Test. Test. Anyone out there?

Hello Blogger friends-

Is blogging still a thing?

I recently read where blogging is a thing of the past due to Instagram and Snap chat.

I've never been one to confirm to the types- so here I am typing.

This is more to save me time on going to therapy than anything.


Here's a nut shell on life:
1-My dad passed away in Sept.
2- My baby buddy is now 5 1/2 years old
3- I now have 2 Etsy shops plus a website that keeps me busy.


Sadly, I think you are all caught up now.

I make no promises- but- I'll try to do better on writing.
I sorta miss using this outlet.

XOXO-
Meg

Happy Birthday Jaxon!

Dear Little Love Bug-

Today you are 3. 

It's amazing to see how much you have grown over the past 3 years. Your personality is truly hilarious and you can negotiate like none-other. 

Things I don't want to forget about this age:

- When you say the blessing, here's your rendition:
     "God our Faader, God our Faader
       We spank you, we spank you
        For our missin' blessings, for our missin' blessings
       Aahhhhmen, Aahhhhmen"

- You are certainly a conditioned child. 

   When we go to the bank, you ask the teller for a sucker. 
    Every. Single. Time. 

    If I just go to the ATM, you sometimes lose your mind because you realize you are not getting a sucker. Then, I have to circle around the bank and go through the drive through ask for a sucker for you. Then, you ask for a blue one and they NEVER EVER have blue ones. Ever. 

When you wake up in the morning, you generally tell me: "Mom. It's wake up time because the sun is up and moon is down" 

- You are predictable......which is certainly fine by me! 

   You will NOT jump in the pool or really just jump at all. Ever. You have never jumped. 

Every morning, you wake up asking for your daddy. And every morning I tell you that he's at work. And then we try to Facetime him and if he doesn't answer, we have to call someone else so you can tell them: "if I tee tee in the potty, I get chocolate milk"

   Before I take a shower, I always tell you "Jaxon, don't do anything crazy while I'm in the shower."      EVERY SINGLE TIME......you will come to the bathroom and tell me that you "have a really big crazy." 

- You are becoming aware of your surroundings and who you see. 

You are not afraid to point and yell that someone is a "stranger danger."

As I drive down the road, you will tell me that you see 100 green trees. 

If there's the slightest dark cloud in the sky, you predict that "a rain storm is coming!" 

- THANK THE LARD......you are potty trained. 

Positive reinforcement really isn't your thing. The spanking stick really came to be your motivation. It was amazing how quickly you turned the corner. 

- You are VERY inquisitive. And sometimes I don't know the answers. So I make up stuff......because that's what a lot of parenthood is about. 

You like explanations and timelines. 

- Your favorite tv shows and movies are: The Wild Kratts, of course Paw Patrol, The Secret Life of Pets (which you call 'Cats and Dogs') and very low budget kid construction shows. 

- You meet friends where ever you go and you are hit or miss when it comes to traveling. You don't mind the car ride or the build up of where we are going to, but after 5-7 minutes, you ask if we can go back home. 

- You are becoming more and more vocal about having a baby brother or sister. A few weeks ago, in the busiest and worse traffic ever in Jackson, you told me that your baby sister died. 

I almost ran off the road. I tried to breathe in and out, just in and out.......and one more time.....breathe in and out. 

- I think I blogged every month of your first year of life stating "this age is the best age".....but I truly feel like this age is so much fun. Granted, it's HARD! You ask SO.MANY.QUESTIONS. and you need to be entertained at all times. ALL.OF.THE.TIME. 

Often times, in the middle of a toddler meltdown, H and I will often reminisce of a sweet little kitten baby that would just lay in his pack-n-play and look up at us and give a gummy grin. 

- Your new favorite past time is to drive your dune buggy around the neighborhood while your dad and I follow in the golf cart. Good parents would probably walk beside their kid driving a power wheels in a busy neighborhood.....but kid, you just exhaust us to much for all of that. 

Happy Birthday to the coolest kid we know! 

- 

Late Night Mom Confessions

- Sometimes the playground is closed during the day.

- Late at night while all of my men sleep, I've been know to go to the refrigerator and crack open an ice cold juice box.....or 2.

- I'm saving up all of my monogramming money to hire a potty training nanny to come and stay a week with us and train my child. Back when I was preggers with the munchkin, I read '12 Hours Sleep by 12 Weeks'.......do you know what I took away from that book?!?!!? I'll go ahead and tell you it wasn't the obvious of sleep training a baby!! It was that fact that you can hire people to come and live with you for a week or so and sleep train your baby.

Mind. Blown.

Umm...how much does that cost. And does it cost less to come and potty train vs. sleep train?!?

I would seriously pay someone to come and live with us for a week and help this mama out! $100 cash, some free monogramming and Campbell's cinnamon rolls everyday.

-Sometimes, Chick-Fil-A leaves out the "Frenchie Fries" until Jax eats his chicken nuggets. Then, all of a sudden.....I find them in the other bag.

- I have been known to go straight to the deli in Kroger and buy some mac-n-cheese and let Jax eat while I quickly shop.

Do whatcha gotta do.

I may have even bought the stinker a bunt cake from 'Nothing Bunt Cakes' just so I could make it through a Dr. appointment with him.

- Anyone else feel like their kid survives off of pop-tarts during the weekday mornings?

- Sometimes a cloud in the sky means that it is about to rain, so that means it's time to go inside and take a bath.

- Even though 'Toy Story' is recorded on our DVR......sometimes, it's just not on "t-bee" right then.

- We encourage Jax to cook with us. The more he stirs and taste tests, the more he eats. He's becoming bossy and will tell me "that's enough mommy" as I grate cheese over spaghetti.......and he thinks every recipe should have butter in it. Like mother, like son.

 

The majority of my day is spent trying to out smart a 2 year old.

There are a lot of days I come out ahead......and then.....some days......he beats me.

I tell H that Jax is making up words, and come to find out, the kid was just trying to tell me about a dodecahedron. I'll save you some time in googling that......I've already researched it. It's a shape with 12-faces. And, my kid knows that.

How.in.the.world.

Somebody bring me an ice cold juice box. Mama needs a drink.

Thoughts for Thursday

Hey there frands!

Oh- you are certainly reading this correct! I've blogged twice in 1 week.

The reason for SO MANY BLOG POSTS is due to a bad head cold and fever. Otherwise, I would be unloading the dishwasher or cooking up a 3 course meal. Maybe on the meal. But probably not.

Hopefully this post will get you all caught up on our crazy fun life.


Some mornings, I wake up and have a house full of friends to feed:

Thank goodness Jax helps me out with their breakfast snack! Bless his funny bones, he calls Ernie "Burt and Ernie" because he can't tell them apart and we don't have the Burt doll. Did I confuse them?!? Do we have the Burt doll but not the Ernie?? HECK! They always confused me. 

If you are reading this and care to identify the "Bert and Ernie" doll that we have.......please let this mama know!! 



Big Bud LOVES LOVES noodles and PF Changs. One Friday night, H asked him where he wanted to go for dinner. His response "PP Chang.....noodles daddy."

Guess where we went?!?

Meanwhile, the kid was so excited he fell asleep and slept like this while H and I ordered all the food.
Of course he woke up hungry and mad that he had to wait for warm noodles to be served to him.

I cried on the first day of school which was a total SHOCK to me. Stuff like that NEVER gets to me. 

Ever.

 But for some reason, my emotions were all over the place. So when 2pm rolled around, I pulled into carpool line on 2 wheels to pick this kid up. Then we raced home to make cupcakes.......and because I live on the edge, I let him lick the mixer beaters.

This is our ride to the pool. 

Don't be a hater. 

Big mama needs her float, and baby buddy needs his Nemo. 


We are TOTALLY those people riding in the hood. We are the people that neighbors snap photos of with their phones and send to their friends with emojis afterwards.



Jax did GREAT going to bed his first month in our new house. Then, one night, rookie dad H said: "Oh, look at us, we are such great parents who have it together and their kid goes to bed with no resistants or whining or crying. We are the best." 

It was something like that........

Anyway, since then, big bud doesn't want to go to bed on time. And sometimes he likes to hide in his room:

Luckily, I have a Master's Degree and I find him every.single.time.

Don't judge the short curtains. They were from his old room......and I needed black out curtains on Day 1, Night 1 in our new house.

I interrupt this blog post to go order curtains NOW!




Marriage is funny funny and strange thing. It's wonderful and fun, and crazy and hard.
A 9th year wedding anniversary is easy. And cheap. You don't buy or receive a lot because you are saving it all up for your 10 year.

Without mentioning it to each other, we bought new slippers for ourselves. Clarification, I bought slippers for me and said "this is my anniversary present" and H bought some for him and was making fun of himself and said "it's my anniversary present."

So this is who we are now.

Nothing screams sexy mama like some mule house shoes.

Meanwhile, I sent the photo to my young cousin........she texted back: #relationshipgoals

That's a bad angle for my ankles. This photo gives me flash backs to my kankles during pregnancy.

But to give credit where it is OVER due.....H did buy me a year's worth of massages......and a few facials. 

I may have cried over that too!! I had sorta joked with him that just having 1 massage is a tease. It's like just eating 1 M &M. But- having a years worth of massages makes one look forward to January. I only mentioned it 1 time......and thank goodness my man put that note in his phone! That may be another reason why our marriage works for us. H puts everything in his phone. I on the other hand, use a paper planner and just use my phone for talking and texting. 


To redeem our maw maw and paw paw ways from our slippers, we  dressed up and went out to dinner that didn't include noodles or sleeping buddies. We had big plans to go eat ice cream or dessert somewhere else after dinner, but we felt the guilt of parenthood and missed our buddy after H being gone for a week on a business trip that I picked him up early and we all crawled in bed and read 349,038 books.

That should get you caught up on our life through the end of August. 

Happy Grey's Day everyone!!

Baby Buddy Turns 2!

I no longer have a baby. 

I have a tiny tornado toddler. 

2 years ago at this time (time as in the time I'm typing this), I was in full on labor prepping to start pushing out a baby......or so we thought. As I'm sure you remember from my labor blog post, big buddy's head was HUGE and I had a section at midnight. 

2 years later, sweet buddy is asleep in his bed after reading 4 books to himself by the light of his bug flashlight. 

It's funny and extremely sad how fast the time has gone by. 

To catch up on all thats Jax, here's some bullet points (you know I love a good list) that I don't want to forget. And let's be real here.....this is essentially his baby book. 

- Jax LOVE LOVE LOVES Paw Patrol. He will ask to watch "Chase on Case" literally the moment he wakes up. 

- When he asks me to "turn light on" he really means for me to pull open his curtains that are closed. 

- He's obsessed with a good juice box. He calls them "juice bot"

- He thinks Oscar Mayer the weenie dog is out to get him. 

- All bites and bo bo's are "ant bite bites" and they all require "medzine"....which is generally a baby dropper with water or juice in it. 

- He wears a true 2t in most clothes and a 3t in pjs due to his man size gut. 

- Thank goodness, he is starting to snuggle again. He went through a phase where he didn't want to sit in our laps......now, thankfully, he will sit in my lap again and watch a "moo bee"

- While out shopping, my secret weapon is his iPad...... his "pad pad." He is so enamored by it that he only gets to use it in public places where we want to enjoy the food or think. 

- Prior to his birthday party, we practiced for a solid week at blowing out a candle. I bet we used up a box of matching prepping for the day. 

- He loves to sing his blessing for dinner, and with each plate of additional food. He wants to ensure every bite is accounted for with Jesus. 

Jaxon Riley-

Today you are 2. You are the greatest accomplishment in my life. I love your smile, your tight hugs and your sweet sweet kisses. I melt when you yell "mommmeee"! Your excitement for life and trucks make me cry and thank God that he chose me to be your mom. It's my daily prayer that God molds me into the mother that you need. You have a tender heart and you are jealous when your dad hugs and kisses me. You generally tell him "No! Dat's my mommmeee!" You are learning new words and phrases everyday that crack us up. You think every situation is a crisis and you yell "mommmeee help!"  You have a curious spirit and you need to find out for yourself. You simply will not take my word. You are stubborn, and so loveable, and funny. You LOVE to laugh and have us cheer you on. When you are in trouble, your feelings are easily hurt. Time out is effective for you (for now). You LOVE "prizes" even if they are M&M's or a coloring book. 

Happy Birthday baby boy. My baby you will always be. 

Happy Birthday to Me.

Apparently, I've been writing the following post since my birthday, which happened on April 27th. I had goals for this post.....but it just didn't happen. 



I'm so thankful to see another birthday year. 

I'm thankful that I was able to spend the day with my tiny human and celebrate small sweet moments during the day. 

Our day pretty much went like this:

7am- Jax woke up and said "Mommy, cha cha cha". When we sing the birthday song in this house, we sing it with "cha cha cha" in it to make it funnier for Jax. Apparently, he and H had been practicing. 

7:15 am- snack #1 commenced. 

7:17 am- snack #2 commenced. 

We enjoyed the rain and the snuggles and the little nap we took together while it thundered outside. Sometimes I have to play dead so Jax will close his eyes too. While I was playing asleep, Jax opened his little blanket and covered me with it. I.Almost.Lost.It. 

Is that not the sweetest thing ever?!? I love the fact that his little heart is taking shape and he enjoys serving others. Granted his classmates may not appreciate some of his gratitude or his love language of biting.......but he can be sweet. 

This birthday was really weird for me. 

By NO MEANS was it bad, it was just weird. H was on a business trip so it was just me, the weenie dog and little buddy. There wasn't any cake, or candles or confetti. Just me and little buddy who would randomly say "cha cha cha" through out the day. (For the record, we did celebrate as a family while in Orlando for vacay). 

I ended up ordering a watch and a Olay face cleaner from Amazon. I wanted a new watch and I though....."what the heck, I mean, it's my birthday and it was an 'add on item.' "   THAT is a clear example of what living on the edge is when you are older. 

Nothing makes you feel your age quite like ordering beauty products on your birthday all because Amazon recommended them.  

So, after my birthday, we a had a beautiful family wedding to attend. And then after the wedding was our family vacation to Orlando. 

Orlando should probably be a post on it's own, but let's be real, if I don't type it out now there's a good chance it will never be typed out. 

Here's some things that we learned/observed while on vacation:

1. Our sweet child will last exactly 9 hours in the car. After that 9th hour, he will cry and scream and beg for things you can not provide him with at the moment. Examples of what he may ask for: 'a paw-paws house' or a 'juice bot' or he will request to binge watch 'Chase on Case' which is actually Paw Patrol. While watching said cartoon, he will then cry for 'op orn'. We learned that hours 1-9 with him in the car is very pleasant. It's just the last hour. It will kill you. Slowly. At 60 miles per hour. 

2. When staying in Orlando (or doing Seaworld/Disney), stay in a condo off property. We had so much room and enjoyed the washer/dryer which allowed us to come home with our suit cases full of CLEAN clothes. Traffic in Orlando was AMAZING! It took 3 minutes to get everywhere. 

3. When traveling with kids, do not even worry about researching the culinary delights in the town you will be staying in. You will end up just using the "Chick-A-La" app on your phone. And you will eat a lot of snacks. 

4. Orlando really doesn't have any culinary delights outside the parks property. The town has a LOT of chinese and chain food restaurants. But, we happened to stumble upon Johnnie's Hideaway on our last night and LOVED IT! They had a 2 man band that Jax danced to and the food was amazing! We just kept ordering more and more food due to Jax loving the atmosphere and my creme brûlée. That booger bear kept calling it pudding and scooping out spoonfuls. 

5. Our ninja turtle would rather go to a pool than a Disney park......which is sad to find out AFTER you purchase your tickets, drive 9 hours and make him an Animal Kingdom shirt. 

6. Jax called the hot tub the "hot pool" and now he thinks his bubble baths are "hot pools." Oh, and the stink will cry and beg to get in a "hot pool" after the 9th hour in the car. 

Seaworld was defiantly the highlight of this cool kid's trip.......until he pooped his pants in the middle of the splash pad. 

There are a few things that Jax does that is spot on to my personality. However, out of the 3 things we have in common, people watching and our lack of face filter is our #1 similarity. We have NO FACE FILTER. 

I give you.....Exhibit A:

Due to his height (or really lack there of), he could only ride 1 "roller coaster" while at Disney. I set up front so I could take sweet pictures like this.......

Lard! The character lunches will make the mama bear come out in you. You want your kid to get as much face time and pictures to get your monies worth. 

We had a great time and celebrated my birthday a few times during the week. And Mother's Day. 

Next vacation: the beach with a "hot pool" and hopefully some culinary delights. And more appliquéd shirts. And no 9 hour drive. And more memories with my boys. 

Granna and Pop Camp, Round #2

While H and I were in Dallas the week before Christmas, Jax went to Sand Hill to hang out and help Pop's in the woods. 

When I dropped Jax off at mom and dad's, I left his clothes in the order they should be worn. I did everything but leave post-it notes on them. Dad would be the primary babysitter during the day, so I made sure he understood the layout of the clothes. Keep this in mind when you see the pics below. 

Even though mom and dad had everything under control, they would text photos just to prove it. 

Dad made a trip to Lowes. 
Dad dressed Jax in Monday's shirt and Tuesday's pants and the boots that were only to be worn in the woods. 

However, my child is so stinking cute! Dad told him to stand in the circle and not move. 

Mom invited her boys to work to partake in "pot luck" day. 

My child is holding a chicken leg. 

Meanwhile, this was my lunch. 

Neiman Marcus Cafe is so good and cute. It's a light and fresh lunch option that has the best lemonade in Downtown Dallas. 

I think I called my parents no less than 23 times a day to thank them for allowing me to take a vacay from life the week before Christmas. 

Meanwhile, Jax was doing this:

This kid's element is definitely in the woods! 
Dad would drive him on the 4-wheeler until he fell asleep, then, Dad could start the clock for a 3 hour nap! 

While I was dining at Neiman Marcus, Jax was having a gourmet corndog and oranges with a cereal bar in a divided plate. 

Bless my dad's sweet bones! He is a great cook, but Jax doesn't appreciate his blackened red fish just yet. 

Because one of my mom's love languages is 'gift giving' she decided to raid Jax's Christmas stocking and go ahead and give him "a prize"! 

Are those not the cutest slippers ever?!



On the last day of Granna Camp, I received this picture. 

1. He is wearing Tuesday's pants on Friday. 
2. I knew EXACTLY what was on his face without even asking. 
3. Those are eyes of a guilty boy that gave into the temptation of OREOS!!! 

While I can never repay my parents for their selfless act of kindness to us, I did try by wrapping all of mom's Christmas presents and buying the presents dad had on his shopping list. 

However, I made a veto. 

Mom asked for some socks to wear with her new rain boots. Dad sent me this pic and asked me to buy them. 

I responded with: Oh heck no! She isn't Rainbow Bright! 

I think I may cash in my next ticket to Granna and Pops camp in April. Hopefully they will be rested up by then! 

Christmas 2015. Part 1.

This post may be a little all over the place, and I apologize for that. However, it's 11:40 on Christmas Eve and the 3 cups of coffee that I've had today are REALLY kicking me right now. The weather made me want to crawl in bed and sleep for 3 hours. But, I couldn't do that because I'm a mom. And it's Christmas Eve. 

To start our festivities, we attended our church's candlelight and communion service. Since we were all dressed up, I declared that family photos need to happen. 

Photo #1, Jax:

Well, this may be a little too easy! He sat down and put his hands in his lap and was an angel baby. 

Pic #2, Daddy and Jax:

I mean, this is just too easy. 

I literally snapped 1 pic of them. 

Pic #3, Mommy and Jax:

THIS happened. 

So we tried again.......

Well, now I'm just mad. 

1. Apparently my hubs can't focus a camera. 

2. My child is melting after taking only 3 pics. 

3. I'm wearing a super cute new dress that obviously H doesn't care about. 

Merry. Christmas. Let's go to church and worship baby Jesus. 

After all of that, I did end up with these 2 gems. 

Still no dress. 

Seriously H....I'm wearing high heels! Can we get a glimpse of those? Also- this photo shows my love of sticks. 

It would be easier to baptize a cat than to corral a 1.5 year old during a church service where childcare isn't provided. I pulled out my bag of tricks within the first 5 minutes of the service. 

- M&M's

- crayons and book

-cookies

-goldfish

But of course, my child wanted the writing pen and was upset he couldn't see. 

By the time we made it back to the car, H looked at me and said, "well, Jesus knew we had good intentions."