To my Meredith

Oh my sweet Meredith, you are quickly approaching 2 and a half years...Wow how the time has flown. It honestly feels like I found out yesterday I was pregnant for you. I remember the exact details of that moment and will treasure it forever. I knew that my life would change for the better from that moment forward and boy has it! You are one of a kind my girl.

At 2 and almost a half years old you are very smart. Your have a very precocious vocabulary and everyone comments on it. You have always been a talker, well except for that time I thought you were deaf and banged pots in your room at night. I did do that, I was a new mom, forgive me. But seriously you have an amazing vocabulary. You talk non-stop and almost everything you say now is understood by everyone and they are often amazed when they find out you are only two.

You started your new preschool this year and I really think you are loving it. You tell me you do often. Your teacher's name is Ms. Jenny and you love her, but this week you told me you also love Ms. Shannon, she is the other 2 year old teacher at your school. She is the one who sings the line-up song you said. You really like that song. You are very studious, always have been. You have craved structure from day one. You love to sit and paint or color or read books and you love it when everyone else does too. I am sure the whole school thing is right up your alley and always will be. I was the same way. Your dad thinks you will grow up to be a hall monitor one day, I disagree you are more like student council president.

You also started real dancing school, you love it. I can threaten you with dancing and you will automatically shape up. Last week you told me you were going home with Ms. Lori, your dancing teacher. That was a first for you, before that you always, only wanted to go with me. You get so excited on dancing and gymnastic days. You look forward to it all week and ask to go everyday.

You are still my shy child though. You will often tell me that too. "Momma I went to daddy's work and I be shy!"...."I no say hello, I put my head down and I be shy." Yes my dear your vocabulary is great, your grammar still needs a little work. Seriously though you are still my slow to warm up child. You take your time getting to know new friends, you wait until it is almost time to leave before you join in the fun. Sometimes I worry you miss out on it because of that, but your warm up time is getting shorter and shorter. You are just like your mom in that regard, I was the same way so I'm not too worried. When you are warmed up though, look out world here you come. You have such an amazing spirit about you, you can bring a smile to any one's face all the time.

And for all your good points my dear, I have to say you are not always a bed of roses. You can wake up on the wrong side of the bed and have the most hellish morning. Those are the days that nothing your dad or I do is right and you let us know by throwing tantrum after tantrum. Noah and I just want to crawl back in bed and leave you in yours when that happens. I'm hoping these tantrums are a two year old thing that you outgrow soon. God help me when you are a teenager if you don't outgrow them.

You are also a "I'll do it when I damn well please" sort of child. Your dad and I purchased you and Noah a great new swing set or big ass play structure as I like to call it. It has 3 slides, one being a tunnel slide. We have owned that play structure since January of this year, and this past weekend was the first time you went down the tunnel slide. You went down the other two the first day, but the tunnel slide took 9 months for you to try it. You loved it and were so proud of yourself. I knew you would love it, but there wasn't a chance in hell I could get you to give it a try until you were ready. You are that way about most things. I know this about you so I don't push you anymore unless I have too, I encourage others not to either. You will do it, I know that, just when you are ready. It took you six months to ride your battery operated little four wheeler, now I can't get you off of it.

You are also in a phase where things are "scary". I have no idea where this came from, you ask me 1000 times a day if something "is scare-wy" From bugs, to trucks, to some of your clothing. It is driving me a little nuts and I am hoping you get out of this phase soon. If not there is always therapy right....oh I kid.

You are also rapidly changing from a toddler to a little girl. You used to ask me to come "lay you momma?" at night....now you say "momma come lay with me?" When did that happen, is what I thought to myself. It was literally overnight. You also reach around my neck and give me a big hugs and say "I love you so much!" You do this out of the blue and it melts my heart over and over. You have also started dressing yourself and putting your own shoes on, often backwards but still by yourself. You can drink out of a big girl cup and feed yourself anything, making a mess of course. You can go to the bathroom alone and can even get the stool if it is in another room. It is really weird not having you need me so much, but my time is occupied because your brother is getting to be a handful quickly. But don't get me wrong you are still my baby girl and still need me plenty.

Which brings me to another point you are starting to be a little momma. I knew it was coming. You know everything in the house Noah is not supposed to touch and you follow him around saying "No, No Noah!"...."don't touch that Noah." It really is sweet you aren't mean about it, but more concerned. Well at least that is what it appears to be. Now if I could only get you to pick up your own toys that are dangerous for him or get you to pick up any toys without begging and pleading or singing the clean up song. You will automatically pick up anything with that song, I really ought to sing it more.

You are starting to really get into pretend and dress-up. You love to pretend, not that you are Cinderella, but that you are other people we know. You are often Patty, which is what you call your cousin Nathalie. Or you also like to be Grace or Maggie and sometimes Adalyn. Grace and Maggie are your friends from gymnastics and school. You feed me the script that I am supposed to say when you are pretending it is quite hilarious. You also like to pretend to be a dog, you bark and I have to call you like a dog and you pretend to eat out of a dog bowl on the floor. Your imagination is so much fun.

Your favorite toys these days are still Woody and Jessie. You will carry them around and read books to them and play with them like they are real people, I guess to you they are. You also like to play with "your people". You must have 50 2-3inch figurines that you carry around in a big bag. You love "your people." If you don't have Woody and Jessie you are most definitely playing with them. Recently you have gotten into playing with baby dolls too. You are very nurturing with them and love to take care of them. And you love to dance. You will come home put on your tap shoes, grab you microphone and dance to "Terial Girl" all day long if I let you. You can shake that little booty of yours, one day I will be in trouble or you will, however you want to look at it.

Well my girl at 2 and almost a half years old you are so incredibly fun and sweet. I hope you stay that way forever, it will work well for you as you get older. Hugs and kisses my baby girl and remember I love you so much too.

Love you,
momma

Oh Brownie

Today Brown started off as a really bad day, I thought about giving you away or dropping you off at the kennel.....something....anything. I will admit your habits of opening pantries and cabinets to eat whatever you please is very annoying. Especially when there is no bread to make a sandwich and I don't really feel like driving to the grocery. Today you ate 1/2 bag of buns, there were about 12 originally, you left me 6. I guess as Meredith would say your "belly was full." Seriously your helping yourself habit is driving me nuts.

That was not the thing that put me over the edge today, you truly eat something that you help yourself to on a daily basis. No, I am not kidding. And the fact that you drink out of the toilet, despite having a bowl of fresh water is not what did me in either. No the driving point today was the lack of pooping in the correct location. I'm not talking about a certain area of the yard or on the neighbors yard, I am talking about the house. You have been house trained for 4 years now, if not more. It was no easy feat, but we survived and accomplished the task and that was when I knew I loved you.

Today though, today you tested my patience to the farthest limits. I was home all morning and you pooped on the floor. What the hell Brown? I mean, I tried to let you out to potty three times before I left. I was only gone an hour and when I came home I found poop, on the floor, the brown floor no less! Seriously, do we need to buy potty prizes for you too?

So yes today was the day I was seriously considering giving you away.... I mean I have my hands full lately. I just got down to one kiddo in diapers I was not going back to two. At least not yet!

And just when I thought you had driven me to the furthest extreme.... you went ahead and melted my heart. Tonight it was just me and the kiddos. As usual you protectively followed us around and helped me with corralling the kids up the stairs to get ready for their bed and bath time. And then you did what you do best, you were the world's greatest dog.

You laid on the floor in Noah's room while Meredith played with your ears and tried to put a pony tail holder on them. While Noah, being such a boy, pulled all the dog hair off your ass by the fistfuls. Well not your ass literally but that general region. Yes it totally grossed me out and I moved him several times, but he just crawled right back to that end and started grabbing hair of your hind legs and pulling at your tail. After several unsuccessful attempts at giving you a pony tail, Meredith started pulling at your nails on your front paw, which you hate by the way, and talking about painting you fingers and such. And you just laid there and let it all happen. They were being your aggravating little brother and sister and you were okay with that.

They were tormenting you to no end and fully enjoying it and you let them. You didn't attempt to move, you didn't growl or pull away, you just laid there and let them. At one point they both had their head on you laying with you peacefully, Meredith on your belly and Noah on your butt and that is right about when Meredith crawled up to your ear and lifted it up and screamed "WAKE UP BOWNIE!"

You being you, just lifted your head looked at her with those big brown eyes of yours and laid back down. All was well with you, you were surrounded by the kiddos you are completely jealous and depressed over, but the ones you love more than anything and would die to protect. Yeah I guess we'll let you hang around. But if you are going to poop inside, learn to use the toilet and not drink out of it!

A rite of passage

Tonight I took Meredith to her weekly dance class. She went right inside with Ms. Lori and Noah and I hung out in the hall with the other moms. There are 12 girls in her dance class, 3 of which she started out with in gymnastics, so they have been together since day 1. Which means, us moms have also been together since day 1. While one of the moms is someone I hang out with socially outside of waiting for our two year olds to finish dance the other two are not. But for one hour each week we are friends. Two of us have a child younger than a 2 year old. One of them is pregnant and the other has a child older than a two year old. During that hour we swap stories of our children and motherhood and talk about how wonderful and convenient it would be to have a Starbucks next door. And in that hour we grow and learn from one another and gripe about how far out it is, but we talk like school girls again.

Tonight we were talking about the girls' recital and reminiscing about our own recitals some 25-30 years ago. We were talking about what we did as kids in dancing and things of that nature and I couldn't help but think how these total strangers came into my life and now I share 1 hour a week with them. I don't talk to them outside of dancing. Until recently I wasn't even sure of what they did outside of being a mom In the past 9 months I have watched their daughters grow as I have watched mine and I am amazed at how far these four little girls have come.

I know that people will continue to come in and out of my life and my children's, I hope they are wise enough to spend time with people and take something away from that friendship, no matter how insignificant the friendhip may seem.

I now go to dancing as the proud mom instead of the little ballerina. Tonight I imagined Meredith doing the same with her daughter one day, and thought about my mom sitting there watching me years ago making some friends of her own. I relished in the fact that today it was my turn to take her... my turn to be the mommy, to use this hour to make new friends and swap stories watch my daughter and I grow together. I was honored to be there tonight with Meredith as her mommy.

I don't know how long our girls will be in dancing together or how long I will sit in the hall with these ladies, but I do know that I have thoroughly enjoyed being a mom of a ballerina with them and I look forward to seeing them on Monday nights.

Man on the move

Today we had some friends over for the Saints game, it was a lot of fun. At one point all of the moms were in the play room with the kids. Noah was crawling around on his belly playing when all of a sudden he looked up and saw someone other than me. Tears developed instantly, followed by a sweet little whimper. I quickly called out to him from the other side of the room and like a little salamander he did 180 degree turn on his belly and started slithering toward me knocking away the debris of toys in his way. He slithered right into my lap....oh how I love my little man. Noah, mommy is always right here baby. One day you will say back off you helicopter mom....you are hovering again.... and I will try, I promise to try.

A Friday Recap

The day was long,
Mommy is tired,
We saw Elmo and friends on stage,
Meredith danced,
Noah almost jumped out of my arms,
Adalyn and Burke loved it too,
Smiles were on every one's face,
We were happy to spend solo time with Mimi and MeeMaw,
We were hungry and got lost at lunch
We found the place and ate,
Meltdowns almost occurred,
The girls had icecream,
We shopped and spent daddy's hard earned money,
He was totally okay with it,
The boys got toys,
The girls got shoes,
We filled up the car and our bodies with junk food
We headed out on our long drive home,
It rained,
Noah cried,
No one napped,
Mommy is tired,
Meredith is tired,
Noah is tired,
Mimi too,
Meltdowns occurred when we got home by ALL!
It was a long day,
Hopefully a good one!
The kids are in bed sleeping,
Meredith is waking up crying,
Never a good night sleep when they are over tired,
Daddy is upstairs trying to soothe her back to bed,
It will be a long night,
I'll be back tomorrow with coherent sentences!

What she says -- school days

"She had wittle man, wittle man, wittle man"

"She had wittle man, wittle man"

"Did you learn a new song at school today bug?"

"Yeah momma.....wittle man, wittle man, wittle man"

" I think it goes....Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb......Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow"

"No momma....SHE HAD wittle man, wittle man, wittle man......she had a wittle man, wittle man, wittle man who like snow"

"Ah I got it, I guess Ms. Jenny knows a different version than mommy."

The rain can make you do crazy things

So yesterday Katey and I decided that our children, who were bouncing off the walls from being confined to the house for too many days in a row, needed some fresh air. The only problem was South Mississippi looked like a big swamp land and the rain was still coming down by the bucket fulls. We decided to meet at our local chick fil la and so did every other mom looking to get her kids out the house. The place was packed. So packed that Meredith was very intimidated and wouldn't play. So we decided to head out and go to the bookstore. We got in our car and drove one strip mall over and that is when the heavens unleashed its fury. We sat there and texted one another debating whether to go in. I mean we were under flash flood warnings. Did that deter us? No way! I got my two kids out of car seats and headed across the parking lot into the store. I thought about running, but I was holding a toddler's hand and carrying a 9 month old. Let me tell you about 2 year olds walking in a rain, they don't walk very fast. And even if she did I wasn't capable of running while holding her hand and carrying my little sumo wrestler.

By the time we made it inside we were drenched. The entire store was looking at us like we each had a second head. I wanted to scream, do you know what happens to 2 year olds who haven't seen anything besides their home for 4 days.....they go crazy and so do their mommas! So we headed our sopping wet bodies to the kids section. That is when Meredith said she needed to potty...of course. I have no stroller, I am carrying Noah, we are all drenched, Noah's faux-hawk is now a dripping mess.....of course she needs to potty.

We walk in the restroom to find other bookstore patrons drying off their clothing with the VERY LOUD dryer thing. Meredith couldn't potty, it was "TO LOUD MOMMA!" I bet you had no clue two year olds couldn't potty with loud noises, of course they can't. We were in the bathroom with me bribing and pleading and reassuring for about two minutes when in walked my crazy friend Katey. She had her three year old by the hand and her 7 month old on her hip and they were also in need of a potty break.....of course. It was right then that I had my epiphany....Katey and I were made for one another. I don't know anyone else who would brave the extreme thunder storms and tornado warnings to hang out with us in a bookstore.

We are normally quite sane, it must have been the rain.

On the move...

Today I am re-baby proofing my house. Yes my Noah man is on the move. He has the funny army crawl thing going on and is pretty darn fast. He can get up on all four's but would rather get on his belly and go. He is also starting to pull up. It's only been a few days since he got really good at being mobile and already it's a whole new world. Now I really have to re-baby proof. All the stuff Meredith never touched, Noah has already gotten into and turned over if at all possible!

Sneak peak for Halloween!

Introducing...the rootnest, tootnest cowgirl around......Jessie & Bullseye! Loving their costumes!
Here she is galloping around! She did not stop dancing or smiling!

And my little Bullseye's tail!

She wanted them to stay in those costumes all night! I may have to get more before Halloween, in the morning that is all she wants to wear!

Noah's is a 12 month, I probably should have gotten 18month....oh well!

The answer to the question I am asked on a daily basis....

No I do not style Noah's hair into a Mohawk everyday! It is a completely natural Mohawk. He has had it since his hair has grown in. Then longer his hair gets up top, the longer his Mohawk is! (the hair on top is the only long hair he has, the rest is growing in). In fact when we take pictures professionally I try to get it to stay down with spit, but it always comes right back. The only day I can remember him not having his faux-hawk (which we call it sometimes) is yesterday....must have been the rain!

So there you have it folks! Seriously people stop me in target and restaurants and the grocery to ask me this question. My family that hasn't seen him in a while even asked me that this weekend. People generally ask me this more than they ask me his age.

If you look back through my pictures you will see he probably has it in all of them. I wonder what his hair will look like when he is two!

Back up and running

2 tikes under 2 is now back up and running, see Noah with his running shoes on! We took a brief hiatus to chew our fingernails and worry ourselves sick over Hurricane Gustav, but now we are slowly returning back to normal. We had no damage and our family has minimal we were told. Lots of them are still here in Mississippi, but expected to return home in the next few days. New Orleans was definitely spared and did not see the damage they saw with Katrina, thank goodness. Let's just hope that hurricane Ike and tropical depression Josephine, stay far, far away!

My mom has been the most gracious hurricane hostess and I hope those that took refuge there are extremely appreciative. I don't think she would have gotten the same hospitality that she gave. That is my mom and dad though, very generous people.

She housed over 12 people and 10 dogs, yes there is a place in heaven for her one day.

Meredith doesn't have school today and our evacuees headed out bright and early. Josh went in to work and so it is just me and kids. And of course Brownie and the rain! We are ready for some sunshine!

Disbelief

It could be Christmas here, that is the only time my whole family usually gets together. That and hurricanes. I wish it were Christmas, that would mean this big, scary storm breathing down Nola's neck would be gone, history, because Christmas is definitely not in Hurricane season.

But Christmas, it is not. And Gustav is knocking on our door. We had evacuees arrive at our home at 4:30am last night. They didn't want to leave, but who ever does. They did, they knew it was best, like so many in the city of New Orleans they are scared. And I don't even live there and so am I. I'm not scared of my house flooding or being blown away here, I am pretty sure we are safe. I am scared because Nola will always be my home.

I also worry about the psychological impact this storm will have on so many Katrina survivors. After August 30, 2005 life became before Katrina and after Katrina for so many Louisiana and Mississippi residents. And now three years later it is happening again.

I have had friends calling and emailing me for days. "We can't do this again", " I can't believe this is happening again", "I am still so tired from Katrina". I'm not sure how much more these people can take. Please pray for those that are in the wake of this storm. I know firsthand how life changing this can be. I know what it is like to watch family members leave their home and nothing to return to. I have seen the deep, dark depths they can sink too. It's not pretty, not at all.

Because the world needs more people like him...

Filmmaker Michael Moore calls Gustav timing a 'gift from God'
by The Times-Picayune
Saturday August 30, 2008, 6:58 PM
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, best-known for his documentaries "Roger and Me" and "Fahrenheit 9/11" told MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann on Friday that projections that Hurricane Gustav could hit near New Orleans on the opening night of the Republican National Convention "is proof that there is a God in heaven."
Olbermann led into the interview with Moore noting that President Bush was presenting John McCain with a birthday cake when Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005.
Moore responded: "I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven. To just have it ... planned at the same time, that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for Day One of the Republican convention, up in the Twin Cities, at the top of the Mississippi River."
Moore then quickly added that "I certainly hope nobody gets hurt; I hope everybody's taking cover."
You can watch the YouTube video here.
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, issued a statement calling for Moore to apologize for his remarks.
"I demand an immediate apology from Michael Moore to the people of south Louisiana for his offensive and inappropriate comments," Scalise said. "People in Louisiana, regardless of political affiliation, are making plans to leave to protect their families from this serious storm, and the God I know would not share Michael Moore's glee for our plight."
For complete convention coverage
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I already thought Michael Moore was an ass, he just proved me right again. Some people should just keep their mouths shut, he is one of them. I'm sure the democratic party would agree as well.

I know that it is normal for people to wish hurricanes to hit elsewhere than where they live. I truly wish it would make landfall directly on his home. I know this isn't possible, but I'm a dreamer.

Preparation is key

Last night Meredith held a meeting with all of "her people." She briefed them on evacuation routes and emergency preparedness should Gustav come this way. It went well, I am pretty sure all the princesses and friends will make it.

The story of the New Orleans Evacuee

Its mid work week and there is a tropical depression in the Atlantic, the evacuee catches the news and moves on. It's only a depression, its pretty far away, nothing to worry about yet.

Three days later the depression is a storm, a hurricane and it is quickly crossing Florida or Cuba and heading into the gulf. The evacuee starts to watch, to hope that this thing goes somewhere else and becomes someone else's problem. They don't care where, just somewhere other than here.

The next day the projected cone comes out. The evacuee who was once in the clear in now in the cone and has to flee. They start calling hotels a few hours up the road, chances are there are no rooms in that town so they start calling in the next city up the road.

They never put down the phone. They call the Ramadas, the Howard Johnsons, the Best Westerns, the Hiltons, the Marriots, the Motel 6's and everywhere in between. When it comes to getting out of harms way, they don't care where they stay they just dial. The evacuee finally finds a reservation, six hours away. They reserve a room for themselves, one for their in-laws, one for their Aunts and Uncles, another for their neighbor and her mom and so on. The list is endless because in New Orleans, everyone is family and you never leave family behind.

They begin to gather things they can't live with out, important papers, insurance information, bottled water and things necessary in a crisis. They learn from Katrina that this is truly a crisis. A crisis knocking on their door. They mentally take inventory of what they have accumulated in life, what can they live without, what can they leave behind. They now know this is a real possibility, they know that there are some things they may leave behind and never see again. They know, because Katrina taught them that.

They go to work, they watch the news, they see the fear in the local news casters eyes. After all they have been through this before. They now know what can lie ahead, Katrina taught them that. They watch the weather channel, they see the excitement on the meteorologists' faces after all they aren't the ones leaving everything behind. To them it is a job, the next big one.

Two days before landfall, their city calls a mandatory evacuation, they lock their door and walk away. They have no choice, it's just things and they know staying is not an option. Last time it was mass chaos, like a scene from a third world country, they can't deal with that again they have no fight left. They get in their car to drive to their destination and the journey begins. The journey that takes there breath away and is so heavily laced with fear. The journey that may change their lives forever because they know that when and if this storm hits, things will never be the same. Their city is already in ruins, how can it survive another storm. But this is the gamble the evacuee takes by calling this city home. This city that is so unique and like no other in this country. This city that is their family.

They drive and they drive. What normally takes 2-3 hours has turned in to 12-14 hours or parked on some interstate and not moving at all. That is the journey for the evacuee. They finally land in their hotel and they laugh with their friends, their family, their neighbor. Its a laugh, but a worried humor. They talk about previous storms and previous evacuations. They eat, they laugh, they drink, but in the back of their mind they worry. What will happen? What will survive? Will it turn at the last minute? Will it destroy my home? They know these worries, these questions to ask themselves, Katrina taught them that.

It's 12 hours before landfall and they are glued to the weather channel. They watch as Jim Cantorie is standing outside of their hometown, because their hometown isn't safe enough. They watch the wind and the water and the rain and they wait. And wait. Because at this point that is all they can do. They know in a matter of hours that their life can be turned upside down and that things may never be the same. They know that they will once again "adopt" a new normal. They wonder and worry about their home, their job, their family, and their city. That is what they do, Katrina taught them how.

To all the family I left behind in my city, I am praying for you. I pray that Gustav spares you. My home and heart is open to you all.

Do we look alike?

My mom dug out an old picture of me today. Okay so she pulled it out, she lost all of our pictures in Katrina and this in one my aunt gave her recently. I know it is very sad, anyway....what do you think? Am I her mother?

Meredith at 2 1/2 years old Me about 3 1/2 years old

What she says...

While we are all riding in the van and Josh and I are talking in the front....
"Mom I having a wittle com-ba-say-shun with dad!"


While I am telling her to hurry up so we can go in the morning...
"Mom, Mom chill....just chill"


To her little two year old friend while playing in the sandbox...
"Take off my shoes"


On our way to Walmart....
"Mom I no love Walmart, I love Tarrrr-get!"


At church on Sunday, standing on the pew while eveyone is silent....
"JESUS, Where Are YOU?"


In a public restroom....
"Momma da lady made a toot!"

Her very first day of preschool

Today was a very big day for my baby girl. Today she started preschool. She was so excited to meet her teacher, Mrs. Jenny, and to do all the wonderful things she would do at school. She did so well. There were a few tears as I dropped her off, but by the time I paid my tuition and came back to peek and check on her she was all smiles and playing. I think she is going to have a blast. I picked her up in the carpool at noon and the first thing she said when she got in the car is "momma I want lunch!" followed by "take out your pony momma" - I had no pony tail in when I dropped her off and had one when I picked her up - she is such a smart cookie. Mrs. Jenny said she did great today, she did lots of playing and had no accidents - she is the only one fully potty trained in her class! After school we went to McDonald's with some friends.

I am so proud of my big girl!

Her first day of school breakfast, cinnamon rolls that her daddy made! She loved them. (he then ran to the pediatric clinic and got her immunization form for me - thanks Josh!)

Here she is all ready to go! "Come on Mom lets go to school!"
My two bugs!

Oh how No-wee and I will miss you today Meredith! who will make us laugh?

Not so sure about this whole school thing... You want me to go where lady?
Carrying her bag like a big girl. I swear there were only an extra set of clothes in it, not bricks!
So proud and happy in her classroom. See her bag hanging by her name!
Already busy in her new school!
Loving all the new toys!

She had such a good day and I missed her terribly. She is ready to go back though. Mrs. Margie my neighbor kept Noah while I dropped Meredith off at school, he did great too. Mrs. Margie didn't want to give him back.

The Winner is....

Head over the Regrets Only Stationery blog to see!

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear

Today was a bad day. I should just leave it at that, but why not share it all with you. You know those days where you should of just stayed in bed. That was my day, except with motherhood you get no days off, there are no sick days, vacations days or mental health days. And wow do I need a mental health day.

My kids slept in until 7:00am. That is pretty late for us. We woke up and did our usual breakfast and morning routine and I thought, oh gymnastics isn't until 10:30 we can take our time getting up and out this morning. Then the phone rang...

"Hi Mrs. So and So, this is electrician so and so. Your husband called and asked me to come install some fans for you"

"Yeah, he said you were planning to come one day this week, what day were you thinking?"

"Uhm today, right now actually, is that okay?"

"Sure (let me just brush my teeth, shower, put on a bra, clean up and rearrange my whole day) Yeah no problem at all."

I then raced to the shower, semi-cleaned up breakfast, and then by the time I showed him where I needed the fans, how to get attic access, picked up everything I didn't want covered in sheet rock dust and got two kids dressed and ready for gymnastics, my leisurely morning of taking our time to get ready was over and it was time to go.

We headed home from the gym to find the electrician was still on the job, but at lunch. I looked around and didn't see any fans hung and thought, wow this will be a big bill as Mr. Electrician man is charging by the hour.

At 4:30pm Mr. Electrician man knocked off for the day, he will finish his estimated 4 hour job sometime tomorrow. And $$$ are flashing through his mind. At 5pm we headed out to dance class and as I was backing out of the garage I took of my side view mirror.

Josh laughed, I didn't think it was funny. He laughed all the way to the gym and told me he was pretty sure some grey tape would fix that bad boy right up. Yep some tape and a few hundred bucks I am sure.

Tonight we tucked them both in and finished the gazillion stationery orders I have ( which is a really good thing....I have a mirror to fix.) We hyped up the start of the first day of preschool tomorrow and although a part of me is thrilled a part of me is so very sad! I will miss my bug so much.

I then headed downstairs to read over her papers that I got in the mail a few weeks ago and filled out. School bag packed - check. Sippy cups packed - check. Extra clothes and panties packed - check. Registration papers filled out and ready to go - check. Vaccination forms ---- Oh crap! Vaccinations forms? How did I forget the damn vaccination forms! Really I knew tomorrow was the first day of school, but in my mind it seemed much further away than tomorrow.

So I have one of three options, I can keep her home which would devastate her, but let me hold onto my baby one more day. I can bring her without the form and play the dumb mom, but what kind of message would that send to the school and my daughter - rules...who needs rules. Or I can wake up at the crack of dawn to rush to the pediatricians office to get the forms and then rush Noah to the babysitter and then rush Meredith to school.....I guess I will go put on my running shoes right now!

See you guys tomorrow and will let you know how all the running goes.

And how the first day of school goes.

And how long it took Mr. It will only take 4 hours to complete the job.

Tomorrow will be better and remember objects are always closer than they appear!

Halloween

I know you are thinking.....whoa slow down, it isn't even September yet! I can't help myself. Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday! I would trade in that man in a big red suit for two halloweens if I could! I love everything about it. I LOVE the dressing up part. I LOVE the candy part! I love haunted houses, halloween decorations, having a halloween party, going to a halloween party. I love it all, but what I LOVE most these days is watching the 2 cutest tikes in the world dress up. I had other costumes in mind, but when I saw this one I knew it was the costume we would be choosing. Before I even showed it to her I could have ordered it. I had another cute costume in mind, but she was dead set on being Jessie. So ladies and gentlemen here are our Halloween costumes for 2008.....

Meredith will be Jessie!

And Noah will be Bullseye!

This year we will be in Disney the week before Halloween and get to do "Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween" there. I think there costumes are very fitting for them and for Disney! Won't they both be so cute! The costumes should be here this week, I can't wait!

Time is flying...

In the past week I have posted two comparison pictures of my kids at the same age. It amazes me and makes me so sad they are growing up, but at the same time I am so excited to see the little people they are becoming.

It also makes me realize how quickly time is. I don't know what is scarier the fact that a little over a year ago Meredith was Noah's size or that in a little over a year Noah will be Meredith's size. Either way I am going to embrace today and tomorrow and everyday after.

Go and hug your babies people!

Don't forget....

The contest over at Regrets Only Stationery will be ending tomorrow at midnight!

Hurry on over there and leave a comment to enter!

I will display the winner over there Tuesday morning.

Are you ready for some football....

Saints football that is! We are a silly family in deed. We got all dressed up in our jerseys and headed to Poppa and Mimi's house to watch the preseason game. Poppa had his jersey on too! We are ready for a little football. Here we are all decked out. All but No-ee. His jersey is on it's way. But we did let him borrow Meredith's that Ian's mom and dad made for her when she was 9 months old. See Jeff & Caryn your jersey is still going strong! My little "saints"!
Meredith sporting the jersey in January of 2007
Ian and Meredith watching as the Saint's lost in the playoffs.....darn it and we were going to the super bowl!

torn

I have to say I was a little torn about whether or not to address the comment by "anonymous" about my term of "poor kids" in a previous post. While the term "poor kids" may have "offended" some of you who read my blog, it is a term that is used in our society. There are rich people, there are poor people and there are millions in between. In school I was always taught to give to the poor. So no I don't' think teaching my two year old to give to the "poor" is awful, I don't' think that at all. I never came out and called you or anyone else poor. I never said anything about people who go to "goodwill" being poor. For all you know there could be some very poor children who live down the street from me that we gave some toys too as well as bringing others to good will. And while there may be some very frugal people who are very wealthy shopping at goodwill there may be some very poor people shopping there as well.

While you may have preferred me tell my two year old we would be giving her toys to "people who were less fortunate than herself" that would probably be way beyond my two year old's vocabulary and comprehension. And though you think teaching her that it was better to "share her toys with kids that don't have as many as her" that wouldn't be accurate, because when she shares things with other children they normally give them back, when in fact we were giving these toys away.

So please stay and read my blog, and feel free to comment. From now on though you won't be able to do that anonymously. Not if you just plan to attack me or my friends and other blog readers. To say that I "offended" you by something I said is ludicrous. Do I really have that kind of power or are you just empowering me?

mandi

Because sometimes it is okay to think the world revolves around you

"Momma I go see Meredarif in her pink-tard" meaning I go see my dancing pictures on the blog

"Okay, come on" scrolling through to the ballet pictures

"Awe look at Meredarif how bootiful" watching as I continue to scroll to Noah clapping

"Awe look at No-wee proud of Meredarif"

Although he could have been clapping for a millions reasons, today it is okay to let her think he is clapping for her. One day I will teach her the world does not revolve around her becuase she won't get anywhere in life thinking that, but this morning I will just let her think it does!

Purging

This weekend I am hosting a baby shower at my home. While that sounds fun, the process involved in getting ready for the event is not so fun. I like my home to be neat with every little piece of lint in it's place. Seriously. And while this is not a bad thing, it is when you are a total slob and also have 2 very small children who run wild and free throughout your home everyday tearing it apart.

Like most people I waited until the last moment to start the cleaning process....and yes it is a process. I mean why pick up earlier when the house will just be destroyed again 10 minutes later. So I waited until tonight to begin to straighten up my home so it can be cleaned tomorrow morning bright and early. Then I will just have to keep my little hooligans out of the house until the party....."who wants to go to Target and the bookstore and Mimi's house, who wants to eat out, who wants ice cream after dinner, who wants to ride around until they fall asleep in the car and then be carried into bed?" Okay so I am not going to do all those things, but that is seriously what it would take to keep a house clean for over 24 hours these days. And besides keeping the kids out, I would also have to lock Josh and I out until at least an hour before the shower began. We are that bad people.

But back to my point (I won't say I digress because everyone blogs that term lately), my point being that as I looked around to begin the picking up portion of the cleaning process I wanted to scream. For the first time I realized how many toys we own and are taking up residence in this house. So many that we are literally shitting toys, I mean anytime you ass touches any kind of surface in this house you are more than likely to sit on something that squeaks, cries, rolls, moves or makes some other hideous noise. Really....has my life come to this, the house with too many toys? The mom who can't say no, the mom who gives in and buys crap, the mom who spoils her kids. Then I realized no that isn't me at all. I am the mom who cannot throw a damn thing away. Well I can, but not perfectly good, working toys that have all the pieces. And I also realized that while I did buy a large portion of these toys, an even larger portion of them were gifts. For the love of all things holy in the world.....DO NOT buy my kids anymore freakin' toys!

We have toys in every room in my house from my bathroom, to the kitchen and every room in between. The kids rooms each have at least 2 baskets fulls with more on the floor and the toy room looks like a toy walk in closet that you can't exactly walk in. The sight of the toys wanted to make me scream. So I did what any irrational, insane mother with too little sleep would do. I grabbed several large bags and started filling them up. I didn't even look back. I didn't care if the toy was brand spankin' new or 2+ years old. I didn't care if it had all the pieces or was broken in shambles. If I hadn't seen the kids play with it in the last five minutes it was history, okay so not the last five minutes, but the last five months. I filled up five garbage bags faster than rice cereal turns into paste.

I just started walking around aimlessly in my home throwing toys in the bags.

"Momma what you doing? Momma you cleaning up?"

"Yep, I'm putting these toys away!"

"Momma I want dat" trying to pull a random toy she hasn't touched in months out the bag

"Nope we are giving these to the poor kids" grabbing the bags from her toy crazed hands

"Da poor kids" trying to peek inside the coveted bags

"Yep"

"like Adayn"

"Sure we can give all this crap to Adalyn, I'm sure Mrs. Katey would love it"

So tonight my friends Josh and I picked up for over 3 hours and after several bags for the trash and several bags for the good will, my house and my soul are feeling much better. And again I beg of you, if you feel the need to buy or give my child a gift... how about socks, we can never find two of those that match!

Dancing

Meredith started dancing school this week. This year she is taking tap and ballet. I was a little nervous as to how she would do. She did great! She loves it! It is all she talks about all week long. I don't know if she will get this excited about things as she grows up, but I sure hope so! I will never forget how excited she was for her first dancing class and how that excitement lasted the whole way home and into the next day. This class is during our usual dinner time, that did not even phase her, she smiled and walked in like a big girl never looking back! She loved it and she loves Ms. Lori her dancing teacher. I think she is the equivalent of Cinderella in Meredith's eyes. She talks about Ms. Lori non-stop!

Here is my little ballerina before we left. Sorry no pics of her in the tap shoes!
(see Brownie in the bottom corner helping me take pictures) "Mom, we need to go.....Mom let's go to dancing school!"
(after attempting many shots and trying to get her to look, Brownie gave up, see her leaving)
Okay mom, one more and I'm not looking! I am way to excited to look, I'm ready to leave! She seriously did not want to sit still to take these. She wanted to leave and go, we were 20 minutes early!

Clap, Clap, Clap your hands

Noah's favorite new thing to do is...... Clap!
And he is so proud of himself when he does it!
Whenever I say "Yay!" or sing he starts clapping immediately. If anyone else starts clapping he will too! He loves to clap. He will clap to music while bouncing up and down dancing!

A Giveaway by Regrets Only Stationery!

Regrets Only Stationery will be hosting it's very first giveaway! (Seeing as this is a blog trend)

So if you would like to win the very sassy notecards below just head over to Regrets Only Stationery Blog and leave a comment on the post! All entries must be in by Monday August 25th! The winner will be announced August 26th. So rush over and leave a comment and good luck!!!

Aren't they very sassy!?!?!

Remember don't comment here, well you can, but you HAVE to comment over there to be entered into the contest!

Help!!!!!

I need some help and fast. For those of you who have been there and done that or those who have heard of this happening help me find a solution....

Meredith has been potty trained for over a month now. When I say potty trained I don't mean training, I mean out of diapers and going on her own. In that month we had no accidents, zero, zilch, nada! We went to a Wiggles concert in Nola...no accidents, we went to Gulf Shores on a 4 hour drive...no accidents, we shopped at the outlets one day....no accidents. Her Poppa bought her a jeep for doing so well. Then Saturday we ran into friends who were amazed at her being potty trained, amazed that she got out of a pool to tell us she had to tinkle. Amazed that she hasn't worn pull-ups to bed at night and only had one accident!

Then Sunday morning rolled around and we had accident #1. Just some tinkle in her panties. Then accident #2 followed by #3. I was so upset, so confused. And it didn't seem to phase her at all. So last night I put her in a pull-up, which she normally refuses to wear. She put it on and woke up dry! So today we tinkled and pooped before gymnastics and went on as usual. Well at gymnastics or on the way home or walking to the car....I'm really not sure she had accident #4.

I came home and put her in time out, she cried and said she was sorry. I took her Woody and Jessie doll away and she pitched a major fit! So tell me is this normal???? What do I do???? I threatened to put diapers on her and she didn't care, I threatened to take away her snacks and she had a meltdown.....help me please!!!!!!

And Mr. Zack if you are reading this and the accident happened in the gym, I am so sorry. I was so not aware until we got home!

A typical Sunday morning, not so typical parenting skills

This morning at 6:30am my little human alarm clock woke me up. Wow is it 6:30? Wow is this the first time he woke up? Wow 9 hours of sleep!....are just a few of the things that passed through my mind. I then told Josh I would give him $5 if he went upstairs and got him, he did and I didn't give him $5. When he brought Noah down I was hoping against the odds that I could nurse him and then snuggle him back to sleep in the bed with us. But see Noah doesn't do well when he is in the bed with us, just like his big sister....he thinks mommy's bed means playtime. Can you tell they never sleep with us. So my thought of snoozing a little later were slim and none. As I was nursing Noah my better half was snoring again. So I nursed him, laid him between us and then nestled my head back on my own pillow. Noah started to laugh and coo and then came "dada....mama.....dadadada.......momom....gagagaga.....dadada." So I rolled over and instructed my snoring better half to give him something to play with. He did and it kept him quiet for about 2 minutes. I then rolled over to find whatever object my other half had given him and retrieve it and I was a little shocked....a remote.....seriously.....a remote control without a back on it and missing batteries.....

"JOSH, did you take out the batteries or did Noah eat them?"

"Don't worry, I took them out"

"Good" and then I handed him the remote back and settled back into my foggy slumber.

Two minutes later more whining, "Please Noah five more minutes, here take this" as I handed him the video monitor and then sent the evil eye to my snoring other half.

Two minutes later more whining and kicks to the belly and ribs and backbone.

"Okay Noah here"... reaching onto the nightstand furiously looking for anything.

"Ahhh-ha, here little guy go back to sleep" as I hand him a pony tail holder and then roll peacefully back into my pillow.

Then the red lights went off in my head.....DID YOU JUST HAND YOUR SON A TINY RUBBER BAND TO PLAY WITH!!!!

"Okay Noah you win, let's get up!" and I got up and headed out to the living room sending my evil, laser beam eyes over to my pretending to be snoring other half....men!

You would think 9 hours of sleep was like hitting the jackpot and would surely be enough, I guess not so much, I only have 9 months worth to catch up on.

A Revelation of sorts

Today I was outside pushing Meredith on the swing when out of the blue....


"Momma my name is Mere-da-rif"

"What?"

"my name is Mere-da-rif!"

"Yep, your name is Meredith, good job bug!"

"No momma, my name is Mizzie"

"No your nickname is Mizzie, your name is Meredith"

"Mere-da-rif, Mere-da-rif, Meredaaarriiff"

"Yes it is Meredith, great job, now try Mere- ra- dith"

"Mere-rrrra- ddddiff.........Mere-da-rif!"

"Great job bug! I love it!"

"I love Meredarif too!"


I think her days of calling herself Mizit are over, I will miss them. She is still holding on to Mizzie though. I think Josh is going to be saddest of all. I secretly think he wishes he named her Mizit himself. Mizit Grace, it does have a good ring to it!

Do they resemble one another....

These are two of my all time favorite photographs of my children. I have an 8X10 of each. I am thinking of framing them to go in my bedroom (I have pictures everywhere throughout my house of my kids.) These are two that I can never part with and never put away. I love them.

So do you think they resemble one another?

Here is my beautiful girl Meredith at 6 1/2 months old, just learning to sit up. Here is my handsome guy Noah at 7 months old, just learning to sit up.
I think my kids are gorgeous. Can you believe that Josh and I made two things so absolutely perfect, me either! Oh they are such beautiful babies!

Check it out!

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Just enter TWOTIKES when you checkout!

Thanks Tracy!

Boys will be boys!

So Noah decided that he loves to wear his disposable bibs on his head, he looks mighty cute in them too! Oh mom, I am such a ham!

His younger cousin Connor thought he was silly and hats were for girls.....here he is trying to take it off Noah.
Connor don't mess with my hat!
Or I'll bite you!
You better not bit me Noah!

Okay buddy I won't bite you......

I'll just suck on your big toe!
Hey mom, what is this guy doing?
Mom he is such a weirdo, look he is sucking on my toe!
What can I say my Noah man likes hats and toes!

I got home from the beach and look what was waiting for me.....

Oh how I love my husband.....be green with envy!