THE FAMILY OF THE MONTH

I am going to try and spotlight a "Family of the Month" this may be one person or several people in one family that has had something exciting happen to them or just a family that I am excited for or want to acknowledge cause they mean so much to me!

The first ever "Family of the Month Award" goes to the Shelton Family!!! The Shelton's just welcomed there daughter Emerson Diane Shelton into the world on 07/11/2008 (What a lucky birthday!)

When I see these pictures I just can't help but to smile! There faces say everything! There joy is truly amazing and it seems like there family just became even more complete the day that Emerson was born.

As I embark on my second pregnancy I look to Whit and her family for inspiration and guidance. Whitney has been an amazing mom to Ava and I have full confidence that she will be just as amazing with Emerson! I hope that I will be as graceful having my second child as Whit has been!

We are so happy for you all and I am SO proud of big sis Ava! She has embraced her little sis Emerson from day one! You can't help but love this family!

Congrats!

My Family is turning into Celebrities!

Jeff, Sara and I (aka "the celebrities and me")

Ok the title might be a slight exageration but I think it's going to happen! So, last night I was sitting down to watch some great summertime tv (read prior post) and do a little knitting. It was Monday night so that meant Nashville Star was on! I LOVE that show! So, my mom called and asked me if I had heard of Nashville Star? Of course I heard of it, did she not read my summertime tv post? Then she told me that Jeff (my brother) and Sarah (his girlfriend) had just called and they were sitting in the front row at Nashville Star at that very moment!! I was so excited but didn't think we would "really" get to see them. Sure enough within the first 5 minutes I saw them 3 times!!! It was great! They looked great and were clapping and having fun. The best was when Shawn Mayer sang they zoomed the lighting in on Jeff and Sara! I was SO proud! :)

Sara is currently working on recording her own country album in Nashville. She has a lot of stuff in the works and I hope this isn't the last time we see her on tv, I am sure it won't be! I will keep you updated on her progress. Check her out on myspace.com go to Music and type in Sara Darling. She is great, Tex has banned me from listening to her CD since I play it all the time!

I am so happy for them, they have a lot of things to be excited about! I love reality tv, it is a weakness of mine that I can't get enough of and to see my family members on it, life can't get much sweeter! haha

Just Another Manic Monday....

This picture sums up how Palmer and I felt this morning. We were tired, we didn't want to get out of bed and we certainly didn't want to go to our respective places of work and or daycare. I totally could have stayed in my pj's all day and done NOTHING!

I loathe Mondays! I realized though that if I didn't work Mondays then I would loathe Tuesdays and so on.... I pretty much just loathe the weekend being over, I want to jump up and down and stomp my feet and scream, NOT FAIR, NOT FAIR at the top of my lungs!

We had a GREAT weekend and I guess that is why this Monday was harder than usual. Well, Palmer has reverted back to his "I love Mommy, she is the best I can't get enough of her stage" which I totally ate up all weekend!

We pretty much relaxed, went to the pool, church, grilled out and Palmer and I took 3 hour naps on Saturday and Sunday!! You can't get much better than that!

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS AND OR ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!

*Congratulations to the Shelton Family! Emerson Diane Shelton was born Friday around 1:40 weighing 8pds and 12 oz (as some of you may gasp at the weight may we remind you that her sweet big sis Ava was 10+ pounds so this was an improvement! haha) The Shelton family is doing great and we hear that Ava is adjusting well and LOVES her little sis! We are so happy for you all!!!

** The Templeton's replaced their digital camera so I promise there will be more pics to come!!!

*** We did lunch with Ernie this weekend since she was in town! She looks fab! She is 32 weeks and hanging in there like a champ! We can't wait for the shower in just a few weeks!

Hope everyone gets thru there own Manic Mondays!

Oh, the JOYS of motherhood...

Yesterday was on of those days that made question my mother skills! Was mothering children really what I was supposed to do because if so I needed to go to some mothering classes ASAP! :)

It started off yesterday with my pregnancy hormones raging and I decided that my sweet son no longer had an interest in his mommy! I tried everything to get him to love and hug on me yesterday but he was more interested in everything else around him including his own shoe! It was that bad, his shoe was more exciting than Mommy! So that marked the first teary meltdown!

The second teary meltdown occured, oh let's say 5 minutes later when I realized I was exhausted and wanted to lay down but then felt guilty because I needed to gain back some brownie points with the son that does not find me interesting anymore! The third teary meltdown occured just another short 5 minutes after the second teary meltdown when my innocent and sweet husband became the target of my emotions and was told that, "I NEED HELP!" I can't possibly carry a baby, take care of another baby, work full time, cook dinner and clean the house and I was just SO tired. He sweetly looked at me and told me to go upstairs lay down and hopefully be refreshed to go out to eat. (What he really meant was go lock yourself in the bedroom until you come out with a new attitude!) He is SO nice to me I swear!

So.... onto dinner with the Prather's. I was so excited about going to dinner at JB's Brewhouse. Tex and I had just eaten there recently and Palmer did great, we had a great lunch, etc... I just knew it was going to be a great dinner and it was until.... the server took FOREVER to bring out even our salds which as any mother knows you only have a good 20-30 minutes before the wee one gets aggitated and wants out to explore his new surroundings. Well, that 20-30 minutes was down the drain and we didn't even have our salads, we were in for a ride!

So, as a way to distract Palmer from getting aggitated and cranky Tex and I both thought feeding him would keep him slightly entertained. Well, feed him we did and apparently a little too much! He became incredily aggitated and proceeded to wiggle his way out of his car seat 3 times onto the floor! My patience was wearing thin at this point and my meal had lost all of its appeal. But then came the good part. Due to the overfeeding of dairy products (Way to go on the parenting!) Palmer started throwing up in his stroller. I yank him out as all eyes are watching my every move and start rushing him into the bathroom that is ALL the way at the other end of the restuarant. Just as we were passing the table of 4 next to us Palmer turns to look at me and out comes projectile vomit that lands on my hair, face, and clothes and the rest of it goes back on Palmer.

So, I turn back to our table cause at this point I wasn't sure wether to let him throw up all thru the restaurant or just let him puke in one spot. What's a mother to do? And then, oh no, I think I am going to puke so I decide to take my chances and dash off to the bathroom where I held in the urge to get sick myself and worked on cleaning up my little pukey monster. So, I stripped him down and soaked his clothes in the sink. I started cleaning my hair face and shirt off, getting us ready to make the walk of shame out of the restaurant.

So after the clean up, Palmer and I tried to conspicously leave the restaurant but I think people noticed that my son was now just in a diaper and tennis shoes and I was soaked from head to toe. As we got outside my nerves were starting to calm down even though I was embaressed by the fact that my now happy-go-lucky toddler was running around in nothing but a diaper and tennis shoes, oh well at this point anything goes.... until some snotty lady with her cute litte snotty daughter walked up, looked at Palmer and said, "Nice outfit buddy!" That is where I lost it and screamed after her that we had an accident and were waiting for his Father to come out! HOW RUDE! As if we hadn't been thru enough I didn't need any patronizing from some snotty stranger!

Finally after all was said and done we drove home redneck style.. Palmer naked in his carseat and me shirtless sitting next to my hubby in the pickup truck.

What a night! We have now vowed to not do restuarants until we feel P is ready to tackle that kind of social atmosphere again (maybe when he is 18!) For now we will be collecting all of the to-go menus in Louisville and anytime we have an urge to go out to eat we will be pulling one of those and eating on our back patio! With the second once I will probably just lay out some boxes of cereal on the counter and let the kids eat with their hands! I can only do so much :)

On a good note I have a due date! Went to the dr yesterday and she said we could plan it for 02/23/2009!! Only... 226 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes and 49 seconds until Monday, February 23, 2009 at 9:00:00 AM (Louisville time)

Summertime TV.....

I LOVE Summertime TV..... I know most people HATE TV in the summertime but I acutally disagree, there are tons of worthy reality shows (is that an oxymoron?) that absolutley entertain me during the summer! I think my entertaining standards have been lowered since we only have channels 1-26 now! But anyways... I am currently LOVING:

1. Nashville Star

2. So You Think You Can Dance

And coming soon..... BIG BROTHER!!! Big Brother comes on 3 times a week how great is that!!! It totally fufills my trash tv urge! There is always drama, fighting and if we are really lucky a totally scandalous "Showmance"

So, I know I can't be the only person in America that watches SYTYCD, who is your favorite? I hate to say it but my LEAST favorite couples are Kerrington and Twitch and Thayne and Comfort.

I really like Chelsea and Mark, Will and Jessica and Courtney and Gev but my favs are....

Josh

Katie

I LOVE Katie and Josh! You think Josh is a big tough guy but once he talks he is a big teddy bear in braces, it cracks me up! I really want to go see them on tour! Does anyone want to join me? :)

Hold on to your seats... We got a MINI VAN!!!!

The "MINI"

The "Mini's" Dashboard

The "Mini's" Front Seat

The "Mini's" Bucket seats (where the 2 mini's will sit)

The "Mini's" back bench where the fortunate souls who ride with us will be!

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder! While most normal people may view this above pictures as monstrosity and an"ugly, big, space ship" I view it as a convenient, easy riding little slice of heaven!!! I always thought I would "never" be a mini-van, but the minute my body was enveloped by the bucket/driver seat I knew I was home at last! I have transitioned very nicely from a Honda girl to the mini-van driving mom! I have used every excuse this weekend to drive this little stealth bomber everywhere!

This van must have been made with the mind of the ultimate mom! What convenience, what storage, what an incredible invention! Palmer even LOVES it and gets excited when we get to take rides in it! I am SO excited for our first road trip, even Molly has her own little area in the back to sprawl out on! Owensboro here we come!

I know that the definition of the American dream is different for everyone but I tell you what. I think Tex and I are living it.... 1 little boy, 1 on the way, and a silver Chrysler Town and Country what more could you ask for! Tex is putting up our white picket fence this weekend! (hint the sarcasm:)

I hope everyone had a GREAT 4th of July! We had a wonderful weekend with Palmer and he LOVED the fireworks. I was so glad that I didn't have "that" baby that was screaming every time one went off (My apologies to the mothers that did :)

If you all have any questions about the Mini, or how you can get on for yourselves just email me at theminivanmom@ yahoo.com! haha

I am thinking about getting a monogram sticker for the van, so not only will I be the mini-van mom but the monogram mini mom! How cool. :)

Palmer is going to be a big brother!!!!

Yes, that is right we have managed to take the plunge yet again! Somehow this second one is WAY more shocking than the first! You would think that I would have been more prepared seeing as how we have been thru this once but in fact I was actually more terrified than ever!!!

Before I knew I was pregnant with #2 I told myself that on this pregnancy I was going to wait SO long to tell everyone, heck I might even be showing before people found out! BLAH-HA-HA that lasted 1.2 seconds! I also had envisioned me taking my HPT and keeping it from Tex for the day in order to plan a perfect scene when he got home of balloons and Palmer running to the door with his big brother shirt on as I captured the precious moment on video. Can I get a second BLAH-HA-HA?

So, here is how it went down.... THE REAL WAY.... I have never been a patient one when it comes to HPT and testing... If I owned stock in EPT/Clear Blue Easy, etc... I would be a millionaire. I think sometimes it was my second hobby to just take a test "just to see". So, I had knowningly taken a few pregnancy tests WAY to early that were all negative. Just in case anyone is confused NO you can not get a positive the day after you try for a baby :)

Although I had several negatives I kept on having dreams of being pregnant. Crazy dreams that only crazy pregnant women have! I shared this with a few friends who thought there was still a chance. Well, fast forward to Saturday morning 7:00 am, I am downstairs in the kitchen warming Palmers bottle for the morning and I thought heck I have a good 30 seconds to spare why not take my 15th test, who's counting anyways. So, I proceeded to take the test, negative again! So I get his bottle and just for the heck of it pick up the test to throw it away and look again. Ok, now I am thinking I have really lost it because I am staring at this test so hard that there appears to be a faint, faint positive line.

I immediately dash upstairs where I proceed to stick my gross pregnancy test all tainted with urine in Tex's face and urge him to wake up and assure me that my vision was blurred. He kindly woke up took 2 looks at the test and assured me that line was so faint it meant "maybe" and fell back asleep! Are you serious? :) So, I gave him Palmer and the bottle and headed to Walgreen to buy more. As I took the second one and looked the same faint line showed up! This was no coincidence I was pregnant!

I then had to pretend my world hadn't changed in 3 minutes and had to get dressed and have two Saturday appointments at work!! What a bummer! By 10 that morning I think 50% of my friends knew, Tex's mom and who knows maybe some of the neighbors. By the end of that day most everyone knew but one of the most important people, my mom! Yikes what was she going to say? I knew she would be excited but I knew this was also so hard for her to be away for Palmer and here I was going and throwing another one onto the guilt train, what was I thinking?

So, Sunday we shopped and shopped until we FINALLY found a big brother shirt. Mind you it was a 4T (were the people at Babies R Us telling me I should have waited until Palmer was older?) So off we go to the mall food court, of all places to surprise my mom and Aunt Janet. So, we get Palmer all dressed in his over size big brother shirt and prepare him to walk out of the elevator to the food court. Mom and Aunt Janet immediately see him and Aunt Janet( the veteran Mii that she is...) notices his shirt right away. My mom on the other hand continues to stare and look between Palmer, Me, Tex and Aunt Janet about 3 times until she started crying and jumping up and down! It was great!!! I was so upset that the first time we had to tell her over the phone so it was great to see her reaction in person this time!

This is all very sudden and I don't think we were prepared for how quickly it happened but what a miracle! God has given me another chance to be a mom, how can you not be humbled by that? He picked me again to raise another child! I have to admit fear had taken over me for a few days. All of the what if's, all of the, can we pay for this?, and oh shoot I never lost that last 5 pounds ran thru my head continuously.

I didn't get excited until I went to my AA meeting on Monday and confided in my sponsor that I was pregnant. I thought she would be dissapointed because my timing wasn't right because I am going thru a huge process right now, etc... but she just looked at me and said, "See, See what God has done... He has given you a chance to carry life again and He has put you here with us in your life and this is exactly where HE wants you to be and exactly what HE wants you to be doing."

Also, I loved what Jamie said to me, she just told me plain and simple that "It wasn't just me who decided if I became pregnant" How great is that!

And here I was thinking that I had all of the control and yet again I find out that I don't have any at all! This is what is meant to be so I have decided to embrace it and enjoy this pregnancy with everything I have because I am now going to have two miracles to love and to make me laugh each day! What a blessing!

I am really early but I think I will be due around the end of Feb or very first of March! I will keep you all updated on the progress. My first dr appt is July 10th and I think that will hopefully ease my mind. I would love to have an ultrasound early, there is nothing like seeing or hearing the beating heart of a child growing in your belly to relieve your worries and remind you of what a miracle this is!

Thanks for all of the support I have the greatest friends and family a girl can ask for! I love you all so much!