A perfect bond

It's been a good week. I can't remember a lot of the details because my mind has one track right now. All I can focus one writing is the precious, most adorable moment that happened tonight.

We (I) decided to let Mason go to Nana's house for a little while tonight. Heart wrenching, but I have got to figure out how to leave Chunky at some point. The worst. Anyway, when he got home Brandon pulled him out of the carseat. We were expecting a sweet smile or cuddle from our Love bug. Instead he screamed bloody murder. I ran over secretly thrilled that clearly my sweet baby had missed his mom so much that he couldn't stand one more second out of my arms. I swept him away from Brandon. My heart sank when he screamed even louder. What?? For the next ten minutes we tried the bottle, paci, blankets, swing, and anything else we could think of. Nothing would calm him down. I ran to the back of the house to grab something and heard Lexi's sweet little voice coming from the bed where she was supposed to be sleeping. I cracked the door and asked her why she was awake. She had heard Mason and wanted to come tell him welcome home. I figured why not. As soon as we got into the den Mason locked eyes with her and immediately stopped crying. She hugged him, and he literally sighed with relief. Brandon and I locked eyes, both amazed at what we were watching. Brandon leaned back away from Lexi and sure enough, Mason screamed again. Every time she would touch him or talk to him in any way, he was smiling and happy. It was the sweetest bond I have ever seen. I am amazed that in 9 short weeks they have developed such a deep love for each other. I am sure that Mason missed Brandon and I, but it wasn't until he was with Lexi that he felt back at home. So beautiful. I am so grateful that they will always have each other.  Those two souls are so gorgeous.

Good night everyone. Happy Easter!

I have many random thoughts today.

It's storming, and I love it. With both the kiddos at home, I usually hate rainy days. We are stuck inside with endless hours until Daddy comes home. Today doesn't feel so bad though. Lex decided we're having pajama day in bed with lots of drinks and snacks. Sounds pretty much amazing.

Yesterday we went on the Cottontail Express train ride in Calera with JuJu, Mamaw, & Lucy. Lexi had an absolute blast. I love to see her so happy. She and Lucy jumped in the bouncy house, got temporary tattoos, found eggs in the egg hunt, played in the sand box, and even met Peter Cottontail himself. It was super cute! Even little Mason seemed to have fun!

I'm starting my diet today. I only write this to hold myself accountable. Hopefully it works.

Just had this conversation with Lex-
Me: Lexi you know you are our sunshine right? You make the day so bright.
Lexi: (pointing to the light bulb) No mom. That makes the day bright.
:):):)

Enough randomness for now. Love.

Sunday Funday

Yo yo yo. I am fully aware yo as a word was uncool when it was cool, and that was approximately 15 years ago. Forgive me. I was up all night. I'm delirious yo. 

Poor Mason poo has caught Lexi's cold. I feel so bad for him. I learned yesterday that newborns don't breathe though their mouths, so this congestion has been particularly hard on him. And by him, I mean me. I was so worried that he would stop breathing in the middle of the night, that I pretty much stayed up staring at him. Once an hour I would use the bulb to clear his nose. He slept and ate fine. I really should've been sleeping. You would think it's my first baby. 

Anyway, a few things to mention-

I am SO thankful that my mom was not hurt in her wreck Friday morning. That about scared me to death. The man that hit her is very lucky I don't know who he is. Just another reminder to always appreciate and make the most of every moment you have with the people you love. 

Granny's birthday party at Sumo with the whole fam (minus Brit) was so much fun!! So awesome to see everyone, and Mason was perfect the entire dinner. He loves his family for sure! 

We did Easter pictures at a farm down 119 yesterday. Lexi did so great!! She smiled and played with the bunny and lamb so sweet. Mason was not feeling it. I'm pretty sure he won't be in any of the pictures. It's ok, though. We have so many good ones of Mase from his newborn shoot. We needed some updated ones of our little princess. I can't wait to get them back! Hopefully it'll be sooner than later. On another note, the newborn pictures should come in sometime this week or early next week. I can't wait to share them. They are amazing!

Cookie has to go back to Nashville today. We are all in a state of depression. 

Lex is up from "nap", so we're off to play and do art. Much love everyone. Stay safe in the storms later. 

L

Sick day with the Kiddos

Well my little boo princess is sick. Lex was feeling a little rough yesterday, but seemed to overall be ok. Around bedtime she got much worse, and it was a long night. Poor girl is so congested and has an awful cough. My throat is killing me, and Mason has started to cough. This is not looking good at all. I am so beyond thrilled that the weather is warmer, but this back and forth cold/hot is killing us. Make up your mind Mother Nature.

On another note, we had a pretty cool weekend. Dad surprised us with a last minute visit. The kiddos and I picked him up at the airport on Friday and went for lunch at John's City Diner downtown. Oh my word. So freakin good. I was already sold on the place after the pork belly bacon and roasted corn grits appetizer, but the chicken and waffles sealed the deal. It's my new fav, and I will be taking Brandon down there ASAP. While Dad ran some errands, Mason, Lex, and I stopped by Daddy and Nana's work for Mason's first visit. I wish he had been dressed up cuter, but thats ok. Next time he will rock his Polo. Naturally everyone loved him. Dad spent the night and was able to hang out on Saturday. Cookie is also in town on break from school, so we all got to spend some time together. Sunday and Monday was more family fun, and then Dad headed back early yesterday.

Lately our lives has mostly consisted of watching Frozen on repeat 24/7. When we are not watching the movie, we are most likely singing the songs. Don't get me wrong. It's a great movie. But by the 479383th time you watch, it starts to get a little old. We got a much needed break yesterday when the new Tinkerbell movie was released. I have a pretty good idea that our sick day today will go something like this- Frozen, Tinkerbell, snack, Tinkerbell, Mickey, meltdown, Frozen, bedtime.

Mason is now eating 5 ounces each feeding. He's growing so fast and gets cuter by the minute. Every time I look at him I swear he's even cuter than before. He is his Daddy's twin. I love it. I always said if I had a boy I would want him to look just like Brandon. My wish has come true. I'm pretty sure Mason will soon be on all formula. I am having to supplement so much that it's almost not worth it to keep trying to breastfeed. I don't feel bad about it at all. I cannot stand when women try to act like no matter how long or how well you're breastfeeding, its never long enough or good enough. Women in particular have such an awful habit of trying to break each other down instead of building each other up. The simple fact is being at home alone with a 3 year old and a newborn I cannot pump often enough to produce enough milk for this little fatty. And that's ok! Im still a kick ass mom. I was able to breastfeed Lexi for about 7 weeks. Looks like Mason will be the same. Similar sensitive here we come.

Off to drink my coffee and take care of my sick munchkin. Send us your well wishes. Have a good day! 😘

9 things to never say

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5024417?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000037

Its 2:19am.

YES! Yes! This article is so on point! Haha!

Especially #7!

Life is good.

I'll just go ahead and put it out there. My life is nowhere near perfect. My marriage has it's up and downs. My kids have days where I am positively certain they are trying to kill me. Sometimes I am in my own head way more than I should be. But that's real life. And I accept it.

Now with that said, I feel like lately has been about as close to perfect as real life can get. At 5am I found myself feeding the most handsome little boy I have ever seen. It was still dark outside. I was so sleepy. But there was something in me that made me so grateful to be awake and staring at this gorgeous face. I had a moment where I looked across the bed to Brandon and Lexi cuddled up, and then to Mason huffing down his bottle, and time stood still. All I could process in my mind was how incredibly beautiful this life is. This no sleep, chaotic, busy life that we have is so fulfilling, and I am grateful. 

Happy Monday everyone. I hope each of you can take a moment to see the beauty in your life. It's there. Even on a Monday. And next time my life isn't feeling so close to perfect, remind me of this moment. Remind me that life isn't about waiting for the rain to stop, but rather about learning to dance in the rain.

http://www.lifebuzz.com/just-stop/

Do they make Mommy Xanax??

An actual text to Brandon today-

"Don't get me wrong I LOVE being a stay at home mom, but I would also LOVE about 42 Xanax on days like today."

Pretty much sums it up.

So blessed. So blessed. So blessed.
I've been chanting it all day. Either it's starting to sink in, or it's nap time. Oh yeh, it's nap time.

Alright, well the younger of the two monsters needs me again. You just gotta laugh.

One day I will look back and long so bad for this beautiful disaster of a day.

Love.

A few questions for Lexi

I thought asking Lex a few questions would be fun-

What's your favorite food?
Pillows. Couch.

No really Lexi. What's your favorite food?
Boat.
Boat?
Mmm hmm. I love boat.

Ok moving on. What's your favorite movie?
Uhh, couch.

Lexi. What's your favorite movie?
Frozen.

Ok. What's your favorite color?
Green like doodoo.

I give up.

So here's what I want to write- "I'm tired. The end."

Consider everything else from this point on a real treat.

Seriously, I'm so tired. Mason was doing great eating more and sleeping longer, but it seems we have somehow messed up his progress and started going backwards. He got up to eat every other hour last night. And he's eating so much! I have no idea how this tiny nugget boy can eat so much and so often. He's lucky he's so dang cute!

Last week was pretty awesome. I can't remember where I left off, but we were busy. I think I left off somewhere around Thursday. Dad, Beth, and Izabelle came in town and stayed with us Thursday and Friday night. The girls played so good together. It was so cute to see them together again! Chip also came in town Friday, so we all went out to dinner. It was Masons's first big outing. He slept most of the time, and so far seems to not have caught any crazy germs. I was nervous, but it definitely went better than Lexi's first outing as a newborn. (I cried at the table and we had to leave.) Saturday the bunch left, and Mason and I headed to Zoe's for a girls lunch to meet my best friends baby JW. He's a cutie, and seeing Erin and the girls is always lots of fun. I was happy they all got to love on Chunky Monkey too. Clearly Mason and JW will be BFF's, so it was an important meeting. :) Sunday we mainly relaxed. Uncle Cookie came back over, but a little sushi and tv was all that happened. That catches us up to yesterday. Brandon was up all night long with Monkey, so he took a sick day to recover. Granny and Granddaddy came in town and got Lexi for the day. They played in Tuscaloosa, and I'm sure had a blast! Brandon and I layed around all day. He started to feel better as the day went on, and it ended up being pretty awesome just the 3 of us. Mason has never had that alone time. Turns out he doesn't like it too much. He missed his sister to the point that we had to play videos of her on our phones to keep him from crying. I absolutely adore their bond. It's so strong already. I wouldn't want it any other way. It really makes me so happy to know they will always have each other.

Alright so that's enough for now. Lexi is pulling her "I need to poop" trick to get up from nap. Off to handle that. Love u all. Peace.

We're wearing ball gowns at 8 in the morning

Just to give you a good mental picture of what is happening right now- I am sitting in bed holding Mason in an evening gown with spit up all over it. Whatever it takes to keep them both happy is my motto. Mason wanted to be held after eating, and Lexi insisted that I match her in my own beautiful gown. How could I tell that precious face no when she went into my closet and thought very long and hard about which dress would be suitable. I couldn't. So here I sit dressed in spit up and an evening gown. I should also note that Lexi is finishing off her breakfast of sprite and pomegranates. I feel like at her often very tough age of 3 1/2 we say no a whole lot more than yes. I also feel like it's important to occasionally say yes. Say yes to sprite. Or chocolate. Or whatever. Life is too short to worry about a sprite and a chocolate cookie every now and then.

So yesterday was a total blast. It was almost 80 degrees outside and sunny, so naturally we went to the pool! Our very first pool day of the year and Mason's first trip to Nana's house. Lexi was in Heaven swimming in the hot tub. Mason loved being outside. We played and swam all afternoon. Such a breath of fresh air (literally!) to get out of the house.

Sweet Mason did great again last night, by the way. He ate at 11:30, 2:30, and then not again until 7:15. He is seriously the most perfect little angel. His disposition is so incredible. He's sweet and cuddly and calm. It's funny to me that Lexi is so full of personality. She's firey, knows exactly what she wants, energetic, opinionated, and dramatic. She's a little me. So far, Mason is much more of an observer. Very aware and taking it all in. His little personality is just so gentle and chill. He's a little Brandon. Girls will be girls and boys will be boys, I suppose.

Well, Lexi just spilled her sprite on the carpet, so I'm off. Maybe saying yes to the sugar wasn't such a good idea after all?? Ha!

A 6am Feeding Post

Sitting here in the dark waiting for Baby to fall back asleep. Every night we seem to be moving in the direction of I might actually sleep again at some point. Last night wasn't bad at all. He ate around 12:30am and then again at 6am. That's definitely the longest he's gone so far without waking up. The only problem was that after his 12:30 feeding he refused to go back to sleep, and made me hang off the bed holding the paci in his mouth until almost 2. I really need to let him know we get up to eat, but that is all we get up for. The hours of 11-6 are no time to hang out Bud.

Anyway, yesterday we had a blast with Granny at the park. The weather was gorgeous, and Lexi was able to run out a bunch of energy. Praise The Lord. I am so ecstatic for this warmer weather. There was several times I thought we were going to lose our minds if we weren't able to get out of the house soon. Yes spring! Keep on comin.

Side note: Lexi just woke up and told me in her half asleep daze that Mason's head looks like a peach.  Ok Lexi. We shall call him Chunky Peach today. She also said she "wanted a big hug" and "ya know I lub ya". Ugh. She melts my heart daily. Sweetest girl in the world.

Don't want to wake Lexi up again, so I'll wrap it up. Have a great day y'all!

Getting us to today

Just for the record I am REALLY trying to keep this thing updated. Having a 3 year old and a newborn does not allow a whole lot of time for things such as documenting your thoughts, however. I am currently sitting in the driveway blogging. Both children fell asleep in their carseats on my coffee run. Under no circumstances do I risk waking them up, so here I sit. Happy. Silence. Ahhhhh. Ok moving on.

So I left off the other day with my precious, perfect Mason's birth...

Masons first full day of life was Valentine's Day. It was no doubt the absolute best Valentine's Day I've ever had. We were up at 5am ready to hug and kiss our new precious bundle. The rest of our hospital stay went pretty much the same. Tons of cuddles and making out with the little man. Thank you so much to all of our visitors who remind us just how blessed we really are. We were discharged on Saturday. I was really missing Lexi poo and could not wait to get home to her. The weekend went great! Being a family of 4 was everything I dreamed it could be.

Monday morning we all loaded up to take Mason to his doctors appointment. I won't go into too much detail, but basically his billiruben levels came back way too high. We were instructed that he would need round the clock in home care to get his levels down. The next several days were really tough. Lots of tears and worrying. Each day a nurse would come to our house for his check up and blood work. On day 3 we got great news that his levels were dropping, and he would likely be able to come off his light machine the next day. This was such a huge relief. Knowing he was no longer in danger was such a sigh of relief, but also knowing I would finally be able to hold my baby more than just to feed him was the best feeling. Day 4's bloodwork came back great, and he was a free man. Ahh so many prayers answered. Thank you Lord!!!

The next two weeks were pretty much the best ever. Brandon was off work, so we did nothing except relish every moment as our new family. Lexi became more comfortable with him and has blossomed into the most incredible sister I could have ever dreamed. She is such a light in this world. Her heart is solid gold. Mason is one lucky guy to have her.

Brandon returned to work Monday. We have really missed him, but being home with the babies is still so awesome. I thought entertaining Lexi and keeping her happy would be a challenge with a new baby. It's actually been the opposite. She is always up for a new job. If mommy needs the paci or a diaper she is so happy to get it. She loves being a helper and that has been a gigantic load off of my shoulders.

I guess that pretty much catches us up. I missed a lot of details and was pretty vague, but from here on out Ill be documenting all the sweet little moments that I never want to forget.

Happy Friday! Much love,
L

Just the highlights... & then our Chunky Monkey made his debut! 💙

Well, here we go again. Baby Mason is here, and so the blog must resume. I see that my last blog entry was July 2013. Ouch. Sorry. Let me go back and do a little filling in.

August and September continued much the same as the previous summer months- lots of sickness, gallbladder issues, and pure misery. Finally sometime toward the end of September (around 22 or so weeks) I started to get a little relief. A trip to Disney World, a visit with Dad and fam, Lexi's THIRD (wow) birthday party at the pumpkin patch, trick or treating as Aurora, & a wonderful Thanksgiving rounded out the fall.

Christmas was the best ever! Lexi is now old enough to get into Santa and presents and building gingerbread villages (yes, we made a village) and The Grinch and everything else that goes with being young at Christmas. Probably our favorite moment was taking Lexi on the North Pole Express train ride. Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves joined us for a train ride with hot chocolate and muffins. This is definitely a new tradition for the Rhoton family. Christmas Eve we spent with JuJu and family. Lexi loved playing with sweet Lucy, and we all had a great time. Christmas Day was awesome, too. Santa was a big hit with tons of smiles and laughing and building of new toys. Nana had the toy of the year- the new rideable 3 ft horse that Lexi chose to name Angus. Angus is still her very favorite! We finished the day with the usual trip to Granny's house which is always amazing. All in all a wonderful Christmas season! Our last Christmas a family of 3 could not have been more perfect, and for that I will forever be grateful.

We ended the year with the flu. Not joking. After several days of feeling crappy with fevers I took a trip to the doc in the box while Brandon took Lexi to her pediatrician. Both of us tested positive for the flu. We rang in the new year in a tough way.

Brandon's 32nd birthday came, as did our 5 year engagement anniversary. We spent both working on the new baby's nursery.

Around February 9th or 10th I started having labor pains. Baby wasn't due until the 17th and we were supposed to induce on the 13th, but my body felt ready now. We were sure on the morning of the 11th that he was on his way. Brandon was home for lunch when we decided to call the doctor. They confirmed that it sounded like labor and asked us to come in immediately. Nana picked up Lexi and off we went ready to have a baby! Problem was that I wasn't actually in labor. I was shocked to hear the doctor say those words because I was feeling some pretty awful pains. A few tests later we determined that I had a developed a kidney stone. Yep, 2 days shy of my induction I had developed a kidney stone. So far the pregnancy had consisted of losing almost 25 pounds with awful gallbladder pains, a trip to the ER with random severe pains in Orlando, the flu, 3 snow and ice storms in the last month & now kidney stones. Unreal. Since we were set to induce in 2 days the doctor sent me home with pain medicine, and said to call when I couldn't bear the pain anymore. I was determined to make it to the 13th so that my doctor could deliver. On the 12th came the last of the ice storms, so Brandon and I were forced to stay in the hotel across form the hospital in case driving was not an option. A huge, beautiful snow storm hit us directly, but we were comfortable knowing getting to the hospital would be no problem.

We checked into labor and delivery at 5am on the 13th. Turns out I was actually in labor already. My body was very slowly laboring on its own. I was already 3 cm dilated and well thinned. We made it to 5 cm before getting the epidural. The next several hours went easy as we waited on my body to get to 10cm. We watched Unsolved Mysteries and Lets Make a Deal like it was just another day. At 3pm Dr. Mckenzie announced it was time to push. He left us to push and said he would be back when baby was ready to come out. Two pushes and 1 minute later the nurse called him back in. There was literally a moment where the nurse pushed the baby back in and asked Brandon to keep his hands out just in case while she prepared the doctors area for delivery. Dr. Mac came running back in and 2 more pushes later out came our little man.

Mason David Rhoton was born at 3:15pm weighing 8 lbs and 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. He was the definition of perfection! Love at first sight!!!

..... Ok so I hate to end here BUT my babies need me. Ha!!! Lex wants to plays "cashier" and Mason is hungry. Ill pick up where I left off next time.

Peace & Love,
La

Pregnant and Pink

Well I promised that the blogs would resume, and I have done a pretty terrible job keeping up since then. Sorry guys. Best I can tell you is that your author is pregnant, and it hasn't been the easiest. 

Since most of you have asked and are wondering I will get the prego news out of the way. Unlike my pregnancy with Lexi, this one has been riddled with issues and problems so far. It started with a hematoma that was causing a bit of pain. Fortunately that only kept me down for a few days, and it was gone. Almost immediately following, I was having tons of pains and sickness. Back to the dr we went. This time our doc suspected it was not a pregnancy problem, but rather a gallbladder problem. A special ultrasound revealed that this was the cause of my pains. Lots of days on the couch later, we have concluded that there is not a whole lot I can do pregnant to solve this problem except for rest and attempt to tough it out. It was a little hard to hear that this is going to be an ongoing problem, but Peanut is not being affected and for that we are very grateful. I should also throw in here that Brandon has literally been our lifeline. He waits on me an Lexi hand and foot. I would not have made it without him as our rock. Now moving on....

Lexi is as always cracking us up daily. She has become slightly obsessed with shaving her legs. I told her a few weeks ago that she wouldn't shave her legs until she was a mommy. We get a comment daily about this. Today she told me peanut would be here when she is 3, but she won't shave her legs then because she will do that when she's 42. She is hysterical and is the humor that we all desperately need.

She is also not so slightly obsessed with the color
Pink. Everything has to be pink. And I mean everything. Talking to her last night I asked if she was excited to go to Disney World with Nana. She replied "yes mom, but it has to be a pink Disney World". Ohhh ok Lex. Sure no problem. We will just get in touch with the Disney people and tell them to make everything pink for you. Silly girl.

Since its been a while I will do a few of my recent Lexi favs/things she into:

PINK PINK PINK
Anything princess or fairytale
Getting her toe nails painted
Sofia the First
Dancing with her King aka Daddy
Waffles
Pink (her blanket)
Candy
Glass slippers (any shoe with heels)
When I wear blue eyeshadow
Frozen Gogurts
Nanas pool
ballerina outits
Pink snobiz (or as she says pink icee)

Guess that's good for today. Stay dry in the monsoon out there.
-peace-

We're back!

Hiiiiiiiiiiii everyone!!

Im baaaaaack.

I just spent the last hour reading old posts. It made me so happy to look back and remember all the wonderful little details that I would have otherwise forgotten. So, I have decided to pick the blog back up. I originally said that my goal would be for the first year of each baby's life I would do a blog. I went well further than a year with Lex, and looking back I am so thankful that I did.

Baby #2 won't be here until early 2014, but I figured I would go ahead and start back. I can't promise my entries will be more than "I am nauseous constantly.", but I will certainly try my best to focus more on the positive.

So to update you on the Rhotons lately--

Lexi is now a full blown kid. No more baby. She's all big girl now. I do miss her being a tiny little angel, but I absolutely adore her personality and seeing her become a little person. She is the most personable, hilarious, beautiful, witty, loving girl ever. For a while we were sure that she would eventually hit her "terrible twos", but not this girl. She's continued to be the easiest, sweetest little addition, and we are eternally grateful!!!

Brandon and I were very excited on Monday to get to lay eyes on Baby #2 for the first time (via sonogram, of course). Dr. Mac set the due date for Feb. 17th, which makes me about 7 weeks prego. So far this pregnancy has been the complete opposite of my first. I suppose that's how it goes. Prayers that it gets better would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, hope everyone has a nice 4th of July! God bless America!

Love love!

BOOYAH!

LAST DAY OF WORK UNTIL DISNEY WORLD!

BE JEALOUS!!!

Love ya,
L

It's Almost Time!

COUNTDOWN TO THE RHOTON TRIP TO DISNEY WORLD....
4 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!
AHHHHH SOOOO EXCITED!!!
I'm downloading "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue" on my phone and iPad as we speak. It's our plan for making it through the long car ride with an 18 month old.

Happy 65th birthday (one day late) to Granny! We love you. Thanks for giving us faith that there are genuinely wonderful people still out there in this crazy world.

One thing I want to mention that Lexi has been doing lately-
We are still working on getting rid of the bottle at night. We have attempted a sippy cup a few times, but with no luck. So we're still on the bottle. She is old enough now, though, to go through a good bit of milk throughout the night. Once the bottle is empty and it is time for a refill, she will wave the empty bottle in front of the monitor saying "mewelk, mewelk". She fully expects us to come running in to refill it for her. And we do. I can't help but laugh. Oh, that silly girl. We are in for a treat when she's 15.

So I suppose that's all that's on my mind right now. Peace out peeps.

March March March

I HATE THIS NEW BLOGGER INTERFACE!!!!!

I have been attempting to post a blog for a solid month now to no avail. UGH!!! SO frustrating!

Where do I even begin?? Ok, March...

Well March was full of highs and lows. Very extreme highs and lows.

The beginning of the month started with a threat of more tornadoes. What's new? We had a spend the night party at Nana's house with Uncle Chip, Nana, and Granny. Lots of fun and lluckily no damage. I did seriously contemplate the construction of a tornado shelter in our backyard.

I was excited to have lunch with one of my oldest friends, Lisa at Taco Casa back at the beginning of the month as well. So fun to catch up with her!!

Lexi continued to crack us up daily. She is such a little comedian. For example, while watching Dora the Explorer, Dora said, "Can you help me find Boots????". Lexi promptly laid down on the couch and shook her head "no". She is so stinking hilarious!!!!

How can we mention March without mentioning March Madness?? Brandon and Chip were ALL about March madness!! They would have a game on the TV, a game on the computer, and a game on the iPad. Completely ridiculous. And awful. So glad March is over and per our deal, the TV is mine for 5 weeks! :)

Lexi voted for the first time in March. Not really because I'm not a democrat and this is Alabama where we play fair. Mommy voted though, and Lexi got to join. She was a hoot at the polls. She was running around grabbing the poles that had the last name letters on them. She apparently thought they needed a little redecorating. Everyone was dying laughing.

The middle of March is where we hit our low. It was time for Uncle Chocolate Chip Cookie to move to Denver. We ordered Japanese food and said our goodbyes. It was TERRIBLE!! Me and B literally cried all night long. Just felt so sad to see him go so far away and know that we wouldn't be seeing him but a few times a year from there on out. When you are so close to someone, seeing them only a couple of times a year just won't work. The next morning Chip decided that very thing. He said to him it just didn't feel right either. He didn't want to be so far away. I was THRILLED!!! We cried again. This time it was happy tears, though. Chip transferred his art credits to the Art Institute of Nashville. Nashville was much closer, but still far enough away to be out on his own. It was essentially the perfect fit. We are really looking forward to driving up and visiting him. Maybe a Taylor Swift sighting will be in store for us. Lexi would sure love that!

We celebrated St. Patty's Day by taking a trip to the zoo. Apparently that is how all of Birmingham celebrated St. Patty's Day, so we never actually made it inside the gates. Instead, we antique shopped (I have no clue how Chip and Brandon ended up antiquing) and ate at a local ice cream parlor. Perfect day.

The rest of the month was business as usual. Trips to Grannys house for Lexi. Playground trips. Fun times around the house. Tinker Bell movies. Just the usual life I love so very much. I really wouldn't trade it for the world.

We ended the month with a photo shoot at Sloss Furnace. I found the BEST photographer online and we were so excited for our photo session. We got some GREAT updated pics of Lexi and even a few good family shots. Thanks so much Sam! Can't wait til our next session with her!!

So here we are in April. April is going to be huge. Granny's birthday party, Easter, Chip gets his apartment, our trip to Disney World, and so so much more! Stay tuned. Should be fun! :)
PS- no time for proofreading. I apologize for spelling and gramatical errors.

Leap Day 2012

Happy Leap Day/Year whatever. Something about leap years freak me out. I would prefer to skip over this topic. I feel like this extra day somehow has us floating in some alternate calendar or something. I don't like it. Moving on.

So I'm sure most of you reading this will already know, but I LOVE good food. The presentation, the flavor, the ingredients, the preparation, and everything else that goes into a good meal is such a work of art to me. I really appreciate a good dish. There are few things in this world that excite me more than stumbling across a delicious meal. That is exactly what happened this morning. I left the house a little early to make sure I had time to stop for coffee. I have been driving a back road to work which passes me right by Hamburger Heaven. I have never been a huge fan of the place like some people are. I think their lunches are average at best. Anyway, they had a drive thru, so I decided this would be my place for coffee. (Getting Lex out is way too much work that early in the morning.) I pulled up to the order space and noticed that they had a full breakfast menu. I thought, "why not?". Best decision I will make today. That smoked sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich on toast was INCREDIBLE! I am not a breakfast person at all, so to impress me at breakfast is a tough job. They did! I highly recommend everyone try it. So so yummy! And who would have thought such a culinary treasure would be at Hamburger Heaven?? Surely not me.

45 days left until DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!! Our trip cannot come soon enough. I wish we could skip over March all together. To celebrate the Leap Day, Disney opened at 6am and will remain open until 6am tomorrow morning. They are posting pictures all over the internet, and it is making me so jealous!! I know that week is going to be one of the best weeks of our lives. Hurry up Disney vacation!!!

Lex's new trick of the day yesterday was to grab my phone, proceed to carry on a full conversation, and then throw the phone down when she was done talking. So cute. She is the funniest person on the entire planet. Brandon got it on video. Enjoy-

Good luck surviving this weird day. Love you all. Peace.
-L

Eternally Blessed

This weekend was pretty normal for us.

On Friday, Lex and I met Brandon at a little meat and three place very close to our house. Lexi must have been hungry, because she ate more than I have seen her eat in a long time! She had a whole order of green beans, a corn dog, fried okra, mac n cheese, cranberry sauce, and a roll. I think Railroad Cafe might be her new favorite. I would like to note that my sweet husband freaked me the hell out by informing at this dinner that the man who just got acquitted for killing his wife, Gabe somebody or other, lives in the neighborhood adjacent to ours. Nice. I get that he was acquitted and all, but that still freaks me out. No thank you.

Saturday we relaxed in the morning, and then got dressed to go to my boss' daughter's 3rd birthday party. We decided to stop at Walmart on the way. Somehow when we were leaving, I left my wallet and keys in the buggy. I didn't realize it was gone until we were already across town, and by the time we got back to Walmart it was gone. Of course no one turned it in, so we spent the next little bit turning off all of my credit cards. Fortunately no one had used them yet. I lost my license, credit cards, house key, and office keys. Unbelievable. So so frustrating. I suppose on my lunch break I'll be heading off to the courthouse to get a new license. AHH!!!! Brandon stayed at the house while me and Lex went on the birthday party. We were only an hour and a half late at that point. :( Oh well. Accidents happen, I suppose. After the party we met Brandon up at one of our favorite Mexican places for a MUCH needed margarita and dinner. That margarita did ease my pain a little. Haha! As the night rolled on we started to realize that whoever has my wallet has our address and a key to the front door. They could obviously easily break in. We set the alarm and tried to go to bed. We were so uneasy though that we decided to pack up and go to Nana's house to spend the night. Brandon kept saying, "Better safe than sorry. They can take the stuff, but I am not risking you and Lexi's safety." So off to Nana's we went. It turned out to be a pretty amazing trip. The bed she has in Lexi's room is A-MA-ZING! We literally laughed out loud to each other when we crawled in. Lexi woke up pretty early. Nana must have heard her, because she came running upstairs to get her. Brandon and I got to go back to sleep and ended up not waking up again until almost 8:30! That NEVER happens!!! If we're still asleep at 7am we are thrilled! The 8 o'clock hour is unheard of! We mosied on downstairs and were welcomed with a fresh, hot breakfast coming off the stove! This trip was almost worth losing my stuff! LOL! We all ate a delicious breakfast and then went outside to play for a while. We finished our coffee by the lake while we watched Lex run around. It seriously felt like we had gone to a bed and breakfast for the night and had taken a nanny with us! :) Sometime mid-morning we headed back home and got straight to replacing the locks on our house.

Sunday night we went over to Grandma JuJu's house for dinner. She had a bunch of yummy appetizers prepared, and Camden even came by to eat too! It's always good to see sweet Camden! It had been way too long!

I am in a fantastic mood today, because I got some really great news at work. Nothing to report yet, but the future is sure looking good! :)

Lexi is in full blown teething mode right now. She has several teeth in the back of her mouth about to pop through. Poor baby is really not doing so hot. I pray that these teeth hurry up and come through. I hate to see her hurt.

I guess that's about it for now. Overall, life is great. End of story. I look at where I am today, and I am so happy. Nothing about my life or about me is perfect. However, it is exactly what I need it to be. I have a beautiful daughter, a loving husband, incredible family, great place for Lex to go to school, a wonderful job, great home, and so much more to be thankful for. I am eternally blessed, and I know it. Thank you Lord for continuing to shower me with blessings. That's all I can really say. Hope everyone has a great day! Much Love!
-L

Geeeez! I have been trying to write a blog for 3 days now and for some reason the site wouldn't let me. Glad it's back working now.

Well, we finally have a good health report. As of my last post, I thought we were well. We were not. Lexi had come down with a stomach virus. Brandon and I both got it after her. Poor Nana got it too. No one was safe from this thing. And it lasted and lasted and lasted. On the bright side, we did lose a few pounds. Lex is still grabbing her ear a little here and there, but overall we are GREAT! Yay!!

Due to our sicknesses we had to cancel our visit with Leigh and Bill. I was so excited to see them! We were really sad that we couldn't make it work, but we're planning another visit soon.

I have no idea what Lent is about or why people even do it. I'm clearly not Catholic. I do think, however, that it is a fantastic idea to give up something for a period of time. We get so caught up thinking we couldn't survive without Internet, or fried foods, or television, or whatever for that matter. I decided for Lent that I would give up sodas, fried foods, and Asian food. These are 3 of my very favorite things. I had a coke yesterday and also ate some French fries. Clearly that did not last. Oh well. It was a nice thought. Maybe I'll try again.

A huge Congratulations is in order for my oldest friend Katie! On Wednesday afternoon she and her hubby welcomed into the world a beautiful baby girl named Piper Leigh. Mom and baby are doing wonderful, and from the looks of the pictures Piper is absolutely perfect! I am off to kiss all over the little bundle of joy at lunch today. I can't wait!!! <3

Lex has a new total obsession with everything Tinker Bell. We recorded Tinker Bell and The Great Fairy Rescue on the DVR a few weeks back. We had no idea how this would change our lives. Now EVERYTHING is Tinker Bell. We own all of the Tinker Bell movies, and they stay on repeat. Brandon got Lexi the whole fairy pack that comes with each of the dolls and clothes. Lexi also now has added several Tinker Bell outfits to her wardrobe. She loves everything fairy! Even her dang sippy cup is a Tinker Bell cup. She refuses to drink out of any of the other cups. Only Tinker Bell for this girl! :)

We are constantly in awe of Lexi. She is picking up a new word every single day. She also seems to really be maturing. I know that sounds crazy to say about a one year old, but that's how I feel. Some of her baby tendencies are slowly fading away. Of course it breaks my heart. She is starting to do things that kids do rather than things that babies do. I know I'm supposed to be proud of her, and I am, but I just wish she could stay my baby forever.

On a little side note, Lex has been to the park twice this week. Both times she did not want to swing! I could hardly believe it! She is now wayyyy too busy to sit in one place and swing. The cool thing now is the slide. She wants to do it over and over and over and over again. It definitely becomes a work out! Lol! She has absolutely no fear and occasionally instead of sliding down on her booty, she will attempt to dive down the slide head first. You definitely have to stay on your toes around the slide with that munchkin.

Happy Friday everyone! Hope everybody has a great weekend! We have a 3 year old birthday party to attend and house cleaning to be done. Should be a nice, relaxing weekend for us! Love you all. -L

P.S.-51 days til Disneyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Screw You Sickness, We're Going to DISNEY WORLD!!!

Hi. My name is Lauren, and I write a blog. Sometimes. Ok, occasionally. Ok, almost never these days. Here's a big update.

Starting at the beginning of last week right up until this very moment right now at least one of us Rhoton's has been very very very sick. I HATE THIS TIME OF YEAR! I repeat, I HATE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!! Along with her entire school, Lexi got sick. I immediately took her to her pediatrician thinking that before it got out of control we would get her some medicine and nip this sickness in the bud. The doctor examined her, and without my Mommy instinct clearly missed the fact that something was festering and would get worse. He diagnosed her with a cold, and said she should be better by the weekend. Well, by the weekend she was a thousand times worse. And I had gotten it, too. Brandon spent all weekend running from Lexi's room to our room taking care of us. We started to feel better long enough to make Valentine's cookies, but that didn't last long. Then Sunday night it hit Brandon. First thing Monday morning we were all at the doctor. Lexi was rediagnosed with an ear infection and walking pneumonia. I was diagnosed with bronchitis. Brandon was lucky enough to get in with it first hitting him, but was still stuck with sinus crud and an awful looking throat. We all went home with our antibiotics and hoped for a quick recovery. Yesterday was like a beautiful ray of sunshine. We weren't 100%, but we were significantly better. Lex was back at school, and we were back at work. Being that it was Valentine's day, I rushed home to my honey and found the sweetest surprise! Brandon had picked up bacon wrapped filets from Mr. Ps, asparagus, yellow rice, bread, flowers, and balloons! I was just beginning to enjoy it when Lexi started throwing up all over the place! Are you kidding?!? She ended up throwing up every 5 minutes until about 1am. Poor baby couldn't hold anything down at all. Finally around 2 she fell asleep and got some rest. She's been with her Grandma today, and is seeming to be feeling better. (Knock on wood.) I pray that we are nearing the end of this loooong saga of sickness. I realize that this time of year with a 1 year old in school we are going to be more sick than usual, but this seems extreme!!! I have been joking that we all 3 need new immune systems. I'm pretty sure I will be purchasing stock in Lysol this year. We are definitely keeping them in business.

As I mentioned, my sweetheart was amazing to me on Valentine's Day. Just when I was sure he had forgotten about me completely, he showered me with love and goodies. Thanks honey. Love ya a million. And of course Lexi got a precious little balloon as well. So cute.

I am super duper excited that Leigh and Bill are coming in town to stay with us this weekend!!!!!!  I can't wait to see my favorite bride-to-be!!!!

I am also so excited to announce that the Rhotons will be taking our very 1st family trip to Disney World!!!!!! We will be gone for 7 days and are planning to do it up big! Each day we have character meals planned with an extra special one in Cinderella's Castle on the last day! I just know that this will be one of the best weeks of my life. I absolutely cannot wait to see Lexi's precious little face light up so big the first time she sees Mickey Mouse!! She is going to be so happy, which makes this Mommy so happy. :):):) C'mon, April! Hurry up!!!!

Bout that time to go home now. I have been without my baby all day, and I can't wait to see her! Mommy's coming Lexi. Get ready for a gazillion kisses! You too, B. <3

"Cookie"

Lexi has a new word almost every day now. Her new word yesterday was "cookie". This was of course referring to her Uncle Chocolate Chip Cookie. The way she says it makes me smile every single time. Love. Here's a video of her uncle bribing her with sprite to say it.

I went to the chiropractor today for the first time in more than a decade. I have no idea why I quit going. First he massaged my back with some warm machine thing. Then he popped it several times. Oh my god. It was better than a trip to the spa. Anyone who doubts chiropractic work is insane. Clearly they haven't been lately. I'm in love. When he asked me to come back in 2 weeks I felt like I was getting a second date with someone I had a huge crush on. Why yes. I would love to come back in 2 weeks. Thank you.

I also got to go to lunch with one of my oldest friends, Katie. She is 37 weeks pregnant now and so precious. I absolutely love catching up with her!! Can't wait for her to deliver her little baby girl bundle in just a few short weeks! Lexi and Piper (or Izabelle, or Penguin Girl, or Annabelle) are going to be BFF. :)

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. We plan on doing nothing besides a little cleaning and relaxing. Should be a great one! <3

PS- Don't forget to go place your orders to help out Lexi in her school fundraiser. Here's the link-
http://www.fundraisingshoppingcart.com/store/index.php    Enter Lexi's student code S171706 and shop to heart's content.

From Victims to Champions

It still brings me to tears every time I see footage of the tornado that struck Tuscaloosa in April of 2011. My heart breaks every time I see that massive funnel traveling directly through the streets of a town I love so much. It reminds me how incredibly fortunate we are every day that Chip and the rest of our family are safe. My body literally aches for the people who are still trying to pick up the pieces. Then I think that in a town so dedicated to football it is nothing short of miraculous that the University of Alabama walked away with a national championship this year. I'm sure people all around the country laugh at the fact that a college football national championship would bring a smile to someone who has faced such tragedy. That's the way it is here in Alabama, though. We live football. We live Alabama. So like I said, in the wake of this tragedy it is nothing short of miraculous that Alabama took home number 14. There were definitely a few extra angels watching over our boys this year. I caught a video on YouTube that pretty much sums up the story of it all. From Victims to Champions. Enjoy. And try not to boohoo the entire time like I did... ROLL TIDE AND GOD BLESS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BNzITbVwTk

It May be Storming, but Leigh is Coming to Visit!

Blah blah blah. Every day cannot be full of sunshine. Today is (literally) dreary rain clouds. I am so wanting to be at home with my hubby and baby playing with her kitchen and blocks while Princess and the Frog is in the background. I think that is my personal Heaven. I cannot imagine anything I love more than exactly what I just described. I love it more than laying on a Caribbean island drinking a pina colada. I love it more than riding Rockin Rollercoaster at Disney World. I love it more than a deep tissue massage. I even love it more than my Granny's triple chocolate cheesecake. And I love all of those things a WHOLE lot! Please please please let me win the lottery so I can stay at home every single day and do nothing. Is it really such a difficult request???

More severe weather for Alabama today. I feel like this is getting a little out of control. Growing up I remember always doing tornado drills at school and occasionally getting into the closet at home, but this past year or two it has seemed to get a million times worse. We're not doing drills anymore; we're living the real thing. And frequently. C'mon already. Give us a break!

We were super duper excited when my good friend Leigh called to tell me that she and her fiance Bill have planned a trip to come and stay with us in February. It has been WAY too long since I've seen her! I am really happy they are going to be coming! We are gonna have a blast!

I thought I'd upload 2 funny pics of Lexi.
She's so messy when she eats that they now put a painting apron on her instead of a bib during lunch at school. The second picture is just her napping. She loves to be naked. Mita gives her whatever she wants, so she's often in nothing but a diaper. One day Lex is gonna want to kill me for putting up pictures like this, but they just crack me up!

Be safe in the storms today Alabama peeps. Love ya!

From a blankie to our ABCs

Well, we've hit another Lexi milestone. As most of you probably know, Lexi has not been able to sleep with anything in her crib since the day she was born. I mean nothing. No blankets. No stuffed animals. No pillow. Nothing. The SIDS people (whoever they are) have warned against items in the crib citing that it is believed to be a leading contributor in SIDS deaths. My baby was not dying of SIDS, no way. Poor baby hated it but she doesn't have to suffer anymore! We have finally started to allow her to have these once forbidden things. The risk of a SIDS death drastically decreases around the 12 month mark. Lexi is very mobile and strong, and so I really felt fine about allowing her to finally get to sleep with a blankie and lovie. She is in Heaven! She absolutely LOVES her blankie. The first couple of nights she would curl it up and then lay her entire  body over it. I think she was afraid I was going to come take it from her. Ha! Kinda sad. After a few nights I suppose she realized I wasn't coming back for it and now uses it like a normal blankie. She curls her little face up next to it and uses the satin edges to rub along her cheek. It is so precious. We also threw a couple of her favorite friends in the crib. Walter the worm and Pinkie the bear accompany her to sleep every night now. Oh, and we must not forget her pot and pepper. Her obsession with her kitchen has really evolved into an obsession with every single item that goes along with the kitchen. She takes one of the pots and the pepper container everywhere with her. This also means they go to bed with her. It's quite the site to see really.

I posted earlier about Lexi's new once armed dance move. Over the weekend this move has evolved into a two shoulder shake. It is so funny! We caught a few seconds of it last night on video.

Our wonderful state was hit yet again by a deadly tornado. This time it was the Centerpoint, Pinson, Clay area of Birmingham that was hit. Luckily the death toll is much lower this time, but the property damage is extreme. People are still attempting to sort out whats left of those towns. Many people are without their homes, so please say a prayer for them. I am hearing so many sad stories working for Allstate. It makes it so personal when a lady that you talk to every few weeks calls to cry to you and explain that she now has nothing. My heart aches so badly for these people. It's just terrible. Our state was hardly rebuilt from the April storms and now this. So so awful. I do have to mention that I have never been more impressed with people in general. Even in the face of such devastation, I have not spoken with one person that has not repeated time and time again, "God is so good, Lauren. He is so good. We are so blessed to be alive. He is so good." It's simply remarkable to me that left with no material possessions these people are still praising Him. God is so good. And we are so blessed.

Better get to work now. Lots to do. It's a gorgeous day, and I intend on making the most of it.

Btw, my sweet precious angel girl has started to learn her ABCs. If you catch her at the right time, she gets about 10 of the letters correct and hums the tune to the rest of the song. While I was videoing her she only get about 3 of the letters. But hey, it's progress. :)

Happy 30th Birthday Brandon David Rhoton!

I would like to begin with a prayer request for my very beautiful bestie Erin Garber. She has been in and out of the hospital for a couple of weeks now with extreme head pain. They have done several tests and none of them have been able to pinpoint the problem. She's in pain all the time. Makes me terribly sad. Please slip her in later when you're chattin with the man upstairs.

Happy 30th yesterday to my partner in crime B! He's such an old man now. :) Not really, of course. I just have thoroughly enjoyed teasing him seeing as how I still have a good two and a half years before I exit the twenties. We started celebrating on Sunday night with a southern fried chicken meal at JuJu's house. It was as delicious as it sounds. We continued celebrating with dinner last night at PF Changs with my mom's whole side of the family. We're not done yet, though! Friday night I will be cooking for B and Saturday night we are headed to Ruth's Chris. I am really loving this birthday of Brandon's! He should turn the big 3-0 more often! I have to say the funniest part so far had to be waking up to our yard decorated with a million cows and a big Happy Birthday sign! I knew immediately that Granny was behind it! She had mentioned that she had something funny she was trying to work out and boy was it funny!!! We cracked up all day over that one!

Moving on... THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA HAS WON IT'S 14TH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!!!!!! ROLL TIDE ROLL!!! We dominated start to finish. LSU was completely shut down. Honeybadger got schooled by pretty much everyone on our team. Our defense is on a whole new level of sick. AJ totally rocked it out. The end. 21-0!!!! Take that, haters! And we're coming back so get ready!!!

Lexi has a new two new tricks worth mentioning.

1. She has a new dance. I have absolutely no clue where she picked it up, but it is hilarious! She circles her arm and shoulder forward to the beat of the music. That's the whole dance. And it's always only the right arm. I could never give it enough justice describing it. It's something you really have to see. So funny and SO Lexi.

2. She also has a new entrance. Just about every time she enters a new room she will raise one hand up in the air and say, "Heeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy." It is so precious. She has such a slow southern draw as she says it. The Alabama in her is definitely showing through. That's our girl! :)

I feel like I should document somewhere that Brandon and I walked into Lexi's school yesterday afternoon to find her dipping Cheetos in a bowl of birthday cake ice cream while simultaneously eating a cupcake with her other hand. I just feel like this should be written down somewhere. No wonder we can't compete with her Mita! LOL! :)

Hope everyone has a fantastic day! Get well soon for all the sinus sufferers like me! This weather is brutal.

Christmas in January

I have been trying to wait until I had the chance to upload the pictures, but clearly that is taking entirely too long. Dad, Beth, and Izabelle came in town last Saturday afternoon so we could all finally celebrate Christmas. We were SOOO happy to see them!! It is so terribly hard on all of us that they are not around more. Anyway, they arrived Saturday, and we immediately got to the business of playing. Playing tea party. Playing dancing. Playing chase. Playing everything. Izabelle is the most full of energy kid I have ever met, and I love every second of it! Lexi was SO incredibly excited to have Izabelle here! She chased her literally the entire time they stayed. I joked that I hoped Izabelle was looking for a shadow. Saturday night we enjoyed a yummy dinner out, and then they came back to the house and spent the night with us. Sunday we pretty much relaxed and played all day long. More tea parties and shadowing. The little munchkins were just so precious together! Lexi definitely has had moments where she is excited about having kids around, but it has never been anything like this. She is totally obsessed with Izabelle! I cannot wait until the day they are back in Bham so the girls can play together every day! Sunday night Chip came over, and we had our Christmas party. Every second felt just like Christmas! Gpaw and Gigi got Lexi a Disney Princess motorized 4 wheeler. O-M-G!!! The girls LOVED it! We took it out to the road and let them take turns riding it. They were both in Heaven! So so cute!! I promise I will have pictures of our fun filled weekend to come soon.

This week is dragggggging on for me. I swear Tuesday felt like it should be Friday. Oh well. Almost over now. Whew.

We are getting really pumped up about a big couple of weeks coming up. Saturday we are going to see Ron White at the Alabama Theater. B said that this was his very favorite Christmas gift, and I am loving the gift too! I know it is going to be super fun, and we will have lots of laughs! Next week will be ALL about my hubby's 30th BIRTHDAY!!! Party time!!! We are celebrating by cooking at home one night, dinner with my family at PF Changs one night, and dinner with B's family at Ruth's Chris one night! So much for the diet that I started today! That's ok, though. It'll totally be worth it!!

Guess that's about it for now. Peace. Shout out to my daily reader, Beth!

the Holidays and My Look Back at 2011

What a whirlwind my life has been for the past, oh, 20 days or so!!!

Christmas was INCREDIBLE! Christmas 2011 has to go down as one of the absolute best Christmas' I have ever had. I knew it would be amazing. I just had that feeling. We did the usual routine- Christmas Eve lunch with the Jones family, Christmas Eve dinner with the Kolniak family, Christmas morning Santa with just us Rhotons, Christmas day lunch with Nana, and Christmas night with the Rainey family. All the parties were really great this year, and I cherished every second of them all. My very favorite moment had to be at home on Christmas morning with Lexi. We had wrapped all of her Santa gifts besides her big, new kitchen. Of course it was the very first thing she saw, and she flipped out. I will never forget her excited little trot as she ran over to it and began to play. She was so into it that Brandon and I had to open the rest of her gifts for her. She wouldn't turn away from that kitchen for even a second. She also loved her Dora microphone. Unfortunately the Dora microphone has already seen its final resting place. Apparently it was not prepared for the volume of saliva that Lexi would shove into it. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. The whole saying about it being better to give than receive never made to much sense to me until Lexi came around. There is nothing in the world that I could ever want that would compare to the feeling of giving her something that she loves. It's priceless. Since having her I have heard several times that you don't learn the true meaning of love until you have a child. This could not be more true. I love Brandon with all my heart, and there is absolutely nothing I wouldn't do for him. However, that love for my precious Lexi is so much more. It's different. It's so beautiful. God really does give us our children as a gift. I am eternally grateful.

For all of our Christmas pictures, go here-

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150423754212854.337948.504407853&type=1&l=51c955346e

It was back to work as usual following Christmas. That is until Brandon developed 2 kidney stones. He was in so much pain for so many days! Saturday we woke up and the pain had increased a million times over. We called his doctor who sent us immediately to the emergency room. After a series of tests (and LOTS of pain meds) they determined that B had developed a kidney infection. It was so hard to see B in so much pain. I tease him all the time about being a "weenie", but really he is super tough. His reactions were showing me he was in really bad pain. After a few hours they were able to take the majority of the pain away, and then it was just a waiting game. We spent New Years Eve in the hospital. Brandon joked that it was the most messed up he had ever been on New Years. Haha! He's crazy. Everyone kept saying how sorry they were for him, and how they hated that we were having to spend New Years Eve in a hospital. Honestly, once I knew they had B taken care of I was just fine being there. His pain was gone, and we were together. Spending NYE in that hospital room wasn't so bad afterall. I do wish Lexi poo could have been there with us. She was out long before midnight though, so I guess it wasn't such a big deal. They were able to cure Brandon's infection with strong IV antibiotics by the next day, and we were discharged. A day or two more of pain and B finally passed the original stone. Yay!! He is still feeling very sore in his kidneys, but is really moving in the right direction now. So glad!

I have to mention my new favorite Lexi thing. Every time my phone rings, she will completely drop what she is doing and run over to it. She will race with it back over to me as fast as she can, and wait for me to answer. After I answer, she will clap and smile and laugh for a solid minute. She gets so proud of herself. It is so precious. I love it!

She has also started to really understand what we are saying to her. Just the other night I said, "Lexi, can Mommy change your diaper? Go get me a diaper, Lex, so that I can change your diaper." She shimmied herself right on down the hall and with both hands carried the box of wipes all the way back into the den. She turned right back around and went back to her room. She picked a diaper out of the diaper bag, and walked it right back to me. Then she proceeded to lay down in front of me. Genius. I swear she is genius!

I think Lexi may have missed us a little bit while Brandon was in the hospital. She has been super clingy to me, and gets upset now if I leave the room. This is fading a little with every day that goes by, so I know she will be back to normal soon. I have enjoyed one little part of her clingyness, though. Every night instead of just putting her in her bed and leaving, she has actually wanted me to rock her to sleep. My child has never wanted to sit still long enough for me to rock her to sleep. Never. Her rocking chair has always been somewhere for us to relax in her room or somewhere for her to play on. Never a resource for bedtime. The past few nights, though, she has really been enjoying the special mommy and me time. Mommy is really enjoying it, too! I know soon enough she will be right back to her big girl self going to bed all on her own. So for now, I am sitting back and savoring every moment of this new nighttime ritual.

I would now like to take this opportunity to pat myself on the back. I have officially celebrated my one year anniversary of this blog! I so wanted to document all of our Rhoton happenings, but was a little doubtful that I would stick with it. I have missed a week here or there, but all in all I am very happy to have kept this little diary of mine. :)

Something new that I thought I would start this year is a reflection at the end of each year. Here's my first...

REFLECTIONS 2011

2011 was a fantastic year!!! When I think back to 2011 as a whole I think of exactly one thing- Lexi. She ruled my heart for every moment of 2011.

Starting in January I think back to celebrating B's 29th birthday at my mom's house. Lexi was so tiny, and I just remember her staring at our steak and potatoes! She wanted so badly to figure out how to eat that delicious food! Bless her heart. She still had a few more months before steak and potatoes was in her diet.

February makes me think of Valentine's day, of course. This Valentine's was special, though. It was all about love as usual, but it was a different, bigger love. It was the love for Brandon AND the love for Lexi. I think of Lexi sitting in her chair at school dressed from head to toe in pink, red, x's and o's. She was so precious with her big red bow on her head. Demita and I took pictures of her for hours that day. It was so sweet.

March makes me think of St. Patrick's day and the insanely precious 4 leaf clover dress that Lexi wore. She was such a big girl with her big green bow and matching white shoes. Every time I think of her in that outfit I smile. I told Brandon just the other day that I thought that green dress just might be my favorite outfit of all time.

April brought Easter and the Tuscaloosa tornado. Lexi loved meeting the Easter bunny, and this was around the age that we really started to see her quirky, funny personality develop. She was just starting to show us what a little comedian she was going to become. The end of April was horrific. The Tuscaloosa tornado will be something that we will not soon forget. I am grateful every day that my family was protected. I pray that the families that lost people are starting their journey to healing. I know it will be a long road for them.

May was great because we took a super long trip to the beach! It was so nice for us to get away for an extended period of time and do nothing but relax and spend time with Lexi poo. I also especially think of that moment on our last night that B and I took a walk down to the ocean. We sat in the sand just the two of us. We talked and listed to ocean waves come in. It was so beautiful. It's moments like those that make life worth living.

June, July, and August all make me think of one thing- the pool! Our summer was consumed with trips to Nana's house to go swimming. I remember so many times that B, Chip, and I would order delivery Quiznos and not even get out of the pool to eat it. Ha. Makes me laugh now. Lexi would tire so quickly, and we would have to set her up in the shade for her to nap. Can''t wait for summer to come again, so that we can resume our weekend ritual. My August birthday stands out for me this year, too. I don't always get to see my Grandmother Jones on my birthday. This year she came up to Birmingham just to have lunch with me on the actual day. That's super special, and it really made my 27th (no Mom, I'm not 26. LOL) birthday one to remember.

September brought football. Roll tide!!! This is Alabama. We love football. No one says September without thinking of football. That's all.

October was full of memories of Lexi turning one year old. My word. My precious baby turned one. It's still so unreal for me. All the planning for her stupendous birthday party was worth it. Everyone had a great time. I only wish I could do it over a hundred times. I think my memory that stands out the most is taking her to get her picture taken on her actual birthday. She laughed and then cried. She absolutely hated wearing that birthday hat that Granddaddy Ron got her. We wanted so badly to get a picture with her wearing it. Oh well. There's always next year. :)

Saying November makes me think of my Papa Maze. This will forever be the month that he passed away. He was so young, and it was such a shock. He is missed by so many people. Love you Papa. I know you're keeping an eye our for our family. You always protected all your girls, and I know you will continue to do that from above. Now, you're our guardian angel.

December makes me think of Christmas and what a big girl Lexi has become. She's walking, talking, expressing herself, doing sign language, eating real food, and much much more. Christmas was somewhat of a milestone in my mind. I don't know if it's because it's at the end of the year or what. But, for some reason I have looked at it as a sort of check point in the Lexi timeline. I remember Christmas of 2010. She was so incredibly tiny and helpless. Wow, what a difference a year makes. She's our big girl now. She's so smart. So tremendously beautiful on the inside and out. I'm in constant awe of her and what a wonderful blessing she is.

So here we are starting 2012. I can only hope that 2012 is half as fabulous as 2011 was. I have a feeling our lives will continue to see awesome blessings and our hearts will continue to overflow with love and happiness. Cheers to 2012. Love you all!

Merry Pre-Christmas

OMG OMG OMG Christmas is only 5 days away!!!! For a while I wasn't really feeling it, but as of yesterday morning I am all into the Christmas spirit!

Saturday we were Santa for the afternoon. Last year I discovered how incredible it felt to walk into a store and do nothing but buy gifts for the most amazing little girl ever. I am obsessed with being Santa Claus. I love love love it! In an hour and a half, Brandon and I finished all of our shopping. I have had my eye on this precious little pink kitchen at Toys R Us for Lexi's big gift. We were able to snag the last one they had, so I was super pumped about that. Brandon is going to put it together on Christmas Eve so that it is in working order for our little angel on Christmas morning. I never knew how excited I could be about Christmas morning until now! I can't wait!!! We have decided to turn our extra bedroom into a playroom. (We were actually forced into this decision seeing as how every square inch of our house is filled with baby stuff.) Most of the rest of Lexi's gifts are for the new playroom. She will have mats, a lego table, a sofa, a TV, and plenty of fun toys. I can't wait to see her face the first time we open the door. She is going to love it, and we are going to love having room to breathe again!

Sunday we had the annual Maze party in Tuscaloosa. Everything was very nice, and Lexi looked super cute in her new black snowman dress and fancy shoes.

Yesterday after work Brandon and I took Lexi to ZooLight Safari in keeping with our Christmas theme. It was cold outside, but we really had such a good time. She enjoyed looking at the lights and taking pictures with all the crazy stuff. We drank our hot chocolate and rode the train to end the night. Lexi was very done at that point and decided to pour hot chocolate all over all 3 of us. We couldn't do anything but laugh. We're making memories... :)

Lexi's picture with Santa 2011

Parties, Dinners, and Lots of Shopping for Us

Gah, it's been a while....

I think we have been the busiest people alive for the last couple of weeks. Let's see... what all have we been up to?

Last Monday night was Brandon's work Christmas party. It's always really nice. Cafe Iz hosted, and we went home with a $25 gift card and an adorable Christmas blanket. Nice!

We have been shopping several times since I last updated. First with Granny, then Judy. Lexi is going to have the biggest Christmas ever in the history of Christmases (sp?). She is SO spoiled!!! I love it! She deserves every bit of it. Santa must know that Lexi has been a really good girl this year! :)

Friday night we went out for the first time in a lonnnnng time. Our friends Devin and Demetrius met us at Chuy's at the Summit. It was so fun laughing and joking about our little girls! We love them to death. I can't wait for our next outing. Maybe this time we will leave the Daddies with the babies and just the Mommies could go out?? ;)

Congratulations to Katie and Eric on the addition of their precious new baby girl, Emily Ann!! We left Lex at school a little longer yesterday and ran up to the hospital to see her. She is absolutely perfect! Ahh, holding that precious tiny thing was so wonderful. It is impossible for me to look at such an incredible creation and not be in total awe. I can't wait until we are at the point where we are ready to have another one. We're definitely not there yet, but I so look forward to the whole experience again. It's simply magical.

Christmas is exactly 11 days away!!! O M G!!! Crazy! Being the A+ star mom that I am, I have ZERO gifts bought. Being the A+ star dad that Brandon is, our Christmas decorations are still not up outside. Oh well, we will get it all done somehow. :)

Perfect Puzzle Preschool is still planning for their big move. The date is set for January 23rd. No place is totally in stone yet. I stay up all night long praying that it will all work out. This is one of the hardest things I have ever gone through. No exaggeration. If you're not a mom, you won't understand. If you are, I know you completely understand.

We are off to get Lexi's picture with Santa either tonight or tomorrow night. I can't wait to see how she reacts. She was so young last year that she didn't even realize what was going on. She loved the Easter Bunny at 5 months old, so maybe she will love Santa too. I sure hope so. We need a cute picture to add to the mantel.

That's about all for now.

Wise words of the day:
"...the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous.” -SATC

Twitter/ #14/ JumpZone

We are officially losers. (Please no jokes about how we have officially been losers for a long time.) Last night Brandon and I both set up twitter accounts. #Losing. Ha. Twitter joke. See, I'm a loser! Anyway, it has become my new obsession. I love following all my favorite celebrities and having up to the minute info on their insignificant lives. If only I had created this twitter last week. I definitely would have known sooner that Kourtney Kardashian is pregnant again with Scott Disick's baby. #NowWe'reInTheLoop

Bama fans- #14 is COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahh! So excited last night when the BCS announced that Bama will play for a rematch against LSU for the title game! We have earned it and deserve it! I am so ready! Bring it LSU! It's our time now! Oh, and for the haters, keep on hatin... makes it that much sweeter! Trent for Heisman! ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

 We discovered a new Rhoton hotspot this weekend- JumpZone in Pelham. It is a huge warehouse full of inflatable fun stuff. They have moonwalks, slides, baseball, basketball, air hockey, obstacle courses and more. Everything is inflatable! It is so much fun!!! We have already planned to take Lex and Izabelle for Christmas. This time, however, I will not be taking my 1 year old down the 3 story slide. I swear it didn't look as steep as it turned out to be...

Love you PPP

I hate change. I really really really hate change. It seems to always be bad.

It is time for Perfect Puzzle Preschool to get licensed from DHR. Our building is very old and most likely could not pass code requirements. Therefor, Demita has decided to move to another location. I completely understand the logic, but it doesn't make it any less sad. I am going to miss having my baby next to me SO much!! I am really gonna miss laughing with Demita and playing with all the little kiddos, too. Ugh. Sucks so bad. I guess I will just be grateful to have had them next door to me all this time. I have been very lucky. Sure will miss y'all, PPP.

I am very glad that it's Friday, though. We have lots of fun activities planned for the weekend. Saturday is a birthday party for Lexi's friend, Ava, shopping with Granny for Christmas, and pictures with Santa!

I should also mention how incredibly amazing it has been having my honey take me to and from work this week. Adding an extra hour and a half together is never a bad thing. Heck, even when my car gets fixed we may stick to this riding together thing. :)

Thanksgiving Feasts and Funny New Tricks

It's been a minute (or two) since I blogged. We were sick. Sorry peeps.

We're well now, though. We thought we were getting better several times, and then at least one of us would drop back into the world of snot, vomit, or coughs. It was as terribly nasty as it sounds. Anyway, I think we are actually all through it now. Knock on wood.

Thanksgiving was wonderful last week! We had a delicious lunch at Mom's house with the Maze side of the family. Mom went all out on the food, and it was every bit of what you wait for all year long. We left straight from her house and went to Judy's house for another yummy meal. Lexi absolutely LOVED her Thanksgiving food. I should have known that a holiday that revolves around eating would be Lexi's dream come true. I fear that she will like Thanksgiving more than her birthday and even Christmas! That kid sure loves to eat!

Seeing as how Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, I feel now is the perfect time to address the Black Friday shoppers. You people are out of your ever-loving mind!!!! What is God's name would possess any sane person to get up in the middle of the night to literally fight psycho old women for merchandise??? There is no amount of money that would make me participate in such an event. I get that the usually 99 dollar toy train engine is now on sale for the very low price of 39 dollars. I really do get it. Still. I would MUCH rather go to work for the extra hours to earn that 60 dollar difference. To each his own I suppose...

Saturday was the Iron Bowl!!!! As predicted, Bama whooped that ass! Sorry Auburn, y'alls 15 minutes are up. ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!

It was back to work work work this week. It was almost nice to get back into our normal rhythm again. Between all the craziness in the last few weeks, I have actually missed my boring 8-5 routine. There is something to be said for the predictable. There really is.

I must mention 2 things that Lexi has started doing recently.

First, she has begun shaking her head "no". It is so funny to us! We are constantly trying to give her things that we know she doesn't want just so we can see her shake her head at us. Of course as her parents we think it is the cutest thing ever.

Second, she has begun to imitate us blowing our nose. Being sick for so long, I suppose she caught on to us blowing our nose every 5 seconds. The only thing is that she doesn't realize we are blowing our nose. She thinks that we are licking the tissue. Now, any napkin or tissue that she sees, she licks. Kids really do the darndest things. It makes us crack up every time.

This video captures both of her latest tricks.

Getting Well is a SLOW Process...

Things are slowly starting to look up for us (I hope.... knock on wood...). Lexi seemed to start feeling better Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. I gave in and filled her bottle with milk, against doctor and Daddy's orders. I must admit, my motherly instinct let me down on this one, because Lex definitely was not ready for milk. She threw it all up. All over me. All over Brandon. All over the bathroom. Oh the joys of parenting. I felt horrible! Needless to say, we quickly reverted back to the white rice, saltine cracker, and pedialyte regiment that we were on. We're sticking to that for a few more days. It seems to work nicely.

Lexi's G-pa came in town Sunday afternoon, and we were all super excited to see him. Lexi played up her sickness for him for about the first hour. I suppose she wanted to make sure he knew just how sick she had been. Ha. Such a little drama queen. I have NO idea where she gets it.We all got a good laugh out of that one. Anyway, Chip came over, and we all had a great time visiting. I'm waiting on Dad now so that we can go see Chip at work. Loving lots of family time!

On a totally different note- ROLLLLLLLLLL TIDE ROLL!!!! Lots of top five teams lost this weekend, clearly making us the VERY BEST one loss team. I love that no one has a legitimate argument against Bama now. It's really starting to look like a rematch of Bama vs LSU is in the making. Only this time it will be for the National Championship!!! GO BAMA!!

Our 1st Trip to Children's Hospital :(

More sad news... I swear my blogs are really starting to get depressing!

Sunday afternoon Lexi threw up all morning. We worried for a little bit, but by lunch she seemed back to her normal self. So, we carried on as usual.

Monday she was fine.

Tuesday she was very fussy, so we started to get a little nervous.

Wednesday morning she woke up with vomit all over her and her bed. I took her to the doctor, and he suspected that she had caught a cold and the extra mucus was making her sick. I had to go on to work, so B stayed home with her the rest of the day. She continued to get sick all day long. By late afternoon I grew suspicious that this amount of throw up was not normal for any type of cold. I called the nurse back, and she said in retrospect that she believed Lex had a stomach bug. She advised that she may continue to be sick a little, but by the evening her vomiting should subside. It did not. She continued to be sick all night long. Every blanket in our house needed a gooooooood washing before morning.

By sunrise on Thursday morning we became more and more concerned with Lexi's hydration levels. Anyone that has a baby knows that it is extremely dangerous for a young one to become dehydrated. I called the nurse again at her pediatricians office. Given her symptoms, they were concerned as well, and sent us on to the Children's Hospital emergency room.
Side note: Children's Hospital is amazing! They are so friendly, attentive, smart, and loving. A-MA-ZING!
When we got to the ER, they took us back immediately. She was very dehydrated. Instead of giving babies IV packs, they now give them a dose of Zofran and then slowly introduce Gatorade through a syringe. Lexi started this regiment that lasted several hours. They were concerned about a couple of other things, so they took xrays and ran several tests on her. All the tests came back normal. Whew. Finally sometime late in the afternoon, we got to go home. Lexi's coloring still wasn't great, and she was clearly still not feeling well. However, her hydration levels were up, so we were allowed to go. Final diagnosis- a BAD case of the stomach flu.
Here we are Friday, and we are still not out of the woods. We were instructed to take her back to her primary doctor today for him to get another look at her. We are hoping for improvement. She seems to be feeling a teeny tiny bit better. She is still very lethargic and puny, but at least she did smile when I sang to her this morning. Brandon and I are both back at work, so Grandma is taking care of her and making sure she gets to the doctor. I will update as soon as I know.

Thank you so much to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. It is so hard to watch your baby suffer like that, but we are so grateful that she will soon be back to her peppy, cheerful, adorable self.