25 Things, Thanks to Facebook

First off, if you're not on Facebook, you should be. Make it a priorty. I mean, feed your children and all, but then make the next thing you do involve signing up for Facebook.


My friend Jenn hooked me into thie "25 Things" note. The premise being to post 25 not-so-well-known things about yourself. Well, either I'm pretty boring or an open book because it was hard for me to come up with 25 little obscurities about myself. Thus, it is posted here as well since so much blasted time was invested!


1. I am the youngest of my siblings and I always wanted my mother to have another baby.
2. I have seven nieces and nephews. I feel like that’s a lot.
3. I have a half sister that I’ve never met. Her name is Cheryl and she lives in Maryland. She has two sons, so if I were to count them I’d have 9 nieces and nephews.
4. I met my husband when I was 13 (he was 15). We started dating when I was 16 (he was 17).
5. We started dating on November 15, 1996, got engaged on November 15, 2002, and were married on November 15, 2003. November 15 is a big day for us!
6. I don’t like taking showers. I mean, I do it (daily!), but I hate all the time it takes for the actual shower and the subsequent lotioning, dressing, hair drying, makeup application, etc. I wish we were like The Jetsons and had one of those things that you walked through and Poof! You’re ready for the day.
7. I love my children more than life, but I miss my freakin’ freedom. A lot. Raising kids is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
8. I had two sons and then a daughter. I can’t stand when people say “You finally got your girl!” as if it was my mission in life to produce a female. It really, really bothers me and makes me feel like people think my boys matter less. They don’t.
9. Sometimes when the baby wakes up I pretend I’m still sleeping and hope my husband will take care of her.
10. Mason was a NICU baby and Cole was hospitalized when he was 9 months old—they are tied for the lowest points of my life.
11. Cole was an emergency c-section, and giving birth to Lila via VBAC is my proudest accomplishment (Google it if you don’t know what it is). I really had to put up a fight to avoid a c-section simply because I’d had one before. I wanted a say in happened to my body, so I fought. I wish more women would.
12. I have spent almost 10% of my life breastfeeding (and counting). That’s a lot of lactation!
13. The Number One reason I go to the gym is to get a break from my kids. Sure, I’m there for the physical fitness and health aspects, but it’s nice to be doing something alone while they’re in a safe place having fun with the nice child care ladies.
14. Having three kids is more than three times harder than having one.
15. I still plan on having a fourth.
16. My memory is like an elephant. I remember almost everything. I’m off my game a little since having kids (especially the third one) but I’ve still got some talent there.
17. I am the Queen of useless information, but it can come in handy from time to time.
18. I have never smoked a cigarette in my entire life.
19. My mother is German. She moved here when she was about 18. I grew up jealous of people whose parents had accents. It never occurred to me that my mother has a very thick one.
20. Both of my mother’s parents were in Concentration Camps, although neither was Jewish. It’s a big misconception that only Jews were targeted in the Holocaust. They were Polish, and the Polish people as a whole were a pretty big target in the Holocaust.
21. My grandmother found a $20 American coin while working in the fields of a Nazi officer’s house. She kept it her whole life, even though she certainly could have used the money as it was worth way more that $20. When she died, my mother inherited it because she’s now an American, so her siblings felt it was appropriate.
22. My mother had the poorest upbringing of anyone I’ve ever known. She, her four siblings and their parents lived in a two room apartment for her entire childhood. My grandmother bought groceries for her neighbor until the day she died because the neighbor was a Holocaust victim and was too afraid to leave her home.
23. I lived in Key West for a year and hated it. Now that we’re back to living in Naples, I wouldn’t mind visiting, even though I swore I’d never go back to that rock.
24. I am a lefty. I like to think this means I’m smart, couldn’t tell you why.
25. I was never afraid of dying before I had kids. Now every time I’m on a plane I repeat a prayer continuously on takeoff and landing.