Surprise!

My sister's official due date was August 29th but towards the end of July she began having high blood pressure and really bad swelling.  Dr. Keith kept a check on her and she worked her last day of work on Friday 8/3 with the intentions of relaxing for the next 4 weeks.  Harper had other plans! The very next Monday, Lindsay developed an intense headache and her bp got really high in the 150's/90's so after her regular checkup, Dr. Keith sent her to be admitted to the hospital. After closely monitoring her and doing some bloodwork, they released her that evening with plans for her to return for monitoring Thursday morning.  On Thursday morning, Lindsay's bp was back up and she was already dilated to 4cm (with very minimal pain!) so Dr. Keith told her they were having a baby that day!  Harper Rae Bright entered this world that day, 8/9/12 at 11:05pm weighing 7lbs 5oz and 21" long.  She is beautiful and has a head FULL of brown hair.  She also shares her birthday with mine and Jamie's 9th anniversary.  Pretty neat, huh?  Of course, I was there at the hospital the entire day and spent most of the time with Lindsay and Derrick in the room (with the exception of the pushing/delivery part).  We are all in love with our newest little family member and think she's absolutely perfect! Lindsay continued to have blood pressure problems even after delivery and Harper developed jaundice so they spent an extra 2 days in the hospital but we are happy (as I know they are) that they are finally home. 

Since Harper was born so late in the evening, Jamie and the boys didn't stay at the hospital for her delivery. In fact, none of us actually got to meet her that night! After she was born, Lindsay and Derrick spent some time with her, then she was whisked off to the nursery where they kept her for several hours.  However, we all were able to go back to the hospital Friday morning to meet her.  Noah was SO excited and Collier was indifferent.  He did show a tad bit of jealousy when I held her but he's been fine since.  He's starting to show her a little more attention, rubbed her head for a little while last night and even gave her a few sweet kisses on the head. He talks about "Ah-pa" all the time while we are at home.  However, I look forward to these 3 cousins having lots of fun together, getting into a ton of mischief and being the best of friends... just like Lindsay and I were with 3 of our cousins that we were closest in age too!

9 Years in the Bag

Jamie and I celebrated our 9th anniversary with a fun weekend-long getaway to Atlanta!  Jamie's mom was kind enough to watch the boys Friday afternoon until my mom got of work to pick them up, so we were able to get an early start to our weekend.  We arrived at the Ritz Carlton around 4 and were treated like royalty! We've never stayed at a RC before so I was blown away by their hospitality and service.  We were met with champagne upon check in, treated with mini ice cream cones, that they make in-house, and everyone was so helpful with advice for us out-of-towners.  It was truly a TREAT!  And in true Jamie fashion, he surprised me with an anniversary gift, even though it was HIS 33rd birthday that very day.  Since it was his birthday, he chose our activity for the evening and we went to the Braves-Astros game.  We had a fun time watching America's favorite past time and sampling all the typical stadium foods: nachos, pizza and burgers.  We had a great view since we were just 19 rows back and almost directly behind home plate! To top it off, the Braves beat the Astros 4-1.



The next morning we got up to do what I had chosen for our 2nd day... SIX FLAGS!  It had been a good 6 years since I rode a roller coaster so I was thrilled to spend the day doing just that.  To our disappointment, as soon as we approached the Six Flags entrance, the bottom fell out and it began raining.  We weren't going to let a little rain ruin our day so we went to IHOP for breakfast with hopes that the rain would have passed by the time we finished our meal.  Unfortunately, it had not, so we ran into a mall for me to make an exchange, still trying to kill time and not giving up on our plans.  Finally around 1:30 the rain stopped so we hurried back to the park.  However, it just didn't seem to be in the cards for us to ride roller coasters because the wait at each ride was at least 2 hours.... and we had dinner reservations in just a few hours! I convinced Jamie that we needed to buy Flash Passes to bypass the lines however, the line for that was another 45 minutes!  It was crazy and I was getting frustrated.  Finally as we are just a few people away from the front of the line (and about to spend another $100) someone mentioned that more rain was headed our way.  We both agreed it would be ridiculous to spend that much more and then get rained out so we left (and I will admit, I may or may not have pouted for awhile).  I practically RAN to the closest roller coaster to get in line, very determined, but the lines were even longer and I'll be quite honest, time with my husband is few and far between and so valuable that the thought of standing there, just WAITING for 2 hours to ride one single solitary ride, didn't seem appealing.  Instead, we walked around the park, bought the boys some goodies, and split a funnel cake before we headed back to our hotel.  I was a bit disappointed by our misfortunes.  We might just be the only couple to drive 4 hours to Six Flags, pay $70 to get in the park and then never even ride a single ride!  And of course, wouldn't you know that as SOON as we got to our hotel, the sky cleared up and was beautiful and sunny. 

That evening we had our anniversary dinner at Morton's Steakhouse and it was nothing short of delicious.  In fact, we loved their chopped salad so much that I googled the recipe for the vinaigrette dressing, made it and have been eating that exact salad for 5 days straight (some days 2 a day)! As an anniversary treat, they surprised us with a delicious Lemon Souffle on the house.  I'm not even a Lemon Souffle kind of girl, but it was GOOD.  After our dinner, we went 73 stories high to the Sun Dial restaurant to enjoy the GORGEOUS view of the city and a yummy Blueberry Mojito (their specialty).



I can't believe that it has already been 9 years since I married my best friend.  I couldn't imagine going through life with anyone else.  Oh, how he frustrates me at times (I've been reminding him for at least 3 years to put the toilet seat down) and I drive him crazy with my spending habits but I'm much better with him than without him.  We began dating when I was 19 years old so in a sense we have grown up together.  I'm grateful that our relationship hasn't dulled during the past 11 years and that we can still laugh with one another, have things to talk about, and enjoy each other's company.  He's a pretty cool dude (not to mention that I think he's incredibly handsome!) and I'm lucky to have him by my side!

Leibster Award

I was nominated for the Leibster Award by a friend that I've known a long time, probably since our elementary school days, Sara Beth Rainey at Rainey Kind of Days.  Thanks Sara Beth!

I googled 'Liebster' and this is what I found: "Liebster means “dearest” in German, and the award is intended to help up-and-coming blogs get the attention they deserve.

As with any award, there is a bit of ceremony involved. In order to accept the award, you must do the following:

1. List 11 random things about yourself
2. Answer 11 questions that the person who nominated you asked
3. Link back to the blog that nominated you for this award
4. Pick your favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award. (Sara Beth nominated 11, but when I googled this online, they only nominated 5.  Since I'm not sure I have 11 to nominate, I'll go with 5)
5. Hope that the blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to eleven (or five) more blogs.

11 Random Facts About Me

1. When I taste anything mint flavored, I sneeze. Repeatedly.
2. When I get scared, my eyes always water... especially when I'm being told a ghost story!
3. Before I became a stay-at-home mom, I was a Executive Meetings Sales Manager for the Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa and was on the pre-opening team for 16 months before the hotel opened in June '05.  I started as the GM's assistant and worked my way into sales (GM asst => Sales Asst => Sales Manager in Training => Sales Manager).  I LOVED my job and especially loved our sales team (they became some of my best friends!) but right before I had Noah, we had some personnel changes and the new Sales Director was downright awful. Seriously! That made my decision to be a SAH mom much easier. 
4. I played softball from 6th grade through high school.  During the summers, I played on a fast-pitch all-stars team and we got to compete in the Fast Pitch World Series. 
5. I have scoliosis and wore a back brace 23 hours a day during my 7th and 8th grade years of middle school.  It was anything but cool.  Thankfully I had some pretty nice classmates that didn't give me a hard time about it.  It was either wear the brace or have back surgery and be in a body cast for a year.  I chose the first option, even though I hated every painful second of it.
6. I had a huge crush on Jamie for about 6 months before we had ever actually met.  We had a class together but never spoke to one another until the next semester when we bumped into eachother at a fraternity house. Turns out, he had a thing for me too. You can read about it here :)
7. I don't like fruit in desserts.  I like my fruit raw, not mushy and baked in some kind of pie.
8. I'm a pretty decent artist/painter and took lessons when I was in elementary through high school. I love working with charcoals the best! I also love doing crafty stuff. Pinterest is my friend!
9. I'm a total planner, Type A personality.  However, I enjoy being spontaneous sometimes too. I guess that kind of contradicts one another so maybe I'm a Type AB :)
10. I pretty good on the computer and with electronics in general.  I have learned how to create blog designs, headers, etc from googling it (and have designed several blogs for friends) and I'm an Excel spreadsheet nerd.  I think Excel is one of the greatest things ever.  When I worked at the hotel, I would do the spreadsheets for our month-to-date and year-to-date sales reports a. because our sales admin was terrible at it and b. because I enjoyed it so much!
11. I want one more child.  Jamie is still on the fence, alot of times says he doesn't want another, but occasionally will make comments like 'when we have our next child...' I used to want 4 kids and he only wanted 1... so we are working on our compromise of either 2 or 3.  However, I'm NOT in a hurry so we'll just see what happens! 

Now for answering Sara Beth's questions...

1.  What is the number one played song on your ipod?
That changes based on what the 'new' songs are at any particular time, but all time #1 song is probably any 80's music, such as Bon Jovi's Livin on a Prayer and Journey's Dont Stop Believin.  I love all things 80's! However, CURRENT most played song on my ipod is Paradise by Cold Play. 

2. What is your least favorite chore?
Um, all of them? :) I love being a stay at home mom, but don't love the cleaning and cooking part of it! I would say my least favorite would be folding laundry.  My husband goes through more clothes than me and the kids combined and it's ridiculous how quickly our laundry piles up. I don't mind the washing but I hate the folding and putting away. Its one of those chores that is continuous.  You may get caught up but by the end of the day there's always more laundry to do.

3. What is your favorite quote/Bible scripture?
Two Bible verses come to mind as favorites, Matt. 19:26 "...with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  This verse has been my mantra since having Noah.  I truly believe that God can heal Noah's brain and allow him to begin talking.  He's already proven this to us by Noah walking on his own.  Noah understands so much and wants to talk soooo bad.  He will look at me so intensely, while holding my face in his hands and try to make a sound and I KNOW that he wants to tell me something. I can literally see the determination in his eyes as  he is trying to move his mouth and tongue.  It breaks my heart but at the same time I don't lose faith.  I pray every evening that God will allow Noah to begin communicating with us. And I believe he will one of these days.  He's already begun using picture cards in therapy to express his wants, which is a big step!  My 2nd favorite verse is James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perserverance."  I had such a relatively easy life growing up but then I had Noah and bam! Our world was turned upside down... our child suffered a brain injury. Then dad was diagnosed with cancer and bam, another trial. Its been a tough few years and even though it's been 5 years since Noah was born, it is still upsetting.  This verse is so reassuring that even when we are going through hard times, the Lord is strengthening his relationship with us and helping us to become stronger people through Him.  It's hard to look at a trial as 'joyful' but something about this makes me feel at peace. It's like its reassurance that it IS in fact HIS plan.

4. What is my favorite food to eat? To cook?
Favorite food to eat... there are just so many! I guess my #1 FAVORITE meal is Grouper Pontchartrain from Louisiana Lagniappe in Destin.  I've been going there for YEARS and it's the only thing I ever order.  In fact, every time Jamie and I go to the beach, we eat there twice and I order it each time.  It's a pan seared grouper and a fried soft-shell crab, topped with hollandaise sauce and almond slivers.  YUM. My mouth waters just thinking about it!  Now as far as cooking goes, I don't love to cook anything. I don't even remotely enjoy cooking.  I did do a lasagna once and it was kind of fun and even turned out good but I haven't done it since.  It's sad but I really don't cook as often as I should.  

5. What is your favorite sound?
I think the most precious sound in the world is children's voices.  I just love to hear that way kids talk and say things.  It's the cutest, most endearing sound ever.  And I have to add to that, that I love my boys' laughs.  Its just music to my ears and one of those sounds that just make you want to laugh right along with them. Noah may not be able to talk but he can most certainly laugh.  He has a great laugh and I love it because it's the one time I truly know what he's feeling.

6. What is your favorite ME time activity?
I love laying out by the pool by myself, getting a massage, reading a book, or taking a nap.  In fact, I'd really love to lay out by the pool while getting a massage and napping or reading a book all at once.  Maybe I should throw in a fruity little frozen cocktail or deliciously salty margarita.  That would be the ultimate ME time activity!

7. If you could go back to any age what would it be?
My freshman year in college.  Such a fun, exciting time.  I had joined a sorority and was meeting new people and making new friends.  I had gained independence from my parents since I was no longer living under their roof.  It was almost like starting over (even though I was still within 20 minutes of my hometown) because I made so many new friendships.  I was getting to go to Phi Mu formals, date parties and mixers and enjoying all the college activities, such as UNA Homecoming  Week and Step Sing that were all new to me.  It was probably one of the most fun times I've ever had.  I was carefree and didn't know what it was like to deal with the stresses of adult life.  All I had to do was go to class, make good grades, occasionally go to work, enjoy myself and stay out of trouble!

8. If you could witness any event (past, present, future) what would it be?
I hope to be around to witness my kids graduate from high school, college, get married and have their own children.  For Noah I want to be around to see him accomplish things that people didn't think he would be able to do. 

9. What are the first three words that come to your mind?
Vacation! (Jamie and I are leaving for ATL tomorrow to celebrate his birthday and our 9th anniversary), Diet Coke (I want one) and almonds (I'm snacking on them right now).

10. What is your favorite book?
I LOVE to read but I honestly can't think of my all time favorite! I have loved the Twilight Series (I know, I know), The Hunger Games, Water for Elephants, The Help, the Karen Kingsbury series, all the James Patterson books about Alex Cross, and anything Emily Giffin writes. I even love non-fiction, such as The Scott & Lacy Peterson Story, The Casey Anthony book written by one of the prosecutors and Without a Doubt, by Marcia Clark (the prosecutor for the OJ trial).

11. What movie can you watch over and over and it still 'gets you' everytime?
Marley & Me and The Notebook (why do you think my child is named Noah?) :)

WOW! Those questions took a lot of thought!  So for my nominees...

1. Chenequa at The Clayton Family Chronicles
2. Amanda at The Jones Family
3. Leah at High Heels and Hoe Downs
4. Martina at La Familia Penter
5. Julie at The Greenhaw's Are Growing

Now for my 11 Questions to YOU:

1. Do you have any random/weird habits?
2. What's your favorite song?
3. What's your favorite memory from college?
4. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be, with who, and why?
5. Who do you admire and why?
6. Do you have any special talents?
7. What is your favorite quote/Bible scripture?
8. What is one thing that people would be surprised to know about you?
9. What is one product you can't live without?
10. If you could have any job what would it be?
11. If you could go back to one moment in your life, which moment would you choose?

Alright Leibster nominees, time to get to work!

It's a ZOO out there

Instead of taking a family trip, Jamie and I decided to have a stay-cation this year and just hang out at home.  I was kind of disappointed but it's actually been alot of fun!  I hate that the boys aren't getting to go to the beach this summer, but then again, it's not like they realize they are missing out on anything.  Plus we've made it our mission to make this week a fun one! The first day of our stay-cation, we headed to the Memphis Zoo.  We were kind of afraid it might be a disaster because the day before we had decided to take Collier's paci away and he was pretty fussy and irritable. However, the day couldn't have been better and the kids did GREAT.  It was really, REALLY hot, but they loved every bit of it and behaved perfectly.  Noah was really into the crocodiles and clapped while watching them and Collier had fun feeding the birds. That is, until he swung his food stick and knocked the bird off the tree branch, scaring it to death! The food stick was a long stick with a clothes pin attached holding a cluster of bird feed.  Collier confused it with a golf club and kept swinging it like one, sending the cluster of food flying in the air.  Although I have to admit, I can see how he could have made that connection as it DID in fact resemble a golf club.

We went at our excursion with a very laid back approach and knew that if the kids got hot/tired/fussy, we might have to leave sooner than planned, however they hung in there like champs and we were able to see the entire zoo.  Towards the end, they were both pretty exhausted and crashed as soon as we got to the car.  Our day at the zoo made for a very fun adventure and kicked off our stay-cation with a bang!

{feeding a parakeet}

 {Collier's golf club}

 {very hot and very tired}

 {Noah had a lot of fun!}

Partyin' It Up

June/July is the month of birthdays for my family.  June 11th was a big milestone for my Dad as he celebrated his 60th birthday.  After the past 18 months, it was even more special that he is HERE and HEALTHY for this birthday.  We had all of our family gather at Mom and Dad's to help us celebrate his special day.  All of Dad's brother and sisters (and spouses), his mom, and several of my cousins came, as well as my mom's twin sister, Carol, who came in town for the occasion.  It really meant alot to Dad to have everyone there and we all had a great time!

{Noah and Carol, my mom's twin sis} 





{Ha! You mom's understand what it's like trying to get 2 to sit still for a picture}

{Me and Lindsay, 28 weeks preggo}

June 27th is my sister's birthday and 4 days later on July 1st is her husband, Derrick's birthday. To celebrate, we all went to dinner then enjoyed a delicious Beth Ledbetter cake at my house.  Since Lindsay is 7 months pregnant during this terribly hot summer, I gifted her with a hot stone pedicure, which she (and her poor swollen feet) were happy to receive. 

A few weeks ago, several of Lindsay's best friends and I hosted a baby shower for her and baby Harper.  She received so many adorable outfits, some of the practical items such as diapers/wipes/lotions/bath wash and even some of the must-have's such as her swing and a diaper genie.  Have I mentioned just how excited I am to meet my sweet little niece in August?!?  I absolutely CAN'T WAIT!  In fact, I think I'm probably as excited as my sister is... and every Wednesday I send her a text saying "Happy (insert appropriate week #) Week!" or in the case of this week, "Happy 32nd Week!"  It's such an exciting, special time and I couldn't be happier for her and Derrick.  I am over the top thrilled that it's a baby girl and can't wait to love, snuggle and spoil this precious baby.  I am even excited to stay the night to take on the nightshift rocking and feeding baby Harper!  Oh and the clothes... it is so much fun getting to buy all the precious pink and purple frilly, smocked outfits. She has a few more showers coming up later this month then the countdown for Harper's arrival IS ON.  Yeah, I'm just a tad bit excited about this little girl getting here!

{all of her friends in attendance}

{Lindsay and the hostesses}