10 Months and Fathers Day

This little booger turned 10 months old today! To say I am having a hard time with her getting older is an understatement. I don't remember feeling this way with Palmer and Annie but I just want to freeze time and never let her grow up! It's probably because I know that she is my last baby but it still breaks my heart. I haven't even let myself get excited about her first birthday because honestly I don't even want it to come this quick! I know I have 99 problems :) haha

 

Words cannot even describe the light she brings to our family. Pure joy would be the best two words I could use to describe this girl! I never knew my heart could be this full and love 3 children as much and as unconditionally as I do. Chandler has been the biggest blessing to me and everyone in our family! She is the baby and she is spoiled rotten! Happy 10 Month Birthday Baby Girl!!!

 

Right now you are:

18 lbs 11 oz (35% in weight)

28 and something inches (75% in height)

You literally had NO teeth until a week ago and now you have 4!!! (it was a little bit rough at nights but you made it thru like a champ)

You are over baby food and LOVE to eat table food, especially Mamaw's spaghetti!

You crawl, pull up and can even stand for a few seconds on your own and then you sit down and clap at yourself!! Of course we all clap with you because it is so fun to see you so excited! I have a feeling you will be walking by your 11 month birthday!

You sleep pretty good. You sleep thru the night probably 5 out of 7 nights a week but occasionally you will wake up for a 4 am feeding but go right back to sleep, I don't mind the snuggle time!

You are in 9-12 month clothes and your legs have little fat rolls, I love them!!

You are my angel! I love you!!!

 

Well, look at this picture.... haha I could just stare at it for hours. This is us, one big hot mess of a family. Notice the mounds of laundry in the back. The ripped up fathers day card, Palmer putting bunny ears on Chandler, Tex's face... I love it!

 

We celebrated fathers day yesterday and it was a wonderful day of saying thank you to Tex for being the best daddy ever!!! I give Tex a hard time about a lot of things (mainly house/finance stuff) I am the type A personality he is the type whatever personality that doesn't get a ruffle in his feathers EVER! haha I mean NOTHING is a big deal to him and he stays cool as a cucumber all of the time!

 

So even though he might not change the furnace filter every 30 days, or he could walk past burn out light bulbs for two weeks without changing them, or he could leave our riding mower outside in the rain for 4 days (you get the hint :) he is the VERY BEST daddy to our kids. He loves them with all of his heart. We share kid duties 50/50 he does baths, he makes breakfast, he changes diapers, he does what it takes to run this chaos ship as smoothly as it will ever run haha!

 

I knew from the time I was little that I wanted to marry someone that loved kids and loved to have fun with kids and guess what, I got him and so much more!! He is my best friend and the greatest gift to our kids, we couldn't ask for a better daddy!!

 

I hope everyone had an amazing fathers day!!

A Letter to My 21 Year Old Self...

 

I am linking up HERE for Jake & Holly's Letter to your 21 year old self... this post could take days, become a novel so I will try and keep it short and sweet...

 

Dear 21 year old Blake,

 

I am a lot older and wiser now at the old age of 32 haha but I look back at my 21 year old self with shock, horror, humour, laughter, fear and nostalgia. I will say you will be much happier and content in your 30's. 21 wasn't the best year for you and guess what, it is ALL going to be ok...

 

Don't worry about getting fired from 2 jobs in a year (long story) it lead you to the job you have been at for 10 years and love it!

 

Don't ever lose touch with your friends they will continue to be with you thru the best and worst times even after all of these years. Girlfriends are AMAZING! Keep the old and continue making new ones, they keep life going.

 

Don't rush so much to be an adult, it comes with a lot of responsibility and grown up things are not always that much fun!

 

Don't be SO hard on yourself, you are a good person and you have a lot to offer, you are your hardest critic!

 

DO stay in school longer and get your teaching degree. You will thank me when you have 3 beautiful children and want to spend the summers with them!

 

DO Love your family! Life is too short to hold on to resentments and anger, a lot of missed opportunities for just loving each other. They will always be there and you can always count on them!

 

DO know that you and Tex are going to go thru a lot these next 10 years. Jobs, Job Losses, Moves, Financial worries, Children, Family Crisis. There are days when you think you wont be able to make it and you DO! You always DO!

 

DO stuff for yourself...DON'T ever say your are bored when laying out by the pool or my 32 year old self will comer over there and smack you silly :)
DO stay at home and watch an entire tv series on one rainy day, you will NEVER get that chance again.

DO try and take care of yourself you will feel so much better about yourself when you do!

DON'T keep wearing those ratty t-shirts and oversized sweatshirts. Splurge and start buying some cuter clothes!

 

DO what makes you HAPPY, DON'T worry so much about what everyone else thinks, it consumes way too much of your time and thoughts. Really, you will find out you are not that important and people are not thinking about you in any way constantly like you feel they are.

 

Stop over analyzing everything and regretting things from the past. Like I said the next 10 years are going to be a lot of peaks and valleys, buckle in, it gets real... but guess what, don't change much about it because it brings you to a place of experience, it provides you with empathy, it heals holes in your heart you didn't even know you had, it mends wounds and relationships that you thought were never going to happen, it shows you that no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, it provides joy you never knew existed, it brings you to your knees, it makes you stronger, it makes you wiser, it makes you love more, it all makes you who you are today... and guess what, you kind of like that person you see in the mirror today, she doesn't seem so bad after all!

 

Love,

 Your much happier 30 something self!

Random...Did you know?

Have you heard of this? Never in my life had I heard about the Dolly Parton imagination library until about 8 months ago. I feel that I am a wealth of useless knowledge, random facts and fanatic at finding out little lovely secrets like this one but this little gem slipped right past me...

 

You can go HERE and register each of your children that are under the age of 5!!! From Birth until the age of 5 Dolly Parton's Imagination Library sends your child a free, brand new book monthly!! They are relatable to the gender and age of the child at the time. They are really good books too!! Palmer was too late for it but I signed Ann Mason up before Chandler was born and she LOVES getting her books. I just went on the website again and registered Chandler for it!

 

So for all those momma's with little ones, go register, it is such a wonderful program and the kids will LOVE it!

Fashion Show and Redneck Parties

This weekend was SO much fun, busy, exhausting but tons of FUN! I am going to need this week to catch up on sleep and house work because both were neglected this weekend! ha! I know I have said it a million times but God knew what he was doing when our realtor drove us up to a random house that we didn't ask to see and it ended up being the home we live in today! We have the very best neighbors anyone could ask for! You can literally find something or someone to hang out with all of the time!

 

The kids LOVE it! Friday night Ann Mason's friend Annie Kate came over and played for a while. Her mom and dad hung out too and some of our other favorite neighbors and these girls are BFF's. It is SO fun watching Ann Mason truly have a best girlfriend. She gets stuck with the boys a lot and it is so awesome to watch her eyes light up and be able to do all of the girly stuff her heart can handle! Of course they picked to have a fashion show!...

 

Outfit 1

 

Outfit 2! There were more outfit changes and I can't even describe what her closet looked like but they had a blast and we did too!!

 

Ann Mason had a big weekend. The next day her and Tex set off for their first daddy/daughter camp out with about 10 other dads and probably 12 little girls! She did AWESOME, spent the night in a tent, road jet skis, kayaked, went four wheeling. They had so much fun and I think the dad's did too!

 

Palmer went over to Mamaw's for a sleep over with his cousins and Dallas! I mean this is the second time this month he has spent the night out and not come home!! I think we broke the curse, he LOVED it!

 

That left just Chandler and I to find something fun to do... Luckily our neighbors two doors down were having a Redneck Party for her 11 year old daughter. It was SO fun!!!

 

Ten 11 year olds mud sliding, screaming and running around. It was pure Chaos!

All of the neighbors "crashed" the kids party and we even got decked out ourselves in some redneck gear. Unfortunately, Chandler doesn't have a lot of redneck wear in her closet. I guess I could have just taken her down in a diaper! haha This is our neighbor holding Chandler.

 

The girls singing happy birthday outside!

 

 

Me, in my overalls and camo hat! I haven't worn overalls since I was 17 but my neighbor just had some hanging in her closet!! We ate chicken wings, listened to country music and had a blast! The kids did too of course!

And this is the last picture I got of the night... Palmer crashed out on the floor!! Needless to say with 2 out of 3 kids spending the night and staying up WAY past bedtime. Yesterday was a LAZY day filled with movies, naps and hanging out!! I love weekends like this!

 

Neenie Time!

We were so very sad to see Neenie go this past Friday! The kids had SO much fun with her and just really got to spend so much good quality time. They LOVE her so much and everything Neenie does with them is fun! Here are some of the highlights!

 

My kids actually spent the night in the hotel with my mom!!! I don't know what I have done to my kids but they won't spend the night even with Mamaw who lives here? The last time they spent the night somewhere was when we were in the hospital having Chandler! I would totally let them but they are all like "there's no place like home"!!! 

Neenie taking them down on a luggage cart at 9pm to get Chocolate. Whatever works!!!

 

Trip to Cracker Barrel! Always our favorite!

Chan doing what Chan does best! Look at those chubby cheeks! I could eat them ALL day long!

 

They went swimming A LOT!!

Even Chan dipped her fat piggies in the pool a few times! She looks hilarious in this pic, that is not her bathing suit that is a towel!

Mom got to see Palmer play his tee ball game, he was so excited!~ He loves a crowd!

They went swimming SOME MORE!

And even MORE!

They Laughed A LOT!

And had SO much fun!

 

My poor momma I know she had to have been worn out, she watched them all day long for 4 days. That would wear me out and I am their mom! She was a trooper and they will always remember these times with Neenie! We love and miss you mom, wish we could see you everyday!