Continuation of the Whirlwind

The title is a reference to how I feel this week has been! Meredith and I have been super busy and haven't had much time to decompress, but it has been a fun week for sure. Monday night was Coldplay with Jamie and Trey, which was absolutely fantastic as expected. Made better by the fact that we thought we would be in the middle of the nosebleed section, but ended up sitting in the VIP seats front and center! Complete with tables, chairs, and our own server. I think Meredith was the only person in the venue to order a cheeseburger, but she never got it because it was near the end. I don't know why that was so funny to me, but I know I would have had MANY bites if I had gotten my hands on it. They put on such a great show, and the extreme joy I get from bouncing around and being so close to my wife create a very worshipful moment for me, and that is absolutely the highlight of the night!

Wednesday night we had dinner with lots of friends, and it was especially great to get to catch up with Ladd & Danielle and celebrate their new life together. If you haven't checked out their blog, Davis Worldwide, you definitely need to. It is linked over to the left, and they visited some glorious creation in New Zealand and Australia. Great pictures!

Last night Meredith and I had the pleasure of trying (and actually accomplishing) cleaning the entire house in the hour and a half between work and me going to a men's dinner at church at 6:30. Why is a clean house the most refreshing feeling in the world? Do I sound like a woman? (No sexism intended) At dinner I had the most amazing crawfish etouffee of my life, followed by a speaker who was the executive director for 1st & 5, which is a new foundation for kids formed by Reggie Torbor, former Auburn defensive lineman/linebacker(and Super Bowl ring-wearer might I add). Reggie is now living in Birmingham with his wife and 2 boys, and I really hope I get to meet him sometime because he is a great success story. The purpose of the foundation is to encourage, motivate, and inspire kids with tremendous potential who just need that extra "push". Evidently, Reggie has had tremendous success reaching schoolkids in the Miami-Dade area (I think he plays for the Dolphins now). I hope he has similar success in our community.

Tonight Meredith is having her Cougarettes (high school danceline) spend the night over, so I am going to be sleeping in the rain, or actually crashing on Trey's couch I think. Tomorrow my brother and mom are coming to hang out and play with the baby. I believe Saturday night will be "members only", which is the title Steve dubbed for "guys night out", where we will get together and have a few drinks and talk about manly stuff like sports, chest hair, and toolbelts (yeah, right). Sunday we will gorge ourselves on ribs and all the fixin's, and Monday...NO PLANS!!!! That is liberating to say.

In closing, my dad and Ronnie are wrapping up a 2 week vacation at the beach, which makes me very jealous because I've had to hear about all the great fishing Dad has done without me, but hopefully we can get down there soon. I still can't believe he actually took 2 weeks off! Very unusual, but much needed I'm sure. Of course, all his fishing left Ronnie on Dog Patrol, which is more than a full-time job (right, Ronnie?).

Hopefully at some point this weekend we can upload all the fun pictures we've taken lately. Pictures are more interesting to me! Hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day!

Before I was a mom...

I had LOTS of time to blog. I could update you all on all of the things we've done over the past few days. Such as:

• Sandi came into town.
• Alan's plane was delayed about 7 hours, but he came into town too (for a little while).
• We celebrated my mom's retirement.
• We went to a FANTASTIC Coldplay concert and ended up in the VIP section and had a wonderful time.

I definitely would have updated you on all of those things, but we have been so busy I haven't had time! And with school getting out soon, I have been busier at work than ever. And I am having my sweet 08-09 Cougarettes over for a Senior farewell party on Friday night. We are going to Ladd and Danielle's for dinner tonight so that only leaves me tomorrow night to get my house cleaned. And boy, does it need to be cleaned. It is SO dirty and dusty, I can barely stand it. Good thing we haven't been home much.

I will post some pictures soon, I promise. I just haven't had the time or the energy to sit down in front of the computer at home and upload them.

I saw this precious poem in an email and I had to post it. Because before I was a mom, I had time to do so much more. But I don't want any of that time back. Not in the least :)

Before I was a Mom,

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

How would you react?

Meredith left home before me this morning, and called me to inform me that the skinny vanilla latte she purchased from Starbucks made her feel like she was "on crack". As a disclaimer, I can say with complete confidence that Meredith has never used crack, and I don't believe Starbucks brews it in their coffee. So I decided I was going to Starbucks as well. I placed my order in the drive-thru and grabbed my coffee just like any other morning. But when I looked down at the cup in the cupholder, I noticed that a little coffee was leaking out where the seam of the cup met the lid. If you know what I'm talking about, I hope this doesn't bother you as bad as it bothers me. The reason it bothers me is because it never fails that coffee will drip out from under the lid onto your crisp, nicely ironed dress shirt and camp out there the rest of the day. And we all know that nothing impresses a prospective client more than a huge coffee stain on your shirt! In my effort to correct the barista's error, I grabbed the cup from the cupholder in an attempt to adjust where the seam met the lid (so it wouldn't drip all over me). OF COURSE, when I picked up the cup, the lid came off, revealing that said barista had filled the cup ALL THE WAY TO THE *%#@ LIP OF THE CUP!!! Which sent scalding hot coffee sloshing all over my hand and console. While en route to work on a curvy two-lane road. This did not make me happy. You can imagine the thoughts that raced through my head. My first instinct was to turn around my car and speed by the drive-thru window, hurling the scalding hot coffee cup through the drive-thru window at a velocity that would make Nolan Ryan jealous. Then I realized that, without an explanation, a scalding hot, hurled coffee cup would not correct the mistake, and inflicting damage without explanation is terrorism, right? So I took a deep breath, or ten, and tried to call Meredith to get her to talk me down before my brain boiled. But got no answer. I was still fuming, but did realize that the cup hurling would not be Christ-like, so I backed off of that idea. I have now had time to think about it, and I think that my best course of action would be to call the manager, and suggest in a constructive way that they might want to consider putting LESS COFFEE in the cup before handing it to an unsuspecting driver. Also, a temperature of 211 degrees Fahrenheit is neither appropriate nor enjoyable. SO...my question is...How would you react?

First Performance

Today was the first time that my new group of dancers performed together. I think that they did a great job! They are not in uniforms because they have not come in yet, but they all had black pants and a colored tank top and I thought it looked cute! Hays managed to get some GREAT pics! Good job girls!

Some "wild" fun!

Today we took Margaret Anne and Hays' mom to the Birmingham Zoo for Mother's Day. Here are some of my favorite pics from the trip.

It was really fun, and by the end of it all, Margaret Anne was worn out!

Margaret Anne and Little T

We had our annual yard sale a few weeks ago at my friend Kenley's house. It was a GREAT time, and we used the money we made toward our new camera. I always love the yard sale, and I am not really sure why! Probably because I always come away with something "new" from one of my friends.

While we were selling our gently used items, Kenley managed to get some great pictures of Margaret Anne and Thomas, who we call "Little T." He is super cute and sweet and is a major little flirt! He loves to show off his big dimples. I think they enjoyed being able to sit and play together. They mostly just swapped toys back and forth and pulled on each other.

"We LOVE sitting and playing together and Thomas always shares his toys..."

"Cool paci clip!"

"I wanna hold your hand!"

"Why do you keep taking our picture?"

'

"Take that outfit off, Margaret Anne! Pink stripes are NOT cool."

We have some sweet baby feet!

Don't hate me...

Because I am beautiful!

Before...

This is what mommy and daddy see every morning when they get me out of bed. My future husband better watch out!

After...

And this is how pretty I look when I am all ready to go!

Monogrammed onesie courtesy of Alyson!

Little Lucy

Lucy came to visit last weekend, and of course I tried to get her picture when she was smiling! She is so cute and to me she looks just like her dad, Phillip. Oh, and Fran was here too and we were able to hang out a little bit, but for some reason we always forget to take pictures together!

Not Me Monday

This is the first time I have ever participated in this, but I really enjoy reading MckMama's blog so I thought I would give it a try!

Thursday I did NOT stay home with Margaret Anne and hold her almost all day. I did NOT absolutely love it, and I do NOT think she is a little spoiled now because of it!
Friday night, I did NOT freak out when Margaret Anne's fever went up to 103 and did NOT make her an appointment to see the doctor at 8:00 on Saturday morning. We did NOT get in and out of the doctor's office in 20 minutes, they did NOT change her antibiotic and she is NOT feeling much better today and happily back at Granvon's.

Saturday I did NOT go to Target and buy Margaret Anne a pair of BabyLegs and this cute new blanket.

Sunday our power did NOT go out for TWO HOURS and we definitely did not light candles and enjoy it. I definitely did NOT put MA in a comfy onesie and her BabyLegs and we did NOT set up a pallet on the floor with the air mattress again. MA did not take her afternoon nap on the pallet and Hays and I did not enjoy all the quiet candle time by working crosswords and reading. I was NOT a little sad when the power came back on. Hays definitely did NOT cook me yummy ravioli for dinner and we did NOT spend the rest of the night on the pallet. The pallet is NOT still in the living room floor waiting to be occupied tonight!

Costume Party Time!

Last night, Meredith and I went to Derrek and Laura Lou's gift card shower, which also happened to be a "famous couples costume party". The food and friendship were great, and the costumes were even better! I thought I'd share a few of the famous couples, as well as some solo costumes.


Clark Kent and Lois Lane




Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Derrek & Laura Lou)



Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen (Ann Reid & Stu)



Fred & Wilma Flintstone (Beth & Richard)



Napoleon Dynamite & Deb (Jay & Kelly)



Shawn Johnson (Amanda)



Venus & Serena Williams