my birthday

Well, folks- Shadey Jadey ended up being sick from last Monday (V-day) until this Monday, really. Saturday afternoon was her last fever, but she honestly didn't start acting like her healthy little self until Tuesday. That means we laid low ALL last week (cabin fever affected us both by Friday, so we packed up and spent the night at Nonni's just for a change of scenery :))...

...but it didn't affect my birthday on Sunday! It was WONDERFUL! Rich always plans my special day for me, makes it way more enjoyable that way, we think...so that morning, although our girl was still cranky (finally fever-free, though!) we packed up and went to the ZOO!!!! It was such a gorgeous day (I decided that my birthday present from God :)) and oh to be outside...it was wonderful!! My Mom and Dad met us there and we just strolled and enjoyed the animals...







...and then they took the cranky, now needing nap, Jadeybug back to their house so Rich and I could catch a matinee. Peeps, if you haven't seen UNKNOWN (Liam Neeson), it's really good...

...Then, a few friends met us for a yummy dinner at my fave Italian restaurant, Carrabba's...


Here is the official "hand off" of my birthday gift that traveled the farthest, all the way from the hands of my sweet sis, Court, in South Africa (by way of Rocky)...to me!


...a handmade, BEAUTIFUL scarf...which will not be worn like this-

-although Teri really wants me to! :)

And can you believe that we are ALL preggo together? In order (of biggest belly!)...Baby Andrews due beginning of May, Baby Beasley due middle of June, and Baby Calmus and Baby Walker are literally due within days of each other at the beginning of August. The BEST part is...NONE of us are finding out what we're having, so it's gonna be one, fabulous surprise after another!!! Oh I love these days in my life...


Perfect group, perfect night...

Perfect birthday.

And happy to report that today, this Friday, Shaelyn Jade is back to her old self, inventing new ways to do old things...



Happy weekend.
Love you all...

My Valentine

I had big plans for today when I went to bed last night... I had decorated Rich's office for a surprise for him (not like pink and red streamers and balloons- I mean, he had never hung his pictures or organized his book shelves or bought any decor since they moved in MONTHS ago...so I actually "spruced" it up a little for him)...Jade and I were going to go and meet him for lunch...I bought everything for a big, homecooked dinner he'd love...and planned a fun night at home for us three.

Well, as I am learning happens often with little ones, our plans don't go, um, as planned sometimes, do they? Jadeybug woke up this morning a little less thrilled than she normally is to be awake. She was snotty and whiney...and feverish. After breakfast, instead of her normal request for me to "pay" with her...she simply had one wish: "mama...bed." She was back asleep in minutes...with a 102 fever.

Plans cancelled. Day shot.

But not really. I spent almost the entire day in my PJs snuggled up with my little valentine. She literally didn't want to leave my arms...ALL day long. I spent the first part of the day thinking about HOW unproductive my day was becoming. Then, it dawned on me at some point, that this day of snuggles was the BEST VALENTINE'S DAY GIFT I could have ever even asked for. See, my little lady is needing me less and less each day...she is rarely happy sitting in my lap for too long...and I usually avoid thinking about this reality for fear of crying! But today...on this day of love...I felt so LOVED.








And if that's not enough, my real sweetheart came home with a wonderful surprise----he bought me a prenatal massage that I can cash in on a "sore" day here in this last trimester. What a good man!!!

Hope you all felt love today!

from where I sit...

It's naptime. At 4:22 pm every day, it's usually still naptime. Nearing the end of these few, quiet hours of my day. They are usually not still, however, because I almost always find lots of things to keep me moving... but today I decided to just SIT on my couch and check my email and call H & R Block about filing our taxes and look at THIS great promotion for nursing moms(Enter "VALENTINE" as promo code at checkout for FREEBIE!!!) I have been sitting for almost an hour, now, and started noticing "movement" out of my peripheral vision just a few minutes ago. Raised the blinds to find winter "flurries" comin' fast again...reminding me that this winter isn't quite over...


... Within just about 20 minutes, Joe and Greta's yard is starting to become covered....



...and Clive Staples has roused himself from my bed to come and count snowflakes with me...


...He hasn't said so himself, yet, but I am thinking he's as ready for spring as I am. Usually, on a warm day, this guy's out and about in the neighborhood at this hour, but not during the winter. 4:22 pm means naptime for him, too, these days...along with about 17 more hours of the day! Winter sleeper. Can't blame him. These white flakes a' fallin' are making my eyes heavy too...

Just a few minutes later, now, and the road is starting to accumulate snow...


I wondered if that would happen. That means, without a doubt, no school tomorrow...which doesn't really affect my life, but which I know is getting old for lots of friends! :) It also means that Rich will be later getting home because, as we all know, a single falling snowflake here in Tennessee usually means multiple car wrecks on the already-too-crowded I-65 S at quittin' time. Think we'll just have soup tonight. Yeah, warm veggie soup (although mine doesn't hold a candle to Greta's homeade soup!) sounds good...


...starting to really cover things up out there...

We'd planned to do our new fave winter activity tonight, "mim" at the Rec Center... but donning a bathing suit is hard enough when the temps are just low...I can't see myself also donning my snow boots to get there tonight! No, tonight may call for a "nuggle" night. Jadey is big on those lately. We push the fronts of our two couches together so they are touching and it kinda makes a "double wide" (obviously:)) and extra comfy palate for us...when she hears us moving the coffee table she runs in an screams with delight, "NUGGLE"...and jumps on the couches. She tells us both where to sit and once we're all situated she gives the cutest nod of contentment.

Hopefully me and my sweetheart (V-Day is close enough to start calling him that,again, right??? ;)) will find a good movie (that is, after Jadey has tired of crawling all over us and settles down)...and drift off into a sweet, warm dreamland together. Just about 3 feet away, outside, these flakes may still be falling from the storehouses...


...and I will dream of sunshine and sand...

Spring In Winter

So I am one of those people that just doesn't keep up with the weather. When it comes a big snow, I am usually like a child the next morning because, unless someone called to "warn" me, I didn't know. When I figure it out, I pull the blinds up and exclaim, "SNOW!!!"...and usually tear out through the yard to grab a handful...to eat! :) That's me. So, exactly the same thing happened last Saturday...except it was a "spring day" surprise! I was sitting at the kitchen table early Saturday morning eating breakfast with Shaelyn Jade (Rich had spent the night at The Cabin with the boys) and I thought that the birds in my backyard seemed to be "basking" in the sun...so I opened the back door and much to my surprise I was greeted with the most warm, pleasant, spring air! It was, truly, one of the best surprises of 2011 so far! :) I immediately called my Dad and told him Shadey Jadey and I would be heading that way RIGHT NOW to ride the four wheeler and see the horses and play in the sun all day long! We were in the car about 15 minutes later- windows down, music too loud to be January...and two happy girls. It's crazy how a little sunshine can change an entire day! We started our day with a long walk to the creek...then Poppy picked us up and we drove around on the tractor...down to the horses.


Rich and Uncle Jeff met us there and Jade got to "ride" her horse (thrilling!).


Then Ash met up with us (and brought pizza for lunch!) right as Dad hooked the trailor to the tractor and pulled us all over the farm. A "hayride" lunch on a sunny, January day.


We pulled sleeping bags down onto the trailor and we, like the birds, basked until our hearts were full...and our baby was sleepy!

Jade getting "tickled" by Non...


And proof that this kind of sunshine in winter can make us all do strange things...ever seen two grown men do "the spider"?! :)

Thank you, Jesus, for the surprise of a spring day in the middle of winter.


...and, while I'm on surprises, the BEST surprise of 2010, hands down, was that this sweet friend of mine also has a growing baby in her belly!!! This is my first "belly pic" of her...she's so tiny, but that little baby is starting to "pooch" out a little. Oh Baby Walker how we love you so much already!!!! :)

Birthday Boy!

Yesterday was Rich's birthday, so we made sure to have fun all weekend long! It started Friday night with a date night- dinner @ Jimmy John's (what can I say, big spenders :)) and the movie True Grit afterwards. We always love a good date where we can talk to each other, eat slowly (even if it isn't a steak!), and relax. It was good...
Saturday night we had cake and ice cream @ my Mom's house with the fam- the boys mostly played with the remote control airplanes (and managed to crash them into every wall and some foreheads!) and the Wii (might I add I was top scorer for bowling- which is something I must brag about here because I am TRULY the WORLD's WORST BOWLER in real life!!!)...and the kids' favorite part was loading up and riding down to pet the horses in the moonlight and cold!

Here the kiddos helped him blow out candles!
Yesterday started with a sweet girl waking up her Daddy and giving him his gift...


...tickets to the CIRCUS!!!

...and his favorite, yummy breakfast right there in bed!


He spent the day doing what he loves best- playing with and reading to Jadeybug...


...and then it was time for the CIRCUS!!!

Oh if you have never been (and none of us had!)- the Barnum and Bailey's Circus is an experience that everyone needs to have! We had front row seats to "The Greatest Show On Earth"...and it was truly amazing!


...Our Ringmaster!


Amazing tightrope walkers...


...and the MOST amazing was how many people were folded up inside this box!!!

At least Rich and I loved it... :)

...Shaelyn Jade (who was too excited all day to nap prior to the circus) finally fell out during the motorcycle riders (loudest part of the show!) and slept until intermission. But she was ready again for the second half with cotton candy...



...and loved every second of those elephants!
...And out favorite part was when they brought out the sweet, new baby elephant and his mommy at the end...

What a special memory for us all!


We finished Rich's special day at home, on the couch, with his favorite cake--- Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. He finally got to blow out his birthday candles and make his special birthday wish.

...Apparently this was a fake because afterward I asked him if he made a wish and he reported, " I never really do."

"WHAT??" Not in this house! We wait all year long for one special day where we can make one special wish...and he doesn't do it? He said he wanted to try again...


...and then he wanted to TELL ME HIS WISH (don't worry, friends- I stopped him before it was too late...whew!)... As we curled up in bed last night he said it was a good day...and I agreed. I am so thankful for the wonderful husband that God gave me to spend my days with, and I just know that every year's gonna keep getting better and better!

Happy Birthday, sweet Rich! I love you!!!

PINK

So I woke up this morning with my right eye swelled and "glued" shut! Not the way I had intended to start, or spend, my day. Had to cancel our Library Day with Cash and Whitney (and the yummy lunch she was going to make for us...) AND dinner with our friends tonight. Not fun. Not a happy camper. So we are "quarantining" again, for the second week in a row, but the doctor says I should see tremendous improvement by the morning. I better, with these $60 eye drops (yes, I am serious!!!) that feel like acid on an open wound! People, I need prayers for this eyeball that is PINK, to say the least! Whoever named this "pink eye" was a genius, I tell ya'...he should have called it "Go To Bed Normal, Wake Up Feeling Like Quasimodo EYE".

...how my eye looks...

...and how my eye feels (with the help of photoshop!)...


:) Praying for less "pink" tomorrow...

...and wondering if I caught this from skyping too much with JOEY in South Africa?...

20 months...

Yesterday, my favorite girl was 20 months old. 20 months. Wow. When I say that number, it seems like time is flying by...but as I laid in bed last night, I had the warmest feeling inside as I realized I have spent every single day, almost every single minute of 20 months with this girl. I feel so thankful that I have been able to stay home with her and watch her grow. I haven't missed a day of it...and though it does seem to have moved a bit fast- I do remember it all. I was there with her...and I wouldn't trade this job for anything in the world! She is, as I tell her all the time, "biggity bigs"...every single day she wakes up and is smarter, has more to say, thinks harder...and loves me and her daddy more. I have said it countless times, I know, but she just brings me so much JOY!

And it was so sweet last night, on her twenty-month "birthday" :), to have two of her sweetest faces in this world come to our house for dinner, read her books in her room, sing sweet lullabies to her...


...it made her so happy at the end of her day. Joe and Greta- you have loved her so much during these 20 months and have been able to watch her grown with me... and I know she will love you both always!

One year ago, when my baby was this old...


...I posted the following poem. It is so true for each and every mother, I know...and is especially true for me today. I pray the next twenty months will be as sweet as these first twenty, and I know that before I blink these months will turn into years and my baby will turn twenty years old. Until then, I will hold her as long as I can and savor each day with her...because, as we all know too well, babies don't keep.

Song For A Fifth Child

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.


~Ruth Hulburt Hamilton (1958)

To my Shaelyn Jade:
Sweet girl, some day I hope you will read here where I try to record our days together and understand the happiness you brought me during these precious days of my life. You have given me joy that I never even dreamed of, and my role as your mama each day is the greatest way I could ever spend my time. The other night as we "bocked" (ie: rocked...),I whispered in your ear about the day you were born and your big, brown eyes looked up at me like you understood. I told you that I loved you from the INSTANT I saw you, like a miracle...and it's true. It was love at first sight, the very best day of my life. These past 20 months have been full of challenges for me as I have tried to settle into this mommy role, but you have made it so much easier and so fun for me. You are my Jadeybug. You have changed over these past few months from a chubby little lady to a lean little girl...you love baby dolls most of all, you're still totally unintrested in movies (even at the end of long days when I wish you weren't! :)), you talk 90 miles a minute, all day long...you love to eat fruits and veggies (I'm afraid you may actually turn into a blueberry!), you love to pray (even when we're not eating meals), and you ask you daddy to "MING" you by your ankles every single day...which he usually does, even if you have just eaten a huge dinner! We're not sure where it came from, but from the first time I said to you, "Jade- I love you", you instantly replied (and have every time since) "Nooooooo", in a tone that begs, "tell me again!" :) It melts your Daddy's heart. You are the apple of his eye and we have grown so close to each other since we both fell in love with you...You still love your mama more than anything else...and every single night as your eyes get tired you ask for your "BA BA" (passy), "bank-ek" (blanket), and "mama bock". When we get all settled in the rocking chair in the dark I hear you snap that passy out of your mouth, almost like clockwork, and ask in the sweetest voice I have ever heard, "Nong?"...I whisper, "Which song, Jade?" And almost always, you ask for the song that I sang to you the first night you were born (and a thousand times since) "GEEEE"...

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus...
There's just something about that name.
Master, Savior, Jesus,
Like the fragrance after the rain.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus...
Let all heaven and earth proclaim,
Kings and kingdoms may all pass away
But there's something about that name.

It has been my prayer for you, each day of this 20 months, that God would endow you with wisdom and a steadfast heart for Him alone. Nothing will bring me more joy that to watch you come to know and love your Savior, "Geee", who loves you even more than I do. Sweet girl, I can't wait for the next 20...

With all my love,
Mama

We may be seen...

Me and my Jadeybug, we're outside kind o' girls! We'd rather be outside than inside any day-and we prefer to be outside in the sunshine...so to say we are fighting this winter dreary very hard is a bit of an understatement! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE a good snowfall with sledding and REAL sno-cones and playing outside with cold noses and toeses :)... and even being "snowed in" a few days is a sort of "adventure" for me, usually...but last week when that kind of fun winter weather struck, my sweet girl simultaneously (I mean literally- as the first snowflakes fell, her temperature shot up!) came down with some kind of virus that gave her high fevers for three days. We literally didn't don our snowboots once... B-U-M-M-E-R! It was a week of indoors for us, and a very slow pace (thank goodness for my sweet Mom who told me to come stay there a couple days for a change of scenery!), so I am so happy to have a healthy sidekick again this week. And as these winter days trudge on, I find myself looking for fun, indoor spots to entertain this little lady who is FULL of wonder at each and every site, no matter the time of year! No winter blues for that girl- no siree, she is so full of energy and life, even if it is all indoors!

So this winter, we may be seen at any of the following "hot spots" on a cold day- me, my Jadeybug, and any friend we can find to tag-along with us!

Spring Hill Library: Storytime almost every day by sweet Ms. Marcia, and a very fun craft afterward (which Shaelyn Jade usually tries to eat!), and a playroom full of fun toys. Two perks- relaxing for me, interaction with other kiddos for Jade, and best of all- it's FREE!



Shaelyn Jade and her friend, Cash got some buddy time here a couple weeks ago (here leaving hand in hand)...and precious Baby Ford snoozed through the whole thing..and Jadeybug stuck pretty close by...she LOVES a baby, ya know! (PS- My friend, Whitney, is making her new "mommy of 2" role look easier than I know it is going to be...she's a great mom to these two boys!)

TREESLIDE at Cool Springs Galleria: If you ask Shaelyn Jade if she wants to go to the "treeslide" you are SURE to get a shout of glee! We have found ourselves here on many o' rainy or cold day. Three perks- FREE again, enclosed area so I don't have to chase her, and she burns LOTS of energy climbing everything! We're always ready for naptime after the treeslide...


We caught up with one of Shaelyn Jade's bestest buds, Cate, and her sweet mama Teri last week at the treeslide...but they spent most of their time playing in the boat! Here, it looks like Jade doesn't like what Cate's doing to her...don't be fooled, folks- these two were a hoot together!

Peek-A-Boo Playtown: Now this place isn't FREE, ($7 per kid, per day, all day pass where you can come and go)but it is quite possibly our favorite new spot! We try to meet our sweet friends Chrisie and Kate and Abby here each week and I never see Shaelyn Jade for the whole time we're there. It's a huge room with slides and walk ways and balls to jump in...and then one whole side of it is turned into "shops"- a grocery store stocked with buggies and groceries, a fire station with fire suits and gear, a doll house with baby beds and high chairs and baby dolls galore...I am telling you, it is a FUN stop for any kiddo! And the best part- there is a "lunch room" with picnic tables where you can bring your own lunch in! I love that! There are couches and benches for parents (and Wi-Fi) and a gate that keeps everyone IN...it's a dream come true for me this winter!

Lastly...Chuck-E-Cheese anyone? I know, I never really thought of going here because in my mind, who would WANT to go there if they were obligated by a birthday inviation, right? But, I will admit that during desperate times, we may do desperate things! :) Actually, what I like about Chuck-E-Cheese is that you can meet a friend, split the meal ($15 each including 35 tokens..and the pizza is actually decent!), and let you kiddos run free for a bit.


We may have been spotted here with Rich, Sonya, and Liv on Saturday...maybe. :) And if so, I can tell you Jade and Livi would have been most intrested in this race horse!Giddy-up Cowgirl!

Any winter-fun ideas that anyone else has would be welcomed by this Sunshine Mama! We do spend lots of days at home playing together, but getting out of this house is a MUST every couple days. It's on those days that I am thankful for indoor play-places...and friendly faces!