Ask Amy - Take 1

Sorry for the delay, but here are ya'lls questions, and answers! I have a few new followers, and would like to continue the "Ask Amy" posts. So any questions you may have, please leave them via comment, Twitter (@TheLacksBOAT), or email TheLacksBOAT@hotmail.com

1) Why BOAT? - BOAT is our names - Brynnleigh, Owen, Amy, & Troy - This is totally my husbands doing, and well I love it! We sign all our Christmas presents as the BOAT. I mean come on, how do you get all those names on a little present tag?

2)Where have you traveled that was your favorite and why? - That's a tough one as I love to travel.  My immediate response would be England.  I went there in January 2000 through a college class and it was a blast.  I would love to go back, but don't see it ever happening.  I think you get these crazy thoughts that other countries are so different and honestly they are not.  They may eat differently, or go about things differently, but over all, it's all the same.  Locally, my favorite place would be the beach, and it doesn't matter which one.  (I would default to Myrtle in SC).  You HAVE to relax while at the beach!

3) Where is the one place you would like to go but have never been and why? - Australia, hands down.  I'm not sure what my love for Australia is, but I have ALWAYS wanted to go there.  Why haven't I been...well that's easy...it's kind of a far ways from home and I'm always scared going to other countries (yes, I was scared of England before I went).  Now with two kids, it's a real longshot.  I would either take them with me, or will have to wait until they are grown and moved on...I'm not going that far away without my kids.  My second place would be Hawaii, because well, it's a beach and I love beaches! ; )

4) You have 2 kids, are you done, or do you want more? - There were two questions I was anticipating, this being one of them (the next one is next!).  Honestly, I don't know (sorry Troy).  I used to say I always wanted 2,4,or 6 kids, I didn't want odd numbers.  After O, I changed to 2 (I was getting older) and now after Brynnleigh, I'm just not sure.  I know Troy is done (he thought he was after O, but he's very glad we have B) and well, I'm still on the fence.  I am extremely happy with my two kids, and if that is all God wants me to have, I'd be ecstatic, but there's still something there that makes me think we are not done.  I always said that I did not want 3 kids, because I did not want a middle child, but now, I'm not so sure.  I'm just going to put it in God's hands, and if it happens, it happens, if it doesn't, it wasn't supposed to.  Now granted, with all of his, I am not leaving it all up to God at this point, Brynnleigh is only 14 months old.  The "Pill" and I are good friends!  I have dreams, and there's a "Parker" in my dreams...what's weird is that sometimes "Parker" is a girl, and sometimes "Parker" is a boy. (FYI - Parker was B's name if she was a boy, if we have another, their name will be Parker, no matter what the gender...if I have any say).  On the other hand, I have two kids, who as far as I know are both healthy, and I have a boy and a girl, I'm not sure I want to press my luck.

5) Where did you get Owen & Brynnleigh's names? - Owen originally was going to be Justin, but we changed it right before we found out O was a boy.  I'm pretty sure I heard it somewhere, Troy swears he came up with it because of his favorite soccer player, Michael Owen.  Either way, we both love the name, and it fits O perfectly!  (Oh...and it's English, because we both LOVE England).  Brynnleigh's name was basically a compromise between Troy and I.  Troy wanted the name Brynn, only spelt that way.  I did not want a short name for a little girl.  I HATED having such a short name growing up that could not be shortened into a nickname.  Since I was such a tomboy, I always said I was going to name my daughter a unisex name or a longer name that can be shortened, such as Samantha, Christina, Taylor.  So Brynn was just too short for me...so we played around and were stuck between Brynnleigh and Brynnlynn (not specifically this spelling).  I loved Brynnleigh...if she wanted to have a very feminine name, Brynnleigh, if she wanted something different, she had Brynn, Bry, Leigh, etc.  We played around with the spellings, but with the Brynn, nothing else looked right. Brynnly, Brynnlee, Brynnley, Brynnli, etc.  If Brynnleigh decides she hates her name (or never learns how to spell it) then she can have it changed, it's her name to do as she pleases.  14 months later, I still love it!  Both kids, have family middle names.

6) How do you find time to include the things you have to do like family duties, etc. and still have time to blog, twitter, and Facebook? - Umm, that is a touchy subject in my family, and I am still working all that out.  Twitter is not a problem - 99% of that is done on my phone and well, I'm still learning Twitter.  Facebook - now that I have it on my phone, I'm not "on" as much as before and the blog, I try to do a few posts at a time when possible.  Typically what happens is after the kids are in bed, I get on the computer, it's my downtime.  My husband is normally watching tv while I'm on the computer, so I feel like all is well.  Unfortunately, he does not feel the same, and I understand.  So we are working on setting up "computer time" and "date/hang out time" so we are on the same page.  I also do a lot of blogging/facebook, after he has gone to bed between 10 pm and 1 am.  I also do some things during my breaks at work.  Please don't be mad at the hubby for not liking "computer time", he LOVES the blog and is probably my most avid reader.  The problem is me, I have a tendency to get on the computer, and be on it for hours at a time.  I start reading one thing, then want to look up another, and then, 3 hours later, everyone is asleep.  I have an issue with being too thorough on things, I won't look something up and be happy with the first response, I will read them all.

7) What was the best day of your life? What was the worst? - Honestly, I'm not sure...I've had a lot of both.  My best days that immediatly jump out at me are - Troy & I getting engaged (8/17/02), getting married (9/20/03), Owen being born (2/20) and Brynnleigh being born (10/4).  I also like to recall a certain December 18th with my hubby, friend, and her hubby...it was a night filled with laughter, Pretty Women scenes, and lots of snow!  I enjoy days filled with laughter!  My worst? - hmm, probably a mixture of 3 - the day I lost our first baby (February 06) and my Dad's seizures, the first was my freshman year of college while at a soccer game and the second was while at home and I saw and heard it.  Still to this day I cringe when I hear someone "moan".  Oh yeah...there's one other, the night of my high school 10 year reunion...had nothing to do with the reunion, those who were involved know...and well, lets just say, you do stupid things while drinking.

8) Why did you start blogging? - I actually started blogging back in 2007 after O was born to help family and friends stay updated with our lives.  I had issues staying up to date, and eventually let it go.  While pregnant with Brynnleigh I stumbled up some friend's blogs and really enjoyed reading and decided to try my hand at blogging again.  It is a good outlet and it allows our family to keep up to date with what's going on with us.

Okay...that's it for this Q&A...but shoot me some more questions and I'll answer them.  Have questions for the Hubby?  Send those too, just specify which are his...if not I'll assume they are for me to answer.  You can submit via commenting on this post, email at TheLacksBOAT@hotmail.com or twitter @TheLacksBoat  I'm working on setting up a facebook page now...if I get it up, you can submit questions there too!