Story of My Life

The spit up monster strikes again...

Fifteen Days....

Two weeks from tomorrow, this will be my view:



There aren't really words to describe the anticipation.

I haven't been to the beach in four years. That's a long time for a girl who grew up going whenever she wanted. A long time for a girl that smelled the salt and felt the coastal wind in her hometown. A long time for a girl who as a teenager, would channel that teen angst with a drive with friends over the bridge to sit in the sand and talk it out.

If you're not from there, you don't understand. I know you can say you do, but you don't. You don't really get it. Not like we get it.

My favorite book, The Prince of Tides, says it best:

"My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call."

I haven't felt anchored in four years. That's how long it's been since I've been to the coast, to where I can see the wind, breathe the ocean, smell the waves, and touch the sun.

I can't wait for Thomas to experience all those senses. I think he'll take to it like the fish I think he is. Not once has he cried in a bath. He sits there, in utter awe and wonder, holding his hand out staring in disbelief and excitement, waiting for me to pour water over his hands, breathing in when I pour water over his head and face.

He loves it...simply loves it.

My husband says our trips to the lake are just the same, if not better. I can't hold it against him. He was raised in Little Rock and Memphis. But, my love, you couldn't be more wrong.

So this morning, I drink my coffee, saddled to a city that is bordered by lakes and mountains, and I think of the coast, and I feel alive inside.

A Few More Weekend Pictures

Was absolutely zapped last night, so here are a few more pictures from the birthday weekend celebration. Wanted to mention that not only were we celebrating the big 9-0 for G'mom, but also Darlene's birthday on Saturday, and Mally's 21st last Tuesday. Lots of April birthdays! We had a great dinner out on Saturday night (thank you Jess & Liz for keeping Thomas for us!), and Sunday went to G'mom's church, then did some family pictures afterwards, followed by lunch. It was a super quick, jam-packed 24 hours, but we had a blast, and Thomas got MORE than enough attention from his grandparents, great grandmother, aunt, uncle, and everyone in between. I think he's going to be SPOILED when he goes down for his weekend with mom and dad in July. :)

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

Ninety Years...

Ninety years is a long time, and couldn't have celebrated with a greater family, or for a greater woman....



Happy Birthday, Grandmother.

Six Month Picture

Will post all and more once I get the full CD, but the photographer was so nice to send me a few pictures so I can get them printed for my grandmother's birthday celebration this weekend.

These two were my absolute favorites....

6 months

T is 6 months old today. Feels like the slowest and fastest six months of my life. We are currently in sinusitis/allergy mode, all of us. Someone said the pollen count here is the highest it's been in a hundred years. I believe it. I normally suffer from about one sinus infection each spring due to outdoor allergies, but this is ridiculous. My eyes are dry and itchy, yet watery at the same time, my throat is sore, my nose is stopped up and running at the same time, and BT and T are in the exact same boat. Poor guy has slept miserably the past four nights. We have all three slept together in our bed since Saturday night because he keeps waking up coughing and congested. He is officially on amoxil (for the double ear infection), zyrtec (for the hay fever and congestion), and I am on Mucinex, and BT is kicking it with a green tea and cough drop regimen. Let's just say we're tired physically and mentally from dealing with this.

T has started turning to sleep on his side and his stomach, and it first freaked me out, but everyone says if they can do it on their own, it's okay to leave them like that. He does look super cozy, and it's bound to be much more comfortable than sleeping on your back.

At nineteen pounds, a head of growing (what looks to be curly) red hair, a big smile, an infectious laugh, we have a wonderful six month happy baby boy, allergies and all!

21

21 years ago today, almost to the hour, a little girl was born in this world. She was born blue, exhausted, and spent some good time under some oxygen after a rough labor and delivery. We were very grateful after all of it to have both mom and her survive the fight.

I hope you have the happiest of happy birthdays, Mally Pally.

week one

last week was week one of 'kick it into gear' time. did the gym earlier in the week, did the shred on thursday and friday, went for a hike on saturday, and was so busy at work this week, i never really ate a meal during the day. not my plan, but probably didn't hurt the process. week one down: 3 pounds gone.

here's to week two!

Perfect Saturday

With a day that started with this here:





And a day that ended with me looking at this:



Just can't complain.

Flashback

April of 2009:



April 2010:



God is great.

Wordless (sort of) Wednesday

Three years ago today.....



Happy Anniversary to my favorite person.
I Heart You to Pieces.

GRRRR

I've talked many times about what a great sleeper Thomas is, but lately we've been getting some resistance. Not too bad, but now when I try to rock him to sleep at night, do prayers, and bottles, he stiffens up, turns his head away from me, extends his arms, and attempts to sit up. He refuses to look at me or acknowledge me during this battle with him. He is, I am afraid, my child. Anyway, that's not so bad. We've handled that pretty well, and have let him know we aren't tolerating it, that just because he refuses to look at me doesn't mean he isn't going to bed. So we're winning that.

Here's the deal: for about the past month and a half, he consistently wakes up at 4:30am for a bottle. Every now and then he'll sleep through to six, but the 4:30 wakeup is getting a little old. We are inclined to try to get him weaned off that night feeding, but there's a part of me that thinks he's actually hungry because most nights he will suck down a full six ounces and go right back to sleep until about 6:45. But then there's another part of me that thinks we're getting duped by our six month old. That he wakes up from a sleep cycle, and has just become so accustomed to getting up and hanging out with us for thirty minutes while he eats, that it's just what he does. A book I was reading calls it a 'trained night feeder.'

I need thoughts. Is it time to make him cry it out? Thinking of doing the slow route, and eliminating an ounce from his 4:30am bottle every night till we just offer water, and see if that does the trick. If it were to work like I have it my head, that would have it done in a week.

What does it sound like to you?

Sunday

Keeping this short, as T went to sleep much later tonight, not until 8:00, since he slept the entire way home from Montgomery. And I'm ready to settle in and watch my Brothers & Sisters.

We had a great day in Montgomery today! Thomas got to meet all of the rest of his cousins, and we celebrated Sarah Kate's first birthday. Here are a few pictures from today.

Saturday

We had a great day today with GiGi and Doc! They were coming back from a few nights in Memphis with my grandparents and got here around noon, just in time for lunch at Cajun Steamer. We had a great lunch, and Thomas, as always, behaved great. He just played with his rattles and toys the entire time while we caught up and ate a great lunch. BT had the Catfish Ponchatrain, I had the Blackened Chicken, and mom and dad both had shrimp po boys.

After lunch, we headed to Pelham to go to the Kidz Klozet sale. We got three great little outfits for Thomas. One for my grandmother's 90th birthday celebration in two weeks, another for his school pictures coming up, and another one that BT picked out for later in the summer and early fall. I was really worried he was going to veto ALL outfits there, since they are, well, not very boyish in the eagle scout, cutting wood, starting fires sort of way, but he agreed to these three, which I was happy about.

Here is the Grandmother's Birthday outfit:



And here is his school picture outfit:



Then this is the outfit BT picked out. I love the colors and if you'll notice, it has little brown dogs on it, which I think is so cute.



So I was really glad we were able to agree on three. Believe me, he vetoed ALOT. Which I am fine with. We have made many compromises over outfits so far, and it's always worked out well (ie: I finally got to put him in a sweater vest for Easter :)

Overall, a great day, and Thomas loved spending time with his Mobile Grandparents!




Now we're winding down from a busy day, and BT is cooking one of my favorite meals, Meditteranean Chicken with couscous, and in the morning, it's off to Montgomery!

Busy Weekend

Another busy weekend over here! Today, GiGi and Doc are coming through town on their way back from Memphis for a lunch visit, then after, we're going to go to the Kidz Klozet sale, which I think I am the most excited about :)

Then tomorrow, we're headed to Montgomery for the day to visit with Grammie and Gramps and for Thomas to meet his Aunt Katrina, Uncle Perry, and the rest of his cousins, Nate, Emma, Benjamin, and Sarah Kate. It's going to be a fun day with LOTS of kids. I'm sure there will be many pictures taken!

Until then, this is my view this morning as I write, T getting in some great playtime, looking cute as always, even if I am biased :)

Extreme Makeover: Complete

And we're FINISHED.

I'm really pleased with how it all turned out!

Here are the before pictures (mind you, I didn't do any 'prepping' for the before: the bed's not made, the bathroom's a wreck, etc.):






And the after...







Ahhhh...

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Happy 3rd Birthday to our Mr. Beau!
Since people always give updates on what their kids are doing on their birthdays, I don't want our Mr. Beau to feel left out, so here's his.

Mr. Beau is three! Here are a few things he's been doing lately:
-Loves to play fetch, especially with his kong and his tennis ball.
-Sleeps stretched all the way out on the end of our bed and takes up all of our foot room, but we love it.
-He LOVES thomas, and licks him to high heaven.
-He can sit on command, shake on command, and lay down and roll over on command.
-His list of fears that put the fear of God in him are growing. So far we have: fireworks, car doors slamming, and the beeping a smoke detector makes when the battery gets low.
-He just might be the perfect family dog, if only for the shedding :)

Happy Birthhday, Mr. Beau! We love you!



I PROMISE pictures of the room tomorrow! Taking a break tonight from the insanity.

Wow, this really wasn't wordless at all :)

Almost There...

I know I said we would finish, but apparently we had more work than we thought.

Room is finished with the painting.

Window treatments back up.

Bathroom finished.

Bed with new headboard is up.

All furniture in place.

Tomorrow night, we'll finish it all up, getting the room cleaned up, and getting pictures hung on the walls.

But even now, I cannot BELIEVE the transfomation! Think dark, disorganized, cluttered before. And now: cool, calm, simple, and perfect!

Once everything gets done tomorrow, I'll take pictures to post the official before and afters.

For now, I am EXHAUSTED. Can't remember the last time we've gotten so much done in 48 hours. Basically it was a month of planning, researching deals, and purchasing. And WORK WORK WORK for the last two days. Today was work all day, playing with Thomas until he went to bed at 7, then a FULL two hours of work before we finally called it quits and ordered a pizza for a late 9:30 dinner.

But I know, when I crawl into bed tonight, I'll be able to say it was all worth it :)

A Little CVSin'

Yall know how I love a good bargain, and how I've been attempting to get better at the coupon and bargain world. I'm expanding that to include really using my extra care bucks from CVS. In the past I have been really bad about using them, which is crazy, since it's essentially in-store free money! So today, for a total of $19, after using coupons and using extra care bucks, this is what I got:









That's an average price of $2.70/item, which is really good considering the contact solution, excedrine, big pack of toilet paper was included in this. Those three items alone, if it had not been for coupons and extra care bucks, would have been $20.

I would have liked to have gotten it to where I only spent twelve bucks, but to do that, i would have had to eliminate an item or two, and all of these items were on our 'need to get' list anyway. So for nineteen bucks, not half bad!

Can I Just Say...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the color of our bedroom and bathroom walls now! It's so cool, calm, and peaceful! Look at the blue behind this font, and that will give you an idea as to the color. I plan to post pictures, but we're not done yet!

We worked our tails off yesterday, and got as much done as we possibly could before we totally crashed last night. But tonight, we will finish. We. Must. Finish.

We have one more wall of trim left to do, and touch ups in the bathroom to do. Then we'll need to put the mirror in the bathroom back up, and assemble our new bed. Then last step will be hanging wall art, and THEN we'll be done. I hope pictures do the color justice. I woke up this morning (albeit on a mattress on our floor), thinking to myself, now THIS is a room I can feel like I can retreat to. Something about that blue....

So while I know I said our Extreme Makeover would be complete March 14, with a five and a half month old, I feel really good and proud of us that it took us only about three weeks longer than that!

Look for pictures tomorrow!

Easter

This morning, we went to early church service, and afterwards came home, ate breakfast, and did T's Easter basket and pictures. He seemed to like his little Easter basket, especially his stuffed lamb :) Thanks go GG and Doc for all the Easter treats! Since he can't have candy (that was a special Easter treat for mom and dad :), we did a little theme of: what will Thomas be needing soon? Thus the bathing suit, sun hat, and shoes, since we have a beach trip coming up in May with Jessica, Jeremy, and Luke!

Here are a few pics from our great Easter morning. We were really happy with the church we went to, Brookwood Baptist. I went there some in college, but haven't been back since. They have a great pastor, and he was actually the University Minister at Samford while we were in school there. Their kids programs are really good there too. We are still looking for a permanent church to go to so I'm thinking we will for sure go back here. Everyone was welcoming and we had a great time. (Notice in the last picture, Mr. Beau even made it in the picture!)