Q & A

Claire tagged me so here goes... (until HAH's pap falls out of her mouth and she begins screaming, then I'll have to stop).

7 things I plan to do before I die:
Be debt free
Build a home
Get more than 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep
Have LASIK surgery
Finish school
See HAH and any following children grow up into faithful children of God
Go to Oprah's Favorite Things taping and come home w/ the mother load of free stuff

7 things I can do:
Sing completely random tidbits of songs... incorrectly
Quote movies (absolute fave "Steel Magnolias")
Play softball
Multitask
Make people laugh
Talk on the phone incessantly
Psychoanalyze to the gills

7 things I cannot do:
Sing Def Lepard songs correctly
Remember all the dance steps to Thriller
Name all 50 states or their capitals (I cheated on this in the 5th grade!)
Keep from commenting on horrendous fashion violations
Weedeat
Keep from correcting grammar mistakes
Stop kissing Hadlee's head

7 things that attract me to another person:
Eyes
Ears
Nose
Hair (all in the correct places!!)
Sense of humor
Smile
Laugh

7 celebrity crushes:
Micheal Vartan
Matthew McConohay (add spell to the "cannot" list)
Steve from Blues Clues
Regis Philbin
Matt Lauer
Phil Michelson (that left handed golfer guy)
Seriously, I have to come up w/ SEVEN???

7 things I say the most:
Holy Crap!
Shut up! (not telling someone that, but as an exciting type of exclamation)
Huh?
Bran!
Love ya, Bye.
Thank you
Yes maam / sir

7 bloggers I am tagging:
Had anyone NOT done this? Go ahead if you wish...

Looking, looking, looking...

We are almost positive that we've found the lot (2 acres) and also that we've found the house plans. Now all we have to do is buy and build!!! It'll be fun, stressful and a great learning experience. Put your seat belts on 'cuz we're going for a ride!!!!

HAH

Her personality is really beginning to show! This was a couple of Sundays ago when I had her in a very frilly outift ~ she may be a Libery Overall girl as opposed to a pearls & lace diva.

The picture on the right is from this afternoon when she was smiling and kind of laughing. I love it!!

This is "the freaks come out week" a.k.a. Fair Week. Tomorrow night Hadlee is staying w/ Abuelita & Papi for a couple of hours so B and I can get some greasy food and funnel cakes ~ Mmmm. We may even walk around and watch the pig races or tractor pull ~ YEEEEE HAW!!!

Mommy Mush

So, I've been thinking of slogans / t-shirt / bumper sticker sayings for new moms. Here are a few that I've come up w/...

*Spit up ~ the new fragrance from Baby.
*Got milk?
*Good vibrations ~ not just a song by the Beach Boys.
*Engorgement ~ every husbands' Freudian fantasy.
*Poop ~ what color is your baby's?
*Wipies ~ they clean it all.
*I tore all the way ~ what have you done today?
*Giving birth ~ it's the trump card for life.
*My baby smiles and then passes gas ~ what can yours do?
*Baby in carrier + diaper bag + two trips a day to anywhere = buff arms.
*Catheters ~ can't all have one?
*C-sections ~ we're a club all our own.
*Under eye circles ~ the new makeup trend.
*Mommy Olympics categories: Fastest shower time. Can you change a stinky diaper w/ 2 wipes or less? Who has the longest leg hair? Math skills: mulitply the number of ounces your baby eats by the number of diapers you change in a day and divide it by the amount per wipie...
*Sleep ~ who needs to function on 8 hours when you can do it in 3 1/2?
*Babies: Slippery when wet.

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I had Hadlee's newborn pictures taken a couple of weeks ago and yesterday I got to see the proofs, narrow the poses down and pick out which package we wanted in order to officially file for bankruptcy (seriously, $30 for 1 5x7, can you say highway robbery?). They will be back in two more weeks and I can't wait!!!

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My parent's met B, HAH and I at the house we were thinking of buying to get the "carpenter's eye" on things... Daddy's words were, "Stay away." We weren't planning on buying this one, we were more interested in the floor plan and the lot but the price had been reduced by several thousand dollars and so we were thinking more seriously about putting in a low ball offer and seeing what happened. So now were back to the original plan of waiting until next spring / summer to begin building. We're looking at lots and going through house plans imagining what we'd like to have and what all we can do on our own or contract out to people who owe Daddy favors in order to really save money. It's an interesting and fun process. My question for you is ~ what do you have that works really well and what did you think you wanted that has turned out to be less than great in your home?

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Ok, delirium has officially set in. Please add to the list of slogans. Peas out...

What to do, what to do...

If for some reason your 5 week old daughter is keeping you up b/c she refuses to sleep from, oh, say 12:11 - 2: 22 am, I highly suggest that you pick up a floor plan catalog and begin building your dream house. Also, blame the horrific sleeping habits over the past 3 nights on the full moon ~ and give it a good howl while you're at it.

If you want to check out the house that B and I are thinking of buying (or, in actuality having built and tweaking the floor plans) go to Coffee County Realty, click on "our agents," then Freda Jones, then her second page (or is it the third?) and the address is 0 Hunter's Landing ~ a 2 story brick traditional. Tell me what you think...

I'm now going to take the slumbering baby to her cradle and the next time she wakes up it's Brandon's turn to look at house plans!

P.S. What the heck is up w/ Blogger's new big ol' honkin' font? I can read this from Texas... that is where everything's bigger, right girls??? :)

P.P.S. I'M GOING TO ZOE!!! See you all in a few weeks ~ WOO HOO!!!

Forever changed...

My dear, sweet baby girl,

One month ago today you entered our lives after having been in our hearts and on our minds for years on end. One month ago today you changed my life forever. One month ago today, I experienced true unconditional love. One month ago today I looked into your precious eyes and knew that no matter what happens in this world your Daddy and I would always have each other, you, and the love of God.

We have learned so many things in the past 30 days... Your different cries and how to (hopefully) get them to subside, that you love to sleep on my chest, that you'll only take your passi when it's good for you ~ forget what we want!, that you love to go for evening walks and the bumpy road will not give you shaken baby syndrome!, that your cousin Halle thinks you're the best thing on earth next to strawberry milk, that you love to be in Gramma's arms, that Tylenol and Mylicon can fix almost any cry that we can't, and on and on...

It's so funny how much you have changed and grown in such a short amount of time. You went from hardly filling out preemie outfits to fully filling out newborn outfits literally in one day! Your beautiful smile is showing up more and more, your wrinkly little forehead less and less, but when it's there you are truly your father's child! People look at you and always comment on how beautiful you are, how pretty your skin is and how perfectly round your head... And I smile, say thank you, and think "Thank you God, for our precious gift."

There are some days that you love bath time and others when you absolutely hate it... Sunday mornings Daddy usually gets you ready so that I have time to put on makeup and not scare the entire congregation w/ the bags and dark circles under my eyes. He woke you up, gave you some breakfast, a bath and then brought you to our room... You were so mad!!! The look on your face was priceless ~ and I must say, you were truly your mother's child at that moment! I don't think you've ever looked more like me as you did right then. Daddy and I laughed until we cried, and of course I had to get a picture. :)

I can't even begin to tell you how much we all love you.. Me, Daddy, Gramma, Pawpaw Boo, Abuelita, Papi, your aunts, uncles, cousins, and the entire rest of our little world. We are so thankful to have you in our lives. You are a true blessing from above.

You have my heart and you always will. I love you Hadlee.

Always,
Momma

Randomness

I'm up w/ the baby in the second half of her "I love to be awake at 2:00 am." session. Basically, it's the only time I really have to sit down and write... who knows how coherent this will be???

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On Friday B and I met our realtor in a swanky neighborhood to look at houses. (BTW, did you know that lumber prices have gone up 33% since Katrina came roaring through?) While I absolutely love the idea and reality of looking for and building or buying our dream home, I couldn't help but feel more than a twinge of guilt. There are people nearby who have nothing, not even family members to cling to and we're here looking at homes that we don't even have the furniture to fill.

I don't know if it's feelings of guilt, inadequacy, or simply... I don't even know what. But in the back of my mind, while I was trying to place our existing furniture and doing what my carpenter's daughter's mind does best ~ adjusting and tweaking the floor plan and kitchen arrangements ~ all I could think about was how we could use our money to help others instead of buying a big home. Does that make any sense?

We are working to do things for Katrina survivors, but I still feel as if I should personally be doing more. I just don't know... any other bloggies out there with similar feelings?

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My time at home w/ Hadlee is flying by. I can't believe that she was born four weeks ago!!! There are so many moments with her that I want to freeze and put into a glass bottle so I can go back and experience them again and again... and yet others that I think, "Dear God, please let this pass quickly." Such as projectile spit up being in my hair and down my back, arms and legs ~ BUICK!!!

I still have five more weeks to stay at home with her. When I return to "work" (Who can really call it work (minus the " "'s when you have only one student and a full time aid?) HAH is going to stay w/ my step-mom (who is SOOO excited). I think it will be a wonderful experience and bonding time for the two of them and daddy (who has Mon - Wed off of work). It's so funny, b/c B and I talked about never being "one of those couples" who depends on their parents to take care of their children. We weren't planning on it. In fact, I had a place for her to go and when my parents found out they decided that they REALLY wanted Hadlee to stay with them (Have I told you they are THE busiest people on the face of the earth?). We weren't going to ask either of the grandmothers to watch her. Our feelings on the situation are that they put in their time raising us and have the God given right to say, "I have three hours on Thursday afternoon and I'd love to have one-on-one time w/ the baby." But when the gift horse is knocking on our door...

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I think it's about time to head back to bed. Our wonderful vibrating bassinet as done the trick once again... the real test is putting Hadlee into her cradle and seeing if she stays asleep. Lord, please let her stay asleep for at least three more hours!!!

Tomorrow we're taking a family day to head over to our old stomping grounds at Ethridge for a day of food, fellowship, and some mean games of Rook and Rummicube. It will be great!

You are getting veeerrry sleeeppppyyy...

Our first...

1. Family picture
2. Hadlee's first Sunday service
3. Family dinner out (at El Molcajete ~ YUMMY!!)
4. Daddy's first experience giving Hadlee a bath and getting her ready to go (it went really well!)
5. Memories together...

Ain't life together grand???

More Hadlee pics...

She's 3 1/2 weeks old and growing like a weed in a rain storm. Last week I tried to put one of her preemie outfits on her and it didn't fit anymore. I don't know when I've cried more tears. Sigh... the time really is flying.

Relief

I am putting together boxes of supplies, gift cards, and money to send to my New Orleans family who has been displaced to Hornbeck, LA. They are expecting around 250 people to join them and are trying to set up their organization (through their church) in order to continue to help those who are arriving even as you read this. If you are interested in helping touch these families and fellow Christians directly, please e-mail me through the blog and I'll send you mailing information.