Skidamarinky Dinky Dink....

Skidamarinky Do. I love You!!!
This was one of Lila's (and all the moms) favorites songs in Kindermusik this semester. Lila had her semester end program on Saturday morning and luckily Grandmother and PopPop were able to attend again. Michael wasn't able to go to the last one, so this time he got/had to participate. Lila loves this class. Mainly because of Miss Rachel and her friends:

She was a little overwhelmed with all the new faces there, but I still think she had a good time. As you can tell, she is teething because she wouldn't take that finger out of her mouth.




Just so I will remember: All weekend long, Michael sang "Elbows together, Elbows together!"


After the program we FINALLY went and purchased our double stroller. Now, if it would only warm up for me to use it.
The rest of the weekend was mostly spent like this....Yeah for lazy Saturdays!



I know yall didn't think I would actually get a picture of Lila snoozing. :)

Little Mommy

Lila is quite the big helper around here. It is really sweet how good she is with Graham. (Besides when she is trying to sit on him.) The only time she gets really upset is if I happen to use his blanket or something that is HERS with him. Other than that, she loves to rub his head and say "Oh Gam," or give him his blankie,paci, etc.
Check out my own "Little Mommy"
I love how she carries the carseat (which she says quite well by the way) in her elbow pit. Don't make fun..that is what I call it.

Quick cute quote of Lila's. When we were home for Christmas visiting, Lila was ready to go. She came in the living room at Michael's parents house with her finger up in the air and said, "Gam, Carseat, BYE-BYE!!" CHECK!




Like a true mommy, she has her camera always ready to go. :)

Nuudee Booty

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this little boy!

A New Year...not so much a new me.

By that I mean, it is already the middle of January and I have yet to finish my blogging in December. I have a hundred drafts started so that I know what I am talking about whenever I do decide to post. I just haven't gone through the pictures yet to post. I had planned on finishing December before moving on to January, but going through the Christmas pictures has totally stressed me out. Therefore, I am just going to post in the present. I will catch up from Christmas, so if you really care, keep checking and eventually it will be up. I have had several people think that something was wrong with my blog or their computer because the last thing I had posted was from Thanksgiving. :) Anyway, so here we are. I am going to try and catch us up over the last 2 weeks.
This year we layed pretty low for New Years Eve. We visited some friends and let Lila play. We kept thinking we may just go on home before the ball dropped so we didn't put Lila down to sleep. Finally at 10:45 I figured we were not making it home before midnight so I layed her down. I don't think we have ever kept her up that late, but luckily she didn't do too bad catching back up. New Years day we spent doing absolutely NOTHING! It was so nice. We did go to the Cracker Barrell so that Michael could get his turnip greens, country ham, and black eyed peas. Lila, who is usually not a beans fan tore up some black eyed peas. She also really liked the turnip greens so we let her keep eating them! I spent the evening cleaning the house so we could at least start off the new year with a clean slate. I usually at least write out some goals for the New Year, but to be honest, I feel like I haven't even had time to think about it. 2008 came and went in a blink of an eye, but we still had a great year. Lila turned 1 and became a big sister! As I am thinking of it now, there are a few things I want to work on. I want to be a better wife to Michael. I tend to get frustrated about how much he works instead of remembering that he is doing it for us and remembering how good he is to me and the babies. He is an amazing husband and I couldn't ask for anything more. I also want to be a better mom and spend more time with my kids. (That means not being on the computer when they are awake!) I would love to say that I am going to be more organized and less scatterbrained, but who am I kidding? I have been this way for almost 31 years. I don't see it changing anytime soon. :)
Graham also turned 3 months old on New Years Day! That still seems so hard to believe. He has changed SO much this past month. All of the sudden he is very alert and likes to play with his toys. He talks and coos and is super sweet. You can tell that he just loves Lila. He enjoys sucking on his hand all the time and is a big drooler! He actually has been trying to roll from his back to belly. On Monday the 5th I put him down on the ottoman and he kept rolling over on to his side and even kicked his leg over. His arms just aren't strong enough to push him on up onto his belly yet. I was thinking he probably just did this because he was on the ottoman, so I tried him on the floor and he did the same thing! I was so excited since Lila was almost 7 months before she rolled from back to belly. He did finally roll from belly to back on Sunday the 11th. He hasn't done it since, but that is ok. I layed him down and two seconds later he was on his back. He still doesn't enjoy belly time, so I am bad about doing it that often. I actually took him to the Dr. on New Years Eve just for a weight check. Yes, I am still nervous about my milk supply. I am telling you, if this boy nurses for 10 minutes, I am estactic. He usually only nurses 4 or 5 minutes, and most of the time I feel like I don't have any milk. He weighed 14 lbs 12 oz., so she is not worried. For now I will just trust that everything is fine.

Here is my big guy:






Friday we hosted our first playdate! The kiddos from Kindermusik and Mason came over to play. I think they had a great time. I did learn a few things about my daughter. She is VERY protective over her stuff, especially her baby stroller. "No Mine" was her choice of words throughout the day. I was quite embarrassed. We had a great time though and Lila was so excited about everyone being here she didn't know what to do with herself!

She has also gotten to see Mason several times this week, so that really made her happy. Friday after her friends left, so kept talking about "Marlwey and Looschy (Marley and Lucy).

On Saturday we had a baby Ryder's christening, so Lila once again got to play with her buddy. The rest of the day was a daddy/daughter/son day. My dear friend Ashley is moving away so we went to "say goodbye" and celebrate her BDAY! It was nice to have a girls night out.



We also welcomed a precious new little girl to the world. Jenna Marie Cates was born on Tuesday the 6th. She is Lila's BFF's new little sister. We just know that Mason is going to be a great big brother! I can only imagine the trouble these 4 are going to get into one day.

Please Remind Me...

to never take Lila to McDonald's playplace by myself. This girl is wide open. And let me just tell you...my big ole booty can only make it up and down in those little tiny places so many times. We went to a birthday party today and luckily Michael was there with me. Here is "Daddy Row" It is not the best picture, but this totally cracked me up. What good daddy's these little ones have. My, how times have changed since we were in college.





Even Graham had a grand ole' time!

Happy New Year!!

Here is to a great 2009!

Where there is no pushing...

and NO choking...

only hugs and kisses...

and lots of smiles...

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!


P.S. This cute little boy is 3 months old today!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Last night we ventured down in Columbia in search of the perfect Christmas Tree. This is, after all, Graham's first Christmas, so it must be perfect! Last year, I had to meet Michael at the tree gettin' place and by the time I got there he already had it picked out. It was perfect! He did SO good. It never fails, I always question whether or not we made the right decision and I totally stress about it until we get it home and put up. Only then do I love it. Wellll....this year, we say to Lila, "Time to go get a tree!"
This is the look we get. "What u talkin' about?"

I am telling you...she must have known! She must have known that this trip wasn't going to go so well.
Problem #1: The man who is usually there and has come to know my routine of picking out a tree was not there. Not that the girl who helped us wasn't great, she just wasn't HIM! ( I am a little superstitious like that)
Problem #2, #3, #4, etc. etc....I just didn't love any of the trees.
I was hoping and praying that it was just going to be like any other year and I that I would get it home and it would be perfect.
I muster up a smile for the picture, just hoping it was going to be OK.

Nope, not this year. We get it home and I CRY!!! I cry because I hate it, hate it, hate it. Then I cry because I feel selfish that I hate it and I keep thinking about all the people out there who don't even have a Christmas tree. Then I cry because I know that this is going to be the only tree I have and I am afraid that I have hurt it's feelings so bad that it will be a mean ole' tree to me and die early or something. Then I cry because Michael is mad at me because I am crying so much and mad about the tree. He tells me that I probably hurt the girls feelings who helped us pick it out, so guess what? I cry some more! Then, I cry just because I realize that I must still have some major pregnancy hormones going on since I am crying so much! I admit it, I really and truly was SO mad about this tree. How totally selfish does that sound? Hey, at least I am being honest. It ended up being WAY smaller than our previous trees and I just felt ripped off and felt like it looked super puny. I refused to put lights on it for days. I actually called the people multiple times to see if we could come and exchange it. I only got their answering machine and was too embarrassed to leave a message. Anyway, once I got the lights up, it looked a little better. I still haven't put decorations on it yet. I think that part of me keeps thinking that a new tree will just appear. Michael kept saying that he was going to throw that tree out and go get a new one. At one point I really thought he might, and then I would have been REALLY mad for wasting that money. :)
I will post pictures later of the tree once it is decorated.
In the meantime, this is what Graham thought of his first Christmas tree gettin' experience.


Honestly, as silly as it sounds, this whole hating on the tree situation was actually a good lesson for me. Once again, I was reminded of this season and what it is really about. It isn't about perfect Christmas trees and not enough decorations or presents, or dinners, etc. It is about celebrating JESUS! My prayer is that my children always remember that. What I don't want is for them to remember their crazy momma crying over the Christmas tree!
This season is also about being thankful for miracles, like this one right here.