Jersey Shore: What's the big deal?!?!?

I have never seen Jersey Shore, and I have no particular interest in seeing it. I figure I'm no worse off for not having seen it. In fact, from what I've heard of the show, I'm most likely better off for not having seen it. It seems, however, that I cannot turn on my radio, watch the local news, or read news on any local website without hearing something about Jersey Shore. I can, in fact, name at least 6 people on the show (I have no idea how many there are) just from hearing about them on the radio and tv. While using the restroom at Outback last weeked, I overheard a woman saying that the family dinner they were having (they were celebrating somebody's birthday) was all right, but she absolutely could not stay too late or she might miss Jersey Shore. I was pretty shocked to come out of the stall and find out that she was like 70!


My question is this: Do people in other areas of the country care about Jersey Shore or is it just one of those things that Philly people love and obsess about because the Jersey Shore is in their neck of the woods?

From what I hear on the radio and news, people don't like the current season as much as the last one, so maybe the whole thing will fizzle out pretty quickly (crossing fingers!). Or maybe the whole cast will get themselves arrested and then they'll have no show anymore. :-)

4 years (+ 513 days)

It all started on a cool, March evening in 2005. Matt and I were driving from Reading to Potter County so I could meet his parents. To say the least, I was very nervous! I tried to talk Matt into just continuing on the drive and running away to get married. Then, we could go see his parents. My reasoning was this: Even if they didn't like me, they would have to accept me as a member of the family because we were already married. Matt said that that probably was not best. (In retrospect, I guess he was probably right. He usually is, but don't tell him I said that. :-)) Anyway, since he seemed pretty adamant about not marrying me then, I started asking him when he would marry him. "How about in 2 days? A week? A month?" Finally, I got to, "Will you marry me in 513 days?" When he said, "It's a possibility." I started counting down the days. Five hundred thirteen was just a random number I pulled off the top of my head, but as it turned out it was a Saturday in August of 2006 - August 12, 2006, in fact. From that day on, we joked about getting married on that day, but never talked seriously about it.

Some pics of us we took that day on our way from Colleen's to his parents'

5 years ago today (August 12, 2005) - I was living with Colleen and Matt in Reading for the summer, and Matt came down to visit me. In the back of my mind, I thought it would kind of be a cool day to get married just because we joked around about getting married on August 12th. As far as I knew, however, Matt hadn't talked to my dad about it yet. (He had, in fact, secretly met up with my dad the day before to talk to him). He was also giving me that standard lie that I hear just about all boys give their girlfriends, "I would like to get engaged, but there's just not money for a ring right now." Despite these things, I was still thinking it just might be a possibility. We went to a park, had a picnic, and took a walk. By this point, I was sure we were not getting engaged. I had felt his pockets - there was no ring. He got his guitar out of the car, and we sat on a bench by a stream/creek thing. Just in case he sneaked a ring into his pocket when he got the guitar, I checked again. There was no ring. We sang together for a while, and then he started playing and singing for me some sappy country love songs. He started playing a song for me that he had written. It was very sappy and sweet! (For those of you who are already ready to be sick from the sappiness, I won't put the whole song on here). At the end of the song, the guy in the song asks the girl to marry him. By this point, I was pretty sure of what was going on. After the song, the sweetest, most romantic guy in the world got down on one knee, held out a gorgeous ring (Tricky boy - he had put the ring in the guitar case), and said, "Heather Grace, I love you. Will you marry me?"

The night we got engaged

The day after we got engaged - my awesome sister made us a fabulous dinner. Steak and Lobster!!

Some other pics from that weekend

4 years ago today (August 12, 2006) - I married my best friend!!! I'm so thankful to be married to such a kind, patient, Godly, all-around incredible man. He works so hard to take care of us, and he is such an amazing leader for our family. We have so much fun together, and I can't imagine anyone I would rather be with on the crazy ride called life.

Today (August 12, 2010) - We are getting ready to move into our 4th(!) home, and expecting our second child in just about 6 weeks. And right now, we're getting ready to head out the door for a date!

The most recent pics of us - my favorite place to be is still in his arms.....

...or hiding behind something so we can make out. ;-) I love you, Matthew Martin Montgomery, and I'm looking forward to many more wonderful years with you!!

Just for fun, I thought I'd throw in the sole picture of our first date ever when one of my friends broke off my other date for me and told Matt he had to ask me to the Christmas concert instead.

Lately

Where has July gone?!? Where has the summer gone?!? When one of my friends mentioned last week that school starts again in less than 5 weeks, I couldn't believe how fast this summer has gone by. In a way, it was kind of a nice feeling because I don't have to go back to school in the fall :-), but we still have a lot of other goings-on this fall that I don't feel at all ready for. So, now I find myself looking back on the summer so far and trying to figure out what I've done with all my time.
The month of June was full of travel - I think we were gone somewhere every weekend. So the weeks we're filled with unpacking from a trip and packing for the next one. This summer has brought with it lost of swimming weather, so we've spent as much time as possible at pools or beaches. Tutoring has also been keeping me busy this summer.
We've mostly stayed home for the month of July, but life hasn't slowed down. It seems we have something going on every night. We've spent a lot of time in July looking for a new place to live. We've spent a lot of nights going out to look at houses for rent. We haven't nailed anything down yet, but hopefully we will this week. (If you are so inclined, please pray that we will know something definite by the end of the week). Our projected moving date is September 1st, so it would be nice to know something very soon. Even though we don't know for sure where we're going, I've also spent a lot of July packing stuff up. We know we're going somewhere, and I figure the less I have to do at the last minute (when I'm 37 weeks pregnant) the better off we'll all be.
August looks like it will be just as busy. Right now, I think all of our weekends are booked and our time during the week we'll be spent getting ready for the weekend activities, tutoring, and more packing.
Some things I'm looking forward to in August:

• Visiting my parents in NH for a weekend
• Knowing where we'll be moving
• At least one more day trip to the beach
• Going away with just Matt for an anniversary trip/'babymoon'
• Celebrating our 4th anniversary
• Spending time with really good friends before we move a little farther from them

Enjoy your summer!!

Momma said there'd be days like this...

Most days I have way more "I love being a mommy!" moments than moments when I want to scream and pull out all my hair. Today and yesterday have not been those days. It all started with a pile of poop....literally an explosive diaper that's so bad that its falling out of the diaper on to the floor and a daddy who doesn't notice the diaper and puts the kid on the floor anyway. That was the beginning of my Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church. Nothing like that to get you filled with the Spirit for church on Sunday morning, huh? The rest of the day, as far as mommyhood was concerned, did not get much better. Collin was over-tired and cranky from having spent 12 hours in the car on Saturday, plus he's getting his bottom eye teeth so that doesn't help. All day yesterday and today have been a series of freak outs and fits with very few "What a sweet baby I have!" moments. M&M did not make matters any better, because my back and hip were killing me all day for both days. Today, I felt like my day started out better, but everything quickly fell apart when I had to find something that we had borrowed from a friend. I tore the apartment apart and found it, but it was missing a piece. So I sped off to Target to get a new one, because they needed it this morning. I had Collin with me. He was still cranky and cried the whole time we were in Target. When I got home, the people who we had borrowed the item from were in my torn apart apartment. AAAHHHH! And that about set the tone for my whole day. All in all, loving and being thankful for my children these last two days has been much more about a choice than about warm, fuzzy feelings. I do love my babies SO MUCH, though. When I go look in at Collin sleeping (THANKFULLY), I just want to grab him and snuggle him. Of course, I won't because he needs his sleep, but you get the idea.

This post is not to complain, however. I know many moms who have those days x5 children. It's more for myself just to put down some thoughts I've had in writing.
My first thoughts go something like this: "I even started my day out with reading my Bible (usually, I read later in the day), isn't that supposed to help?" "Why, oh why, does this child just want Daddy all day when Mommy is the one that does everything for him?" "Maybe if I just give in and let him have his paci things will get better. After all, he is getting teeth." "I just want to go back to bed!!!"
As I was complaining to my hardworking husband, I began to hear myself. And then my thoughts changed to, "Seriously, Heather, you have a wonderful son who you get to be home with and a hardworking husband with steady work. What is your problem?!?" About this time, I came to realize that the problem was not the teething baby or the missing piece or anything else but me. I needed an attitude adjustment. Matt deserves to call or come home to a wife that's not a wreck. Collin deserves better than a mommy who just puts him back in his crib when he cries rather than dealing with the actual problem. I'm not saying that I can't sometimes use Matt as a shoulder to cry on, I'm certainly not saying that a good nap can't fix a lot of problems. But it shouldn't be that way all the time. I also realized that I was attempting to be "superwife" and "supermom" in my own strength. I'm probably never going to be either one of those, but it's a guarantee that I will never be them on my own. God has called me to this place in my life (a place that I really do LOVE most days), and it's only through his will that I can accomplish his purpose for me in this place.

In church yesterday morning, the message was entitled "5 Reasons to Have an Unshakable Trust in Jesus Christ". While all of the points were things I knew before, it was good to be reminded of some of them. One of the points was that we can trust him because of his humanity. He spent 33 years on this earth being 100% human, and he understands human things like exhaustion and other things that contribute to less-than-stellar days. That is one of the things that makes him so trustworthy. He experienced the things that we go through every day and went through it sinless. He experienced so much worse on this earth than a pile of poop or a cranky baby or back pain, and He did it all for me. The least I can do is wholly trust Him and rely on Him to help me through whatever he calls me to do.

Enough rambling for tonight - I didn't even proofread this, because I am too tired. I'm going to try to get a good night's sleep, so I can conquer tomorrow with a much-improved attitude.

Supporting Our Troops

I was brought up to have a respect and appreciation for our military. When I see someone in uniform, I often stop to thank them for the sacrifices they have made for our country. I realize that holidays like Memorial Day are much more than just a day off and a chance to get together with family. When I've known someone overseas personally, they have frequently been on my prayer list. However, it wasn't until my brother Ethan joined the Marines that it really hit home.

Currently, Ethan is an officer in the Marines, and he is stationed in Afghanistan. It wasn't until he sent letters home listing things his men would love to have and things that they need that I've realized how little I have ever done to show my appreciation for our troops. So many of those who go overseas never receive any letters or packages from family. My sister has started a facebook group dedicated to sending out letters, cards, and packages to our troops. If you join the group, she can give you information about how to adopt a service member. Many of us will say we appreciate and love our troops, but so few of us actually do something about it. If you would be interested in receiving a list of the most requested things from some troops, please email me, comment here, or join the facebook group.

As Americans, we have an opportunity to SHOW our troops how thankful we are for their service instead of just saying it. As Christians, this is an incredible opportunity to show Christ's love to those who may not know Him.

I would also like to say that it doesn't matter whether or not you agree with our current or past administrations about troop deployments. Regardless of whether or not you agree with our troops being in Iraq or Afghanistan, the fact is that they are there and they need the support of those of us here at home.

On a more personal note, Ethan turns 24 next Thursday (July 8) and will be spending his birthday in Afghanistan. It would be so awesome if he received more birthday cards than he ever has in his life.

His address is:

Ethan Akerberg

9th ESB 3rd MLG S-3

Unit 38432

FPO-AP 96604-8432

For now, I'll leave you with some pics of Ethan:

Showing his tougher side and his gentler side at the same time

Showing my brother-in-law that he means business :-)

Me and my brother - I love him :-)

Showing us how to work the guns

Being the good uncle and educating Josiah about the guns

Proud sisters of a US Marine (We're missing Faith)

The most recent pic of me and Ethan

Ultrasound #2

On Wednesday, I went for my second ultrasound. Because of scheduling problems and other stuff, I had it a little later than normal. They said that everything looks normal. I was 26 weeks and 4 days, and M&M was measuring 27 weeks and 2 days. The baby is approximately 2 lb and 4 oz. We didn't really get any good pictures of M&M, because he (I'm saying "he" so as not to say "it", WE DID NOT FIND OUT THE GENDER) had his hand in front of his face and the ultrasound tech was also careful not to show us anything we didn't want to see.



Matt and I tried to get Collin to say "Baby" when he saw the screen. He got excited when he saw the baby on the screen, but he just kept yelling, "Doggie! Doggie!" Sorry, Collin, we're not having a doggie. It's going to be a baby. As far as Collin is concerned, he is the baby, and what he wants is a doggie. Poor kid. He has no idea how his life is going to change come September.



For those who have been asking, nagging, begging, here's a couple of pics that Matt took on Saturday of the baby bump. ("Bump" is a bit of an understatement, but it will have to do).



Saturday was the end of the 2nd trimester (27 weeks)! I have taken so few pics this pregnancy, because my camera was broken for a while, but these are the most recent.

27 weeks and feeling hot, sticky, and whalish

Just being weird....

Happy Half Birthday, Collin!

I love half birthdays. It's just an extra day in the year to make those special people feel extra special. (In case you're not sure, your half birthday is the date 6 months from your birthday). My husband thinks I'm crazy, but being his usual amazing self, he doesn't try to fight the insanity. Instead, he embraces it, because he likes to make me happy. In fact, every year I get a 1/2 birthday card (and usually flowers) and he plans a special date. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE him?!?!?) Anyway, yesterday was Collin's 1/2 birthday. I can't believe he is already a year and a half. Where has the time gone? I was just commenting to a friend the other day how he seems to do more "kid stuff" and less "baby stuff" all the time. In honor of Collin being 18 months old, I decided to post a list of 18 of my favorite things about him these days. I haven't posted any family stuff for a while, and I have gotten very few pics of him on facebook lately, so it's time.

18 Favorite Things About Collin:

1. He whistles - It's not often that you see a one year old whistle, but he does. He walks around the house whistling, and he even tries to copy when he hears someone else whistle.
2. He eats pretty much anything - With the exception of hot dogs and mac n cheese, Collin will pretty much eat anything.
3. He's such a dorky dancer - He plays on our keyboard and likes the songs that it plays. Apparently, we have a kid who's a little musical, but he does have his dad's dorky dancing skills. Pretty soon, I'll have to get it on video, because it's pretty comical.
4. He loves when it's time to pray at dinner time - He pretty much loves to copy his daddy, and I'm so thankful for the great example of a Godly man he has right in front of him. Collin bows his head and mumbles something before we eat.
5. He's doing really well with not having the paci - He loves saying bye-bye to things and throwing things, so when we get him out of the bed or car, he throws his paci and tells it "Bye-bye".
6. He's always been a great sleeper - He's down to two naps a day now, but he still sleeps 10-12 hours at night. He also goes to sleep all by himself without crying.
7. He does everything with zeal - This can get to be a problem sometimes, because everything includes his freak outs. However, he gets so excited about everything. He does nothing half-heartedly.
8. He says "Thank you" - I know lots of kids his age say please and thank you, so it's not really a big deal. He also says please, but he usually needs prompted for that. What I like about the fact that he says thank you is that we never pushed the issue. It was just something he picked up and started doing all by himself. He will also say thank you over and over until someone tells him "You're welcome."
9. He likes to clean up after himself - He loves to wipe up spills, put his dishes in the sink, and put stuff in the trash these days.
10. He loves to put on his daddy's work boots - As soon as Matt gets home from work, Collin pulls at the laces of his boots until he takes them off so he can put them on.
11. He likes to drink water - Yes, he likes to drink juice, too, but so many people tell me that there kid won't drink water that I've come to be very thankful that he will drink water quite willingly. :-)
12. He has started noticing things outside during car rides - His favorite things to point out are doggies and buses.
13. He exclaims, "WHOA!!!" whenever he hears a loud noise - We live across the street from a Naval Air Base so we hear a lot of loud noises.
14. He thinks anything that moves that's not a person is a doggie - At the park the other day, he was chasing bugs and butterflies yelling, "Doggie, doggie, doggie!!"
15. He's pretty passsionate about his rubber duckies - He has at least 12, and when he sees one in the bath stuff aisle that he doesn't have, he makes sure to let me know.
16. He loves stories - Unfortunately, he almost always wants a story read to him when we are in a hurry to get out the door, but I'ms still glad he loves them. We've started keeping some in the car, and he loves to "read" his stories in the car.
17. He loves hand sanitizer - Whenever I put some on my hands, he begs for some and loves to rub it into his hands. Who am I to deny my kid hand sanitizer?
18. He doesn't ever try to play with the toilet - Again, this is something that I never thought anything of until I've had friends say that this is a serious problem in their houses. This may change, and I'm sure he may become interested in it later on; but for now, he hardly seems to know it exists.

There's so much more about my sweet boy that I love, but I said I was listing 18 so I'll stop and leave you with some pictures of the half-birthday boy.

Reading stories with daddy

I can't get over how big he looks here!

Daddy's boots

Loving the rubber duckies

Having a serious chat with Daddy

Playing with Mommy

Pretty serious about his coloring at Steak n Shake

Reading books in the car

Playing at the park

Most recent family pic

Question for those with diaper expertise

Before we had Collin, we were given a Diaper Genie with a bunch of refills for it. We have never been impressed with it. It filled up much too quickly if we put in all of the diapers, so we just put in messy ones. However, it also has not been great about keeping the diaper smell from permeating the whole room. Now, we're out of refills and don't really want to buy more for something we were never crazy about in the first place. So, my question is, what do you/did you do and how has it worked out?

Thanks in advance!

Sorry, Collin, the answer is NO

No matter how much you beg, you will not be attempting to sail around the world by yourself (or any other such insane venture) when you're 16. Yes, I do want you to live a long, exciting, and full life, and that is exactly why the answer is "NO". I want you to be around to enjoy life beyond 16 years old. I realize that it's a good thing you actually want to do something instead of sit around playing video games, and I'm not opposed to sailing - just not around the world. I also realize that kids die in car crashes and crossing the street and that I can't protect you from everything, but I as long as you live in our house, we can somewhat protect you from your own stupid ideas and unnecessary risks - that's why teenagers have parents. Oh, and yes, I also realize that teenagers way back in the day we're considered adults. Those teenagers, however, also had all the responsibilities of an adult - not just the privileges. Life was a lot harder back then, and kids grew up a lot faster. I love you, and that's why the answer is "No!"

Love,

Mom

P.S. I'm sure if you would like to go sailing Grandpa would love to take you, but I probably won't let you go around the world in a sailboat with him, either.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure many of you have read the story of Abby Sunderland, the 16 year old who didn't make it around the world. I am happy for her and her family that she has been rescued, but I can't help but wonder, "What in the world were her parents thinking?!?" I have read all her parents' rationale that they've given to the press, and they all seem like really stupid arguments. Teenagers are notorious for dumb ideas - that's why they have parents. For the record, many people are saying that nobody would be suggesting a poor parental decision if she had actually made it. I came across her blog in January when she first started out and commented to Matt that it was a very stupid idea. Again, I'm glad she has endeavored to do something with her life besides play video games and go shopping. I'm also very happy that is safe and sound. However, I still stand by original statement - if my child asks me if he can sail around the world all by himself, the answer is NO!

To Do List

I'm home from church tonight because Collin is sick, so I'm taking the time to blog again. In the interest of having some accountability, I'm posting my to-do list for the summer on here. It's a lot easier to give up on goals if you don't tell anybody else what they are, so here goes:

THINGS TO DO THIS SUMMER:

• Limit Collin's paci use to bed
• Make use of the Rosetta Stone Spanish course that I've had sitting in my living room for the last couple of years - I started it last summer, but I didn't get very far. Maybe I'll make Collin learn it with me. :-)
• Pack stuff away that we don't use frequently (or just give/throw it away)
• Get to know some other moms in our area
• Consistently read/study my Bible and memorize at least two verses a week
• Make a new family budget and stick to it
• Get ahead on the promotions/ads we're thinking of for the business for fall, since the fall is probably going to be a pretty busy time for us
• Read!!! I plan on reading some for pleasure, but I have a list of theology books that Matt has suggested I read that I want to tackle.
• Finish the state teacher certification process - I've passed the Praxis, but I need to get all the paperwork taken care of.

I'm sure I'll come up with more, but this is my list to get me started.