baby makes 4

Birthday Party

2011-03-15T16:09:00.006-05:00

With the way our schedules work around here, it is difficult to coordinate a good weekend to celebrate the girls' birthdays. So, although their birthdays are in January and February, we finally found a Saturday in March to have a party. It was a blast!!

My mom and dad came in on Friday night and stayed with us and Sarah and Jonathan drove over from Nashville and came over for breakfast on Saturday morning. Ali was quite taken with Jonathan and of course, both girls were SUPER happy to see Sarah.

The party was at a little place called Jumpin with Joy. It's an inflatable jump place like Pump it Up. It was PERFECT!! We would, without a doubt, have another party there again.

We had a lot of friends there and they had a lot of fun. There were bounce houses, air hockey tables, hula hoops, bean bags, bouncy balls, and more. It was great for every age. My mom and dad even got into the action with some air hockey.

Once the kids had completely worn themselves out, we had some cupcakes and ice cream. Pink and purple iced cupcakes per Ali and Sarah Kate's request. We served them on Hannah Montana plates because we could not locate any Taylor Swift plates.

After everyone was sufficiently sugared up, the girls of JWJ blew up the inflatable throne and the girls hopped on to receive their MANY presents. MANY barbies! I think we own the entire barbie aisle now. The girls were in heaven.

It was a fabulous party and there was hardly work involved on my part. Who can ask for more?

An Afternoon

2011-03-07T16:43:00.003-06:00

So. It's Monday afternoon and I'm not at work. That, in itself, is fabulous. I've cleaned. I've worked out. I undid the working out by indulging in too many girl scout cookies. Sarah Kate took a lovely, long nap and now I'm listening to them play in Sarah Kate's room. They have the ipod hooked up and they are dancing away to various different songs, mostly sung by Barbie and Taylor Swift and the Chipmunks.

It's kind of odd not to be constantly needed. They come out occasionally to perform a dance or a song for me. And I'm needed to prepare snack and sometimes get down a dress-up dress. And kiss the inevitable boo-boo that comes from playing too rough.

I LOVE that the girls play so well together. So far today they've played daycare, and for some odd reason felt the need to put blue painters tape over the mouths of their babies (this I find a big concerning), and they've hidden from Bigfoot, they've had a party with special napkins and fruit snacks, and they've shown off how fast they can run across the living room. Ali is the little mama and she takes care of getting everything that SK needs (even took care of putting SK's half-eaten sucker in a bag to save it for later).

It's so fun to be a mom to girls who are not babies anymore, but not so grown up that they can't indulge in imagination play.

Their (very belated) birthday party is coming up this weekend. I am so excited!

My little rock star

2011-02-27T06:16:00.003-06:00

Ali keeps telling me she's going to be a rock star. She's got the moves down. She's got the look down. She even writes her own songs.

I just hope she's more of a Taylor Swift than a Miley Cyrus.

I think if the rock star plan fails, she's just going to be a cheerleader.

Sigh. I'm not quite ready for this. Next thing I know she'll have Bieber fever.

A Day in the Life

2011-02-26T18:30:00.003-06:00

I was off work today. That will not be a rare occurrence much longer. I am changing jobs. I am leaving the hospital and going to work retail pharmacy three days a week. No weekends, no holidays. I am so excited.

Today was a perfect example of why I am so excited to be off on weekends from now on. Ali woke up a little before seven, came to my room and asked me if it was a "stay home" day. I told her it was and she went back to bed with the computer. She chilled out in her room for a while just watching a movie. She was relishing the rare day that she didn't have to get up and be anywhere. Sarah Kate got up a little after seven and had pancakes for breakfast. After that, the day passed in relaxed, relatively quiet, calm. As relaxed and calm as life with a three year old can ever be. There was some dress-up, a little bit of tv watching, and a period of indoors gymnastics using our pottery barn soft chair and a giant bean bag.

We didn't do anything until late this afternoon when we got groceries and picked up pizza. Even grocery shopping was easy today (thanks to each girl being caught up in her ipod). Now the girls are on the computer playing barbie.com. And, for now, not bickering.

I love being a mommy!

Picture Day

2011-02-25T20:49:00.008-06:00

I took the girls' pictures today because my stuff was set up and because it was just time. I fool myself into thinking it's going to get easier to get shots of them together. HA! Not going to happen. Not without a fight anyway. I do get shots. Most of them not what I want, but funny anyway. I always get more than a handful of one or the other sticking her tongue out or rolling her eyes, or "cheesing", SK's favorite way to take a picture. I have to admit, thought, that I love the silly pictures. I really love the one on the right. The expression on Sarah Kate's face is so her, but is an expression that you really only get to see when she's at her most relaxed, as she is with her sister.

This might be my favorite picture. It's probably the last one I got before the candy bag came out. But bribery didn't work. She was finished with me.

Up next, Ali's choice of pictures. Her "rock star" shots. I'm worried that I'm dealing with 5 going on 16.

ALI JANE

2011-02-24T06:00:00.004-06:00

Ali is:

* Five

* Super skinny (34 pounds, a whopping three pounds more than her sister)

* A thinker

* A VERY picky eater

* Not shy AT ALL

* In love with music

* So much like her mother, with her smart mouth and sassy attitude

* Self-sufficient

* Still a finger sucker

* A dancer

* A huge fan of books and barbies

* A little mama

* A great big sister, most of the time

* Going to be a rockstar when she grows up

* Still into dress-up

* A natural performer

* Has a fabulous imagination

* Doesn't like condiments

* Loves (and that's an understatement) peanut butter

* Has watched every single Barbie movie on You Tube

* Unable to keep a secret, even if it means telling on herself

* So very sensitive

* So very loving

* One of the best things in my life, along with her sister and her father

Sarah Kate, an update

2011-02-22T06:15:00.005-06:00

The advantage of not posting for a year means that I can do a lump sum post about each chid that covers a whole year! 2010 was a fun year for Sarah Kate. Two was not terrible and saw a huge amount of growth in the relationship between my girls.

Do they fight? Like cats and dogs. But do they love each other? More than anything in the whole world. And I LOVE it. But 2010 was the year that Ali got to tell her sister what to do. 2011 is shaping up to be a different story. Along with her third birthday came a spirit of independence. No longer willing to bend to the will of her sister, Sarah Kate fights for what she wants. And sometimes fight just because she can and she wants to. It's so funny though, because she will absolutely refuse to share something with Ali for about ten seconds and then ends up handing over whatever Ali wants. Then she runs to me and brags because she shares.

Currently SK is in 3t clothing, a size seven shoe and weighs about 30 lbs, give or take a little. She's short for her age and probably is just destined to be petite (short, anyway. I wouldn't exactly call her belly petite). She loves to do everything herself. Everything. Teeth brushing, hair washing, dressing herself, picking out her bedtime books, putting on her shoes and socks, picking out her breakfast....all except drying her hair. I have to do that after back and it is not an option. She can't stand to be naked or have wet hair.

Her favorite foods consist mostly of breakfast food and junk food. She loves oatmeal, dry cereal, grits, waffles and pancakes. And pop-tarts. Of course pop-tarts. We are a pop-tart family. When it comes to other foods, her top foods are doritos and fruit snacks. And yogurt. Preferably Dora yogurt.

Speaking of Dora; after nearly five years, I thought we had finally escaped day after day of Dora. I was wrong. While we took a short break from Dora to fall in love with Spongebob, we are now back to Dora. The same episode. Over and over. And over. Same with the books we read at night. Dora books. Every night. Same ones. She very, very routine!

Sarah Kate's newest favorite thing is the ipod she got for her birthday. I know. Three years old and has an ipod, but she played on our phones ALL the time and decided that it was time to reclaim our phones and find something for her. She LOVES her ipod. She can play all the games and will walk around just listening to the music. It's so cute!

Hm. I guess that about catches us up on Sarah Kate. Up next, Ali!

c25k

2011-02-20T21:22:00.002-06:00

Back in July last year, my friend Jessica and I started on the c25k program. It was tough, but we stuck with it and saw a lot of improvement. We actually made it to the last week of the program. And then life happened. Hunting season came (which meant no husbands to watch the kids), cold weather came and well, excuses. And we quit running in October. So now we are starting again. We did day 2 of week one today and I guess my body has already forgotten all that it learned. I am so sore!! But I'm hoping we will stick with it this time. Once I get used to it, I really enjoy it. And I definitely feel so much better when I run. And my pants fit better, which is a huge plus!

So here's to my 2011 resolution. Ha. I'm getting started a couple months late! I really, really want to run a half marathon. That's my ultimate goal.

But for now, I'll just be happy with a 5k!

2011

2011-02-19T13:27:00.009-06:00

I have really missed posting on this blog for the past year. And I'm kind of sad because now it will be so hard to remember what happened in 2010. My memory can't really be relied upon anymore. I think I delivered part of my brain each time I had a child. It didn't really leave much for me.

I can't believe my little girlies are now 5 and 3. What happened to my babies?!

Ali is now in preschool and loves it. She is learning so much everyday and will be reading in no time. She is very much into performing for us and has informed us that she is going to be a rock star when she grows up. Currently her favorite singers are Taylor Swift and Kelli Pickler. But she's also very much into writing and performing her own songs. Her fashion sense is still fabulous, as would be expected since she's been cultivating it since she was 2.

Sarah Kate is very much an independent three year old who doesn't really like anyone to tell her what to do or when to do it. She likes to dress herself and wash herself and generally dictate the routine of the house. She is a homebody who loves to cuddle in her daddy's chair and watch her favorite shows. She tells me a hundred times a day that she loves me and will stop playing to come up to me and give me kisses. She is the most loving little girl when she's not being a tyrant.

Life is good around here. I'm about to change jobs. I will be working three days a week and won't be working weekends and holidays anymore. I'm very excited about that. It will be nice to spend more time at home!

And we're back!

2010-02-08T10:13:00.015-06:00

Well, hello friends. It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry. Really, I am. I'm not really sure what happened. I think the death of our laptop largely contributed to my blogging hiatus. We have a desktop, but mostly I'm too lazy to sit there.

So what have we been up to for the last four months?

Well:

In October we started an eight week round of illness. That really might be the biggest contributing factor to why I quit blogging. We had a round of hand, foot and mouth disease (SK), bronchitis (SK), rotavirus (both girls), strep (me and Ali)and a couple of colds thrown in for good measure. That doesn't seem like all of it, but it's enough to tell you that it wasn't really a fun time.

We went to Beggs Family Farm in Sikeston for a little bit of pumpkin-picking fun. It was COLD! But we had fun anyway.

Wes and I got to go to an Ole Miss football game with several of our friends. I didn't take any pictures, but I had a blast. It's something we really need to do every year!

Then Halloween came around and my little princesses turned into a scary (but not really) witch and a fairy princess. Ali just can't stop being a princess for long. :)

Then November rolled around. And all heck broke loose in this house on the illness front. But did that stop us from packing up and going to Birmingham for Thanksgiving? No, it did not. It wasn't such a fun week for Sarah Kate what with rotavirus and all (wasn't it nice of us to take our illnesses traveling?) but it was the week she finally decided she likes my family. It only took close to two years. It totally made it worth it.

December. Christmas. Ali's first school Christmas program. Visitors. Cookies. December was a good month. Christmas was awesome for the girls this year. They both loved it. My favorite part was when Ali ran to the living room and yelled "He came! Santa really came!!" and then she dug right into her pile of gifts.

January brought a visit to the cardiologist. Sarah Kate had a sedated echo (we do NOT like watching her get drunk on sedatives and then pass out. That was not fun.) Her heart looks absolutely wonderful. And that made us feel great. We will always be watching for her subaortic stenosis to get worse and for now it hasn't changed one bit. YAY!! Sarah Kate celebrated her 2nd birthday on January 26th. Only there was no celebration. We spent the day in the dr's office for a terrible cold that we were afraid would turn into pneumonia. She got a rocephin shot for her birthday. And the very next week she got a nasty stomach bug. We haven't even bothered trying to celebrate her day yet. Isn't that sad? But we will definitely have a party soon. To celebrate two wonderfully amazing years with our little spitfire. She's mean as a snake, by the way. But then can turn around and be the sweetest little person you've ever seen.

Which brings us up to February. So far February has been defined by snow and more illness. I know. We have a recurring theme in the family. Week before last we got a TON of snow. TOO MUCH SNOW!! There was still a little bit on the ground yesterday. And when we got up this morning, the ground was covered again!! And we are expecting another 6 inches or so tonight. It's definitely beautiful, but Ali has decided she would rather have spring flowers than snow.

Speaking of Ali, she is FOUR today. FOUR YEARS OLD!! I started this blog when she was just a tiny little thing in my belly. It's so hard to believe that four years have passed. She is an amazing little person. So imaginative and full of spirit. I fully intend to post again soon with updates on both girls. I regret that I haven't done it sooner. This blog is how I remember things!

So there you are. Updated on the family.

2009-10-01T12:03:00.002-05:00

After a fabulous trip to Birmigham, we are back to our normal routine. This week is fair week and we kicked it off by going to the parade Tuesday night. I didn't intend to take Sarah Kate because I thought she would be entirely too hard to keep up with. Plus, it was after her twilight bedtime. But I couldn't stand not being there with Ali (who went with her cousins and Nanny), so we headed over there. And while SK was predictably busy trying to pick flowers out of people's yards and wanting to run in the street, it was actually really fun. She danced when the bands came by (Ali danced when the dancers came by) and chowed down on a few suckers. I think starting next year, I might actually be able to just sit in a chair and watch while both girls catch candy.

Ali and I are headed to the fair tonight. I'm really looking forward to it just being the two of us. Next year, Sarah Kate will definitely be into all of it, so this will be the last time the fair will be all about Ali.

2009-09-24T08:44:00.002-05:00

The girls and I came to Birmingham yesterday. For a visit and a change of pace. And I wanted my mom to make my birthday dinner. It was not the best drive ever, but many, many puffy cheetos later, we arrived.

And then, after no sleep all day, we thought it would be fun to go to the fair. Because we're optimists. And, really, it was fun. Ali had more fun than Sarah Kate (who has no use for fair rides, but does like fair food), but all in all, both girls had a good time. Sarah Kate's favorite part was the petting zoo. She liked to feed the animals pieces of straw she picked up from the ground, but did not like to feed the animals the small pieces of food that they would lick out of her hand. Ali's favorite part was the bungee trampoline.

Then we all came home and crashed.

And at one this morning, Ali rang in my birthday with a lovely bloody nose. Beating herself up in her sleep, I guess.

The plan for the day is just to play. And maybe shop. Tomorrow we'll have my birthday party. My first 29th.

Snippets

2009-09-16T06:13:00.003-05:00

It isn't even light outside and Sarah Kate is already up eating breakfast. She definitely wins the early bird award.

Ali loves, loves her new "school". She has all kinds of friends. When she gets in the car in the afternoon, she dumps the rocks out of her shoes. And her feet stink.

I got an iphone the other day. Wes and I finally caught up with the rest of the world. Giving me one is a little like giving a heroin addict a continuous IV drip of heroin.

Really. What did people do before they were connected to each other 24 hours a day? Do you think it's a bit ridiculous?

The girls and I are going to Birmingham next week. Wes has to work the night of my birthday, so I'd rather spend it there with my family than here alone. We haven't traveled in over three weeks and I'm getting antsy.

Still dark outside. Here comes Ali. But it is 6:30, so I guess it's ok. I'm just not used to it getting light so late now.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Ali's made a huge leap recently. She is no longer three. She's thirteen. She's got the attitude to prove it.

But at least when I asked her what kind of birthday I should have she said "a queen birthday:. So she still somewhat acknowledges who is in charge here.

Sarah Kate went to the dr yesterday. She now weighs 24 lb and 8 oz. She still very much hates going to the doctor. She doesn't even like getting weighed. And she's perfected her glare. Everyone who walks in the room gets to see it.

Both girls are still addicted to Dora. This very much works to my favor when I need a few minutes of peace. It's nice to watch the laying together on my bed, blankets in hand, fingers in mouths, quietly watching tv.

It's even better to watch them playing together though. Lately Sarah Kate is much more interested in playing with Ali. She loves to copy her and they have a new game where they throw themselves down on the bed and pretend to cry. It cracks me up.

I spent hours cleaning my house yesterday. Today my arms are sore and my hands are swollen. But the house looks good. At least until 7 am. Then it will all be downhill. Do you ever feel like you clean for no reason?

That's about all that is going on around here right now. It's almost fair season and we are very excited! It might be the end of summer for sure, but it's the beginning of funnel cake season. :)

First Day

2009-09-10T19:38:00.003-05:00

The girls started at their new daycares today. It went amazingly well. We had to leave the house at 6:40. Today that was easy. Ali was excited and I was prepared. I suspect as winter draws closer, it will be harder and harder to be ready and out the door so early!

Ali is thrilled with her new daycare. She told me all about her new friends and going out to play on the playground (the lovely playground with lots of gravel We brought half of it home in her shoes). She told me about naptime and lunch time. And anything else she could think of. When she wasn't almost falling asleep in her carseat. She was ready for this change and I'm so happy we were forced to move.

Sarah Kate has new little friends at her new daycare. Our new sitter has a 16 month old son and our 9 month old cousin, Avery, goes there too. So I think since SK will be the queen of the daycare, she'll be pretty happy there.

Thank goodness for answered prayers. And lots of help from the friends who got us all set up in our new spots!

Now I am enjoying the peace that a hard day of playing allows. It is 7:40 and Ali is asleep. Sarah Kate is talking in her bed. Reading to her Dora doll, no doubt.

Whew

2009-09-04T13:11:00.002-05:00

I THINK we have a solution to our babysitter dilemma. The girls will have to go to do different places, at least for a little while, but at least I get to keep my job.

Whew.

Here's to hoping our new sitter sticks around. :)

And so we search

2009-09-01T21:59:00.002-05:00

Today started off great. I woke up early and had coffee before the girls got up. They actually slept until 7. All was well.

Until 8.

When we got to daycare and our sitter announced that she's quitting. Next week.

I cried. I begged her to stay.

By tonight she had amended her plan.

Her resignation was effective immediately.

I have earned myself 2 extra days off work until Wes gets off and can take over.

And so we start the great babysitter search again.

5th time in three years.

*Sigh*

Yum

2009-08-31T18:12:00.000-05:00

Still loves her (sister's) swimsuit

2009-08-31T11:25:00.002-05:00

Ali's had a swimsuit fascination since sometime last year. She'd wear a swimsuit everyday if I would let her. She even likes to sleep in them. Saturday she spent the day in Sarah Kate's. Sadly, it wasn't really all that small. Skinny little thing.

The best family photos

2009-08-30T20:32:00.004-05:00

If you never take my advice again, please, just this once, do this: go to awkwardfamilyphotos.com.

It will make the start of your week 100 times better.

Lazy Saturday

2009-08-29T10:37:00.003-05:00

For the first time in a month, we're home and we have nothing to do. We're still in our pajamas. Watching movies, napping, playing on the internet. What a nice way to spend a Saturday.

Yesterday we took the girls to Jonesboro to the park. The idea was to get some pictures of them together. Ha. That was a big fat no.

But we had fun anyway.

And check out SK's hair. I love it!! It's getting so long. :)

Friday

2009-08-28T14:36:00.002-05:00

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE this little person? She makes my heart want to explode sometimes. Especially when she gives me her little baby kisses.

We're just hanging out at home today. All four of us. For the first time in....well, longer than I can remember. Probably 2 months. I think we're going to have a picnic tonight. If can find a mosquito-free location. Good thing we don't mind driving.

Mississippi

2009-08-24T20:26:00.009-05:00

It seems strange to me that in a time that feels not long ago at all, I was sharing an apartment with my best friends. We were sophomores in college. That was in 2000. Now we are all grown up, with five kids between us.

I love going back to Mississippi to visit. I just wish we had more time to spend with everyone we want to see. Ali has found a new best friend in Stella and a baby brother in Wyatt. I think she would have stayed forever if we'd let her. Sarah Kate found lots of toys that she loved and a boyfriend in Eli.

There was a crazy and chaotic birthday party complete with a bouncy castle. I didn't get many pictures during the party. I was too busy trying to keep up with my girls!

Lots of dressing up. Of course. Ali went straight to Stella's dress up clothes.

A fun night of dinner with friends and kids.

Many, many episodes of Dora.

A little bit of park time (note to self: next time, check the air in the tires before trying to push 60 lbs of children a half mile to the park)

A fun afternoon at the pool.

Not enough sleep.

Not enough time.

We can't wait to do it again.

Here's the birthday boy. I love him. I wanted to eat him up. His sister wouldn't let us bring him home though.

Birmingham

2009-08-21T08:45:00.007-05:00

I am already a whole trip behind, aren't I? Here are some pictures from our trip to Birmingham a couple weeks ago. We had so much fun. We took the girls to the McWane Center, a science center for kids. I chased SK the whole time. She doesn't exactly have the attention span to stay at one thing for very long.

But she loved it anyway. Ali, of course, loved every bit of it and could have stayed much longer if I hadn't been worn out from running after my crazy one.

Of course, we had some park time too. There is a great park right down the road from my mom and dad's house and we head there frequently. The girls love it. The bigger SK gets, the easier it is for her to do everything out there.

And we can never leave out the all important Dora time. This was after the McWane Center. These girls were worn out. SK was asleep before six and Ali before seven. If only I could wear them out so well every day!

Thoughts on summer

2009-08-18T20:17:00.002-05:00

I am sad because summer is coming to an end. Can you feel it? It is dark when I get up in the morning now. It is dark outside by a little after 8. Schools have started back. Stores are starting to display their fall lines. Soon the farmers will start spraying defoliant on the cotton. That, to me, is the true end of summer. I hate that smell. Not only for the pure awfulness that it really is, but also because of what it signifies. This time next year, I'll be getting Ali ready for her first day of preschool. I'm already have a hard time with that.

There is a lot that fall brings that I love. There's just something bittersweet about the end of a carefree summer.

Hitting the Road

2009-08-13T12:20:00.003-05:00

Since Ali's gone and I'm off until Monday, I decided that Sarah Kate and I would hit the road today for our own little road trip. So we're going to head to Nashville this afternoon and meet up with Sarah tonight. I'm dying to see her new house and what better time to do it?

Plus, it's just way too quiet around here this week.

We'll spend the night in Nashville tonight and head down to Birmingham tomorrow.

We'll report again when we reach our destination(s).

Also. Wes starts back on shift work this weekend. I'd rather not be around for it. I'm too sad about it.

We're heading to Mississippi next weekend! Hooray!

Fair Trade

2009-08-09T20:59:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I drove Ali to a little bitty town in North Mississippi called Woodland. I came home with a new chair and dresser.

Fair trade, no?

Actually, last time we were home, mom asked me if she could have Ali for another week this summer. Yesterday, instead of meeting in our normal spot, we decided we'd meet at our favorite furniture store in Mississippi so I could look for some new bedroom furniture.

I learned a couple lessons.

1. Shopping for furniture in a warehouse in Mississippi in August= a LOT of sweat. Made for some sticky shopping.

2. Three year olds can only get so interested looking at furniture. Especially when it isn't for them.

It was worth it though. Even though by the end of the shopping trip Ali started draping her sweaty self over every piece of furniture we paused near, I was still able to make some decisions. I now have a new dresser and chair sitting in the garage. And it will stay there until someone can come help Wes move it into the house. That's the advantage of delivery. But that was not an option in this case.

But hopefully soon it will be in place and I'll have pictures to post. So excited!

Chocolate Covered Bacon

2009-08-07T06:45:00.001-05:00

The newest treat at the Wisconsin State Fair this year.

It's totally on the bacon diet and I'm thinking about driving to Wisconsin just to try it out.

Or not.

Hm.

2009-08-06T19:18:00.001-05:00

Turns out the babe is allergic to mosquitoes.

In the mosquito capital of the world.

That's sort of like being allergic to air.

It's a problem.

Bacon?

2009-08-06T16:40:00.002-05:00

I think I must have left a key ingredient out of my cookies.

I've gained five pounds.

Must be those fruit and vegetable extracts that I didn't have.

Hmm.

How about a bacon diet?

In other news. I told you those scrubs I had on yesterday were bad luck.

When I picked SK up yesterday, she was covered in a red, itchy rash. That girls and rashes. I swear.

Wes is taking her to the dr this afternoon to see if we can figure out what's going on.

:(

The bad luck scrubs

2009-08-05T11:41:00.003-05:00

I bought some new scrubs a few months ago. They are aqua with brown trim. Super cute and I love them. Except I think they are bad luck.

The first time I wore them I spilled salsa on them.

Did it again the second time.

Actually, I think I've spilled something on them every time I've worn them. So maybe it's me.

But today I put them on and my car wouldn't start.

So I blame the scrubs.

Ali-isms

2009-08-04T21:00:00.002-05:00

My Ali.

Cracks me up on an hourly basis.

Has a heart of gold.

Loves her family. Seriously. She tells me a hundred times a day that I'm the best mommy. Until I make her mad. And then I'm the worst mommy.

Is a mini-me. There are so many times that I hear her saying things that I say all the time. For some reason I've started saying "me oh my" and sighing. So the other day she asked me if that was a bad word. She needed to make sure before she started using it herself. She talks just like me though. Same tone, same inflections. It's like listening to a recording of myself.

Loves her baby dolls. She will spend hours taking care of them. She dresses them and bathes them, feeds them, and puts them to bed.

Likes to tell me "2 minutes". Everything is 2 minutes. Time to take a bath? 2 minutes. Time to go to bed? 2 minutes. Time to actually go to sleep? Just lay with me 2 minutes.

Can't wait to get big and ride the bus. Last week Wes told her she is not allowed to get any bigger. She said "but Daddy! I have to get big so I can ride the bus and go to school and learn my letters".

Still loves Dora. But also loves Scooby Doo. And Barbie.

Can identify Taylor Swift, Kelly Pickler, and Miley Cyrus (Hannah Ontana, as she calls her). Up until a couple days ago Taylor was her "fave", but now it's Kelly.

Only likes country music.

Just learned how to do the Chicken Dance. Oh my.

Still sucks her fingers and has to have her pink blanket to sleep.

Weighs 30.5 pounds. Looks like a stick.

Loves to dress up.

Asks me if she is adorable or cute or perfect or some version of this when she comes to the living room all dolled up.

Still loves to wear her swimsuits and her sister's clothes.

Prances.

Is proud of the fact that she is learning to swim.

Won't leave the bathroom until her hair is blow dryed. She also likes to play in the make-up and knows what to do with all of it.

Still loves pop-tarts. Strawberry or Blueberry. Not cherry or brown sugar.

Hates cheese and will only eat her hamburgers plain.
At McDonald's in Holly Springs:

"What is this?"
"What, Ali?"
"There are pickles on my hamburger. Ugh. We will NOT be coming back to this Mcdonald's."

Please picture her giant eye roll that accompanied this statement.

Fesses up when she's bad. She likes to tell me before the babysitter can when she's had a bad day. She (almost)always says she's sorry and that she won't be bad anymore!

Can spend hours on an art project

She thinks her birthday is in Ferryweather (February).

Makes up songs all the time. Stands on a stool in the living room and sings into a toy microphone. And makes sure we clap when she's finished. But she can also sing the words to her favorite songs.

Never misses a thing. Which means we have to be very careful what we say. She also notices when anything changes in the house or when there's one new piece of clothing hanging in her overcrowded closet. She also notices any time I have on anything new.

Tells me we should have three more babies so we can all play together. Ha.

Loves to tell stories. True or not.

Talks our ears off. Everyday. We have to reattach them every night. She's the reason Sarah Kate doesn't say much.

Tells me I am her best friend. I hope that is always true.

The Cookie Diet

2009-08-04T07:01:00.002-05:00

Have you seen this diet?

Really?

This is my dream come true. COOKIES for meals? And you still lose weight? Awesome. But I don't see any point in buying someone else's cookies when I can make awesome ones myself. They advertise that they are made with natural products like wheat and dairy. Well. My cookies may not have dairy, but I can dunk them in milk. So it's all good.

I whipped up a batch of chocolate chunk and peanut butter cookies the other night (had to get some protein in there) and began my diet. If one cookie makes you lose some weight, more cookies will make you lose lots of weight. Correct?

I ate four for breakfast this morning.

I'll be showing off my smokin' hot bikini bod soon.

:)

Year and a half

2009-08-03T10:05:00.000-05:00

My baby is a year and a half old. Where has the time gone?! I wonder this all the time, but when I look at her and see a toddler and not an infant, I am still surprised.

What is she doing now?

1. Loving on her mommy and daddy. Anytime she sees us, she runs and gives us a hug. And frequently throughout the day she will hug my knees. And take off running again.

2. Climbing

3. Talking (mama, dada, Ai-yuh, milk, more, pop-tart, did it!, book, puppy, tickle, Dora and gaga(for Dora's brother and sister) and a whole lot of uh uh, followed by shrieking when she doesn't have a word). She doesn't talk nearly as much as Ali did at the same age, but I think it's just because she doesn't have to. Or want to. She's like her daddy in that respect (not that Wes grunts and points to get what he wants or anything).

4. Reading (only Dora books). And when she's finished, she tears the pages out. Sigh.

5. Dancing. Someone is always dancing in our house.

6. Eating (of course!. Where Ali was picky, Sarah Kate is not the least big picky. Most of the time she'll eat whatever you put in front of her. And then eat what's on Ali's plate too. And sometimes ours. It explains the tank she's carrying around.

7. Making faces. This is her best trick of all. We can tell her to make a mean face and she will scowl at us and then immediately break into a giggle and wiggle her eyebrows at us.

8. Bullying her sister. Really. SK doesn't take any crap off of Ali. She doesn't like Ali to mess with her either. Ali loves to give kisses. SK doesn't like to receive them.

9. Watching Dora. Will have a panic attack if the Dora music comes on and she isn't in the room. I'm so serious. She also had a fit at Target the other day when she spotted a Dora book and I couldn't get there fast enough to pick it up.

10. Speaking of fits. Wow. She outshines Ali by 100% in that department. Although, while typing this I reread my post from when Ali was 18 months and I guess maybe they aren't so different when it comes to tantrums. It's nice to know those memories fade. But SK doesn't have attitude like Ali. She gets frustrated, but mostly she's happy to do her own thing. She's quite the introvert.

11. Like to pick her own shoes out of the shoe basket. She's pretty good at picking out matching shoes. She doesn't care about her clothes, but her shoes do matter.

12. Refuses to name body parts. Absolutely will not do it. Hopefully she'll do it by kindergarten.

13. Loves to figure out how things work. She's currently fascinated with the working parts on the Dora playhouse. But also likes babydolls.

14. Might be more obsessed with Dora than Ali was. Maybe.

15. Likes to play in her baby pool when she is fully clothed.

16. Likes to sleep. She goes to bed between 6 and 6:30 every night and most days still takes 2 naps a day.

17. Hates to be held. At all. Runs like a chicken. All the time. :) Thinks it is really funny to run away from me and crack up when she sees me running after her. She pulled this in the mall the other day.

18. Would rather be at home than anywhere.

19. Told me today when she was going tee-tee in her diaper!

All in all, I think it's so much easier this time around. Partly because I don't worry as much. Party because even though Ali drives SK nuts, they still play together. Sarah Kate can be perfectly happy playing in Ali's room for a long time without ever requiring my assistance.

For the baby book (um, or not. She doesn't actually have one. I'm a terrible mother.), SK weighs around 22 pounds and is around 31 inches tall (I think). She is just waiting for 4 more teeth to come in. Her hair is fine, like the rest of ours. Her eyes are a different shades of blue (like her daddy's), she is darker skinned than Ali and has darker hair. She is also a bit (or a lot) bow-legged. She is wearing 24 month clothes (but can fit into some 2T).

Ah. I love her.

Wreckiness

2009-08-02T19:36:00.002-05:00

I highly recommend checking out Cakewrecks for a dose of daily laughter. Really. Go check it out. It's hilarious.

Tempting Fate

2009-07-29T13:26:00.002-05:00

I'm seriously considering getting rid of all of my baby gear. I realize this is a dangerous thing to do. But we are totally outgrowing our house and all the baby stuff isn't helping things at all. IF (big if) we decide we want another baby, it won't be at least for a few more years (I know. Accidents happen. And I'm quite fertile.)

So. Should I do it? It's not so much the toys that I mind letting go. I guess it's mostly the clothes for very small people. The tiny onesies, little bitty socks. Beautiful pink baby dresses. They all have these memories attached to them and when I look at them they carry me back to last year and to three years ago. And I'm overwhelmed with the rush of emotions that accompanies those memories.

Not that I have baby fever or anything. I can promise you I don't. I held a new baby last week and felt no pull to have another one. Well. Not much of a pull anyway.

Nothing I can't overcome for the next five years or so.

Home at last

2009-07-26T10:52:00.003-05:00

I think it is time to move to Birmingham. Into my parents house. What? You didn't expect to hear that after my last post, did you? Aside from the shrieking and general whininess that tends to pop up when we visit, my kids turn into the best sleepers ever at my mom and dad's. SK sleeps until 8 (and goes to bed at 6) and takes 2 naps. She sleeps in my brother's room and there just must be something about that room. That or SK is just hiding out, pretending to be sleeping. I don't know. But even Ali goes to bed without a fuss and sleeps in every morning. Mom says it is because she wears them out. I think it's because the air conditioner up there emits some sort of sleeping gas.

Anyway. We're home now. And there's not a lot of sleeping going on. Big surprise. Our trip turned out to be a really good one. SK mostly got over her annoyance with everything and decided she didn't mind so much that she wasn't at home. Ali would have stayed forever. She went to school with my mom and made new friends and played with new toys and had a fabulous time at water day. She looks so grown up when she's with those kids (who range between kindergarten and 2nd grade). She just fits right in and has no need for me. This makes me a tiny bit sad because in one short year, she will start preschool and will officially be a big kid. It's a good thing I still have a baby who needs me.

I did learn one lesson last week. Never travel without a GPS. It's just not a good idea. Scenic routes and nice and all. For other people.

Confession

2009-07-21T10:37:00.002-05:00

I made it 60 hours without sweets.

Did I fail?

I don't think so. Ok. I do think so. But, I had to have them. HAD TO. I just didn't see any point in putting up with withdrawal symptoms while I was out of town. And since you know how my little ones behave while we are out of town, you surely can understand that now was not a good time.

Plus, I didn't want to be sick this week. Did you read Sarah's post? It's from the lack of sugar. I'm sure of it.

While Obama is reforming everything else in this nation, he really should reform the sugar industry.

All that crack they are adding to their products should be outlawed.

I think I need to attend sugar eaters anonymous. And start my 12 steps.

After I finish this box of cookies.

And my coke zero.

Why do trips keep sounding like good ideas?

2009-07-20T17:53:00.005-05:00

So, here we are in Alabama. One of my favorite places. Smells like pine trees. Has hills. You can hear Sweet Home Alabama (the REAL version) twice in one morning. And the people have a beautiful accent (there is a distinct Alabama-Georgia-South Carolina accent that I absolutely adore. You don't hear it much in the younger generation though, which is a shame). And, of course, my family is here.

Wes is in Alabama this week too, but about an hour and a half away. He brought the kids down on Saturday while I worked the weekend(lest you ever question his obsession with hunting, know that he brought them so that he could go a deer and turkey expo over the weekend. That is dedication). I stayed with him last night in Decatur and drove down to B'ham this morning to see my oh-so-lovely children. Who tend to turn into little demons (this might be a bit of an exaggeration) when we are not at home and I am around them. Seriously, this baffles me a bit. I love my children. I know they love me. I do not know why they are perfect angels (again, a bit of an exaggeration) for people when I am gone and into clingy, whiny, nearly intolerable small people when I show up. Worse, I don't have a clue how to make it better. So, I've spent the better part of today listening to whining and shrieking (shrieking by SK). I am holding out hope that tomorrow will be a better day. Or I might just head back up to Decatur. Alone. Might do it anyway. It's not often that I can work out being alone with the husband. Plus, he doesn't shriek or whine. Or demand pop-tarts at six in the morning (oh yeah. When I'm away, my kids sleep in. Go figure).

The only thing that (almost) makes up for the whole whiny-clingy-shrieky-not-so-happy situation is the fact that I'm getting to spend time with my family. And someone else is doing the cooking.

That is that. Our trip so far.

Day 1

2009-07-17T12:34:00.002-05:00

30 hours in.

I want a Diet Dr. Pepper.

I'm going to fill my pool with it and swim in it in 2 weeks.

And I'm going to line the outside with brownies.

Maybe not.

Maybe in 2 weeks I won't want sugar anymore.

Then again, maybe not.

By the way, Healthy Choice lower sodium soup is not so good.

Just so you know.

What was I thinking?

2009-07-16T20:37:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Sarah suggested we give up processed sugar for 2 weeks. Not sugar altogether, but foods that are high in sugar, or whatever. Basically, my very favorite food group. The one that is composed of doughnuts, cookies, brownies, pop-tarts. The good stuff. And because I find it hard to back down from a challenge, I agreed.

Oh my gosh. I'm not even 24 hours in and I'm just not sure I can live through this challenge. If you've followed our family for long, you are probably familiar with Ali's love for pop-tarts. Well, she passed that love right on the Sarah Kate and eventually I became addicted too. At any given moment, you are likely to find at least three boxes of pop-tarts in our pantry. Right now we have brown sugar and cinnamon (for Wes and SK), strawberry, blueberry (my and Ali's favorite), and cherry (at the back of the pantry because nobody likes them). It's become the first thing I want when I get up (toasted, with a hot cup of coffee) and it's the first word SK says when she comes out of her room (the first thing she says when I walk in the room is mama, the second is gaga so we don't forget her baby doll). She says it while she is running to the high chair. Seriously. It's that bad. "Pa-pa!!" And I'm right there with her. I even crave chocolate fudge or chocolate chip pop-tarts in the afternoon!

Aside from pop-tarts, I seriously crave brownies. I could eat a whole pan of them in one day. All alone. Except I don't because I'd be totally embarrassed by what Wes would think. So I let him eat the other half. The kids? They get a bite of brownie. Don't want to teach them all my bad habits.

And cookies. Oh, cookies. Hot and fresh from the oven. There's nothing better. Except maybe a hot brownie.

Cake doughnuts. Dunked in coffee. Mmm. Especially blueberry cake doughnuts.

Did you know I was on a diet for almost three months before we went to the beach? I lost right around 12 pounds. It was awesome.

But I wasn't eating my favorite foods.

And I went a little nuts when we got back. 2 months of craziness has taken its toll.

So it is time. For sure.

And since I'm giving up all things good, I'm giving up diet sodas too. You know. Because they increase your sugar cravings. You knew that, right? It's true.

13 more days.

Join us. Everybody's doing it.

Do you Etsy?

2009-07-15T10:41:00.004-05:00

I love Etsy. Seriously. I am addicted. If you haven't checked it out, you should. It's like an online flea market. You can buy almost anything, most of it handmade. Sarah even has a shop! I have some of her dishcloths. I love them.

From the fabulous to the decidedly odd (like any good yard sale or flea market), Etsy offers something for everyone you know. Don't I sound like a commercial? I do, I know. But it's really for a good cause. To help you in your shopping. Especially if you are looking for things that you can't find at, say, Wal-Mart (I'm still working on convincing Ali that you can't buy EVERYTHING at Wal-Mart).

Anyway, you should check it out. But I wanted to share a couple links to some of my favorite sellers.

For ADORABLE dresses for girls:
1. Gingerlouise Apparently peasant dresses are in right now. Do a search for peasant on Etsy and you'll get pages and pages of hits. I love this seller though. We have a couple dresses and they are beautiful.
2. Skeeterbug I haven't actually purchased anything from her yet, but I've been eyeing her party dresses forever.
3. True boutique style (at true boutique prices): I would love an outfit for my girls from this shop. It isn't going to happen.

Cute gifts for anyone:
1. Coin purses that are beautiful and well made.
2. Pretty purses
3. Baby quilts: I so want a big quilt like these.
4. Sugarplumbtree: Shoes so cute that I almost want to have another baby. Almost.
5. Dogartstudio: Love your dog (or cat)? Check out these awesome dog paintings.
6. Madteapartyfurniture: This probably doesn't fall into a gift category. Although I would gladly accept any of it as a gift ;). But I think this furniture is so cute.

Need something that is just plain old weird? Here you go.
1. Search for beard and you'll get 36 pages of hits. Really? One of my favorites is the 75 dollar felt beard that Sarah found last week.
2. Need a wormbaby (and who doesn't?), check this out. I want one. To scare my children in the middle of the night.
3. Mauro Ghost doll: weird, but sort of cute. Kind of like an uglydoll.

So. You get the picture. Get on etsy. Play around. Buy your friends something awesome. If you love unique things, this really is the place to be. If you don't have time to shop, send me your gift lists and let me shop for you.

Check it out. You won't be sorry.

The fruits (and fish) of summer

2009-07-14T20:35:00.002-05:00

So yes, I am being more vigilant about blogging lately. It's because I am sad that I didn't document the past couple of summers the way I should have. Sure, I have pictures. Thousands of them. On dvd's. That I would have to sort through. Because I'm the kind of mom that doesn't print pictures. I just shoot and store. So at least if I document this way, I'll catch the highlights when I'm feeling the need to reminisce.

One of my favorite things about summer is watermelon. It brings back all of these wonderful memories from when I was little. We lived near the beach and often after a day in the sand and water we would stop at a roadside stand (usually run from the bed of a pickup truck) and we would buy a watermelon. Then we'd take it home and sit on the back porch, hot and sunburned, and cut into the melon. We would usually set it on newspapers to make clean up easy. It's a simple memory, but a strong one. And so I can't imagine summer without watermelon.

This afternoon after swimming lessons, the girls and I stopped by a produce stand (not run from a the bed of a truck) and bought a melon that was picked today. We sat on the back porch (my girls and their cousins) and dug into the watermelon. We didn't have any newspaper, so we used a beach towel. And the melon wasn't quite sweet enough and was a bit overripe. But it didn't matter. Now I'm making sweet new memories sharing summertime with the ones I love.

I salt my melon. Do you? I remember the first time I was someone do it and I thought they were crazy. They weren't. Salt and watermelon go together like french fries and frosties. You do dip your french fries in your frosty, right?

After some swimming and when everyone was tired of watermelon we moved on to goldfish. Not my favorite, but my kids adore them. Because I haven't posted overly much recently, you probably don't know this, but it is rare of me to get a picture of SK without either food or her blanket. If there isn't any food and there's not a blanket, there's a good chance she isn't happy. My poor little stress eater. Oh the irony. And the blanket. That nasty old blanket. Is never out of sight. She dropped it out of her crib tonight. We thought she'd fallen out of the crib and broken something the way she was crying.

Random, happy summertime photos. The last is the face I got when I told Ali I could see her booty (hanging out of last year's swimsuit).

Things we love about summer

2009-07-13T20:45:00.006-05:00

The lake

Eating cake for dinner

Staying up way too late

Playing with cousins

Sonic

Mosquitoes. Wait. Scratch that.

Swimming parties

Eating. Of course!!

We took our first family trip down to Wes's uncle's cabin down near Searcy, AR this weekend. We had so much fun. Well, most of us did. Sarah Kate did not, and I can't emphasize this enough, did not like her life jacket or the moving boat. On day one we saw a temper tantrum that outdid anything I've ever seen. But that aside, we had a blast on the lake. I tubed. For a short while. Until I decided that tubing didn't really fulfill my definition of fun. I'm sure there are pictures of my "holding on for dear life" expression. But I don't have them. Which is good. But I'm willing to give it another shot next time.

Ali loved the lake. Loved riding in the boat, loved driving the boat, loved getting in the water (for very brief periods of time in which she mostly had on her "holding on for dear life" expression.) She got a little more brave when her cousin Chloe (who is the same age) showed up and started jumping off the side of the boat by herself.

Wes and I got Saturday afternoon to ourselves. So we rode around the lake for a few hours. Those hours of solitude completely made up for the lack of sleep and temper tantrums we endured.

I am so ready to go back.

In other news, Ali started swimming lessons today. She's a fish. I think it won't be long before we start looking into bigger pools.

T.E.S Yes!

2009-07-09T22:05:00.002-05:00

A snippet of what it is like driving home with the girls every day. And yes, it's like this just about every day.

T.E.S...Yes!! (I don't know. She's pretty close though, right?)

This was taken with my cell phone.

B Holes

2009-07-07T20:32:00.001-05:00

Am I a prude or is Hardee's new commercial for B Holes just wrong?

If you haven't seen it, be glad. The comparison between A holes and B holes does not make me hungry at all.

Kind of like Arby's recent commercial about greasy hamburgers where the Arby's employee was wiping a hamburger on his greasy head. That very nearly did me in on Arby's.

Who thinks these ads are a good idea?

You know it's going to be a one of those days when...

2009-07-07T19:36:00.002-05:00

You wake up and realize you don't have any coffee.

Not a big deal if you don't drink coffee.

A tragedy when your dependency on caffeine rivals your dependency on oxygen. The withdrawal was ugly. All I can say is that the highlight of the day was the fact that both children were happy to remain on my bed watching dora and diego until I was able to bring myself to life. Sort of. At least I was able to stand up and drag myself into the shower.

It truly is a sad thing that I am only slightly exaggerating.

Anyway. One of those days.

And I bought coffee today. So I fully expect tomorrow to be a much better day.

I also learned that if you go to Sonic before going to Wal-Mart, the trip goes much better. Between one child eating ice cream and the other eating a grilled cheese, it was probably one of the best shopping trips I've had with the two girls. The messiest, sure, but the easiest. I'll take a mess any day if it gets me out of there with no meltdowns.

I just forgot the milk. Oops.

What? Another post already?

2009-07-06T20:54:00.003-05:00

SK had a urology appointment in Memphis today. She had a follow-up VCU just to make sure everything from the surgery was working properly. Good news. It is! We've been released from urology for a year. We'll go back next year just to make sure that her reflux doesn't come back, but I don't expect it to.

This is the first major appointment I've taken SK to by myself. I made it, but it wasn't a whole lot of fun. It's just a good thing that I've relaxed enough not to worry if she was running around the (empty) waiting room making a little bit of noise. I don't try to keep her contained because that would result in a lot more noise. Anyway, a couple things happened today that just annoyed me. Things that could be fixed.

First. If I get to my appointment on time, small child in tow, arms loaded with all that it takes to keep small child happy, clean, full (and it's a lot) then PLEASE don't leave me sitting in the waiting room for 45 minutes. Especially if I'm the only one there. If the dr who performs the test is late on a regular basis, then schedule me for thirty minutes later! This isn't the first time this has happened at this particular clinic. Drives me nuts. Drives SK nuts. She can only run around the waiting room and climb on the chairs so many times before she gets bored. Then we have to resort to eating peanut butter cookies and making a huge mess.

The second annoyance is that if you see that I'm the only one watching after my small child who does not, will not, can not sit still, PLEASE do not ask me to fill out information forms when I've told you none of the information has changed. Seriously! Make a copy and put a new date on it! During the course of filling out my paperwork today and finding my insurance card and drivers license (which all happen to be exactly the same as a year ago) SK managed to get peanut butter cookie (we were at our second office of the day at this point and it was lunch time so we had to get back into the cookies) on my phone, on herself, and in my purse. And probably on the paperwork.

But those are things I've gotten used to. Because it's the same way everywhere. Which is ridiculous. But whatever. Here's the thing that annoyed me the most today and it isn't medically related at all.

In the drive through at Backyard Burger I had to give my order about three times because they couldn't understand me through the speaker. Hello? Just ask me to pull up and give my order! Anyway, the lady at the window was looking into the backseat and said

"Oh, is he looking at the tv?"
"Yes"
"Well, tell him he should be in daycare"
"Uh, SHE had a dr's appointment today"
"Oh? That's a she? Oh yeah, I see the pink thing in her hair now"

Sarah Kate's carseat is brown with pink flowers. She had a pink ponytail in her hair. Her pants had pink flowers on them. But I can look past those things. But to tell me that my not even 2 year old should be at daycare?! What? It's not like she's an 8 year old missing school!

Ok. I'm finished with my griping (that is really just half-hearted griping). SK was really, really good today so I can't complain too much.

I'm also happy because I'm ordered new silver flip-flops for Ali. Apparently we lost one in the Wal-Mart parking lot last week (Ali was mad at me and I guess she picked it off when she got in the car and it must have fallen on the ground. I promise she didn't just walk right out of the shoe and keep on going. She was in the middle of a super lovely temper tantrum so she wasn't walking anyway. But that's a whole other story). I LOVED those shoes and thank goodness Target had them online. Yay! My day was made by a 12 dollar pair of flip flops. Oh. And a good report, of course!

The Obligatory Holiday Post

2009-07-05T20:42:00.006-05:00

I suppose that title doesn't really apply to me because I'm pretty good about skipping posts about holidays. But I'm on the ball with the one.

We had a great 4th. Sarah came in to town on Friday afternoon and stayed to play with us all weekend. My girls (especially Ali) love Sarah. And I always love it when Sarah comes to visit.

Last night we had a cookout at the Redneck Country Club. I worked my butt off shucking corn and cutting the kernels off the cob to make a lovely corn casserole recipe that I found on at Pioneer Woman (do NOT go there if you are on a diet. Do not go there if you are at all tempted by delicious looking food). I just have to say how proud I am of that corn. There wasn't much to it, really (just corn, butter, heavy cream, salt and pepper), but it was hard work and my arms are sore today (sad, I know). And it wasn't plain on corn on the cob. Sarah made the best fruit salad ever, served with real whipping cream (yum!) and we had all the other traditional bbq fare. Then we finished it all up with homemade ice cream. I'm pretty sure I'm ten pounds heavier today (the problem with having functions at your house is that you HAVE to eat all those leftovers. It's a hard life.) but it was so worth it. Especially since we have a ton of whipping cream left over and it's wonderful on everything. If you are still a fan of cool-whip, let me suggest you whip yourself up some heavy cream. You'll never go back.

Don't know how my hairbrush got outside or why SK was eating it. But she seemed to enjoy it :)

Ali feeding Sarah Kate some homemade ice cream. I love how sweet she can be to her little sister.

And that wraps up my commentary on food. Because I just finished a hot brownie (yes, Sarah, we made another box tonight) and (what else?) whipped cream and if I think much more about food I'll pop.

ANYWAY. There was some rain at our party. Right at grilling time. But it blew over and the sun came out and the girls (sans SK) hopped in the pool. Ali had a blast swimming with her cousins Claira and Melena. And then they all demonstrated their booty shaking skills. And while I KNOW we shouldn't laugh and shouldn't encourage this behavior, it is nearly impossible to keep a straight face with all the swiveling of three year old hips and shaking of the virtually nonexistent butt. It's just not right. But it's just so funny.

Uh huh. I know where Ali learned to shake it.

After a while we moved to the front yard and the girls and Wes played Frisbee. After an unfortunate accident (tripped over a metal sign) and some teasing (about my funny running) at our Memorial Day cookout, I opted to skip the game playing this year. That and I was too full to move much.

Then we shot fireworks. Of course! Well, a few shot fireworks. The rest of us held tight to the ground to avoid being carried off my mosquitoes. They are the size of small birds (no lie) and come out in droves at sunset. We'd just been saying they weren't as bad as usual and then they attacked. But what would the holiday be without a few mosquito bites to help us remember the day?

And after that? We attempted to watch SNL. Bad idea. So we went to bed instead.

A Good Day.

The Redneck Country Club

2009-07-02T19:06:00.002-05:00

The waterslide died a sad death this year, so we gave in to peer pressure and bought a membership to the redneck country club. In our own back yard. Look! It's a large, blue plastic bathtub for our very own outside bathing pleasure. Purchased where else? The Kennett Social Club (aka Walmart, aka Ali's FAVORITE place).

It ceased to be cold after the first 24 hours but it has not diminished in its joy giving capabilities. Ok, except for SK who is not happy about the fact that she has to float around in a tube. She would much rather be free to roam around the water in her own fashion. One small problem with that, though. She can't swim. And that does not make her happy. Ali, on the other hand, LOVES to put on her floaties and kick all around the pool. She'll be swimming by next summer for sure!

You know, if I'd cropped these pictures in some more you would have never known we were swimming in a blue bath tub, would you? It's given us the itch for a bigger pool. That's one of the main things I've wanted since I was about four years old. An in ground pool with a diving board. And I will have one. Someday. But for now, the plastic pool is the best!

3? 16? Who knows.

2009-07-01T20:28:00.002-05:00

"Look Mommy! There's a boat!"
"Yes, it's called a barge. It's a type of boat"
"No, it's a boat."
"I know, it's called a barge"
"No Mommy, listen to me. It's called a BOA-TUH"

And so I was put in my place. Because at three years old, Ali realizes that her mommy doesn't know anything.

I'm pretty amazed at how independent a little person can be. We've about reached the point where Ali only needs us to reach things that are too high for her. Other than that, she's pretty good on her own. She can get her own pop-tart for breakfast (although I do have to fix the milk to go with it). She can wash her hair and pick out her own clothes. And since her main activity is changing clothes, she's pretty good on her own. Oh, I guess I am needed for reading books at night. The last 2 nights she has slept in the makeshift tent in her bedroom. Don't you remember making those when you were little?

I'm also pretty amazed at how grown up Ali is all of a sudden. She asks me to turn on Taylor Swift so she can sing and dance to her songs. She is learning the words to a lot of the country songs on the radio. She informed me not long ago that country is all we are allowed to listen to. Everything else is bad. Tonight on the way home I was talking on the phone with Wes and Ali was in the backseat asking me to please turn up the radio because she needed to sing. She's developed some pretty interesting dance moves too. Not sure where she picked those up, because last time I checked nobody else in this house had perfected the strip tease. And I'm not even kidding when I say that she has a playboy bunny laugh to go with her playboy bunny dance. I swear I haven't been letting her watch Kendra, but maybe that's what she gets up and does in the middle of the night.

I know, I know. How can a face this innocent be so wild? :)

My one post for the month

2009-06-30T21:41:00.004-05:00

You know what is great about a second child? That jealous, competitive, "my child can do anything better than your child" mentality seems to have abated a bit. There's a little girl down the road who is a month older than SK but seems light years ahead verbally. Big deal. With Ali we would have been working like crazy to catch up. I guarantee that at this point in time Ali could point to most of her body parts on command. Sarah Kate? Um, no. She can point to her belly. And she can let you know when she wants it filled up (by saying "milk", which is what she calls everything she would like to put in her mouth). But that's it. She refuses to point to any other body part. She calls her books, blanket, and baby dolls "ball" and can say here when she wants me to have something. Everything else she gets by yelling.

And I am fine with that. Gone are the days of stressing over every little detail. Perhaps because I'm entirely too busy breaking up fights, picking up toys, and following a small person who is interested in emptying every cabinet and climbing on every surface. But you know what she can do? She can go get her shoes when I tell her to. She can get a cup and hold it up to the water dispenser like she is going to fill it up. She can put her toys away and she knows how to brush her teeth. All things that make me happy. And the not talking thing? Fine. In this house, Ali does most of the talking anyway. :)

The Beach: A review

2009-05-27T19:58:00.004-05:00

So, based on the pictures in the previous posts, you can probably guess which of my children liked the beach the most, right?

We had the best trip! I cried when we left and was planning my return before we even got home. We stayed at Waterscape in Ft. Walton Beach and I can not recommend it highly enough. I really wish I had remembered to take pictures of our condo (although if you are interested in seeing it, look here

There are no pictures of the bathroom, which is really unfortunate. Those (we had 2 master baths in our 2 bedroom condo) were HUGE!! So big that SK slept in one in her pack and play (not because we dislike her so much that we relegated her to the bathroom, but because she's a very light sleeper and goes to sleep very early). The showers were large enough for about 8 people. I didn't get that at all. The tubs were big enough to swim in if the water outside was too cold (it was). But it wasn't the condo itself that made the place so great. It was the kiddie pool with waterslide, the shaded area perfect for non water lovers (SK), the lazy river perfect for relaxing when you needed a rest (which Ali occasionally did), the zero entry pool with splash toys for older kids and a waterfall at one end, and the two hot tubs. There was even one more pool that was just a pool (maybe for adults, but this is not enforced). You could spend your whole trip in the pools and never even bother with the beach (if you are that type. Ali and I are not. Wes and SK will probably spend next year in the pools). Except for the fact that it was a bit cool and a lot windy, for the most part, we had terrific weather.

One day when it was too cold to play outside and Ali was too sunburned (bad Mommy!!) to go outside even if it was warm, Wes took her to the Gulfarium (a sort of Sea World). To say she loved it would be an understatement. I called once to see if they were coming back and Wes told me they were looking at the same thing for the 45th time and they would eventually make it to the exit. Ali LOVED the dolphins and the rubber dogs (sea lions. No clue where she got rubber dogs). She can't ever remember the name of the place, so out of the blue she'll just ask "What's that place we went?" Good thing I can usually read her mind. ;) I think her favorite part might have been the gift shop. On the way out (because the gift shop is NEVER in an inconvenient location, Ali said, "Daddy, we need to go in and get a gift for mommy." Hm. She walked out with a bracelet (for herself), a little mermaid (for herself), a new book (again, for Ali) and a airbrushed t-shirt with her name on it and a couple of dolphins and says "daddy and me". Oh wait, and a squeaky dolphin toy (for SK? No.) I told her she was lucky her daddy took her.

Have I mentioned yet that Sarah came with us? If you read her blog, you already know that. It was so great having her there. I feel bad that we didn't get to spend much time together, but it was really nice to have someone to hang out in the condo with Sarah Kate while the rest of us (who actually like the beach) got to be outside. It was also a blessing to be able to go out to eat and ENJOY the meal because there were no kids there! If traveling to the beach with small children, TAKE AN ASSISTANT!! So nice!

I bet I also haven't mentioned that my mom and Will and Matt and his girlfriend Haley came too. They stayed next door to us. My dad had classes and a big project to work on and wasn't able to come, which was so unfortunate. It was so great having them there!! Will just graduated from college and starts his new job in a couple weeks, so it was a nice break for him. Matt and Haley came down between exams (because unlike some of us, didn't spend the last of their days of school stressing about stupid tests). Wes and the guys went deep sea fishing our first day there. That holds no appeal for me (I've smelled those boats, ugh) but they had a good time. Ali spent all day that first day between the beach and the pools. ALL DAY. Explains why she got burnt despite multiple applications of sunscreen (that it turns out she's sort of allergic too. We switched to the sensitive skin kind for the next trip outside). She's been having fun showing people her "peel" these last few days.

I keep mentioning SK's strong dislike of the sand. When we got there on Friday, we checked in and headed straight to the beach. And the second her feet touched the sand, she screamed. For the next three days, anytime she was on the beach, she was in our arms. Our usually non-cuddly baby because the cuddliest baby you've ever seen. I was tempted to keep her down there all the time just to cuddle with her! Finally, our last afternoon we were able to ease her down into the sand and she played there for a little while. Until she realized the sand was sticking to her. And then she was not happy. But there was no rinsing her off in the sea water. Ha! It wasn't really a good idea to get the water within about three feet of her body. It's funny that she reacted that way because she loves our water toys out back. She was iffy about the kitty pool too. But was perfectly happy to hang out in the condo and swim in the mini-pool in the bathroom.

This post has gotten kind of windy, huh? I just don't want to forget anything! And I haven't even started in on all that we ate! I'll just say that it was all so good.

I'll leave you with a vision of Ali (you'll have to imagine because I didn't have my camera) in her new Dora swimsuit. I guess 3T suits still have room in the crotch area for a swim diaper. She doesn't wear them and it was a little baggy. At one point it was totally filled with sand. She stood up on the beach and attempted to shake it out of her suit (by shaking her whole body). She finally turned to me and said "Mommy, this is silly. People are going to laugh at me. Let's go get another suit." My girl. Always concerned with how she looks. I know. Trouble.

GO TO THE BEACH!! Take your kids! Have a blast!! Come home with the scent of sun and sunscreen on your clothes. Let your floor be covered with sand. Best vacation!

SK and the beach

2009-05-27T19:47:00.003-05:00

Ali and the beach

2009-05-25T11:31:00.004-05:00

Practicing for the beach...and "rocking up"

2009-04-21T21:24:00.001-05:00

Sick Day

2009-04-06T10:37:00.005-05:00

I'm stuck at home today with some kind of yucky stomach bug. It woke me up at 2 this morning and despite little sleep and still feeling queasy, I thought I could make my way through the workday. My boss immediately sent me back home. So here I am, on the couch, bored out of my mind. I can't stand up and do anything and do you even know how awful daytime television is? So. I'll blog. Might even share some snapshots with you since it's been a while. My little ladies, well my littlest lady anyway, are growing at an alarming rate. Ali keeps telling me she's "bout to get big". Sarah Kate really is. She'll be taller than Ali in a few months.

We're supposed to be heading out to Birmingham tomorrow for a little visit. I really hope that no illness prevents us from going! Everything here is so brown and dull that we are pretty desperate to get to greener land! MAYBE I'll even get to do some spring pictures of the girls. I haven't gotten out my "real" camera in so long that I'm not even sure I know where it is. Life seems to have gotten in the way lately.

Sarah Kate had a cardiology appointment last week. She did a great job and we got a great report. We don't have to go back for another 9 months! That is scary and exciting all at once. But it is definitely nice to know that she is doing so well.

Just so that I won't forget these things:

In Sarah Kate news:
My not so little baby has really developed her own personality recently. She is very independent and strong-willed. She wants what she wants when she wants it and there is no patience involved. Usually just a lot of screaming. She is also very routine. First thing in the morning she walks to her high chair and yells until I put her in. This morning, however, I told her I had to change her diaper first and she shocked me by laying down on the floor and waiting for me. I'm never sure if she understands what I'm telling her, but apparently she does.

She loves to be tickled and will lay on the beanbag and make this certain noise to let me know that she's ready for me to tickle her. She adores Ali and will walk around yelling "A-yee".

She likes to climb, likes the remote control and computer, and loves turning on and off the television. She likes closing doors and getting things out of the pantry and bringing them to us. She loves the bath and loves to lay on her tummy while she's in the bath tub. Sarah Kate is really getting to be very fun. And loving. It melts my heart when she just walks up to me and wraps her arms around my legs and rests her head against me for a minute. As sweet as the baby stage is, the toddler stage, to me, is just so much more fun.

In Ali news:
My skinny little minnie. Note in some of the pictures that I post that they are wearing the same outfit. Ali went to daycare in her sister's pajamas this morning. I felt too bad to care and given that she's such a grouch in the morning, there was little I could have done to get her out of them anyway. Good thing my kids are the first kids there and usually get dressed (I think?!) before the other kids arrive. Ali is still obsessed (OBSESSED!) with clothes. I was working on Saturday and Wes called me and put Ali on the phone. She put her pants up to the phone to ask me which shirt went with them. Because it's imperative that she match. Ha. You've seen some of her creations.

The past few weeks have been pretty difficult attitude-wise. I had no idea that three brought with it so much whining, crying, and defiance. But we are working through it. We finally decided that she wasn't getting enough sleep (considering it was getting closer and closer to 10 everynight when she was finally falling asleep), so about a week ago, we banned tv at night and started setting a kitchen timer. It was like magic. And for the past week, bedtime has occurred around 8 every night with little trouble. And I shouldn't have even posted about it because in all likelihood, we will now be jinxed.

Aside from the not so fun attitude, Ali is hilarious right now. Such a ham. Her new favorite phrase is "rock up" and she jumps up and pretends to play her guitar and dance while yelling "rock up!"She talks NON-STOP and is very into the "watch me" phase.

All in all, life is pretty good right now. We are loving having Wes home every night. He is temporarily working days back in the safety office at Nucor and while I wish it would turn into a permanent position, it isn't likely, so we are definitely enjoying our time with him while it lasts. I never knew how much I would enjoy being able to eat dinner as a family every night (with the exception of SK who still can't stay awake past 6 pm).

And for those of you who are wishing it on us to have another baby...prepare to move in and help if that happens. I'm not saying a baby wouldn't be a blessing, but children deserve sane parents. And that wouldn't be the case right now.

:)

2009-04-02T06:21:00.002-05:00

Oops...I totally forgot to come back yesterday and say APRIL FOOL'S!

:) Thanks for letting me play a little joke on you.

Thump

2009-04-01T06:49:00.001-05:00

Apparently we're just meant to have babies around here.

Retail Therapy

2009-03-17T19:47:00.003-05:00

There's is truth in that title. Shopping can be incredibly therapeutic. This past weekend I went to visit my dear friend Sarah in Nashville and we had a blast! She's a great shopping partner and did not complain the first time even though we shopped for over 10 hours on Saturday. And since I've felt like frump girl for the last, oh I don't know, three years, I racked up on new clothes and accessories. And you'll be proud of me. I bought color! Lots of color. Bright greens, hot pinks, blues. I even bought a blue purse that Sarah picked out. I haven't actually put any of my stuff in it yet, but I will (and it's so big I'll be able to put LOTS of stuff in it) and I know I'm going to love it all summer. I bought a hippie-ish white skirt (but I stayed away from the "town gowns" even though we spent a lot of time looking at them and laughing) and dresses. I never wear dresses, so I'm branching out and I'm excited about it.

Most of you probably shop on a regular basis. Maybe. I don't know. If you have kids, you might only regularly shop at kids stores. This was the first time in a long time that I've actually spent going into several different stores just to see what's out there. I was a bit surprised to realize that this Spring the 70's are back in a big way. I mean, I even saw some tie-dye. And peace signs galore. I was shocked. But also happy in a way. At least this year everything is not tight, tight, tight and that means that I had a lot more options for things that flatter my still loose, still flabby post-baby belly. The funny this is that I drove four hours to shop at the same stores (Ann Taylor Loft and Gap) that I shop in here (when I manage to shop). But that's ok. I had a great shopping partner, so it was much easier to actually buy stuff! And I wore some of my new stuff today and I have to say that I haven't felt that good about myself in a long time. Maybe it's just a girl thing, but I highly recommend retail therapy for the sad and frumpy.

I even bought a scarf! Don't know if I'll wear with this dress, but it's really cute and I definitely plan to put it to use.

Anyway, the other great part of the trip was the great food that I got to eat. We ate at the famous Pancake Pantry Sunday morning. It was a long wait for pancakes, but they were so good! You don't sign in on a list, you just wait outside of the building in a (very) long line and then when you get in, you are practically sitting on the lap of the person next to you. Sarah isn't an eavesdropper, but I can tell you exactly what the people next to us were talking about (never using butter, all natural maple syrup..yada yada, why bother coming to a pancake place?!). The people on the other side of us were too busy eating to say much of anything to each other. I can also tell you exactly what they were eating. Do you do that? I'm very much a people watcher.

So. That was my wonderful weekend. Oh wait. I forgot to mention that Saturday I slept in until 9:30. That ranks right up at the top of the list of highlights too. And just plain old hanging out with Sarah. Ha. It all ranks at the top. Oh. And Wes and the girls had a great weekend. So that made my weekend even better. It was a much needed, much enjoyed vacation. I can't wait to do it again. When I'm not broke anymore!

A little girl time

2009-03-13T06:28:00.002-05:00

I am so excited!! I'm headed to Nashville after work today to spend the weekend with my good friend Sarah! Yay! The girls are staying here with Wes and I'm sure they'll all have a blast. Ali got a new barbie tent last night, so there will be lots of "camping" while I'm away. Besides just seeing Sarah, I'm really excited about being able to go shopping (without kids), eating out (in peace!), and sleeping in (which I truly doubt I'll actually do).

Talk to y'all Monday!

Daylight Savings

2009-03-09T21:11:00.004-05:00

I was so excited about the time change. Normally I don't like these things because it means that it will throw the girls sleep schedules all out of whack. But this time I was excited because it meant that maybe Sarah Kate could start staying up until 7. No more rushing home after work! No more hurried suppers while someone screamed "night night!". And so it was. Last night, Sarah Kate didn't get sleepy until a little before seven. And this morning she slept until 8. And I thought we had it made. And that's where it ended. At 5:45 tonight, she was ready for bed. Which means she'll be up a little after 6 tomorrow. Sigh. It was nice for that one night. As far as Ali goes, that kid got all her sleeping in before the age of 2. I've about decided to start letting her tuck me in and then she can just pass out whenever she wants to.

I'm adding a video of SK waddling. Mostly for Grammy and Grampy who haven't gotten to see her yet. She's so adorable waddling! But she does not care for doing it outside. I thought she would love being outside, but so far, she's not a huge fan. Unless I'm carrying her. And she's way too chunky for that! And I'm adding a couple of other snaps just because. Why do kids love the phone so much? Ali used to play with it all the time too. It's so funny to watch them because it is obvious that they really watch what we do.

Alike?

2009-03-08T18:27:00.003-05:00

At the same age. What do you think? Do they look alike?

Need Color

2009-03-06T10:46:00.004-06:00

I'm a very neutral person. I wear brown shoes. I carry a brown purse. All my shorts are khaki or olive. My favorite shirt is brown. I have brown hair, wear brown eye shadow. The necklace I wear when I bother to wear a necklace is brown. My lipstick is neutral. Even my undergarments are neutral. Mostly because I'm practical. I don't buy colorful things because they don't go with everything.

But lately I've been craving some color. I've even been tempted to slip some of Ali's hot pink butterfly clips in my hair just to brighten things up. I haven't done it, of course, because what would people say if I had a hot pink butterfly clip in my hair? That's so not practical. I own one pair of bright green scrubs and I've been wearing them a lot lately. So my goal for this spring is to actually buy some color. Pink! Green! Impractical shoes! A bright necklace. I don't think I want to wait until I'm an old lady to wear purple.

What about these?

Ok. Maybe not. I think I need to start a little slower. How about these?

I vow to be colorful this spring. If my garden can be, I can too.

A year ago today

2009-03-03T21:54:00.003-06:00

We were just focused on getting Sarah Kate to eat. And keep it down. We were still on the critical side of the unit, even though she was no longer critical. I remember feeling like we were in the home stretch. We knew her heart was ok and we knew that she was healthy, but we felt like we were stuck. All because of an eating issue.

Ha. That thought kind of makes me laugh now. Because now that we are finished with the whole ordeal, it is possible to look back on it (parts of it) lightly. Guess who absolutely does not have an issue with eating now?! That girl, I swear, can eat twice as much as Ali does every day. And she has the belly to prove it. But it is so cute.

If I haven't mentioned it lately, we are so very grateful to be where we are right now. To be home, to be healthy, for our biggest worry to be how to get Sarah Kate to quit pushing the buttons on the tv. It's a nice calm. I occasionally forget to be thankful for the calm that we have right now. I find myself getting caught up in the little things and getting stressed out over stuff that just doesn't matter. All I have to do is look back over her pictures from last year and I am reminded just how great God is and just how much he's blessed us with.

Waiting for warmth

2009-03-01T19:21:00.003-06:00

Turns out snow isn't too bad at all. I actually enjoyed playing in it today, and had Wes been able to play with us, it would have been even better! Ali really got a kick out of it. She even attempted to make a snow angel, but mostly just ended up getting stuck in the snow. All in all, I'm glad we got it. It will be a nice farewell to winter. Meaning, I'm finished with it. It can all go away now and Spring can peek her pretty little head around the corner. Just a couple days ago, I saw daffodils popping up all around. I guess this was winter's way of warning them they were a bit too early.

I'm really excited for warm weather this year because I know how much fun the girls are going to have out back. We're planning on getting a swing set for Ali and then of course we'll have our waterslide from last summer (if it survived the winter and didn't get chewed up by mice). But I'm also excited because I am really going to try to have a flower garden this year. Last year I just had a pot garden. I mean a container garden. We definitely aren't growing anything illegal around here. ;) This year, though, I really want to plant a wildflower garden all around our hot tub house (the hot tub might even be working by then) and hang flowering baskets and put up window boxes. I can see it in my head and now I want to see if I can make it happen! There's just something so wonderful about the change of seasons. I know that by July I'll be whining about the mosquitoes and the heat, but it never stops me from looking forward to Spring and Summer!

One more week until Daylight Savings Time!!

I'm dreaming of a...

2009-02-28T21:27:00.002-06:00

White spring? Hmph. Just when I thought I couldn't take any more winter, we get hit with half a foot of snow. BUT, and this is a big but, it's JUST snow. So I'll take it. Any day I'll take snow over ice. It's actually very pretty and Ali enjoyed being out in it for about five minutes (perfectly fine with me). I'm counting on this being the last blast before spring gets here to stay. :)

In other news..Sarah Kate is WALKING! Woo-hoo! She finally decided she'd quit fighting us so much on it. I guess instead of walking, I really should say she is wobbling. But she's getting better and better. I'm trying to catch in on video, but she never wants to walk when I have the camera on! I'll try again tomorrow for that.

We went to the urologist in Memphis yesterday and got a great report. Her kidneys are perfect and she's had no uti's. This is exactly what we were expecting to hear, but it was nice to have it official. Sarah Kate was the perfect patient, only getting mad during the ultrasound. The rest of the time she was just busy playing with the toys. We adore doctors who keep toys in the actual room where you see the doctor. Those walls close in pretty quickly in those tiny rooms.

I am doing really well too. I had a pretty good bit of pain a couple of nights ago, but percocet took it away and now I'm feeling so much better. My hcg levels are dropping like they are supposed to and I feel like I am in the clear. Now it's time to find a better birth control!

Update

2009-02-23T18:26:00.004-06:00

I went back to my doctor today. Got another round of bloodwork and another methotrexate shot. The good news is that my hcg levels are dropping, so the medicine is working and the tissue has stopped growing. I can't tell anything yet though. Besides having an upset stomach, I feel fine. I keep waiting for the pain to start. I'm kind of wishing it would just happen and then be finished! But hopefully I'm building it up to more than it will be and then it won't seem so bad. That's reasonable, right?

Anyway, on to happier things. Sarah Kate wasn't nearly as cooperative as Ali for the fashion show the other day (and her cooperation wasn't exactly stellar), but I got a couple sweet shots of her anyway. I just can't believe how big she's getting. She's been wearing some of Ali's old 18-24 month clothes!! She has started crawling to the high chair when she wants a snack. She will stand there and shake the chair and scream until someone puts her in there and gives her something to eat!! No wonder she's growing so fast!

A cold and rainy Saturday

2009-02-21T14:08:00.003-06:00

A perfect day for a fashion show. Ali's all into having fashion shows lately. She likes to talk about them anyway. She informed me not long ago that she was going to have a fashion show and Jesus was coming. I think he was coming to direct the show. Usually her fashion shows involve dressing up in her dress up princess gowns. But today I convinced her to model some of her new spring clothes. Ali let me wash and dry her hair and fix it for the "fashion show". Then we set up some of my photography stuff and she started changing clothes. I think the thought was a lot more fun than the actual show, but I got a couple cute shots of her anyway. It was all just a ruse to get new shots of her. And it worked.

Who'd have thought?

2009-02-20T14:12:00.000-06:00

I'm defying the odds these day. Last May I had the Mirena put in. I didn't really love it or hate it. It was working pretty well for me and I didn't have any huge complaints. Then several days ago I started having some pretty severe cramping. Two days ago it reached the point that I was curled up on the bathroom floor, unable to move. Suspecting that something wasn't right I called the doctor and went in yesterday for a check-up. I figured the IUD had come out of place or that I had a cyst or something. So I went through the whole ultrasound ordeal, yada yada, and had some blood work done. Imagine my surprise when the pregnancy test they did came back positive!! Good thing I hadn't done one at home. I'd have died right there. Turns out I have a tubal pregnancy. There is no chance that the pregnancy can be carried to term and would pose a huge risk to my health if we left it there instead of doing something about it. I'm still in shock. We're trying methotrexate first to see if it will slow the growth and expel on its own. If not, I'll have to have surgery to have it removed.
It's so hard to believe that we were just a few centimeters away from expanding our family again. And sad to know that even though we aren't ready for another baby that this one has no chance. For the most part, I can't think of it as a baby. That's just too much to handle.

So. The moral of this story? Don't trust your birth control. Or tell your husband to stay far, far away. I don't know. I'm just that fertile, I guess.

Showing you ALL her teeth

2009-02-19T11:43:00.003-06:00

Just because it made me smile on this cold Thursday. You probably can't see it, but her gums in the back are SO swollen. She's cut three of her molars now, but that fourth one is still trying to come through. Surely that's what had her waking up pitching a fit every thirty minutes between 3 and 5 this morning, right?

CHD Awareness

2009-02-18T13:35:00.002-06:00

Valentine's Day was officially CHD awareness day, but I was a little preoccupied that day and didn't manage to get anything posted about it.

Sometimes, most of the time, I forget what we've been through. I forget that Sarah Kate was born with a heart defect. I forget how sick she was. I forget that we didn't know if we were going to bring her home. I look at her perfect face and her chubby thighs and completely forget the scar on her chest. She's the picture of health, smiling and happy. But that history is there. And the future is uncertain. Of course, that's true for everyone, isn't it? We never know what's going to happen tomorrow. Anyway, there are so many children out there who struggle every day with their heart defects. We know a little boy who is still in ACH now and he was there last year when we were there. I follow the stories of other children who are in hospitals all over the country. Some of them have spent less than 5 days at home in their first year of life. We are the lucky ones. Not lucky. Blessed.

You wouldn't believe how common heart defects are.

About 1 out of every 100 babies are born each year with some type of Congenital Heart Defect. (approx. 40,000/year) Source: Children’s Heart Foundation

Congenital Heart Defects are the number 1 birth defect.

There are 35 common heart defects.

Although some babies will be diagnosed during gestation or at birth, sometimes the diagnosis is not made until days, weeks, months, or even years after. In some cases, CHD is not detected until adolescence or adulthood. Source: March of Dimes

It is a proven fact that the earlier CHD is detected and treated, it is more likely the affected child will survive and have less long term health complications. Source: March of Dimes

The good news? Most can be treated. The advancements made in the last 25 years mean that many babies who would have at one time been given a death sentence, will now go on to lead long and healthy lives.

The bad news? Limited funding. Nearly twice as many children die from Congenital Heart Defects in the United States each year as from all forms of childhood cancers combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD. Source: Children’s Heart Foundation

The American Heart Association directs only $0.30 of every dollar donated toward research. The remainder goes toward administration, education and fundraising efforts. Of the $0.30 that goes toward research only $0.01 goes toward pediatric cardiology for CHD. Source: Children’s Heart Foundation

My point? There are a lot of kids out there born with defects. There is no standard screening. Just think if we could have known earlier about Sarah Kate's defects. She wouldn't have spent 8 hours under a plastic hood that was doing no more than blowing oxygen her way. What if we hadn't had a nurse that was skilled enough to detect her heart murmur? A pediatrician who wasn't willing to ship my baby instead of waiting and seeing?

If we spread the word, maybe, just maybe, one day fetal echo's will be standard. Or maybe there will be some kind of standard testing after a baby is born. Maybe one day we'll know what causes these defects and we can find a way to prevent them. Every dollar that goes toward CHD research increases a sick baby's chance of getting better and going home.

So. This is my soap box. Fair enough, right?

This video is one that was shared on a carepage that I follow. I love it. It just makes me feel good.

You're Invited

2009-02-16T18:38:00.002-06:00

We're having a power party!! All the lights are on. We've got the heat cranked up, the tv on, and everything going full blast. Ok, not really, but we are enjoying having everything running again.

I was on my way home tonight and the closer I got to Hornersville the more lights I saw. My heart started beating faster when I saw them. Then I got to my house and there were no lights. My heart sank. I just knew we were the only people in town with no lights. I walked in and asked Wes and he said he had no idea that anyone had power. He was the only one around running the generator. About that time a power truck pulled up in front of our house. Apparently they HEARD that we were the only ones in town running a generator and they stopped to make sure everything was ok. Sure enough, we flipped the switch and the lights came back on. And cheers could be heard all around.

I never realized just how much modern conveniences mean to me.

Progress

2009-02-16T15:28:00.002-06:00

We're getting closer and closer to being fully restored on the electricity front. I know that a lot more people got power this morning. I think there were around 6000 still without power this morning, but by tonight most of us should (maybe? hopefully?) have power back. Yay! I'm so excited. It will be really nice to be able to open the garage without having to go turn something else off first. That's what happened this morning. Our generator can run our central heat and air, but it can no do that and open the garage at the same time. Just not having to think about it will be wonderful!

Life can soon return to normal. And we can start replanting some trees in our yard. We seriously need some green around here.

In happier news, we are planning a trip to the beach in 13 weeks. I am so happy that I'm tempted to put one of those ticker things on my blog. That might be able to keep me motivated to keep my hand out of the cookie jar until then. This will be the first trip that Ali's taken to the beach that she'll really be able to enjoy. I almost feel like Christmas is coming all over again because I just know how much she's going to love it.

One year old

2009-02-11T08:20:00.000-06:00

Dearest little Sarah Kate,

You turned one nearly 2 weeks ago. It isn't really my fault that I haven't written you a birthday letter yet. Blame it on the ice storm that swept through and changed the face of where we live. It was the biggest ice storm to hit our area in at least a century. It made for a beautiful and devastating picture for a few days. Luckily, you missed the whole thing because you were having a blast with your grandparents and uncles in Alabama.

You've come such a long way in a year. It's so hard to believe that a year ago, we were crying over your bedside, not knowing what would happen. You owned our hearts before you even made your appearance. We felt them start to break the day the doctor came in and told us something was wrong with yours. But you are my little fighter. Every step of the way, you fought your way to good health. And now look at you!! 2 heart surgeries, and one bladder surgery later, you are a whopping 21 pounds and busting out of your clothes.

Sarah Kate, there is no way to explain to you the joy that you bring to us. You are so curious and energetic. I thought your sister was full of energy, but she's a couch potato compared to you. You are constantly going, wanting to know what's behind the next door. And how it opens and closes. And opens and closes. You are most interested in the things you know you shouldn't have (the garbage, sponges, the dog, the cable box). You are also fascinated with the fact that if you throw something on the floor, someone will always pick it up for you. It's kind of funny the way you'll hold your hand out over the side of your high-chair, never breaking eye contact with me, and you'll just drop whatever is in your hand. Then you just watch me to see if I've noticed. And scream at me if I don't pick it up. Your temper is something we might need to work on. I've never seen such a small person put up such a big fuss if she doesn't get her way. No idea where you got that.

You have your daddy wrapped around your little finger. I hope you realize that and use it to your advantage. He loves his girls more than anything in the world and he would do anything for you. Do him a favor and hunt with him a few times when you get older. I'm pretty sure your sister who only likes pink and purple will not be volunteering for those trips.

Just to have a record of it for you, I'll mention a few physical details about you right now. You have 10 teeth. Last week you cut 2 molars. The first one was terrible, but the second one you handled pretty well. You have two more working their way through. Last week I handed you a piece of corn on the cob and you just gnawed your way right through it.
With the exception of just a few things, you will eat almost anything I put in front of you. You love peanut butter, which is to be expected. You also love pop-tarts, just like your sister. You are not crazy about cheese. You obviously get that from your nanny. And you could definitely do a milk commercial. You ought to end up with some really strong bones. You like chocolate (but really, what normal person doesn't?) and most things carby, starchy, or sweet. Have I mentioned that you eat a LOT? We joke about your eating habits quite a bit. You and Ali are so different. She could go days without a real meal, and you are happiest when you are in your high chair with food in front of you.
You are a great sleeper. An awesome sleeper. Quite possible the best sleeper in the whole world. Most nights you are ready for bed by six (sometimes earlier) and you usually sleep until about 7 every morning. Wait. Maybe I shouldn't say you are the best sleeper. The best sleepers sleep all night. You might win an award for most hours slept in a day, but you aren't really that good about sleeping all night. You wake up every morning around 5:30 for a bottle. I know. Shame on me. You still get a bottle. But you like it. And it buys us more sleep if we bring you that bottle. And I take my sleep when I can get it. Aside from that though, you are just so good about going to bed and taking naps. It makes you HAPPY to be in your bed. Most of the time. Maybe that's because you know that being in your bed beats being in a hospital bed any day.
Let's talk about your stubborn streak. It's the stubborn side of you that is preventing you from walking. You can walk. I know you can. You push stuff all over the house. But you WILL NOT walk by yourself. And we can't help you either. You just refuse. You can scale a flight of steps in no time. That's not a problem. But make you take a couple of steps all by yourself? Forget it. Oh well. You'll be way too fast for me when you do start walking, I'm afraid. And way too brave.

I love you so much, my curious one. I love the funny faces you make, the way you say night night, the way you suck your thumb when you are sleepy. I love how you get so excited when you see one of us walk into a room. I love that you are big and healthy and strong. And I love that you are mine.

Sarah Kate 1 Year from lindseyj on Vimeo.

Love,
Mommy

Week 2

2009-02-09T09:53:00.003-06:00

Our tiny part of the world was actually on CNN this morning. They reported that we have 9500 power poles down. But 950 workers out there working on it. So that's definitely reassuring.

In the meantime, we're plugging along, enjoying the mild start to February. I think we're supposed to get up close to 70 today. Definitely a blessing because it means we don't have to run the heaters at night. Another blessing? Gas isn't 4 dollars a gallon anymore. So even though it's expensive to run the generator, it's nothing like it would have been!

Now, I need some suggestions. We lost ALL of our beautiful Bradford Pears. I have no intention of planting those again. They just can't handle it. So what is pretty? Hardy? Fast growing? Any thoughts?

An Update and Such

2009-02-07T12:23:00.002-06:00

Still no power.

No big deal.

We have a generator that is hooked up to the house. We have tv. I think we have internet (but I haven't tried it out yet). We have some hot water. Just about the only thing we don't have is central heat and air and a stove. No problem. It's 60 degrees here today. And I brought my crock-pot to work to cook dinner.

However. I will still be glad to have real power. You know, so my spoiled self can open the garage without first having to walk around back and fire up the generator. Oh, and so my house won't smell like propane. Oh, and more thing, so I can make brownies. One can only live so long without brownies.

Ali turns three tomorrow. Here it is, nearly 2 weeks past Sarah Kate's birthday and I still haven't written her birthday post. And now Ali's looms before me as well. Oh well. They'll be written soon. Hopefully. I just hope I can take Sarah Kate's 1 year birthday pictures before she grows out of the outfit I bought her! And at the rate that kid is growing, it won't be long!

One week and counting

2009-02-05T08:49:00.003-06:00

We've now been 9 days without power at home. I called the electric company yesterday to ask for an estimate on when we MIGHT get power back and all they would say is "no estimates". Lovely.

I'm back in Birmingham. I drove back to Kennett last Thursday and worked for a couple days. I cried when I pulled in my driveway. All of our trees are gone. All of our pretty trees anyway. The oak trees survived, but all of our Bradford Pears are gone. I think the most shocking part of what I saw was the sheer number of poles that were cut in half or were laying on the highway. Reality hit home then. There's so much reconstruction that has to be done.

We do have a generator, so we have some lights and we can run our tv. But for now we have no hot water, no central heat and air, and no stove. I'm so glad the girls have been able to stay with my parents for so long. We're headed back today though. I have to go back to work and the girls need to see their daddy. But we might be headed back this way next week if we decide that roughing it is not for us!! I admit that I'm not too good without the luxuries that I take for granted every day!

Here's someone who couldn't care less about what's going on at home!! She has had a MUCH better visit than she did when we came to Birmingham in November!! She's even cut a molar while we have been here and she's still been happy!

National Disaster Area

2009-01-28T09:31:00.002-06:00

I normally use this term to describe my house, but today I am using it literally. Our county has been declared a national disaster area. From what I've heard, we're probably nearing 100% power outage. Many of the roads are closed because of downed power lines. Hornersville has no water. Our temperatures aren't supposed to get above freezing again until Friday. I admit that I am so glad that we got out yesterday. But I'm very worried about everyone who is there today with no heat. A lot of people have generators and I am so glad for that because there's no telling when we'll get power again.

Wes is supposed to be taking pictures today. I'll post some when I get back home and we have power again. Please send your prayers up today for my area!! Everyone I've talked to says they've never seen anything like it.

You hear about national disaster areas all the time, but you never expect it to be your area.

Another trip...or what happens when you aren't prepared.

2009-01-27T20:10:00.002-06:00

So, I fully intended to spend today working on Sarah Kate's birthday post. And then...the ice came and the power went out. The poles fell and the trees fell. And we got the heck out of dodge. Because I had no desire to hang out in my living room with 2 cranky girls, no heat, and no water. This morning I dug around in the piles of clean (but unfolded laundry), threw some stuff in a bag and then we hit the road. It actually wasn't a bad drive. I was pretty impressed with Sarah Kate's patience. It only took a few tricks to keep her happy. 18 episodes of Dora later, we arrived to a balmy 70 degrees. Much nicer than the nasty winteriness that we left behind. But I feel bad that everyone else is there with no power. I'm worried about the second round that is hitting tonight. There's no telling what we'll go home to. Our area is just not prepared for stuff like this.

I'll take it though, considering what we were dealing with this time last year. A few lost trees is nothing, right?

Sarah Kate. Almost 1 year.

2009-01-20T17:12:00.004-06:00

I just want to start this post by saying that I do not like winter. In fact, that's a giant understatement. My fingers are so cold that I can't type this post. And the heat is cranked up. It's just that once the temperature drops below freezing and stays that way for a while, the cold seeps into my bones and stays there. So I'll be grateful when spring returns!! We did have a tiny bit of snow when we woke this morning and it was very pretty. From our side of the window anyway. It wasn't enough to warrant bundling up and heading out.

It's been a while since I've shared any pictures of the girls. Ali still won't let me take any and SK is getting the same way. She's just not quite as defiant as Ali yet. I just end up with a lot of the back of her head. As we approach SK's first birthday, I can't get over how much she has changed and how quickly. But it's funny just how different she is from Ali at the same age. Except for mama and dada, she's not talking yet. She knows what things mean, but isn't really saying anything. I don't know if it is just because she's saving up all her words to spit them out at one time or if it is because Ali talks so much that Sarah Kate doesn't have a chance. ;) Ali was an early talker. And practiced (still practices!!) constantly. Sarah Kate isn't interested in walking either. At all. If we hold her hands to try to get her to walk, she'll just turn her legs into jelly. She's been pulling up and cruising for months so I thought for sure she'd be walking by now. But it's fine, really, because she manages to get into plenty as it is. She is fascinated with opening and closing things. Doors, my cell phone, her toys. Open-close-open-close. She doesn't care at all what any of them do.
On the eating front, the girls couldn't be more different. Sarah Kate LOVES to eat. Really, truly loves it. She'll eat almost anything I put in front of her. She does not, however, like eggo waffles, peas, or carrots (she loved the baby food kind, but not the chopped kind). She likes to feed people too. She's very into sharing her food. Today she was eating a bowl of graham cracker sticks and when she wanted me to eat some, she would hold one out to me and smack.
All that eating means that this baby is much chunkier than my first baby. Ali was in 6-12 month clothes forever. SK is busting out of her 12-18 month clothes. Her belly is anyway! She's not tall, but she's definitely got a belly on her. I feel a little sorry for her with her buddha belly hanging out all the time. I really do try my best to keep it covered, but it's a little like being nine months pregnant and trying to find clothes that will cover the bulge. But it makes for a wonderfully kissable baby!

Stuff

2009-01-13T13:45:00.002-06:00

I fully intended to do a post on resolutions. I won't say that blogging was at the top of that list. Nor was procrastination. Because I certainly do not put things on my resolution list that I can not achieve. After some consideration, I ditched the whole list. Too much stress. Too much guilt. All of which sent me straight to the cookie jar. And staying out of the cookie jar WAS top on my list. See why that list didn't really work?

Sarah Kate went to Memphis this morning to have her stints removed. The plan was to do that last week, but then we all came down with a stomach virus. So we rescheduled for today. Thank goodness we got there early. She's coming down with a cold and I suspect if it had gotten one bit worse, they would have rescheduled us AGAIN. So it was totally worth it to get up at 3:30 this morning. Bleh. But we're finished now, and should be (hopefully!!) finished with all bladder surgeries. What a nice way to round out her first year. Can you believe the first year is almost over?!!!

Here's a short little run-down of year 1 in the life of Sarah Kate:

2 open heart surgeries
1 cath procedure
2 VCUG's
2 swallow studies
1 upper gi study
4 bladder caths to check for UTI's
1 bladder surgery
1 surgery for stint removal
27 doctor appointments (give or take a couple)
53 nights in the hospital
4500 miles traveled for care
5 urinary tract infections
1 case of the chicken pox
1 stomach virus
2 colds
1 case of roseola

Whew. We're betting on a better 2nd year of life. :)

SK turns 1 on the 26th and Ali turns 3 on February 8th. We are having their birthday parties the weekend of the 24th and 25th. We fully intend to send invitations to everyone, but if by chance we miss someone, we want everyone to know they are invited to SK's party in Rives at 1 pm on the 25th at the firestation.

Ringing out 2008

2008-12-31T06:07:00.004-06:00

I can't believe that it's been 2 weeks since surgery. Or almost a week since Christmas. I really can't believe that this year is coming to a close and that tomorrow we will start a new one! Mostly, though, I can't believe my baby is almost one. How is she almost one already?! It seems like I was just pregnant with her!!

Anyway, this will be a very short update. I mostly just popped on to share a few pics from the past couple weeks. I really will try to come back with more very soon.

I'm adding the pictures of the girls from our Christmas shoot. The ones I think I said I would post several weeks ago.

I have a few of them fro Christmas day, but I was so busy laughing at Ali opening her gifts that I didn't get very many. Let's just say that they had a terrific Christmas and we are very much enjoying Ali's performances with her barbie karaoke machine.

The day after Christmas while most of you were snug in your beds, I was up at 4 am, dressed in several layers of way too big camo to go duck hunting with Wes. I've never been and since we had babysitters here, I thought I'd go along. Except for the shooting part (um, the whole point of hunting?), it was really interesting. I don't think I'd mind going again. But not when it is 20 degrees outside. I much preferred the balmy 60 degrees we had that day.

Happy New Year!

Home!

2008-12-18T21:26:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to pop in and say that we are home from the hospital. I think they wanted to keep us for another night, but they needed the room we were in and we convinced them to send us home instead of just moving us to another room. I think Sarah Kate will rest much better in her own bed and we can manage her meds here at home.

She had an ok day today. She's really been in good spirits throughout the whole thing. You can tell that she doesn't feel good though. The pain medicine takes the edge off, but the pain is still there and I think she just has trouble getting comfortable. By the time we got home tonight, she looked more tired than I have ever seen. We didn't hear a peep out of her after I put her in her bed. Hopefully being home will allow for a quicker recovery!

Thanks to everyone who has been thinking about us and praying for us! We are so happy that this surgery was (relatively) easy and that we are home so quickly.

Exhausted

2008-12-17T17:55:00.003-06:00

While yesterday was spent sleeping...the whole day, the whole night, today has the been the complete opposite. Sarah Kate has not slept more than about an hour all day, even with pain medication on board. I feel awful for her. You can tell she wants to go to sleep in the worst way, but it's like she just can't physically shut down. Tylenol with codeine doesn't faze her, morphine only makes her loopy. I'm not sure if she's just uncomfortable or if she doesn't like being in a strange place, but she is not a happy camper today. Of course, she deserves to be cranky. I don't hold that against her at all, I just want her to be able to relax and get some sleep so she can feel better!

Her foley catheter will come out tomorrow morning and her drain tube will come out tomorrow afternoon. Since she's eating well, all she has to do is prove that she can urinate on her own and that there isn't any blood pooled where it shouldn't be. Then we should be free to go. And we sure hope that means tomorrow night!!

And the bladder is fixed

2008-12-16T17:34:00.002-06:00

Yay! Sarah Kate's surgery was a success. We made it to Memphis last night even through the ice. The roads were fine here right up until the time that Wes was headed back to the hotel with our dinner. Then he got stuck behind the I-40 bridge traffic for TWO hours...TWO miles from the hotel. But he finally made it back to the hotel. This morning we were here by 5:30 and poor Sarah Kate was starving. She was so good though, and never really even cried (except when they gave her a shot of atropine). She headed back to surgery around 8 and was out by 11. Our urologist ended up working on both sides of her bladder just to make sure we could prevent future issues with reflux. Recovery has been a bit rough so far. The anesthesia is making Sarah Kate sick and she throws up every time she sits up. I hope that will get better through tonight and that tomorrow morning she'll be feeling more like her old self.

2008-12-14T22:16:00.005-06:00

Ok, I'm not big on being in front of the camera, but this video of Ali is so cute that I have to share it.

We head to Memphis tomorrow. I can't believe that it is time already. It seems like we were just there for our last appointment and that's been three months! As luck would have it, the roads are supposed to get icy tomorrow. So we've decided to spend the night tomorrow night instead of making two trips. SK just has a pre-op appt in the morning at ten and it won't last long. But it's not worth the risk of traveling back and forth.

I won't lie and say I'm not nervous. I know this isn't heart surgery. But still. This is my baby. It's invasive. And involves multiple nights in the hospital. So I find that I'm on edge and my stomach is kind of jumpy. Please keep us in your prayers that SK will fly right through this and we'll be right back home! I want her all healed up for Christmas.

Family Picture Day

2008-12-11T18:55:00.004-06:00

Because we're just a little bit nutty, we decided to have do-it-yourself family picture day yesterday. And I can honestly say that we had FUN! Fun with a camera. And Ali! Ok, we didn't all have fun. SK was totally not in the mood for fun. But we worked around that and stuck her in a couple. The best part was HOW we did it. I set the camera on a tripod and set the self timer. Ali pulled a stool up to the camera and would press the button, jump down and run to us yelling "hurry! hurry! here i come!" Had I only known that that was what it would take to get pictures of her, I totally would have used this method all along!

I have a few more Christmas shots of the girls that I'll try to share tomorrow.

Surgery is less than a week away now. I'm getting nervous, but I know that it will all be ok. We'll head to Memphis on Monday for a pre-op appointment and then we'll be back by 6 on Tuesday morning. Fingers crossed that all goes well and we get to come home on Friday. That would be the best.

I can't believe Sarah Kate is almost 11 months old!! The time has just flown by. She isn't walking yet even though I was sure she would be. She just isn't interested. But, in the last couple weeks she has started waving bye-bye, making kissing sounds when we blow kisses to her, and clapping when say yay or patty cake. She has totally taken to the sippy cup. Except when we try to put formula in it. She will only take that from a bottle. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to eat. Seriously. She probably eats twice as much as Ali on a daily basis. Ali went on a hunger strike at this time in her life and it still hasn't stopped. SK on the other hand...since the day she learned to eat, she has never looked back. She is so much fun!! And so chunky!

The Christmas Spirit

2008-12-06T08:59:00.003-06:00

I am addicted to all things Christmas. With stipulations. I will only allow Christmas to enter my house or my work AFTER Thanksgiving. And then it's Christmas all the time. My radio stays on Christmas music. All we watch are Christmas shows. And all I want to do is eat. Because that IS part of Christmas, right? Every night this week after I've gotten off work and picked up Ali, she has asked me to drive her around to see the lights. She too is fascinated by all things Christmas. She loves the inflatable things everyone has in their yards and likes me to stop in front of houses with lights so she can ooh and ahh. It is so much fun having a little who is just learning about the fun of Christmas. We've watched the grinch (the original cartoon) more times than I can count now. And we sing about Santa Claus coming to town. Only Ali doesn't really like that song. It makes her mad because she doesn't want him to come to town, she wants him to come to her house. She doesn't really understand the whole concept yet. She definitely doesn't understand that Santa is watching her and that she has to be good. She does, however, understand that this is the time of year when she can tell me all the things that she wants and that I will relay the message to Santa. I'm so looking forward to picking out our tree and decorating this weekend!! And I can't wait to put cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve. I have always loved Christmas, but I think it is going to be even better as a parent than it was when I was a kid.

2008-12-04T21:24:00.007-06:00

After the disastrous trip to Birminghmam, you would have thought I would have been scared off traveling again for a long time. But because I am an optimist or have a selective memory or am just plain crazy, I decided that we would make a quick trip to Mississippi this past weekend. I figured that since Wes was going with me and since there would be other kids to play with that everything would be fine. And I was right. The drive down wasn't terribly fun (shrieking, screaming, no sleeping) but the rest of the weekend was fun. Oh wait, except for that one afternoon when Heather and I took Wyatt and Sarah Kate to meet Sarah, Mandy, Jody, and Connor for lunch. And Sarah Kate cried THE. WHOLE. TIME. That wasn't so much fun. But after a long nap followed by a brief meal and another long nap, she was good to go.

AND THEN...then she got the chicken pox. We just didn't realize it until Tuesday morning. We actually delayed seeing Heather and Jereme and their kids by a week because we knew SK had been exposed. Ha. I guess that poor little baby is next in line. Anyway, SK has really dealt with the chicken pox much better than I would. She's a little cranky but doesn't seem overly bothered by the marks on her neck, belly, back, ears, eyelids. The GOOD news in all this is that she got them now and not a week from now. That would have prevented surgery (which is December 16th). So. Now she's had this and it will be soon out of the way. Just one more illness to add to the 2008 list. :)

Ali had a blast in Jackson. Stella is Heather and Jereme's almost 2 year old and Ali's new best friend. They were so sweet together. Hugging and kissing and playing in the bathtub. We took all the kids to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa.

That was an adventure. But they all sat in Santa's lap (I won't say they were all happy about it). I think the happiest person was Wyatt. That baby is the sweetest, calmest baby I think I've ever seen. I don't think I heard him cry once. And he slept so peacefully. All the time. I was so terribly jealous. But I have not one bit of baby lust. Nope. Not me. I'm super happy with my two little tazmanian devils.

I'm so glad we went to visit. I wish we could have stayed longer and visited with more of our friends.

I think that's about it. I had this post written out in my head. It was coherent and flowed nicely. And then I sat down to type. And my brain went to sleep. So, if you need to, just skip the content and look at the photos. They're a lot more fun anyway.

Playing together

2008-11-26T05:43:00.002-06:00

I love, love, love that my girls are starting to play together. Sarah Kate is so amused by Ali and Ali, of course, loves being adored. This video is from chick-fil-a. We took the girls there for breakfast the other day before we went to see Santa at the mall. That was interesting. Ali hid behind Wes's legs and peeked out at Santa. SK, shockingly, smiled at him. But I don't think she was about to leave my arms. So, we settled ourselves with seeing Santa, but not getting a picture with him.

I have to confess to you how spoiled my children are. On Sunday, Ali's dvd player in the car broke. On Monday we bought a new one. But it wasn't as much to keep her happy as it was to keep our sanity. If you spend much time in the car, it is absolutely one of the best purchases you can make. Otherwise you spend a lot of time hearing "I'm tired of sitting in this seat".

Google yourself

2008-11-22T21:10:00.002-06:00

Just a little game. If you play, link me to yours.

Q: Type in "[your name] needs" in the Google search:
A: Lindsey needs nurturing, patient, and committed adoptive parents.
My reaction: Huh, I think the parents I have are just fine.

Q: Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search:
A: Lindsey looks like her beautiful, naked self.
My reaction: Now that's a laugh! Obviously someone was looking at me in the dark. ;)

Q: Type in "[your name] says" in Google search:
A: Lindsey says she can lift and carry 2 girls.
My reaction: That actually happens to be the truth.

Q: Type in "[your name] wants" in Google search:
A: Lindsey wants to be a model
My reaction: Lindsey wants to LOOK like a model

Q: Type in "[your name] asks" in Google search:
A: Lindsey asks for help Yoko Ono.
My reaction: hm

Q: Type in "[your name] goes" in Google search:
A: Lindsey goes to eleven
My reaction: what?

Q: Type in "[your name] likes " in Google search:
A: Lindsey likes rooting for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers.
My reaction: not so true. Actually, I wasn't willing to put the first thing that came up. It was terribly inappropriate. Google it yourself.

Q: Type in "[your name] eats " in Google search:
A: Lindsey eats scorpions
My reaction: Ew! I've always been terrified of scorpions. Not that I've ever seen one in real life.

Q: Type in "[your name] wears " in Google search:
A: Lindsey wears mad robes
My reaction: yeah

Kind of fun. If you have nothing better to do on a Saturday night.

Hotty Toddy!

2008-11-22T18:13:00.004-06:00

My fellow Ole Miss fans, were you watching? Did you see that win against LSU? Pretty awesome, huh? I'm so glad I actually got to watch the game. It's one of the only ones I've seen this season. It definitely would have been nice to be there! LSU fans get awfully quiet when they've lost. It almost makes it worth putting up with their taunting at the beginning of a game. I watched this game alone. Well, Ali and SK were with me, but getting Ali to say "Hotty Toddy" isn't quite the same as yelling it with fellow fans.

Stressed...

2008-11-16T21:56:00.004-06:00

Why? Just because. Because it's been a long year. A hard year. Because I'm tired. And because there's more to come before we can put this year behind us. Because I'm worried. About now, about the future. But you don't really want to hear all that, do you? You already know that. Mom's worry. It's what we do.

Both girls are starting new daycares this week. That in and of itself is probably my biggest worry right now. I'm praying that Sarah Kate won't get fired in the first week. I fully expect it to take her a couple of weeks to adjust. She starting with someone who is just starting out. SK will be the first kid and I think that might be good. It will give her time to adjust to just one new person right now. And then when other kids start coming, she'll hopefully already be comfortable. Ali will be going to a different daycare than Sarah Kate. She's going to a bigger daycare for kids 2 and up. It's structured and they have a big playground and I really think (hope! pray!) that it will be perfect for her. She's so ready for that kind of environment. I think the week ahead of us will be tough, but I feel like it will be what is right for our family. Plus, this means that soon, hopefully, Wes and I will actually start getting to have time off together. And that will be a huge stress reliever!

SK's bladder surgery is one month from today. That's stresser number 2. I know that it is a small surgery compared to what we've done, but it is still surgery. She'll undergo anesthesia and she'll be cut open and we'll spend several nights in the hospital. And I don't totally know what to expect as far as recovery. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Feel free to come visit us at Le Bonheur in Memphis next month! We'll just be hanging out.

Ok, so on to the pictures. See Ali? This is an everyday thing. I thought this phase would have passed by now, but no. The kid never wears normal clothes unless I force her into them. She practically lives in her Dora swimsuit. In fact, the first thing she said when we got home from B'ham last week was "I can put on my swimsuit now!" We've definitely gotten our 10 dollars worth out of that Dora swimsuit. When it's 30 degrees outside, she just adds a sweater and tights and she's good to go. Around the house. I wouldn't dream of actually letting her out of the house like that. I don't care how well she would fit in at Wal-Mart.

Oh, in case you're wondering, I got my car back. For the low, low price of my left arm. And a kidney. ;)

Home is such a sweet place to be

2008-11-11T21:42:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday the girls and I packed up and drove to Birmingham. Sarah Kate hadn't been yet in her nine months, even though Ali had been at least 6 times by the same age. I finally deciding I could manage the drive and trip with two young children and we hit the road. Mistake number one.

Ok, that's not really true. The drive over wasn't that bad. Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Until we hit Birmingham. At rush hour. And the baby started to scream. And my car started to act up.

And the short story is that the baby didn't stop crying for 5 days. Pretty true. And my car decided to stay in Birmingham. In the shop. To get a new transmission.

That just about sums up how much fun the trip was.

Ok, that's not really true either. There were some really great times. I saw my grandparents and an aunt and uncle that I haven't seen in a year. And they got to see Ali and meet Sarah Kate. I got in a small bit of shopping time and even got to eat an adult meal in an adult restaurant. In peace. While the meal was hot. And I got to spend time with my parents and my brothers. And that is always fun. Especially now that I feel like I've got one of my brothers back.

SK is apparently going through some severe separation anxiety. NOBODY and I mean nobody else could hold that baby. Or even look at her. And heaven forbid my mom try to talk to me. That baby has some serious jealousy issues. She was perfectly fine when nobody else was around. But let someone walk in the room and she turned the tears on. It was a bit of a stressful trip. But I have hope that next time will be better. Because there will be more trips. So she's just going to have to get used to it. On the plus side, she was a great sleeper while we were there. Bedtime and naptime went perfectly every time (um, except last night when she decided to stay awake from 2-4).

Ok. I'm exhausted. And this entry is all over the place. But you've been updated. On our fun, fun life.

I think I'm ready for 2009.

Halloween and a New Do

2008-11-01T20:10:00.002-05:00

Our halloween was pretty low-key. We went to a party at daycare and visited at the hospital. I opted out of trick or treating this year. I imagine it's the last year that I'll get that option. I just couldn't imagine dragging SK out after her bedtime and trying to convince Ali to go knock on people's doors to ask for candy. Although, I suspect that part wouldn't have been too hard. She didn't have a hard time asking for candy at the hospital yesterday.

I realize there costumes might not be terrible obvious. Miss Ali is the Sea Witch from the Little Mermaid. You could tell, right? She told everyone at the hospital that she as a bad witch. Then she would say "1,2,3 boo!" Everyone was scared.

Sarah Kate is trouble. A baby you don't want to meet in a dark alley. Or a punk rock baby. I don't know. I really just wanted her to have a purple mohawk and wear the black and white baby legs. I'll have you know that I made that onesie. Ok, so I ironed on the sequin appliques. But it counts.

You can tell Sarah Kate was thrilled with her costume. Really, she was just tired and mostly frustrated that she couldn't run around like the other kids. I can honestly say that I'll be happy when she is walking!

Now. On to other news. I've been a blonde since, oh, I don't know, 10th grade I think. I was born a blonde, it just didn't last. Well, earlier this week while inspecting my three inch roots, I decided that the two-tone look wasn't cutting it and that I just don't have time for the upkeep of blonde. So I got rid of the blonde. I'm still in a bit of shock and I think a lot of people don't recognize me. But it's growing on me. And Ali's getting used to it too. When I first came home she asked me what my hair was doing and told me to make it yellow again. Now she tells me that she likes it this way. But reminds me that she likes it yellow too.

Funny, in a gross sort of way

2008-10-17T07:24:00.002-05:00

It's pretty sad (funny?) when your 8 month old daughter's diapers are so, um, powerful, that your 2 year old is literally gagging, tears running down her face.

Poor Sarah Kate. Anytime Ali smells something even remotely unpleasant (like chicken cooking on the stove), she informs me that Sarah Kate has pooped. It doesn't matter if SK is even in the room. Such is the plight of the younger sister.

A LOT of pictures

2008-10-15T20:28:00.005-05:00

There's not too much going on around here right now, so I thought I'd share a few pictures of my sweet, sweet girls. Ali spent the weekend in Nashville with my friend Sarah and she had a blast. The fact that I've known Sarah for half my life (wow!!) made it a little easier to let Ali go on Friday night. Sarah has kitties and now Ali is demanding that we get her a kitty (thanks, Sarah). She does not care that her daddy is allergic to them. She saw a brown one in a book today and told me she didn't think he would be allergic to it. For now I think we'll just stick to the stuffed version.

Sarah Kate has been her usual happy self lately. She's been chewing like crazy though, so I really think we can expect to see some new teeth soon. She's very inquisitive and nosy and mostly likes to get into things she shouldn't. The bathroom is her absolute favorite room. I guess because she knows she shouldn't be in there.

I had a thought and I'd love to hear some opinions on it. I'm thinking about switching her to cloth diapers (these, specifically) for a couple of reason. The first is that in the long run, I really think we'd save money. The second is that I feel a bit guilty about the amount of trash we generate on a daily basis. I realize the green trend started a while ago, so true to fashion, I'm jumping on the bandwagon now. I'm not going all granola-mama or anything, but I think if there are things I can do to help, then I might as well do them. So what do you think? Would you cloth diaper? Especially as easy as the new cloth diapers are?

Here you go, my glovely gladies (as Ali says):

Who needs perfect smiles?

2008-10-08T20:28:00.002-05:00

It just doesn't get any better than this. I absolutely LOVE the expressions on their faces. So them. I have a feeling I'll be seeing this look on Sarah Kate's face A LOT in the coming years.

Great News

2008-10-07T20:24:00.002-05:00

We went to Little Rock for a cardiology visit today. We met our favorite nurse, April, for lunch and it was wonderful. She wasn't just our nurse, she was our comfort and became our friend. I think Sarah Kate recognized her voice. She would listen to her talk and she would smile. She even let April hold her, and there aren't too many people that can hold her while I'm around.

Our cardiology appointment was at 2:30 and to my delight, we were called back almost right away. Then to my dismay, I found out that SK had not been scheduled for a sedated ECHO. Since we fed her before we got there, it wasn't an option either. I feared the worst because she really, really doesn't like people touching her (can you blame her?), but she really did well. It took the technician, and 2 other nurses in the room blowing bubbles and singing songs, me holding her and giving her a bottle, and her daddy putting snacks in her mouth when she got tired of the bottle to keep her calm, but we did it. There was no screaming. And it was wonderful! SO...everything looks wonderful. Her blood pressure is great, her coarc repair is perfect, and her subaortic stenosis is exactly the same as it was six months ago. Woo-hoo! We finished up around 4:30 and headed straight home. It was a long day in the car (and Wes is working tonight after no sleep today) and SK had her moments when she definitely did not want to be in the car, but we made it. Tomorrow I will call and schedule her bladder surgery. And then we'll be one step further on our journey to perfect health. :)

2008-10-01T10:46:00.002-05:00

The economy is depressing me. Having sick kids at home isn't helping. Especially when one or the other woke up every hour last night. It makes for a poor, tired mommy. So to cheer things up, here's Sarah Kate showing you her two teeth. And having a little sand snack.

No pictures of Ali, as she's a bit rashy. I've diagnosed both girls with roseola (even though SK didn't get the rash). I'm hoping both will be feeling bath to their old selves by the weekend. The weather will just be too wonderful to stay inside!

Oh, just wondering, do you see me at all in Sarah Kate? Or do you just see Wes? I see Wes mostly, but every once in a while I think I see some of me.