Toenails, Clemson, cats and lots of snot...

Grace will be 2 on Sunday! I can't believe it! So last night we had a little party... a little toenail painting party, that is... She has been really sick since Friday with the worst cold you've ever seen. I think gallons of snot have poured from her tiny little nose. Last night she was feeling a little better, so we decided to paint "gracie toes." She was thrilled with the result.
She had a rough time falling asleep last night, (like 2+ hours of crying) and I think she forgot that her toes were painted. This morning when she saw them, she looked up and said... "Oh, cool mama!"
Her 2 big new phrases are "What's that?" (this one's not technically new, since she's been saying it for a while, but now she wants to know what everything is... so I hear this about 3000 times a day;) and the other is "Oh, cool!"



The second milestone that is about to take place is that she starts school on Thursday! This afternoon we go for the Open House to take her nap mat, school bag, etc... and to meet her teachers. I am a little nervous that the teachers will think I am a bad parent from the get-go because I am bringing my kid with a nasty nose...but I really want her to see her new classroom with Chris and I there, and it's not like we are leaving her or anything. I hope this nose thing is cleared up by Thursday morning so we can actually take her, but if it's not, I guess we'll start next Tuesday... (Any suggestions on how to dry up a nasty, runny nose out there...?)

Now on to other news... We haven't really settled on a name for the new baby... however, Grace and her friend Corbin think they've found the perfect name: Honey Mustard...
Corbin has been saying that the new baby's name should be Mustard for a while now, but last weekend Grace's response to this was "Nooooo...... not Mustard...... HONEY Mustard!" I guess it's a girl, so she was trying to put a feminine spin on it... She's very intuitive like that......

I will blog again soon about the new school thing! I am surprisingly a lot less nervous now than I was a few weeks ago. Now, that may all change once she is dropped off and alone to defend herself in this big, big world (It sounds like I am sending her to the Serengeti...) and Chris calls to tell me that her little eyes were welled up with tears and she was saying "daddy hold you" as he walked out....But for now... I'm OK.

I must also give a lot of love to my parents... They have agreed to let Gus and Lamekkiona (our 2 really wonderful, cute, adorable and loving cats) in their basement until we can find them another home. (*** aaahummm..... anyone looking for a great pet?***) I have cried about these dumb cats a lot, and I miss them not being here, but I know that with 2 kids and 2 cats, our lives might slowly sink into insanity.... Not to mention, that surprisingly Grace's exzema is getting better since they've been out of the house. Much thanks and love to mom and dad for stepping up and taking one (or two) for the team. I really want to find them a great home.....so if any one of the 5 blog readers that I have know of anything, please let me know!

And I'll leave you with a couple of pictures for now... These were taken as we were gearing up for the Clemson/ Bama game, which ended badly.... but at this point, we were all sure that the Tigers would show that they would be the champions of the college football world... and I guess they still could be if they could actually get it together!

I wish you could see the awesome orange and white polka dot earrings I was wearing, if you look closely you can see one squished between grace and I, the other one is flipped around.


This is possibly one of the funniest faces I've ever seen Grace make. That's just how excited she was about the football game.

For those of you wondering.....

Yes, I'll admit, I am a little shocked too. Everything was SO completely different this time with the pregnancy, I kind of thought it was going to be a boy... Guess I was wrong....along with about 1500 other people!
Again, I am having a little anxiety.......... ok, A LOT of anxiety about having another girl. I think I had a panic attack when I found out with Grace, but she is so much different than I thought she'd be. I think I am most nervous about the teenage years. I wonder if the Lord is trying to pay me back for the grief I caused my mother during those years with TWO of my own. I mean, if that's the case, let's just say I hope the Lord comes back before then, and I will be earnestly praying for the rapture.
Everything looked perfect with the baby, they closely examined her feet and they were straight as an arrow (although grace's were too at this stage!). But thankfully they will be monitoring the baby's size and will induce hopefully before she gets too squished up in there.

I was thinking on the way home, that the knitting together of this child has NOTHING to do with me. I can take my vitamins, eat healthy, etc. but at the same time, I've been sick, puking, trying to eat, puking, losing weight, etc...and the Lord has taken care of everything. I'm not saying that it's easy to trust him when your children are inside the womb, but you really don't have a choice.
When I think about the tweens and teens, I am mortified... but why do I think that the Lord has less control over them then? Why do I think that I am the sole predictor of how they will turn out. Don't get me wrong, I know what an impact parental guidance has on kids, but the truth is, that if Chris and I are dead and gone before they hit their teens the Lord still holds those girls in HIS hands, and HE will direct their steps. We will do everything we can to direct them in the Lord, but ultimately it's not about us. NOT AT ALL. That's comforting.... Maybe because I am still freaking out a little, but we'll be OK.... They will be OK....
I am running through the millions and millions of mistakes I could make in parenting girls and the resulting consequences.... why do I do this to myself? I've just got to remind myself that it's not solely up to me....If it was, LORD knows it would be a disaster!

So praise the Lord that the baby is healthy and whole, now if we could all gather together and pray for the teenage years.....Oh, and for the second coming of Christ, that would be wonderful.

Here is just a side note that is pretty funny. Grace went to the ultrasound with us and when we pointed to the baby on the screen, she looked for a second and said: "eeeewwwwww.... ugy (ugly) baby!" The ultrasound tech almost fell out. Please don't let this be the start of sibling rivalry already.....

Musings from the monitor

I love putting grace down for a nap in the afternoons.... #1, because I get some peace and quite for a little while during the day. This is like my happy place and time.... and #2 because of the hilarious things that I hear coming from the monitor after I put her down.
Today we've had several renditions of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and she's counted from 1-10 using many different voices and sung the ABC's (only skipping a few letters) several times through:

I wish I could record this, because it is so cute, but let me give you a little excerpt of 'twinkle, twinkle.'

"Twinkle, Twinkle liiiiiittttttttlllleeee star, wonder what you arrrrrreeeeeeee. Up the world soooooooo high, diamond skyyyyyyyyyyy."

"Twinkle, Twinkle little sssstttttaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr, wonder are youuuuu high."

(I especially like the 'Are you high?' part.) (ha, ha)

Now she is putting some of her Slammy's in the corner and saying: "No be ugy" (translation: don't be ugly!)

Now she is having a conversation with Mac, and she wants him to share his truck with her. (this is a scenario that actually played out this afternoon)

More "Twinkle, Twinkle" with a lot of humming involved.

Now I hear: "Borbin bandains? No Borbin bandains, Gracie bandains. Gracie share bandains." and she is currently singing Booooorrrrrbbbbbiiiiinnnnn aaaarrrreeee uuuuuu?

(for those of you who don't know, Borbin is actually her friend Corbin and bandains are band-aids of course)

This could go on for a while, so I won't bore you with more... but I just wish I could record this... it is so funny! OK, so now it's time for you to go to SLEEP!

And I will leave you with a picture. Last night grace wanted to sit on the big girl potty without her diaper on! This is great because normally she doesn't want anything to do with the potty. Now, I know that she's not yet 2, and I am not pushing the issue, sitting on the potty can't hurt, right? She stayed there for at least 10 minutes reading books! I was proud.

High Hopes

I haven't blogged about this yet, but I found out last week that Grace got into High Hopes preschool 2 days per week. I am really excited, but I almost cried when I found out. Today we went to turn in all her paperwork and I gave her a glance at her new classroom, and I almost cried again.

I need to get a grip. Seriously, Jamie, you are not this emotional! I mean, I feel like I am sending my kid to a foreign country or something. Now, grace is a social kid and craves time around other kids, she is also very nurturing. I know this will be so good for her and she will love it, eventually. I am just hoping that the transition won't send me (or her) over the edge! She is going to be there Tuesday and Thursday from 8:15-3:00p. I just have to remind myself that she still spends the MAJORITY of her week with me. I just have this fear that she will think we've abandoned her.... Jamie, again, get a grip. This is 6 hours and 45 minutes, two out of SEVEN days a week. Ok, I'm back into reality for a moment.

High Hopes isn't foreign to Grace, they also have a therapy clinic and this is where she's gone for Physical Therapy since she was 6 months old. It is an inclusive preschool, which I love and Grace will be considered a 'peer model.' I mean, knowing her personality at all, you can tell, she's going to fall right into that role just fine.

So tomorrow starts tax free weekend, and I have a new appreciation for it. We are going out to buy her supplies, nap mat, lunch box, backpack etc...I really can't believe it. I hope I don't cry in the store and have to slap myself in the face in front of all the store patrons. That would be embarrassing. I'll blame all the emotions on the pregnancy...right?

Grace's first day will be Sept 4. She'll be in the 'butterfly' classroom. Sandra, her physical therapist will be able to just come get her out of class to do therapy when she needs it. Daddy will be dropping her off in the morning... (ha, ha, he gets the hard job!) and I'll pick her up in the afternoons.

Hopefully this will be a time of refreshing for me and something really fun for Grace to do. I am glad that she will be able to get used to it before the baby comes, and maybe she'll feel special because this is something only she can do, the baby can't. So we'll see. If it doesn't work out, we haven't lost anything, but it doesn't hurt to try. I'll keep you posted!

Oh, she needs a new first day of school outfit, right? Yup, that's what I thought! I'll try not to buy this one a the Goodwill. But do you know what awesome stuff you can find there?

Mom, or Personal Assistant?

This morning, I officially felt like a personal assistant to my almost 2 year old.

Grace had just gotten up and had finished her milk and banana. She saw my cell phone on the bed; she picked it up, opened it, and handed it to me saying: "Call Katie."
I said, "Oh, really, why do you want me to call Katie...?"
Grace's response: "Play Corbin today"
I mean, really? Apparently, I do what she says these days.
I felt like saying, "OK, Ms. Burton, anything else on the agenda for today....? Would you like your water flat or sparkling? Would you like to look at the spa menu? Hair and makeup will be here at 10am."
"And by the way, here's your bell if there's anything else you need, please ring it, I will promptly respond."

Orange Beach

First of all, Grace was WONDERFUL for the whole trip. I was really worried most about the car ride down and back, but the Lord blessed her with lots of baby patience. On the way down, we stayed with our friends Erin and Patrick in Bham, and that was a blast. The next morning we drove the rest of the way and we barely heard a peep from her... and she wasn't asleep! Of course, she finally fell asleep literally 15 minutes before we got to the condo. She watched her dvd's and was happy as a clam! What did we do when we were kids? I mean, we made at least a 12 hour drive once per year with NO TV in the car???? I am at a loss...

The car ride back was only a slight bit more stressful, Grace was antsy and we were not really able to break up the trip very much. We stopped at Walmart once so she could run around the store and get some new books, stickers and another dvd. The dvd was mainly because Chris and I thought we'd blow our ears off if we had to listen to Wonder Pets or Elmo one more time. She only really broke down about 10 minutes from our house, so to me, that's a major victory!

The Burton's rented a condo on Orange Beach for a few days and invited all of us crazy people. It was a good time. Grace loved the pool, hated the sand and the ocean, but loved the cushy beach chairs covered by a huge umbrellas about 20 feet away from the sea. She slept like a champ, naps and all and really was in a great mood most of the time!

We went to the Wharf several nights and they had a very large ferriss wheel in the middle of some shops and restaurants. I commented as we drove up... that thing is HUGE. So Grace thought that 'huge' was the name of the object she was looking at. When it got dark, she called it the 'flashing huge.' Pretty funny. Two of her favorite comments were "No ride huge" and "Huge scare me." We had a huge balcony that stretched all most all the way around our condo, and apparently running naked around it was the coolest thing ever. I mean, I didn't try it, but the kid sure loved it.

Spending most every day alternating between lounging on the beach (in cushy chairs of course) and swimming in the pool is a pretty good row to hoe if you ask me. All in all the trip was relaxing and a great time. Thanks Burton's!

Here are a few pictures I'll try to post more later:

This was about 2 hours after we got home, she passed out on the floor.

Is it a plalgue...is it a 2 year old...What is it?

I am happy to announce that my child has not been inhabited by a demon, nor does she have the plague! The past week or so has been HELL! She has been beyond whiny.... And I HATE whining. Since we are supposed to leave for a quick trip to the beach this afternoon, I thought I'd better take her into the doctor because something was just not quite right....

Well, she does have an ear infection! Praise the Lord. I mean, I am not glad that she is sick or anything, I am just glad that there seems to be a supposed cause to this horrid behavior! So we are now taking pink bubble gum medicine... (which, by the way, takes me back to my childhood. I loved the stuff) and she should be back to normal within several days.

Now to the topic at hand... PRAYER... We will need A LOT of it this weekend. I blogged about the last extended car ride we had with grace, and it wasn't good. We have a 2.5 hour ride tonight and then another 4.5 hours tomorrow. I am armed with benadryl (my kid is sick, right?) and a bunch of DVD's... but when Grace is MAD, she is MAD and there is nothing really that will soothe her. She has been known to cry so much that she pukes. PLEASE PRAY AGAINST THAT! At this point, I am not positive that we'll make it all the way to the beach, but I am trying to be optimistic.

Hopefully we'll make it in one piece and we'll have some cute pictures to show for it... but we'll see. I'll let you know when we get back!