I Love You More Today Than Yesterday, But Less Than Tomorrow

Cullen and I will share our three year anniversary on July 22nd...

I just told him, "Happy East Coast Anniversary!" :)

I met Cullen in 1999 not too long after he got out of the Marines. He was actually still on leave when we met. The first time I saw him was when Tiffany, Heather and I were playing darts and I noticed this guy on the platform behind us, watching us play and drinking a beer.

Later, I had turned around and Tiffany had disappeared. I asked Heather, "Where's Tiff?". The guy drinking the beer responded, "She went to the bathroom.". Since Rigsy's was a neighborhood dive and I knew most of the regulars, my first thought about him was, "What a weirdo! I can't believe he's watching us that closely." At that time I was still dating my ex-boyrfriend, Adam, and didn't give much thought to how hot the guy drinking the beer was. Since he was watching us play darts, I offered to play him in a game, knowing that I would kick his butt. I mean I did play every single night. He accepted and proceeded to whip out his own set of darts. I thought to myself, "Crap." Let's just say...he kicked my butt.

Over the next month or so we became acquanitances and I would say hi and give him a hug whenever I saw him. During that time, my ex-boyfriend and I had broken up, but I had never thought of Cullen in that way...not yet anyways.

One day, a big group of friends planned to go jetskiing at Kingsley Lake. My Dad had invited Cullen (he didn't know that it was my Dad) and later that night I invited him as well. He accepted and we exchanged phone numbers. He asked what time we were leaving, and I said early...probably around 8:30 am or so.

Sidetrack - I had programmed his name in my cell phone as 'Colin' and didn't know his real name for a couple of months. How sad is that?

The next morning I received a call around 8 am, it woke me up. Surprisingly, I didn't mind (which is very unusual). He wanted to know if we were still on for the day and how to get there. I said yes and gave him directions to the house.

He was the VERY first person to show up and we got to chat a little while we waited for my friends. After they all got there, they got to watch a lovely (read: very boring) safety video (seriously, Dad, WTF?), get the skiis ready and we were on our way...after a quick chat to my friend saying, "I call shot-gun in the hot guy's car." We had a fun ride out to Stricklands and got to talk about various things.

We finally got out there and by this time I had an itty-bitty crush on my new friend. I was wearing a bathsuit and was extremely nervous to take off my board shorts. I did it as fast as I could, but apparently it didn't escape the eyes of my new friend as he blew a nice, loud whistle my way. :)

We all took turns rising on the skiis with each other and I finally got my chance to ride with Cullen. He was the driver and I rode bitch. Kristen and Mark pulled up next to us and I faked licking Cullen's ear. She did the same to Mark and Cullen laughed. It wasn't until much later that he knew why she did that.

We had an extremely fun day and even shared our first kiss...much to my father's irritation. Apparently, we had gone past our time limit by like 30 minutes or so.

Ooops.

After jetskiing, all of us had made plans to go watch the new movie Sixth Sense at the OP AMC Theater. As much as he would like to think it was my doing, gradually throughout the afternoon, more and more people called to cancel until it was just Cullen and I. We decided to go anyways and had a blast on what we consider now our very first date.

I knew that day that he was someone I could fall for...and I did. Hard. After dating for 5 years, he FINALLY popped the question and we got married 4 months later on July 22, 2004. One of the happiest days of my life, despite the morning sickness and appendicitis.

Cullen, you were my savior and through our ups and downs I was ALWAYS able to count on you. You are the love of my live and as you say, "I love you more today than yesterday, but less than tomorrow."

Thank you for the love you have shared with me.
Thank you for the arms that have cuddled me.
Thank you for the words that have comforted me.
Most of all, THANK YOU for the best gift you could have ever given me - Mikayla.

Happy Anniversary, Cu!

Where in the World Does She Learn These Things?

"Mommy! My air balloon floated away! Oh My God! Daddy!"

I was giving her a bath when she heard the other shower start running.

"What's that sound?"

"Daddy's taking a shower."

"Oh, no...." (she said this with a very disappointed face)

"What's wrong, baby?"

"Bathtime's over."

"Huh?"

"It's done. Over."

I still don't get it, but she wouldn't elaborate.

When it's close to her bedtime we start giving her a little notice. We read somewhere that it helps with the transition of being awake to going to bed without screaming. We like no screaming.

"Mikayla, it's going to be bedtime soon."...."Mikayla, you have five more minutes until it's bedtime."...."Mikayla, it's time for bed."

Without fail, she will turn to us, hold up five fingers and say, "Five more minutes." More often than not, we say, "Okay...but that's it and then it's bedtime." "Okay."And then she goes off peacfully to bed.

We were at the grocery store and Mikayla was in one of the grocery carts that have a little car attached to the front. I noticed that a whole bunch of food was on the floor. I thought to myself, "What people don't pick up after themselves?" Shortly after that, I see Mikayla's arm straight out to the side knocking everything off of the shelves.

"Damn it, Mikayla."

"Sorry, Mommy."

And that was it...until....we get into the car and she asks to use the phone to talk to Nanny. I give her the phone, the phone rings and Poppi picks up on the other end

"DAMN IT, POPPI!"

See? Like I said....where in the world is she learning these things?

Phrases That I Absolutely Hate

"It was in the last place that I looked." - Seriosuly? Has anyone ever kept looking for something that they had already found?

"You can't have your cake and eat it too." - If I can't, then what is the purpose of having the cake? To sit and stare at it?

Sidetrack: I just looked up the history on the saying and it makes more sense now. The first recorded usage of this term was in 1546 and said, "wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?". Meaning...how is it possible for you to eat your cake yet still have it?

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch." - Why not? If you are in the business of selling eggs (why else would you care how many you had?) you would probably know the statistics as to approximately how many of them would hatch. Wouldn't this then be a sound business decision? You could then estimate your new inventory and profits. Man...everyone likes money!

Yes, I know that I am being literal...but they still irritate me.

DITC: The Magician - "She can even make toys disappear!"

I was washing dishes, staring out into the backyard watching two crows fight over an apple I had thrown out there an hour earlier. I had noticed that I hadn't heard Mikayla in about 5 mintues which usually means she's causing trouble. I glance over into her playroom and noticed that she had dumped every single toy that she had into one pile and was sitting right smack-dab in the middle.

"Mikayla, honey, pick up your toys, please."

"I'm playing."

"You can't possible be playing with every single one of those toys."

"YES I CAN!"

"MI-KAY-LA...PICK. UP. YOUR. TOYS."

"O-KAY!" (no ide where she gets that attitude from...)

I continue washing the dishes and hear her rustling around. What a good girl! She was actually listening to me...not only listening to me, but picking up her freaking toys!

I start dinner and a little while later Cullen comes home. We do our nightly routine and eventually put the kid to bed. I walked into the kitchen and out of the corner of my eye noticed that her Dora tent (courtesy of Aunt Stacy and Uncle Doug) was tipped over. So, I went over picked up and put it back in its place.

"That little twerp!"

"What?"

"She didn't pick up her toys! She just covered the pile with the Dora tent!"

We both then proceed to die laughing.

A Child's Best Friend

My last post got me to thinking about man's best friend. Well, rather mine.Like I said before, we picked Cookie up one day when I was in the 5th grade in 1992 (she was born January 20th). I remember riding over to the breeder's house so excited. Mom had told us that when she was younger, she had a Peekapoo and it was the best dog she had ever had and she said that was the kind of puppy we were getting. I thought it was a funny name for a dog and said so. It was then that I was informed that a Peekapoo is a mixed dog...one part Pekingnese and one part Poodle.

We arrived at the house and walked into their backyard. We got to see the Mama doggy and the Papa doggy. The Mama doggy was a white Pekingnese and I thought she was so funny looking. The Papa doggy was a white Standard Poodle and so curly!

We walked over to where the puppies were at and I don't remember much about the other puppies, but I do remember the one that was soon to be ours. She was so incredibly black that you couldn't even see her eyes. Not only that but she was the runt...so much smaller than the others and so cute! She was the one that I wanted. The rest was pretty much a whirlwind. The next thing I knew, we were sitting in the car and I couldn't stop looking at her.

We had to come up with a name for her.

She had little pieces of white and caramel on the bottom of her feet. I said, "Maybe Oreo...because of the white." A friend that was with us, Erika, said, "I think she looks more like s'more."

Slight sidetrack...I just went to http://www.dictionary.com/ to find out where the apostrophe fell in the letters "s-m-o-r-e" when I found out that "smore" actually means to smother something. I mean, I guess the graham cracker is smothered in chocolate...still surprised that the dessert wasn't mentioned.

So, somehow or another the name "Cookie" was brought up and we all thought that was the perfect name for her.

Once, she went to sleep in my parent's bed. They woke up and couldn't find her. We were all scared that they rolled over her or something (she could literally fit in your hand) and squished her. We eventually found her between the waterbed mattress and the headboard...asleep peacefully.

She loved to play fetch (something our other dog Patches never quite got) and would run like a rabid dog all over the house if she went outside and it was a chilly morning. She would run from room to room, tail down. To get her going again all we had to do was step towards her. She also loved those chew rope toys and would bite one end and then lay on her belly with her legs and paws splayed out to the side. She wanted us to drag her around on her belly...the faster the better. The second we hit the tile she would jump up and prance until we got back to the carpeted areas.

Don't even get me started on the trampoline stories or how she was too good to walk on wet grass!

Anytime we would leave the house, she would run to the dining room window, prop up on her front two paws and watch us drive away with the saddest expression on her face. The second we got home (even if we had only been gone for a quick trip to the convenience store for milk) she acted like it had been years since she saw us.

For the next 8 years, she wouldn't leave my side when I was home. She was the tissue for broken hearts, she was the salve for parental arguments and she was so protective of Shawn and I. She was so little but if for some reason Shawn and I were getting in trouble and yelling ensued, she growled and barked her little head off. She stood up to my 6'2" Dad. That was interesting.

When I moved into my first apartment, I had really wanted to take her with me. We tried having her come over for visits, but she would bark incessantly. She would be better off back at her home with a yard she could run in. I mean, I still got to visit her when I went over to my parent's house which was quite often. She would always welcome me with a few licks and a whole lot of tail waggin'.

As the girl got older you could see the grey popping up here and there until eventually, that's mostly what she was....grey. Her hips started giving her problems and she liked to rest more. I still got warm welcomes, but they were a little slower. However, there were days when she acted like a puppy again and would start running around the house so excited, but man...after that...much hydration was needed!

I know that it was a hard decision that my parents had to make with her medical decline. Give her steroids that helped a great deal but caused internal bleeding and ulcers or let her live not being able to walk due to the pain, but no bleeding?? I think my Mom made one of the hardest decisions...and a very brave and unselfish one...to have her put to sleep.

While I missed her incredibly after I moved out...and even years after that. I am kind of glad that I wasn't there for the worst of it. I get to remember Cookie as she once was...the little black dog that would paw the door to sleep with me at night and take up half the bed. The Cookie who would pick up one ball of dry food at a time, walk into the living room to eat it and then walk back to her bowl in the kitchen. The Cookie who for some reason lift her leg to pee.

The Cookie who was the best friend that a girl could have.

Exactly What is a "DITC"?

Someone has asked, "What is a DITC? I know it's your daughter, but I don't get it."

Well...this acronym came from my previous blog that I stopped writting for a long time ago. Here is the very first post from that blog where I nicknamed Mikayla the "Demon in Toddler Clothing.":

Date: August 16, 2006 1:50 pm
Title: Your Kid is a Demon in Toddler Clothing (this was directed atCullen)

Thank you, Cullen, for the clarity you brought me today. OR NOT! What follows is our IM conversation:

Courtney says:OH MY GOD!

Courtney says:YOUR kid just crawled from the couch to the end table, pulled off her diaper (that had poop in it!!!) and peed!

Courtney says:on the table!

Cullen says:wow

Courtney says:with her poopy diaper in her hand, dripping to the table!!!!

Cullen says:at least it wasn't on the couch

Courtney says:You're kidding me right?

Courtney says:There's no "at least" in this situation

Cullen says:it would definitely be worse if she had peed on you