Days of Mourning...

Really Grandpa? They LOST? Tom Brady threw HOW many interceptions?

        

I needed to take a few days to fully process what happened between the hours of  1pm and 4:30 on Sunday. Mourn...avoid Sports Center and any other sports highlights like the plague. Let me first say that I would have NEVER,  ever imagined that I would be engaged to someone who was not a Patriots fan OR a red sox fan. This has presented several unique challenges into our relationship. Mainly, we try and keep sports talk to a minimum, because our trash-talking has been known to get vicious. The fact that the Cowboys are still in the playoffs & the Pats are off to play some golf...brings a whole new level of pain. Gracie and I haven't decided who we're rooting for now...but I can tell you one thing..it is NOT the cowboys :)

                I'd like to put a more positive spin on a dismal situation and talk about the reason why I'm always so sad when the Patriots season is over, most times regardless of their record. Of course, I love the Patriots & I love to see them win. Anybody who really knows me and my family knows what kind of a hold comes over us during football season. Gracie attended training camp this year, at 3 months old. We're intense.

      But what I value most about football season is the time that we spend together, as a family. Every Sunday, we gather together, in the Patriots palace. And I'm not exaggerating. My dad has assembled every Patriots gadget, piece of memorabilia(including an original seat from Foxboro and an actual game ball) & decoration- the place is a mecca. In December, we have an entire Patriots themed tree, just for that room. This Christmas, Andrew & I bought him a Patriots garden gnome..because he truly has EVERYTHING else you could imagine. We put on our respective jerseys. We eat oh-so-good but oh-so-bad for you food. We complain about the refs. We cheer together, grimace together, yell together. We laugh about commercials and at announcers. We sit in the same seats. We tell the same jokes (everyone knows I can't keep a straight face when we play Tampa Bay, how we long for the "PPP look"- Poor, Pitiful Peyton, and what exactly, the "Ken rule" means). We come together for no other reason than to support our team. No ulterior motives, no presents, no stress. Ok, maybe a little stress- because we all know how the Patriots like to operate. But I look forward to every Sunday during football season, where I can kick back with my family and some valued friends (anyone who has been around us during a Pats game has seen our TRUE colors) And when this time ends,  I can't help but feel sad. So I look onward, with hope and lots of prayers for Wes Welker's speedy and full recovery, to August & preseason football. I'll be counting down the days!

      In other, less depressing, news, Gracie's newest way to amuse herself is by lip-smacking. I am only a little bit sad because this new development has heralded the end of my personal favorite period- the raspberry-blowing days. For weeks on end, she would blow raspberries CONSTANTLY. At anyone who so much as looked at her. Over Christmas, my mom & I were finishing up some last minute shopping at the mall. We ran into practically everyone we knew and as they were all telling us what a beautiful little girl Grace was, she would, on cue, blow a disgusting, slobbery raspberry directly in their faces. So lady-like. I loved it. She would even do it in the car, simply for her own amusement. 

   She has also started to throw temper tantrums. If I take something away from her that she shouldn't be playing with, such as my cell phone, or our remote control- she freaks. Screams and cries like the world is coming to an end. Now she's always been adorable, even when she cries. But when she cries like this- dramatically- and when I know there is nothing else wrong, I get quite a lot of amusement out of watching her performance. This might classify me as a bad mother, but I can't help but laugh at her & ridiculous crocodile tears. I'm sure this is a subject she will revisit in therapy many years from now. 

She's faking it. I promise. 

    I also am in love with the wide open, tooth-less grin she gives me upon waking up from her nap or first thing in the morning. I want to climb in her crib and just snuggle & giggle with her. Somehow, I figure she would find this less than amusing. So I pick her up instead. But don't think I don't consider it, every single time.