Groundhogs

In a psychology class several semesters ago, I learned that the body goes into a sort of paralysis during REM sleep to keep us from sleep walking, acting out our dreams, or flailing about and hurting ourselves. Well... apparently no one has informed Sean's sleeping body of this fact.

Let me start by saying I am an extremely light sleeper; Sean, however, could sleep through a nuclear bomb exploding outside of our bedroom door and not even wince. So let me set the stage... the first time I discovered Sean's superhuman ability to move around while dreaming, we hadn't been married very long. I was peacefully sleeping on my side of the bed when I awoke to Sean staring at me... about 2 millimeters from my face.

ME: Babe... what are you doing... you're REALLY close to my face.

SEAN: you have a spider on your face

ME: WHAT THE !?! Quit staring at me and GET IT OFF!!

SEAN: Don't move

ME: GET IT OFF!!

SEAN: It's on your pillow now. It's HUGE.

ME: What the heck Sean. Quit staring at it and kill the freaking thing to I can go back to sleep!

Now I start looking around for this dumb, huge spider cause I'm already over it and ready to go back to sleep.

ME: Babe... I don't see a spider. Are you sure you saw a spider?

SEAN: Yeah... it's right there. (pointing)

ME: I don't see it.

SEAN: Right there! (pointing intensely at my pillow)

ME: Well I don't see it, so I'm going to sleep.

SEAN: IT'S RIGHT THERE!

I give up, roll over, and go to sleep. Sean lays back down mumbling something about me dying in my sleep and him not taking me to the hospital when it bites my face 'cause he warned me. Hmmm... that's kind of harsh, but it's the middle of the night so I let it go.

The next morning I casually bring up the conversation of the spider incident the night before and suggest calling the pest control people. He looks at me like I'm crazy, and says he doesn't remember anything about it. Hmmm... that's odd. Maybe he was just really tired and didn't remember waking up.

Well... a few weeks later it happened again. This time I woke up to him standing beside the bed yelling that a tree had fallen through the front of our apartment. I sprung out of bed and went running out into the hallway. Hmmm... nothing was out of place. When I turn around to look at Sean to ask him why the heck he got me out of bed for nothing, he says, with his hands on his cheeks, "What are we going to do?? It's a disaster!!" I spin back around... yep.... nothing. Am I crazy? I calmly say, " Ummm... I don't see anything..." to which he replies "Amanda... right there! Don't you see the branches all over the stairs and the broken glass... I can see right out into the parking lot." He was so angry at me for not seeing that I honestly though I was crazy for a second. After going up and physically touching the wall to reassure myself that it was indeed still there, I dragged my 6'4" hubby back to bed and made him lay down. All the while, he was protesting that he needed to fix it and it couldn't wait til morning. "How can we just go back to sleep with a tree in our house" he kept asking as he slowly drifted back to sleep. Oi.

The dreams haven't stopped.... at least once a month I wake up to him getting the insulation from under my pillow or to him trying to get dressed or make a phone call or to him trying to find my bosses wife's car keys because she called him and said they were in his pants pocket???? Last night it was groundhogs. More specifically a dead groundhog hiding in our sheets. Now I don't even buy into it anymore. I barely open my eyes and just tell him he's sleeping and to go back to bed. He just looks at me wide-eyed and says "Do I look like I'm sleeping?" Sadly, no... he doesn't look like he's sleeping at all, so I have no rebuttal. I just hope a catastrophe never happens in the middle of the night because you know what my reply will be.... "Tornado... there's no tornado....You're sleeping go back to bed." :)

Botanical Gardens

We went to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens on Saturday. It was HOT and most of the flowers were dead or wilted from the heat, but they have tons of water activities set up for the kids, and when we weren't in the kids sections, there were plenty of sprinklers to run through. We had a great time, but Alabama's horribly hot and humid summer months have officially begun!

Happy Birthday Love

In honor of Sean's 26th birthday, I offer 26 reasons why I love him.

Sean, I love you because...

1. you are loyal and completely devoted to the people that you love

2. you work so hard to provide for our family

3. you find humor in EVERYTHING

4. you don't bicker or hold grudges

5. you're so easy to talk to

6. you're trustworthy

7. you are such an incredible father

8. you can always make me laugh

9. you can eat ketchup with your breakfast.. you have no boundaries when it comes to food

10. you're brutally honest

11. you're an amazing friend

12.you never get embarrassed... even by my goofy, awkward mishaps

13. you are sociable and can even start random conversations with complete strangers

14. you aren't judgemental

15. you can cook spaghetti and grill anything

16. you love ALL music and can belt out the lyrics to any oldies song you hear

17. you care for your family more than yourself

18. you let me think I'm in charge

19. you can fix anything

20. you're always up for an adventure

21. you can play any sport

22. you're always willing to help a friend... or a stranger

23. you can put anything together without reading the instructions

24.you like a good challenge

25. you kiss me everyday

26. you make me a better person

I love you babe, and I look forward to celebrating a million more birthdays with you :)

First Words

Maddi is exactly 6 months old today, and she just happened to say her first word... Dada! Drew said his first word (Dada) at 6 months one week, and Maddi's been babbling for a while now, so we knew those sacred first words were coming soon. I was soooo hoping that Maddi would say Mama first just to balance out the parental egos, so when I heard her babbling today and I heard her saying certain other words (Dada and what seriously sounded something like brother), I kinda sorta ignored them, BUT tonight after Drew went to bed, Sean and I were sitting on the couch watching TV with Maddi when she looked up at him and said Dada...TWICE. Yep... there was no denying it then, and I just have to face the fact that my babies love their daddy more. It's so amazing to hear your little one's voice for the first time, and I can't think of a better father's day/birthday gift for Sean.

a weekend with extra kids

I've been watching my sisters while my parents have been working on their new BBQ venture. Sean works there also when he's not busy with his other jobs. The business is doing well and I love spending time with my sisters, so I guess it works out well for all of us. I took them to the water park downtown on Thursday.

Sarah loves helping with Maddi. Here is a picture of Maddi's messy little face after Sarah fed her prunes. yum. yum.

Here's the website for the BBQ business if you're feeling hungry: www.uncletommysbbq.com

P.S. This just happens to be the first .com website that I've ever made so it's pretty basic, but I did it all for $7.99 with free webhosting at godaddy.com

Little Sitter...and Booty Bouncer

Maddi is now sitting up like a pro. In fact, she is so confident with her perching abilities that she has started to bounce up and down to try and scoot around. She gets so frustrated when she wants something and can't get to it. Here's a video of her frustrated and trying to get to brother... until she bounced herself backwards... oops!

Read All About It

We went to a concert last night at Joe Davis Stadium for Armed Forces week. They had lots of helicopters and army vehicles in the parking lot and live music inside inside of the stadium. There were suppose to be fireworks at the end of the concert, but we got rained out half way through. Our short appearance did manage to make it onto the front page of the Huntsville Times though!