Winter Happenings

Hi People!
It’s always so long between posts, but I aspire to do better in 2011! I have so much to blog about that I wonder if my fingers won’t be sore when I’m finally done! I suppose I’ll just highlight a few things and be done with it!

Life:It’s December now and the holidays are upon us! Luckily, even though I’ve had tons of birthday cake this Oct and Nov., and lots of Thanksgiving food, I haven’t put on any weight! What does this mean? It means I’m free to be a glutton this Christmas! Yaay!

Well, it does mean that, doesn’t it?

Imagine this

In honor of my father for Father's day, I wracked my brain for something special to do that didn't involve a tie, or a new wallet. What I came up with rivals all other gifts that I could have ever imagined.

Backstory.

My father is almost 70 (this November). He was born in Huntsville, AL to very young parents. His mother was only 16 years old when she had him in 1940. My grandfather wasn't much older, and together, within 3 years, they had 2 more children, my uncle, Eddie, and my aunt, Betty. My dad remembers yanking on her skirt while she was cooking and cleaning in the kitchen. She must've been obviously pregnant during the time of this memory, but he doesn't remember the details.

Two weeks after my Aunt Betty was born, my grandmother began hemmorraging. The only hospital in town denied her registration because she was black. She died. She was 19.

I can only imagine how such a young family fared in that time. Men didn't take care of children. That wasn't a man's place.

When my dad was 9, his family (and a new stepmom to boot), moved to Louisville, KY to start a new life with other family.

....I was born in 1978. I share my grandmother's name.

May/June Happenings

My son is now 6 months old! Can you believe it! I can't! It seems like yesterday that I was carrying him, and now he's all over the place, getting into EVERYTHING!! He's such a happy baby and is truly a unique character. My daughter is a minature adult now and we have a wonderful time watching her grow up and listening to all the things she has to say.

Here are a few pics (since that's what I do best :)

Lovely Days

Its been a while, and now I’m back to work. Back to writing. And back to being a busy busy bee.

My son is 4 months old now, and my daughter is 2 ½. They are a hoot!! If you could only see my daughter play “mother hen” to my son, you’d fall out of your chair laughing. The only thing is that when she pats him on the head, I have to constantly remind her to be gentle. Toddlers don’t know boundaries and she is no exception.

My son is getting Christened on Easter and I’m super excited. All of our family is coming up and in honor of Mathias, we are all wearing blue. We wore pink for my daughters Christening which was 2 short years ago.

And because you know I can’t resist, here are some pics of my family these last few months!

Family

It's been a month now since I last posted, but alas this month has been busy. Christmas is now upon us, and I'm finally able to get out into the hustle and bustle.

Anywho...here are some family pics that we just took with our amazing photographer, Megan.

Enjoy!

Maternity Photos

Here are a few of my maternity photos. I was 27 weeks in these pics.

These photos are the work of Megan Parker at www.meganparkerphoto.com/

She's amazing as you can see!

And now, a few maternity photos from my last pregnancy!

Yeah, I know, I'm a bad blogger. I stick my head in about once every two months for an update, but what can I say? Life's busy. Especially now when I've got a toddler with mounds of energy and a new baby to plan for.

I am excited so that's why I'm posting. My husband and I, with our daughter, just got back from our maternity session with the best and most pleasant photographer in our city. I want to post some of the pics here, but I need to make sure I have persmission first, so here is the link to her blog with a few of the photos posted.

http://meganparkerphoto.com/blog/
Just scroll down to the August 15 post.

I cannot wait until the newborn session we'll take with her once Mathias is here.
I've got 13 more weeks until due date and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!

My cup runneth over.

Strolling Down Memory Lane

This pic is of me and my hubby on our fourth anniversary. I can truly say that I love him more today than ever before. He and I have grown so close over the last six years since we met. Yes, I would definitely marry him all over again. (Sorry for the cleavage. In pregnancy, it's hard to avoid it, considering how they are preparing to serve their one true purpose and all, Lol.)

May 21, 2009

Just a Glamour Shot (sorry, vanity runs in my family. I got it honest)

In honor of my anniversary, here is a pic of me and my loverboy, May 21, 2005.

St. Louis Zoo Pic (See Mr. Leopard in background) -
see previous post for explanation of St. Louis/Zoo Trip.

Me in my bridesmaids dress, passing time until the wedding began. This was for the wedding I was in on May 23, 2009, for one of my closest pals since college.

Me and the Bride, goofing off (at her wedding).

Me and the Bride (from above), goofing off (at mine!)

Random Life Update

Hi all!

I've been pretty busy lately, so my blogging has suffered.

Dex and I celebrated our fourth anniversary on the 21st of May. We got a babysitter (thank you Jesus!) and went to a great restaurant (because, again, food runs my life), and went to see the newest Terminator flick (which was AWESOME!!). I have watched Terminator 1 and 2 so much that I know the dialogue by heart. I can't wait to own this one. I love superheroes. Plus, Batman as Terminator was great. What a wonderful anniversary this one was (was that a Yoda-ism?).

I was also a bridesmaid for one of my dearest, oldest friends two weekends ago. She was my first roommate in college and we both hated each other when we first met. "What? You mean we have to share?"

It didn't take long for us to become bosom buddies.

I won't mention the bridesmaids dresses (Not very flattering on pregnant women). Wait, was that a mention?

Hubby, daughter and I had a fabulous time while we were in St. Louis. Met a fabulous, Christian couple who was also expecting and had a two year old daughter. They invited us to church and then we all went to the St. Louis Zoo. Had a wonderful time and forged friendships that I believe will be time tested. I will post pics in next post.

Basically, right now I am excited about two things: My book and my baby.

I won't really elaborate on my book, except to say that I am done with revisions (which feels great!).

I find out on Wednesday whether or not I am correct in my assertion that I am having a boy.

Honestly, I don't really care either way, but I am certain that his name is Mathias, which means "gift of God". His life is another testimony of God's grace. So on Wednesday, I'll be sure to post to let you know the outcome. I can't wait to tell every one I told you so. If you know anything about Pentecostals then you'll get me when I say "I feel it in my spirit". Lol.

Off to post pics now.

Photos

I wouldn't be me if I didn't post my pics at least a month late.

So, better late than never, here are a few pics of my family this past Easter. This was also my husbands 33rd birthday. We had just come back from Orlando (Disney World).

Random Musings

Ooh la la, it’s my favorite day of the week! And you know what? All I want to do is SLEEP! I haven’t been getting enough Z’s all week and it has really been catching up with me.

I have a friend whose daughter has just been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and went to see her in the hospital yesterday so I didn’t get much shut eye last night. After I got home (which was after 10pm) I couldn’t stop thinking about and praying for this little girl so that kept me up a little longer. She’s such a little lady, and she’s going through the hardest time of her life right now. It’s hard for someone so young (she’s 11) not to feel like life is unfair. I sat with her and parents as the nurses came in to prick her fingers (for the millionth time) and inject her with insulin. The poor thing had throbbing little fingers and I know it was so hard for her mother to bear.

I bought her High School Musical 3 today…she said she knows 1 and 2 by heart, but has never seen 3. I thought it was a golden opportunity to show this little girl how much she’s loved and to hopefully allow her a couple of hours to check out of this world and jump into an imaginary one. She is so much like me when I was her age. She absorbs books like she’s a sponge, and she loves the same kind of cute, rinky-dinky movies that I did. (Of course, for me it was Grease 1 and 2…can you say “cool rider?”)

The baby in my tummy (thinking of Yo Gabba's song, "there's a party in my tummy" as I say this) is making me the hungriest chick on this side of the Ohio River. I can't seem to get enough of it. So far, luckily, I have managed not to put on any weight, which is really good. At one point, I even lost 5 lbs (just couldn't eat) but have since gained that back. Maybe it water weight, who knows. I think this baby is a boy. Why? Just say I have a divine intuition. God said he will give us the desires of our hearts, and not to mention that we've picked out a name that is a testimony to his presence in our lives. If it is indeed a boy, his name will be Mathias. It means "Gift of God" which is absolutely perfect. I can't remember if I told you this or not. But either way, boy or girl, this baby will loved fiercely, and wholeheartedly every single day of his/her life.


My little toddler has been keeping me on my toes as well. She’s saying all kinds of words now and we’re having a ball listening to her sweet, little melodic voice.
This is a list of her vocabulary as of yesterday:

Wow Wow (from Wow wow wubzy, a cartoon show)
On (she says this everytime we turn on a light or when she gets in the car and wants the backseat DVD player on)
Dora (need I say more?)
Door (she points to the door when we open it)
Bye (such a simple word, but it melts my heart when she says it!)
Hey baby (we greet her like this so now she says it to us!)
Dog, roof, roof (learned this at daycare)
No
Daddy
Mama
nose (points to her nose, but when she says it, it actually comes out like nor)
I (we’re trying to teach her I love you, but she’ll say I, but then she won’t say love)

Maybe this list isn’t very impressive (I honestly have no idea one way or the other), but let me assure you that the child knows and understands everything we say to her. It’s amazing really. Finally we have our little go-getter (or fetcher, whatever you want to call it). “Go get mommy’s glasses, please” and she’ll go straight to my glasses on the ottoman. “Go get the diaper and baby wipes” and she’ll bring that to you to. Needless to say, she’s fetched the remote more than once.

Orlando, here I come!

So it’s official…We’re going to Disney World!! Yaay!

My husband’s 33rd birthday is April 12 and I’ve been trying to figure out what to do for him. He’s off work on the 10th and I have a mandatory vacation coming up (long story, company forcing all of it’s 400K employees to take 40 hours of vacation. It’s sucks, but it’s better than layoffs). The only real downfall is that he has to be back at work on the 13th (TCAPS—he teaches 5th grade and they have testing that week).

So I managed to schedule us for a mini-vacay from the 10th to the 12th to Orlando. We have to be back for church (Easter!) so we leave out on Friday at 9:30 am and will return at 9 am on Sunday morning. We’re going to Disney World on Saturday, not sure what we’ll do on Friday, but there’s lots of shopping in Downtown Disney so I am willing to bet that’s where you’ll find us.

We booked fabulously cheap airfare through Allegiant Air and will be staying in the Seaworld area. We’ll probably check out Seaworld too, if we can reconcile the cost with a two day mini-vacay. We’ll see about that one. I’d much rather go for a spa day.

Quick Reflection:

My daughter will experience Disney World before she’s even old enough to remember it. We include her in almost all of our activities. We love having her with us and until she’s older, we plan to continue to tote her around with us. My daughter also went with us to Italy (and celebrated her 1st b-day there). No doubt, that we won’t be able to top that for her 2nd. And, I'm already trying to think of ways that baby #2 won’t feel like a step-child on his/her 1st birthday. I can hear it now “why did Naiah get to go to Italy and all I get is Chuck-E-Cheese?”.

Sigh.

But, really, it’s interesting how much more each generation gets to experience than the one that came before them. I was tremendously spoiled as a child, but it’s nothing compared to the things we’ve done for my daughter. I guess, as time goes on, things become so much more easily accessible. For example, when I was eleven, there was no way I was getting a cell phone. Shoot, I thought I was bad when I got one of those huge Motorola phones my Senior year in high school. But, nowadays, lots of my husband’s students have them. And you know what? My daughter will likely get one too. As time goes on, and the world gets more frenzied, parents worry more. Besides, the cost of these things has gone down so much that it’s not necessarily considered “luxury” anymore. More like “standard”.

Having children is so wonderful. It really keeps you young, earns you patience, and makes your life soooo worth living. My daughter might not remember Disney World, but we’ll have the photos and videos of our time together. And that, as MasterCard would say…is priceless.

(Okay, so I’m cheesy. Wanna make something of it?)

*Life Update*

So life is going really well right now. My cup is overflowing and I am reveling in it. I’ve begun the early symptoms of pregnancy, such as tiredness, massive hunger, some morning sickness, but nothing too horrible. It’s funny b/c in my mind, since I’ve done this once already, I assumed that I’d be more patient as the days/weeks/months droned on. Um, not the case. I’m almost 7 weeks pregnant and I am subtracting from 40 thinking that 33 weeks is FOREVER away. Ugh!

So, other than being impatient at how long it will take for my little blessing to arrive, I’ve been at my happiness (although laziest) in a long time. We had to hire someone to help us clean the house last weekend. Yes, it had gotten that bad. It was a friend of mine and even with her help, it took me and my hubby pitching in hard core to get it all done. I am rather ashamed to admit this, but we actually had to take our clothes to the Laundromat in order to get it all done. You know, they’ve got those ginormous machines where you can get like 4 loads of clothes in at a time. Yeah, that was us on Sat. Now that we’re caught up, we should be okay. Or at least I should say, my husband will be okay. I DO NOT DO LAUNDRY. I hate laundry and feel that it is not my God-given talent and we must, absolutely must, operate within our God-given areas in life! If I have on clean clothes, 99% of the time, it’s b/c of my wonderful, patient, sexy husband. But just so you don’t think I am this spoiled doll living inside a bubble, I clean the kitchen and I mop and sweep and stuff (occasionally….joking!). How’s that for domestication!

Anaiah is growing like a weed. She’ll be 18 months on Monday and I just realized that she needs 24 months onesies now! OMG! This child is going to be tall. Tall runs in the fam, although it skipped us, so it’s no big surprise.

Oh the irony!

Okay, so last week I was I was on this workout kick, right? Well, I joined a gym, hired a personal trainer, got my mind right for the rigorous weeks ahead. But now, all that has changed.....drumroll please......because my husband and I are expecting a new addition to the family!

Although this wasn't planned, I'm thrilled about it. We weren't really planning to have another so soon after our daughter, but God definitely knows better than we do so I might as well revel in his infinite wisdom.

It's really early and most people don't believe in sharing the news this fast, but I don't believe in superstition, only God's sovereignty.

More on this later. I just wanted to share the good news.

Pics for fun

My husband Dexter playing at a Jazz Lounge in DC on January 19th, 2009. There was a musicians jam session that we happened upon. He was geeked!

Me, my husband and my younger sister in DC this January for the inauguration.

Me and Dex in line for our inauguration tickets. It took us four hours to pick them up. The line was wrapped all the way around the federal office bldg. Whew!

This one was of my husband in December when he graduated with his Master's in Curriculum and Instruction with Licensure in Elem. Ed. Go Dex!! Supastar!

Me and Naiah-bean at the graduation. Right after this, she threw up a gallon of oatmeal all over me. The organic milk that we had bought for her was spoiled (even though it wasn't expired!) and made her sick. After she threw up in front of the entire graduating class and their guests, she was back to normal. Mommy, however, wasn't too happy.

Can you tell I love pics?

Long Overdue

This is me and my hubby on my 30th b-day. As quoted by Whitney Houston in the movie Waiting to Exhale, "I still look good!".

This pic was taken at the movies to see Twilight. Great book (as was the entire series), but the movie kinda sucked. Bad directing, IMO. The actors were well suited (although Edward could've been a little less cheesy...bad direction, I think) but the scenes were a little too bubblegum-ish. Better luck next time, right?

This picture is from the surprise 30th 70's Party my husband threw me. My little one is trying to figure out why mommy looks so different...

These pics are from New Years Eve 2008! We went to a ball at the Hyatt in Louisville, KY.

Holiday Pics 2008

Family Portraits

December 2008

Anaiah at 14 mos.

CHEESE!