Cassie Rae

Almost 26 weeks

2012-02-06T15:28:00.002-05:00

I can't believe we only have 14 weeks until our new little girl arrives. We have a lot going on this month and I am sure the next 14 weeks will fly by.

I am trying to prepare as much as possible, but it has been a little harder this time getting house chores done with a 3 year old around. Plus the weather has been so nice that it is hard to spend Saturday working inside. We will eventually have the girls' rooms ready for them.

Here is the baby bump before church this week (try to ignore the laundry in the background).

Sallie Rose's comings and goings

2012-01-25T22:24:00.002-05:00

This week has been very tiring already. Sallie rose started ballet on Monday and she really liked it, but since she has school in the morning and ballet in the afternoon and we have a dinner club on Monday nights, we were exhausted. Then, Tuesday she got to have a 2 hour nap, but that is my work day so I missed out on the first 2 hour nap since Christmas!

Today, we did all again, except for instead of school, we went to the mall to meet her friend for her birthday lunch, then ballet, and last Church supper and choir practice for her. She went to bed at 7:45 and I am already in bed as I type.

I was ready for her to have another activity outside of Church, but I am not sure about this twice a week ballet class. Plus, it's only 30 minutes long and that doesn't give me enough time to even run an errand so I just sit in my car. There is a nail place next door and I see a lot of pedicures in my future. Can they even do those in 30 minutes?

It is all worth it, she loves the class and the other girls and she will have a recital in may, that I am sure will be a tear jerker for me.

In other news, no baby name, but the baby is doing great and so far everything is looking good. Sallie Rose told me this morning that she wants to help feed her and I said ok, but then she said she wants to get up in the middle of the night to help feed her. She was so sweet and sincere, it made me cry. She is really excited. She needs a playmate. She needs one so bad that I had to buy a kitchen timer to help her understand that sometimes she has to play by herself for 10 minutes while mommy does the dishes. She also needed it to help her know when rest time was over so she wouldn't lay in her bed for 20 minutes yelling "mommy is it time to get up?". We got a piggy and it worked well today. She did play by herself for about 15 minutes until the timer went off.

Outside of her first ballet class

Baby bump, 25 weeks

My new helper, piggy timer

Rest time

2012-01-16T16:10:00.001-05:00

Sitting in bed playing with stickers while mommy plays on her iPad.

Busy weekend

2012-01-15T21:10:00.001-05:00

I've been busy. Getting ready for that new baby girl, Www.Redtopworkshop.wordpress.com.

And I raked the leaves, oh and I sat down and read a book. Not the whole book, but more than 5 pages. For those of you who know me well, you know I don't really "read books" unless you consider US weekly a book.

I'm also working on the planning for urban hope's 2nd annual fund raiser, that's a lot of leg work, phone calls, and begging for people to participate.

These next few months will go by so quickly and then before we know it, we will be a family of four! Five counting our dog, Casey.

Here is a drawing Sallie Rose did at church and the purple one is baby sister in mommy's tummy.

Baby sister

2012-01-07T10:20:00.001-05:00

Here is the latest picture of our baby sister. 22 weeks and counting. Sallie rose is getting a little impatient on waiting on her to arrive. She cried the other day when telling me she wanted the baby to come now. Poor Sallie Rose!

I forgot to mention...

2011-12-28T19:13:00.001-05:00

We found out Christmas morning that we will be having another little girl. We are pleased and excited, of course, and now we just need to start thinking of a name. That's the hard part.

I am actually a little relieved that we will be able to use all of sallie's clothes that I have saved and that sallie rose will have a sister.

The ultrasound showed that everything is going well for the little girl and that she is growing as she should be, thanks be to God. That is the best news of all.

Christmas fun

2011-12-26T21:47:00.001-05:00

I am now blogging from my new iPad thanks to a great Christmas present.

Within in a week of Christmas

2011-12-19T18:24:00.003-05:00

Sallie Rose and I are so excited that we are within a week of Christmas. We head to Texas on Wednesday and then the real fun begins.

Sallie has asked us almost everyday if it was Christmas morning yet. She is so confused about the date, but she will soon find out when Christmas morning is. She can't wait to see if Santa brought her a Minnie Mouse doll.

I have to say, I just caught her digging into one of my favorite candles and had it all over the rug and ruined the candle, so Santa might be reconsidering her present. Errrrrrr....

Oh and today we go to the dr. for our 18 week sonogram. Yeah, can't wait to see the baby. We will find out the sex, but not til Christmas morning. I can't wait! I honestly have no preconceived ideas about whether it is a boy or girl. Either one is great and we just want a healthy baby!

The Littlest Star

2011-12-12T16:34:00.003-05:00

Sallie Rose had her first Christmas Pageant at Church. They have been rehearsing for weeks and last Sunday they had a 3 hour rehearsal after Church. She knew every word to every song and was so excited about wearing her costume. The costumes were super cute. Of course, the night of the pageant she was in a bad mood and didn't want to do anything. I believe she sang one verse to Away in the Manger and that was it.

There were about 15 3 and 4 year olds that were dressed as stars and the boys costumes were way too big for any of the boys and they kept poking Sallie Rose in the eye while they stood on the risers or hitting her in the back. She was annoyed. She didn't cry and she didn't yell, so all in all it was a success. I do have some cute videos, but I am not even going to attempt to load that here.

We are getting excited about Christmas and she can not wait to see if Santa brings her a Minnie Mouse doll. I finally wrapped some of our gifts to other people and she came home and was so excited that Santa had come. I had to explain that Santa had not come and those were gifts for her friends. She was not accepting it and lo and behold, I had to put the gifts in the closet so she would quit crying and not unwrap any of them. It's a hard concept to understand, I suppose.

Here she is showing Christopher, her BFF, her ballet shoes. He asked her if she could dance in them. She said no.

This is a glimpse of the costumes. The girls had silver and the boys were gigantic gold stars.

Christmas Decorating: Part 1

2011-12-05T18:10:00.000-05:00

Check out Part 1 HERE.

Baby Deuce

2011-12-03T16:01:00.003-05:00

I finally decided to take some pictures of the new baby bump. I am 16 weeks this week, but I feel further along since we started going to the doctor at 6 weeks. They thought I was further along than I was.

So far, I don't think I have gained as much weight as last time, but then again I didn't gain most of until this time. The only reason I really even am concerned about it is because I do feel like all the weight I gained might have had something to do with my blood pressure problems at the end, although they can not prove that. I am still watching it a little more than last time and trying to avoid things like sweets and Mexican food. I ate a lot of both of those last time. :)

Everything is going well so far and I feel pretty good, still a little tired and not exercising as much as I should be, but what can you do?

Oh and I did make a mistake a few posts ago about what the due date is. It is May 19th not March 19th.

Sallie Rose wanted to be in the picture.

Hey little baby in there.

Today we went to see Santa (and it was adorable!) and tonight we go get our tree! I can't wait to put out all my Christmas decorations that I made last year. My lollipops and peppermints!

Giving Thanks

2011-11-26T22:01:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I am proud to say that I am feeling out of my funk that I was in last week and ready to get jolly and excited about Christmas.

I don't usually have "funks" that last very long. I am that person who always says "it will be fine and everything will work out the way God planned it." Well the last month has been very hard and my "it will be fine" machine was broken. I couldn't shake it. I was tired of discussing which one of the numerous bills we should pay this month and alert those who wouldn't be getting paid until next month, hopefully. I think it was just a surprise to me that we were in this position again with the rentals. I had worked so darn hard to get them rented and then 4 murders happen within 4 weeks within 2 blocks of our rentals. We lose 2 tenants because of the murders, and then the next month 3 more for various reasons. Plus, many of our tenants are just not paying their rent and I don't have the heart to kick them out immediately. Well, that's not real great business, because we have bills to pay and its usually their bills to keep their water and electricity on.

So, it hit me. I was tired of this business and I am tired of dealing with these tenants and their "needs". I went to a funk. And so did Kevin. It's not easy to unfunk when your partner is in the same funk. Then, one day I woke up in a good mood and decided, yeah its bad, but we are still paying all of our personal bills and we still have a beautiful home and no we might not have money at the end of the month to do anything but buy a coke, but that is more than most people could dream of right now. I am BLESSED AND I WILL BE HAPPY. I will deal with all the other unpleasantness of not being able to pay the roof company or so on, but I will still be happy and have faith in God. I am working as hard as I can and he will bring us through it. It just seems like we have been doing this same merry go round for 3 years.

On the other hand, I have a healthy baby growing and another healthy baby on the way. We took Sallie Rose to the doctor with us on Tuesday and I had asked her if she had any questions for the doctor and she had a couple. She wanted to ask him if we could get the baby out today and other various related questions. When we saw the doctor, I asked her if she had any questions for him and she said (in her cute, tiny voice) "what's your middle name?". We all laughed and he was a little embarrassed, because his middle name is Eugene and he is not very fond of it. It was adorable.

We will be finding out the sex of deuce (baby #2), on December 20th, but will wrap it up and not look until Christmas morning. We want to give ourselves a little surprise and a little extra Christmas joy.

So, here is to a great Thanksgiving and looking forward to a wonderful Christmas full of family, fun, Christ and health.

Children's Sermon

2011-11-13T15:51:00.003-05:00

Now that Sallie Rose is 3, she gets to go to big Church with me. Today was her 2nd Sunday to go with me and considering she had already gone once and did just fine, I really wasn't worried about it.

The first Sunday she sat quietly and scribbled with the little pencils and occasionally she would whisper to me and she even folded her hands and closed her eyes when it was time to pray. She did great. Then, she went to the front for Children's sermon all by herself and went out the door to Children's Church.

And today, well it started off good, but ended up with me running down the side aisle of the long Church to whip my child's behind.

We sat next to Christopher Butler and his parents. Sallie Rose and Christopher were baptized together and have grown up in the Church nursery for 3 years as buddies. We love Christopher and his parents. The kids were a little loud at first and I had to grab Sallie Rose and put her in my lap so she would be quiet. Christopher was being a little louder than her, but she wanted to play and stand up just like him. They did fine.

Then, it was time for them to walk to the front. Our Church is fairly big and this particular Sunday, the Church was full which means there was probably 400 people in service. We sit on the 3rd row from the back. I let her and Christopher walk up to the front by themselves. She went and sat down and I could not see her. I saw Christopher though and he was standing at the altar, kind of hopping up and down and just not sitting still.

I wasn't concerned about him....until I saw Sallie Rose get up and walk over to where Christopher was playing. At that moment, I thought that I might want to walk up there and make sure nothing was about to happen, but I didn't. I just watched them nervously. All the other children were sitting quietly and listening and usually if there are other kids who are not, the preacher will ask them to sit down and listen.

I watched as the two of them started giggling, then they started jumping up and down on the altar and I kept waiting for them to stop, well of course they didn't. They decided to start hopping like bunnies down the aisle and waving to me and Whitney very happily. They had no idea that they were embarrassing their Moms and that they were disturbing the Children's sermon. I was a little frozen, I was laughing nervously, and then as they got louder and starting hopping more and more, I got up and went down the side aisle (very red faced I am sure) and went straight to the front. Of course it felt like it took me an hour to get up there. Not to mention, it took me an hour to pick a dress this morning, because I am getting a little too big to wear anything. The dress I chose was a little short and a little tight and I felt very self conscience that as I was running down the aisle my butt was hanging out or that people could see the top part of my panty hose.

As soon as I got to the front, I grabbed Sallie Rose and pulled her off that altar and sat her on the front row. I was so mortified and a little amused as well. I can't help but laugh, because you always hear those kids that say or do funny things at Children's sermon and you always laugh, but never think about it being your sweet, nicely dressed little girl. Needless to say, I will be walking her down the Church for the next few Sundays to make sure she stays in line.

Honestly, how could you stay mad at this face?

We're having a baby!

2011-11-02T16:23:00.002-04:00

We are so excited to be having another baby. We have been waiting for the right time and the right time is NOW! Sallie Rose is so great and she is so excited about having a baby brother or baby sister or both as she likes to think. She tells the baby good morning almost every morning and she kisses it good night every night. I bribe her to snuggle with me on the couch by asking her if she wants to snuggle the baby and she will. She won't just snuggle with me.

The baby is due March 19th and yes we will be finding out the sex of the baby. We will need as much time as possible to decide on a name for either a boy or a girl. Kevin and I have very different ideas about names and Sallie Rose was our one agreeable name and I don't think we can use that again, although Sallie Rose the first thinks we can.

I have felt a lot worse this time around. I basically lay on the couch every night and try to take a nap everyday. I was pretty irritable for a few weeks too. I think in the next couple of weeks I should start to feel a little better.

In other news, Sallie Rose was Minnie Mouse for Halloween. She was soooooo cute, as you can see from the pictures below. She had a festival at school and we went trick or treating around our neighborhood Monday night. We had a good time, but I am ready to move on to the next Holiday.

Fun Filled Weekend

2011-10-18T20:26:00.004-04:00

We had a very fun filled weekend in Dallas and we were all 3 exhausted by the time we got on the plane on Sunday. Sallie Rose had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed every minute of it. By Saturday night for her birthday party, she was definitely beginning to wear down. It was so great to be with almost all my family and some long time best friends of mine. We had a wonderful time and thanks to all my family for everything you did for Sallie Rose to make her birthday weekend special.

Her new Super Sallie cape that my Mom made her.

Grumps, formerly known as my Dad, and two of my best friends from Middle School and High School. Aren't they gorgeous?

Sallie Rose blowing out her birthday candles.

Cousin Avery, Sallie Rose, and cousin Vin

Here are Kam and Tara riding some crazy bungee ball. Never ever would I get on that.

Eating friend bubble gum, which was really a marshmallow that tasted like bubble gum. I thought it was pretty good.

Sallie's first rodeo. She was riding in the wind, look at that hair whipping. I laughed so hard that I cried. She was so cute. Her cousin, Vin, won the rodeo.

Two little circus bears. These two really love being with each other.

We were glad to be home and everyone is a little grouchy tonight, so I think we are still trying to recover from having so much fun.

We also had a parent/teacher conference this morning and her teacher had nothing but wonderful things to say about her. She passed all the "tests" with flying colors and was only 1 of 2 students in the class who could count to 30 and knew all her shapes, colors, ABC's, and recognized her name. She did not however know how to use scissors very well. So, this week we work on scissor use. Most of all, the teacher said she looked forward to seeing Sallie Rose everyday and that she was getting along well with the other children.

Savannah Birthday Party

2011-10-10T10:52:00.002-04:00

Saturday we had a few of Sallie Rose's friends over for a small birthday party. She was so cute the whole day. That morning she helped me clean up the house, make cupcakes, and decorate the house in all purple. That is one of the things she said she wanted as a gift for her birthday, she wanted everything to be purple. We made that happen.

As we were putting out the purple tablecloth, purple napkins, purple balloons, and purple cupcakes, she kept thanking me for her beautiful purple party. It was so sweet and I just hope that as she gets older she will appreciate the small things like that forever. We did not go over board and get her any really big gifts, just some shoes and clothes that she needed, but I tried to make her party as special as I could. She seemed to feel real special. She is real special.

Nana, Kevin's Mom, bought her the little dress she is wearing and she loved it. Kevin's parents have been sick so they were not able to make it to the party, but I was sure to get a few pictures of her in the dress to send to Nana.

Sallie Rose had a wonderful day and the next day we played with her new scooter (that she rides all over the house until we can take it outside), her Candyland game and all her other new toys that she got. Thursday we head to Texas for the State Fair and another party, yes that's right, she will have 2 parties. I hope she is as sweet at this next one as she was at this one.

Vacation/Upcoming birthday

2011-10-05T15:41:00.004-04:00

Wow, I have been trying to do this post for 2 weeks, but somehow I have not been able to find the time to sit down for 15 minutes to do it. So, finally I am writing about our trip that we took 2 weeks ago and now I have forgotten most of the things I wanted to say. :)

We stayed in a nice condo on Amelia Island that faced the beach and had a full kitchen, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It was small, but perfect for us. Sallie Rose loved having her own room, but she did ask if her friend Julia could come next year to sleep in the other bed. Amelia Island is really nice. Its not very big, but it has a little downtown area that has good restaurants and an ice cream shop. What more does a 3 year old need.

Sallie Rose loved the beach! She sat and played in the sand for 2 hours and never really got in the water. She would find pools of water on the beach and sit in those. We had a great, relaxing time. It was just what our little family needed. She never threw a tantrum, she slept great and she loved being with both me and Kevin. I loved being with them too! One night we were driving back from eating and she kept saying "let's get back to our combo and look at the beach." I thought I was going to melt in cuteness. Of course, her sometimes annoying Dad corrected her and told her it was a condo.

I would definitely recommend Amelia Island to anyone who is looking for a low key beach vacation. The weather was great too.

This weekend I will be making purple cupcakes (and next weekend too) to get ready for Sallie's 3rd birthday. We will have a party here with a couple of her friends and then we head to Texas for the State Fair and another birthday party with her whole family. We are very excited. I am not so excited about my firstborn baby turning 3, but it is coming whether I like it or not.

She has been such a fun, easy child lately and I have loved every minute with her. She is learning manners, she is beyond smart, and she told me the other day I was the best Mom ever. Happy Birthday next weekend to the most precious, beautiful, best dancing 3 year old in the World.

September 15th is finally here

2011-09-14T10:11:00.002-04:00

September 15th is a very important day to me each year. Since I have known Kevin, it has been a day I looked forward to each year. It is the day that all of our new residents have moved in and have settled into their new rooms and have usually stopped bugging us about getting another dresser, desk, light bulb and so on. This September 15th is a little different this year.

Last year and the year before were very trying times for us. As soon as we had Sallie Rose (the best day of our lives of course), the stock market crashed a week later and our downward spiral of events began to happen with Kevin's work and with the rentals. As much as I would like to reflect on those events to help myself realize what we have overcome and accomplished in the last year, I am moving forward and trying not to think about some of the events that forever scarred Kevin and me. Some of the things that happened were things that were out of our hands, but still felt so incredibly close and personal and that we pray and hope never happen again, and not just for our sake, but for the sake of our young, vulnerable art student renters.

This year, we tried new things and we came to grips with the fact that these rental properties brought us together as a couple and they would not pull us apart. As difficult and demanding as they are, both financially and time wise, they are a part of us and they should never determine how we live our lives. We do have a very busy time of year, which was these last 2 months, but we have to work together and grow stronger in the situation rather than apart. I have a hard time telling people what it is we do, but it is very physically and mentally challenging and it is a struggle to figure out how to deal with so many different types of personalities and most of all PARENTS! Some of these parents, ooo weee, they are awful. I had one Dad call me a slumlord and that I take advantage of young children. That kind of thing makes me so mad, if he only knew how hard I worked and how much I truly did care about most of my renters, he might change his attitude. Not to mention, he was mad over something so petty and something he had no idea about. I get all worked up just typing it.

Those are the kinds of situations that build my character and help me to deal with people, who I don't really care to even deal with. This year has been different. I was not working in an office and trying to run the properties on Friday. I had a better outlook on life in general and I took the chip off my shoulder and quit wondering "why me?". Because that obviously is a very dumb question and I am so grateful that I am healthy and have so many people in my life who I love.

And by the Grace of God, we are 100% rented and I made it through move in week and I think I have a pretty good group of new tenants. I thanked God last night for giving me the strength to make it through another rental season and for helping us improve our outlook and outcome. Not to mention, I have a very cool design job I am working on! Woo-hoo for work that is actually what I went to 8 years of college for.

This weekend, Kevin and I are going to Atlanta, alone, and Sallie Rose is staying with Susan. Next weekend, we are taking a much needed 3 day family vacation and in October we are going to Dallas to have Sallie Rose's 3rd birthday with her whole family (minus Kevin's parents). God is good!

First day of pre-pre-pre school

2011-09-08T12:44:00.003-04:00

Here she is preparing to be serious and learn so much

Here she is showing me her change of clothes bag

And, the beautiful, contrived smile

Sallie Rose had her first official day of pre school, which in my mind it really pre to the third degree, because technically she won't be in preschool until pre kindergarten. Although it doesn't matter, I still like to clarify.

She is now attending the school at our Church. I was very hesitant to take her out of her previous school, because she loved it so much and she learned SO much. She never had any problems. Plus, Kevin was concerned that this was their first year of having a school and she would suffer in spite of that. We shall see. So far, she has had a few bad days and has been a little defiant, but I honestly believe that is her age. She is definitely testing her limits at home and very strongly. And then some days, she is as fun and happy as can be.

On a side note, last night she fell out of her bed while sleeping and that was not cool. Not cool at all. Those darn safety rails evidently are not fool proof. She does seem a little stranger than normal today.

We were so busy for the last 4 weeks and we are ready to slow down, enjoy the changing weather and take a few small family trips.

Do it yourselfers

2011-08-12T21:55:00.002-04:00

All you do-it-yourselfers might enjoy this. There are some really great projects to look into making.

No Access

2011-08-03T21:31:00.003-04:00

Uh...I have been without internet for almost 2 weeks now. Our home internet has been out and my office computer is so slow and works 1 out of every 4 days; therefore, I have not been able to really use the internet. So, no blogging and no reading blogs lately.

Sadly, I don't have much to say and I don't think I have any new pictures of Sallie Rose. I have been very busy with our rental properties for the last two weeks. I decided I wanted to save some money on painting one of them, so I dedicated about 12 hours last week and weekend to doing just that. I also enlisted the help of Kevin and my friend, Natalie, to help as well. I enjoy painting, but it was a lot of work and I have had a crick in my neck since Sunday night. It's sad, but I am getting too old to do manual labor. The apartment looked great and overall I did save about $1000, so I would say it was worth it. It's worth it as long as you don't have to live with me and hear me complain for a whole week after about how tired and sore I am.

Sallie Rose is growing and changing so much. She is definitely getting a little more independent and a little bit harder some days to handle. She has started really trying to resist everything I ask her to do, but some days she is a perfect little angel. She sleeps in her big girl bed just fine. She loves to go to the potty and needs her "privacy" when she does it. I think she is also beginning to learn that sometimes she can get whatever she wants by making a really cute face and asking in her sweetest voice. It gets Kevin every time.

Here she is at her new vanity. I saw this in an antique store with our neighbor, Patrick, and I wanted to buy it. I didn't buy it and he went back and got it. Very nice.

Sunday lunch. Everyone was so shocked to see me with my hair done, because I never take the time to do it. My theory is that if I do it all the time, then no one will appreciate it. This way, everyone comments on it and we all win!

Daddy and Sallie Rose. Twinsies.

Weekend project

2011-07-17T16:03:00.003-04:00

I don't get around to doing weekend projects much anymore, because I am usually consumed with housework that wasn't done during the week or I want to do things outside of the house.

This weekend I started a project and finished it. And I had fun doing it!

You can see it here.

The good, bad and ugly

2011-07-14T10:08:00.004-04:00

I have been meaning to post about our Two Week Texas Tour Trip, but I have so much to say and some many pictures, I was a little overwhelmed. I will give a short recap on the good, the bad and the ugly and then I will post as many pictures as I can (there are a lot of good ones).

The good:

Lots of good things happen, but the best good thing was being with my family. This trip seemed to be a little less busy than usual. It probably didn't hurt that we were there for 16 days and we had a lot of time to spend with everyone. We swam, we boated, we played games, and best of all Sallie Rose spend a lot of time with her cousins: Ally, Maddy, Vin and Betty.

I also did a lot of fabric browsing and junk store browsing. I only bought a few yards of fabric to make some cute pillows, but I really enjoyed seeing a lot of new fun things. Texas has such a different style and I saw so many very creative, unique things that you wouldn't see anywhere else (definitely not in Savannah).

The Bad:

16 days is a very long time to be away from my bed, my husband, and a VERY long time to sleep in the same bed with a 2 year old who thinks sleeping sideways with her feet in your ribs is the way to do it. I was a little tired on some days, to say the least. It was all worth it though.

The Ugly:

We went to Amy's Ice Cream in Austin, because I love their Mexican Vanilla flavor and they have a playground. Well, Sallie Rose was in a particularly bad mood that afternoon and so was I. I asked Maddy to take her to the playground so she could get off my back. They were on the playground for about 5 minutes and I have to admit, I was not even looking out the window at them. Then, I turn to look and here comes Madison holding Sallie Rose with her face out and I was confused. Did she have a tee tee or poo poo accident? No, her face was gushing blood and she was screaming very loudly. I grabbed her and tried to find a bathroom. I had no idea what to do. Luckily, my Mom was there and she went with us to the bathroom and knew just what to do. Sallie Rose had hit her nose and mouth on part of the playground and was bleeding from both openings. After, many paper towels, Sallie crying and me crying, my Mom got the bleeding to stop. She didn't break anything or lose a tooth and we had no trip to the ER, but it shook me up and it shook her up very badly. We got over it in a couple of days, but that was Ugly.

Now the pictures:

Me and my lifelong best friend, hot cousin, Grace.

Me and my lifelong best friend, hot sister, Tara.

I love this: me taking a picture of Betty taking a picture of Sallie Rose.

Vin on the horsie swing.

Betty on the horsie swing.

Sallie Rose on the River Walk. It was so HOT.

Mom, Maddy, Sara on the River Walk.

Trying on Vintage glasses at Uncommon Goods in Austin.

Maddy as Mickey Mouse

Maddy and Ally

I wanted to do more pictures, but this blog is driving me crazy. I will do more pictures in another post.

Come on Vacation

2011-06-16T11:58:00.002-04:00

Wow, I am so ready for Sallie Rose and my trip to Texas. I am a little apprehensive on how she will do for 2 weeks without her Daddy, but Mommy is ready to get out of town. Not that I wont miss Daddy too, but I know I will see him in 2 weeks, she might not understand that. She has not been that long without him. I am sure between aunts, grandmas, grandpas, uncles, and cousins she will be entertained enough to keep her mind off of Daddy.

We have no real plans other than to stop in Austin, Kerville, Llano, and Dallas. What we do in each of those spots is whatever we and everyone else wants to do. It is of little concern to me. I just know I will not be showing apartments, taking calls from tenants about their a/c, or paying 500 bills. Kevin will be doing my job while I am gone, so I am sure I will come back to a chaotic mess, but it won't matter until July 11th!

I am glad that the trip is upon us, because I have been really homesick and missing my family this week. I don't have much longer until I can drive them crazy with my overflowing love and happiness to see them. I hope everyone is ready! Here comes little sis, ya know the annoying one.

Honey's visit

2011-06-05T20:35:00.003-04:00

My Mom, Honey, visited last week and we had a great time. I will not go into detail about how rude Sallie Rose was to her most of the time, because at the end of the trip she was being very normal to her. I think she might have been a little jelly belly of my relationship with my Mom. Who knows? Not me.

Family Reunion

2011-06-03T10:10:00.002-04:00

We are headed to Atlanta for Kevin's Family Reunion. Exciting. I am actually genuinely excited for a number of reasons, one of which you can read here: www.redtopworkshop.wordpress.com. The other reason is because I love family. I love all families, yes even my own. I am sure there will be some funny stories to tell, but there will also be a lot of smiling coming from my husband's face. He loves talking about his family tree and the history behind his family. Plus, there will be 24 kids there for Sallie Rose to play with.

We had a great time with my Mom this last week and we are counting down the days until we arrive in Texas for 2 WEEKS!!! Yeah. Have a good weekend everyone.

Pre School Graduation

2011-05-19T17:52:00.006-04:00

Sallie and Daddy at Graduation

Sallie Rose and the Easter Lillies

My little sunshine song. Sallie Rose is the flower on the bottom left. So cute.

We have had a really great week with her. She is now using the potty and wearing panties everyday. She wore panties to school 2 days in a row and did not have a single accident. This morning she had an accident while eating breakfast, but then she had a huge breakthrough and poo pooed on the potty. Then, she proceeded to do the poo poo dance. Yeah, what a relief. That was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. We are going to Target this afternoon to pick out her own big girl panties.

She is out of "school" until June 7th so I am looking forward to spending a lot of time with her and going to the beach and the pool. Honey (my Mom) is coming to town next week for a whole week so I am sure we will have a good time.

Ahhhhhh....

2011-05-12T10:34:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I forget that I am only one person and shouldn't try so hard to do everything and give some responsibility to others. So, this past weekend, we went to Charlotte with Kevin and stayed downtown and did, well nothing really. Sallie and I just explored downtown while Kevin was in meetings. Oh wait, we did do something, we went to IKEA!! One of my favorite places. I really didn't get a lot though. I was super excited thinking I could drop Sallie off at their childcare, but the child has to be potty trained. I knew I should have potty trained her last weekend.

We had good weekend and I also got some me time for Mother's Day. Kevin got me a massage at the Ritz Carlton, it was as nice as it sounds, and I got to enjoy their steam room and I sat and read Dwell magazine afterwards in my robe, just because I could. Great Mother's Day gift.

I also saw one of my friends from Architecture School and that was nice (shout out Alexis, I know now that you DO read my blog). She is doing well and unlike many of us "Archi-people", she does have a paying Architecture job. Woo hoo Alexis, but I think she hates it. :)

Then, this week everything has gone back to crazy: termites in one of our rental properties, tenants doing major damage to one of the houses, Sallie Rose refusing to stay/leave/put on clothes/eat at dinner/bathe, ya know the usual. So, last night I told Kevin that he needed to take SR to school tomorrow and he asked why. I said, "because she is your daughter and you need to start doing more". He said ok and he did it very well. There is no reason for me to do everything for our child, except the occasional bath and bedtime that he does. I work too! I don't make any money, but I am doing a huge thing for him and he needs to step it up on the parent responsibility front. So, without complaining or fighting he did. All it takes is for me to ask him. He is a great Dad and will do pretty much anything I ask of him, I just have to ask and sometimes that is hard. My family says that I am mean to Kevin, but really that's what he wants. Ok, maybe not mean, but he just wants to know what I need him to do.

Me and my boo enjoying Mother's Day lunch. She is the ultimate Mother's Day gift.

This is SR showing me how to jump rope. She looks so sassy.

Red Top Workshop

2011-04-26T15:00:00.001-04:00

Don't forget my dear friends and family to check out my new design blog at: www.redtopworkshop.wordpress.com.

I am trying to finally get back into doing design work while I study for my Architectural exams. Until I am an official Architect, you can follow how I am keeping busy.

Easter Festivities

2011-04-25T21:04:00.002-04:00

Wow, we had a great weekend, except for the parts when Sallie Rose wouldn't walk and wanted to be carried everywhere because she skinned her knee. We ate with Grumps, Mayme, and Tara. And we swam and hunted Easter eggs. We had such a great time. Oddly enough, I feel better today than I have in weeks. I guess I just needed a good ole fashion dose of family time.

Here Sallie Rose is at lunch with a very large boat behind her on the Savannah River

Me, Sallie Rose, and Tara

Sallie Rose in her Easter finest

Mayme, Grumps, and Sallie Rose at the Easter Egg hunt

Sallie Rose in action hunting eggs

Sallie Rose and her friend, Wyatt (I Love that name), at school hunting eggs.

Sassy and Sallie Rose at school

I love Easter. I love the candy, the week at Church leading up to Easter, the beautiful flowers, the wonderful weather (we went swimming outside for goodness sakes), and of course the extended time spent with my family.

Therapy Session

2011-04-11T10:42:00.004-04:00

I will be using my blog today as my therapy session. I have tried to be so positive lately but this is what has happened in the last week that I need to whine about: 1. Sallie Rose fell backwards down our stairs. Not fun to watch and not fun for her. She is fine however 2. Sallie Rose has not slept through the night in 10 days. This makes for a very cranky Mom and Dad, especially towards each other. 3. I have had 2 of our rentals broken into 4. I have had numerous calls from our tenants about prostitutes hanging out on our block every single night and conducting "business" on our block 5. I am waiting, waiting, waiting to get results back from a dr. about some health issues, nothing serious, but still waiting 6. I have been extremely tired, one because my child is not sleeping and probably due to my health issue that I can not get the doctor to move forward on 7. I have switched our Internet at the rentals and it has been an ongoing 3 week battle to get it up and running and then when it finally does get up and running, it is "too slow to do my homework" according to our tenants. All 45 of them have texted me every single day to let me know. You would think they were dying from lack of food and water, no just not getting good wi fi. 8. Sallie Rose has had a bloody nose 2 days in a row (probably from sticking her finger in it) and that teamed with the not sleeping has got me a little worried about what might be going on with her. 9. I haven't seen my family since Christmas (2 more weeks and I will see some of them, Yeah) I think that might be all. On a positive note, Sallie Rose was giving me "raspberries" on my stomach and she called them "Strawberry shortcake kisses". How cute is that? No pictures to post, my camera was dead this weekend.

Little mermaid and Cousins

2011-04-05T09:24:00.003-04:00

The Litttle Mermaid. Look at all that hair.

Sallie Rose and cousin Blake dancing in City Market

2011-03-27T18:18:00.004-04:00

We have had a whirlwind of a couple of weeks. I am focusing more on the rental properties and that is time consuming, but also very physically tiring, considering I do a lot of moving furniture, painting, and some really nasty cleaning. Ugh....won't give details. I actually would like to forget about it.

Kevin was out of town a few days last week, St. Patty's was in the middle of the week, and Kevin's Mom had a procedure done to remove some cancerous cells from her breasts. Although, she is fine and it was such an early detection, it still hit hard to me. I don't know if it hit Kevin as hard as it did me, but just hearing cancer makes me tear up. She is doing great and I believe her outlook on life has changed some too (not that is was a bad outlook to begin with). She seems cheerier and I have heard her use the term "I love you" a lot more. I think I would use it a lot more too.

St. Patrick's Day was fun, but it was just me and Sallie Rose trucking it down to the parade. And this is no Spearman, Texas, casual fun parade. It is large and crowded and loud and a lot more. The Budweiser Clydesdales come if that gives you any indication of how big it is. We had fun, but we didn't stay long and then we came home and took a very long nap.

I am looking forward to April and I am looking forward to the Summer too. I can't wait to get back to Texas and see my family and friends and enjoy the beautiful rivers. Until then, we will hang out at the beach some, but it gets to a point here when it is too hot and the bugs are so bad it is crippling. I can't stand the bugs.

I am also looking forward to some family visiting us this next weekend as well as Easter weekend. Woo hoo.

Willie Nelson braids

2011-03-13T21:28:00.002-04:00

We went to the Tybee Island St. Patrick's Day Parade and I gave Sallie Rose her first Willie Nelson braids. So cute. Her hair is so long. They looked really good on her. Or it could be her adorable pink, ruffle shirt too. Or just her face, it's just adorable.

Kevin has decided he is going to start a garden again. He got it made and Sallie Rose actually help him plant his onions. They had a good time.

The weather has been so nice this weekend and I am looking forward to a few good months of nice, not too hot weekends.

2011-03-03T11:05:00.004-05:00

I thought I might give an update on Sallie Rose and all her fine new discoveries and talents. She is now 29 months old, I would consider that 2 1/2. She is not potty trained and really has no desire to be potty trained. She likes to take her poos behind the curtains, couch, in the closet, wherever she can hide. She has no interest in sitting on the potty to poo. However, she loves to sing a song called "Everybody poo poos on the potty". I guess it should really say everyone, but Sallie Rose. I am in no hurry and will not be forced by society (or teachers with their judging) to force my child to hurry. I would like to get her potty trained by Summer so that we won't have to wear swim diapers to the pool/beach.

She slept in a big girl twin bed for 2 nights and then she discovered the shadows and was so frightened she didn't sleep for 2 hours in the middle of the night. So, she is back in her crib, fine with me. I am in no hurry to do that either.

She sings, she dances, she talks in full sentences and can carry on a conversation if you ask her questions, most days. She loves to play outside and she loves to watch videos. Lately, she has loved her Mommy more than usual (can you blame her). She cries when I drop her off at school and she cried the other day when Susan was with her a nd I was leaving to go work. I don't like it at all. It makes me very sad and I feel bad or wonder what is wrong, because she hasn't really done that lately. She will phase out of it I am sure.

She is super sweet and will kiss us on the lips now. As she does it, she usually laughs. She thinks kissing is really awkward and funny. She is a doll. She told me yesterday she wanted brothers and sisters. Hmmmmm.....I wonder who told her to say that? I could guess a few people. I am not in a hurry to do that either. I guess now that I am writing this , I am not in a hurry to do anything. Am I getting lazy in my old age of 30? Possibly, or maybe it is because I feel like I haven't relaxed and enjoyed my life as much in the last year as I wanted too. I have a wonderful life and a lot of wonderful people in it and I just am feeling like taking things slowly lately. Breathe it all in and not be in a hurry right now, when I don't have to be. Nothing is on fire. Right?

End with a picture of Sallie Rose's fabulous parents. We went to a Gala, to work. Ok, it was volunteer, but they might as well have paid us, we were the hardest working ones there.

The Train to Charleston

2011-02-21T11:41:00.005-05:00

We took a trip on the train from Savannah to Charleston. It was fun. It was easy. It was inexpensive. It was however a long day, because we did not get home until 9:30 PM. I assume we will be riding the train again. Maybe to Miami next time. Or Orlando. We'll see. I wish it was easy to take a train to Texas, that would be nice. I would probably go once a month.

We went to the Aquarium while in Charleston. It was a nice one.

All Aboard

The stick lady

2011-02-03T14:54:00.001-05:00

This girl loves sticks. She loves to pick them up and pretend to paint with them. We have sticks in our car, our backyard, and in her playroom.

Doesn't she look adorable in that coat? What a doll she is.

Is everyone a gift from God?

2011-01-26T11:11:00.002-05:00

Lately, I have been doing some soul searching. I have had a lot of time to really examine where my life is and what I am doing with it. The thing that has helped me start this thinking is being able to do some work that I feel makes a real impact in the World. I used to sit at my desk and stare at the computer and know that God had bigger plans for me. What were they? How would I know what the right one was? Well, thanks to the rental properties, the question was answered in a way that I did not expect. I was forced (by time and sanity) to quit my job at the Architectural firm to help my husband and in turn help our family. Well, the Summer was extremely busy, but then during the "down" time I have had time to help with Urban Hope with great strides. I have also found time to pick up side jobs in design.

So, now that I am in the full throws of my soul searching, I had an epiphany the other day. I get so frustrated with some people, one being my husband, and sometimes I get so wound up over the most irrelevant things. At the time, they seem important, but in the grand scheme of things they are not.

So here is my epiphany. It will sound like a Church sermon to some, but hear me out:
I believe God has a plan for us all. I believe that some plans are not followed through in that direction, because of human pride, error, or just plain confusion. I now believe that every person that enters our lives is a gift from God. This might seem silly or totally off base, but if you really think about, they are. Not all gifts are wrapped in pretty ribbons and have a retail value. Some gifts are learning experiences for us. We ourselves are learning experiences for other people.

For instance, you are a waitress and you are working very hard and doing the best you can, but you have a customer who no matter what will be rude to you or disregard that you are even alive. Well, it sucks, but what can you learn from it? I have actually been in this situation and it made me feel so little. Looking back, I also learned that I did not want to be like that to other people. I did not want to make anyone feel little.

I think marriage is the hardest of these situations for me. I love my husband. We have a great relationship, but there are times (weeks, days, months) where I would rather not have to worry about being respectful and kind to him; however, he is truly a gift from God. I have someone to share the rest of my life with and this someone happens to be a hard working, loving, generous, fun person. How could I not enjoy this gift? I am now waking up everyday and reminding myself that God personally gave me Kevin and Sallie Rose. And for that matter all my family and friends. He hand picked everyone in my life for me.

I hope that from this day on I will remember that everyone in my life is in my life for a reason. They are all gifts from God and I need to look for the positive in them, not necessarily what is positive about them, but rather what I can learn from them to improve my attitude or give back to someone else.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Will I ever blog again?

2011-01-11T14:09:00.003-05:00

Well, the answer is yes, but shorter version maybe? I tend to go too long between blogs and then I end up writing a short novel, that I am sure everyone gets lost in. Not today peeps, just a short hello and tell you all we are doing great and we are really looking forward to a new year and exciting things happening. Maybe this year we will be millionaires (doubt it and we don't need it, we have everything we ever needed), run marathons (doubt this too, I do not enjoy running), or maybe give Sallie Rose a little brother or sister (this might actually happen, but don't hold your breathe), and maybe I will find a paying job again. That last one would be nice. I am working round the clock on my volunteer jobs and I am enjoying it, but it would be nice not to have to ask my husband if I can buy an US Weekly magazine.

I head to a secret destination this weekend (can't tell because it is a surprise to the person i am going to see) and am very excited.

I'll leave you with this little picture of Casey sleeping in Sallie Rose's chair. Sallie Rose ran in and told me Casey was in her chair and I thought, "What?". Then when we went in Sallie Rose said "How'd that happen?"

I am Blessed

2010-12-17T14:33:00.003-05:00

I am Blessed with a little angel! She had a pageant this morning at school and it was super duper adorable. I took a few pictures, but I did more videoing than picture taking.

The first song, she had her finger in her mouth the whole time. The second song, she did the hand motions for Away in the Manger. And for the third song, she cried her little head off. That was actually super duper cute too. You'll have to see the videos on Facebook, I never can load them on here. Sorry.

Christmas is slowly approaching, and I love this time of year. Although, I usually always miss my Grandma Rosa most at this time, we have so much to be thankful for and so many wonderful family members and friends to enjoy. We head to Texas on Christmas Day and I will be so glad to be in my home(s) for Christmas, even if it isn't the day of.

This is her school picture. So cute, I could eat her up. It reminds me a lot of this little guy below.

Christmas Decorating

2010-12-09T19:31:00.011-05:00

This year I wanted to do a little more than usual for Christmas decorating. We will actually be here for Christmas Day and then we are flying off to Texas. I usually don't do much for decorating, because we usually leave a week or even two before Christmas and stay gone after Christmas is over. So, I decided to do a candy land. I think I will add to the decorations every year and build up the collection. Many of these things are not hard, but are tedious and time consuming, especially the gumdrop tree. And, it took a lot more candy than I would have imagined. Sallie Rose's gingerbread people she made with Susan

My Grandma Rosa Lee's angels

Of course we have a Texas ornament

Kevin's ornament from when he was a child, these are very cool

Apple O's and peppermint trees

Peppermint garland over the mirror

This is our outdoor tree, furnished with giant peppermints, candy canes and large ornaments

Ribbon Candy, my favorite

Our first nativity scene, this is of course the real meaning of Christmas

Oh the gumdrop tree. 4 boxes (1 of which Kevin ate) later and lots of hot glue, this is Kevin's favorite.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has a wonderful time and that we all remember as cheesy as it sounds, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season". My sisters love it when I remind them of this as we all are pulling eachother's hair out because we for one slight minute forgot what life is about, love.

We are still here

2010-12-01T21:05:00.002-05:00

Yes, we are still here and we have had a wonderful Thanksgiving week, but for some reason I have been extremely busy. I am trying to study for my first exam that I take on December 9th, trying to plan a fundraiser for Urban Hope (which is a lot of work), volunteering 2 afternoons a week at Urban Hope, still managing the properties, decorating our house as a Christmas Candyland (hopefully will finish this weekend and have pictures) and trying not to miss a single minute of my precious baby's life. She is unbearably cute lately. I think we have moved past all the temper tantrums and now we are in that waiting period of pure joy before we hit terrible threes (I hope not).

Oh, and I am trying to think of how to buy all my special people Christmas gifts on a budget of $10. That will be the most challenging. I will have to be creative or just steal some of my gifts. If you get something really random from me as a gift, just know that it was the only thing I could get the courage enough to steal.

Over protective Mommy

2010-11-21T21:17:00.002-05:00

I knew the day would come when I would become the over protective Mommy over my little Sallie Rose. I have always been one of those people who hates for other people to bully or be ugly to another person. It makes my skin crawl. I never understood why someone would make fun of someone or try to hurt them just to make themselves feel better. However, I never cared what anyone said about me. I rarely get my feelings hurt or take to heart what anyone thinks about me. I don't know what it is, I just never have cared. If you make fun of my family or my friends or even an innocent "nerd" that can't stand up for themselves, then I will be in your face and telling you what a loser you.

So, now that I am a Mom and I have a precious little angel who is small and quiet, I have been dreading the day that she would get her feelings hurt or be pushed around by someone. So far she has been fine with standing up for herself. When I take her to school and the little boys get too close to her, she yells at them and pushes them away. I do not want her to be violent or nasty, but I don't mind her pushing the boys off of her.

The other day we had Julia's birthday party to go to and Julia is Sallie Rose's older bestie, Julia is 4. She loves Julia. They played a lot together when Susan watched Julia one week while her Grandma was out sick. They play great together and Julia is very sweet to Sallie Rose. At the party, Julia had another 4 year old girl to play with and they ran all over the house and up and down the stairs and Sallie Rose could not keep up. She is just so tiny still and can't move like the 4 year olds. Of course we tried to keep up with them for a while, but after I took her up and down the stairs 3 times to follow Juila, Mommy put an end to that and we stayed downstairs.

Mia, the other 4 year old friend, who happens to be a red head (go figure) was coloring at one point and Sallie Rose wanted to color too and Mia told her no. I bit my tongue and just waited it out. Then Sallie Rose started laughing for really no reason and Mia told her it wasn't funny. I still said nothing. Then Sallie Rose laughed again and Mia once again told her it wasn't funny so don't laugh and then took a color pencil away from Sallie Rose. So that was enough for me. I went right over there and said to Mia, "if Sallie Rose wants to laugh then she can laugh at whatever she wants and you need to stop telling her she can't.". Mia left the room with her red pigtails and her ugly outfit and I won. Ok, I didn't want to win, I just didn't want her telling my baby she couldn't laugh.

Sallie Rose spent the whole party playing by herself and asking why Juila wasn't playing with her. If this is already breaking my heart, I am going to have a long road ahead of me. I really am trying not to get involved too much in her life in the future, but dang I don't want her to cry or feel left out EVER!

I know one day I will have to sit SR down and tell her that people say nasty things and that it doesn't matter what they say about her, but that she is a child of God and is beautiful inside and out. I have known so many girls that had parents that were supportive and wonderful, but these girls still had low self esteem just because the kids at school told them they were fat or ugly. I am so sad for children who believe what other people say and have esteem problems or eating disorders due to the teasing. On the other hand, I absolutely do not want Sallie Rose to be a bully herself. I would be mortified if a mother told me my child had caused their child pain. So, how do you stop that from happening? Either way, I will try and prevent her causing pain to another or her letting another person's words hurt her. What a hard job. What a very hard job.

30th Birthday 10 day Extravaganza

2010-11-16T15:22:00.004-05:00

Wow, what a wonderful 10 days. I first flew into Dallas and met up with a group of 6 other girls from high school. I hadn't seen 4 of them in 10 years. I knew what most of them were doing, because I stay up to date with them through Makell. I was so excited to see them and we had such a great time. They are all beautiful, accomplished, fun, and generous girls. It was one of the best times I have had with a bunch of girls in a long time. I really miss those days. We had a group of about 12 girls that we all hung with in high school and we were all so close and had so much fun together. Usually if 3 or 4 of the girls went somewhere, we were all soon to be following behind. We were such an amazing group and come to find out, we are all still pretty great even when we are not in a pack of 12. What a good time. We shopped, toured Cowboys stadium, went to a Mavs game, drank, stayed up too late, and caught up on all the good stuff since 2000. It did take me 2 days to recover from all the late nights and drinking, because I am not used to drinking that much. It was really nice.

Next on my agenda was the cruise with Suzanne and Tara. We left out of Galveston and I have to admit, I was a little nervous about how the cruise was going to be. I had never been on one and didn't know if I would get seasick or an anxiety attack. I think all 3 of us woke up the first morning tired and ready to get out to the top deck to see the World. Our room did not have a window and it was on the lowest level. A little bit of an nerve pusher. After that first day, I was fine. I just laid on the sun deck and enjoyed the beautiful weather. The highlight was Cozumel. We stopped there and did a snorkel excursion. It was so nice and the crew on the boat was a little interesting. I attracted a friend named Fernando and he did some dirty dancing for us and made me a special towel hat that everyone thought was so funny. One guy even came over and took my picture. I am sure I am on a loser blog or on his Facebook page and all his friends are laughing their heads off at my expense.

We had a great time and it was so nice to be with my sisters and just relax and be care free. Oh and drink pina colodas in the sun while tanning. I have the best sisters and am so grateful they took me on this trip for my birthday.

This is the towel "sting ray" that they made for us each day. One day it was a dog and they hung it from the ceiling. Our stateroom attendant did not like us because we wouldn't put our bags under the beds. We took that as a sign that he was threatening us.

"Smoking Kills" is the best seller. Nice.

Cozumel

Fernando and my Princess Leia towel hat

Fernando dancing and blowing us kisses

Snorkel time

Our boat driver steered with his foot the whole time.

Her shirt said "Went on Vacation left on probation"

Thank you sisters! You are the best!

30th Birthday Donations

2010-11-01T22:11:00.002-04:00

In honor of myself, thank you, I am asking my friends and family members to donate to Urban Hope for my 30th birthday. So, those brown leather boots that you were going to buy me, can go back to the store and you can click on the donate button on the left and put the money towards a better cause than my outer appearance. This of course is optional and no one will be outed for not donating. I would just like to use this special occasion and do what my Grandma Rosa Lee would do and try to do something other than send long lists out to my family and friends of all the things I want and give to someone who really needs it. I, of course, appreciate any donations of any amount to my cause.

The Incredible Edible Egg...Chicken

2010-10-31T20:35:00.003-04:00

Well, all in all, we had a pretty good Halloween. We had a little bit of 2 year old drama Saturday and a large cry fest on Sunday, but at the end of the day, we all had fun.

I made her costume, except for the hat, and I was pretty proud of myself. I don't sew that much and I took it on and made it work. It was pretty easy, I'm not going to lie. I thought it was pretty cute and different than your usual run of the mill princess, snow white, fairy, and so on. No offense to those who did go as all of those, but I figure that every year from here on out Sallie Rose will choose to be one of those. I thought I would choose for her this year and then next year we can do everything that involves a pretty dress, fairy wings, and/or a tutu.

She was not that interested in putting her egg on. She wore it school Thursday and kept it on all day until lunch. She really wanted to go trick or treating on Saturday, but she did not want to put on a costume. We finally convinced her to put it on and the hat (for 4 seconds), got one good picture and then let it go after that. I was tired of fighting with her. If she doesn't want to be any fun, then that is her own issue.

Today the Church had their Fall Festival and we went out there and had a lot of fun. We of course had to deal with her 30 minute cryfest after naptime before we could go. I have no idea why she was crying, but she did and it was sad. She literally cried for 20 minutes so hard that she was doing the cry where you shake and have double breaths. You know which one I am talking about? I just figure it goes with her age. One minute she is happy, the next she is a 16 year old in a 2 year old body. Wowzers.

We had a good weekend, but now it is time for me to get studying. I plan on taking my first test on November 22nd and so far I have been pretty diligent about studying every single night, except Friday and Saturdays. Next week, I go on a cruise with 2 of my sisters and then come back and take a test. Woo hoo Cruise!!!

P.S. Take a look at that picture of me at the bottom. Can we say Kardashian sister? Dang girl, baby got back. I always laugh at how big their butts are, but I should take a look at the mirror more often. :)

Ottawa Farms

2010-10-24T15:43:00.006-04:00

Saturday we went about 15 miles outside of town to Ottawa Farms. It was a lot of fun. They had hay rides, goats, pig races, bouncy houses, pumpkins and those adorable barrel cow trains. Sallie Rose loved the hay ride and loved loved the cow trains. She thought they were pigs, but they were cows. I had to ride in one too, because she wasn't going to ride alone.

Piggy!

There we are, riding the cow train.

Riding it backwards.

Hay Ride

Birthday Party

2010-10-18T20:32:00.005-04:00

Wow, we had a great weekend. We ate out a ton, which is what we always do when my Dad and Patty come to town. There are a lot of great seafood places here and some other good choices too.

The birthday party was fun, but poor Sallie Rose didn't like all the attention. She was shy when she opened her gifts with just our family and then when we sang happy birthday to her she cried really hard. She was not having that. She did play with her friends and all her new toys and enjoyed that part of the party. She of course loved the cake pops, balloons, and cupcakes.

We stood outside today and waved goodbye to Mayme, Grumps, Tara, and Kerry and cried in each other's arms. We miss them already.

Aunt Tara and Sallie Rose

Mayme, Sallie Rose, and Grumps (who I have to say Sallie Rose is growing quite fond of)

Riding her horsie with a cupcake in one hand. Real cowgirl style.

Sallie Rose and Julia

Sallie Rose and her friend, Christopher. They were baptized together.

This looks good.

I don't know about this singing

Stop! I can't handle it.

Her life in pictures

Cotton Candy cupcakes. Circus was the theme.

Sallie Rose's popcorn cupcake, made by Susan. The top part is marshmallows painted with spray food coloring.

2nd birthday

2010-10-11T17:05:00.002-04:00

This weekend will be my lil baby's second birthday. I honestly can't believe it, I know everyone says that, but that is because it is true. I feel like just yesterday I was walking around 45 pounds heavier, waiting for my little angel to arrive and tell the World that her name is Sallie Rose Butt Beckwith. I was so proud of her already and now, well, I am more proud of her than I could have ever imagined.

Yes, there are days when I walk in her room and she yells "go away Mommy", like she is 14, but then we work it out and she gives me her awkward little hug, where she leans her shoulder into me and then "lets me hug her". There are really not many hugs and kisses from her, but we appreciate the little bit that she does give.

She really is an amazing little person already. She is smart, she is funny, and she unbearably adorable. Her little tiny hiny and her little tiny nose and that porcelain skin just makes me melt with love. She is not as good of a dancer as I had hoped, but there is still time. And she might still be a little cautious of certain people, men in general, but she at least doesn't cry hysterically when people come close to her.

She is loving school and she had her pictures taken last week, so I can't wait to see what those look like. The teacher told me she would not smile. She was so serious and just kept looking straight at the photographer with no expression. She is such a serious model.

She knows all her A, B, Cs and she can count to 20. She knows everyone who comes into her presence name and she knows all the words to almost any song she has ever sang. She can also "read" books. She has memorized many of our regular books and has begun to read them to us instead of us reading to her. She also knows what street she lives on. When we got home from our trip and we were leaving the airport, Kevin said, "Sallie Rose we are going home" and she replied by saying, "let's go to 48th Street". That is our street number. I think if she would have said our full address, I would have passed out. She is 2 and knows what street she lives on. I might be a proud Mom, but dang, some days I can't remember what street we live on.

She is my new life and my new love. I see my future in her and I am so proud of what she can become. She has so much to look forward to and I know that she has that special blood that runs through her veins from her Grandmas that will give her the heart that she needs to spend her life giving to others and sharing the talents that God gave her. I have a feeling she will be surpassing my intelligence in a few short years and I pray everyday that she uses it for the best and for helping others. No matter who she is in 5, 10, 20 years, she is my first child and will never know what she has done for me in the last year and how she has helped me and her Daddy make it through some really tough times. She is God's gift to us and I am so thankful for her and how much love she has brought to this World in such a short 2 year period. Happy 2nd Birthday Sallie Rose!!

Finally I am posting

2010-10-03T20:30:00.003-04:00

I meant to post last week when we got back so I could tell all about our travels and Sallie Rose's travels to Texas, but I have been sick for 6 days! So, I am probably going to skip that all together and say we had fun and Sallie Rose had lots of fun and lots of ice cream and spaghetti, apparently. We did have a little trouble adjusting back to our life with her, because I am sure that she got everything that she wanted for a full week, or it is just because she was mad at us for leaving her and she is getting us back. Or maybe it is because she will be 2 in 2 weeks. Who knows? Not me.

This weekend we had a good time though. We went and played in the park yesterday, then came home and had a picnic with Daddy, and then later went and got ice cream. Today we went to Church, came home and napped and then went to a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital. They had train rides, bouncy houses, pumpkins patches, and arts and crafts. Of course all Sallie Rose wanted to do was play in the rocks. Go figure. She did want to ride the train, but was very frightened once we got on and didn't move a muscle the whole time. I am beginning to worry that this girl is going to be so afraid of everything. She did have an episode at Mayme and Grumps' house when she wouldn't even get out of the car to go see the pony. Grumps said all she did was cry and yell "shut the door". I guess I should count that as a blessing. Maybe she won't be jumping out of airplanes and doing crazy things to make her Mommy worry to death.

All in all we had a good time. She actually sat in a chair and let a lady paint her face. I was so excited, she never lets anyone touch her. Hmmm....I am beginning to see a pattern here. We made it home after a few meltdowns and now Kevin is in her bedroom trying to get her to go to bed and all I hear is her screaming "Get out", which means she wants out of her crib. Oh Sallie Rose, your Mom loves you no matter how naughty you are, because tomorrow you will wake up and tell me Good morning when I walk in your room. Start of another adventurous day.

Back ache for vacation

2010-09-15T16:50:00.003-04:00

I have been busting my hump (yes, more than usual) to get a lot of furniture painted to make some money for our trip this weekend. I hope I can get it all sold. I am really pleased with all of it, considering a few of the pieces I picked up in back allies. Now, my back and feet are aching. Yikes, I AM getting old.

Wish me luck and lots of money so I can buy everyone souvenirs.

Labor Day and First Day of School

2010-09-07T14:54:00.003-04:00

We went out to Kevin's parents for Labor Day. Kevin decided he wanted to take Sallie Rose on a canoe ride, so we got her a new swimsuit that is a life jacket too. She looked really funny in it. We canoed for about 20 minutes and saw dolphin. I love seeing dolphin. So exciting.

Then today was her first day back at school so here was her first day outfit. She was excited and she did really well. The teacher said that everyone else was crying and fussy, but Sallie Rose was sweet and fun. I know, she is perfect.

Cheese

Look at that model stance. Work it SR.

At Nana and Pop Pop's house. Beautiful view. We don't go out on the dock nearly enough.

What's out that window?

2010-09-05T23:25:00.002-04:00

She asked me Saturday morning to wear her "brown tutu", so I let her. She has been a little scared of it in the past so I am glad she wanted to wear it. This is her looking out the window of her bathroom into the backyard for "my daddy". This girl loves her Daddy. Oh my goodness, I guess she really loves her parents. Which is great, because I love her to pieces. She always wants all 3 of us to go to the playroom, have family time in bed, and give family hugs. Just us 3. I can't imagine what it will be like if there is ever a 4th. I am not sure she will be keen on the idea.

We are getting close to that 23 month mark and I can feel it coming. There has been a lot of crying. I mean crying about everything. She cries almost all day, unless you are in the playroom, outside, or eating. Anything in between there will be crying. I feel bad for her, because they are real tears, but gosh dang girl, give me a break.

She has also found her comedic side. She thinks that when I ask her what she wants for breakfast that a funny response is "poo poo". I laugh of course. I love "bathroom talk" as my sister, Suzanne, refers to it. It makes me laugh; therefore, she does it more. What kind of pajamas do you want? "Poo poo". Laughing. I have tried to stop, but she says it so funny in such a Southern accent.

She also loves to do our dancing with the stars routine. This is where I hold her with her legs around my waist and then hold her body down perpendicular to my body and twirl her around while singing "Dancing with the Stars". She loves it, I get dizzy and we both fall when we try to walk. Good times.

She has also begun to realize who her family is and how much Mommy loves them and she does too. She made me get her picture down of her, Maddy, and Ally so she could read a book to it. She wants to call Mayme, Grumps, Honey and Ta Ta all the time now. I let her most of the time, but then she runs off to play and I am left talking. I am not a phone talker, so talking on the phone everyday to my Mom is not an ideal situation for me. Never the less, she knows her peeps and she loves them. We'll see how much she loves them in 2 weeks. Hells yeah! 2 Weeks and I am out of this hell hole of landlordism. Can't wait!!!! Not so ready for the airport drop off, but we'll survive.

Almost there

2010-08-27T16:52:00.003-04:00

Well, my office renovation is almost done. These are the last sneak peek pictures before I go get the real deal ones with a real camera. The artwork will be hung next week and all the furniture will be in place and the boxes will be out of the way.

That light fixture is even more amazing in person. I can believe I got them to purchase that. It is the crown jewel of the whole project.

What do you do?

2010-08-26T10:44:00.003-04:00

I know a lot of you might be wondering, "What is Cassie doing now that she is out of a job?". Ok, I doubt very many of you care, but I thought I would fill you in on what a morning looks like as a property manager for 50 tenants.

First off, let's remember it is 115 degrees outside, the humidity is killer and the mosquitos are out and about and biting.

I get here (41st Street) and am first approached before I get out of my car by a tenant who wants a mini fridge, a bum who wants to know what I am doing with all the furniture lying around, and of course the mosquitos. I put my stuff in our office, which is packed full of furniture and hot and filling up with paperwork that I have not had time to file yet and I get back outside. Everyday now I wear a workout outfit, because I usually end up sweating so bad that I might as well be working out.

Next, I meet a painter to get started, I meet a contractor to fix a leak in a roof that has been "repaired" 3 times and I have to explain to the tenants that "I hope this time they will fix it". I go meet Mike (our awesome maintenance guy) at 509 West 37th Street to discuss the issue of the the ceiling, which fell through because the A/C in the attic overflowed, because our tenant left it on 60 degrees for a full week. Now we have 2 ceilings to repair and paint. Oh and new carpet.

I then come back over to 41st Street to help one guy move out a full bed to be replaced by a twin so that the leak roof will stop dripping directly on his bed. Then, I get the tenant who has been begging for a spare mini fridge his darn mini fridge from an apartment that had to use it, because their refrigerator was broken.

Now, I am back in the office trying not to get overwhelmed, because it is now 11 am and I have paid no bills or done anything that I had on my list of to dos. I have a showing at 11 and I cross my fingers that I can get a lease on it. We only have a few more to rent and I hope they get done or I will be out of another job. Wish me luck.

P.s. I have about 15 mosquito bites on my legs. Nice.

Freeze frame

2010-08-16T17:18:00.003-04:00

I can't believe how cute and adorable my little girl is sometimes. I really want to freeze her in time in this age and keep all her little cuteness to myself. I don't know what it is about this age, but she makes me cry tears of love all the time lately. We have been having a really good time together and with Daddy. Doing nothing but watching her grow and learn and name every person that is in her nursery school, all the teachers, all the kids and everyone in between. She is even beginning to know most of the kids' moms' names. Of course the ladies at the nursery think she is super smart, because she can name everyone in there. They also love to laugh at her when she does her white girl dance from side to side with no head movement at all. She gets that from her Dad, for sure. Ya'll know I don't dance like that. Wink wink.

This is from the park. This is her Grandma Rosa Lee face.

The begining of a beautiful office

2010-08-11T11:36:00.002-04:00

This is the office project that I am hanging around waiting to finish before I am officially done with my job. Let me tell you, not to toot my own horn, but it is looking good. It is all white walls, cabinets, desks, so forth and so on. It has wood ceilings as you see above, some wood flooring, Calcutta gold marble flooring, and some pretty swanky light fixtures.

These pictures are from my phone, but these are in progress photos and I can't wait to take final pictures in just a few weeks. I will definitely post them when I take some at the first of September.

weekend recap

2010-08-08T15:30:00.003-04:00

Sunday morning cooking eggs with Daddy. This has become their ritual. Then Sallie Rose eats 3 eggs to herself.

Stirring the eggs

On the dock at one of our new favorite places, Desposito's. Mommy had crab legs...hmmmmm.

What is that? I don't know Daddy.

This was Saturday morning at the park. She played in the fountain and then wanted to play on the playground. Couldn't have done it the other way around. She and I definitely got some looks. I will never judge another mother whose kids clothes seemed to have disappeared. There is no telling where they went.

Mommy and Boo Boo

2010-08-01T21:37:00.003-04:00

This girl drives me crazy, she is so much fun.

A lil strange

2010-07-28T13:54:00.002-04:00

I am beginning to think my baby is a little strange. It would come to her naturally, look at her DAD. Hahahhah. Ok, I can be strange too. I consider my strange really funny and Kevin's strange is just, well strange.

She has a few things that she has done that I have thought might just be her age and her discovery of new things. Well, most of them come and go and some change to other types of the same behavior. For instance, she likes to wear her sunglasses. She used to wear them just for riding in the car, then it was wearing them into summer camp, and last night it was while eating dinner. For any of you who knew Kevin and I when we started dating, you might remember me complaining about how he wore his sunglasses everywhere. To dinner, to the movie, in the mall, everywhere. I finally had to ask him to stop wearing them other than when it was during the day and outside. Bothered me so bad. I felt like he was trying to hide something.

Anyways,SHE WOULD NOT TAKE THEM OFF. I tried, she screamed. She is the same way with shoes. From the moment she gets up until you put her in bed, she has to wear shoes. On occasion Kevin will let her go to bed with her shoes, because he does not want to fight her about it. Then we finally figured out we could trick her by letting her wear her house shoes instead of tennis shoes to bed. I don't know what it could be. I guess she likes to have her feet covered. She did not get that from me. I hate to wear shoes. I will definitely pull a Brittney Spears and go barefoot into a public bathroom. Ok, I wouldn't go that far, but I prefer not to wear shoes. It's a country thing ya'll. Although, my sister, Tara, would not be caught dead with her shoes off anywhere in public, because she a germ-o-phobe, and she grew up country.

I will have to think about all the other strange things Rosie does and let you all tell me if she is weird or normal for a 2 year old.

Finally...pictures

2010-07-18T21:05:00.003-04:00

Ally making Sallie Rose smile

A family picture where no one is crying, including me

A family picture Sallie Rose evidently did not want any part of. Kevin tried so hard.

I love this one, she was doing a run way show for me, showing off her dress. She loved it!

Work it lady.

Awww....love this girl.

It rains almost everyday here, so we finally got her rain boots and we finally put them to good use. Susan said her outfit looked like something I would wear.

Someone's in the kitchen with Dina

2010-07-15T09:34:00.002-04:00

I thought it was about time to post something about my boo boo, Sallie Rose. She does prefer for her Mommy to call her Boo boo. She is 21 months old this week and she is such an amazing little person. I can't believe how much she knows and how well she speaks, and all the colors she knows, how she can count to 16, and how mean she can be at times.

This morning she started off by sitting in bed with me singing someone's in the kitchen with Dina. She knows all the words and even will hold a key for a few seconds just like her Daddy does. If you have never heard a 21 month old sing "i've been workin on the railroad all the live long day", you haven't seen anything. It is the most precious thing I have ever seen in my life. Maybe more precious than the day I gave birth to her. It is a toss up. Maybe not.

She really has begun to string long sentences of words together. We went for ice cream on Sunday and as we were driving I said, "whose excited for ice cream?" From out of the backseat came "Sawee Wose excited ice cream". Kevin and I started laughing and couldn't believe that just came out of our baby's mouth. That girl loves ice cream, she will even say Cold Stone when we are driving, because she thinks that is all we do is go get ice cream.

She is a doll, she is becoming independent and wants to wear her pajamas to Summer Camp. We had a little drama this morning, because I told her she couldn't wear her horsie pj to camp. The other day I took her to the grocery store with me and she wanted to wear her socks with her sandals. Not just any socks, but her socks that look like rainbows. Kevin couldn't believe I was letting her leave the house like that. She needs to explore her fashion sense and like he has any room to talk. I know my family knows what Kevin used to dress like.

She has quite a few little friends that she is making at school. One is named Sassy. What do you think about that name? The other is Boots. I think her real name is Elizabeth, but they call her Boots. Don't know. She says their names all the time. She has finally quit saying all the boys names and now has some girlfriends. They are all so cute.

The rest of the Summer will be pretty busy as we begin to try and wrap up our rental season and I am wrapping up my career for now in an office setting. It is interesting thinking about what the next few months will hold. Maybe I will take a break and just hang out with my girl and study for my tests. I know we are dropping her buns off in Dallas and Daddy and I are going to San Francisco. We book it tonight! Yeah, a vacation away from the landlord life. It is much needed.

I promise I will post pictures soon!

What would you do?

2010-07-03T21:55:00.005-04:00

Well, once again, being the owner of houses has brought on a very exciting week. Not only have the calls for rentals been a little more interesting this week, but we had a hard decision to make with a guy that was doing some work for us.

I never knew that having rentals would be so hard at times, besides the 24 hour a day calls of course, and would really test your morals and kindness. My kindness and patience have definitely worn thin and it can be seen in almost everyday now of living with me, just ask Kevin. Questions are very hard to answer, because who the hey has time to answer little questions about "have you seen my keys?" Poor Kevin, as my coworker likes to say.

Anyhoo, so Kevin had hired a nice guy to cut our yards (at the properties, our personal yards are dirt that require no cutting) and do a little painting and odd jobs. He found this guy from his flyer he had left in our door. He asked our neighbors about him and they had hired him to cut their grass and do some other things. We would see him around in their yards.

Well, he starts cutting the yards and then slowly we start asking him to paint and do a little extra errands around the properties. He seemed nice, although I knew he had already started drinking by about 11 most of the days I would interact with him. He and I started interacting more and more as I needed him to paint and move furniture around. The guy is a nice guy, just drinks a little. I mean, can I judge? Most of my family is drunk by 11 too! I'm kidding, ya'll. Kind of.

Anyways, as I begin to get to know him, I trust him more. Not trust, like leave my child with him, but trust him to lock the doors behind him in the empty apartments and then put the key in our office door. So, I let him paint, and I leave to go get Sallie Rose from camp and so forth. He returns the key, nothing thought about it.

At this point, as far as we know, he is living in a carriage house a few blocks from our house. He is working a few other odd jobs with gardeners and other landscapers. He works for us 1 or 2 days a week, when I am there to boss him around. Ha, like I have ever been able to boss anyone around.

So, he starts showing up more, saying that he appreciates the job and just wants to show his gratitude by doing a little more sprucing up to the bushes and things. Fine, just don't expect me to pay you, cuz we can't.

I finally go into an apartment that he had painted to show to a couple of students and it smelled like smoke. I open one of the closets (no one lives here and hasn't since May) and there is a pile of clothes and a sign that says "will work for food". I was so shocked and confused. I call Kevin. He asks if I think it is "yard guy's". I say yes, I recognize the clothes. He had been staying in one of our empty apartments that I had given him the key to for painting.

I was hurt, I was mad, and I felt betrayed and used. Why didn't he just ask me? I MIGHT have said yes and not told Kevin. What happened to his other place? How long has he been staying here? Is this the real reason he was doing extra work? Was he feeling guilty for trespassing on our house?

Kevin called him and told him to give us the keys and to not come back or of course he would call the Cops. I felt sad for him, but a little mad still. I thought about it all day. I was so out of it the rest of the day. It really effected me. I liked him and I thought he liked me.

That night as I sat on my nice couch, watching my gigantic tv, I burst into tears sad that I had put a man out on the streets. He has no home. He has no home and he was harmlessly sleeping on the floor of one of our empty apartments. I was so torn up. I felt ashamed of myself, but at the same time was still mad that he had betrayed my trust in him.

Today, I don't know what the right thing to do was. This is one of those situations where I am torn to do what I feel is right as a Christian and what I feel is right to do so that I don't get harmed. I have been in many of these situations and have made the decision that felt like the Christian decision and have been lectured by many people for putting myself in harm's way. Just ask Curtis, Cody and Makell. They have a good one to tell.

I pray for him, for everyone like him. People who might not make good decisions and it leaves them on the streets. All of us make bad decisions, but they don't all leave us homeless. Why are they different? Why do we see them as such harmful people, but really they are just people without homes and who are drinking by 11am in this case. He worked hard and did a good job. What did he do with all the money? Hell, he was making more money a week that I was. How does that happen and he is still homeless? This is so hard for me and I doubt I will ever know the right way to deal with it. I face these types of things everyday over in our lil ghetto. Hookers on the streets. Call the Cops? Why shouldn't I? It is illegal, but then again I think about what their life might really be like, do they have kids to feed? It so tough for me, especially now that I am a Mom. Things change when you have another person to look after.

Thanks for listening y'all. Say a prayer for our "yard guy".

Untitled

2010-06-27T17:14:00.002-04:00

I don't have really anything specific to say, so I couldn't think of a title. However, now that I am sitting here typing the thunder is booming and I have a feeling the rain is soon to come. Kevin and Sallie Rose are out at Nana and Pop Pop's for a visit and I had to take a pass. I needed some alone time. That does not happen often, but lately I feel a little overcrowded and like I take care of everyone, so give me a break, please.

Kevin's back has been out for a week, and that has not been easy. I take that back, it has not been that bad, but now after a week I am ready for a break. I get tired of cleaning up after three people and carry everyone around on my hip. Now, my back hurts. Poor Kevin, he is miserable too. I think at first he enjoyed the rest, but now he is tired of it as well. We all are! Get better Kev.

Things are hard right now on the working two jobs front. I am so over my job at the architectural firm. I am very opposite from the principal and it is beginning to really get to me. He is one of those who doesn't do a lot, but takes credit for everything when someone else is around. Yes, it is his name on the door, but that is wrong and I am tired of standing for it. The only thing that really is hard, is that he has to approve my final hours of my internship for me to start taking my exams. It has been 5 weeks and he still hasn't signed it. My career is in his lazy hands. So irritating. I do not look forward to going to work every other day, but I gave my word to finish a project and I will. The second worse thing is this final project. It was supposed to be a high end office and he gave the client a really low budget and now the contractors have bid it and it is $25,000 over his estimated budget. Now we have to cut costs. That is a lot of cuts to make. I could go on for days about how irresponsible and crappy he is, but I am trying to let it go and learn a lesson from it. Don't be lazy and expect to get employees and clients to respect your so noted experience.

On the other hand, Sallie Rose is doing great. She is beginning to talk in full sentences, most of which you can understand. She loves to sing and now she loves to play with other kids too. She is loving her summer camp. It doesn't hurt that she has so many boys she likes to see every other day. She is super cute and loves to repeat everything. Her favorites are still "oh my goodness" and "oh Sallie Rose". I love that girl.

We have been going to the pool a lot. It is so hot here. I am glad that she likes the pool. She now has a little tan and it is super cute.

She loves family hugs. She loves talking on the phone, not to real people of course. She loves for Mommy to give all her babies diaper changes. She loves to color with markers and crayons. She of course loves ice cream and Popsicle. A summer must have.

Next weekend we are going to meet Suz, Luke and Ally in Charleston for a little vacay. I can't wait. I love getting out of town, but even more love going to see some of my family. Kevin and I are still dreaming about going on a trip alone in September and it might actually work. Initially he wanted to go to the Keys, but it was going to be a pain getting Sallie Rose to Texas for the week. So, now we have decided to find somewhere along the way. We might go to California (plane tickets are so cheap there???) or just go to San Antonio. I don't care and I can't say that enough. I just want to get away with my husband. I really want SR to spend some alone time with my family too. She is finally at the age where I think she will enjoy them more and not be such a Mommy cling on.

Have a good week everyone and I hope I will have some good news on my future career in the next few posts. I have my first furniture painting commission and I am super pumped about it. It is my hairdresser's front desk. Woo hoo, free hair cuts!

Weekly highlights

2010-06-10T20:02:00.002-04:00

Wow this week was a doozy and had some really good parts to it. I am surprised I can remember any of them, because I have basically been working around the clock to get my final project out for bid. That happened this week and it is going to be a super sweet office renovation. I will hopefully get some pictures in September after construction is over. It was kind of a dream client: no budget and no idea of what they wanted and they trusted me to do a good job. I hope I don't disappoint them. How could you disappoint someone when they will have marble floors, wood ceilings, onyx counter tops, amazingly expensive light fixtures and the best office furniture on the market? We'll see. I am really excited about the project and so fortunate to have this as my final project before I venture out on my own.

Anyhoo, so these are the highlights of our week:
1. Spending Sunday with my family at the pool, after a 3 hour nap of course

2. Giving up the binky for good. In the trash and never coming back. Wasn't that bad

3. Sallie Rose repeating everything we say: "oh gosh" "oh my goodness" "oh Sallie Rose (when she has done something naughty)" and my favorite "oh shit". Her Dad said that one on Wednesday morning and she promptly repeated 4 or 5 times. I laughed so hard.

4. Finishing construction documents for my project on time and not yelling at anyone for them being idiots (like my boss) or procrastinators (like my boss).

5. Picking Sallie Rose up from Summer Camp and finding her in the playhouse french kissing some ugly kid named "Joe Joe". Not once, but twice. It was hysterical, awkward, and embarrassing all at the same time.

6. Opening boxes that Dad and Patty sent me from our now former house. They made me cry, laugh, and smile just like Patty said they would. There was some really funny stuff in there, besides my collection of Michael Jordan stuff. I will hopefully post some of those tomorrow.

7. Finally having time again to blog, relax, and wonder what I should be doing.

I am feeling very fortunate and positive lately and it feels good. I am so blessed and my baby girl is so funny and so cute that I can't help but thank God for everything he has given me.

Summer Camp pictures

2010-06-04T18:17:00.002-04:00

Always on the move

First day of summer camp. A little tired after Memorial Day festivities.

first day of summer camp

2010-06-01T21:33:00.002-04:00

Well, today was the first day of Summer Camp for Sallie Rose. She had a bad night last night for some reason and was up a couple of times and I thought, she might not be going to camp tomorrow. She woke up this morning fairly happy and I asked her if she wanted to go to camp and she said yes very happily.

So, we had breakfast, got dressed and got all her bags packed. I had packed her lunch the night before, because I had a feeling we might be running late and we were of course. So, she grabbed her lunch box, waved bye bye to me and went to the front door to wait. So cute. Kills me. I want to eat her up sometimes.

I took her picture on the front step (will post later) and we got in the car and went to camp. When we got there she was a little shy, but I asked her if she wanted to go play with the girls at the table and she just walked over and started playing. I left and she didn't even notice. What? She was tired of me from the weekend, I am sure.

I dropped her off all clean and tightly dressed and I went back to pick her up and she was dirty from head to toe. Popsicle on her shirt, paint all over her body, and of course boogers all over her cheeks. EEEEwwwww...it was so funny. She looked a hot mess. Not to mention she was so tired she could hardly hold her little, squinty eyes open. She was happy though. Her teacher said that she did a great job and that she was so petite and loved going outside. Petite? Is that a characteristic? I am beginning to think so, I have heard that a lot lately from people. Oh well, she is petite.

We went home and she went straight to nap time. She was worn out. She slept for 3 hours. Good times at Summer Camp.

I did ask her tonight if she made any friends, no response. I asked if there were boys in her class and she said yes with a little grin. I asked if there were cute boys in her class and she got this teenager look on her face and very bashfully said "yeeeessss". I don't know how she can be so boy crazy already, makes me nervous. What is going to happen in 10 years? Oh yeah....all girls school, that's what.

Singing lady

2010-05-24T20:50:00.003-04:00

Well, it is time to make a post all about little Sallie Rose. There is so much to say about her, but I will try and keep it to the highlights.

First off, she loves to sing. She sings Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, I love you (Barney song), Barbara Ann (Beach Boys, I think), Skina ma rink?, and so much more. It is one of those things that makes my heart hurt when she starts singing. We'll be riding in the car and she just starts singing Twinkle Twinkle little Star. Most precious thing I have ever heard. The best part is that she doesn't quite know how to say the words, but she knows the tune and rhythm and just makes up words. I have tried and tried to get it on video, but she wants to grab it every time she sees it. She loves to sing and of course when we are done she says "more please".

She can count to about 16 and knows most of her ABC's. It is kind of the same with the ABC's as it is singing. She can sing along to the tune, but there are a few letters that are only mumbles. She reads a few words. Yes, she reads. Her Daddy bought her the "your baby can read" videos and she can read. No lies here. It is a little creepy to me, but what the hey, nothing wrong with your 19 month old reading more than you. Right? Next, the two of us will be lying around reading US Weekly together and I can tell her all about what not to wear and do. It will be very educational.

Sallie Rose still loves to dance, not as much as before, but she does. She is a little more into hopping than dancing. She does like to tap dance. I think she got that from Sesame Street.

She sleeps so well now. We got back from Texas in April and she sleeps so great. I am not sure what happened, but I never have to get up in the middle of the night anymore. Thank the Lord, literally. I am so grateful. I love to sleep!

She is definitely having some trouble with defiance, but overall her tantrums are pretty minimal. She does have a hitting problem, but we are working on that. We do time outs and hand restraints. I have smacked her bottom (very lightly) a couple of times and she seems puzzled. I am not going to lie people, I will be spanking, not often, but there will be some spankings in Sallie Rose's future. I got spanked and look how well I turned out. I have never been in jail, please I was never even sent to the Principal's office. I have never....well, I guess that about sums it up. I rarely even got spanked, unless Sara was involved in my afternoon and then she would get me to do something to Tara and then there were spankings. I digress....back to Sallie Rose.

We are swimming, sliding, picinicing, going to Summer Camp, church nursery school, running, loving, kissing, and so much more. I have enjoyed her so much lately. She finally is showing some affection to us and we are soaking it all in. She loves her Daddy. Soooooo much! On a side note: the other day I was changing her diaper and Kevin was "assisting" and she said her name, said Mommy and then called Kevin Daddy Rose. It was so adorable. I cried of course. When she says her own name it is really sweet, but Daddy Rose, precious. I guess she thinks that is every one's middle name or maybe just Kevin's.

Who knew?

2010-05-11T21:32:00.004-04:00

Who knew that quitting your job would make for such a stressful week. My week started with the relief of knowing that my life was going to start to slow down a little. Well, that definitely was not the case last week. I told my boss that I needed more time off and of course he begged me to stay. Ok, there was no begging, but he asked me nicely to stay part time for a while to finish out some projects and then to consider working from home on certain things. I said sure.

Well, then all 3 of us got sick. Sallie Rose had been a little sick off and on, but as of Monday she was the big green booger producer. Then, I followed in her foot steps and began coughing and blowing my nose. Kevin followed shortly after. Then, Kevin's Mom got sick and had to go into the hospital for a few days. Kevin stayed with her one night and saw her everyday she was there. She is home now and feeling better.

I had tons of call for rentals, yeah! However, that means lots of talking on the phone and scheduling appointments, getting rentals cleaned, residents notified to pick up their undies and then actually taking people around to look at each rental. Exhausting. But we are thanking God for the calls and praying for leases to be signed.

We had a birthday party on Saturday for Sallie Rose's best friend, Andrew. I think they might be more than friends, but I haven't told Kevin. They see each other 3 or 4 times a week. His babysitter and Susan get together for play dates. The party was fun and Sallie Rose definitely enjoyed the cake and ice cream.

Sunday of course was Mother's Day. Kevin let me sleep in until 8:30 and then made me waffles. It was nice, but we were all so tired and cranky. I sent Sallie Rose to Church with Kevin and I went and picked up Ms. Virginia, my 98 year old friend, and took her to Church. After Church, I went to Target by myself, got Pizza Hut bread sticks and a coke and went home. That was my Mother's Day gift: being by myself to do nothing for 30 minutes. We did make it downtown after naps for shopping and playing. It was a good day, but Monday rolled around again and I wished I had done more relaxing. Maybe this weekend?

No, this weekend we have a garage sale at Susan's, Sallie Rose's first swim class, and a going away party. As my annoying Mom always said to me in high school, "you can sleep when you die". Ugh...I hated that phrase.

I have a lot to update on Sallie Rose, but I will do that in a separate post.

1 Month Ago

2010-05-02T20:52:00.002-04:00

Wow, I am not even sure where to start. It has been a month since I have written or posted pictures. I guess I have just been busy. I will try to summarize the last month and then give an update on what is going on within the next month.

First, Kevin and I went on our first ever Mommy/Daddy get away alone in 18 months. I can't believe we have never done this. That's what happens when you live 3 states away from all of your family. You have limited parties of whom you would trust your child's care with. Susan is our main person, and she watches Sallie Rose every day during the week, so we hate to burden her with it. Sweet as Susan is, she said she would keep her and we went and it was well deserved and overdue. It was fun.

Next we went to Texas for a long weekend. Last minute, but also really needed. I needed to get out of town, see my family, and get Sallie Rose used to seeing her Texas family. She did fine, although she was apprehensive a little still. The time will come when I have to pull her away screaming and crying.

Last and for the present. I am giving my notice tomorrow at work. Why you ask? Well, a lot of reason, but the main one being that I have a lot of responsibilities here at home and I can't work 6 full days anymore like I have for the last year. I am tired and I want to spend more time with my family. No, my job at the office is not demanding. Actually, quite the opposite. It is boring at times and very draining on my creative juices. So, what will I do with my time you ask?

1. Be a part time stay at home Mom who works while the baby girl sleeps.
2. Run 12 properties and 40 something residents (and all their crying and whining)
3. Work on my architecture website, link to come soon, and start studying for the 7 tests that I must take to call myself an Architect.
4. Pick up architecture/interior design work as I can find it. Seems to come out of no where most of the time.
5. Do a lot of volunteer work for Urban Hope, which I sit on the board for
6. Paint artwork, furniture, and anything else that I can get my hands on.
7. Get inventory ready for my retail space that I will hopefully open sometime next year, as well as have my Architectural firm in the back of.
8. Spend time with Kevin and Sallie Rose on the weekends. Kevin has never had a weekend off since I have known him. We are hoping that since I will be doing 90% of the property work that he will have weekends off again. Yeah!!
9. Travel to see my family, in laws, friends, and things

I haven't told many people that this was coming, mainly because I wanted to make the decision on my own without a lot of opinions. I didn't want to hear that I was giving up my career for my husband's properties. That is not true at all. I will be going back to where I first started with my love for art and design. I will use my experience that I have gotten for the last 4 years and break free from sitting in front of the computer 8 hours a day. No one knows what is best for you and your family other than the Mother herself. I made the decision and I am really excited about it. Last year was the hardest year I have ever experienced and this year will be better, because I am making it better!

Gotta get to bed now. We have a sick baby and I have a feeling she might be up a lot tonight. She threw up 3 times in the car as we were driving home from Target. Not the best parenting moment I have ever had, and it was really sad to see.

Easter

2010-04-06T16:33:00.004-04:00

Easter was amazing. We had such a good weekend and it was so nice to dress in whites and pastels and see all the flowers at the Church. The weather has been amazing lately. I know in 2 weeks it will begin to be blistering hot, so I am really trying to enjoy it.

Susan started Sallie Rose off with a practice round of Easter egg hunting on Friday (the week before Easter). She loved it. Susan hid them in the park in front of our house and she knew just what to do after one try. Then on Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt in a public park. She was a little hesitant because of the older kids running around crazily finding the eggs. Then, Sunday the Church had a hunt and we went to that as well. She was beginning to not feel well by Sunday afternoon, but she still had a great time hunting eggs.

Then, that whole following week she was sick, with what? We never knew. Just a fever. I guess a virus. It was awful. She was up all night and clingy all day. I took off Monday to go to the doctor with her and that was hell. I'll spare you the details of the blood samples, the adhesive bag placed for urine sample (later covered in poo that I had to remove), and the sad crying. She felt that way all week. On top of her being sick, I was the busiest at work that I have been in a long time. Oh, and the 45 tenants that all needed something that week. Kevin and I were exhausted by Friday.

So, Saturday rolled around, finally, and we relaxed, planted flowers, and ran around naked in the backyard chasing the water hose. No, not me and Kevin, just Sallie Rose. She loves the water and she loves being outside. She also now loves playing "hide" with the Easter egss. We have a daily Easter egg hunt at our house now. Kevin hides them and Rosie finds them. And screams with excitement.

Sunday, we woke up, opened Easter baskets, got our Sunday finest on and went to Church. The music was amazing and so were the Easter lilies that covered the entire Church. Easter always brings a sense of renewal for me. Maybe it is a mix of the Resurrection of Jesus, the flowers, the warm weather, and the absence of pantie hose. I have to admit, one main reason I look forward to Easter is feeling like I don't have to wear hose or tights anymore. I know, that is silly these days, but my Grandma was strict about it and I do what my Grandma says.

After Church, the 3 of us went to lunch at Vic's on the River. We had oysters, shrimp, tuna and lots of biscuits. It was a really nice day. A good end to a bad week and a good beginning to a wonderful Spring and Summer.

This is the outfit Mayme and Grumps (also known as Poppy to Sallie Rose) sent her. Isn't it adorable. So fun! You can't find cow outfits like that in Georgia.

Pictures

2010-03-21T13:28:00.004-04:00

I rarely have time (or energy) anymore to actually write something, but I will try and at least put up pictures occasionally.

Sallie Rose loves flowers, just like her Mom.

Sometimes you've got to stop to smell the flowers, literally.

Savannah's St. Patty's Day Parade. We were surprised we made it. Sallie Rose was up all night the night before. We stayed about an hour, then we all needed naps.

Hello Sunday

2010-03-14T20:18:00.002-04:00

A Sneak Peak of Savannah's Ellis Square | WSAV

2010-03-10T11:09:00.000-05:00

A Sneak Peak of Savannah's Ellis Square | WSAV

Bragging Rights

2010-02-23T14:19:00.002-05:00

I think that sometimes I get so consumed with what our new challenge is with Sallie Rose that I forget to brag about how great she is. Or maybe it is because I get annoyed with Moms who all they talk about is what their child is doing every second of every day. I love my boo boo, Rosie, but I don't think that everyone else in the World cares to hear how she made me drink out of her sippy cup this morning.

However, this is my blog and I will make this post about bragging on my baby girl. Yes, she throws a fit every time I make her come in from "side", which is outside. Yes, she puts up a fight every time I need to put her down to cook for her, but she also does so many things that are truly sweet and truly funny. My child has not been affectionate. I don't know if it is something I did, like cry it out, or if she is just that way. I have accepted that she does not want to kiss me or give me hugs, but that she will kiss any boy in any book or catalog. The sweetest thing that I have seen her do this far is hold her hand out before meals and say hand. Which means she wants Kevin and I to grab her hand, say the blessing and then she prematurely says "Amen" and claps her hands. It is funny, it is adorable, it is sweet and it makes me so proud that at 16 months she is already praying, sort of.

She also has a huge vocabulary. Some of the words are understandable by everyone and some of the words are only words that Mommy, Daddy and Su Su can understand. When she wants milk she says "milk" and if she doesn't want milk she says "no". If she wants a bunny cracker, she will say more and then you will ask her what she wants more of and she says "bummy" or "cwacker". Basically anything you say to her she can repeat. Her latest is "yeah", not yes, but "yeah". I don't think she can say the s part, so it is just "yeah", clear as a bell. Everyday I feel like a new word comes out of her mouth and it just surprises me. She is growing up way to fast and before I know it she will be reading to me. Oh that is another thing. She has flashcards that Susan does with her and she can actually read a few words off of them. Amazing, scary, but amazing. I am afraid she is going to know I can't read by the time she is 2. ( I can read, I am actually a good reader, but I don't like to, it bores me) One day I hope I can get it on video, but she loves the camera too much to concentrate.

So, in a nutshell, she is a genius, super cute, and very generous with her sippy cup. I think she is going to be athletic too, because Susan said that she has never seen a 16 month old kick a ball like Sallie Rose does. So, how is that for bragging?

16 months

2010-02-21T15:56:00.002-05:00

I promise her hair does not look like that when we leave the house.

Playing at the park. We finally are having good enough weather to go outside.

This is our newest, favorite thing. It is her bike seat that is on the front of my bike. She loves it. Look how cute her lil helmet is!!

Brushing her teeth in the morning in Mommy's sink.

Update on Sallie Rose

2010-02-17T09:33:00.002-05:00

I feel like I just posted those pictures of her in tub yesterday, but it has almost been a month! We have had a busy month and I just haven't been good at uploading pictures. I have been good about catching Sallie Rose on video though and uploading those. Not on here, it takes way too long to upload them to the blogosphere.

Anyhoo, the last two weeks were a little tough for SR. It started off with a doctor's appointment where she got shots, we were told she is still underweight, and a huge temper tantrum in the care when we tried to leave. Susan went with us and after the shots were done and we were trying to put her clothes on her, we couldn't get her to calm down. So, Mommy decided to take her outside in the fresh air to the car to put her clothes on there and calm down. I thought getting her out of the environment might help. Well, it didn't. She was so mad and so hurt that she was hysterical. I had to sit in the backseat with her and just hold her for about 10 minutes. Then, we decided to put her in her car seat and just get her home. She was not having it. Finally the two of us got her in and she screamed and cried. She finally calmed down and we got home and she passed out in her bed.

She seemed to be fine after that, but the following week she had a fever for 2 days and was just all around very cranky. The fever went, and on came the screaming and biting and temper. I know she was teething and I feel like that is all that it was. However, it was not easy for me and Kevin. We were frustrated, exhausted, and our feelings were a little hurt from her screaming at us. That lasted until this past Monday and then we finally got our sweet little girl back that laughs and dances.

I got home last night and Sallie Rose and Daddy were finishing up dinner and they were smiling and looking at the boys in the clothing catalog. Rosie has found her new love, boys. Boys in books, magazines, and on tv. She loves boys! I think we already have a boy crazy little lady on our hands. I remember being quite the boy crazy little girl too. I always loved my sisters' boyfriends and had huge crushes on a lot of boys in high school when I was in 4th or 5th grade. And look how good I turned out. :)

Other than boys, she loves the outside, loves to count, and still loves to shake her booty. She can actually count to 3 and of course then skips to her all time favorite, NINE! She sings "row, row, row" and "Bah, bah, bah", and then she expects you to finish the song. Susan and Kevin have started a word list consisting of all the words Sallie Rose can say. There are about 40 words on the list. The doctor asked what things she is saying and I started listing them and then she said, "ok, that's fine, I just needed to know she says at least 5 words." Ha, she is waaaaay past 5 words. Duh.

We are ready for the warm weather to start bike riding, walking, and going to the playground. Oh, and the beach!!

The Beckwiths have a lot to think about the next few months to figure out how to streamline our lives and I am excited to see where God's path takes us. We'll keep you all posted!

Rub a Dub Dub

2010-01-25T20:40:00.007-05:00

Looking out the window in awe of our Texas flag

This little light of mine

2010-01-24T20:50:00.002-05:00

This weekend was very interesting. What started off as a supportive wife retreat turned into one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. Our church offered a retreat this weekend that was a father/daughter combo. The retreat was based on music and how Saturday night music can lead into Sunday morning music. The father/daughter combo was Don and Emily Sailers. Some of you, not me, but some of you might know Emily as 1/2 of the Indigo Girls.

I had no idea what the Indigo Girls sang or why she would be coming here with her Dad, who is a very well respected preacher. Friday night was a concert, very small and intimate, and Saturday was an all day lecture series. Kevin and I went Friday night and I was so surprised about how much I enjoyed Emily and her amazing voice. The two of them opened my heart and mind on so many levels. The Indigo Girls are a two woman group that is very liberal minded in their song writing and they focus a lot on love and social issues. I do not consider myself liberal at all, but what she said and what she sang about made me realize that at the end of the day, no matter what I believe is over ridden by a greater love. I know, cheesy, but it is true. We are not here to debate on who is right, but to love one another and to find the greater good in every human being.

I guess I realized too, that I have the political views more like a preacher than a Democrat or Republican. I am very "right" on some issues (won't open that forum) and "left" on some too. I do believe that I should help those that can not help themselves. I don't mean that I need to travel the World to feed the starving, but I can help those right here in my community. I hear so many people say that they don't want to help lazy people that take it for granted. I think that those lazy people might one day wake up and realize that someone has been helping them inspite of their unwillingness to help themselves and get up and do something. Naive, maybe, but if it worked it would be worth it. If it doesn't work, it would be their own loss.

I also realized that I have been drowning in a sea of work and responsibility and have not been living my life to the fullest. I have been resentful because I married into some of this drowning work and have been dwelling on it. I have felt sorry for myself because I can't take a trip with my husband and leave Sallie Rose with her Texas grandparents to spend alone time. I have been mad at Kevin a lot for his responsibilites that have now become mine. I realize that I am human and can be upset and feel sorry for myself, but 7 or 8 months of feeling sorry for myself is ridiculous. There are more important matters in life than dwelling on being overworked.

On the opposite side, I have been very bored at work. This makes me feel useless and angry that my education and talents are not being used. I am working on finding a way to fill my creative needs and be satisfied at work. It is hard. I don't want to clean any more product shelves, I don't want to look on Facebook all day, but I know that God put me in that office for a reason and I am trying to make the best of it each week.

This weeknd I loved my baby more. I kissed my husband more. I thought about all my family and friends that I miss and how much I love them too. I danced with Sallie Rose, I talked to Kevin (really talked, not just nodded my head and pretended to listen), we went to the playgroud, we went to church and I hugged my 98 year old friend, we ate lunch out, we took great naps, we went to the park, we finger painted, and then I gave Sallie Rose a bath and rocked her to sleep. Then, then, I made smores cupcakes. They are for someone's birthday, and for my enjoyment too. And of course, a spiritually fullfilling weekend couldn't end without thinking about Grandma Rosa Lee and a good cry. It wasn't a sad cry, but yet a cry of gratefulness that 2 years and 2 months later, I still hear her telling me that everything will be ok. A love so deep that your heart hurts when that person is gone, is a gift from God.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!

Off to watch the Kardashians. I know what you are thinking, but I have to have a good laugh. Remember, we have to look for the good in every human being, even the Kardashians.

Pictures

2010-01-09T15:41:00.007-05:00

Sara and Maddy at the Nutcracker

Ally, Maddy, and Sallie Rose

The Butt girls with their Daddy

Sallie Rose, Mayme and Pa on Christmas Day

Vin and Sallie Rose playing peek a boo

Sallie Rose's Michael Jackson pose. I don't know how I got this, but it cracks me up. She must have learned this from her Uncle Mat while we were there.

Proof that she really does love Grumps

Aunt Tara demonstrating

Just the girls hanging out

Happy New Year

2010-01-05T15:51:00.004-05:00

Wow, so much has happened in the last month that I am beside myself on what to post. I have lots of pictures to post, but that will have to wait until the weekend. I'll admit it, most of my blogging happens while I am at work, on my 15 minute breaks. Ha, I doubt my boss knows that I get 15 minute breaks.

We had a great Christmas, New Years and time off from work. I got to spend a lot of time with Sallie Rose, which I enjoyed. She is talking so much and I am really starting to miss her more and more while I work. I am so proud of her and what a little girl she is already turning into. She is smart, funny, and of course adorably cute. She did go through a phase over Christmas where she wanted only Mommy and really didn't want anyone else touching her. She warmed up to people, but that didn't mean they could touch her.

She loved playing with her cousins. She has a 14 year old, a 5 year old, and an 18 month old cousin. I really loved seeing her interact with each one of them. It was fun to see how she reacted differently to each one of them.

Our trip was too short and too long all at the same time. Nothing is as good as sleeping in your own bed and not living out of a suitcase, but being with my family is where my heart always has been. Despite the arguments, disagreements, or whatever happens, I still love being with my family. One day, I hope to live within driving distance of them, so it will make travel easier with kids. For now, we fly and we deal with.

Other than the holidays, our lives are pretty normal. Sallie Rose is dancing, clapping, playing with all her new toys, and using more and more sign language. And the girl talks so much lately. She made me so proud yesterday. We have been using thank you a lot lately and while I was at work she told Susan thank you for giving her something. Awww, makes my heart melt. Please, thank you, and your welcome are a huge deal to me. No child of mine will go without saying thank you to everyone, if I can help it.

Friday we are going to tour a preschool and that is exciting for me. I want her to have more child interaction. I just hope the teachers are as good as Susan. It will only be 2 half days a week, so she will still get plenty of learning and play time with Susan, or Susu as Sallie Rose calls her.

Happy New Year everyone! I made a resolution to not talk about how little or how much money I might or might not have, or how much I might or might not work. I have everything I need. Our house has been super cold since we got home and it really makes me think about the homeless and how much they really need, a home, a warm home. Make it a good year ya'll!

Why is Santa so frightening?

2009-12-15T16:39:00.002-05:00

I am loving all the Santa pictures surfacing all over the world wide web. I really don't like to see kids cry, I promise, but it cracks me up that ALL children are deathly afraid of Santa Clause. What is it? The bright red outfit? The glasses? The long white beard? I honestly don't know.

I don't remember if I was afraid of Santa. I remember in kindergarten my Dad dressed up as Santa and came to my class. I don't think my parents told me that he was doing that, but I just knew it was him. I could tell by the way he sounded, I guess. I don't remember any more occurrences with Santa than that.

Sallie Rose did pretty well with Santa. Maybe it is because my house is full of Santa figures that were my Grandma Rosa's. She loves to come down in the morning and say "ho ho ho", because that is what Santa says. She definitely was not thrilled with him, but she didn't scream. Or maybe she is like her Mom, ya know, into older men. Don't tell Kevin I said that. :)

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is as excited about spending time with their families and friends as I am. I can't wait. I know this year has been very rough for a lot of people and I pray that we all remember what Christmas is really about and pray for hope, joy, and love for next year.

Thanksgiving and the beginning of Christmas

2009-11-29T22:38:00.003-05:00

Censored by Kevin

2009-11-25T22:28:00.007-05:00

Well, I had just come up with a new, great blog that featured an endearing picture of Kevin, which he thought was embarrassing, so I had to remove it. Ugh, now what? I have no other wonderful stories to tell, so I will still tell the story behind the censored picture and you will just have to imagine it in your head.

Last week was my birthday and I came home, hugged and kissed on Sallie Rose and she had a new trick. So, Susan said, "Sallie Rose, what does a turkey say?" And Sallie Rose replied, "Gobble, gobble." Well, while all of this was going on, Kevin was upstairs changing clothes and told me to come up there. Sallie and I went upstairs and as I walked in, I noticed Kevin was sitting on the bed and on my side of the bed there was a gigantic box under the covers. It was my new vacuum. So, the picture was of Kevin lying in bed with my new vacuum cleaner. What is embarrassing about that?

Well, it would have been better with the picture. On another note, Sallie Rose saying gobble gobble is really adorable and I have video, but can't upload it on here, so I will do it on Facebook later this week. She also can make the cow "moo" noise.

Here are some pictures of Sallie Rose in her too small Santa hat.

"What Santa is coming soon??"

First Real Cold

2009-11-17T15:28:00.002-05:00

Sallie Rose has her first real cold. We have been very lucky and up until this point she has not had any type of sickness, except a runny nose this time last year.

She has not bee sleeping well at all for the last week and we thought it was probably teething. So, we sort of went with it and hoped she would sleep again soon. Thursday Susan called and told me that Sallie woke up from her nap with a fever. I went home early and found a really sad, red-faced baby waiting for me. She had a fever all night and slept horribly that night. We put her in bed with us, laid in her room with her, sat in the rocker with her, but nothing worked. She just didn't feel good. Friday, she was better. No other symptoms. We wrote it off as a 24 hour bug or teething, again.

Sunday night she started having a runny nose and it just went downhill from there. She woke up Monday with that nasty cough and really stinky breathe. Oh my soul, it was stinky. I felt so bad for her. We went to the doctor and the doctor said, "no more monkeys jumping on the bed". Not really, sorry my mind wondered. Anyways, the doc said it was a virus and gave us a prescription. She slept a little better last night, but still not great. I finally decided at midnight that Vic's Vapor Rub might help, but I didn't want to put in on her, so I put it on a washcloth and hung it on the crib next to her face. I think it helped.

So, needless to say, we are all real tired and waiting for this to pass. I turn 29 tomorrow and feel 60 today. Maybe for my birthday, Roro will sleep through the night tonight. I can dream, right? I am just glad that she is making her way to feeling better again. I miss her giggle.

thankful for...

2009-11-10T14:11:00.002-05:00

My bestie, Natalie, went to a conference this weekend and two of the speakers were a couple who came up with a twitter application. It is thankful for.com. Check it out: www.thankfulfor.com.

Anyways, these types of people make me so happy. They are people who are brilliant, educated, and able to make millions. This particular couple decided to jump into the twitter application market and come up with an app that does something good for people, while making millions. They could have come up with an app that makes fart sounds (there already is one, I've been told), or one that makes snoring sounds, or so on or so forth. Instead this couple decided to make one that makes people smile and really think about what they have that is good in their life. Sure the ifart might make you smile and might make you think about how grateful you are for not having the real farts, but thanfulfor is a little deeper than that.

I feel like I am usually an optimistic, bubbly person, but lately I have been concentrating on more of the negatives in my life than the positives. So, in tune with thankfulfor and Thanksgiving coming up, here is my list of things/people I am thankful for. It might get long, but that is better than short!

Sallie Rose and her smiling face
Kevin and his romantic, generous heart
My Mom
My Dad
Patty
Jim
My sisters (including real, halfs, and steps). I have 4 sisters total
My brother (shout out Mat, he's my only brother)
My nieces and nephew
Dysfunctional families: if it weren't for the dysfunction of families, I wouldn't have most of my family members

baby giggles
Susan, my friend and the greatest caregiver to my baby
a job, and a pretty decent job: I won an award for a house I designed (Woot Woot)
a home and a family to put in it. What is a home without a family?
Red hair, that I got from my Grandma Rosa Lee Butt
HEALTH
In-laws of all kinds
New friends, old friends, and reconnected friends
Flowers, I love flowers
sunshine
rain
my toosh, I have grown very fond of it, I didn't have one for a long time
chocolate
blogs, love to read them all!

Ok, so that is enough for now. Making this list makes me happy and you should make one too!

One year check up

2009-11-09T16:02:00.004-05:00

We went for Sallie's one year check up last Friday. Wow, what a day. First of all the doctor was running late, for whatever reason, so we played in the germ infested waiting room for 30 minutes. We got into the room and we go through the usual: take off clothes, keep distracted while we wait, and then the nurse comes in. I am always surprised that Sallie Rose is nice to them, because I figure by this age she would begin to relate the nurses back to the horrible pain of shots and so forth. She didn't.

The nurse weighed her and she is a whopping 17 lbs 10 oz. She is still in the same percentiles that she has been since she was born. Tall and thin percentiles. So that means a couple of things: 1-she still is not supposed to face forward in her car seat, and 2- all that pasta, mac and cheese, chicken, fruit, and waffles that she scarfs down is not sticking to her bones. Just coming straight out her back end.

That's ok. We will just keep doing what we do and she will grow the way she is supposed to. Next, they needed some blood to run lab tests. This was the really hard part. The lady poked her finger and Sallie Rose fought so hard that the lady couldn't hold her tiny little finger long enough to get any blood. It was really hard. They came back and did it again later. Of course she had to get her immunizations too. Poor babies, I know they all need to do it, but it so hard to watch them cry so hard. It makes me really thankful that I have a healthy child and it also makes me pray for those children and parents who have to do this sort of thing often, because they have a terminal illness or disease. What a painful situation to have to go through.

So, she is up on all her shots and is ready to go back to licking the play mats at the mall. I wouldn't let her do it until she got all her shots, especially the flu shot. :)

She is definitely growing into her own little personality. I am afraid that the personality might be a little terror. She throws fits a lot lately. She threw a fit in the nursery yesterday, because I didn't bring her a bottle and she wouldn't drink from a sippy cup. So, she insisted on crying and trying to take the bottles away from the babies. Ouch, that made me feel really bad. BAD PARENT ALERT! All this weening from this and crying out process for that, is getting old. When does it end??

She talks, she dances, she walks everywhere, she giggles, she reads a lot still, and she makes me laugh every single day. That is one thing that will never change. I actually laugh a little when she throws fits too. It is funny, but I don't let her see me laugh.

Oh and the dog's water bowl. What is so intriguing about that? She is so determined to play in that nasty water every time she walks by it. I guess I should just put a "Sallie's water bowl" on the floor for her to play in.

Here we are, the Butt-Beckwith family. Kevin still doesn't know that I hyphenated all of our last names, including his.

Kevin and Sallie looking at the stars

Sallie being sassy in her short shorts. This is from a long time ago, but I just came across it.

Sneak Peek

2009-10-27T08:50:00.004-04:00

We had our family pictures taken this past weekend. These are the sneak peek photos Sarah Buck, the photographer, sent us to tease me.

It's Party Time

2009-10-20T09:13:00.004-04:00

We had a such a great time with Sallie's birthday party. We made sheep and chick cake pops, rhinestone cowgirl cupcakes, and cupcake "hamburgers". It was all so delicious and so cute! I had plenty of help from Tara and Susan. Of course Mayme and Grumps helped by watching Rosie so I could get all my errands done. Then Honey came to town and helped too! Wow, if it weren't for my family I wouldn't have been able to pull this off.

Sallie got lots of great gifts and she has a lot of great toys to donate to Toys for Tots that a lot of people brought or sent to us. Thanks everyone for helping us celebrate our little girl's first birthday.

October 12th, 2008

2009-10-13T09:17:00.004-04:00

Sallie Rose's due date was October 12th, 2008. October 12th came and went without me having a baby. October 12th was a Sunday and I skipped church, mainly because I was uncomfortable and couldn't wear shoes, but also because I was secretly hoping that I would go into labor. After all, I was born on my due date so I expected Sallie Rose to do the same.

Well, she didn't. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday came and went and it was finally Wednesday night and the next day I knew I would have my baby. I had my bags packed, including Kevin's 14 bags and 12 pillows, and I had went to bed and suprisingly had no problem sleeping. I figured it would be like Christmas Eve and I would be too excited to sleep, but I think I was so exhausted from carrying around my extra 45 lbs that I passed out. We woke up the next morning and Kevin was running late as usual and I was waiting in the car fuming, wondering "why the hell can't he be on time for anything, not even this? Really?". Then we were off to the hospital for the beginning of our new life as a family.

I was nervous, I had no idea what to REALLY expect. Everyone tells you things, but experiencing it is something else. Everything was going fine until my blood pressure started getting really high. They weren't real concerned about it at first, but as time progressed and the contractions were not progressing like they should, my dr. began to worry. I don't remember everything, but I know she tried to break my water and I cussed. She tried to put a monitor somewhere and I cussed again. Then I asked for my epidural. The contractions were not bad, but the other stuff was. So, I get the epidural and all was good. Except my blood pressure. I finally began to dialate quickly and before I knew it I was feeling the real pains of contractions. Sallie Rose was finlly ready around 10:30. I felt like it was easy, but Kevin said it was longer than I remember. She was born at 11:03 pm. What an amazing time. What an experience for a husband and wife and their new baby.

My Dad, Patty, and Nancy were there waiting. I will never forget them coming and me being so proud of my new little girl. Then my Dad and Patty came over and gave me a necklace that was from my Grandma Rosa Lee that was for Sallie Rose. I cried and Dad or Patty, I can't remember which one, said that Grandma was here with us. I knew that, I felt her in the room watching. It was one long day that I will never forget.

We went to our room at about 3am and finally got to sleep. We sent Sallie Rose to the nursery and I felt bad about it, but I knew she was in good hands. I needed some rest, I had been up for almost 24 hours and not to mention had given birth. The next morning around 7am, the nurse busted through the door with our little girl in her rolling crib and Kevin and I sat up so fast and I think we both wondered where in the hell we were. We joke that it was like the twilight zone.

So, that was the beginning of the real adventure. I'll spare all of you the details about the following week, because we made it through despite the ER trip, me being put back in the hospital for 4 days, and Kevin taking care of a newborn baby on his own, not having ever even held a baby before.

Now, a year later, our baby is a little girl. She is beautiful, happy, and the biggest joy in our lives. She is loved by so many people and makes me smile every single day. I am a lot more emotional about her birthday than I thought I would be. I think I am just so grateful to have a healthy baby and people who love us.

What's up ya'll

2009-10-07T09:32:00.003-04:00

Well, I don't have anything really important to say, but I just wanted to say what's up? We are gearing up for our big birthday celebration and Sallie Rose has definitely been practicing her diva behavior. I think she knows that she is fixing to get really spoiled with love and presents. :)

She has really had a tough couple of weeks and it is not because she is a diva. She received her 4, 1st year molars, and for a week she didn't eat or sleep well. Now, she is getting 2 more bottom teeth and didn't sleep well again last night. Needless to say we are all tired.

I have to admit, I don't like Sallie Rose feeling badly, but she lets me snuggle her so much more when she is icky. I have gotten to rock her almost every night for the last 2 weeks at midnight and that makes me feel so good (and tired of course the next morning).

I have been pretty busy trying to get all the birthday arrangements together and I have taken on a few architectural side jobs to make a little extra earnings. Kevin is in the process of switching from working for Banc of America Investments to Merrill Lynch. He has to learn a new computer system as well as move offices. So, he has been pretty overwhelmed with that transition. We are looking forward to family coming in next week and then on to Thanksgiving and then Christmas! Before we know it, it will be Sallie Rose's 2nd birthday. They really do grow up too fast.

I hopefully will have all kinds of fun pictures from the party, as well as our professional photo shoot that we are doing on the 25th. Woo hoo. I am excited about both.

I hope everyone else is enjoying this beautiful fall weather and doing well!

Wow, Thursday

2009-09-24T11:37:00.004-04:00

I haven't had a lot of free time to blog, especially this week. Wow, it is Thursday and Sallie Rose has had 2 sleepless nights in a row, a man was shot next door to our house and sadly died, we are still trying to figure out how to work, be parents, friends, spouses and run the properties, and we are painting the den for Sallie's playroom. Oh and I went out of town this past weekend and had a lot of fun, but I was super tired. Our laundry is piled up, our house is slowly filling with clutter, and the yard is slowly filling with leaves. There is a bright side to this blog people!

Look at this face, any bad week is so worth coming home to this amazing child. Oh Sallie Rose, you are a gift from God in every way!

P.s. Last week Sallie Rose was walking, this week she decided she does not want to walk anymore. Funny girl.

11 months

2009-09-17T14:48:00.003-04:00

Well, our little girl is 11 months old. Here are the highlights:
She's walking
She's loves food!
She has a lot more accidents now that she is walking. She has hit her lip 4 or 5 times
She makes her Momma cry more, now that she has accidents
She looks at you when you talk to her or when you read to her
She hugs you, in her own way of course
She does not cry as much when we take her to the nursery at church
She really does not cry that much at all anymore, Except when she is hungry
She say "Hey" when you come into the house. Super southern like
She loves to stand up at the toilet and play on it, yuck
She screams with joy a lot. It is so funny and so loud
She love, love, loves to look at the "pretty girl" in the mirror
She sort of says: bird, book, dog
Susan told me the other day that she took Grandma Rosa's picture and said Mi-Ma
(We show her the 2 great grandmas all the time)
She loves to climb around her highchair and wishes she could climb into the dishwasher
And last, she loves her Daddy. Oh my goodness it has just begun for those two. I am going out of town this weekend and they are going to be all alone. I hope they don't decide that they don't need me and change the locks.

All in all, life has slowed down for us a little bit in the last week or two and we are gearing up for a great first birthday for Sallie Rose. She is sweeter and cuter everyday and we just love her so much.

Sallie is Walking Video

2009-09-09T22:20:00.001-04:00

I just posted a video of Sallie Rose walking on my Facebook, so go check it out if you haven't seen it. She was really excited! As was I!!

I never can get videos to download on here, sorry.

Walking Update

2009-09-09T16:00:00.001-04:00

Three weeks ago tomorrow, I said that Sallie Rose would be walking in 3 weeks. Well, last night she walked across the kitchen from me to Susan. She did it so well and for so long, so I am considering that walking. She still won't do it on her own, but when we help her to start, she does it. Yeah Sallie Rose!!!! You big girl.

Guess how much I love you

2009-09-03T09:08:00.002-04:00

Dear Sallie Rose,
You will be turning one year old in a little over a month. Time has really flown by. I pray each day that I am giving you the love and attention that you need to bloom into a lovely young lady. You have such a great personality and you do something new everyday that makes me smile. We have been so blessed to have you in our lives and I love everything about you. These are some things I love about you:
I love when....
you scream with joy at the top of your lungs, like when you see your toys in the tub
you smile and flash those big teeth
you let me rock you before bed and you caress my arm with your hand
you smile at me when I come in to get you from your naps
you dance to the music by just moving one leg ever so slightly
you try and clap your hands to "if you are happy and you know it", but you can't quite yet
you throw your head down on the ground in an attempt to throw a fit
you play peek a boo with your blankie
you try and feed me some of your food, you sweet girl
you race to the stairs and try to climb up them
you climb up the stairs as fast as you can, and you are great stair climber
you find your stuffed animals and you bury your face in them and scream

Oh, Sallie Rosie, I could go on for days, but I won't. I know you will continue to charm us and make us smile. I know you will be sweet and you will be sour, but no matter what, we will love you and you will always be our sunshine in the rain.

Love,
Momma

This is how we are training Sallie Rose to be a landlord

2009-08-20T09:54:00.001-04:00

The Landlord

Shared via AddThis

Our friend Willie

2009-08-20T09:28:00.003-04:00

I just found out that one of our tenants, Willie, has passed away. He was an older, simple man, who was always so nice. I just ask for our friends and family to pray for Willie and his sweet soul, as well as his friends and family. Kevin is really having a hard time with this, so please pray for him too. Willie always called Kevin Mr. Kelvin and Kevin really loved Willie. He was a hard man not to love. God Bless your soul Willie. We will miss you and your kind heart.

10 Months Old

2009-08-20T08:53:00.003-04:00

Sallie Rose is now 10 months old. She is really changing. She has started really trying to walk and talk. She can hold one of our hands and walk beside us. It is so cute. She is really timid about it, but she is trying. I guess she will be walking within 3 weeks. Mark my word.

She eats everything we put in front of her, just not avocados or beans. She does not like avocados. We have tried 2 times now and she still spits it right out. Other than that, she eats waffles, toast, pasta, quesadillas, chicken, and Susan's cupcakes (MMMMmmmmm). Susan and I have been brainstorming for Sallie's birthday treats. Susan is a great baker and she has been experimenting with some fun, yummy cupcakes that we get to taste test. Love it all!!! Anyhoo, Sallie is a great eater.

I really feel like she is doing great on her talking. She sits in bed with me in the mornings while I get ready and she listens for the birds tweeting (not twittering). She listens very intentively and when she hears one, she will say "burh". Ya know, something like that. I really truly believe she is saying bird. She says Momma, but only when she is crying. She babbles a lot. She loves to sit in her room and just talks and talks, to herself I suppose. Well, I guess she is really talking to her animals.

What else? Did I mention she is adorable? Well she is. Ok really, what else? She had her first accident the other night from crawling. Kevin was with her and she was crawling and I guess she fell on her face and her tooth hit her lip. According to Kevin, there was blood everywhere and Sallie Rose was crying very hard. He managed to get her cleaned up and calmed down. She went to bed that night with a fat lip. It was really sad. I guess we should be grateful that this time was our first accident. Not fun.

The other big controversary right now is her hair. To cut or not to cut? I really want to let it grow out, but it is in her face unless we clip it back. She loves to pull the clips out so that has been a little bit of a struggle. I love her hair and want it long, but I am open to opinions. I might not take the opinions, but I am open to hearing them. :)

Here she is the morning of her 10 month birthday

In the kitchen walking with her walker

Being sweet before going to Church

Our other daughter, Casey, being very serious. Sweet Dog

Puppet Show

2009-08-07T21:04:00.009-04:00

Susan told me that Sallie Rose loves the puppets at the library when they go to story time. So, I decided to make some good old fashioned puppets like we used to have when we were kids. She really liked them, for about a minute. They come in quite handy when she is getting her diaper changed. Their names are Wanda and Guiseppe. Guiseppe is what I wanted to name a boy, if we had one, and Kevin said no. So, now Sallie Rose has a puppet with that name.

Here is Sallie Rose in the car reading her book, as usual. She loves to read.