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