Love your Life

The right thing--

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I know I've been sooo slack since I haven't posted in a while.  I did in fact, have a great holiday season.  It was so wonderful to spend time with friends and family.  But I do feel like it's taken me this long to recover.  Whew!  Having 2 kids is quite a difference from one. We all shared a room for the majority of our haul to Virginia and let's just say there was definitely a depletion of sleep!

Anyways, do you ever have really hard decisions to make and you just wish you knew what the "right thing" to do was?  I have always been one of those "just do it" type people.  But things certainly change once you have a family don't they?  There is so much more responsibility involved and you're a lot slower to jump in and take a risk--- even when it's much of what you're about. 

I'll keep you "posted" on what my dilemma is-- but in the mean time, I think I'll just really appreciate all that I have. 

Yippee!

I am GIDDY with excitement!!!!

This upcoming weekend, I am thrilled to report that some of my nearest and dearest friends will be back in the ol' stompin grounds of Atlanta and we all get to enjoy some awesome quality time together!  One of my oldest girlfriends "J" and her husband (whom I've actually been friends with longer than her!) and her little boy are all coming to stay with us.  This always works out so wonderfully b/c our husbands love hanging out (and getting rid of us) and our little boys play well together.  In addition to that our other dear girlfriends are coming as well!  The gang will be back together, if only briefly, again. I'm sure the weekend will include but not be limited to: laughing at and with each other so hard we are crying, pigging out and possibly shopping and maybe.... just maybe- we'll have a cocktail or possibly two at Ms. A's annual wine party. ;) 

Typically, my stomach hurts from laughing so hard following one of these group gatherings!  Needless to say, it's times like these that I tend to realize how good I have it in the "friends" department.  I mean, this gang is hilarious, outgoing and just S-O-O REAL.  That's honestly what I look for in a true friend---- someone who is comfortable in their own skin, caring and is not so concerned with what the rest of the world thinks. 

So you don't feel left out, I'm sure I'll have some hilarious pictures to upload following the weekend b/c let's just say tomorrow is a girls night and Saturday night the guys are coming with and the sitter has been booked for at least a month!  And A, A, J and O-- I can hardly wait to be with all of you!  And speaking of which... I don't want to know how delightful I'll feel come Sunday morn!

And then I remembered this was not a dream....

Every Tuesday night my sweet little man stays the night at my Dad and Stepmom's and we have just our baby girl.  It's a nice little break to treat her to being an only child and I must say it's also nice to revive and miss him being around!  They take only him because he goes to a kids group that you have to be 2 and older for on Wednesday mornings.

So following their group, around lunch time on Wednesdays, I meet my stepmom about halfway and do the "swap" of bringing him back to our side of town.  And then it started... him screaming and flailing  because he wanted to go in the mall.  Many may not believe this, knowing me--- but he still has a pacifier-- ONLY when he sleeps, but yes, my 3 year old  STILL has a pacifier.   By the way, I don't tell many people this :)

Needless to say, he wouldn't calm down and there was no way I was taking both of them in the mall, just to go, so we headed home and I pulled his pacifier from his overnight bag hoping he'd fall asleep on the way home.  He hardly takes naps any more so I'm always grateful when he does... am I just awful?!

When we arrived home I put him down for a nap--- moments later I hear "MOMMY, I went POO-POO!!!"  Of course, my initial reaction is "ugh, I guess I have to clean him up".  Well my dear friends.... NOT- JUST- HIM.  You should have seen his room-- and that's all I'm going to say.  I will not put you through any further visuals.  What I do know is that I honestly looked around to see if there was anyone, ANYONE that I could get to clean it up--- other than me.  I even thought about calling our cleaning lady--- but I think I'd be embarrassed for them to even see it.  And thats when I realized, "hey-- I guess this is one of those amazing things you get with being a parent?!  What Fun!!!  When is the next one?!!!!"

You'll be happy to know that we're all cleaned up and maybe one good thing came out of it. As of today-- my son no longer has a pacifier... he's also short all of his favorite cars that he will not be playing with until he's "earned them."  Yep, I said that--- am I now my mom?!

So, of course-- today has not been shall we say, blissful?  But, I know that when I have my evening out with two of my dear friends this evening--- that first margarita (and 2nd!) will be very, very BLISSFUL. 

A Man's Best Friend

So, there is a reason they call Dogs a "Man's Best Friend."  My husband and his buddies have season tickets for the Atlanta Falcons.  Last night they were going to the Monday Night Football game and after his full weekend with our lovelies I could tell he was more than excited for a night away with the guys.  I may be abnormal, but I like a little "home alone" time-- sure, I've got to be single parent for a night, but for some reason-- that gives me a sense of accomplishment and once they are put to bed, I have complete and total quiet time.  "Quiet" being the operative word.  Well, not last night.  I was worn out from the weekend and really wanted to catch up on some sleep... our two precious labrador retrievers had different plans. 

My hubby is a wonderful dog owner and takes our dogs for walks EVERY single night.  You see why they love him more :)  and while I'd love to make it up to them when he's not here-- I can't, b/c both kiddies are sleeping.  So last night, once they realized they were not getting their evening jaunt--- they barked about every 5 minutes ALL---- NIGHT----- LONG.  At 3:15 they barked so much they made me let them out for a potty break. 

Let's just say there is not enough coffee to make my headache go away today... and as if I wasn't appreciative of him already... it makes me love my husband all the more. 

Plan, Plan, Plan.

I love how you just can't plan life.  No matter what you do to prepare for things, especially when children are involved-- you just need to ride the wave. 

Bright and early this morning our little family of 4 was at a local park to take some family photos and do Tatum's 1 year pictures.  All of us in our perfect little cream outfits that I spent the last couple of weeks scouring the stores for-- yes, all for the December weather to make sure we were plenty bundled to be outside at 8 o'clock in the morning.  HALT-- it's 70 plus degrees in Atlanta... and humid.  So, the picture session, shockingly, didn't go as planned.  You never realize how hard it is to get 4 subjects to do exactly, or even somewhere near, what you want.  Above is a picture on Thanksgiving we tried to take on our own--- just to prove the point.  And let's just say when I returned to the car this morning-- I was sweating, had dirt on my face and my straight, freshly blow dried bob was now a humid curly mess. 

But I'd bet with the love, energy and personality that was involved--- there will be a few photos that we just can't live without.  And let's face it--- that's what life is all about right? 

We used EBS photography-- Elizabeth is such a great photographer!  Check out the EBS blog from December 10th and see a sneak peek of Tatum's photo session with a scarf, hat and little else.