What a difference a year and a half makes! I'm not sure why I haven't written. Just life, I guess. So... what has been going on? Well, at the beginning of the year I discovered the company "Rodan and Fields" and decided to take the plunge and become an independent consultant with them. It has had its ups and downs, but I have met some wonderful people and am slowly but surely building my business. I decided to leave my job at Gadsden State. It was a really big decision, but one that Danny and I made together. I wanted to look back on my life and remember a season of it that was spent focusing on my family. I felt strung out almost all the time, and even my "part time" schedule wasn't a good fit. So here I am.... a stay at home mom. Elizabeth is in first grade. She is SO SMART. She can read, really well. She's in the top group in the top reading group for her grade. She is still a little girl, which I love and adore. She loves her dolls, and she still likes pink, even though kids at school tell her pink is for babies! She does ballet at the cultural arts center (along with little sister) and takes tennis lessons on Thursday afternoons. She is a little lady and so, so sweet with such a giving heart. If someone offers her candy, she'll ask for a second piece so that she can give one to her sister. She still loves to set up audiences for her shows, but doesn't do that as often. She loves to play games -- candy land, apples to apples, bingo. She bought this crazy wig today at Dirt Cheap. It looks like the hair from the little girl in the Wendy's adds. She wore that crazy wig to Chick fil a and the movies! She had a best friend, Hannah Mayo, who recently moved to France. We miss her so much, but know that her families journey in the mission field is going to be amazing. Emily is 3! Still long and lean, very tall. And still a MESS. She is addicted to that Paci. She loves to watch TV. Mickey Mouse, Pinky Dinky Doo, normal pre-school stuff. Nothing scary. She thinks the Chick fil a cow is a bonafied celebrity. A BIG DEAL!

She has a pet mouse named Egbar. He is invisible. She will just start talking about him at the most unexpected times. "Egbar doesn't want to go there today. He's too tired." It's really, really funny! She keeps me laughing and is a passionate little girl. She loves animals and is super enthusiastic about almost everything she does. The last 6 months have been wild. Our dear friends and neighbors, the McMillans, have been in and out of town while the dad has battled a brain tumor. He is getting better, but we have missed getting to see them and their precious daughter, HC. I can't believe how time is going by. As the great poet Steven Tyler said, "I don't want to miss a thing!"

A Wonderful Weekend

This was one of those rare weekends where we didn't have a million different things to do. Elizabeth had soccer practice on Friday night, and after that we went out to dinner with our dear friends Tom and Charlotte to celebrate Charlotte's birthday. Cake at our house afterwords with more of Charlotte's friends felt like real life, full of friends and laughter and community. It felt good! Saturday and Sunday were free, and we had fun. Hobby Lobby on Saturday morning to pick out invitations, decorations, and party favors for Elizabeth's "Garden Girl" party at chick-fil-A! Very exciting. Then a trip to the Easter party at the Secret Garden children's shop -- a lovely afternoon excursion for Elizabeth and me. There was face painting and a cookie walk, door prizes (I won a big one) and a photo session with the Easter Bunny. Very sweet!! Then onto The Chocolate Festival -- picked up Dadday and baby and Aunt Britt and headed to RBC to fight the crowds. And crowded it was. But The girls got to ride a few rides and had fun. We topped it all off with dinner on the patio at Villa Fiesta. A really fun Weekend. Sunday was SS at Rainbow and church at GVC -- the perfect combination. And yummy spaghetti to boot!! Thank you, Lord, for beautiful weather and precious children and family to enjoy it with!! And Oh....we can't forget to mention a big problem that Elizabeth has been having....she doesn't want to go to sleep because every time she closes her eyes she sees a monkey beating up a little girl!! Prayers appreciated. :)

In Sickness and in Health

When you hear those words, you think of marriage vows. Well, they apply to kids, too. When you welcome precious little ones into the world you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into. sleepless nights with coughing and fevers. Day after day of runny noses and coughing fits. Fussy toddlers who refuse to take their medicine. For a busy mom like me who works and manages a family, there is another side to sick kids. Sick kids = time at home. No running around, no play dates, no daycare or preschool or work. Just time at home on the mend. This week I've spent the whole week at home with E.A., who has had bronchitis and now E.C., who has RSV, a respitory virus. Although I don't like for my little ones to be sick, I do enjoy uninterrupted time with them. E.A. is growing up. She can watch a movie now and follow and analyze the plot. (Megamind this week). She has an imagination that is interesting and wonderful. I hear her playing in her room and creating all kind of dramatic interatctions and storylines for her dolls and toys. She can also dole out the discipline when needed! Lots of spankings and time outs for disobedient dolls. When Emily isn't trying to compete with her big sister for attention, she is a true delight all on her own! She loves to laugh and has started singing songs. She sings a,b,c, jingle bells, happy birthday, twinkle twinkle, patty-cake, and counts. She seems kind of mechanical. She likes things that snap together and likes to turn lights on and off. Just today she has started saying "ow" constantly. Ow, my back. Ow, my finger. Ow,Ow, Ow. I'm not sure what to believe. Always changing and fascinating. These beautiful girls. Now, back to the amazing tunneled world of zuzus!

1/1/11

Well...It's time to record some special moments from the last 6 months. My sweet bagy, who was one at the last posting, has now turned 18 months old!! I can hardly believe it!!! Today - 1-1-11 - is her half birthday. She's halfway to 2! She's talking in sentences now, "I want my paci!" I want some milk" Momma, Dora and Boots." and words, "Einstein," "Tubbies," Momma, chocolate!!!" She's extremely polite. "Bless you, Momma." "Thank you." "Yes." "Please." She's a character. She adores and copies her big sister --- jumping around, and off of furniture (oops). She loves to play with shape sorters and to put things into containers. She loves to laugh and giggle and play peek-a-boo. She LOVES to play outside. She already colors - with crayons and markers. She's a firecracker! Not sure if it's because she has an older sister to watch or just the way God made her....but....she can flat pitch a fit! Screaming, wailing, and hitting anyone who gets in her way. When I correct her and tell her not to hit others....she hits herself!! I'm praying this spunky, feisty, energy can be channeled and used for good. Meanwhile, big sister is holding her own. 4 1/2 and growing up too fast! She loves pink, and barbies, and dolls, and anything that's not even remotely scary. That means no bad guys. Which means nothing but preschool-aged shows on PBSKids and nickjr. Dora, Max and Ruby, Blue's Clues, Gullah-Gullah Island, etc. STrawberry Shortcake is OK, and so is Charlie Brown. But most of Disney and Barbie are off limits. Which is fine by me, actually. She loves drawing and painting. She loves being outside. She loves plants and flowers. She loves dogs, but not cats so much because she thinks she's allergic. She's a leader. I pray that strength will serve her well. A new year. Just a few months before my precious E.A. starts Kindergarten. It's hard to imagine. Happy New Year!!

One year old

My baby is one. She's not a baby anymore. Officially, she's a toddler. But she doesn't toddle. She runs. She never really toddled. She started walking at 10 months and never looked back. She's recently become very interested in climbing. She climbs onto small little stools, toys, and pieces of furniture and sits on them. She climbs on the sofa and on chairs and hangs out a while, and then she backs down off of them. She even climbs on the sofa and does summersaults off the sofa onto E's floor chair and then onto the ground. She is fearless and adventurous. She loves books. She loves to look at them and have them to read to her, and she's all about the flaps. She's independent. She likes to feed herself, and she plays really well by herself. She's loving and social. She says "Hey," and "bye" and "night, night." She's started giving hugs and kisses, kind of.
She loves music. She delights in fun music and dances and spins around. She is starting to talk, and realizes that things have names. She can say "dog" and "ball" and "thank you" and her favorite, "Uh-oh." At her check-up she was 23 lbs, 75%, and some length that was almost off the charts!! She's such a part of our family that after only one year I can't imagine our family without her.

Big sister is really growing. I just can't believe how grown-up she is. Everything about her. The way she talks, and reasons, and jokes. She loves art. She loves to draw and paint and create things. She is so into imaginary play. She dresses up like princesses and ballerinas and lines up her animals and puts on little plays and tea parties. She loves her friends and believes in being honest and doing the right thing (most of the time). She is a delightful human being and I am unbelievably blessed to be her mother.

Sisters

When I was expecting my second child, I told everyone that I didn't care what the gender of the baby was, but that it would be nice if it were a boy...then I'd have one of each. When I found out that I was having a girl, I was honestly, absolutely thrilled. I think deep down inside I really wanted a girl. I don 't have a sister, so I don't know what it's like to have one. But I have always imagined that it would be wonderful. Now my girls will be able to share that very, very close and special relationship. I'm already praying that they will be close, and really love each other. So far, so good.
Em was 10 months old on Sat. On that day, she took her first tentative steps. Just one or two, but so thrilling. She'll be running around the house in no time. At the moment one of her hobbies is sneaking in the bathroom and wreaking all kind of havoc -- unrolling the toilet paper, turning on the tub faucet, and - yuck- playing in the toilet! El had her 4 year check up last week. She was 44 pounds and 44 inches. Her hearing was great and her vision was great, too. Her only problem is that she coughs alot. Probably allergies, possibly reflux. She's about to start taking allergy meds. 4 is a wonderful age. She's a little more mature, so a LITTLE more controlable. But still free and fun. She loves her dolls and playing princess and making tea parties for her animals. She makes a mess faster than anyone I've ever seen in my life. And she HATES soccer. More on that later. She also states as fact things that she wishes were true. For example, she really wants me to go back to work so that her little sister can go to her school. So she tells her teacher, "my mommy is at work today." Wishful thinking. If you say something enough, maybe it will come true. Hey...I think I've found the Secret!!

parenthood

Babies are easy. I used to think they would be hard, but I think they are easy. If you love them, and feed them, and change them, and give them a routine and some consistency and some stimulation and an opportunity for attachment to their parents and other significant caregivers, then they learn that the world is a safe place and that their needs will be met and that there are people whom they love and that love them that they can count on. Babies are adorable. At least mine is. She is pure delight. She crawls around exploring her home. She loves to examine all kind of objects and will just look at little toys and play with them for a long time. She will play in a play pen and just enjoy those toys and hang out. She loves being in her big sister's room and she really loves being in the tub. She also loves her pacifier, which her big sister didn't. She can find it now and put it in her mouth. She's just....so.....cute. I adore her. She really wants to stand up on her own. She can pull up and stand for a while holding on to something. You can tell that she wants to walk like her big sister. She is very tactile. She wants to touch everything. She's not an observer. She doesn't sit back and survey the situation. She's right there in the middle of it. She can also communicate. She waves (backwards) and sometimes says bye-bye. She can say da-da and ma-ma but doesn't say it often. But she can. Much earlier than big sister. Her eating skills are slow. She can only eat very pureed foods. She gets choked easily. But she loves her veggies and her fruit and cereals. She'll get there.
And then there is big sister. So much love and devotion. But so much drama and whining. It's exhausting. Lots of love, but I need the patience of Job, which I don't always have. The older they get, the smarter they get. E.A. is a master negotiator. It's like some kind of constant arbitration at my house. How many books? When is snack time? What's for snack? When can I go outside? Do I have to clean my room? How about later? Nothing, nothing, nothing is easy. But the joy. And the love. And the fun. It's all worth it. E.A. said yesterday, "I want to be 2 (she's almost 4). I don't want to grow up." It's tough to be big sister and to see a baby, whom you love, treated differently than you. But E.A. loves her sister. She loves being a big sister. She also loves that she can control her. When she grabs a toy out of baby Em's hand, there's no reaction, really. It's not gonna last, and it's gonna get interesting. But both my girls are delightful. Everyone told me, don't have another one, because Elizabeth was a great baby and apparently that only happens once. They were wrong. When I asked Elizabeth what she wanted for her birthday she said, "I want a horse with wings that can take me to rainbow land." Does anybody know where I can get one of those??? Elizabeth is smart, and creative, and strong, and beautiful. I never dreamed I could love someone like this. And be so challenged by someone so young. There are questions I can't answer, like, "why did that dog die and where is she?" Grief. I miss Jenny (Aunt Britt's dog who died). Dreams, good and bad -- monsters and scary creatures, or kitty cats and butterflies. And Fantasy, "You know, there's an alien in my room now. We'd better be careful."
9 months and 4 years. It's magical, and challenging, and daunting. Lord, give me wisdom and knowledge and patience and endurance!!!