"Clark, is your house on fire?"

Isn’t Christmas Vacation the best Christmas movie ever? We love it and insist on watching it to kick off the season every year. However, that’s not what this post is about. Adam and I have one disagreement per year and it concerns Christmas decorations outside. Adam strongly believes that I can do anything I want (decoration wise) to the inside of our house as long as he is the chairman of the Outside Decorating Committee. You might be asking why that causes our annual Christmas fight. Most husbands probably don’t care about Christmas decorations at all, BUT my husband is not most husbands. I blame this entirely on D.D. As a child D.D. allowed Big Daddy, Uncle G, and Adam to do ANYTHING they wanted in the yard for Christmas decorations. If you don’t know these fine individuals it really takes so much away from this story. For example, one infamous year they cut a snowman out of plywood, spray painted it, and wrote “Merry Xmas from the Robertson’s” on it. Seriously people, can it get any tackier? Oh yes, it can. There was a slight controversy this weekend when this was brought up…Big Daddy misspelled Robertson’s on the snowman…which is another story entirely. Another year they pulled a truck out by the road and hung Christmas lights from it! And not just any lights…BIG COLORED lights! You see, I much prefer elegant clear lights draped in garland with wreaths on all windows outside my house…and for emphasis I like spot lights pointed on all the wreaths. But according to Adam this is boring…which I understand entirely considering he was allowed to decorate a motorized vehicle with Christmas lights as a child. So you see why this is D.D.’s fault, right? If she had not allowed such activities during his childhood he wouldn’t even think of doing this to our home. The first Christmas that we were married he had thought up a plan to have a circular driveway go around our house where all sorts of decorations would be on display. For those of you who remember the house in Talladega that did this exact thing when we were growing up….Those people are Adam’s role models. He wanted to put the letter R in big colored lights on our roof that year. Can you say getto fabulous? And, of course, there was that second Christmas that we were married that Adam purchased a blow up something (I can’t remember exactly…possibly a Santa Clause) at Dollar General (can’t you just envision the quality). Unfortunately, the second night it was in our yard the motor blew up on it. So sad. I can not confirm or deny what happened to the motor, but as you can imagine it was blamed on me. It rained that night and I am just certain that had something to do with it. So last week when we started dragging out all of the Christmas decorations the discussion was started as to what we would be doing to the outside of the house…., “Same as last year, Adam. Garland, wreaths, and spotlights.” This is when I was notified that an Outside Decorating Committee had been formed and apparently I wasn’t invited to be on this committee….much less a voting member! He, the sole member of the committee, had decided to put a boat by the road and hang lights on it! A motion had been made at the last committee meeting to purchase another blow up Santa and he was going to sit in the boat and fish! Thank goodness we didn’t have enough extention cords or electrical outlets for such a fine Christmas display. So ultimately, my sweet husband, whose goal in life is to please his wife, hung my wreaths, garland and spotlights. All I can say is…victory is sweet. However, I am aware that the dreadful day is coming that Reese too will be on the committee and I will be way out numbered. And on that day as you drive by our house and there is a truck covered in large colored lights, a blow up Santa fishing from a boat, a script R on our roof, and every blow up Christmas decoration ever made…please just know that I am inside hidden under a pillow and embarrassed as all get out! But for now…the committee was forced to regroup and decorate accordingly…


I really don't think the picture does it justice...or maybe wreaths, garland, and spot lights are boring...but I'll never admit it! Please notice our makeshift gate at the bottom of the stairs...that's to keep the dogs from eating the two Christmas trees...talk about tacky!

Starbucks with the Auntie

As I mentioned last week, Reese and I met my BFF and Reese’s unofficial auntie Steph for a deliciously overpriced Starbucks on Wednesday. To prove to you how far back we go…this is a picture of my dad holding Steph when she was a few weeks old…I was a few weeks away from being born. So technically we go back to before my birth!

This is basically how the story goes…after this picture was taken we met back up around 1990 in kindergarten (where my mom was her teacher). I specifically remember going to her birthday (pool) parties at her house every summer where someone would inevitably fall and bust it on the concrete in their garage. Around the year of 2000 we were 15 years old and two of the unfortunate souls who had to take drivers education during the summer where I invited her to go on my families annual 4th of July trip to the beach. She continued to go on this trip with us until we were well into college and maybe after…I can’t remember exactly. And because I can laugh at myself (and Steph) lets look back on a few of our pictures over the years…

This picture was twin day at school..I believe junior year. My twin didn't show up to school that morning. I got concerned and call her (which was violating school rules considering I was standing on the toilet (trying to get cell service)in the girls bathroom using my cell phone.) My twin was late because she had a flat tire on the Mustang..I am pretty sure this resulted in her driving the heavy Chevy to school that day.

I really do hate that we had to go through the regrettable fashion years of long straight parted down the middle Marsha Brady hair! Anyway, here is a noncomprehensive list of the things we talk about on a daily basis: hair color and all of our unfortunate highlight experiences, our weight, our diet plan of the week, marriage, the things we’ve seen on facebook, and a summary of the people’s blogs we read that we’ve never even met …I know, fascinating right? And on any given day of the week we launch into extensive discussions that solve all types of world problems. We talk on the phone at a minimum of 3 times a day for anywhere from 5 minutes to 3 hours. Our jobs, my husband and baby have tried to interfere with our phone time…to date all three have been unsuccessful…although Reese has come very close.

After our Starbucks coffees Steph played the part of my personal assistant and sat in the car with Reese while I went into Honey Baked Ham and paid no less than $78 for a Thanksgiving ham!! Apparently I should have asked the prices before I told the guy to give me a ham to feed 20 people. Now that I know the value of a ham I understand why they had 2 police officers standing guard at the door.


P.S. There are things that couldn’t be included in this post because our parents still don’t know about them and, lets face it, they can still whip us! And, just so you know, those things would have made you laugh really hard. Maybe in another 10 years or so we will be old enough to tell them all of our secrets and not be afraid of the consequences.

Reese is glad she got to see you again Auntie Steph!

Thankful!

Yesterday at church our pastor talked about being thankful. He said that "It isn't happy people who are thankful, but thankful people who are happy." And instead of asking for more be thankful for the things God has already done and given us in our lives. I am pretty sure he was talking straight to me. I will be the first to admit that I would like more things...a new (bigger) car, a bigger house (since Reese's things now takes up all of our space), new clothes, an at-home gym, etc etc... But instead of dwelling on the things I don't have I am going to be thankful and praise Him for all that I already have and am thankful for:

My salvation

My sweet husband who makes life so much more fun!

Our precious Reese

The 1o pounds of baby weight I can't seem to lose because it reminds me that I was blessed enough to carry a baby and deliver a health baby.

My parents (Until September 20th I did not realize how much parents love thier kids and are willing to sacrifice for them) and my in-laws (From what I understand life can be very difficult if you don't have a good set of these...thankfully mine love me more than their own son:)

Our four legged babies (even though I have, on numerous occasions, talking about giving them away since they are the reason I can't have anything nice in the yard). Please notice in this picture that Autie's back legs are up on Dixie's back...she sits on Dixie back all of the time..maybe because she doesn't want her feet to get dirty? Who knows, but it is funny!

My sweet nieces and nephews (and their parents, of course)

Andi and Jolie

Brandon aka Red

Canyon

Clay

All of our friends! Some we got to see this weekend...

Our home. Even if it's small I LOVE it! Like the song says, "Love grows best in little houses"

My job....even though two weeks from today I will be an emotional wreck when I have to go back...

And on Thursday I will be thankful for getting to see all of my family and eat my Nanny's dressing!

Happy 2 Months!

At two months old Reese:

Weighs 11.3lbs

21 ½ inches long

Is also known as Reese cup (enunciate the E at the end)

Look at that scarf on that onezie! A girl has to keep her neck warm!

Here's a comparison from last month. She has changed so much! And gotten plumper!

Has outgrown all of her newborn clothes. What were pants a few weeks ago now look like capris!

Eats 3 ounces every two hours… and sometimes she has a little ½ ounce snack in between.

Has quiet bit of dark hair.

Fights sleep at nap time! Most of the time she has to have that ½ ounce snack in between feeding to help her go to sleep. I have been told that this is a complete no no, but when she is so sleepy and crying uncontrollably this is the only solution. Within seconds of the milk touching her lips she is sound asleep.

Most nights we feed her around 8 and lay her down and she gets herself to sleep. We paid a heavy price after she slept all night that one night…the next two nights she did not sleep at all! But since then she is back to getting up once around 3 and then getting up around 6 or 7. During the week when Adam leaves for work she gets in the bed with me and we go back to sleep for a while.

Still sleeps in the cradle beside our bed…and can until she moves to college.

Sleeps in this fleece sleeper, but this is starting to make me nervous. She moves around a lot during the night now and the fleece gets too close to her face for me. So she’ll probably have to get a new sleeping suit soon. And yes, those are stripped socks on her hands! Isn’t she so fashionable with those strips and polka dots on the sleeper?

Loves to ride! Anytime we put her in her car seat her eyes get heavy and before we are out of the driveway she is asleep. This makes for a good shopping buddy! It’s kind of strange though…if we get out of the car and go in to a store she never wakes up, but the instant we walk back in the house she is wide awake. I don’t understand how she knows we are home!

Loves to take a bath. When she is fighting sleep around 7 every night we fill her tub with warm water and she is so happy. Don’t all girls love a warm bath after a hard day? Tuesday night we filled the tub 2 different times and had to dump it out when she pooped in the tub:) I am sure it would embarrass her if she knew I was telling that but isn’t it my obligation as her mother to embarrass her?

Stares at the ceiling fan all the time.

Entertains herself on this play mat for short periods of time

Hates tummy time! She screams when I lay her on her stomach. This lead me worry about her ever learning to hold her head up on her own. So we have been working on strengthening those neck muscles sitting in the Bumbo seat.

Loves her paci (aka Mr. Binky…yes, we named the paci). Weeks ago Adam kept forcing the paci on her until she started liking it. Now she loves it! I am going to let her fight the battle of taking it away from her one day. If we try to give it to her when she doesn’t want it she will stick her tongue way out and gag…which makes us laugh!

And yes, she is wearing Christmas outfits before Thanksgiving...

And just a few random pics...

Don't you love these leg warmers! So cute!

On a side note… it has come to my attention that my BFF Steph thinks that I am not blogging enough…So all together now can we sing…All I want for Christmas is high speed at home....high speed at home!! Speaking of Steph we will be reunited next week when she’s home for Thanksgiving and there is no telling how many world problems will be solved over that lunch date. But seriously, CenturyLink… you are losing quiet a few dollars by not offering high speed in my area! Me and the two other people that live within this 15 mile radius WANT your services! What happen to catering to the needs of the customer?

Weekend Update

On Friday night we took Reese to Auburn for her first visit. As we drove into town Adam said as he inhaled deeply, "Do you smell that?" I, of course, thought he was talking about Reese's diaper... "Smell what?"..."Our youth!" He was speaking of our carefree college days down on the plains...Who would have ever thought that just a few years later we would be coming to meet our friends for dinner with our baby in tow! Driving through your college town with a baby seat strapped in the back will definitely make one feel older while carrying the huge weight of responsibility commonly referred to as parenthood! While living up the college life was fun it pales in comparison to hanging out with Reese on Friday nights.

To date, Wesley has seemed the most nervous about holding a new baby. He was stiff as a board! For the record, Wesley is studying to become a nurse anesthetist (AKA those who give epidurals among other pain medications during surgical procedures) and he confirmed that my epidural was not administered correctly considering it still hurts like all get out in my lower back!

And just because... she's so darn cute in this one.....Don't you think?

Reese does not like "tummy time" so to help her strengthen her neck muscles I have started letting her sit in her Bumbo seat and she really likes it! Even though MeeMaw sent me a dirty email telling me how she was going to break her neck! HAHA. So I sent this picture to MeeMaw and D.D. one night and within minutes MeeMaw was at our house....

...with this picture of PeePaw. She seemed to think that the resemble...And I would have to agree. I think it is something about the forehead...What do you think? Have we finally figured out who she looks like?