goings on

carlisle started crawling at 6 months, pulling up at 7 months, standing alone at 9 months. now at 11 months she walked 5 steps toward me today. more to come just wanted to jot this down before i forgot.

me: what are you thankful for?
Lucy Neal (without even a pause): "you love you" (that i love her), "god loves you" (god loves her", and "stella's mama" (that she's stella's mama)

i love my mama, you got a problem with that?

there's no question about it, i am this kid's favorite person in the whole wide world. when i'm holding her, all is right in her little world and when i'm not, well trust me it's bad. it's a little flattering (ok a lot flattering) and she is my heart. well to make it even better on saturday kyle was holding her and she reached out for me. best. feeling. ever.

1st event: "mama!!" "mama!!"
i run up to her room. "yes?"
"stella was playing with my butterflies!"
i get stella out of her room and tell her to go to sleep.

2nd event: we hear footsteps upstairs followed by bump, bump, bump down the stairs.
me: "what is it lucy neal?"
(half smiling) "there's something scary in my room. i think i need to come sit on the couch by you mama. that would be fun."
kyle : "what are you doing?"
she whips around and says "hey! i was talking to mama!"
a few minutes later i say, "what scared you in your room?"
"nothing, mama. there wasn't anything scary."hmmmm
she sits on the couch for a few minutes, then we send her packing, back upstairs.

3rd event: about ten minutes later, more footsteps.
about halfway down the stairs she says her leg hurts.
me: "what happened?"
LN: "a bug bit me and i have a bobo"
she comes the rest of the way down the stairs and walks past kyle. i am laughing so hard at this point and have my face buried in the pillow because i know a bug did not just now bite her and she is just trying to think of reasons to come downstairs.
kyle (in a very serious, stern, and kind of loud voice): "come here and let me look at it."
LN whirls around and in her best mama voice says, "BE NICE!" with plenty of attitude.
we both lost it at this point, kyle grabs her and starts to hug her, tickle her, and asks her why she's so funny and silly. she laughs that belly laugh that will melt your heart. and all of a sudden i'm thankful for the hour long attempt to get her to bed...

this past weekend, carlisle was baptized. it was an amazing day, with lots of family and perfect weather. we had lunch at our house afterwards, and everything turned out great. she was so well behaved during the ceremony, and it was beautiful. here she is in our family heirloom christening gown that is over 100 years old...

great expectations

did i say i would blog everyday? bad idea...you see i am notorious for setting the bar entirely too high for myself and in turn feeling like a failure when whatever it is doesn't happen. it's one of the things i have had to let go of after having a second baby. there isn't as much time, therefore less things get done. it's life. so maybe my goal should be to blog once a week. yes, i think that's better.

earlier this week i rented the barbie mermaid movie for lucy neal because she has been wanting to see it forever. i'm thinking it may have been a little too old for her, considering after it was over she was walking around putting her hand on her hip and saying, "own it girl." really??? i just cannot stand how grown she is lately. i almost cried when we got a real deal school supply list in the mail for 3 year old preschool. and i don't cry. ever. and i did say almost. meanwhile, carlisle has just started eating baby food this week and she is a huge fan. hopefully this will get her sleeping through the night. who knows. this kid does whatever the heck she wants and is very unpredictable. some nights she sleeps, some she doesn't. some days she takes 30 min. naps all day, some days a 4 hour nap. random. but she's precious and we love her and she is very happy these days, which is a nice change from the first 3 months of her life. that was rough.

getting a picture of these two is always an adventure...

a day in the life...

picture this...flowood, 2010 (for all of you golden girls fans). i stop at target on the way home to pick up a few things. carlisle wakes up as soon as we hit the door and realizes she is in her carseat and that is not a cool place to be. enter meltdown #1. a few minutes later we are in the baby clothes dept. (no, i don't have enough self control not to stop, even when i'm in a hurry but i only bought one thing if you just have to know) and i hear lucy neal say "ooooh i want to try on this shirt." like i said, i heard it but just wasn't really paying attention. before i knew it i was looking down at a 3 year old in the middle of target, stripped down to her tinkerbell panties and attempting to put on a size 12 month onesie. i immediately grabbed the onesie from her, told her to get dressed and that we didn't have time for this. enter meltdown #2. keep in mind carlisle has been crying this entire time. nonstop. we leave target, in need of gas, but who actually stops for gas before their gas light comes on? i mean, not me. so i decide we can make it to carthage. the problem with that was the terrible wind/rainstorm we encountered b/t jackson and carthage that knocked out all the power in carthage. no gas in carthage. by now my gas light had been on for a few miles. so i turn the air conditioner off, and start praying that we make it the 12 miles to edinburg. for those of you that have never been to edinburg please don't go. it's not worth it. unless you really need to see the houses on stilts and fake deer right, amy? so we made it to edinburg, sweat and all and the one gas station doesn't take debit cards at the pump (of course). so i lock my sleeping babies in the car next to some very scary acting people, pay for my gas and we set off back home. meanwhile we are running late for vbs and lucy neal still isn't dressed. but we made it. thanks to some sweet people. lucy neal's sweet daddy that met us in the parking lot of the church with her shirt, the sweet people at vbs that fixed a plate for her, and my sweet friends that helped to comfort me when my nerves were shot. needless to say i was especially thankful last night after everything was said and done. thankful that i fought the urge to leave both children at target. thankful that we made it in the bad weather and didn't run out of gas. thankful that LN made it to vbs. and last but not least, thankful that i had a stash of wine in this dry town...

making changes

so, i have decided that the only way to remember what these precious two girls of mine have done is going to be to blog about it, since i have never written down one thing in a book about what lucy neal has done/said. and believe me there has been some pretty cute stuff. so starting tomorrow i am making time in my day to sit down and post every day about something that happened that day, whether it be good or bad, so stay tuned for some pretty entertaining stuff...

look, mama...i'm a ballerina

so, the other day as soon as i got her dressed she started holding her skirt out and saying over and over that she was a ballerina today. and she told everyone she saw. cannot WAIT to put her in dance lessons...

a time to be productive

so, i went for a checkup yesterday and it was decided that i would be induced on march 16th instead of hanging around and waiting for my due date of march 27th. better to not chance a birth on the side of the road between philadelphia and jackson, considering my labor with lucy neal went so quickly. also, when you have a 2year old, it's probably better to have a plan anyway. so i'm super excited but also super stressed out about everything that has to be finished before she gets here. we are pretty much unpacked, but there are alot of things to do and here is my list. keep in mind, i do understand that these things are not essentials and i can live without them, but i would like to get them done before i have 2 children to take care of. otherwise, who knows when i will have time to do them, and then they will just keep getting put off for months, and you know the story...

*make curtains for baby's room, lucy neal's room, and our bedroom (as of now we have those stick on paper shades, which are a WONDERFUL temporary fix, but it's time for the real thing)
*make dust ruffle for our bed
*cover headboard for our bed
*make shower curtain for baby/guest bathroom

yesterday i got fabric for all of these projects, hoping to get them all done before the 16th. we will see and i will post updates. maybe that will make me feel accountable and a little more apt to work on them instead of just thinking about working on them. because as some of you know, motivation in your last few weeks of pregnancy is sometimes hard to find. impossible to find. i just want to lay in bed and do absolutely nothing. and i'm not a lazy person. oh and add pajamas to the list. i'm attempting to make myself pj's to wear when i go to the hospital. we will see. meanwhile my entire outlook as changed, as i now have a day that i know this will be over. so here's to new attitudes and lots of productivity! stay tuned for pics...

and now, a year later

let me first point out that it is purely a coincidence that i decided i wanted to start blogging again on the exact day a year from my last post. i mean i haven't even looked at my blog since that day a year ago. how weird is that? i know. anyway i am the kind of blogger who thinks that if i let enough time pass between posts that i have to think of everything that has happened since then and it just starts to stress me out and so i just don't do it. hence the year long hiatus. so i will not be going back and writing a year's worth of happenings, but i will try to hit the high points. let's see....ran 2 half marathons, lucy neal turned 2, had a really fun summer trying to teach her how to swim and quit my job to stay home with her in june, found out i was pregnant in july, finally got her potty trained, she had tons of fun trick or treating this year and was an absolute doll, had thanksgiving in port gibson, christmas in philadelphia, put our house on the market in september and it sold in november, had to be out the week before christmas, moved to philadelphia to a temporary house for a month and a half for dec/jan then feb 1 finally moved into what we hope will be our settled home. whew! makes me tired just thinking about it. baby girl ray is due on march 27th and i have found out the hard way that the 2nd pregancy just isn't as much fun as the 1st. aside from all of the moving and unpacking, chasing a toddler around just doesn't allow for much rest, which is always fun to have when you're pregnant. so that's all i can commit to for now. hopefully soon i will sit down and post some pics of lucy neal in all her cuteness. until then...

Lions and Tigers and Peacocks, OH MY!

2 weeks ago, we were so excited about warm weather that we ventured out to the zoo. Julie and Wynn came along too and we had lots of fun. Except for when during our first 5 minutes there I got attacked by a peacock. Yes, you read correctly...ATTACKED. Apparently this is a common occurence with the peacock population that I was unaware of. So they just kept surrounding us in a circle and closing in and there was one viscious one that just wasn't backing down. We were at the very first exhibit trying to look at the giraffes and they wouldn't leave us alone. Well all of a sudden one of them just started flying on top of me and grabbed my leg with it's sharp claw. And yes, the peacocks have large talons! I, of course, saw my life flash before my eyes and screamed. Kyle, of course, just stood there and told me to "chill out". Easy for him to say, he wasn't being mauled by a peacock. I went to the front gate, reported the incident and the woman very graciously called some people to come retrieve the psycho peacock. About that time, Wynn Brown rolled through the gates, at what point all the peacock scurried except that one that attacked me! He was fearless. The ladies came and got it and explained that it had been raised around people and we probably weren't paying it the attention it wanted. So, after that it was pretty fun and uneventful. Wynn's continuous request throughout the whole trip was "I wanna ride the train, I got ticket!" He was so fired up about that train, and Lucy Neal was NOT (see pic below). We saw lots of "aminals" as Wynn says and the weather was perfect.

Wynn Brown turns 2!

On January 10th we went to Wynn's house to help him celebrate his 2nd birthday. What a fun time! Lucy Neal had a blast on the big blow up slide and once she got warmed up she didn't want to quit. "adin! adin!" We might have to borrow this idea in May!

13.1

On Feb. 2, Meredith, Sarah Elizabeth and I ran the Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans. What an experience! Julie also ran, but she ran the whole marathon. She did great! After we finished our race we went to different spots and cheered on Juls. So we went down on Friday, made a weekend of it, then got up Sunday and ran the race. Meredith and I ran together the whole time...thanks again Mere for the support! I couldn't have done it without the motivation and support from these girls...they trained with me and kept me going! Thanks to Sarah E. for getting up with me on those oh so cold mornings! Maybe one day I will want to do another one (emphasis on maybe)! Thanks to the husbands (Kyle and Edwin) that came and cheered us on at several points in the race. They really kept us going. Edwin your cowbell was a great idea!

november til now

rather than trying to think back on exact dates and creating a million posts for different things (which i hate) i will condense everything that has been going on with the little one into one post. easier for everyone! so here goes...

soon after the "new manners" post (may have spoken to soon) lucy neal moved from getting popped on the hand to full blown spankings(sounds awful, but really just pops on the leg) for continuing to do things she has been told no about countless times ie. messing with the dishwasher. so one day in late november, she was fooling with something i had told her no about and she kept doing, to which i said "if you touch that one more time mama will spank you". her response?... she popped herself on the side of the leg and said "SPANK YOU!" -hilarious-

since then, we have decided time out is a much more effective punishment for her. here are a few reasons why time out hurts her feelings more than anything:

*no baby or lamb in time out (both of which she always wants when she's upset or gets in trouble)
*she can hear her movie playing but can't see it
*she can see us but can't be in the room with us
she always tries to inch on her booty toward us but is quickly told to sit still which is devastating to her!

when she gets out of time out, she immediately goes to whatever got her in trouble and points and says "no no"

when asked "who did you play with at school today?" she starts naming all of the kids in her class:

"keet" keaton
"moyee" mollie
"daithe" daise
"nannon" brandon
"no, no tole!" cole (poor cole must get in trouble a good bit! she thinks that's his name!)

we had a blast decorating for christmas, and she got to help without getting in too much trouble. she absolutely LOVED going to look at christmas lights and as we were riding around she would shout "OH, WOOK!" she has become so independent lately, plays alone for long periods of time, and will so sweetly climb in her chair and read books to herself which is one of my favorite things to watch. her newest obsession is Barney (sad i know) and she would watch him 24/7 if i let her. when the credits start rolling at the end of a barney movie, she turns around and says "OH, MARNEY!! when i say obsessed, i mean like mesmerized/captivated/ doesn't move from the t.v. the entire time it's on!! she brushes her teeth like a champ and doesn't hate it anymore. she tt's on the potty more times than not and is so proud of herself when she does it. we're not officially potty training, but trying to familiarize her with it so it won't be a foreign concept later on. her favorite thing in the whole world is going to the park and the other day when we pulled up she starting throwing her arms in the air and screaming, "YAY, PARK!" lots of people have asked the infamous question: "are you ready for another one yet?" and my response is quite simple: i am so happy with the way things are right now with lucy neal. she is at such a fun age and i don't crave anything extra in my life, instead would like to try to simplify it to have more time to spend with her. can't imagine being pregnant tired and chasing her around right now, but props to those who do it!
well enough rambling for now, pictures to follow soon!

newly acquired manners

recently, lucy neal has started using very good manners in everyday dialogue. it's so cute!

all none peasth! (all done please)
nack peasth! (snack please)
baby peasth, nalm peasth! (baby please, immediately followed by lamb please..kyle says we should sew them together)

anything she asks for she says please and once given to her immediately says "thank you" it's the sweetest thing ever! also, everynight when we take off her socks and every morning when we take off her pj's she exclaims "hey toes!" same for when we cover them up, "bye bye toes!" she's learned how to ask to watch one of her dvd's..."moobie?" or "bb" (tv) she's also learned how to give great kisses.

she know 2 colors, purple and yellow and says them both very clearly and appropriately when pointing to something purple or yellow. she can say other colors, but doesn't know what they are. she can count to 3 (mostly helps me when i am counting for her to come here)

but the latest, most precious words that i have been waiting to hear since she starting talking are....are you ready...


I WUVU! (I LOVE YOU!!!!!)

Hawaiian Halloween

Well, as holidays go for this little hula girl, Halloween is her fav so far. She has been obsessed with all of the decorations...skulls, pumpkins you name it. Our Kroger had a wonderful display of "haween" in the middle of the store, so everytime we went we had to spend at least 10 minutes in that aisle. She was hilarious...growling at all of the decorations and loving on some (mostly skulls). She wasn't hardly scared of any of them. We took her to the farmer's market near our house and let her pick out her very own "pump pump". What a treat! We also had these two decorative pumpkins on the floor in front of the fireplace that she had a fine time playing with...I can only imagine what christmas will be like! Oh so speaking of christmas, the week after halloween (early i know, right?) they were doing christmas pics at her school. With a professional photographer. So I got her all decked out in a beautiful dress, she looked about as angelic as they get (everyone said so, it's not just me). What a perfect opportunity for a picture right? Would have look great in a frame for christmas and then in the baby book. Well so we get in line and she sees Santa Claus through the door and starts pointing at him. Keep in mind she hasn't been introduced to him yet. So me, trying to think of a way that she could relate to how much fun he is, said "look there's santa claus..he's kind of like halloween!" Meaning he's SUPER FUN just like halloween. Her response?...she growled at him. Hilarious. So after begging to go see him, it was finally our turn. We went in, Santa was talking her, let her "pet" his furry costume which i compared to the kitty kat so she wouldn't be scared, all that jazz. She handled all of that great. So I say, "Do you want to sit with him?" and she very matter of factly shook her head and said..."NO". And that was that. So I was told a few minutes later her teacher (whom I LOVE) tried the same thing, with the exact same response. Oh well, no pic with Santa Claus. Maybe later in the season after she gets to know him a little better.

fun times at the fair

so we took the little one to the state fair (2 times) and i think it's safe to say that...SHE LOVED IT!! rides...not so much. petting zoo..could have stayed for hours. she also loved watching people ride the scary rides and imitating their screams. hilarious! picking up ducks was a big hit as well and she even got to pick out her own prize (like we need another stuffed animal at our house, but oh well it was fun for her)! in addition to the petting zoo, she got to pet a few snakes (ssss) and a baby alligator (opening and closing her mouth really big). anyway, scroll down for lots of fair footage!

3 month blog vacation

after a long span of blogging procrastination, i have decided to sit down and try to remember enough about the past 3 months to give a few updates. it was such a fun summer with the little one, and we are looking foward to halloween and the holiday season, as these will be her true "firsts" since she is now mobile and more aware of her surroundings than last year. well, here goes (scroll down for a recap of the past few months).

september

how to even begin to describe september...crazy, busy, fun! i went on a fabulous trip to chicago with 3 of my best friends to run in the chicago half marathon (clarification: they ran. i cheered.) they all 3 finished in record time in record rainfall for chigago! we got to tour the city a little and it is amazing...can't wait to go back! we got back on monday night and kyle and i took off tuesday morning for our anniversary trip to the beach. on the way down, we dropped lucy neal off with her ami (kyle's mom) in daphne and she spent the week with her. i didn't want to leave her after being in chigago, but we managed to have fun and so did she. we came back through daphne on friday, planning to spend the night and drive home saturday, but brandon was there and we had so much fun we spent saturday night too. during the trip lucy neal named dennis "poppy". so sweet!

after all of our travels, we were ready to be still for awhile. but as soon as we got back, lucy neal got tubes. everything went great, no fussiness, and had a quick recovery. we went for our first trip to the park with friends amy and byron and their little one, louisa who is 1 month older than lucy neal. she loved the park and was covered in dirt when we left. her favorite: the slide, of course!

august

let's see...august was a big month for us. lucy neal moved to a new room at school where she started to go outside to play, read books and sing songs. we were so excited for so much new stimulation! mollie moved up with her so at least she had a familiar face. we tried to let her feed herself with a spoon..not quite ready for that task yet! (see pics below) she was also a huge help cleaning out the garage. it was hilarious, she was black from head to toe! we went to philadelphia to visit kyle's fam and she said "ami" (kyle's mom's grandmother name) for the first time...it was precious!

july

a very eventful month for us...Lucy Neal loved the fireworks on the 4th (wasn't scared at all, just loved watching them). then, as i had hoped (and hoped and hoped) almost 2 months after her first step, she (finally) started officially walking on July 27th! just in time for the Neshoba County Fair, which if you've never been, is nice to have a walking child vs. a non-walking child. she was a huge trooper for the whole week of the fair, slept pretty good (despite having a cabin full of 30-60 people depending on the night) and got to spend lots of quality time with family. we put plenty of miles on her red wagon and met her cousin mary logan (no doubt her fair buddy for years to come). she went to her first concert (she loved it), saw some horse races, and did a whole lot of playing...fun times!

catching up

well, after a very long blogging break, we're back. i have felt so overwhelmed by all of the things i had to catch up on that it was easier for me just not to blog. my usual blogging time is sunday night, and considering we were out of town every weekend in may, that didn't leave much time to blog. then i decided, i don't have to do a new post for everything that has happened since last time, i will just do a recap. so here goes...
*on may 9th we celebrated lucy neal's 1 yr. birthday with cake, a few friends,and lots of family mexican fiesta style! she got so many toys, including a red wagon, a car, and a little mermaid riding toy. we opened a few each day so she wouldn't be overwhelmed and she has been enjoying them ever since.
*the following weekend we went to a wedding for a friend from high school,where she got to meet a bunch of people for the first time and was such a trooper!
*for memorial day weekend we went to gulf shores with kyle's family and had so much fun! she got to model her swimsuits, play in the sand, got in the ocean for a bit, and went swimming in the pool (her favorite) her ami got her a super cute bean bag that she enjoyed lounging in
*the following weekend we did 1 yr old pics at mynelle gardens (so much fun, and so beautiful) she loved all of the flowers and didn't get fussy til the very end

a few of her new things are saying some new words ("meow","boof boof", "kkkk" (kittycat), "thank you", "uh uh" (uh oh), "hey" (and waves). she also shakes her head yes and no, but not appropriately...it's hilarious!

1st step!

today when i picked the little one up from daycare she took a step to me! so exciting! then when we got home she took 2 and 3 at a time...more to come but just wanted to proclaim the good news!

fun weekend in daphne

we went to daphne, al this weekend to visit kyle's family. his brother flew in from miami and we had a fun, relaxing weekend. Lucy Neal enjoyed spending time with everyone, and even got to taste some cool whip, which she loved!

Lucy Neal and her friend Mollie in their matching strawberry outfits I made them

We have a tooth!

Finally at 11 months old, Lucy Neal's first tooth broke through this weekend! We thought it would never happen. Until now, it hasn't slowed her down eating...she eats more table food than any of the kids in her class, and they all have a mouthful of teeth. It's no telling what she will eat now!

11 months old

A few new things at 11 months...laughing a lot more, saying "dog" everytime she hears one bark, saying 'baby' when she wants her baby and she carries it everywhere! Don't think she will let you hold it for one second...she will crawl as fast as she can and snatch the baby out of your hand. She absolutely LOVES to play on the bed...here is some footage.

tagged by adelle

i was tagged by adelle to play a “who are you?” game. so here goes--the rules of the game get posted at the beginning. each player answers the questions about themselves. at the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people, posts their names, and then leaves a comment on their blogs, letting them know they've been tagged.

what was i doing 10 years ago?

i was in my jr. year of high school, getting in lots of trouble, and wanting SO badly to be grown! if only i could go back. let's see, right now would be the time for tennis season, cheerleader tryouts, and starting today...the infamous countdown to my birthday (which has dwindled over the years, but for the record it's 27 days)

5 things on my to-do-list

1) finish kitchen backsplash
2) sew lucy neal's clothes
3) finish kitchen table and chairs (painting and distressing)
4) start lucy neal's baby book
5) finish planting flowers

5 snacks I enjoy

1)goldfish
2)snack mix (nancy rie's trash)
3)bon ami sugar cookies
4)chocolate
5)fresh cherries

5 things i would do if i were a billionaire

1)pay off all debt
2)build an antebellum house on a huge piece of land (with an oak tree lined driveway)
3)travel (fiji, st. barts, new york, italy)
4)send my children to private school
5)give to charity, my parents, etc...

5 bad habits

1)procrastinating
2)getting started on too many projects at a time (hence the to-do-list)
3)not exercising enough
4)buying lucy neal clothes (but i get such great deals!)
5)being indecisive

5 places i have lived

1)port gibson, ms
2)new york (for 1 year in 2nd grade)
3)hattiesburg
4)clinton
5)brandon

5 jobs i've had

1)southern lumber company
2)applebee's
3)hampton inn
4)footaction
5)UMC ER

5 people i want to know more about (tag, you're it)

1)kendy kosko
2)katie bumgarner
3)julie brown
4)meredith mclemore
5)erin schwant

Happy Easter!

Another first has passed and this sweet little one is getting closer and closer to being a year old! I can't believe in only 2 months she will be 1. Easter day wasn't great for her considering she missed her morning nap for church (made for a mad baby), then crawled off the bed and landed on the floor (made for an even madder baby). But the weekend was fun and she got to hunt for eggs...next year will be more exciting for her.

newest trick

Just this week, Lucy Neal has started standing by herself for a few seconds at a time. She will start off holding on to something, then just let go and stand there. After awhile she will realize what's going on and fall down. This must be one of the first signs of walking (scary!), though she has no desire to walk just yet.

roadtrip to daphne

This weekend, Lucy Neal and I went to visit Kyle's parents in Daphne, AL. We went to an arts and crafts festival in Fairhope, where she enjoyed riding in her stroller and people watching. She charmed everyone everywhere we went they all thought she was adorable. A fun trip...but taking a 10 month old on a trip by yourself is easier said than done!