going to miss him. Please keep Andrew and all of our soldiers in your prayers. Godspeed, Andrew!! I love you.

A Mommy question...

Mark and I will eventually be putting our lovely house on the Kinni up for sale. With Mark working from home beginning in the next couple of months (hopefully sooner than later), we really need a bigger house with an extra room that can be an office. An office where he can close the door and not be interrupted by Hope and me if we're home. So, looking ahead, before we can put this house on the market, we have to get rid of a lot of stuff. The first place I started was Hope's room. I just got done going through all of her clothes. Here's my question for all of you Mommies out there...will I cry EVERY time I get rid of the clothes she's outgrown?? I love being able to share these clothes with friends who have little girls (you know who you are....and Beth, if you read this before church tomorrow, be ready for another couple of bags of clothes. hehehe), but it always reminds me of how quickly my girl, my baby, is growing. This week I filled out her pre-school registration form.

That's my question.

And just for the record...I'm STILL getting tears in my eyes when I talk to people about the Super Bowl. I'm still heartbroken that my Packers aren't in the big game tomorrow. Goofiness, I know. The good news is that Hope and I are heading to Appleton next weekend to see Mark. My sister and her family (her hubby John and their two kids...Sophie who is 6--going on 26--and Jack who is 3 months younger than Hope)are meeting us in Green Bay. We're going to the Packer Hall of Fame on Saturday all together. FUN!!! Mark and I have been there, but we think it's high time to take Hope to Mecca:) Then John and Ali lined up a babysitter (John's niece who lives in Green Bay) to watch all three kids (I'm guessing Hope will cry the whole time we're gone) so we can have adult conversation. WHAT A CONCEPT!!! Looking forward to spending next weekend at Lambeau takes away a little--but very little--of the sting of not playing in the Super Bowl tomorrow.

GO GIANTS!!