Spilled Fake Milk

The night before we traveled home the Squirms decided we were having a slumber party. So, R moved her travel crib downstairs next to the fire place and her Mamé gave us lots of blankets. Squirms allowed me to sleep from four to seven.

One drawback? to having a happy child who sleeps through the night 99% of the time is that when she doesn't sleep I go into shock and don't know what to do. My brain tries to go through the list - food, diaper, temperature. Knowing that she was fed (and re-fed), had a clean diaper (until the 3 am explosion), and warm by the fire, led to playtime*.

Needless to say, I was a zombie the next morning. It's been a while, probably since college or my testing days in the commercial space business area, since I've been awake for a continuous 22 hours.

A couple of hours into our drive back the next day  - after I proved I couldn't read the map and didn't know what interstate we were on - R decided it would be best if I didn't help with the driving. At least I was able to identify that the trailer in front of us was not carrying chickens and could not be responsible for the smell that we feared might be coming from the back seat - though I was slurring my words trying to explain this to R.

Thankfully the smell was a product of some environment off of I-10, but we did stop soon to feed and change our angel. I was sitting in the back seat of the truck when I poured ready-made formula into Squirm's bottle. Then I tried to place the container back into the cooler and leaned over so that the newly poured, and still open, bottle emptied into my lap. It was ICE Cold.

After staring at my lap for a couple of seconds, trying to process what had just happened, I called for R, hopped out of the truck and tried to dry off the seat. R was nice and got me dry clothes from our luggage. We moved the truck from the parking spot directly in front of the gas station front door - the people inside already thought I was crazy because I had been asking them for those things that you use to brush your teeth without water....you know, the little brushes with picks on the end....those small things for your teeth. Parked beside some hedges I prayed there were no security cameras around and changed in the back seat. The Squirms just looked at me - her silly mother.

I go to extensive lengths to not have to drive on road trips.

*As we suspected, the Squirms has another ear infection.
**Fun side note, R just said to L could you please go remove my shoe from the Roomba?

Christmas Season Trip Highlights

I-75 North travelers were dressed nicely (the people that you don't mind shopping next to at Target) and the cars were shiny; but the rest stop and restaurant bathrooms were in disarray and not well maintained. I-10 West travelers were not dressed as well (the people you avoid eye contact with at Wal Mart) and the cars were well-used; but the rest stop and gas station bathrooms were clean and not scary.

I feel I'm qualified to make this observation because I have to stop at a lot of restrooms on road trips.

We spent the week of Christmas with R's side of the family and I was especially thankful that the drive to R's hometown is shorter than to Alabama. The Squirms charmed everyone she met, of course, and had a lovely time playing with her second cousin who is one week older than her. We visited the church where R grew up, helped decorate the Christmas tree, learned what aphids are, had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner, viewed the Nina and Pinta replica ships in the harbor, took naps, and visited a nearby quaint Alabama town that R's parents like to explore.

The Sunday morning service was especially meaningful because three young people spoke about the meaning of Christmas. The first speaker, a high school student, reminded us of Genesis and the fall of mankind - the beginning of the Christmas story. He interrupted my thoughts - I hope my shirt stays tucked into this skirt when I stand up; We need to print pictures of Squirms for her great aunt and great uncle; Just smile and sing and act like you remember everyones' names - with a heartfelt message about God's eternal love. Love that will overpower this world; and hope that Christians have in this love. Love that will cause pain to cease someday. The reason we celebrate this Child's birth. 

The rest stops along our route and Sunday morning reminded me that I should work on my inner attitude (maintaining the parts of me that others don't see or talk about) and not worry so much about how others around me might be viewing me (in my new outfit and shiny earrings). 

Tree Trimming

I actually know what this means! Graffiti Bridge!

Playing with Auntie C

Ready to light the advent candle

Power Nap

Christmas Morning! And Charlie Brown!

First Princess Movie!

Learning the word "Tree". Her Mame is such a good teacher.

Fun with Friends

****Retraction****
I used the incorrect version of cymbal in my last post. My father sent me two emails about this, one with the definitions of symbol and cymbal. Thanks dad.

Squirms learned to play the cymbals.

I will try to get R to proofread my posts going forward.

As an even more embarrassing side note, I also tried teaching Squirms the names of shapes and told her a hexagon was a pentagram. And this is on video. sigh.
****

Belated Fun with Friends:

MMD hosted a lovely, and fun, Christmas pajama party a couple of weeks ago. She made baked brie (delicious!) and a photo booth with props for us to play. If I was great at blog posts, I would include her recipe for the brie....but I'm not that prepared.

Photo Booth!

Yay for Christmas! And Yay for Mom (ALM)!

Star Baby.

It's nice to have friends who are so crafty. I tried once. I bought an unfinished box, paint, and initials for Squirms at a craft store with the intent to make her a keepsake box. Four months later, the parts are still in the store bag in the guest room.

Love.

Sleeping with a pipe is dangerous. 

They think they are funny.

Happy Christmas!

Wow. And some Pictures.

The Fun with Friends post will have to wait until I talk with my IT guy (R) about being able to see the photos on our server. The pictures are there. Fun was had. Hopefully I'll be able to share that soon - right now the upload to my computer is more than my patience can bear. These photos I stole from our camera card - we opened gifts last night!

These are for me? You want me to tear up stuff?

Are you sure?

I also had in mind a post about what a great father R is - one night this week he spent ten minutes trying to get a soap bubble across the kitchen to Squirms in her high chair, just so she could see a bubble. First of all, he was the one washing the dishes that created the soap bubble. Second, he talked to her about aerodynamics while he used his hands to create an air flow path for the bubble. Thirdly, it was fun to watch the effort he was putting in just to make her smile. Oddly enough, the bubble lasted for almost ten minutes, floating around the kitchen. I'm not sure that Squirms actually noticed it, but it was one of the sweetest things I've seen a man do.

Finally - I've been wanting to eat this ornament for weeks!

Tasty.

I received a text from R this morning stating that he had gotten a patent award. A patent award at work is a monetary award for an employee's work on a patent. And then he told me how much. How much is equal to our next paperwork packet payment with our adoption agency. I feel so humbled. We have been building our savings to fund another adoption, we've reduced our dining out expenses, and I had been researching fundraisers (although we are both scared of asking people for money - too prideful I think). And then our all-powerful God used Ron's hard work completed over the past two years and provided us with the next payment. We were both surprised and again reminded that we are being obedient - and when you're obedient life is so much more exciting.

I am fun

Oooooooooooo

The Squirm's favorite gift was from her cousin SPC - a Band in a Box. It is full of musical instruments. Her favorites last night were the moroccos - they make noise and were fun to eat. Today she learned to play the symbols!

This face scares me a bit.

Tomorrow we are headed to see family for Christmas! We are excited for Squirms to take part in traditions that are dear to us; and creating new traditions. Below is a photo of her ornaments from this year. We love decorating our tree with ornaments that remind us of vacations, friends, family, college, and now her.

Yes, I'll eat these too.

So big the dogs didn't even know where to start.

The Book Review

I have a confession:
I watched all six seasons of Gossip Girl over the past several weeks.
It started out innocently enough - I picked a random, light-hearted show to watch on Netflix while I folded laundry. After a couple of episodes, mesmerized by Blair, I had to know if Chuck and Blair would end up together. Six seasons later, the answer (yes!) was revealed on Monday night.

Now. To make myself feel better I decided to do a short book review of novels and some children's books I've read over the past year (these are not listed in order read).

Maybe Read The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowlings: Very well written. If you're looking for something new and well written, I would suggest this. It's not a standard romance, mystery, comedy. I liked it, but it made me sad - it's an honest picture of people only focused on their lives, community, human legacy, and petty grievances. It made me happy to believe in God.

Read Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy by John le Carre: LOVE. This is an excellent spy novel and wins the award (I just decided to give awards in this book review) for best characters. Best characters ever. le Carre is great at making each character unique. Plus, you won't figure this puzzle out unless you've already seen the movie.

Read Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss: The most difficult book I've ever read. Dr. Seuss makes Charles Dickens books seem like See Jane Run. Please try reading this book out loud.

Do Not Read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith: Horrible. Go to Wal Mart, pick up the book, read the back of the book and let your imagination take it from there. Your imagination will be better than the book. It had potential.

Maybe Read Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy: I am biased here - I like anything by Tom Clancy. I love his plots and how he weaves so many characters and stories into one giant story. Plus, his main characters are always men you respect. If you don't love intricate spy/military plots with lots of characters and details, Clancy may not be your man.

Read The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King by J.R. Tolkien: I have lumped these books, or the book and the other volumes - however it should be stated - together. They are all wonderful. I want to be like Gandalf. I would suggest these as mandatory reading for high schoolers. And adults.

Read The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough: While you won't be enticed to rush chapter by chapter to know what's going to happen next, this book is fascinating. It made me want to visit Paris, teach Squirms and myself French, and question our society's pace of living. It also gave me a profound appreciation for sculpture - sculpting is very difficult! Requiring math, chemistry, months and months of precise work, models, and artistic talent. I will always take time to look at giant statues of men on horses now.

She's got the Look

R likes hanging out with my family, or at least he is very good about pretending to, and he also likes to take pictures. Sometimes my sisters lovingly refer to him as paparazzi. I had difficulty choosing Thanksgiving pictures to share, and after looking at the 249 photos we took on that trip I decided that this girl needed her own post.

If AMC wasn't her father I'd be scared for whoever her father was. Because she has a look. And she doesn't exactly love our camera. I can't wait to see the looks she will give AMC when she is a teenager.

Please notice H looking approvingly on in the background

Blue? Green? Her beautiful eyes are both. This sweet girl likes her nails painted pink, bows in her hair, and to play in the dirt in old t-shirts. Definitely from Alabama.

She loves dolls, not strange visitors taking her picture

I think she has been practicing this look.

I have to deal with these people again?

Hopefully she will agree to hang out with us next time we are in town.

Why can't I just play with my cousin the Squirms?

Ten Things

1. Christmas Card photo taking is fun.

Tanner wants to know why he has to sit this close to someone who likes to pull his tail.

I see a snowman!

2. I am continually surprised at my reactions to being an actual mother. The Squirms had a runny nose and a cough. I took her temperature. It was 101.9. After calling the doctor and R, I kept myself from crying while we waited for our appointment. It was her first real fever. And I was a mess - I started packing her diaper bag like we might end up at the hospital. She handled it much better than I did.
(We did not end up at the hospital) I am a much bigger wimp than I previously thought.

3. Sausage balls. 2.5 cups of Bisquick, 10 oz of cheddar cheese, and 1 lb of sausage. Mix and make into tiny balls, bake at 400 F for approximately 12 minutes. Yay for Christmas!
I made these for a Christmas party at a mom's group. And then didn't go. So R and I ate all the sausage balls.

4. Another lovely thing about Christmas - ornaments!
I used the Squirm's first Christmas as an excuse to buy a princess ornament. For her of course. Not me. It's not like Cinderella is my favorite Disney princess or anything. And I might have also bought the blu ray of a certain princess movie for my ten month old daughter, who doesn't comprehend TV or movies yet, as her Christmas gift.

A dream is a wish your heart makes....

5. Interactive blog posts. I took a break to watch a youtube sing-along of A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes with the Squirms.

6. Snow globes. It's the only snow we get to see.
As a side note, it's 71 degrees outside. We are running our air conditioner.
I might write a blog post on the envy I feel for people who get to wear scarves and boots during "winter".

7. Elf. Possibly the best Christmas movie ever.
White Christmas. The best Christmas movie ever.
How I wish Bing Crosby was young....just kidding R. But really I'm not.

8. This photo can be filed under Odd things I find in Squirm's room after she and her dad have play time.

Last week I walked in to find all of her stuffed animals in one giant pile near the door. R said Squirm likes to be bombarded with her toys. She just laughs as he throws stuffed animals at her.

9. Good friends stopped by unexpectedly last night. While I was embarrassed at the cleanliness, or lack of, of our home, I was so happy to see them. I really like surprises like friends stopping to say hello!

10. We started adoption paperwork. Our first application is approved - onto the giant paperwork stuff now.

Happy December

When your sweet dog starts rapidly barking like a machine gun at 3:30 am while your husband is away on a business trip you start talking to Jesus - asking that your nine month old doesn't wake up, or that a giant lizard isn't roaming your living room. It was at least comforting that Tanner wasn't barking, that let me know that no one had broken in. Does anyone want a sweet dog for Christmas?

If you're keeping up with R, he safely visited an oil refinery today. He said he kept his hands in his pockets (he does like to press random buttons).

Try these cookies. If you like food.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-big-fat-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookie/

I eat a lot of chocolate. A lot. And these are worth the calories. A friend from Sunday School made them for a bonfire social. They were gone before I was able to try one, but everyone was talking about them so she graciously shared the recipe. I feel like I've done a good deed by sharing this recipe. Happy December.

Hard to be a Trophy Wife

Read this:
http://www.notalltogether.com/shes-here

R and I went through adoption training with this fun couple and I've been stalking them through their blog. R got to visit them last year and they make great local honey. This news makes my month!
Their website can also be accessed from my sidebar.


When I was in college my family had a dog named Dontarrious Thomas. Obviously we named him after an Auburn linebacker - whom my good friend JS "accidentally" gave a butt pat to during the Tiger Walk. Yes, I was super jealous. But I digress. Thomas soon became also known as 50 Cent. Because he kept wandering off and getting shot. After the third time he limped home with bullet wounds we couldn't help but call him 50 Cent. I don't think Dontarrious has ever been shot, although I'm not sure. Wikipedia didn't say. This brings me to what my story is really about, being a Trophy Wife and Shelby Ann.

When I see Shelby Ann comfortably lying on the new, and monogrammed, Christmas tree skirt like it's her new private bed, I can't help but think of Thomas aka 50 Cent. Shelby Ann came to us from a rescue and while I'm not exactly sure what happened to her before the rescue, I do know what's happened to her since. She once ate an entire Fry-Daddy full of fried pickle grease. While R and I were in Ireland she was hit by a car and then attacked by dogs - that was the actual diagnosis from the Veterinarian; poor dog had road rash and bite marks, and needed staples and stitches; we were lucky H found her in time. I've seen her throw a snake into the air and then try playing with it. And I'm not sure how she hasn't been hit by a car in our neighborhood since she likes for us to chase through the streets.

So. I know that as a homeowner, who likes nice things, I should be concerned about my dog, who digs holes and eats lizards, camping out on the new tree skirt. But she just seems to fit perfectly under the tree - a daily gift to us.

Which brings me to the end of my story. The Squirms has a cold and an ear infection. I haven't painted my nails in a week. Last night we cooked an apple pie at 10 pm. I've been using the term "bless her heart" a lot lately because of the three teeth coming in on her upper gums. She's been clingy and a bit fussy.

I'm having a hard time remembering when I was happier than I am now. The ear ache has made her more cuddly. She giggles when our foreheads touch. She's learning new noises and likes to pull the curls at the small of my neck that won't fit into a pony tail. She growls when she pulls up on the chair that I sit in and grins triumphantly at me when she stands. She gives kisses with her mouth wide open and waves her arms wildly if R walks out of the room, as if to say, come back, come back. And I promise this morning she tried reading aloud the cover of a book she picked up, before she ate it of course.

It's a difficult thing, being a trophy wife.

Longest Post Ever.

I had trouble deciding which pictures to use. Normally I prefer less is more. Sorry.

The ladies, enjoying a nice fall day....and a spatula.

Beauties.

Happy Birthday to Grandpa....really all these people want Aunt L's coconut cake.

I will eat your face.

My dad's side of the family. KHA says we're missing at least 13 people. I didn't count, but I believe her.

Aunt L trying to get in our picture!

We're going to have to teach my grandparents to not wear glasses in photos if they want to be in our next profile book.

Traded heels for walking shoes.

Someone couldn't handle the post Thanksgiving lunch walk

This guy is awesome.

As are his parents.

Aunt J (aka Nana) and her silly girls 

Mr. E, why isn't Dr. E wearing orange and blue like us?

My mom likes smocked dresses. And she's ghetto, I mean practical.

Hello Uncle M! First time meeting!

Love this one of Mom. 

Granny thinks I'm hilarious.

So tired.