Snow day!

And blogger, we meet again.

It has been quite a while. I haven't been able to sit down and think for more than 5 seconds at a time, let alone actually put it down into words. We've had quite a bit of snow in the past few days, and it has been unbelievably amazing to watch Matthew play in it. Just knowing that Michael and I have created such a funny, smart and handsome little boy. He learns so many new things a day, it's so hard for me to keep up! He has finally figured out how routines work, and that feels awesome! He knows what to do before bed, he just hasn't figured out WHEN to actually go to bed. We haven't quite gotten the whole 'sleep schedule' thing down, yet. But I know if we really work on it, he'll get the hang of it. I can't complain, though, he sleeps through the night, and has been since he was 6 months old. We're working on his numbers and colors now. He knows a few colors, and can count to 20, even though he misses 1 or 2 numbers occasionally. It's such an honor to see him grow up to be the person that he is. He has the funniest sense of humor, and the cutest personality. He knows when to say 'please', 'thank you',  'yes ma'am, 'no ma'am' 'yes sir', and 'no sir.' So in other words, the boy has manners. Rather he uses them 24/7, or  not at all. And those precious little dimples, when he smiles. I love 'em!

Michael passed the personnel board test for Jefferson County. He's only a few more steps away from rookie school. So let's try to keep our fingers crossed for good results. I'm not sure if I'm extremely excited, or extremely scared. This could be the start of us starting over with our lives. Getting back on our  feet, and having things for ourselves, and being able to enjoy life, and not have to worry about money issues, like we do now. Of course, it wouldn't be a ton of money, but it would be more than we have now. Sometimes, it feels like $5 is more than we have now. We've worked so hard to get where we are today, and when I look around, it doesn't seem like much at all. On the other hand, it just seems like a scary thought. Just to think that my husband could be out there doing one of the most dangerous jobs ever. The thought of losing someone so dear to me, is terrifying. But, we'd never know, if we didn't try, try, try with our lives.

Today has been one of those long, drawn out days, where I feel like I haven't gotten anything done, but this is the longest I've sat down all day long. So, I'm going to try to call it a night, and get that little boogerhead of mine in the bathtub, and off to bed.

If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours..

Being home alone, always does this to me.

It makes me sick to look around, and see that there are so many people in this world that haven't worked a day in their life, but yet, they get things handed to them on a daily basis. I have worked hard for the little that I have, and I have nothing. When I was (forced) to move, everything I owned at the time was detroyed. I had furniture, a refrigerator, clothes, pots and pans, appliances, everything imaginable! But now, I have nada. Everything 'mysteriously' came up missing, or broke, or stolen, etc. There are people that drive brand new cars, and buy the most expensive clothes, but yet, they're cheating the government, or other people for their expenses. They live off of foodstamps and welfare, but drive a brand new Escalade, or have a multi-million dollar home, and wear a $200 pair of pants and carry around a $600 cell phone. And there are illegal immigrants that are still jobs from Americans, and they do the same thing. And then, there are people like us. We have very little, we struggle everyday to make ends meet, but yet, we're still happy. We may not have everything that we want or everything that we need, but we have enough. We're at dead end jobs, with no pay, no car, and no  house to call our own. I want to have more kids, and be able to afford other things, but it's just not in the books right now. We can't afford material things. We do good just to keep our bills paid, to buy soap, and other things we may need, which is very little, I might add. We're not high maintenance. We get the essentials, and we're done. Yes, we do buy things for ourselves, when we have the extra money. We don't go out to eat, we don't buy new (namebrand) clothes/shoes. We keep clothes on our sons back, and food in his mouth. He is the happiest kid ever, and we don't spend millions of dollars to buy his love, like most parents. He gets a hotwheel ($1.00) a week. I know it doesn't sound like much, and it may sound like we don't care about him, like other parents, but we do that BECAUSE we love him. He knows that we love him regardless or what we buy him, or where his clothes from, or what shoes he wears. And most of you may think that its because he's only 2, and he may not understand. This very well may be true, but regardless, he looks at that dollar toy a week, and thanks us, just as he would, if we bought him a $100 powerwheels. We don't buy him clothes, shoes, or toys that have high prices. We refuse to spoil him with material things. We spoil him with our love and affection towards him, and he knows that. He'll occassionally ask for a toy, and when we tell him 'no', he doesn't ask again. Rather he understands that we can't afford it, or not. I do not know how to stress this enough: My mom and step dad, Reuben, have done everything that they possible can, and I mean, emotionally, physically and financially. They are in the same boat as everyone else that I know. The both of them have been mine and Michael's backbone, and they know that we would do anything for them.

I hate to see people that lie, cheat and steal, to get what they want. You want something? Work for it. There are a lot of things that we want, we work for them, and still don't get them. We don't go out of our way to lie, or steal to get what we want. If we can't afford it, then we really don't need it.

And another thing:

I'm not going to make my kid(s) do anything they don't want to do. I will never, ever push them to do something they don't want to do. I absoluetly hate seeing parents that make their kids play sports, and spend boo-koo and bundles of money, and their kids aren't really enjoying themselves. Your kids don't have to be in sports or wear the 'coolest' trends, just to get noticed. The worst possible thing you can do to a child is to push them to do something they don't want to do, or try to buy their love. You cannot buy your kid(s) things, just to get them to love you. If they don't love you the same after you bought, as much as they did before, give up, it'll never happn like you want it to. Never try to live through your child. If you didn't have a lot of things growing up, don't go broke doing it for your kids, because I gurantee they will be the same kid after, as they were  before.

This was not for anyone specific. I just had a lot on my mind, and had to get it out.

Good end, to a good weekend.

I'm going to stop, and take a deep breath from my "30 in 30." I have to tell you, that does get overwhelming, and by just glancing at the days, it gets pretty personal, so we'll see how many day out of the 30 I will actually do. And, I would to appologize for all  30 days not being in chronological order. But it's hard to keep up!

Last night was awesome. We made s'mores, carved pumpkins, and watched the rain/storms roll in. I loved sitting out by the fire pit. It was awesome 's'mores makin' weather.' I'm still waiting on the awesome Fall weather to roll in, but by the looks of it, it'll be mid-November, before that starts to happen.

Halloween is coming up, and when I asked Matthew what he wanted to be, he said "A firefighter!" So, a firefighter it is. He is talking so well for his age. He's able to put sentences together, and tell you colors, count to 10 in english AND spanish, although he tends to leave '6' out sometimes. If you point at something, he can tell you exactly what it is, if you tell him to find something, he knows EXACTLY where it is, and gets it. Mostly because, he likes to hide things from me. His favorite game is hide-and-go-seek, and he loves to play with his daddy. He hasn't gotten the whole getting himself dressed thing down, but I'm sure he'll figure it out. Like last week, I told him to get some clothes to wear, because we were leaving, and he brought me (keep in mind, it was 80 degrees out) a pair of blue pajama pants, a pair of yellow pajama pants, one sock, a spongebob houseshoe, a black addidas shoe, and a tobogan. And he thought it was THE funniest thing ever. He knows what animal is what, and the kind of noises they make, and he knows the name of everyone that he comes in contact with on an (almost) daily basis. He's getting so big, and growing up so fast, it makes me so sad. But I know that we've done a good job of raising him, and that makes me feel a little better.

The storms here last night were awesome. I think it was the anticipation that got to us. We check the weather channel website every couple of minutes, to see where the storm was, and the estimated arrival time, and the severity of it. We were in and out of the bed all night looking at the storm. Michael and I even got up and went outside at 4:00 this morning, to watch it roll in again. It was much needed rain. We haven't had a good rain like that in months.

In all, we had a good rain, to top off a good weekend.

Day 2: My love.

This has gotta be my favorite day, out of the 30 on 30.

My Love:

My love's name is Michael Green, and he has got to be the greatest. He has my back, and I have his. The love that we have for one another gets stronger by the day. Even though, we do have our off days, from time to time, we still don't let that hold us back from anything. From a good morning kiss, and an 'I love you, good morning', every morning, to a good night kiss and an 'I love you, goodnight.' We have had our weak moments, but after 4 and a half years, that's to be expected. We have laughed so hard that we've cried. Kind of like the time we thought it would be a good idea to eat a family size box of fudgesicles. The worst, and the best idea ever! And the time that we've sat and cried together, when something has happened, or when we've had a bad day. He has been my rock, and he has been with me through everything, almost. I cannot stress enough, that through our seperation, we were still then, who we were before. We had to find ourselves, and by doing that, we developed a loving relationship that is stronger than life itself.

The day that we met: September 13th, 2006.

This story makes me smile, just thinking about it. I was working at a restaraunt in Gardendale, in the summer of 2006. And he was working at my mom's story (Subway) in Pinson. I worked a double every Wednesday that I  worked there. 7A.M to 10:00 P.M. But that particular week, a co-worker wanted to switch, so I worked my double on Tuesday, and she worked on Wednesday. I worked 7-3 that morning, which was a weird shift for me, and I had been working over time for 2 days already. I was on my way home, but stopped by Subway (like I did everyday, before going home). I had called Mom that morning before to tell her I was sick, and was going to find a way to come home early, but of course that didn't happen. She told me then that there was a new 'handsome' boy that was working in her store, and she thought we'd really hit it off. So that gave me even more of a reason to stop! I hadn't been in a relationship, or had my eye on anyone since December the year before. I had been in a pretty weird relationship, which just so happened to be my best friend's, aunt's, nephew, Kris. But that's a different story, for a different day. I walked in, in my uniform, black pants, black shoes, white button down, a green vest, and a green and beige striped tie. Don't ask. As soon as the door made the usual 'ding' noise, when I opened it, around the corner came these bright blue eyes, which was of course, the first thing I saw. Little did I know, my mom had already told him about me, but she left that part out when I talked to her on  the phone. I talked to Mom for a minute, and he tried his best to get my attention, without saying a word. But he got my attention when he walked around the corner. After a few minutes, he introduced himself, and I to him. We sat down, and talked about eveything under the sun.. From the cats the people that we was living with had, to his parents, sister, and brother.  I was actually on my way to get my hair cut, but missed my appointment by an hour, because we sat and talked for the long. He then asked me for my number, which I thought he would never do! I gave him my number on a piece of reciept paper. We sat in the lobby of that store for over an hour, and he didn't even get up to do his job. After the while that we talked, it was time for him to clock out and leave, so afterwards, he walked me out to my car, and asked me out for that Friday night, September 15th, 2006. He told me that we would have hung out that night, but he had to go out to eat with his friend's (his roomates) grandmother, so he could meet her, because they were housesitting for her the next week. He told me he would call me, but never in a million years did I think it would be in a couple of hours. Around 9:00 that night, he called me, and we talked for hours. And ditto for the next night. We went out on Friday night, and it had to be the weirdest date ever. From chinese food he didn't have enough money to pay for, to Movie Gallery, and a terrible shark movie, and back to my parents house to watch it. Everything from the time that he picked me up (which, he passed my house like 9 times, because he was going by his own directions, and being a man, he wouldn't listen to mine), to the end of the night, just clicked. We shared our first kiss that night, right in  the living room of my parents house.

So from here, I would like to think my Mom for bringing us together. We have been through everything imagineable! We've moved more in the past 4 years, than I have my entire life. Even though we've been through as much as we've had, I still love him as much as I did the first time his eyes walked around the corner.

Day 1: Best Friend

I have to start out by saying that I've had tons and tons of friends, and maybe even tons of best friends, but there is only a few that are worth talking about. I had tons of friends in highschool, and God knows they were the best friends anyone could ask for, but unfortunately, life happened, and we're not as close anymore. But there are still a few that have stuck around.

I'll start with the obvious. Michael Green. He has been my best friend since day 1, over 4 years ago. I know that I can tell him anything and everything, and not feel ashamed. I wear what I want around him, and say/do what I want around him, and never feel judged. God knows that we've had our ups and downs, our goods, bads, and uglies. We've faught, disagreed, judged one another, and laughed so hard that we couldn't breath. We have a child together, and I just couldn't ask for anything better. Even though we're having car problems, and we're struggling to keep ends together, we're still just as happy as we were the first day we laid eyes on one another. And I remember that day like it was yesterday. We have gone through more in the past four years, than anyone I've ever known. I think I learn more about him everyday. He has been my rock through my worst days, and my shoulder to cry on through my sad days. he has stuck around through my pregnancy hormones, and me being self-conscience afterwards. Even though we had our "break", we're still as strong as we were way back when. I love Michael with everything that I have, and I'm glad to say that he is my best friend.