I Bleed Green, Don't you?

My son has this blanket that he is ATTACHED to at bed time. It's this Eagles blanket that I bought mainly to piss off my husband. He's a Giants fan, I am too but I'm a MUCH BIGGER Eagles fan! So yeah I bought this blanket to annoy him but also for my daughter. My son had all this Yankees paraphernalia which was great, I'm a Yankees fan. But he also had a TON of Giants stuff and yes I bought much of it but still I just couldn't take it anymore! My daughter has tons of Eagles onesies and I'm working on getting a jersey with her name on it. BUT my daughter HATES blankets...hates them...can't stand to have anything even semi constricting. There are days when she can't even stand to have clothing on! Wouldn't you know I go out and buy this great blanket that I'm sure she'll love because she was so active in the womb that I just knew she was in training for her first Giants/Eagles game fight and of course she's anti blankets! My son though has become my little turncoat and I love him in a special competitive way for that! I love that my husband puts him to bed each night and must knowingly cover Nicholas in that great green fleece blanket trimmed with lovely white satin. I love that Nicholas cries for it until Pat finally covers him with it! I love that the Eagles are a presence in my Giants loving husband's life courtesy of our two and a half year old!
How do Pat and I survive in the same house during football season? We both are so passionate about Notre Dame football that it will usually make up for all else!
Notre Dame opens their season tomorrow but more importantly, the Eagles are going to crush the Giants on September 30th and I'm doing my very best to be there and hopefully wearing a McNabb jersey or a green fleece blanket with satin trim!
I bleed green...don't you?

100 Things About Me...before the stories begin

1. I am afraid I'll never be able to get pregnant again.
2. I can fit my entire fist in my mouth- as can my daughter. (Her fist, not mine)
3. My degree is in Sociology with a concentration in Rape and Domestic Abuse but I teach high school theology.
4. I love peas, especially mixed with mashed potatoes.
5. I tear up whenever my daughter smiles at me.
6. I played basketball at the meadowlands when I was in grade school.
7. My wedding was on TV.
8. I love reading trashy romance novels
9. I played Rugby for a year in college and my nickname was Socks.
10.I was a rower in college until my then boyfriend broke my hand...accidentally.
11. I have an incredibly adventurous sense of color.
12. I met my husband in a liquor store- he was my boss.
13. We were married in July 2003
14. I dated a now NBA star during high school.
15. I cry every time I hear the song my dad and I danced to at my wedding.
16. Giving my son a bath makes me very impatient, that's why my husband does it!
17. I LOVE to cook
18. There are days I think I cook better than I bake
19. There are days I think I bake better than I cook
20. I enjoy trying to find people I used to know on Facebook and MySpace
21. I have two children, Nicholas who is 2.5 and Addison who is 5 months.
22. I have two tumors on my thyroid
23. I've had 3 doses of radiation in the past year
24. I take medication each morning that I have to take for the rest of my life in order to stay alive.
25. I often feel like I'm on a self inflicted perpetual diet
26. I often feel like I ignore my self inflicted perpetual diet.
27. I went to Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA
28. SJU was the only school I applied to.
29. I told my parents two things about college- I would never go to school in PA and I would absolutely NEVER EVER become a teacher
30. I have an older sister- we are COMPLETELY different.
31. I minored in Theology because all I needed was two more courses and I could say I have a minor.
32. I loved my freshman year of college English class because I had a professor who drank during class and a basketball player who barely understood anything and asked me for everything
33. I used to really hate where I live right now
34. I still don't like where I live but it's grown on me a bit
35. I have a wonderful friend who offered to rent a radiation suit during my last round of radiation so she could sit with me.
36. I have some really great friends who are really bad at communication
37. I tend to keep things to myself when I get upset
38. I had 10 girls in my bridal party when I got married- at least two of them were not my family but had known me since Kindergarten
39. My friend who is getting a divorce after 2 years of marriage makes me nervous about marriage
40. I am very close to my family
41. I love Christmas and just about everything about it except the greed.
42. I wake up on Christmas morning and I am genuinely excited that it's the day we celebrate that Jesus was born.
43. I listen to Christmas music from October through January
44. I was diagnosed with Post Partum Depression after my daughter was born.
45. I do not get along with my husband's sister
46. I absolutely believe 100% that prayer works
47. I know how to roof a house and put up sheet rock
48. I am a dork
49. Going to church on Sunday, or any time, helps keep me at peace
50. I get mad at my son for not listening even though I know he's only 2.5 years old and generally doesn't know any better.
51. It scares the hell out of me that my husband and I are responsible for raising our children and making them good people.
52. I am deathly afraid of heights
53. I sometimes think I wasted 2.5 years of my life with a guy in college but then realize I would not be who I am today without those years
54. I sometimes miss my friend from college who drove me out of our apartment with her drug use
55. I wish I was still close to one of my former roommates but I'm working on that
56. I have one tattoo that was supposed to be three but I couldn't take the pain.
57. I hate my husband's motorcycle- for many reasons
58. I love seeing my husband on his motorcycle
59. I am completely in love with my husband
60. I can't stand it when people ask me if we named my daughter after a character on Grey's Anatomy.
61. I enjoyed pulling all nighters in college
62. I love Farmers' Markets- I always think the food will taste better than in the supermarket.
63. I LOVE TV
64. I love that my husband is AMAZING with our kids
65. I often wish I could figure out how to be closer to my father in law
66. I cry when I think about the fact that I will never meet my mother in law
67. I totally destroyed my knee playing Rugby
68. I often think about what would have happened had I continued to play basketball in high school
69. I actually hate someone- just one someone and I feel horrible that I cannot find a way to not hate them
70. I actually enjoyed going to an all girls high school
71. One of my best friends is also one of my cousins
72. I love pictures
73. I love dogs, I just can't stand dog poop
74. I can't stand when my car radio volume is on an odd number that can not be evenly divisible.
75. I tried anti depressants but I felt worse on them
76. I can't stand when people don't like me
77. I miss my Volkswagen even though I begged for my mini van
78. I love seeing my extended family even though we rarely talk
79. I secretly enjoy NPR occasionally
80. I love listening to John Denver
81. I can't stand when my sister puts on a Muppets Christmas Carol each year but I love that my son adores it
82. The first broadway show I saw was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Micahel Damien kissed me.
83. I cried when each of my children was baptized because I thought it was such an amazing moment.
84. I have never done a single illegal drug
85. I wish my husband would forgive God for what he believes was God taking his mother away from him
86. I am a fatalist
87. I am convinced I will someday have breast cancer
88. I am terrified of leaving my children and my husband
89. I can't stand getting dressed in the morning
90. I love singing and I am terrified of losing my ability to sing courtesy of my thyroid
91. The last time I sang in public was my grandmother's funeral
92. I love wine and Jack Daniel's...not mixed
93. I could live at the beach
94. I would love to have Twins the next time we get pregnant
95. I don't want to be pregnant again until after I finish grad school
96. I really just want to finish grad school this time
97. I would like to adopt a child
98. I love New York City, now, and I think I could live there but only if I had a beach house to go to on the weekend
99. My mother is one of my best friends
100.I was very disappointed when we brought our daughter home and our house was not decorated.

Introduction

I guess I should take this opportunity to introduce myself! Welcome to my world and thanks for stopping by. I can only hope you'll continue to stop by. I hope I can entertain you!
So, let's start at the beginning because when I find random blogs by other people I always want to know where they are coming from.
My name is Alison, I'd tell you more but I don't think you need to know more than my first name right now! I'm 27 years old and there are days I feel like I'm 90. I'm married-been that way for 4 years this past July. For a point of reference for you reality TV buffs, our wedding and the preparations was featured on a show called Buff Brides. My husband was less than thrilled with the prospect on being on national TV but he played along, as did all of my family and friends! The whole show centered on my working out and losing weight before the wedding. I worked with a personal trainer 3 times a week and lost 30 pounds between March and our July wedding. It actually was great, except for the whole being followed by cameras part. My trainer and I had a great rapport, I had visions of us being the new Regis and Kelly- "Rich and Alison in the morning!" Rich yells at you to push it harder while Alison cracks jokes about meatheads right in front of them! The morning show didn't pan out and I'm perfectly ok with that.
My husband and I found out we were expecting our first baby in June of 2004. I guess I should mention, my husband's name is Pat. So yeah, it's 2004 and we're pregnant! Looking back I thought that being pregnant put me in the same class as people who have brittle bone disease coupled with chronic fatigue syndrome. I was convinced that everything I did would ultimately hurt the baby. This included cleaning, cooking, going for long walks, anything you could think of I thought was going to be harmful. My husband and my mother finally convinced me I was nuts. I was not sick...just pregnant! DOH! So, Nicholas came along via induction on February 10th. After pushing for over 2 hours my doctor looked at me said that if the baby was not out by 2:30 am- it was 2:15 at that point- than we were doing an emergency c-section. Uh, NO WE'RE NOT! I pushed like I have never pushed before and lucky for me I had the hemorrhoids to prove it! He was born at 2:20am. I don't know that I had ever worked that hard in my life and I maintained that until our daughter came along! More on that later! Nicholas was perfect...typical...and then we found out he was deaf. The process of discovering his deafness was a gradual one and at points horrible but other points hysterical! Again, more on that another time....
So we had Nicholas, I was working as a high school teacher ready to rip my arms off, Pat was working as a beer salesman and we had just moved into a new townhome in the mountains of NJ. I left my teaching job at the end of 2006 and started dealing with health problems and was working as the assistant director of a pre school, also again ready to rip my arms off when we found out we were unexpectedly expecting our second child. One horrible pregnancy later and 3 radiation treatments we are now living with two children and both working full time, both in school, both working small part time jobs and both ready to rip our arms off! I went back to teaching high school, thank goodness, and Pat's still selling beer but hoping and looking for something better!
So that's our story in a nutshell...a big nutshell. I do have stories about each of my pregnancies that would amaze you. I'll be sure to tell you about the journey of our son from being deaf to hearing and speaking and the days when I sometime still do wish he were unable to speak- just briefly!
So, enjoy- if you'd like and stay tuned...there's more to come!