Cheer Camp 2009

Laura Grace had Cheer Camp all week. She didn't say much about it, but assured me that she had fun. She told me all about the snacks, the face paintings, and pulling the mascot's tail. When I asked about the dances and cheers she would just shrug and say, "You know...it's cheer."

ooookaaaay.

Anyway, tonight she had her performance. They did two pom dances and a cheer. She looked adorable and did a great job! She stood next to her best friend, Chloe, and made sure that Chloe found her parents while they waited for their music to start. She then found another little girl's family for her. I thought it was very sweet that she wanted them to know their families were watching.

This was last year...


And this was tonight! It was nearly impossible to get her to stand still and smile...

Anniversary

I am so, so blessed to be married to my bestfriend.

Last weekend, Clay and I spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in Birmingham and Huntsville, AL. Monday was our anniversary (seven years!!) and we wanted a quick, "just us", vacation before the baby comes. Clay's parents kept the kids for us and away we went!

Saturday was rainy and cool so we spent the day shopping. I found an adorable bathing suit at Pea in the Pod! I was so excited it didn't really hit me until that night exactly HOW MUCH I SPENT on that bathing suit!

After shopping, we ate at the Village Tavern. The food was wonderful, the atmosphere was romantic, and it was so nice to be able to sit and talk while someone else refilled drinks and picked up dropped forks!

Clay was very sweet and let me rent "Confessions of a Shopaholic" in the hotel room. It was too stormy to go anywhere else so we cuddled up and watched movies. The movie was hilarious-if you haven't seen it, rent it!

Sunday the weather was much nicer. We ate brunch at the hotel and then went to the Birmingham Zoo and Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

The gardens were gorgeous-this was taken in the Japanese Gardens. What was so funny is the girl that took our picture asked us if we went to Mississippi College. We told her we did and quickly realized that we had gone to school together. Small world!

My favorite part of the Botanical Gardens was the Rose Garden. This was one of the beautiful roses...

The gardens...

Clay had a little too much fun in the meditation garden. The people around us who were really meditating didn't see the humor...

After the gardens, we grabbed some ice cream at a local creamery. We spent the rest of Sunday driving around Birmingham. We toured Samford University-both of us almost went to school there and decided on Mississippi College instead. I thought that was pretty funny because we both ended up at MC, where we met and married!

Sunday night we ate at a fun Italian resteraunt and then went bowling. It was pretty hilarious-we are both horrible at it.

Monday, we went to Huntsville, AL. We toured the NASA Space and Rocket Center-Clay's idea of fascinating. Mine? Not so much. My eyes glazed over halfway through and I can honestly say I don't remember much. Clay enjoyed all the science stuff but it is just not my thing.

We wrapped up the weekend by watching the new Star Trek movie on IMAX. It was really, really good! I was shocked! I am not a Star Trek fan-I grew up watching The Next Generation, but was never a "fan" of it. Clay on the other hand... let's just say I am REALLY, REALLY glad he is not into the whole Trekkie convention thing. He loves Star Trek, but leaves it at watching the old movies and reruns on television!

And then...we went home. Sadly. I tried to convince Clay that we needed to fake an illness or car trouble or...something. Clay wouldn't let me and so we went home. I was happy to see my babies. Both didn't really seem to realize we had been gone and both kids asked to stay another night with Mimi and Granddaddy. I was all for saying, "YES!!!" and going home and sleeping undisturbed another night. Does that make me a bad mom? HA!

When I saw the slightly panicked looks on Mimi and Granddaddy's faces I realized that they needed the rest more!!

Is it an alien?!

I am not sure if there is a correlation between movements in the womb and activity levels after birth...but I am hoping not!

Baby Will is moving ALL. THE. TIME.

Last night he kept me up until 2 a.m. with his antics. Don't get me wrong, I love it! I love that he is a healthy, growing baby. It is just absolutely amazing to see my stomach rippling and literally bouncing with his movements!

Last night he stuck something up against my stomach-from the size and shape I am thinking it was his head or rump. It made my entire stomach lopsided for nearly two hours. Laura Grace took one look at it and exclaimed, "IT LOOKS LIKE AN ALIEN IS IN THERE!"

She then layed on my chest and put her hand on my stomach so she could feel Will kicking. She looked up more than once, eyes shining, and said, "That is so sweet!"

It is precious. It is so amazing how God orchestrates movement in the womb-I know it is a reality of having a baby inside you, but I really think that he makes it such so that we have an opportunity to love it and bond with it even more.

Clay is also enjoying the spectacle of my stomach. Last night I told him that Will is now a foot long and nearly 1 1/2 pounds- Clay's mouth fell open and he said, "Can you imagine how much your stomach will move in a month or two?!?"

That is kind of scary...

I am feeling really good right now. I love this part of pregnancy. I have a ton of energy, my maternity clothes are still loose, I can bend over without difficulty, and if it wasn't for my growing stomach and busy baby, I would forget I was pregnant! I have gained six pounds as of this morning and my stomach is beginning to stick out more and more. Laura Grace told me I looked like I had a ball under my shirt. After having two babies that resembled watermelons I told her that was a wonderful compliment!!

I am going to the beach in July and I will be nearly eight months pregnant. The thought is a little daunting because it hit me last week that I need to find a bathing suit. A maternity bathing suit. It is bad enough wearing a bathing suit NOT pregnant!

If anyone knows where to find cute ones, I would appreciate the help!!

I Love You, Mommy!

Layton has always been affectionate. From the time he was two months old, he would cover my face in gummy kisses and grin. Now that he is three, he spends his days in and out of my lap. He will play for awhile and then come running to find me. After a hug and kiss he says, "I love you, Mommy!" and then runs off to play again.

Last night, Layton's choir sang in church. He walked up on the stage, scanning the congregation anxiously. I could tell he was looking for me and Clay. When he saw us he broke into a huge grin, hugged himself tightly and shouted, "I LOVE YOU, MOMMY!"

And then I, being my pregnant self, burst into tears.

Dance Recital

Saturday night, Laura Grace had her third dance recital. I was blown away by how grown up she became on stage. My vibrant, bouncy, always on the move, little girl turned into this beautifully composed, graceful child I barely recognized. She was so serious about remembering all of the choreography! Her whole face glowed when she was done because she had such a good time. I was so, so proud of her!

She worked really hard last week-they had three dress rehearsals from 4 in the afternoon until 9 at night. For a little girl that goes to bed at 7, this was a challenge for her! Her attitude stayed good and she tried her best at every rehearsal and never complained about it. That is one thing I am noticing about her personality-she is not a whiner. She always looks on the bright side and encourages people around her to do the same.

Getting ready...

Layton kept saying, "Laura Grace, you look pretty! You look so pretty in your makeups!"

I thought her hair looked beautiful and very grown up! With her hair and makeup on she went from a five year old to a ten year old! It was a little disconcerting for her father :)

Before the recital... she decided to practice on our front porch while I took pictures.

Laura Grace and I after the recital-you can tell by my washed out face I was exhausted!! It was after ten p.m... When I mentioned to Clay how tired I was, Laura Grace said, "You're tired!!! But, why!?! You didn't even dance!"

Laura Grace's great-grandmother gave her a bear, her Mimi gave her a bracelet, and Clay, Layton and I gave her flowers. Laura Grace said, "WOW!!! All this for a few dances!"

She is....um....rather spoiled. HA!

We did explain that we all very, very proud of her hard work in dance AND in school this past year.

I can't believe she is almost in first grade!! This is her last week of Kindergarten-ACK!

Updates

This were totally off subject in my earlier post, but worth mentioning :)

We have a new kitten. Our cat, Sarah, had kittens two weeks ago! Only one lived out of three, but it is a fat, sassy little Calico cat. We think it is a boy (shows how much I know about cats) and Laura Grace has named it Patches. Pictures will come later. The jury is still out on whether Patches will remain with us!

Layton is FULLY POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He woke up one morning, went potty and that was it! No more accidents for a month now-not even at night!

I held my breath for several days because the last time I thought he was trained, he regressed. This time we are a month into it and there are no signs of him changing his mind!!

Another funny...

Layton thinks that a "Baby Will" lives in everyone's stomach. Poor child is a little confused!!

Conversations with Laura Grace

Laura Grace is...

fun
exhausting
sassy
precocious
outgoing
emotional
talks enough for all of us
confident
thinks she knows everything
sweet
tender hearted
affectionate
giving
always drawing me pictures and bringing me flowers


Having a daughter is hard work. And I am saying this as my son is sitting on the dining room table flying his airplane around. I need to clean Lucky Charms off the kitchen floor because he dumped half the box, he broke his piggy bank this morning-sending nearly 100 dollars in pennies flying everywhere-and he spilled the milk all over the newly mopped kitchen floor.

Somehow, Laura Grace still beats that.

I love our conversations. She is a deep thinker who is ALWAYS thinking. She often hits me with whammies that come out of nowhere. A month ago we were sitting in the car and suddenly she asked...

"What is divorce? Why do some people who were married not live together anymore? What happens to their children? Why does so and so not have a daddy? Where is he? How do babies come out? Does it hurt? Why do you go to a hospital?"

All in one breath she asked me about single parenting, divorce, and birth.

I suggested we go to Mcdonalds for lunch in order to distract her and it worked. Cowardice? You bet. Next time I am hoping I am more prepared!

Yesterday, we were working on phonics homework and I kept making silly mistakes. She looked at me with a pitying expression and said, "Poor Mommy! Your brain just isn't working like it used to! Ever since you got pregnant, you have been kind of silly!"

Sigh.

Today, she was playing mermaids. She has a mermaid costume with a hot pink tail and sparkly fins. I walked in her bedroom and she said, "Mommy? Do you think people would like a mermaid with a pink tail?"

I said, "Sure!"

Laura Grace shook her head, a sad expression on her face, "No, I don't think they would. I think Ariel has gotten people used to the whole green tailed mermaid thing. She is bad about that."

Oh. I see.

She then looked up and said, "Can I marry someone with brown skin one day? You said that God makes everyone different but different is good. Soooo, if it is good it is okay, right? Anthony asked me to marry him but he has brown skin and Maggie said that girls with white skin can't marry boys with brown skin because our daddies would be angry."

I told her that God has someone special for her to marry and we wouldn't worry about skin color until she got much, much older. She nodded wisely, "Yeah. One day when I am as old as you and tired it probably won't matter."

I can't get a break around here. HA!