Just us

It was painful

but Chris managed to make it through the Alabama game unscathed.

The afternoon started off with his heart pounding and brow sweating when he turned to back out of the garage and saw his sweet, baby girl dressed in crimson and white (yes, I waited until the very last minute to dress her and then put her in her car seat before he saw what she was wearing).

He proceeded to ask me what I can only assume was a very rhetorical question, "is she wearing an Alabama dress?".

The afternoon and evening was phenomenal and he was a great sport throughout...but there was a heart stopping moment when you could have heard a pin drop and I thought my husband was going to faint.

We were all sitting around chatting and watching the game and the best I can determine, the game broke for a commercial.

In the split second of silence, the room was filled with the words:

"ROLL TIDE"

and at that moment everyone in the room turned to find my baby girl standing in the middle of the room, arms stretched above her head and a beautiful grin on her face.

I don't know who broke the silence to start cheering and I don't know who it was that encouraged Addie to say it again and what do you know...

That little Monkey says "ROLL TIDE" whenever you ask her to

when the mood strikes her just right.

W-O-W!

Even her Daddy couldn't help but grin at our little Monkey for those words...words that were never supposed to be spoken by our little Miracle Monkey...

Did somebody say pearls?

Dewana bought the girls each a purse and a strand of "pearls".

These are two little girls that have some very fine taste in jewelry!

Never a moments rest

I don't think I saw Dana sit and just relax the entire evening.

If she was sitting, at least two children occupied her lap...

and standing, she still had one attached to her hip.
She was an incredible help the entire evening and the kids just love her!

The age of technology

We can't even enjoy a stress-free Saturday night without the phone ringing like crazy.

Addie wonders just how in the world she was tracked down on her day off...her secretary should be screening those calls!

Addie decided to go ahead and conference in. Apparently, there was much to be discussed.

Oh, work is never done!

Bergen was not to be deterred

The night was all about football and her Daddy...

Addie and Trenton

It took Addie all of about half a second to decide that Trenton was going to play with her

like it or not!

If Trenton thought he could hide from Addie underneath the table, he was seriously mistaken! She wasted no time following him!
Good grief, Addie is boy crazy already!

Memo: Reproduction of the Human Species 2009 - Your Country Needs You!

A memo obviously went out earlier this year informing all women that 2009 was the year that would determine the fate of the human species and our country needed mass reproduction!

This was simply a "delayed to recipients" memo that initially went out in 2006, because 2006 was the year in which the public water works spiked the drinking water with reproductive hormones and whole litters of children were born. I was personally proud to wrap up 2006 with a patriotic contribution of my own.

As we are approaching the end of 2009, it would appear that practically every woman of reproductive age that I know of is just about to give birth and so I have been bombarded with more baby shower cake than my body knows what to do with.

For example:

My fabulous friend Dewana and I decided that our beautiful friend Patti was in need of a baby shower. Just so happens that around here, any event hosted between September and oh, let's say, Super Bowl weekend, should be planned around football or at the very least, planned in accordance with football.

So, in observance of those rules,

we had THE BEST BABY SHOWER ever for Patti.

It was a Roll Tide Baby Shower, equipped with baby shower/football food, the best baby bites you will ever dare to consume, presents, Alabama football attire, the best friends you could ever ask for and three, beautiful, amazing children to keep the entertainment going!

I know I have said it before, but I'm honored to have the friends that I have and the time that we spent celebrating the approaching arrival of Bergen's little brother was time that I will cherish forever.

After she swept, she had to vacuum...

My sister bought this vacuum for Addie for her first birthday.

The vacuum lived in Addie's closet until a few months back because Addie was petrified of it!

(If our vacuum had eyes, teeth and talked to me, I'd be a little freaked out too)

I finally took the vacuum out of Addie's closet and put it downstairs in the office knowing that Addie would one day be brave enough to touch it.

I was right, it only took her almost two years, but now she adores her vacuum!

She's working on gaining enough balance to vacuum the floor without holding onto something. She's getting it, it will just take a bit.

She is so smart and once she figures something out, she goes at it full force!

See!!! Giving it a try...

well...maybe not just yet!

These pictures were taken last weekend when Addie's sinus infection was making it impossible for her breathe!

What a great little helper!

It's the little things that make Addie happy, like us buying her a broom and dust pan...

(Men, don't try this at home with your wives!)

She felt like such a big girl and spent almost an entire hour "sweeping" the kitchen floor!

Yes, I should have actually changed out the liner before taking pictures, but didn't feel like interrupting Addie....besides, it's not like there's food or yucky trash in there.

Asking for a little bit of help getting that silly lid to stay up!

OUCH!

After I went to my happy place, I removed my child's sweet little arm from the trash can and commenced with the washing process!

I almost wonder

if I didn't scar Addie for life.

Although I don't know how much Addie understands, I still talk to her as if she understands everything that I say.

I do know that she understands what the washer and dryer is.

She knows that she gets to help put clothes in the washer and close the door and then take clothes out, put them in the dryer, close the door and then push the button to make the dryer "GO".

However, I don't know if Addie grasps the entire concept of what we are doing although she does know what "wash" and "dry" means from the gazillion times a day she has to wash and dry her hands.

This is the kitty that my best friend got Addie for her first birthday.

Kitty has been a constant presence in Addie's room since joining the family.

Addie likes to have kitty nearby at bedtime.

Some nights Addie wants to hold kitty as she drifts off to sleep, other times, she just needs to see kitty and then other times, kitty could have packed up and left town and Addie wouldn't take notice.

It just so happened that this particular night last week, Addie needed kitty to make her boo-boo fever all better.

As I was rocking Addie, she sat up and started looking around, I asked her if she was looking for kitty and she nodded the affirmative.

Without thinking, I told Addie that I had to wash kitty and that kitty was still in the dry....err...

I tried to back track on what I was saying because as those words were coming out of my mouth, Addie quickly looked up at me with those pitiful blue eyes and a very concerned look on her face and started pointing to (what I knew was) the laundry room.

We got up and went to the laundry room, where I retrieved an almost completely dry kitty from the dryer and handed him over to Addie.

Addie examined kitty very, very closely and then looked at me wanting my reassurance.

So, then I started wondering just how much she understood and at what point in the future, I might find my sweet baby girl trying to put Alley or Thomas in the washer or dryer since she now knows that we "wash" and "dry" "kitties".

Kitty magically put Addie night-night time....

and then stayed close by all night just in case she needed him again.

__Sidebar__

*No kitties were harmed in the telling of this story.*

Talk about being scarred for life...

When I was growing up we always had cats. I was a collector of any stray that came in contact with me.

One morning in the midst of getting ready for school, we (my sisters and I) all heard my Mother yell - at the top of her lungs,

"Who put their shoes in the dryer....oh my ....(insert screaming here)....the cat is in the dryer!!!! (More screaming here)"

In all the chaos of getting ready for school, somebody (I didn't do, wasn't me) had just walked into the laundry room, tossed something into the dryer, slammed the door and hit the button and walked away...never realizing kitty was in the dryer napping.

Kitty was perfectly fine - just a little ticked at the world - thank goodness he was only in there for a few seconds and thank goodness that my Mother was ticked at the world that morning too and irritated at the sound of "shoes" in the dryer,

but who knows...

just how many kitties have been saved by that experience?

I never, EVER, start the washer or dryer without checking it first.

We joke about that now.

At the time it was horrible and we all felt really, really bad, but it was one of those childhood lessons learned.

Now if I can just keep Addie-pa-tattie from wondering just how clean those kitties would be after a delicate wash or a tumble dry low.

Note to self

Have stuffed animals properly washed, dried and returned to appropriate place before night-night time.

Who would have guessed?

Last week when Monkey and Julien were so sick, they did a fabulous job of keeping each other company after Julien was released from quarantine.

At one point - can't remember when, the days were all one big blur after another - I was trying to clean up the kitchen, so Julien very willingly agreed to take Monkey for a few minutes.

Off to the office they went as I began to hear bits and pieces of "their" musings when all of a sudden, there was nothing.

No sound - just peace and quiet.

I immediately dropped what I was doing and when I walked into the office, this is what I found:

One very sick little Monkey being cuddled by her low-grade fever harboring brother as he was making her:

a PowerPoint Presentation of all of her favorite things.

Man oh man, do I love them!

As if!

I should have known Addie wouldn't catch a break!

She went from running a fever and just miserable to feeling better for a half day before a sinus infection hit.

We had a nice visit with Dr. Davis and his fabulous office staff this a.m.!

I just adore and appreciate them all!

Addie showed off her walking skills for the nurse and was polite and said her "Hi's" and "Bye's" to everyone.

We are blessed to have an ENT and nurses who geniunely care about Addie and take time out of their day to talk to us - like people - instead of just another patient coming through the door.

I am ever so appreciative to the inventor of Omnicef and to Walgreen's for their ability to fill a Rx while we waited ever so impatiently with Addie screaming the entire time.

Not to worry, the screaming didn't actually subside until I was getting her out of the car to take her back into school.

A kiss, a dose of antibiotic, lots of "I love you's" and back out the door to work we went.

After a long afternoon, we walked into school to see a smiling, happy little Monkey.

Our GOD is with us and I pray for HIS continued daily intervention.

SnuglyMat

Well, it is that time of year again.

Everybody is getting settled into new routines and everybody must have new supplies for school...that includes Monkey.

She was in desperate need of a new nap mat.
I will skip the overly boring part and jump right to the point.

I searched, everywhere for the perfect nap mat.

It took forever to find, but the wait was more than worth it!

This is by far the best made nap mat I have ever seen. I customized this from front to back and Traci from Little Brown Crane made this by hand with love and care for Monkey!

She did a perfectly, beautiful job!

For all of you in need of a new nap mat for school (for your children), check out Traci's site.

I am very pleased and you would be too!

Don't say I didn't warn you...

I warned you guys not to stand in the way of Monkey and her cake and ice cream!

She doesn't mess around, she means business!

Spoon? What spoon?

Monkey actually did use her spoon until she got frosting on her hands and then decided she liked the feel...of squishing it in her hands...it just escalated from there!