A beautiful sound!

Mother's Day 2013

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mother's celebrating today!

Reasons I love being a mom:
Tea parties, hugs & kisses, story time, blowing bubbles, baby toes, being a kid again, giggles, each & every 1st, sticky floors & stained carpet, handprints on the walls, shoes in the hall, & everlasting love!

 
Randi & Logan:
Because of you, I get to celebrate today, even though to me ever day is Mother's Day! I promise I will hold you tight, support you, guide you, teach you, hug you, protect you, love you and give you just enough dysfunction to make you funny. I am your Mother! Since the day you were born and until I draw my last breath, all that I am is YOURS. After all, you are the only two people who know what my heart sounds like from the inside.

 

Being a mother

In honor of tomorrow, I thought I would share some things I have learned about being a mother.

1. When my mom spanked me and said, "This will hurt me more than it hurts you," she wasn't kidding.

2. Getting all pretty for work is the least of my worries. The fact that I can get myself and both kids dressed, fed and out the door by 6:20 am is a miracle in itself.

3. Breast milk, formula, baby food, snot, boogers, blood, poop, and other bodily fluids became my newest fashion accessory. The surprising part is, it doesn't bother me.

4. I bake a lot more then I ever have, but I am not the one that gets to lick the batter out of the bowl anymore.

5. Driving in the slow lane with no music to work is enjoyable. Why...its my only time to myself, it adds 5-10 minutes to my drive and the silence is amazing!!!

6. Going to the bathroom by yourself is no longer an option. Even if you shut the door, little fingers appear and you hear "mama, can you see my fingers"!

7. Praying that last years fashion will still be in style (and fit) happens with each season because the kid you just bought all new clothes for 3 weeks ago has outgrown them and needs more.

8. Cold pasta, chicken nugget's and fries really aren't that bad when you are hungry.

9. My parents and in-laws have turned into these weird aliens that I have never met. They let the kids do things Jamie and I were never allowed to do when we were growing up.

10. Finally, I never knew it was truly possible to love and be loved unconditionally until I became a mom. In their eyes, I am super mom who can do it all, and in my eyes, they are angels sent from heaven to make me want to be a better person. And all that other stuff...so worth it.

Logan's 9 month check up!

No shots for our bobble head today! 26 inches tall in the 3rd percentile, 18 lbs .8 ounces in the 10th percentile and 44.5 cm head circumference in the 25th percentile! All healthy and progressing well! His next appointment will be after he turns 1!

Dismissed

Friday when I got off from work we headed down to my parents house in Columbia so they could watch the kids for us so we could go to The Citadel for Matthew's graduation.  

10:15 pm - Bedtime.  Randi wanted me to sleep with her and Logan...how could I say no to that!  We had to share a pillow and hold hands.  So sweet!

10:45 pm - get kicked in the side.

11:15 pm - took a hand to the head.

12:45 am - Logan woke up.

1:30 am - get kicked in the stomach.

2:20 am - Logan woke up again.

3:15 am - was told it was time to get up and get ready.  Really...I had maybe 3 hrs of sleep.

4:45 am - head to Charleston.

7:00 am - arrive at The Citadel for graduation.

 

Lieutenant General Rosa just sang "Don't think I don't think about it" instead of speaking it while awarding Darius his honorary degree Doctor of Fine Arts!  

 It was an amazing graduation, but my tush hurt after sitting for over 4 hours.  During the graduation, I learned that 250 students that started with The Citadel 4 years ago didn't make it.  What an accomplishment for Matthew to be able to hang in there and make it!

Tradition is big at The Citadel.  That was made very clear during the graduation.  It may be one of the only schools that allows parents to participate in giving the diploma's.  I may have cried each time I saw a father give his son his diploma, a father give his daughter her diploma and a grandfather give his grandson his diploma. I may have cried a little harder seeing a father and grandfather give their son/grandson his diploma is more amazing. But I really cried when I saw a father and both grandfathers give their son/grandson his diploma.

We also saw young men and women who have decided to join the military state the Armed Forces Othe.  Seeing this made me damn proud to be a military daughter, who's father took his Othe 45 years ago!

1:30 pm - lunch at Virginia's on King.  

2:30 pm - drove back to Columbia and picked up the kids 

5:00 pm - headed home.

8:30 pm - I decided to go to the grocery store.  Yep...I lost my mind!

Midnight - BED

Boy was it a long day, but seeing Matthew graduation was wonderful!

Stuck under the table

As I was writing my note Logan decided to get himself stuck under the table.

Over 2 years and counting

It has been over 2 years since blogging became #524 on my list of things to do during the day and with Facebook, Instagram and all the apps my iPhone does, I just put blogging on the back burner.   

I have tried my best to catch up on post here and there and they are really short.  The post will consist of the pictures I took that day, a caption or two if I remember exactly what happened and a title that is so generic, I probably used it two days prior.

So much has happened since the last time I truly updated this blog on the actual day that it happened.  I mean, my sister-in-law got married (she will be celebrating her 2nd Anniversary this month), we surprised Randi with a another trip to Disney for her 3rd birthday (Randi will be 5 in 3 months), my sister moved to Rhode Island and I re-married my best friend, the love of my life, "MY STUPID" on our 10 wedding anniversary!  Oh yeah...we also had another baby!  Logan is 9 months old!

I kinda feel like a failure on documenting our life and that Logan will grow up saying  "you didn't document my life like you did with Randi.  I guess its because I was the 2nd child". 

I am a 2nd child and I never felt that way growing-up.  Maybe its because the times were different or maybe its because social media didn't exist.  When I grew up you only had your child's picture taken from Olan Mills, the local Fire Department or the Church directory.  You took pictures on birthdays, the 1st day of school and most holidays.  Film was expensive.  Parents didn't take daily pictures of their children, grandparents didn't get a video of their grandchild walking for the 1st time two minutes after it happened and you definitely couldn't Face-time your sister that lives a 13 hr drive away.  Times are different and I wouldn't change social media or the technology we have for the past. 

What I do what to change is documenting the crazy, funny, shenanigans that happen in our daily life.  Yes, I take a ton of pictures of Randi and Logan.  Yes, I put them on Facebook and Instagram, but does it really tell the entire story?  Usually no. 

My kids are crazy.  The Princess is a 4 year old that talks 100 miles a minute.  She is clumsy like her mama, loves to go to school, enjoys doing crafts and is the most beautiful little girl in the world.  The Loganator is all boy.  He is the happiest child I have every met.  He climbs on everything, eats ALL day long, has a bruise somewhere on his body 100% of the time and is going to be a heart-breaker when he grows up. 

I can't say that I will be able to update the blog everyday as my life is crazy.  I work a full-time job.  I own a photography business.  I am planning two birthday parties that are two weeks apart.  I have laundry to do.  I have a weekly meal list to plan.  I have floors that need moped.  I have a house that needs to be cleaned.  I have toys that have to be picked up.  I have a husband that travels for work all the time.  I have children that needs their mother. 

With that said, I think its time that I faced my New Years resolution and started the blogging train again.  Stay tuned for updates and don't forget to use the side bar on the right to check out old post as well.  December 2010 is when we started falling behind and I plan on having ALL pictures/post updated as quickly as I can.  I will let you all know how the progress if going along the way.