Eric Mangini Called the Other Day

Eric Manigini? Some of you may wonder who that is. Some of you may already know who he is. He's the head coach of the browns. The latest in a string of God-knows how many loser coaches we've had. Well here's to hoping that he is the answer.


He called last week (and left a voicemail) to give us an update on everything since he has been in Berea. He says we are prepared for the combine. Oh and one more thing - please be sure to renew your season tickets for next season. I know he has to do it, but in the name of JC can you please put a decent team on the field?



I would love to have seen Crennel, Mangini, or Butch Davis take the team down to the muni lot before a game. I'd love for them to see the lengths people go to to celebrate, what they hope will be a great season/game. Steve and I have been season ticket holders since 2002 and will drink the kool-aid for next year too. Woof Woof. Here's me with a couple of friends down on the field last year for a Browns game. Absolutely unbelievable, we were so pumped!!!












Let me not get too much ahead of myself for footbal season. I am very excited for spring. Although I believe it was only 30 here today. I take pleasure in the simplest of details. Being up to 30 vs. 5 makes a big damn difference.


Some of you have asked, and so here are a couple of pictures of exactly where our Catawba house is located:

We're right at the tip of Catawba Point, technically in the city of Port Clinton, by Miller Ferry.

Devil in a Pink Dress

Little Curran is quite a sassy little lady. Lately here are some of here favorite behavior problems:

1. She enjoys throwing all her food off the high chair the second she is done with it (thank God we have a dog)



2. She screeches and screams for no apparent reason. Brayden will cover his ears and cry, Tank will whine and bark and it generally turns the house into a nuthouse.



3. She likes to get up at the CRACK OF DAWN, no matter what time she goes to bed. 6:15 is sleeping in for her. Very rough.



4. She is a fan of throwing herself down on the ground and full body arches.



5. She likes to hit and grab at your face whe she is frustrated. She was pissed about something minor the other day and she walked over to the wall and started hitting it in frustration.

Needless to say, she is very different than Brayden. Sugar and spice she is not. With all that being said, she is such a fun little girl. She loves going outside, even in the cold, and helping dad with all his projects. She's very happy and talks so much! Her latest words are apple, scooby doo, and she even says "I want that". Very different from Brayden, who really did not say much until he was 2.

Brayden continues to be such a good boy and is now fully potty trained. I am stunned at how easy it was. I hope he doesn't have a spell of regression, but i know that's pretty common.

We are going up to Catawba this weekend to stay at the house with the kids overnight for the first time. It's daunting to try and remember everything!! I am excited to start getting settled in and ready for the summer! February is almost over! Yay - next month is March. That means St. Pattys and the first day of spring - 2 very happy days.

Potty Update and Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Just a quick update on Brayden's potty training efforts. It has gone unbelievably well. He has not had one accident! I put him in underwear yesterday morning and told him no more diapers. He probably didn't pee until 10am or so and he knew when he had to go. He doesn't sit forever either. If he has to go, he goes right away. I think it may be a challenge to get him to go number 2 in the potty. I think he had to go last evening. When I checked in on him at 11 or so he had pooped in his pull up. So we'll see. But no accidents do far, he stayed dry for his nap, and is pretty pround of himself. Fingers crossed that everything continues to go well!!

Here's a pic of the dude the day we brought him home. I can't believe this is the same little man that's going on the potty. Big surprise, he's sleeping.

Our Catawba House

So last weekend Steve went up to Catawba with my dad and got a bunch of work done at the new house. Installing blinds, installing light fixtures...he is one handy dude. We are planning on going up the weekend of 2/20 and staying the night with the kids. Yikes - hopefully we won't forget binkies, blankies or anything else back in Cleveland.


This weekend I am planning on potty training Brayden. Fingers crossed. I will update next week on how that goes. In other news, Curran pooped in the bath again tonight. Not sure what's going on there, but Brayden is not liking it one bit.


Curran is proving herself to be one challenging little girl. She loves to shriek at the top of her lungs, which Brayden and Tank both hate. B will cover his ears and say "too loud". Tank will whine and bark, which as you can imagine, just adds to all the fun. She also loves to throw all her food off her highchair the minute she is done eating. She is also a fan of full body arches and dead weighting herself when you are trying to get her to do something. Steve says this is all payback, since this is the kind of little girl I was. whatever.


Luckily she sleeps very well and is pretty darn cute. Here are some pictures from our house on Catawba:

Living room:














Fireplace room:

Kitchen, tile to go in this week!

Upstairs hallway -

wallpaper to be stripped and painted this month.

















Upstairs bathroom - also will have wallpaper stripped and painted this month

National City - Now Part of PNC

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, and that's largely because I have been so busy with work. As most people reading this know, NCC was bought by PNC and everything at work is changing rapidly. The work environment is an insane mix of so many things. Stress over not knowing your fate, stress over proving yourself to a whole new group of people, stress of having to see good, smart people go. I feel a lot like I did when I graduated from college - it's like your breaking up a family. Me and so many of the good friends that I have made at work will go our separate ways.

Plus, this sucks for Cleveland. So many people I work with will have to move to Pittsburgh to keep their jobs. What a buster. Hey, at least we have a basketball team, and a good one at that.

In family news, Curran has dropped her morning nap. She has also started sleeping in past 6:30 so I am pumped for that. Brayden continues to be the sweetest narkie in the world. He has a cold, so last night he slept for 12.5 hours, instead of his usual 11.5.

Funny story - tonight I was bathing the two of them and Curran pooped in the bath tub for the first time ever. Brayden completely LOST HIS SH*T. I guess when you are a clean freak, this is the equivalent to the end of the world. Curran could of cared less. Brayden cried and cried and kept telling me he wanted to go to sleep. I had re-bathe Curran and put her to bed first and he was freaking out. Good times. Then he had an OCD attack because I couldn't find his favorite Halloween pajamas. God, is he funny! Here are two pics I took this week.