mom

Let’s dive in!
1. I lived in Germany for 5 years—loved it! Have dreamed of going back ever since we left my junior year of high school.
2. I’m an Army brat—see above.
3. I was 23 when I got married, 26 when I had Louis and 28 when I had Judy. I always wanted to be a young mom as my mom was and we are super close!
4. When we found out our second was a girl I cried—and not tears of joy—I was afraid of the unknown as I was finally getting into my groove as a boy mom and quite honestly, teenage girls scare me.
5. I was bullied in middle school and again when I moved back to the states my senior year—see above as to why the waterworks lol—I have recovered (mostly hah) but have worked really hard and will continue to work hard to make sure my kids are kind.
6. I love love love movies! Some of my best memories are tied to film—the first time I saw Gone with the Wind was with my Grandma, the first tape I ever owned was Mary Poppins, I met my husband during a screening of Citizen Kane, the first time I saw Casablanca my dad threw a theme night for us and made kebabs, couscous and we sat on the floor while watching it. I just love how good films bring people together and the memories stay with you forever. It has been my greatest joy sharing some of my favorites with our kids and we can’t wait to share more!
7. Joe and I are college sweethearts—like I said above we met during a film screening. We were both in History of Film, I had noticed him before and thought we was cute but I was too busy career planning lol to do anything about it. Luckily for me, he came and sat next to me for the screening and the rest is history.
8. During my junior year of college at West Florida, I enrolled in the National Student Exchange to go to a different university for a year. I chose Towson (in Baltimore) since my parents and sister were at Andrews Air Force Base at the time and I always wanted to live on the East coast. It was the best decision I ever made as I spent that year meeting one of my very best friends, Lauren, meeting my husband and traveling all over the East coast!
9. I have always dreamed of living in NYC—not sure if that is still in the cards for us but we did go there for our honeymoon and have visited several times. I cannot wait to take the kids one day!
10. I went to 3 different high schools, 2 middle schools and 3 elementary schools—it was hard sometimes but for the most part I loved it! Our stay in Huntsville has been the longest I have lived anywhere, and while I am happy to put down roots, I do struggle with wanderlust and wondering if we will live here forever? For now though, this maven is placed.
11. I hate mushrooms. Hate them. Also hate olives. And Matcha. I don’t get it? Also macarons. I know, I know. That last one is the most offensive!
12. I love popcorn and peanut m&ms. That right there is my absolute favorite treat and we eat it every Friday for pizza and a movie night! More food loves include brownies, chips & salsa, blueberry scones, Nutella & banana crepes, coffee (not really a food but LIFE) and pizza. Basically, I’m a really healthy eater.
13. I exercise every day. See above.
14. I always dreamed of being a Sex & The City type career gal—the greatest surprise of my life has been how much I enjoy and thrive at being a stay at home mom!
15. Louis and Judy are only 19 months apart—that was another a surprise! It took a while to get pregnant with Louis so when we decided to start trying for #2 we assumed the same would happen. Cut to, 2 babies under 2. The beginning was HARD but I wouldn’t have it any other way!
16. I have worn glasses since I was 5. Contacts since I was 12. I am curious to see if one of the kiddos will inherit my bad vision! Joe is 20/20 so maybe they’ll both luck out!
17. My middle name is Anne. So is my mom’s and so is Judy’s. I hope this will continue on…I love family traditions like that!
18. I have a ton of freckles! I don’t know if you can see them in the blog pics but I have so many and so does Joe! I have recently seen them popping up on the kids’ cheeks and it’s just too cute.
19. I am super paranoid. Freckles = fair skin = skin cancer. See what I mean? I always go worst case and have to pull myself back—thankfully I have become very good at mind over matter and Joe is also really good at reeling the crazy in.
20. I struggled with an eating disorder in my early teens—I had to take medicine that made me put on weight and that coupled with the fact that I was a tween and my parents were on the Atkins was just a recipe for a disaster. I had (still am) always struggled with being “perfect” and all that just sent me over the edge. Thankfully with the help of my amazing mom and that powerful mind over matter trick, I was able to overcome it. Over the years I struggled with comparison issues and feeling insecure but I can say that with age came the wisdom to realize that’s a bunch of BS. Also, becoming a mom was the biggest “cure”—puts everything into perspective
21. With both Louis and Judy, I had natural childbirths. Maybe that’s what cured my insecurity? Realizing that I carried both of these babies and delivered them without pain killers made me feel like a bad ass!
22. I love to shop! Seriously. Love it. Grocery shopping, Christmas shopping, you name it, I love it. Sometimes it’s a problem lol.
23. I love to walk. I think that is the thing I miss most about living in the city—Wiesbaden, Stuttgart, Baltimore, Nashville—I miss being able to walk to things. We live in a lovely neighborhood here in Huntsville but we have discussed moving downtown for the walkability. We’ll see what happens!
24. I hate country music. There. I said it. I live in Alabama and cannot stand country music.
25. I love to cook! My whole family is full of great cooks—and we love cooking (and eating) together. It is by far my favorite part of the holidays! I am not a great baker though—I usually leave that to Joe or semi homemade kind of stuff—aka boxed brownies.
26. We aren’t having any more kids but sometimes I wish we were. But let’s be honest, kids are expensive and we wanted to experience a lot with them and thus we stopped at 2. Also, I wanted to stay at home—another reason we quit while we were ahead. We have one of each and I couldn’t adore them more so I feel lucky and try not to “shoulda, coulda, woulda” too much.
27. I hate summer. The nerve! It’s just so sticky, and I get heat rash and mosquito bites and frizzy hair. HOT MESS. Fall is my love language. It’s like that quote from Anne of Green Gables (favorite book!), “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
28. I have a really high pain tolerance (see #21) and think Louis has inherited that. He got stitches on his forehead when was like 22 months (Judy was like 4 weeks old at the time! #momfail) and was basically chill. He freaked out a little when they held him down but I was way more freaked out than he was!
29. I think marriage is hard! I feel like social media makes it seem like this blissful, and sometimes literal walk in the park, but for us it has been hard at times. We will be celebrating 7 years next month and in these years we have had two wonderful children, been unemployed, moved 6 times, mourned the loss of loved ones, traveled, been bored and everything in between. I can say though, that I know I chose the right person and while we are growing old together we got married young, and thus are growing up together and it’s a beautiful thing.
30. I love being 30! I feel good about where I am at and what I have accomplished—excited for my 30s and dare I say, looking forward to each new year!