Jack's blessing

I love being tagged!

Thanks Lexi! I love being tagged! These are so much fun!

I am: Trying my best.
I think: incessantly/all the time/ too much.
I know: That Jared loves me.
I want: security.
I have: been blessed with more than I realize.
I dislike: not being heard.
I miss: my family, my friends, baton rouge, college.
I fear: that my family will be taken from me before I'm ready to let them go.
I feel: like I'm swimming up stream
I hear: a voice in my head telling me I should be preparing my Sunday school lesson.
I smell: clean and shower fresh.
I crave: sleep. chocolate. cuddles from Sadie, Jack, and Jared.
I cry: more than most, but not as often recently.
I usually: wake up hungry
I search: for my missing cell phone more often than i'd like.
I wonder: why birds in San Antonio are like Kamikazes that will fly within inches of your windshield.
I regret: Not being around more for my brothers.
I wish: as humans had 4:1 ratio of arms to children. We'd look funny, but life would be easier.
I love: my family deeply.
I care: about what mark I leave on the world.
I always: shower before bed.
I worry: my family will be taken from me.
I am not: shallow.
I remember: feelings and emotions over the detailed facts of an event.
I believe: In Jared.
I sing: the lyrics to songs (even when I don't know them).
I don't always: know the right thing to say.
I argue: and won't stop till you see my point of view.
I write: so I can tangibly see my feelings.
I win: most of my arguments with Jared ;)
I lose: A lot of sleep being a mom.
I listen: poorly when i'm nervous/excited/overwhelmed.
I don't understand: How you can love one of your children less than the other.
I can usually be found: with Sadie and Jack.
I need: a break.
I forget: phone numbers and names.
I am happy: yes. I am.

Holly, Jamie, and Jenn, you're it!

This Monday's retail adventure

Last Monday, I took on HEB, this Monday Target and Cosco.

Target went smoothly, aside from Sadie's meltdown near a nursery display where she wanted to play on the rocking chair. Cosco was a little more challenging.

First, I'd like to say, I love Cosco. Call me ghetto, call me redneck, but i like a place where you can nearly eat a whole meal for free. Yes, i am referring to the free samples. "Take several" one of the sample peddlers told me. "Gladly!" I thought. Its a guilty pleasure i've indulged in my whole life: seeking out the sample carts with absolutely no intention of purchasing whatever is being marketed. Bonus points for believability whilst trying to pretend that the product is so good that the sample peddler did their job in convincing you to buy the product. The guiltiest part, of course, being that a lot of the time I take the product, put it in my cart, and then ditch it in a totally different part of the store when out of sight for the peddler.

Anyway...while enjoying my mini-cup of orange juice and canadian bacon, I felt splashing liquid around my ankles. I looked over to find the source. Sadie. Pee-pee soaked and streaming like a super-soaker water gun through her diaper. She was sitting in the basket and Jack was in his carrier in the back part of the basket. She was positioned in just the right spot to hit his carrier on the way down to the floor. Of course, there was a bunch of people waiting to partake of their o.j. and canadian bacon. I tried to look for napkins, but there were just mini cups and cupcake paper (what the bacon was in). Embarrased, I quickly pushed the cart away, leaving a dripping trail behind me.

I know I should have cleaned it up or alerted someone who works there, but I panicked. I really shouldn't have even been there with both of them by myself. I was challanging myself based on the successes of HEB and Target. But the Cosco outing was dangerously close to Jack's feeding time and Sadie was in need of a nap. Fearing a meltdown, I headed to check out. Guess what I went there to get? Diapers.

So in the parking lot I stripped Sadie down. She thought it was a game and wiggled and ran. I put her in the car, ripped open the box of diapers, wiped her from the neck down with a antibacterial hand wipe and strapped her in her seat wearing only a diaper.

Then, the meltdowns started. Sadie didn't want to be in her chair, she was naked (almost) and hungry. Jack was hungry. Heck, I was hungry.

We made it home, babies were fed, and we all laid down for a nap (of course Sadie and Jack would not nap at the same time, but we all laid there at least).

I'll try Wal-mart next week.

Response to Jamie and Jess

Jamie and Jess, here's the back story on the hula hoop:

When i was in the 4th grade, I was not very athletic. How not athletic you ask? I was the kid SHIELDING myself from the ball rather than batting, hitting, or kicking it. All the other kids anticipated, loved, and looked forward to P.E. and I dreaded it. To me, it made perfect sense to NOT want to go outside in 90 degree temperatures with a gazillion percent humidity. I didn't like to be hot, I didn't like to sweat, and most importantly, I didn't like my lack of athletic ability to be made fun of. So when presented with several sporty options one day, I found the least sport-like: the hula hoop. I figured it wouldn't be too hard and it wouldn't require me to run. However, I underestimated the skill involved with keeping the hoop above my ankles. Seeing a group of girls jumping through the hula hoop like a jump rope, I decided I'd have a better chance at this.

For about 30 blissful seconds, I was a hula jumping star. And then as the hoop was rounding up and over my head I felt a huge yank. You see, when I was in the 4th grade, my hair was down to my knees and the hula hoop didn't stand a chance.

Remember that whole I didn't want "to be made fun of" deal? The whole 4th grade gathered around the wall-o-windows that looked into the front office while the custodian used a saw to cut through the hula hoop and free me of my purple and white striped captor.

There are people in my life that still remember that day and aren't shy about laughing about it to this day!

I'm tagging myself

1. 3 Joys
Jared
Sadie
Jack

2. 3 Fears
The people I love dying
The people I love leaving me
The people I love being unhappy

3. Current Goals
Sleep
Get back into a healthier shape
Raise babies

4. Current Obsessions
HGTV
Reading blogs
Finding clothes that fit

5. Random facts about me
I almost had my thumb cut off when I was two.
I got my hair caught in a hula hoop when I was in the 4th grade.
I like stinky baby feet.

changed

Sadie looked so cute this morning in a brand new outfit from Uncle Dale, Aunt Laura, and Addison that I had to take her picture.

I was taking pictures of Jack and Sadie said "Say-dee pitchur. Ma-ma, Say-dee pitchur."
So I took one of her.


Sadie is turing two in less than a month. These two years have been the fastest two years of my life. Holding Jack, I am reminded of when Sadie was an infant. The thought of her being so small...so quiet and helpless...is almost absurd to me now. She's changed so much. Sometimes I steal small moments during the day where I close my eyes and try to remember the smell of winter 2006. I try to recreate in my mind the sound of her toy star playing music and the way the light filtered through our Baton Rouge apartment. I remember her sleeping on my chest while i'd read books and chase sleep. I remember thinking that she'd break if I didn't take perfect care of her. Now she is so strong and brilliant and the early months of her life have become a movie I recall or a book I have read. I remember that it happened, but it seems distant - almost surreal - as if the memories happened to someone else and were transplanted to me.

She's changed so much in such a little amount of time. Now, Jack will do the same. I'm breathing in every moment and savoring this.

How I was able to get 6 loads of laundry washed, dried, and folded today.


I also managed to take both babies on a light grocery run to HEB and to a playgroup at a friend's house. I cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed (twice, actually), and made a lasagna, all before picking up Jared from work, giving Sadie and Jack a bath, and going to the gym to work out.

I rock.

Now only if I could sleep like one.

Pictures of the last few weeks

Sadie finally gives Jack the "thumbs up."

Jack was watching football with Daddy and it looks like he's as big a fan as Sadie was.
Today I put Sadie in pig-tails for the first time. She actually left them in for about a half an hour!
Sadie likes to hold Jack. She can be very nurturing when she wants to be. She can also be a little rough. I have to watch to make sure she's not smothering him, kicking him, or poking his eyes out.
I love this picture of Sadie in Uncle "K-K's" shoes. This girl is obsessed with shoes. EVERYONE's and every kind of shoe. They're on the wrong feet, but hey, when they're ten times too big, what's the difference?
I need to figure out how to set the timer on the camera so I can be in a few pictures.
I love this kid's hair!

Sadie rocking it Thug style. "J-J" and "Jammie" bought Sadie some new pants. These are 18 month pants and look how big they are on her!