My Baby

My baby is not such a baby anymore. I can hardly believe that it has been three whole years since we became a family of four!! I absolutely could not imagine our family or my life without that little girl. The past year....aka "the terrible twos" has been slightly more then interesting having Paige around....she has tried my patience.....tested my frustration level and completely stolen my heart. Over the last year I have cleaned (from Paige and other various surfaces) Vaseline, butter, A&D ointment, powered sugar, baby powder, marker, permanent marker, crayon, glue, toilet paper, 10 rolls of paper towels that magically got unrolled and many, many other things that I have probably repressed in my memory. This has all resulted in at least one million baths. I have laughed more times then I can count at all of the funny things that have come out of that little mouth as she has learned to talk (and talk, and talk and talk.) I have been so frustrated that I thought (very seriously) about running away....and then she tells me I am her "bess frend"....and somehow my frustration melts away. When I was pregnant with Paige all of my co-workers asked if I planned on quitting my job and most of the time I answered with many laughs and a big ol' yeah right!! Looking back....I would not change a single thing. I am more then blessed to be able to spend my days with a little toddler and over the past year we have bonded beyond words....and even though she is at most times crazy, gets into EVERYTHING and keeps me well on my toes....she has become my little side kick and MY "bess frend" and my days would not be the same without her....and so today on her third birthday I am going to squeeze her just a little bit tighter because I know it is only a matter of a few more birthdays and my "bess frend" will have many more friends and this ol' mama won't be nearly as cool. I will cherish today and everyday that I get to spend with her (and her big sister) because I know without a single doubt in my mind....that I am truly blessed!

Luckily God is Good because People are C-R-A-Z-Y

Last night was a normal night at our house...everyone was in bed by 9 and we were all asleep by 10. I was fast asleep in my favorite dream state at 11:30 when my phone rang...this is highly uncommon since everyone knows we go to bed early at our house....it was my little brother...which is even more uncommon....so I knew right way that something was probably wrong...but before I could even process the missed phone call I got a text message from him that said "CALL ME 911"....so then I knew...I got up and called him and he said that our mom had been in a car accident. When I was finally able to get the whole story I learned that my mom was driving home and a truck was pulling out of a local strip club when he hit my mom's car pushing her into the curb causing her car to flip two times. My mom was taken by ambulance to a hospital trauma center nearby where they ran CT scans and other various tests to make sure she did not have internal bleeding or anything else seriously wrong with her. Her car was completely totaled and obviously in pretty bad shape. The guy that hit my mom's car did not stop one time...it was a hit and run....this infuriates me to no end. My mom ended up (by the pure grace of God) walking away without any serious injuries, but he did not know that. I am sure that he had been drinking and he was driving a company truck, but it makes me so sad that people in this world are so selfish that they would rather keep themselves out of trouble then help someone who potentially could have been seriously hurt. The people in this world are crazy, but thankfully God is good and my mom is okay...the car can be replaced....but the ignorance of the guy who hit her...well....that is a whole other story.

Roller Skating Adventure

On Saturday one of my friends invited me and Brooke to go to the skating rink with her and her two girls. Brooke was VERY excited to go...although she kept saying she was going ice skating. We got to the rink and she could hardly get her skates on fast enough. The place we went to was pretty neat because for $5 you could rent what is essentially a walker on wheels for the kids to use. It is just a few pcs of pvc pipe put together and put on wheels, but what an awesome idea. We didn't have those things when I learned to skate...our parents threw some skates on us and threw us out on the rink and let us fall until we figured it out. So anyway she got her skates on and set off on what she deemed as "the dance floor" with her little walker and her skates and she was all set. She must have fallen at least 20 times....each time getting back up (proud mama moment.) She was noticeably frustrated every time though and kept saying things like "Everyone else is better than me" and "I can't stop falling"....at one point in time she looked at me and said "That is IT I am going home NOW".....but with each round on "the dance floor" she would sit down and take a break to build up her courage and then she always wanted to go again. By the time it was all said and done she did not even want me to skate with her (she was waaaayyy too cool for that) and was actually able to go around the "dance floor" two times by herself without falling. She went to school yesterday and showed all of her friends her battle wounds...which are mainly just bruises on her elbows. She also told me that I am taking her back to that place when she is on spring break. So even though it wasn't ice skating and even though she fell next to a million times she had lots of fun....and I of course had lots of fun watching her learn something new...but boy oh boy did my feet hurt Saturday night....I think I may be getting too old to skate.