Happy 4th of July!

You mean I CAN'T empty this huge box of rubber bands? Really, why not? Well I kinda already did. Sorry Mom.

Here's hoping your holiday was full of food, fun, and festivities. Be back soon with a post that involves actual thoughts and maybe even something meaningful. Or maybe not you never know around here!

8 Weeks

Baby Joy is 8 weeks old today and she started smiling about a week ago--it took her Momma another week to capture it though! She slept better last night than she has in about two weeks so I feel like a new woman. I told her today I'm so much happier to play with her when she's awake after she's slept for me. I figure honesty is the best policy from the beginning, right?

She is growing at a crazy rate, much like her brother and sister. There's clearly something about me having gestational diabetes that makes them grow really big really fast. It's either that or the fact that I eat about 12 meals a day and feed her almost that many times.

We talked to the surgeon's office today and he said we can wait until she is four months old to do the CT scan on her lung. He said the longer we can give it to resolve on its own, (if it is still there at all which, if you remember, we assume it is NOT) the better. He doesn't trust a sonogram to be 100 % accurate so we're hoping they will do the scan then we'll be done with his office when we see nothing there. What a miracle. What a baby girl. Why God chose us for her parents we don't know but we are excited to see who she becomes.

Thanks for the compliments on the wedding post! Isn't that dress cute--and it was so cheap compared to the other ones I was looking at. It felt springy and fun for a wedding. I'm so glad I didn't buy one that was a lot more expensive since I'm hopefully not going to be this size for much longer. It's a great feeling to start working out and knowing the work I put into how I look can be permanent. Maternity clothes are retired for good. Old clothes aren't fitting yet but we aren't far...

On a totally unrelated note, (as usual I throw something in there,) have you seen the news story about the senator who used the phrase "soul mate," referring to someone other than his wife? I'd love to say if I was married to him I'd find that acceptable but I told Sean today that if something like that ever came out of his mouth I'd shoot him. Like I said, honesty is the best policy.

Kate's birthday

I took these at my niece Kate's first birthday party. Unfortunately we had to leave before the birthday girl woke up from her morning nap (such is life, right!) so I don't have a picture of her...I do have some of my big kids though! Mom was helping me last weekend so I took the liberty of only taking Ty and Charlie across the metroplex to the party and left Joy with her.

This would be a cool action shot if I was a real photographer.

You think Charlie was tired?

Ty making himself at home. Nice leg hike, don't you think? He's eating a Smarties sucker. Did y'all know that existed?? I didn't until the party and I've already started stockpiling them for emergencies in my diaper bag.
This would be Charlie's dream come true: a rolling cart to collect stuff in. Especially if there are this many balls available to drag around. Right after this picture she caught the back of her heel with it so she stopped but for a while she was my favorite bag I mean cart lady.

An affair to remember

We had the best time at Bonnie's wedding! It was sweet, Christ-centered, fun, and full of people that we love and hardly ever get to see. I'd be lying if I didn't mention that a big part of the fun was just getting to be with adults and laugh as loud as we wanted to without wondering if we'd wake up a little person with all of our fun we were having. I love my children but it does a momma good to be away. Especially when they are in the very best of hands while you're gone. Mom, Dad, and Emmy, thank you for keeping the rugrats so we could have a fun night out!

Bonnie and Mark during the father/daughter dance. He did part of the ceremony and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. He is a great daddy and is obviously very close to Bonnie. There were many sweet moments between them during the wedding.
Aside from the fact that I look 5 months pregnant in this picture, (why am I standing like that?)it is a cool one because this is Christian and when he was 7 I was his nanny. He is now 12 years old and almost as tall as I am! And Sean was particularly impressed with how iPhone savvy he is. He taught Sean all about some new applications and that's saying A LOT since Sean knows almost as much about the phone as the guys at the Apple store. That's the cake table behind us--I made sure we sat as close as possible to the bride's cake. I'm no fool.
Love her. This is Brandi, and you've heard about her before. She was the high school "youth girl," when I was the jr. high one and she's as wise, funny, gifted, and pretty as they come. This is the Brandi I was visiting when I found out I was pregnant. Her little girl that we were visiting way back then was the flower girl in Bonnie's wedding and Brandi was the matron of honor.
Casey, who took Brandi's job after her and worked with me, Carley (y'all all know her by now!), Bonnie, (prettiest bride EVER,) and me, only looking about 3 months pregnant.
Our first post-baby picture! Woohoo we did it Carley! I'm so glad you came with us to the wedding--it was fun to catch up without the babies taking our attention away from each other!
Priscilla, Mark, and me. I don't know if I've mentioned it but they are moving, (like now,) and we will all miss them terribly. Mark is the new president of Denver Seminary and so obviously they're moving to Colorado. Dern, I guess we'll have to visit.
Me and my man, minus the green tie I made him wear for the wedding...that we borrowed from my dad. Yes I made him match--and made him wear a long sleeved shirt in the Africa heat that we have been blessed ?? with here already. He wears a uniform four days a week so this is one of the few times you'll see him dressed up. I love it when he does but I know it's a pain when you have to wear a suit/tie/uncomfortable uniform shirt. I know this because growing up the minute Dad walked in from the office he'd put on overalls or those horrible polyester coaching shorts. You Waxahachie girls will remember those days!

I flagged the pictures that I wanted Sean to send to my computer and somehow the one of Jake and Bonnie didn't get to it...I'll put it on as soon as he has the chance to send it! It was, after all, their wedding :)

Ty's car wash

Since this is my first video my secret is out: I'm a hick, born and raised in a small town in Texas. Well okay born in Dallas raised in a small town actually. Words like 'doin,' 'fixin,' and 'whatcha,' are normal and part of everyday speech. If you had a vision of me being all refined and well-spoken, sorry to burst your bubble.

Ty loves going through the car wash and since we can't go through it every day he came up with his own version. I directed him to get it on video yesterday but the boy started making laps around the plant a few days ago. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "Ty going to car wash..." He's a genius I tell you. A genius.

Ty's weekend of mourning

This weekend our friend Bonnie is getting married. We couldn't be more excited for her but Ty is losing his first girlfriend to another man. I haven't told him yet but I'm sure when I do he will cry.

His tears may or may not occur at the same time as a regular fit so it will be hard to tell how much of his heartache is for Bonnie.

See how much he loves her? He asks for her like he asks for Nattie/Popeye/Emmy/Mimi/Pops. The best part is that he has barely even been around her until very recently. If I had a million dollars I'd hire her to be my nanny for the rest of my life. Like I'd keep her around even after the kids graduate from college and everything. I'd let Jake (future hubby,) come too. I'm all for supporting her marriage :)

I met Bonnie when I first started going to my church when she was in high school. During her senior year we took a tap class together and I had more fun than you can imagine driving back and forth to the dance studio and making a fool of myself in front of her. It was one of my absolute favorite times in the last few years. Sadly I had to miss the recital at the end of the year--otherwise I'd certainly post pictures of the event to embarrass both of us. You can't have it all.

Another favorite memory of Bonnie is when I drove with her and her mom Priscilla to Denver to visit another friend of ours who I'd worked with at church. Brandi, a great friend and post-worthy girl all her own, had just had her first baby so we were going to meet miss Madren. We drove there and back in I think four days to visit the Pembertons and the day we left I took a pregnancy test and it was positive.

Master Ty in the making. Well in the baking.

Gonna leave that one alone.

Anyway.

I say that a whole lot don't I? Well it's like I'm talking to you so I probably say that a whole lot in conversation too.

Anyway.

See it fits.

I had not told Sean I was pregnant because I took the test early in the morning and he had already gone on a trip. I didn't want to tell him over the phone so I did what every respectable newly pregnant girl would do: I told Priscilla and Bonnie before I told my own husband. I couldn't stand having this huge secret! I had not even told my own mother because I didn't want to tell her over the phone either! It was like a fire hydrant gone wrong every time I opened my mouth that morning. Excitement just spewed out. I still feel bad I didn't tell Sean first. He doesn't care for the record. On our way back into Texas I called Sean and was so revved up I picked a fight with him and then we had to finish the fight before I could tell him I was pregnant. Oh the memories.

I got to share in this new phase with two precious friends, a mother and a daughter. Both of them are gems. Both are beautiful and godly and constants in my life. Both are some of the first people at the hospital when I have a new baby. Both are people that I wish you knew in real life so you could laugh like I do at/with them. Mostly with them. Both of them were at my wedding and their husband/daddy Mark was one of the poor souls who married us that fateful day in August nearly four years ago. In the little chapel where it was 96 degrees in the coolest corner of the building. Again, the memories.

Tomorrow night is one of her showers and then the wedding is on Sunday. It'll be a big night for us since Nattie and Popeye are coming to keep the kids ALLOFTHEM and we'll dress up and I'll maybe even blow dry my hair and put makeup on. Gasp. Won't that be fun??! Yes indeed it will.

I'd promise to take pictures but then I'd feel bad if I do something totally like myself and forget my camera. How 'bout I promise to try to remember my camera. That will have to do.

Happy weekend until we meet again...

Put Me Back In

I think I'm going to cry...

Whoever said this life was fun doesn't know what they're talking about. I have to cry to get anything done around here and there are other little people throwing stuff and making constant noise so even when I AM tired and want to sleep they keep me awake! Mom and Dad, put me back in that warm cozy place where I never got hungry or cold. Please. Thank you, Joy