Saturday, June 18, 2011

100 Things you may or may not know about the Auto Momma

I wanted to have this post ready to go on my 100th blog post. Due to the sleep training, I missed doing it. So this is my... 110th blog post, or something like that. But I'll still give you 100 things about me! Here goes, it may get a little boring.

1. I am a Colorado native.

2. Since I was born here in 1981.

3. My parents were married when I was born, and are still married. They've been married over 35 years. It may be closer to 40. My parents are nice people.

4. My views on marriage, staying with it through thick and thin, came from my parents marriage. I don't believe, however, that you should stay with someone abusive.

5. I got my first and only perm when I was in fifth grade. I had bangs at the time and they got permed too.

6. I thought I would look SO cool.

7. I looked like a spiral poodle.

8. I discovered that my hair holds a perm VERY well, and I had a bad perm right up until it grew out.

9. My hair is at least twice as thick as most people's hair. The strands are very fine, so it is very heavy.

10. I wore it down to my lower back/top of my butt until Jr. High, and I've never let it get that long again.

11. I like my hair better now than I have for the last 10 years.

12. I donated 11 inches of pregnancy hair shortly before having Gage.

13. The stylist had to put it into four ponytails and cut each one separately.

14. I was really happy to think of someone getting a wig from pregnancy hair.

15. When I finished my first go-round at 8th grade, I went on a trip with my class to Washington, DC.

16. We stayed in a hotel and saw the sights.

17. I thought staying in a hotel without parents was the coolest.

18. I shared a walkman with my friend Abi.

19. We listened to Ace of Base over and over and over.

20. My grandparents, who lived in PA, let me spend two weeks with them after DC before my parents came back.

21. It was a really great two weeks that I'll always be thankful I had. My grandparents lived well into their 90s but they're gone now and I miss them.

22. I was still glad to see my family when they got there.


23. Every day at noon I watched All My Children with my grandma.

24. I thought Tad and Dixie's wedding was the most beautiful wedding ever. I knew nothing of soap opera romance because I thought they'd be married for ever.

25. Every day at 5:00 PM I would watch The New Lassie, followed by The New Rin Tin Tin. My mom put a stop to that when we got back home.

26. I wanted to be a canine cop so badly so I could have a German Shepherd that I could take everywhere.

27. I ended up raising Guide Dogs for the Blind for three years instead. I still got to take those dogs everywhere. They weren't German Shepherds though. We raised Labs.

28. My family is still friends with the two beautiful women who received our first two dogs we raised.

29. We almost raised a fourth but when our third guide dog failed out, we took her back and the Guide Dog school rehomed the puppy we had been raising.

30. Guide Dogs was part of 4-H and oh my goodness the DRAMA in a 4-H club. I was President of the club for a year and did great until some of the moms rigged the votes the following year. I'm serious. It was proven.

31. I met my friend Alecia through Guide Dogs.

32. We hated each other before we became the best of friends. We've known each other for around 18 years now, give or take.

33. I repeated eighth grade.

34. I didn't fail, but did a voluntary repeat. It may or may not have been the best thing for me.

35. I wasn't a big fan of studying, schoolwork, or going to class.

36. I wish now that I had tried a lot harder and applied myself.

37. IQ tests say I'm smarter than average but I'm terrible at math. I'm pretty good at English.

38. My brother has a genius IQ and is great at math but he says IQ tests aren't worth even thinking about.

39. My brother would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it and he has been married almost a year to a really great woman. I'm so glad he chose me a nice sister-in-law.

40. Ok, I'm really just glad he chose someone he really loves and who makes him happy.

41. I was an apprentice technician at Honda garage for a little while.

42. I thought I didn't need college because I was going to work on cars.

43. I learned working on cars is much more fun as a hobby.

44. I became a service adviser instead, because I thought it seemed cool.

45. Being a service advisor was not "cool," although service advisers make pretty decent money. This is because they are expected to work 12-13 hour days, 5-6 days a week.

46. I will never write service again. Unless my family was starving and I needed a job.

47. I liked helping people with their car problems though.

48. My favorite jobs ever working as a service adviser were when I worked with Brian (he is in parts). We met working together at a Nissan dealership. Brian is the best parts guy on the planet.

49. I'm not biased, it's just the truth. He knows everything about Nissan and Infiniti parts. But he's modest so he'll say he doesn't know EVERYTHING. (But he does.)

50. I married the coolest guy I had and have ever met.

51. When we met, I told him I didn't want to date anyone because I was tired of dating.

52. I told my mom Brian and I were just friends.

53. She told me she didn't believe me because every time we talked I told her I was hanging out with Brian. She was really glad because she hated that I lived alone and liked that there was a guy coming around to "protect me." Ultimately, she was right.

54. When I met Brian, I had an evil Jack Russell Terrier. He liked Brian a lot for two weeks.

55. After two weeks, he would try to lure Brian into playing with him so the dog could try to bite Brian.

56. His name was Reggie but his AKC name was Reginald Foxwarren Spitfire. His mom's name was "(something I can't remember) Foxwarren Psycho." There was definitely psycho in his blood lines.

57. I was pretty sure Brian would stop hanging out with me after Reggie pooped in the back of Brian's Blazer.

58. He didn't stop hanging out with me.

59. We were friends for a while before we started dating.

60. I accidently turned my head when he tried to kiss me the first time.

61. I made up for it by kissing him the next time we were together.

62. We only waited a few months to move in together for practical purposes.

63. We made rules about how we would manage our lease if we broke up.

64. We dated for five and a half years before getting married.

65. We got married on May 19, 2007.

66. It was really windy that day, and we almost moved the ceremony inside.

67. I have been glad every day since that we didn't.

68. I would pick my wedding dress again if I had to. I LOVED it.

69. I haven't had it cleaned yet though. (oops!) I did treat all of the sugar spots.

70. Marrying Brian was one of the best days of my life.

71. Brian is my best friend on this planet.

72. Until I found out I was pregnant with Gage, I was pretty sure I maybe wanted kids, someday. Maybe. Brian has always wanted two kids.

73. The day I found out we were going to have a baby was one of my happiest days.

74. Being a mother is the best, most joyous, most miserable, most beautiful, saddest, most pure, grubbiest, most rewarding, and most thankless job out there.

75. I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything under the sun. It is such a wonderful experience. I love being a wife and a mom SO much.

76. Even though my labor lasted 27.5 hours, I couldn't wait to see our baby. I didn't even want sleep as badly as I wanted to hold him.

77. Once the crazy emotions wore off, I was hungrier than I've ever been in my life.

78. My brain has manufactured a false memory of my time immediately after labor. I remember it as they set me in a folding chair in the middle of the room, and told me best of luck with breastfeeding my brand new baby, while they rushed about and cleaned up the room and got everything ready to move me to mom-baby from labor and delivery.

79. The reality is, they helped me get Gage latched as I relaxed comfortably in the bed. I will never know how or why my brain created the false memory. Brian verified the true memory. It took me over two months for the real memory to reform, at which point I became aware that the false memory was false.

80. I had no idea just HOW tough, brave, and caring Brian could truly be until he helped me through labor.

81. I may have died if he hadn't been there. He even helped me breathe.

82. When I looked at Brian and my son for the first time, I felt like my heart would explode with this brand-new momma love that I had for Gage, and the expanded love I had for Brian as the father of our child.

83. I feel like that every day when I see the two of them together. And each time I look at Gage I feel such incredible, heart-rending love for him. Even on my worst days.

84. I believe that being a mother SHOULD fundamentally change you. It fundamentally changed me, for the better.

85. I also believe that God set me down a path to meet and fall in love with Brian because he is my perfect match.

86. I believe Gage is made for great things.

87. I just want him to be happy.

88. I look forward to having another baby.

89. My worst fear in the world is not being the best momma I can be. Some days I feel like I am. Some days I feel like I'm the worst.

90. I can walk into a room of people and instantly gauge the mood of the people around me.

91. The mood of the room greatly influences how badly I get social anxiety.

92. If people are happy and the mood is open, I can socialize without fear or anxiety. If people are unhappy or there are a lot of closed off feelings, I will feel fearful and anxious the duration of the event.

93. Having Gage has reduced my anxiety greatly. I will do anything to conquer my issues so that he does not suffer for them.

94. I don't have many friends, but I deeply love the ones I have.

95. I seem shy around people I don't know, but I'm VERY outgoing around people I do know.

96. I want Gage to be comfortable in any circumstance.

97. I want very badly to do with my life what God would like me to do. Sometimes I feel like I'm wasting my gifts. Sometimes I feel like I'm just building them until the day where they explode out of me.

98. I wish for everyone the sort of relationship with God where they feel that He can take every burden from their shoulders, even though sometimes I forget to ask for that myself.

99. I see Brian and Gage as huge turning points in my life. They are the biggest blessings in my adult life. Maybe even all of my life.

100. I always try to remember how blessed I am even when things are as bad as they can be.

I hope you're still awake after all that! And I hope you enjoyed reading a little bit of the random factoids that make up my life.

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