Catching Up...Thanksgiving

Since I have been forced back into the real world I have internet access everyday...because...have I mentioned that high speed isn't available where we live????? It seems like I have mentioned something about that before:) So...there is a silver lining to this thing called work:) Somehow I forgot to upload our Thanksgiving day photos...possibly because I spent the last two weeks holding my sweet baby!

How about this snazzy little dress with a turkey on it. MeeMaw made it.

Nothing excites me like my Nanny's Thanksgiving dinner! You just haven't lived until you have eaten her dressing. Unfortunately, she only cooks it twice a year...Thanksgiving and Christmas. And wouldn't it be true that I am trying to lose the last of this baby weight right when she is slaving over a hot oven! Oh well, I had two serving and took some home!

MeeMaw, Nanny, Reese, and Mommy...makes 4 generations

PeePaw and MeeMaw


My niece Andi...I think in this picture she could actually pass for Adam's kid

Andi was singing Jesus Loves Me to Reese

Nanny with all of the great grand kids

The sweet little nephews...except they aren't so little anymore:(

Don't you love Little Red's boots over his jeans! Such a funny little kid! And for Christmas this year I am telling Santa that I want everyone to quit growing up so fast. My heart can't take it!

Isn't it funny how people flock to a new baby!

Jolie LOVES babies! Did I say love? She LOVES them! She is such a little mother hen.

After having lunch at my Nanny's we went to Adam's Granny's for dinner.

Ms. Bobbie, one of the sweet ladies D.D. and Big Daddy go to church with.


Brooklyn and Jaycie- Adam's cousins.

D.D. and Big Daddy


And on Friday Reese got to watch her first Iron Bowl. I had to get up first thing that morning and put her outfit on her or Adam would have beat me to it and dressed her in crimson!

Back to Reality...

So at 5 A.M. it was back to the real world for me:( Right before I left she woke up so I got to hold her for a few minutes. Oddly enough when I left I was the only one crying. She was just fine. That can be contributed to the fact that her daddy was feeding her a bottle. I choose to believe that she was as sad as I was about not getting to spend every waking moment with her momma! Several of you sent me the sweetest text messages this weekend and this morning- thank you! They brightened my day! Yes, I left home crying this morning, but to be honest I have felt all of your prayers today. It really hasn't been as bad as I had thought...This is thanks to a lot of things...mainly the Lord is having mercy on me because he knows how essential it is for me to continue to enjoy my job (afterall someone has to try and mold the youth of our nation, right?). Also words cannot describe how much I have dreaded this day...and just like labor and delivery....it isn't as bad as I had built it up in my mind to be. Thank goodness! So I have missed her like all get out and thought about her every second, but it hasn't been the death of me...which was what I had expected.

For the next two weeks MeeMaw and D.D. are keeping Reese, and then after Christmas she will be going to daycare. But for now I get to see her during the day via MeeMaws iphone...(again, thank you Steve Jobs for making my life infinetly better:)) These are the picture I got today...

Look how much she is missing me! She can't believe that I am not there holding her...can't you tell?

I picked out her outfit, but forgot to get socks out...please look at what her daddy put on her feet....Now I know there were socks somewhere to match a little better:)

Again, can't you tell how sad she is that I am at work?

MeeMaw was going to teach her the ABC's this week and show her her name written on a piece of paper (isn't that just like kindergarten teacher?)...

I think she is tired of the ABC's don't you?

I caught Santa kissing...my baby?

Since we figured this would be the only year Reese wouldn't cry when we visited Santa we took her this afternoon to meet the big guy. I really hope he is not related to any of you...but mall Santa's freak me out a little bit. They are always so sketchy looking....As I am talking to his "elf" about the prices he was holding Reese and I hear the words no mother wants to hear a mall Santa say..., "I got me some sugar!" My eyes darted straight to Adam to see if he had seen this horrific event occur...Adam is just looking at me and smiled oblivious to what was just said. Is there anything more gross than the mall Santa kissing your new baby? I think not!

So the elf thought since Reese was sleeping that it would be cute for Santa to be sleeping too..

Don't worry we got one of them awake as well.

Isn't this a nice touch... in Oxford it snows every hour on Santa and his visitors.

This was just before the "sugar" incident. I felt like we need to take Clorox wipes and clean her up afterward!

I would like to take this time to publicly say to Santa's everywhere...DON'T KISS PEOPLE'S BABIES!

And it begins....

Aside from next Monday (when I am forced back into the real world) yesterday was the day I dreaded most...It was a big day for Reese....drum roll please....she got her first shots:( It was an even bigger day for her momma! It was as though I myself was getting vaccinated. I was as anxious/nervous as the day I had to have my blood taken (or tooken...if you recall that story) 5 times. The nurse told me it would hurt me way more than it hurt her...Kinda like when we were little and got spankings...Momma always said it hurt her worse than me...now I believe it.

First, can I please take this time to bring something up for discussion. I was vaccinated as a child, like most of you I am sure, and I am the first to take a Tylenol when I have a headache....but have you seen the list of shots kids "need" these days? At age 1 children are now given a chickenpox shot. I had the chickenpox and I turned out okay...and actually it made for a couple of humorous stories. Chicken pox ruined our trip to the rodeo that year and I missed "fun week" at school...and let me tell you...this third grader was upset over missing fun week! I have never given much thought to vaccinations until I saw the list of shots kids "need"...it really is amazing. Then to add to my fears there was a lady in the waiting room (who seemed normal) whose nephew was completely normal until he got his one year shots and now he has all sorts of problems. So....I ask Dr. Cabellero about the risks associated with shots. He confirmed that there have been cases where vaccines caused lasting effects in children, but that there was no need for concern until she gets her 1 year shots. Those are the first to include a live virus in the medicine. Anyway, I am not a wierdo...I thank God for giving us medication....but I think it's something to think about... Are any of you mothers out there concerned about all of these vaccines? Is it just me? Am I crazier than I admit?

So otherwise Dr. C declared that, "she is perfect and if you don't want her I will take her home with me"...(insert Spanish accent). He always comes in the room and says, "Little mother you got yourself a little alarm clock"...(again insert Spanish accent). He also thought it was great that she only gets up once during the night (most of the time) since she drinks breast milk..."breastfed babies usually get up many more times than that"...(insert Spanish accent).

She weighed 11 pounds 5 ounces and was 24 inches long.

After all of that it was time...She smile at the nurse and was so happy when all of her measurements were being taken...

And then after the shots...

But after a little bit of a bottle and she and Mr. Binky were reunited she was happy again...

After this she went on her first trip to the beauty shop where her momma got her hair "did"...because, let me tell you, the kids at C'burg would be sure to let me know next week that my hair was a "hot mess!"

"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!