On Being Thankful

Despite the events of my life recently, I am a very thankful person and I'd like to outline a little of what I'm thankful for. I think it will improve my mood a little...

1. I am very thankful that that precious little morsel up there is walking like a champ now. Only choosing to crawl when he's either really mad and on the verge of throwing it all down in the middle of the floor ~ this happens between 3 and 5 times a day.. minimum... he has his mama's attitude ~ or when he's in a really big hurry to get somewhere. I'm so proud of him. He's even more edible than he was before now. And is it horrible that I think it's the cutest thing in the world to strip him down and send him on his way? I swear, baby boy parts have got to be the cutest things in creation.

2. I am immensely thankful for my friends, both near and far, who have shown me so much support. It will never be forgotten!

3. I'm thankful for my discovery of Alli, it strips the fat out of my food, which is sometimes gross... let's face it really gross, but it is freakin awesome!!! All that fat is now going into my septic system, not onto my thighs.... YES!

4. I am very thankful that I chose to go to college and get that degree that I always have to fall back on in times of less fortune.

5. I am most thankful for having two very healthy children. I know that's not a given and I'm just so thankful that I was blessed with their perfect health.

6. I am thankful for Emma's sweet, kindhearted nature. She teaches me how to be a better person every day.

7. I am thankful for this amazing house I'm raising my children in. I know it may not be ours forever, but I will forever treasure every second we have living here in this haven.

8. I am thankful for reruns of Friends, Seinfeld and The Golden Girls, as they have been what has made me smile this past month.

9. I'm thankful to Hostess for making Mini Muffins. You have made my boy very happy.... almost to the point of needing therapy to be weaned off them each morning.

10. I'm going to end here.... I'm thankful for my life. Sometimes it's not the best. I'm definitely skilled in making bad decisions, which is quite often pointed out to me... sometimes kindly, sometimes, not so much... but this life is mine and I'm very aware that I am fortunate in many ways. There's always someone else who has it way, way worse... why is it that that is actually a source of comfort? Anyway... So, for my life... I'm very, very thankful.

Today's Thoughts

1. I have some super cute pictures of Emma and Noah getting what the Easter bunny brought to them, but I can't post them, because somehow.. sometime between last night and tonight, my cord that connects my camera to my computer, which allows me to download my pictures has been misplaced... grrrrrr... I am so highly irritated by this! This beach house is spotless right now because I have cleaned and gone through and looked underneath and inside of everything in here.. to no avail.. still no cord...

2. We had Easter dinner today at Carrabba's... it was quite yummy and quite untraditional.

3. Noah liked the beach this morning until the water swept underneath him as he was crawling, thus soaking his shirt and swim trunks with freezing cold water. He was pretty much over the whole beach thing at that point. I also have super cute pics of him, which I cannot post....

4. I posted more adorable pics of Emma from last night when we first arrived, please go see them on my gracie james photography blog!!! ~and COMMENT!!! :)~

5. I'm very much hoping my GIRLS come see me with their childrens this week while we're here at the beach.... I'm gonna be so sad if we don't get to hang out... :(

6. My new speedlight that I found on ebay came in the mail just in time for this beach trip and I'm so IN LOVE!!!

7. My dermatologist gave me a prescription for prednisone ( a steroid) to help rid me of this horrible rash and it does seem to be getting somewhat better. However, he also suggested to me that my Ambien could be the root cause of this rash. I have to tell you, this is so disturbing to me! I have been a horrible sleeper my whole life. Like, I'll lay there wide awake tossing and turning with my brain going 5 million miles an hour thinking of everything in the universe that I could possibly think of for hours before I finally fall asleep, then I always wake up at least twice to pee... and it'll take me 30 minutes or longer to fall back to sleep after that.. and when I'm pregnant.. well, I really don't sleep at all, because as soon as I lay back down from peeing, I have to pee again. Anyway, with Tony being gone, every little noise convinces me that someone is breaking in about to kill us all, so I really don't sleep. Therefore, my doctor gave me a prescrip for Ambien. On Ambien.. I sleep like an absolute DREAM. It's amazing. I take it, within 30 minutes, I'm OUT and I stay out. However, I do wake up if Emma or Noah cry out for me or anything, so it doesn't turn me into a rock or anything. But I did start taking it pretty regular about the same time that this rash starting getting bad. So I'm really wondering if he's right. This possiblity makes me and my sleep so sad. :(

8. I bought this wine at the grocery store last week, just because I thought the bottle was really pretty and it would look cool in my kitchen. Has anyone actually ever drank this stuff? If so, can you tell me if its good? I'll open it and drink it if it's good, but if not, it'll just remain a kitchen accent..

9. I have eaten Mexican food 4 times in the past week. This can't be good for my dream of losing 30 pounds in a month.

10. I really like Aveeno products. They have made having this nasty rash so much more bearable. These are the ones I have and use like crazy... Oh, and I put those colloidial oatmeal packets in my bath water. This stuff is so amazing. I swear some of these creams work just as well or even better than the prescription creams my doctors have given me. I highly recommend these if you ever get lucky enough to have a cool rash like me... or just itchy skin...

11. I'm gonna be a rebel and end this blog on an odd number. Emma has taken to saying the word "mines" lately rather than saying "mine". I was an English teacher. I can't handle things like this. We speak proper English in our house as often as possible. When the "s" on the end of "mines" escapes her lips, a shiver runs the length of my body, my eyes squeeze shut, and my hands clench tight. I tell her... Emma.... "MINE... MINE!!!" And she immediately corrects herself, "Sorry, Mom, MINE." But like clockwork, she says it again. I do not know where she picked up this horrible word. She has such good English otherwise. It KILLS me!! She is not around people who speak like this.

Anyway...

Playin Catch-up

You may know that Wednesday, my mom, my kids, and I made the trip up to Chapel-Hill... for two reasons... #1-- We had to get some memorablia.... t-shirts... cheerleading outfits... sweatshirts.... soccer balls.... that marked Carolina's huge National Championship win... and #2---my mom was having a procedure done Thursday morning in Durham ( this was really the number one reason, but the other one was the more fun reason).

Emma was SO EXCITED to go to the home of the Tarheels. She was dancin all around Franklin Street, I tell ya.. the girl has no shame. She's aspiring to be the NEXT TOP MODEL, I do believe...

Notice all the people walking by... she could not have cared less.. the more oohs and ahhs she got, the more animated she became...

Franklin Street is so beautiful

Mama putting her t-shirt on Emma, because it was getting super chilly out!

Franklin Street again...

My little ham..

No words needed...

Loved these buildings...

Noah got his first bath in the sink last night... he liked it... and he liked playing with his pee pee in front of the camera...

Sweetie boy (this is what Emma calls him)...

Noah new favorite thing is finding crayons and eating them... I really freaked this morning when I found him like this, then I discovered the little stubby crayon tucked away in his cheek...

He got really, really angry with me when I took the crayon away from him....

This is my new favorite face...

No, wait, THIS is my new favorite face... he thought a good scream would get him his crayon back...

Didn't work out too well...

p.s. People just waking up from anesthesia do some CRAZY funny things.. I could tell you some of the things my mom did, but then she would kill me... oh well...

Just Some Crapola

1. I was supposed to go to Jacksonville today to see Amy and to do some top secret stuff, but Emma (of course) came down with some more funk yesterday and my mom has an appointment today, so she couldn't keep her for me. Then while I was getting Noah dressed, I felt his gums, because he's been fussier than usual and sure enough, he's cutting two more top teeth. So, unfortunately, my trip to Jacksonville is having to be postponed until Tuesday.

2. My sister and I had a photoshoot yesterday and it was so freakin fun!! It's great to have a beautiful 21 year old sister who's more than willing to be my guinea pig. She's also a cosmetologist, so she looked absolutely perfect! If you want to see her georgeousness, I've posted the first batch of her shots here.

3. I'm madly in love with my new camera. I'm gonna have it's baby as soon as possible.

4. My itching is better today.. but now that I actually said that "out loud", I'm sure the devil will intervene and make it worse than ever later today. Don't you love that positive attitude of mine?

5. I'm thinking about working out again today. I've been avoiding my elliptical out of pure stubborness lately. How DARE it stare at me everytime I come upstairs and stalk me from behind as I sit on my computer??? But I'd like to not have to wear a muu muu at the beach this summer, so I should probably answer it's calls.

6. Remember that super cool, super creepy house that I took the picture of that won me the "Best Overall" for my photography challenge? Yeah, well, my sister and I were feeling really brave yesterday and we went inside there to get some pictures! Wow... it was really creepy. My foot actually fell through the floor at the front door. The house is literally about to fall down at any second. And we were really hoping there were no scary people hiding out in there.