Cow Appreciation Day 2009

Friday of last week was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a's around the country. I have to work that day but Micah always gets dolled up by Nana or Mick and comes to visit me. This year he wasn't as excited about being dressed like a cow but he was excited about seeing the CFA cow, which he is usually terribly frightened of. We had TONS of cows at our Chick-fil-a and so many cute ideas. I do look forward to the day when I can take my children and not be working...if that day ever comes...

We did hire a new girl to take on the brunt of the Mktg load, now that I and the other girls I work with are going to work less(and I will be out on maternity leave as well). She took this cute picture of Micah since I was unable to even get my camera out during all the madness.

ButtercupSadieJane

I think we have finally settled on a name....maybe. I don't know why picking a name for this girl is so hard. It has me scared that there is a boy hiding in there. But Lorelai, while still one of my favorite names is very hard to pronounce if you are under 5 or if you are from Alabama(no offense, I am referring to my mother and grandmama) I thought of Sadie and it actually means princess. Ahhhhh...I love the fact that as women in Christ we are all considered coheirs with Christ which make us Princesses! So I found a way to make the girl name biblical right? Mick really likes this name and I really wanted a double name so I think we'll stick with it. Get to monogramming people:) Just teasing...check with me next week to make sure I haven't changed my mind. Plus Micah has been calling the baby Buttercup for months, my fault. So now when we ask him his baby sisters name he runs it all together to be Buttercupsadiejane...he wants her to struggle with the four name curse as well apparently. SadieJane....our sweet baby girl...yeah I think I like it.

A Whole Hand Full!

I was looking rather large last night apparently...just ask my mother. Thanks Jenny!

Waiting patiently then having to fight Micah to blow out the candles.

Holy smokes Batman!

The boys with Batman...Micah still not real excited:)

Now he's good!

Hayden with his hero!

No neck Batman...when Mick first came out he was trying to hide the goatee so he appeared to be without a neck...

Hayden turns 5 today. And now he is officially a Hand full...5 ...get it??He is a handful for sure...always has been. Only boy I know who gives him a run for his money is our very own Micahbird. The two combined make a magnificent force! We celebrated with a Batman Birthday Party yesterday at our house. Just a few friends and family and our sweet Haydee. He chose Batman as his theme and let me just discourage you from this theme. There are Spiderman galore and Incredible Hulk everywhere but Batman has apparently gone into hiding. There are no plates, no napkins, no tshirts to be found.(I mean not for those of us who plan late in the game anyways, and who wont pay more than a dollar a pack:)) I finally found Hayden his precious Dark Knight shirt at the dreaded walmart:( Micah happened to be WAY more excited about Hayden's birthday party than he was for his own. He kept screaming and yelping with excitment the whole night. It did show how much more he understands in the two months since his big day. My how things change. While Batman novelties were hard to find we do have some good friends with a Batman costume and had already borrowed it for some other friends. Problem was I couldn't find anyone to wear it...Budda was a good candidate but my Dad in tights not the best combination...sorry Dad! I got the courage to ask Mick about an hour before the party. He had made so much fun of our friend Justin that I thought there would be no discussion at all...but to my surprise Mick was willing to do it "if I thought it would make Hayden happy" Make him happy? I knew Hayden would be thrilled so Mick suited up for the night! It was so funny because Hayden was scared at first and then he all the sudden said..."MICK!!" then he was super excited again. Micah had the same reaction and only got close once Hayden explained it was Daddy. Micah called him Daddy Batman the whole time. The adults got way more of a kick out of Mick in the suit than the kiddos did. We had a great time celebrating with Haydee. The people that came really made an effort to make Hayden feel special and it meant as much to our family as it did to him. So thanks to those of you who made it. Somehow I only got to take pictures during Batman's arrival...being the hostess didn't lend itself to photographer so I failed to get a picture of Hayden with the other guests or with Jenny and Budda even!! If anyone took others I know Hayden would like to have them and so would I!! Today we have been to a movie, playground, lunch and the pool. Both boys are napping now and I wish I were too. But there is work to be done and blogging too. Oh and be sure to tell Mick what a great Batman he was...he did question if the pictures would be on the blog...like there was a question of that.

Happy Birthday America!

Picture of the fireworks from our front porch.

Waving to the policemen...or the skaters...or the church bus...or the retirement village....oh the joys of living in a small town.

Apparently we were both watching intently.

Nice shades boys.
Swimming with Daddy.

Where Micah prefers to watch fireworks from...
Where he started watching fireworks...
help me, Mommy!

Happy 4th of July to all of you. We are so thankful that we live in a country where we are free to worship our Jesus and that we have soldiers that protect us. We had a great 4th of July. For the first time that I can remember we had no plans at all. We usually have a party to go to or we go to the lake, but decided to just stay home and do our own thing this year. While we missed visiting with friends and family we did enjoy our time to ourselves. We hit up the Dville Parade this morning. This was Micah's 3rd parade and the 1st year that he understood what we were watching. He was very unsure of it all and clung to Mick and I due to all the loud noises. But, he loved it and talked about the motorcycles and the horses all day long. He also waved at anyone who waved at him. Too cute. We had lunch together and then the three of us went to the pool. Micah showed Mick all of his tricks that he does in all our pool time and Mick was impressed. We then relaxed at home, had dinner with Nana and Pops and came home and watched the fireworks from our front door! Which was convenient since Micah insisted on going inside to get away from the "pops". Now Mick is trying to settle him into bed with all the "popping" still going on. The fun should end at 10 o'clock people:) Hope you and yours had fun in the sun somewhere today.

head case

I have always been a bit of a head case. But when babies come into the picture it seems that my hormones dictate that I be even more so high maintenance. This is just a blog of my feelings...maybe you can relate...maybe not. This is one of those, not for the scrapbook posts, so you've been warned. If you are like my mom and are going to worry about me don't keep reading...I mean I am really ok I just need a place to release. So mom, go back and read a potty story. Lately I am super moody about almost everything. Seeing a new baby makes me cry, as do commercials and things that Micah does. This seems relatively normal. But I thought that emotion stuff was more in the first trimester. I am also super sensitive right now and have had my feelings hurt deeply by friends, Mick, Micah and others. I mean like sobbing. It is crazy. It is like I have no control over how I feel at all. What is ironic is that I am doing a bible study on being a better wife and the majority of what I am taking away from it is that I need not be so sensitive. Yeah, right. I seriously feel like I have no control over how I am feeling so how can I possibly keep it inside?...more so than I did with Micah. So I am struggling with my emotions and getting myself together day to day. I am feeling all emotional about ending my time with just Micah and I and I am also real worried about the whole PPD thing again. I had it something fierce with Micah and with all of these emotions now I am wondering if I am getting premature PPD? As you can see this post is almost incoherent, as are my thoughts. Did anyone else feel this way or am I just special in yet another way? I know that God is still in control and He created me and none of this is a surprise to Him, the way it is to me. But I am just feeling a little crazy lately and wanted to let it out. Don't worry I'll be fine in a few minutes.

Getting on the Potty Train.

I have not posted about Micah's newest change because I have been in disbelief of his self initiative and motivation. He has virtually potty trained himself. Ok, let's not go that far...but as far as Micah and transitions go this has been one on the more simple side to say the least. We started free ballin it about a month ago anytime we were home and then each week we have gained more success. We've added pullups and big boy boxer briefs to our bottom half. The final test was vacation traveling and again to my surprise Micah did so great. He only had one accident and it was really our fault. Making that stop on the middle of a six lane highway not on my top things to do. We haven't mastered pooping...since those that know Bird know that he has to hop to get the brown trout out. But tee teeing is coming pretty naturally. Perfection we are not...a trip to Aunt Wenwe's led to two accidents but Micah is going alot. Now in case you are sick about my boastfulness, you know I always balance it with how we are advanced, yet not so much. The other end of the spectrum is we did decide to embark on the big boy bed movement. This has been a bad idea for so many reasons. I think for those who've yet to discover you should make the bed switch and THEN potty train; you live and you learn. But we've bought some cute sheets and started decorating a baseball room so by golly he's sleeping in the big boy bed! Micah slept on his own bed at the beach and we decided to continue that transition here at home. But, Micah isn't so keen on it as he is on saddling up to the potty. The big boy bed leaves room for so much freedom and fun that our little one hasn't experienced in two years. So he is livin' it up til at least midnight. Last night he cried tee tee four times and somehow mustered a trickle out every stinkin' time. Any suggestions on making this transition better let me know. Although I think it is our fault that with the potty training we basically gave him control in a trump card by being able to release himself from the big boy bed any time he feels a twinge of tee tee coming. I guess if nothing else we are training for the sleepless nights with the new baby. Which again I pray we don't regret all this work when Micah decides to regress with jealousy in a few months. Will he? Oh please say no!

*The picture above is one of our many stops on the way home from the beach. Whenever he said gotta we let him go. Unfortunately his blessed crocs are one less from all the pit stopping- we left one somewhere on the road from Pensacola. How sad! Our tire wheels have never been so clean though.

Happy Father's Day!

First off Happy Father's Day to Budda and Pops! We are so thankful to both of you for being our Father's...although neither of them will read this:)

I am doing a new bible study about being a better wife and one of the exercises it had us do was to read a verse and then list the positive things about our husband...since we so often are quick to list the negative. It really helped me to see how much Mick does for our family and I thought I would share because it might help you do the same. This was Mick's card for Father's Day:

Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is anything excellent or praiseworthy – dwell on these things.
Philippians 4:8

True- You always tell the truth and think about what would be best for others.

Honor- You uphold honor by always choosing to do what is right, not what is popular, even if it is the harder thing to do.

Just- You seek to be as fair as possible and always weigh the choices at hand carefully.

Pure- You seek to be honest and pure with your students, your family and your friends.

Lovely- You love us and do most things well.

Commendable- You give 150% all of the time to everything that you do.
Excellence- You set an example for your children and your wife that is both godly and excellent.

Thank you to all of you who are father's out there...or those who might not be biological father's but are like that to someone else.