I spend my life preparing

I am currently supposed to be cleaning the house (while Kevin is cleaning outside) however I had a urge to write, so here I am. I spend so much of my life preparing ... its one of the things that makes me me (and thank goodness my family is okay with it), spend weeks or days preparing for things ... small and large things, trips, grocery store trips, weekends, holiday's. Speaking of holiday's ... we are fast approaching one of my very favorites ... LANEY'S BIRTHDAY! I love it, I do turn it into a holiday. Preparation for this particular holiday have been in full swing since June. Yes, that's right June ... I know I know she is only three and won't remember ... I don't really care if she will remember ... the look and excitement on her face will be so gratifying that two and a half months of preparation will be so worth it. It's so very hard to believe that just 3 short years ago I was preparing for her birth (that was definitely a 9 month preparation) ... had her room ready, the living room ready, the kitchen ready everything was waiting patiently for her arrival ... us too ... we waited and waited and waited, even the day she was born we waited all day and then at about 6:00 p.m. she was born into our world at a
fabulous 20 1/2 inches and 8 lbs and 11 oz. Once she was born I cried as I watch Kevin hold her (I do not regret letting him be the first to hold her one bit) ... I was so beside myself and overcome with joy that all I could do was watch and then after I gained my composure I held that beautiful baby girl that was already the center of my world. I can't even explain the love I have for her and how much it grows daily. She is everything I could have ever asked for in a sweet baby angel girl. She is already my best girlfriend and I know as we continue our journey together my love for her will grow stronger and our bond tighter. So, for her third birthday I am prepared to give her everything she has asked for ... a Wizard of Oz birthday party, complete with a yellow brick road, a witch under a house, lollipops and poppies ... and a PINK GUITAR. I am so very excited for her party and she is too (she is crossing the days off a calendar) and can't wait to see her face and her excitement next Saturday. Preparation is so worth it everytime!

Laneyism's-June

Here are a few cute things Laney had to say in June:

Mommy: “Laney, do you want to go to bedtime stories at the library tonight?”
Laney: “Um, I want to go to the dollar store.”
***
Mommy: “Are you good and rested this morning?”
Laney: “Yes, like the Tin Man.”
It took me a second to figure out she thought I said rusted. So I took this opportunity to explain the difference, I was even sounding out the different vowel sounds and she was repeating me. So I asked again.
Mommy: “Are you rested this morning?”
Laney: “Like the Tin Man? What about the Scarecrow? What does Laney have to eat?”
The conversation was obviously over, and I must not have explained the difference between rest and rust very good.
***
Daddy: “Do you want to go on a boat ride?”
Laney:”No, I want to go swimming.”
Daddy: “Mommy and Daddy want to go on a boat ride. Don’t you want to go with us?”

Laney: “Ya’ll can go on a boat ride and I’ll stay here and swim.”
***
Laney: “Daddy go change clothes. Do you not know where your bathroom is?”
***
Mommy: “Stop messing with your tutee.”
Laney: “There’s something in there.”
Mommy: “What?”
Laney: “Sprinkles.”
***
Laney: “Turn this song off, I don’t like this song.”
At the Colbie Caillat concert
***
Laney: “I'm getting a pig for Christmas. A pink one. And its going to scare my doggies.”

***

Dora Dora Dora the Explorer

Laney love live production ... she has been to 1) Doodlebops 2) Sesame Street Live 3) Dora Live & 4) Miss Arkansas. She is so good during them and is in ahh and just I can't even tell you how excited she gets about them. We are planning on taking her to Wizard of Oz at the pocket theater (local group) in October then maybe to see it at the Orpheum in Memphis in December (don't think I'm bad that she will be scared ... she LOVES Oz ... its her birthday party theme ... and quite possibly her favorite movie). Here are some pictures of her at Dora ... no cameras please!

She also just got one of her birthday presents from us ... a slide with pool. We gave it to her early so she could get some good play time on it and because we are going to let the kids use it at her party.

To splint or not to splint ... Miss Arkansas

First let me update you on my still hurting thumb! Doc said no broken bones ... well I knew that. Just some probable torn ligaments and tendons ... here were this splint (that is making my thumb hurt in a totally different way) and put ice on it every night and take Advil regularly. If its not better by next Wednesday you will need to see an Ortho doc. Okay fine. I do have to say the splint has made what was hurting go away, but there is a whole new pain, whatever, I don't know what's better .... the spilt or none. I think today I'm going to go without and see what happens. I hate it for one, look at me trying to put lipstick on Laney that she so desperately wanted before we went to the Miss Arkansas Pageant.

So, the Miss Arkansas pageant was fantastic. Laney loved it and stuck it out for 2.5 hours before she was ready to leave. I wasn't sure if she would even like it. Our tickets were really good on the aisle and she could see great. All week she has been talking about seeing the "princesses and dancing girls." As soon as we got home from work/school she asked if she could pick out a crown to wear, so we did, then she asked if she could pick out her dress, so we did, then she asked if she could pick out my dress, so we did. We just had to wait like 3 hours to go. She was such a comedian commenting on the girls ... the lady in front of us told me at intermission that Laney was cracking her up!! Lots and lots of people commented on how cute Laney was and ohhed and ahhed over her and of course I LOVE that! First was swimsuit (Laney kept asking me if they were going swimming:) then was talent which Laney loved, most of them danced and there was some good dancing ... that's my favorite talent I guess because I actually know what they are doing and what is hard. It was obviously Laney's favorite too, because about 6 into evening gown she said she was ready to leave because the girls aren't dancing anymore. I think she would have lasted through the whole thing if they weren't asking each contestant a question ... I think Laney got bored with that. I will have to look at the paper today to see who won last night's preliminary. Tonight is the actual pageant for the top 10 but me and Kevin have a date so we couldn't go tonight. Next year though I will take her to the top 10. I am so glad she had a good time! My mom and I used to make it a girls trip and come to Hot Springs for the final night. I am so blessed to live in Hot Springs so we can just hop over there and watch whenever we like ...

Terrible Terrible

I have been terrible about updating this thing. What is wrong with me? How is it I remember to do EVERYTHING else I need to do but this? I need to put it on my calendar. I just get so busy living life and loving every minute of it that I totally forget. And it is really bad when I say to myself or Kevin I have to blog about this ... and then never do. This one has to be quick because there is no need to type while my thumb is throbbing unless it is for work. So, I jammed my thumb ... crazy funny story: 4th of July weekend, contest with some family running around the "pirate ship," I slid into Kevin, my arm went under him and my thumb got jammed ... and it is still hurting ... I can't turn on the car the normal way, peel fruit, pick Laney up, type ... nothing that needs to be done with the 2nd joint on my thumb without it hurting. DOCTOR I'm coming to see you tomorrow morning. FIX my thumb. I really didn't even realize how much of a necessity a thumb is until now. I even teared up putting Laney into her car seat on Saturday ... she was sad for me and put (imaginary, and the best kind) of sticky tape on it in the car so it would feel better ... funny how that tape at that particular time did make it feel better --- I must say this wouldn't have happened if the car next to us didn't park TOO close to us at Wal-Mart, ugh! Everyone else is great at our house. I love Kevin and Laney very much and love just spending time with them. They are both comedians so they keep me laughing. Okay, that's all for now, I will let you all know about my thumb tomorrow!

Laneyism's

Here are a few cute things Laney had to say in May.

Breezie: "Laney, what are a few of your favorite things?"
Laney: "Flowers and princesses and towers too."
***
Laney: “I want some pudding.”
Daddy: “We don’t have any pudding.”
Laney: “We do too, you need to learn what we have.”
***
Laney: “I don’t want to wear those shoes, they are yuck! I want to wear shoes with sparkles.”
***
Mommy: “Do you want bananas in your cereal?”
Laney: “That’s not what you put in cereal. You put milk in cereal.”

***
Laney: “I have to go pee pee.”
Mommy: “You just went you don’t really have to go.”
Laney: “Uh-huh, it’s coming out.”
Mommy: “No it’s not, I don’t see it.”
Laney: “It’s in my tutee right now.”

***

The Best Day

Dear Laney,

You are at an age where you really are a little girl. You are opinionated, strong, bossy, independent, loving, sweet, generous and beautiful. Actually, you are a mini-me. Looking at you and seeing your reactions and actions I feel so blessed to be such a huge part of your life. Laney you are growing up too fast, I love this age and wish I could freeze it just a little longer, but I can’t so I have to take every minute I have and hold it close to my heart. You are so girly and I love that. You want your toes and fingernails to always be painted and you are quick to tell me they need to be touched up. That is one thing I love to do … manicures and pedicures with you and I love to take you to pick out new polish, it always intrigues me when you make your choice. Honey, you think that you have to wear a dress and that they make you a princess and beautiful. This is not something I want you to believe in and I am working on that with you. Dresses, necklaces, bracelets, crowns, none of that make you beautiful, I want you to understand that you are beautiful with or without them and that you can look like a ragamuffin and still be beautiful. This weekend I noticed you saying “I can’t do it very good.” All I could think was who taught you that? I quickly corrected and told you that you absolutely can do it very good, just try and you can. I hate those negative thoughts in your beautiful head. I want don’t want you to know “can’t do it very good!” Laney, you can do it because I know you can!!

I want you to always look to me for comfort and that place where you can be at peace with yourself, that place where it really doesn’t matter what you’re doing or what your look like, where you can 100% be yourself and have no worries about what will be thought of you. Believe me you do it now, you don’t care if you have snot on your forehead and tears streaming down your check when I’m around and I am honestly glad that you don’t hold back with me, it would hurt my feelings if you did.

I get so very excited about days alone with you because I swear at 2 ½ years old you are my best girlfriend. This Saturday your Daddy had to work so it was just you and me kiddo. On Saturday morning you woke up in the best most loving mood. We watched Mickey Mouse and I made Banana Nut muffins. We had a shower and then got dressed and headed out to the mall. We spent 3 hours at the mall, just two best friends hanging out. You were even suggesting stores to go in. We didn’t need anything but we did buy a little. We just walked through the mall holding hands, talking, sharing and browsing. As we were headed back to the lake you told me you were tired but you wanted to go out on a boat ride with me. So we packed up an ice chest, towels, sunscreen and the dogs and headed out onto the lake. We rode and talked for a then the sandman got you and you napped.

There on the lake where we rode around for about 2 hours all I could think about was you and the best day we just had and I had to say, thank You, Jesus, for blessing my life more than I could have ever asked, thank You for the honest and real relationship I already have with Laney, I know it is only going to get better and thank You for my mama who taught me how to have a honest and real relationship with my precious, angel, baby daughter.

Love, Love, Love You-
Mama