hey it's my birthday...I'm 2!!!

Hi mom...I am two!

Two with attitude and too cute!
OMG they got me Jesse and Bullseye! How did you what I wanted????
I love this man! Can you see why?
Hey look, I am dancing on TV! Gosh I love Mickey Mouse pizza!
Best friends, monkey see....monkey do!Hey Mickey....wanna dance?Meredith loves this damn mouse and does think it is Mickey Mouse. I can't believe she is not afraid of him. But she isn't, not at all.Blowing out the birthday candlesOpening gifts. Her friend Adalyn is holding her shirt up to make sure it fits her. Is that not hilarious! Thanks Adalyn for celebreting my birthday with, you made it lots of fun! And thanks to Mimi, Poppa, Memaw and PawPaw too!

To Meredith on her birthday....

On April 9th of 2006, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning and waddled to the bathroom. It was nothing new; I had been waddling to the bathroom all through the night for weeks now. I was anxiously awaiting your arrival. Silly me thought I would get to sleep through the night once you had arrived. There were so many things you taught me about motherhood.

On my way back from the bathroom I woke your dad up to tell him my water broke, it was a cruel joke. At 37 weeks pregnant it could potentially happen at any moment so yes it was a cruel joke. He woke up and asked if I was sure and I told him no I was only playing, but since he was up did he mind switching spots in the bed with me since I could no longer sleep. Maybe on his side I could drift back off to bed. Being the wonderful man he is, he got up and moved to the other side of the bed. I jumped back into bed on his side and snuggled under the covers and drifted back off to sleep.

At 6:30 in the morning I woke back up thinking I needed to waddle to the bathroom again, and that is when I woke your dad up for the second time that morning to let him know my water had indeed broke and that yes it broke on his side the bed. He was a little more hesitant to believe me this time. But he eventually got the picture that I was serious this time and with that my girl we were headed to the hospital.

We arrived about 7:30am where the nurse confirmed my water had indeed broke and then we started calling everyone we knew. We were thrilled and could not wait to meet you. You on the other hand were not quite as anxious to meet us. Other than my water breaking, I had no other signs of labor. And you let us all know that day that no one, not even pitocin was going to rush you.

At 11:00 that night after a few hours of labor and a couple of scares with your dipping heartbeat, Dr. Benton decided it was time for you to come out and meet your parents. And so we were off to the surgical suite and you would be arriving by c-section. At that point I did not care how you got here I just wanted to hold you in my arms. I honestly was more than a little scared once I knew I needed surgery and I did try to get out of the bed and head home. But your nanny and dad were in the room with me to hold me down and rationalize with me and before you knew it, your dad and I were off.

At 12:03am we welcomed you into the world. At that very minute, I heard the sweetest sound in the world…. you screaming. I remember asking your dad if that was you and it was….and then I asked if you were still a girl and you were. Tears started flowing as I listened to your cry, I was so happy. The neonatologist let me know that your lungs were in great shape with those screams and that you were perfect. You truly were. I had never been more in love with anyone in my whole life.

In the two short years you have been in this world you have amazed me with how much you have grown and learned. You have taught me so much….so much about motherhood, so much about myself and so much about life. You will never realize the lessons you have taught me so early on in your life and I thank you.

I love you so much and I want you to know that you mean so much to me. I love being your mommy. Happy birthday baby girl, I will continue to cherish each day with you. I look forward to watching you grow and achieve all of your dreams, reach for the stars you deserve them.

Love,
Mom

Looking back on the past two years...

A trip down memory lane....

Never enough...

Ever notice how quickly time flies by. I am sure you do it is a phenomenon about the older you get the quicker is goes. I wonder if like childhood there is a point that it slows down again, even if it is just a little while. When I was 12 I started counting down until I got my driver's license, I though I was getting it at 15 so the 3 year countdown that seemed like an eternity started then. Funny thing, I did not get it until I was 16, but I did vigilantly countdown 3+ years of my life. I could not wait. I eventually got that thing, only to have it suspended a mere 3 months later....by the court system, my parents actually suspended more like 6 months. Damn speeding tickets.

Then I counted down until I was 18 for obvious reasons and then again until I was 21. I remember being so disappointed at 21. Why did I count down and wish away my days of my life. Nothing really spectacular happened and that is where I vowed to never do that again. But I got engaged at the age of 25 and the countdown started once again. At 26 I got pregnant and the countdown started again, except that it went by more slowly. When I got pregnant a second time I knew that in 9 months time I would meet my son and that Meredith would not be my only child. I was excited and sad, and so I did not wish those minutes away. I knew that Noah could be my last baby and that I would never again feel a little one inside me or feel that close connection that a mother only feels. Those days flew by and my second miracle was here.

Since then the time has flown, it truly has. Noah is about to be 5 months old and Meredith will be 2 years old on Thursday. Where has the time gone? I am sure that I have not had enough time to savor the small things in life. Like the sweet kisses and big hugs and love you mommas. I need more time to rock my little Noah to sleep and more time to play "bippity boppity boo" with Meredith. I need more time to tell my sweet husband that I love him dearly. I need more time to sit together around the table as a family to eat dinner. I need more time to nurse my sweet baby boy and let him hold my finger as he does. I need more time to make everything "all better" with just a kiss.

I need more time until my kids start kindergarten. I need more time until they learn the cruelty of being made fun of. I need more time until they fall in love and have a broken heart. I need more time until they learn to drive. I need more time until they want to say "I hate you mom." I need more time before they are slamming doors and getting attitude. I need more time before my kisses will not make it all better. I need more time until they leave to go off to college. I need more time before they get married and move out.

Can someone do that, will there counting down and wishing away their own years really slow time down for all of us. I just need a little more time.

Best friends

The baby bed came down and Meredith moved into the big girl bed permanently.....so did Brownie. Most nights this is how you will find them.

Attack of the church people!

So I must confess, Josh and I are not regular church goers. We try, well not really....we would like to do better.....unfortunately our attempts thus far have not yielded regular church going behavior. So, on Sunday mornings we get all dressed up and drive off in the loser cruiser and wave to our neighbors and pretend to go to church. Yeah right! We do not do that either, but we often joke that we should. Everyone in this town wants to know where and when you go to church. Like there is a secret church society that wants to know and checks up on you.

Wow I am really sounding like the anti-church blogger, I truly am not. I like church, it makes me feel good about myself when I do attend, but with two kids under the age of two, it is not always easy to get there. And chances are once we are there whatever spiritual message is being delivered is missed, due to the fact that I am a little distracted by a toddler or trying to calm a fussy baby. Between the colors, books, toys, pacifiers and cheerios, yeah you pretty much had me at hello sort to speak...everything else I missed.

So yes we could do better and we will or we will try.....one day. But my point is, if you do not get dressed up to go to church then you can still get dressed, not up, but dressed and do the lunch thing right? Wrong. Do not try to skip church and do the lunch thing, people come out in droves all dressed up to rub it in your make-up-less face that you did not in fact go to church and they did.

Case in point...

"honey you want to watch the kids while I go to the grocery or all go?" 9am

"We can all go it will be fun" 9:02am

"okay that means 4 people have to get up and dressed and out the house" 9:03am

"well do you want me to stay home?" 9:04am

"no we can all go, that is fine" 9:05am

Fast forward two somewhat hours, 2 showers, 1 bowl of oatmeal, 2 nursing sessions, 1 nap later ( so not kidding!) and we are out the door and in the loser cruiser all buckled up.

"So where do you want to go grocery A or grocery B?"11:29am

"Um it is 11:30 and I'm hungry and the kids are used to eating at noon, so where do you want to eat?"11:30am

So that is how we ended up at a lovely sandwich shop at 11:40am on a beautiful Sunday morning. We were sitting down, me with no make-up, flip flops, my designer jeans, an old black maternity shirt that can pass for a regular shirt and wet hair in a ponytail. Noah was still in his pajamas and Meredith was dressed by Josh....need I say more. Yeah Josh dressed himself sometimes I just let him. So we are sitting down eating in a relatively empty restaurant and then it hit.

They came in by the masses, they all wore heels and dresses and sunhats. The little girls were in smocked dresses with big matching bows. The little boys had on gingham outfits with knee socks and shiny white shoes. The dads had on slacks and some had on ties. They looked like they were right out of a church magazine. We looked like we did...thrown together and eating lunch.

The restaurant went from empty to packed in 10 minutes....no exageration. I started to get sweaty, I mean Noah was wearing spit up and Meredith was wearing pizza sauce. It was all over her face and clothes.....then we had a brownie....we were looking nice as we left.

I only ran into 3 families I knew. Oh well I can't say I looked very different than most days, well minus the wet hair....that was just my church hair.

Growing up...

Mom....don't hold me! Ugh! I am going to be 2 this week, I do not need to be held. See we can still take the picture together, but you don't need to hold me....sheesh! I mean I can say shit.... I'm a big girl. Mom quit whining about me growing up and let dad take the picture!

At the zoo....

The monkeys asked...the elenphants asked...and the goats asked me too!
No-wee loving the zoo! I LOVE this picture, my two favorite guys!
We were way too big for a stroller....
Hmmm what is over there...no time for pictures mom.

Getting to the zoo, under the sweatshirts and jogging suit. We had on really cute spring polos, however we DID NOT dress for the weather. Thankfully there was sale in the gift shop on sweatshirts and jogging suits....we were not the only people buying them!

Strolling with dad...
Mom no time for pictures look....

One tired momma!

One year older...
One two hour car ride there...
3 nursing sessions in the back of the loser cruiser...
One zoo trip...
2 elephants, 2 monkeys, 1 giraffe....
One visit to see our Nanny (my sister)....
One visit to see Old paw (my grandfather and his lady friend who never shuts up!) ....
One dinner our with a really well behaved and exhausted toddler and newborn and two really old people ....
One two hour car ride home with a pit stop at McDonalds's to nurse again....

Equals one tired and exhausted momma....but it was worth it so worth it and one of my best birthdays ever.

This is it, the year I say good-bye to my twenties. I think I should care or something, but I really do not. Maybe because I am so worn out. We just tucked everyone in bed, we were quite wired from the car ride home. My kids are probably the only kids in America who do not fall asleep in the car EVER! Damn DVD players! I promise to post lots of pictures tomorrow. Good night Internet and good-bye 28!

They all axed for you!

So tomorrow we are headed down to the Audubon Zoo. Yep, it is my birthday tomorrow and that is what I want to do, take my kids to the zoo with my husband. Sadly it will be the first time we have done this, so the first time Meredith will see and elephant, a monkey, a giraffe and all the other wonderful animals our tiny zoo does not have. So yes tomorrow I can sing....

I went on down to the Audubon zoo and they all axed for you.

The monkeys axed, the tigers axed and the elephants axed me too!

(oh and I did not spell asked me wrong, I did axed on purpose. Because if you know anyone from New Orleans, you would know they do not ask, they ax you!)

Oh hell I am butchering the song....just listen to it here!

Gosh I love this song, reminds me of home and Mardi Gras and everything else New Orlenas.

Because you just have to hear it for yourself!

I just knew you had to hear it for yourself! Notice the hand on the hip...I hate to say it, but she gets it from her momma!

Okay let's delurk ourselves!

Come out lurkers (people who read the blog, but don't comment!) I've had several people this week tell me through email they were lurkers and a few who came out of the cybercloset! Thanks Angela, Kmommy and Brandi!

I am taking off my anonymous comment blocker. So if you read, once a day, once a week, once a month, or hell check a gazillion times a day....like me....well not my own blog, but others.....then come out, come out wherever you are....and let me know!

I have a sitemeter people, I know how many hits a day I get and I know where you are!!!! Wow that is scary! I promise I am a sane woman, sleep deprived.... yes, insane....well that depends on your definition of sanity......I mean I chased a flying check in a Krispy Kreme parking lot for god's sake!

What she say?

Quoting Meredith....

"No, No Momma says!"

"Momma says.... Oh shit!"

"Daddy says...No, No Bwownie"

The things this child makes up....I hope she does not say this at Mother's Day out!

Trying out new things...

Mom what the hell is this thing??? What am I supposed to do? Sit!?!? Is that the song that Meredith is always singing? Oh Sit....Oh Sit? Yeah I didn't think so.

Dum, da dum dum!

Is that how that saying goes?

Anyway the time is quickly approaching, next week in fact....that I will not have 2 tikes under 2 anymore! GASP!

I am so devastated that my babies are growing so quickly, too quickly.

But another problem is the name of my blog....2 tikes under 2!?!?!

So what should I do, anyone have a suggestion? I obviously don't want to change my blog address I just need to do some revamping or something?????

Perhaps I should just get pregnant and then I will have 2 tikes under 2 again! Or better yet 3 tikes under 3! Holy shit! Okay obviously I am just kidding.....I promise honey!

Now really got any ideas?

Where are all the creative people????