balancing act

Someone mentioned to me a while back that I don't blog about Sawyer very often. So naturally I went through my posts and tried to see how often I mentioned my 3-year-old in blog posts. It isn't a lot. It's not because he doesn't do a lot of crazy things or because I don't spend a lot of time thinking about him, because I assure you - homie keeps us on our toes. After perusing through my posts, I also thought, well I don't mention Josh every post either and nobody has commented on how I leave my husband out...

Then I realized the reason behind the person asking me about Sawyer... it's because people expect women to be all about their child once they have children. So I am here today to say that while Sawyer is a ginormous part of my life and a major priority, he is not my entire life. I balance a few different roles, and being a mother is a very important one, but so is being a wife, daughter, sister, director of marketing, and friend.

You've seen it. Those women that have children and then immediately shut themselves off from the world and make their whole existence only about their kids. But guess what? Those women are still wives (or girlfriends/significant others) and friends and cousins and sisters. You might become a mother when you have a baby, but that doesn't mean you have to drop every other title you have.

By all means, please love your kid. Let your life revolve around them every now and then and enjoy every moment you get to spend with him/her. But don't become so wrapped up in being "the perfect mother" because first of all, that doesn't exist and second of all, if you're so focused on that you might forget that other people matter too.

I adore my crazy ginger toddler and I love telling people about his latest shenanigans and how stinking smart he is, but I also have other things to say. I have a job that I love and I enjoy sharing stories about ECU-related things, I also have an amazing husband that I like to talk about too. Not to mention I have some pretty cool friends who I like to talk about getting together with as well. It's a balancing act. You learn how to do the best you can with every role you play and try to avoid falling over while doing so.

practically a tailgate

this weekend we celebrated my best friend Hope's 28th birthday with a cookout at her and her husband Eric's place in Raleigh. It was a nice small get together with our tailgate crew and it was awesome to be with all of our friends a second weekend in a row. You know you're getting old/busy when you get excited about seeing your friends twice in one month (#adultproblems).

We discussed our tailgate plan for this year including who is bringing what food (since we really need to do better about eating outside and not spending so much money in the stadium) and figuring out what games everyone can attend. Yes, we do plan our tailgate almost 6 months in advance. Hard core.

This past two weekends have made me so ready for football season and weekends (and a few Thursday nights) that are guarantee parties with our friends.

hearing Jesus in the bathroom

I can't believe I have never shared this story on my blog, even though most of my friends have probably heard it more than once.

In 2008, I was finishing up my fall semester (and last semester) of college at ECU. One morning bright and early, I headed to campus about 45 minutes before my 8am class so I could print off a 40 page paper for my Advanced Composition Writing class (one of my favorite papers actually about drugs, the Beatles and the symbolism in the movie "Across the Universe").

Well, my first stop was to the ladies room in the Bate building. I was the only one there and had to actually turn on the lights in the bathroom when I walked in so I knew without a doubt that I was alone in there.

I sat down to pee and all of a sudden heard a voice singing "Softly and Tenderly". If you don't know the hymn, it has a kind of haunting melody and says "Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,calling for you and for me; See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching, watching for you and for me. Come home, come home, you who are weary, come home; Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!"

I sat there for a minute, looked under the stalls to see who else was in there and saw no feet. I was still alone in the bathroom. But the voice was still singing.

I shut my eyes and out loud said, "Lord?", but got no response except the voice still singing. I thought, "Am I having a stroke? Is God trying to talk to me in the bathroom? Am I dead?".

Thoroughly freaked out, I quickly exited the stall and walked out of the ladies room (still hearing the singing) and ran smack into the lady janitor who had been cleaning the men's bathroom.  She was singing "Softly and Tenderly" very loudly. I had apparently heard her through the wall while she cleaned the bathroom.

I did get an A on that paper though....

regrets

Everyone has regrets. Some of them as small as, why did I buy the black shoes when I already have six pair and then other larger ones that result in big changes. I have a few regrets that I have really been thinking about lately. 

One minor regret is that I didn't go to the top of Eiffel Tower or visit Montmartre while I was in Europe in 2012 (read here). While I had an amazing time and wouldn't trade the trip for anything (even if I did spend it in a giant boot thanks to a freak ankle injury), I was too impatient to wait in line to ride to the top of the tower and see all of Paris and I've thought about it constantly. I also wish I'd been more vocal about wanting to visit  Montmartre which is supposed to be an amazingly magical place.

Montmartre (via)

I regret that I didn't take my dad's advice and elope. My folks offered me a check and the chance to elope and I turned it down. I realize that would have meant not celebrating our wedding day with all our family, friends and church family but all that stress along with my jacked up knee that was awaiting surgery was not worth it. I didn't like how a lot of things turned out, it was a billion degrees and honestly, not that much fun. In the end, I found myself worrying a lot more about what people thought about our wedding than I did about how happy I was to be marrying my best friend.

forever my favorite wedding photo

I regret the time I wasted being angry at my Mema Kay. Now, don't get me wrong, I loved my Mema and I was devastated when she died only 2 months before my wedding but we bumped heads a lot. We were so much alike (even though I hate to admit it) that we fought often. Her blunt honesty and opinionated ways were enough to make the sanest person go crazy, but she was my Mema and she taught me so much about life, and myself. I hate that I spent a lot of my limited time with her fussing, including the month before her death in which we fought for a week straight over her wanting to wear a white dress to my wedding.

Mema, Me and Papa at my high school graduation

I regret screwing up my senior week at the beach. I don't know if other places do this, but in eastern NC, the week after graduation is spent on a beach, normally the OBX or Atlantic Beach/Emerald Isle. Friends rent a big house together and somehow find a parent to agree to "stay there" too (or at least pretend to). Well, I had big plans to enjoy a week of laying on a beach in a tiny bathing suit with my closest friends... but then I had a big falling out with my best friend... while we were at the beach... on the second day of the week. So I left and stayed with Josh. I regret it big time, that week is supposed to be the BIG party of your life, that week that you all celebrate the end of high school and the amazing times you had together. Thankfully, that friend and I made up and things are cool now, but sad that I missed out. However, I did get to enjoy a 5-day cruise to Mexico to celebrate my senior year with friends too, so I didn't totally miss out.

a few pics from Mexico

I should have other regrets, like my entire junior year of high school when I made horrible life decisions, but honestly I feel like some of those decisions led me to other GOOD decisions. The first time I ever talked to Josh was because he was picking on me about my junior year and I made some amazing friends and lost some not so good ones that year. While regrets can suck and make you wonder "what if", they also remind me that despite little regrets, I am right where I am supposed to be. 

Camo and Hockey

Oh, hi, remember me? I have been a horrible blogger lately, but I'm back with fun things... well me for anyway. And yes, I am reviewing my weekend on a Wednesday. Slack.

I grabbed a blunch (blogger lunch, duh) with my girl Marianna from Delightfully Dunn on Saturday and then we ran some errands together. We are obviously bad bloggers though because neither of us grabbed a pic, although I did indeed grab a photo of my food. If you live in eastern NC, you have to go to The Scullery. It is my absolute favorite lunch spot and has to-die-for breakfast and lunch options ranging from unique salads and sandwiches to egg-in-the-hole and salmon covered bagels. Even better? They have crazy ice cream. I am talking pear flavored, lavender & chamomile flavored or even Strawberry Pop tart flavored.  Not to mention, the owner is so kind and takes time to talk to everyone who comes in the door.

Saturday my parents came over for dinner and we ate my favorite dish to make, orange chicken (check the recipe here).

After dinner Sawyer went home with my folks and Josh and I woke up bright and early Sunday morning to head to Raleigh. Josh's parents gave us (and his brother) "buy one get one free" ticket packs for the Carolina Hurricane hockey game so we decided to use them all in one weekend and invite our tailgate crew along... but first we had to go to Bass Pro Shop with Josh's brother and fiance. In case you've never been to Bass Pro Shop, it is basically heaven for hunters, fishermen and outdoors men, so in other words, hell for me.

via

sooo much camo.

The hockey game was a blast though, we got to see some great fights and while I basically had no idea what was going on the whole time, it was still fun to our crew!

 my husband never knows where to look during a picture.

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We even get to see them this coming weekend too for my best friend Hope's birthday party, it's like football season!

little angry things

So I have been slacking in the blog department lately. Not just because I've been super busy between work and Relay for Life stuff, but also because I am lacking in post ideas and such with nothing really exciting happening this way (and no time to try new recipes/crafts).

But then the other day several little things happened that annoy me to no end, you know, those little things that just make you angrier than they should. And I thought, hey I wonder if these things anger other people to. So with nothing else to talk about and a honest curiosity if I am the only one who HATES these little things, I present to you: angry little things. 


1. When your bra strap or purse strap will NOT stay where it is supposed to
I get so irrationally angry when I have to keep dragging my bra strap up on my arm or if my heavy purse keeps coming loose off my shoulder. Sadly, my favorite Longchamp bag hardly ever stays on my shoulder because of this.

it obviously ticks off this lady too 
via

2. When I bump my shins on a shopping cart
I sadly do this almost every time I use a shopping cart. Apparently my arms hold the cart too close for my legs to not slam into the little bar on the bottom of the cart. It hurts so bad and always make me holler out in pain as other people glance awkwardly at me.

3. When people "talk" to their kids on Facebook when they aren't even old enough to see/read it.

This will probably really make some people angry at me, but WHHYY do people talk to their kids on Facebook when the kids are not only not even ON Facebook but also not old enough to read? Why would I tell Sawyer I love him via Facebook status when I could just tell him that in person? It's one thing to say, "man, I love my kid" or "Sawyer manged to eat an entire box of playdoh today, WTF?" on the Book, but addressing him as if he will actually read and decipher a Facebook status? It baffles and for some mysterious reason angers me. Why does it make me angry and why do I care what other people choose to put on their Facebook? Another mystery.

4. When people leave their turn signals on LONG after they've turned.
I feel like this needs no explanation.

5. When water bottles are SO flimsy that you can't open them without soaking yourself in water

via

I get it water bottle companies, you want to use recycled plastic but SERIOUSLY you couldn't find a plastic that won't bend and push water up around the cap every time I try to open my water? Thank goodness I use my Bubba Keg for water refills at home & work instead of buying bottled water.

What little things make you irrationally angry?

winter blues

Eastern North Carolina has gotten a TON of snow/ice (by our standards at least) and being cooped up inside, wearing giant snow jackets and having the driest skin imaginable has made me a cranky little lady.

I have visions of slipping away to tropical locales, but lack the funds for such adventures.

So, I have been playing "laying out on the beach" music all day to try to improve my spirits and I've decided to share those songs with you. Enjoy and stay warm out there y'all!

the crayon.

As you may have seen on my instagram & twitter, Sawyer is obviously trying to make sure he has at least one hospital visit a year (and has so far been successful in this quest). 

On Friday night, I picked up take-out, and Josh and I had extravagant plans to catch-up on all the shows that are overloading our DVR right now, typical Friday night in the Edmondson household.

We set Sawyer up with his food on his little table in his playroom and were going to let him watch his TV while we ate and watched ours. About halfway through “Vikings” we heard a crash and a cry.

We went running into the playroom and Sawyer was standing up, screaming, “There’s a crayon in my nose.”

the culprit (it was in a fire-truck themed pack of crayons, hence the weird name)

At first, we didn't believe him. We couldn't see a crayon anywhere and we keep all the crayons in a bowl on the mantle so he can’t get to them without our help. But, after wrestling with him for a good 15 minutes we got him to lay still enough for us to see a yellow crayon wayyy up in his nostril. He has apparently put a crayon in his nose then fell, jamming it up further and breaking it off in his nose.

So, we grabbed our stuff and went out the door to the emergency room. We got in fairly quickly to a room only to have 3 nurses try to hold Sawyer down while a doctor continuously tried to free the crayon. They tried to suction it out, force air through his mouth to make him breath hard out of his nose and then tried going up his nose with a special tool to pull it out, with no luck.

Sawyer screamed, “Mommy, daddy help me pllleeasasee!” as he was held down and underwent all the attempts to remove the crayon. He sneezed blood, cried, had snot EVERYWHERE and still no crayon.  It broke our hearts and I shed my fair share of tears as well.

The doctor said, “I’m sorry guys, he’s going to have to go to an ENT. The crayon is too sharp and wedged too well so high in his nasal cavity.”

So, we went home, went to sleep (fairly easily considering he had a foreign body in his nose) and set our alarms to meet an ENT at his office on Saturday morning.

Once we got to the ENT, he immediately knew Sawyer was going to have to be admitted to the hospital and put under anesthesia to try to remove the crayon. In a whirlwind of activity, we got admitted and barely got settled in our room before he was being called down to pre-op. Sawyer was terrified. He asked every person that touched him, “Are you going to hurt me?!”

The surgeon came and explained that he would be putting a breathing tube down Sawyer’s throat since they would be overwhelming his nose with tools to extract the crayon and that the “surgery” shouldn't take any longer than 20 minutes. We only waited in the surgical waiting room for about 15 minutes before we got a page saying Sawyer was already out and crying for his daddy (of course).

He woke up like a crazy person from his anesthesia (which is what he has done when he had his tubes out both times and his adenoids) but his only complaint was a sore throat from the breathing tube.

Apparently, the crayon was half an inch long and jammed super far in his cavity. Who knew something so small could be so dangerous?

We finally got discharged from the hospital around 3pm and he was already back to his usual self. We celebrated the removal of the crayon by flying kites and playing on the big hill at my Papa Dude’s house on Sunday!