Thanksgiving 2012

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had! 

It may sound strange, but one of my favorite days of the year is the day before Thanksgiving. We have a tradition in our family- all the grand kids help make the cornbread dressing. They love to squish and crumble the bread into the official dressing-making bowl. There is laughter, a little taste testing, and a lot of fun. 

Rachael ready to get started

All the kids gathered around the bowl and began the yearly tradition

Little  cousin hands ranging in age from 1 year to 10 years old



Of course my children couldn't help but get a few tastes along the way












All four cousins. So fun.



After all the other kids were finished helping, Rachael was still more than happy to "help" Ma finish up. And she may have gotten a few more bites during the process...



The next day was a very, very busy day for us- THANKSGIVING!!

We started out by celebrating our day of thanks with Ma's family. It was great to be with extended family, but there was also a hole, an emptiness, a major void that we have never felt before. This was the first major holiday since the loss of my Papaw. It was harder than I thought it would be. It was hard to enjoy the day without him there. He was greatly missed. We honored his memory as we all stood holding hands for the blessing and I know he was right there with us in spirit.

After the blessing it was time to eat!

David gave the turkey leg a run for it's money



And Rachael loved every bite, as always. Is that turkey bow not adorable?!


After we ate we all headed outside to enjoy the beautiful, sunny weather.

David went fishing immediately


And Rachael went for a walk. It turns out thick grass is hard to walk in when you're new to it.



Daddy to the rescue! Such a sweet picture


Rachael also had a great time hanging out with some of her family she doesn't get to see very often, like her Great-Aunt Sheila.



Oh! And Ryan took this beautiful picture of our beautiful girl and I just had to share.



We ended our Thanksgiving at Twinkle and Bing's with Bing's side of the family. We had dinner with everyone and then stayed the night so we could spend a little bit more time with them.

We had so much fun jumping on the trampoline


And oh my goodness, Rachael received an incredibly special gift from her Great-Aunt Carol! This bedspread was handmade by Rachael's Great-Great Grandmother, Bing's paternal grandmother, for Aunt Carol when she was a little girl. It adorned her bed for many years and now she is passing it down to Rachael. How amazing is that?!




And then later that day David's Great-Grandparents [Twinkle's parents] came over for a short visit. His Great-Granddaddy helped him ride this way-too-big-for-him bike while his Great-Grandmother watched! What a special memory for him.

Watch Out!

Here comes 'Squeaky Shoes', as she's come to be called around our house. She's really on the move now!!

with Bogie's toy in her mouth

coming around the corner at a high rate of speed

Two Pink Stones

Well, I did it. Something I've been meaning to do for a few months now, but haven't gotten the courage, or the time, until now. Yesterday morning after dropping David off at school [with no diaper on, but that's another story] Rachael and I drove across town to our local mall. I am NOT a shopper, so we only make it over to the mall about twice a year- Easter Bunny and Santa. I didn't even know what time the mall opened. 

Anyway, Rachael and I entered the mall at opening time and located our destination- Claire's. I did a walk-by to scope out the employee working in the store that morning. She looked responsible, clean, competent, and sweet. "Okay, I can do this", I thought. We went into the store and told the nice lady we were there to get Rachael's ears pierced. My heart was racing. It's like when we go to the doctor and I know they're going to get shots. The poor little ones don't know what's coming... Rachael just smiled and laughed at the kind lady who quickly came to adore Rachael. After signing several documents, my heart still pounding, I sat in a chair holding Rachael who was enjoying a surprise sucker and loving on her baby doll [ the prepacked distractions]. The lady marked the spots on Rachael's ears with a Sharpie and then pierced the first ear, her right one. Rachael screamed! It hurt me so bad. She had figured it out and wanted nothing to do with that mean woman now! I offered her the paci [my last resort]. But, there was still one more ear to pierce. I held Rachael's head close to my chest and told the lady do it as quickly as possible. Rachael screamed again but only for about 15 seconds. Once I was able to distract her with all the sparkly things in the store, she was fine. And she still had her sucker, so things couldn't have been that bad. The lady said Rachael did better than 99% of babies she has worked with.

Here's the pictures I took immediately after with my phone:



And today!








Rachael has been very good about not touching her new earrings. I don't think they hurt her at all now either. Of course, there's a good bit of aftercare that's required, but I love the way these little pink stones look in her ears. So precious! 

Potty Training Update

I just wanted to report that this morning as I was getting the kids ready to go to grocery store, David volunteered to NOT wear a diaper! [or his big boy underwear, but we'll let that slide for now] I was a bit nervous about it since we had never left the potty-closeness of the house, but excited that he wanted to do it. So I encouraged it and went along. I kind of thought, and maybe was hoping a little too, that he would change his mind before we left, but he didn't! Of course, we made one finally stop at the potty before we left and I pack an entire change of clothes for him just in case. I kept reminding him during the car ride-  

"Remember, you don't have on a diaper..." 

"Okay, me find bathroom in grocery store."

"Does that mean you need to go right now?"

"No, ma'ma."

At the grocery store the same conversation took place several times, but we never needed to locate the store's bathroom. We made it all the way back home [I would estimate it was an a hour and a half round trip]. We pulled into the garage, David jumped out of the car ready to play with his outdoor toys while I unloaded the groceries. Every time I would come out to the car for another load there he would be, in the driveway playing. Then one time he wasn't. I ran out of the garage calling him when I heard him  answer from around the side of the house. I peered around and saw my little boy with his pants pulled down. "Mama, me makin' mud." It was a proud moment. 

He went all day without a diaper [excluding nap time, of course] and NEVER had an accident! I couldn't believe it. I am incredibly proud of him and hope this is putting us on the right road to being potty trained.

Statute of Limitations

Okay. It's now been one year since the event, or as I like to call it: "my worst Mama moment ever". I am hoping the statute of limitations has expired and I won't be charged. Trust me, I've punished myself enough. 

When Rachael was four weeks old I went back to work. I had a meeting close to Ma and Big Daddy's house. Ryan wasn't able to make the trip with me and Big Daddy was tied up in other meetings, so my dear brother volunteered to watch David at his office for the few hours I would be gone. Rachael went with me to the meeting because I was exclusively breastfeeding and even at that young age she just wanted to be in the Moby wrap up against her Mama. Because of the nature of my job, my Mom [Ma] attended the meeting with me as an extra set of ears. 

Our first stop was to Rich's office to drop off David and I tried not to cry. At that time I wasn't used to leaving him. As we pulled into the parking lot of our second destination- the meeting place [a few minutes late as I recall], we saw one of the men we were scheduled to meet standing by the front door on his cell phone. When I saw him I felt terrible. Because we were late I thought he was looking for us and doubting we were coming. I parked the car as fast as I could and my Mom and I jumped out of the car. She threw on her coat and I tied the Moby as fast as I could. We waved to the man and he made his way over to greet us. My car automatically locks all the doors when put in gear so Rachael's door, which is behind the passenger's seat, was locked when we arrived. In one hurried motion, as I was closing my car door to head around to Rachael's side, I reached down to hit the unlock button. My Mom and I closed our doors simultaneously. Then she went to open Rachael's door and it was locked.
Oh. My. Goodness.
Just then the man [Austin] arrived to welcome us. I then had to explain to him that our meeting would be delayed even more now because I had locked my four week old baby in the car!! Thankfully, Rachael was at the age where she slept the vast majority of the time [unless it was 3am, of course], so she was snoozing away. I was also thankful for the cool Fall weather. There was no worry about her getting overheated. There was no concern about her getting hungry anytime soon since I had fed her just before we left. I was also grateful for the fact that David, 18 months old at the time, wasn't in the car.
Austin was kind enough to call a locksmith who directed him to call 911 immediately because there was a child involved. Good, that made me feel even worse. He called 911 for us and passed the phone to me because they needed to talk with the mother of the child involved. I felt like such a delinquent Mama as I told her the story and was terrified of being charged as a criminal. As I was still talking to the dispatcher I could hear the sirens in the distance. Really? Sirens? Is that really necessary? I had told her that Rachael wasn't in distress, but still they were coming with sirens blaring. Or maybe it was the cops coming for me...
The fire truck arrived. The big one with the ladder and everything. Then right behind that was a smaller rescue truck. The whole fire station! Great. They peaked in at Rachael then looked at me with the Moby wrap ready and waiting. "You appear to be missing someone in that thing", one said to me. I wasn't in the mood for joking. I just wanted my baby out of the car NOW. At this point the sound of the sirens and the sight of the fire truck had attracted the attention of ALL the other workers in the building. Some of the women came over to console me. Many had similar stories of locking their children in the their cars. It seems like this would comfort me, but it didn't. I felt so stressed, anxious, and embarrassed as I waited for the firemen to figure out how they were going to break into my car to rescue my baby, who had no idea she needed rescuing.
Finally Rachael and I were reunited and the meeting got underway but not before we took a picture with the wonderful men who came to our rescue.

Voting

Because I want my children to know the importance of voting, I elected to forgo early voting. There is something about voting on Election Day. There is an excitement [at least for me] and a feeling of duty every time I step up to the ballot booth. I recall going with my Mama to vote many, many times. I could take you to that polling place right now. It was important to her to teach me and now it's important to me to teach my babies. I know they aren't old enough to understand right now- David actually thought I was talking about 'boating' when I first told him where we had to go. As we were leaving the house he exclaim, "Alright! Let's get in car, go lake house, and see BOAT!" Oh, I just about came unglued. Sweet, little mind. So, we discussed it more on the drive to our polling place. I don't know how much he retained, but there was one thing he did understand: going to vote will get you a sticker!

In awe of the stickers. David looks like he's coughing, but I don't think he was, just a funny face. 

Showing some folks coming in what they will get for their good deed. 

Thankfully, we live in a small town and our polling place was not busy at all. I would say the round trip event took 15-20 minutes! Both kids were fantastic while I was voting. I had the luxury of [strategically] choosing my booth- the one next to a window. Perfect. I told David to look out the window. It was breezy today. He never said a word while he watched the leaves blow by the window. I held Rachael the whole time. She watched as I cast my votes. I think she liked the lights and colors on the screen.
I had packed some suckers in my pocket just in case there was a melt down by either or both kids, but there was not. Even now neither of them knows I had them. Now, I don't mean that I would reward bad behavior like kicking and screaming on the floor, not that my kids do that anyway, with a sucker. I was planning to utilize them when I saw/felt an issue- eye rubbing, whining, an unexpected delay, long lines- that might lead to bigger behavioral issues. Perhaps, though, the poll workers were veterans and set up the voting room with kids in mind because the first stop was not to sign in, but to get a sticker. Genius. Happy kids right from the start.

Voting is important, babies. It's your right, your duty. Do not take it lightly. Question, investigate, research, and vote.  

Halloween Parts III and III 1/2

When Halloween night finally arrived the kids put on their costumes for the third time. We ate a quick dinner and headed out the door to visit a few of our neighbors. Because the kids already had so much candy there was no need to go to tons of houses. 

David led the way and loved ringing the doorbells. 

Both babies always had their baskets ready when the door opened. And David said, "trick-or-treat!" AND "thank you." each time. 

Baby Girl wanted to sit down in the middle of a sidewalk to examine the contents of her basket.

David was focused on getting to the next house. 

Mama and her little fairy.

Both babies after a fun night around the neighborhood. 

PART III 1/2 

The day after Halloween at David's school was Western Day. How funny is that?! David wore most of his costume- shirt, jeans, belt, bandanna, and vest. I was surprised that this morning he didn't ask to wear his costume, I mean he's worn it more that any other clothes this week!