Whew! What an awesome, awesome weekend!

This weekend was SO fun and busy! We had a surprise 30th birthday party for my best friend Amanda (you can read about her here). She had no idea, and to make a long story short, she thought we were meeting for lunch, and I kept stalling her. She got pretty mad at me... talked about me behind my back some cause I couldn't get my act together... but was completely surprised and excited when she arrived to find her friends and family all there. Amanda, you know I love you! Here are some pics!I have to give major props to Alyson, Amanda's sister. She pulled off 2 surprise parties in one day! One for Amanda, and one for her husband, Erick. She did an awesome job, and even got the babies in on the fun by making bibs with "30" on them. She also gave Margaret Anne a VERY cute monogrammed onesie! I am so impressed with her surprise party skills. I know she almost had a heart attack getting it all together, but I think it was worth it!

I love long weekends...too bad this one is OVER!!

After arriving back in the 'Ham from ATL on Friday, I was ready for some R & R. Something about meetings from 7:30am TO 9:30pm a few days in a row will get to you! I think that my 3-day absence was about as long as I've ever been away from MA, and I was ready to get back to her. One of Meredith's favorite things to do is to make a "floor palate" (sp?), in which we blow up the air mattress, move it directly in front of the TV, and watch movies/DVR'ed TV shows nonstop. Only, we fall asleep too fast. So, of course, I was not even going to attempt to deny the floor palate, so we caught up on The Office, 30 Rock, Criminal Minds, and also watched Wall-E, which is a terrific movie. And Margaret Anne joined in the fun! I will leave the V-Day details for Meredith to blog about if she so chooses, but here are some palate pics!

Happy Valentine's Day!

love,

us

A nice surprise!

When I walked out of the door to go to work this morning, I had a box on my front porch, and these were inside! These are YUMMY red velvet whoopie pies. Thanks Ronnie (a.k.a. Grammy to Margaret Anne)! Is it bad that I thought about these all day while I was at work?

A love letter

Margaret Anne, tomorrow you will be 6 months old. It is hard to believe that is has been half a year since you were born. I remember the first minute I was finally able to hold you, and I just stared at your little face and your tiny little hands and cheeks. I looked over at your daddy and he had tears in his eyes. I will never forget those first few days with you, as I realized that such a wonderful little creature had been inside me for 9 months, and everything else that seemed so important paled in comparison to you.
As we started our first 6 weeks together, I was terrified. I wasn't sure that I would be able to take care of you all by myself while Daddy was at work! There were lots of tears, from you, me, and even Daddy! But we all eventually figured each other out and began to settle into a routine. I had to take you to daycare, and that was SO hard, but Granvon loves on you every day and I know that you enjoy being there.
It has been the joy of my life to watch you grow from a tiny little creature to a beautiful six month old girl. Every new milestone has left Daddy and I laughing out loud. These days, you love to play in your jumparoo and lay on your playmat. You love to take off my glasses and Daddy's glasses. You can put your paci in your mouth, but unfortunately it is always the wrong end! You kick and splash in the bathtub, and open your mouth like a little baby bird while you are waiting on your next bite of food.
You LOVE to put things in you mouth. Especially my cell phone, your toes, your fist, my hair, any toy that you can get your hands on. Right now my favorite thing that you do is when you grab my face or handfuls of hair on each side of my face, and then you pull yourself toward me and try to put my whole face in your mouth, slobbering all over my cheek, nose, or chin. I like to think you are giving me your sweet baby kisses. You have definitely caused some pain a time or two. You also like to take one hand and hold your head with it when you are sleepy. It looks like you are saying "woe is me."
You love to fall asleep in someone's arms, and it is so wonderful to hold you while you sleep and kiss that perfect spot above your nose. I love it when you lift your arms for me to pick you up at the end of a day at Granvon's. You are such a happy baby! Everyone says that you are so laid back.
You have totally changed the way I look at life. No longer is it about me, and no longer do I try to control everything. You have shown me that God is very real, and He is very good, and I hope that you grow to have that understanding. I now understand the love that our heavenly father had for His son. It is so important to Daddy and me that you grow up loving Jesus, and we will tell you about Him often.
I am so lucky to have you as my daughter and to have had you in my life for these past six months. And while I can't wait for the next six, I know they will go by too fast.

Love,
Mama

Thankful

I'm sure by now, most of you have heard about sweet Cora. If you haven't, you may want to read her story. They are building a playground in her honor, and you can go here to make a donation. I cannot stop thinking about her family, and I can't imagine going through what they have been through. It makes me hold Margaret Anne much tighter, and moments that used to seem difficult are now just more moments I get to spend with her.
Thank you Lord, for giving us such an incredible gift.

Weekend Fun!

Meredith and I had an action-packed weekend! On Saturday we woke up and cleaned the house, went grocery shopping, had lunch at Greyhouse Grille with Jamie, Trey, Corrie, Benjamin, Natalie, and babies, met Laura & Erik at our house for a baby visit, went to Academy Sports for fishing gear, then to Hobby Lobby for crafty-styles, back home to meet Gaddy (Great Aunt Donna= GADdy) to babysit MA, then to TWO engagment parties. WHEW! Sunday was much more easy-going. I went bass fishing on Logan Martin for most of the day, and didn't even have a single bite! It's been a long time since that happened, but the water is still a little cold. Plus, we hit 60 mph in the bass boat, which was worth the trip alone. Here's a picture of what Hays looks like on a 60 mph boat ride

I'm really not smiling...the wind is blowing my face to the back of my head! Needless to say, I now have the fishing bug and will want to go constantly. Sorry Meredith! One other bit of excitement worth mentioning is that I ordered Meredith and I Ray LaMontagne tickets for April 27th @ the Alabama Theatre. First off, we love this venue. Second, I have been wanting to see Ray for a long time and we won't even have to travel to do so. If you aren't familiar with him, I recommend you download all 3 of his albums NOW, but if you aren't willing to do that, here is a Cliff's Notes of Ray to get you started. In my humble opinion, he will be regarded as one of the most prolific songwriters of our generation! If you like Bob Dylan's lyrics sans the political spin, you'll like Ray. It would be hard for me to believe that he has experienced the pain he expresses in his music at such a young age, but I won't argue. He is a man among boys in this era of record companies producing corporate trash! Check him out

1. Trouble
2. Shelter

3. Forever My Friend

4. Jolene

5. Be Here Now

6. Empty

7. Lesson Learned

8. Let It Be Me

9. I Still Care For You

10. Winter Birds

I think 10. is my favorite song at this moment.

Wrapped around her little finger...

Aren't they cute? Our friends Laura and Erik were here on Sunday and Laura snapped a few pics of Margaret Anne! MA was happy to finally meet them!

If you ever feel lonely...

The Lord your God is with you,

He is Mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

He will quiet you with his love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

Winter...please leave. Thank you!!!!

Is anybody else sick of these 40 degree temperature changes from day to day? They have wreaked havoc on my sinuses and I have had enough. The last straw was Meredith waking me up at 2:00 a.m. this morning and telling me that the heat is "blowing cold air" and "smells like gas" (don't worry family members, the gas shuts off after a few seconds). I couldn't smell it, but Meredith has a superpowered sense of smell and can smell what we cooked 3 weeks ago for breakfast. To boot, I woke up to my throat killing me. I liken the winter sore throat to someone holding an acetylene torch to your mouth and keeping it there for a few seconds. Just miserable, and you know when you go to sleep it will only get worse from catching flies. SO, instead of focusing on the massive amount of work I needed to be doing since I missed 3 days last week, I got to meet the Alagasco man at the house at 9:30, only to have him tell me that i needed to call an HVAC company to fix a part on the unit. Luckily, my neighbor across the street does...HVAC work! We got the repair part (which was an igniter, or "glow plug"), and got home to a toasty house. Wandering the house in your boxers at 5:30 am isn't the same when it's 55 degrees in here. My neighbors are also thankful for our blinds :). I have to just come to terms that I am not built for cold weather. Also, I read somewhere that Birmingham is under a "wind chill warning", which I didn't know existed. But on the brighter side, I talk daily to our Home Office employees in warm, sunny Minneapolis, MN, and they can barely walk outside without a full body suit made of elk skins. I actually had somebody tell me yesterday that it was "shorts weather". The temperature...a seasonable 32 degrees! Here I am complaining about no heat for 12 hours and there are people in the eastern United States who will be without power until mid-February. I have to think about those less fortunate when I have a moment of frustration. It's all relative. When you see these catastrophic events on the news, do you ever just wish you could leave in that instant, without worrying about jobs, bills, responsibilities, etc., and help? I can't imagine what it would be like to be stranded without food, power, water, shelter, and so on. I'm sure there would be moments that would be extreme testers of one's faith. If we truly believe that the Lord will deliver us then there should be no reason to worry, but in that moment of despair could you really keep your wits knowing only that? When I think about my daily worries and anxieties, they pale in comparison to so much of the world around me that it makes me feel selfish. I have a terrific family and a terrific job. I am relatively healthy, with the exception of migraine headaches, anxiety attacks, and the occasional cold. As individuals with somewhat favorable circumstances surrounding us, what do we do to help those less fortunate? What is our outreach? What are we called to do? I struggle with these thoughts daily, and hope that I am able to use my life to make a positive impact on those around me. God knows, it is too easy to be complacent.

See, this is what happens when you let ADD get the best of you!!! The human mind is an awfully big place to wander around...I'm not re-reading that because I'd probably delete it. I hope you enjoy a few seconds in my thoughts!

P.S.- Tomorrow is National Signing Day!!! I am pumped to see who Auburn gets to sign on the dotted line! Most of you readers probably couldn't care less about this

Its been a long week, internets!

I know, I know, we haven't blogged in a while. One of my least favorite things is checking blogs that never get updated!!! It was a crazy week for us...

The main thing that made this week crazy was that Margaret Anne had her first cold. She woke up on Tuesday morning with a fever of 102, so Hays had to stay home with her and take her to the doctor. It broke my heart not to be with her, but I have VERY few sick days because I used them all during my maternity leave and bed rest! The doctor checked her out and said it was just a virus, but that we should keep her home from daycare until her fever was gone for a day. I stayed home with her on Wednesday, Hays on Thursday, and we thought for sure she would be ready for daycare on Friday, but on Thurs. afternoon she still had a slight fever and was really unhappy on Friday morning, so Hays had to stay with her again on Friday. He took her to work for a few hours because he had a lot to get done, but she did well. Then Saturday she started just SCREAMING when I was trying to feed her, and she was batting at her left ear, and her fever went up a little again. I called the nurse and she said I should take her to After Hours and have her ear looked at. So, we got a 3:00 appt and I thought we would be in and out. WRONG! There was a 2 hour wait minimum, with an appointment, so we were there for 3 hours. And she did have an early ear infection. Now we are fighting with her twice a day to get her to take her medicine! I think she is so tired of having her nose wiped and her nose suctioned that anytime we come toward her face with anything she gets mad.

We didn't get much sleep those first few nights she was sick, but now she is resting much better at night. We moved her back to the bassinet for a few nights to elevate her mattress, but I think we will be moving her back to her crib soon.

On Saturday before the ear infection and screaming, Hays and I went to Costco and joined! It is awesome, and we got some great deals. We also purchased a Wii Fit, and I have to tell you I am a little sore, but I hope it helps to get me back in shape!

On Sunday my parents came and brought us lunch, which was really nice because we were just worn out. They stayed for a while so Nonna could spend time with her grandbaby, and then headed back to Gadsden. My dad had knee surgery today and I just got word that it went well, so we are very thankful for that!

Here is a little picture of Margaret Anne when she fell asleep last night during the Super Bowl. She loves to fall asleep in her Boppy, I think it must feel like she is being held.