Christmas Shopping Crazies!!!

Yes, it's my favorite time of year. The time of year when my Christmas Shopping Crazies set in!! Starts the day after Thanksgiving and lasts until Christmas Eve day. There is no cure, no medication to slow it down, it's something I live with...and love every minute of it!

It starts off simple enough...I give my kids a blank list to fill out with their Christmas wishes. Along with the blank list is a page with the "rules". (rules are necessary because of things/people put on lists past). Anyway, the list usually has about 20 blanks to fill in. I give it to them around Halloween and ask that it be returned to me, completed, by Thanksgiving. After everyone leaves here T'giving night, I sit at the computer and compile my initial shopping list. I say initial because "the list" goes through several revisions, at least once daily.

Once I make my first two shopping trips, the Fri and Sat after t'giving, my first big revision comes about. I can usually see that one or two of the kids are going to have more than the planned 20 gifts...so I have to go in and add more for the other kids. Why you may ask....because I'm OCD like that and every single person must have the exact same number of gifts.

I shop almost daily until Christmas eve. I try to get the most important or hard to find items first. I try not to finish up too early, as this can be a problem. I feel I HAVE to shop every day until Christmas and if I've finished everyone's list and go shopping anyway, I will most certainly find something for someone that I just have to buy. That throws the whole count off and I end up having to add one more thing to everyone's list.

So far, this year, I've done better than last. I started out with 20 gifts each and have increased it to 28 each because I've almost finished with 2 of the kids but keep finding things I HAVE to get for them.

When I first saw the kids' lists this year, I assumed they thought we planted a money tree in the back yard this summer but it turns out that since Amber dumped her boyfriend, they knew we'd have more $$ to spend on them :-) Smart kids!!

Normally we wrap all the gifts, don't put names on them and put them under the tree for Christmas morning. Everyone normally knows most of the things they're getting. This year I'm trying really hard to keep most everything a suprise. Each one of the kids are getting something they have NO IDEA is coming their way!! I'm super excited. I'm even going to put names on the gifts this year AND number them so they don't open a smaller gift first that gives away one of their big surprises!

I'm sure lots of people take issue with buying so many gifts or spending so much on Christmas. I don't really care. My husband works really hard all year so that we can spend like we do every Christmas. Sure, we buy stuff for the kids all year long but not like we do at Christmas. The kids may be a little spoiled but they always show appreciation and enjoy what they're given. Makes it all the more fun to give to them :-)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

It truly IS the most wonderful time of the year. Out of all the holidays, occassions, anything you can name from the day before Thanksgiving until Christmas Day is my absolute favorite!!

We're having my entire side of the family here for T'giving Dinner. I soooo wish Jerry's family could be here too. I've been a baking fool today. Made 3 kinds of cookies, a chocolate chip pie, 2 pecan pies and 2 pumpkin pies. Yum!!

I've been thinking today while things were in the oven about how much we really have to be thankful for. Besides the obvious things like being healthy and happy......

I'm thankful for my granddaughter, Maliyah. She's the apple of my eye and brings so much into our lives every day. I'm thankful that she lives closeby and I can see her often. I'm thankful that she has such wonderful parents to care for her, teach her and help her grow. I know I'll never have to be one of those grandparent's who worry that their grandchild is being mistreated or neglected.

I'm thankful for my children...now that may seem like a given but anyone who knows our kids knows how truly blessed we are in that dept. They all have their crazy quirks but they're all pleasant, funny, respectful of others, caring and kind hearted. All things I hoped they would grow up to be.

I'm thankful for our church. Jerry & I joined the Baptist Church here back in April on Easter. We were both baptized the following Sunday. We've been made to feel so welcome and accepted in that church. We have a wonderful pastor, great Sunday School class. We came to realize that life here on earth is too short to waste it on being angry at others, trying to get revenge or wanting more "stuff". We're blessed in all that we have and for that we are thankful.

I'm thankful that no matter how bad things may seem sometimes, I have the ability to look around at others and realize that things here are good. :-) Life isn't always a bed of roses but it only takes one look around to realize that it's pretty darn close. Those occasional trials only make the victory sweeter :-)

I'm thankful to live in this country and for the men who fought and still fight to keep it free. We all may complain about things here "in America" sometimes but we still live in the greatest country in the world!!

I'm thankful for the things my daddy taught me. There are some people in life who make things unpleasant. They try to take my joy. They're angry or bitter for whatever reason and try to project that on others. My daddy taught me how not to let that happen and try not to get angry at them for being that way. It's not always easy to do but I try to.

More than anything else, I'm thankful for family and laughter. Those 2 things go hand in hand to me. I have the greatest family in the world and we're so blessed to be able to find things to laugh about and to be able to spend time together. I can't imagine life without them. There are so many people in this world who have neither family nor laughter. How sad that must be.

I wish each of you a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and hope you each take time to realize just how much you have to be thankful for too!!

Mental Roller Coasters Make Me Vomit

So this has truly been one of those kinda' days.

I got an email yesterday that some news I was waiting for should be in today. I waited.....and waited.....and waited. Finally at 4:30 I called, everyone was gone for the day. GRRRR

While I was doing all that waiting, I took my grandmother to the eye doctor for 2 freakin' hours!! Now Mamaw will be 91 years old in Jan so I don't expect a lot from her but by the time we left the office, I wanted to pull my hair out. She asked me no less than 9 times what she should bring for T'giving dinner (nothing), she asked me no less than 4 times how Kaylor behaves with Maliyah (fine, he loves her dearly), she asked me at LEAST 12 times when Keith is coming home (tonight), she said 8 times (progressively louder each time) that the office was too busy today and they must be taking off the rest of the week and trying to cram everyone in today. WHEW!!!

So I take her home, and then set off to run some errands and grocery shop for my T'giving dinner. Went by Walmart but didn't buy groceries there as i had a big $$ off coupon for Food World. At Food World, they were out of 4 of the items I needed so I have to go back to Walmart tomorrow to pick those things up GRRRR

On the way home, I stopped at my grandmothers to drop off her sweet potatoes that she asked for (and told me 87 times not too little and not too big because she can't carry them if they're too big and she has to put them in the sun to dry out so when she bakes them they'll be nice and moist).

Jerry called to let me know he lost his wallet. ARGGHHHH!!! He left it in the seat of the truck at work, thinks when he went to the gym he knocked it out. He retraced all his steps and can't find it. Only had $60 cash but military ID, driver's license, work ID, gov't credit card, all that good stuff. So I called the 2 banks and cancelled his debit cards. Was on the phone for freakin' ever. 30 min later, he calls to tell me he found it. ***sigh***

So got off the phone with him and hear a weird noise in the kitchen. I go in and discover it's only the water in the fridge then I look down and see water all over the floor. CRAP! I pull the fridge out and the little clear tube that carries water has a minute hole it and it's spraying everywhere. The tube is small....and clear...and the hole is tiny so everytime I move it to try to find the hole it's spraying me in the face. I can only find scotch tape to cover it...doesn't work. Finally found the knob under the sink and just turned the water off (which, by the way I've tried to use 3 times since I shut it off).

Britt came by here and said she was going to Walmart. I gave her money and asked to pick up the items they didn't have at the grocery store. She just saved me a trip to the madhouse called Walmart tomorrow!!! She called and said they don't have the items either. Figures.

If the rest of the night will just remain status quo I'll be a happy woman :-)

Hung Out With Some Virtual Friends...and They Aren't Axe Murderers

So Britt & I belong to a message board made up of about 54 mommies who all had babies born in Oct '06. Most of us started chatting early in their pregnancy. We've gone through a lot together (yeah, even though I didn't actually have a baby). I'm the resident "Nana" on the board, the only one actually. I was the contact for many of the mommies when they went into labor or gave birth, they or their significant other called me so I could post the news right away on the board. We've been together through surgeries, baby illnesses, a couple of marriages, a break up, several moves, couple of deployments and tons more. There are mommies from all over the country, all races and religions. We have one mommy living in Germany while her hubby is stationed there. We've even agreed to pair some of the kids off in arranged marriages (relax, not really).

Anyway, a group of 4 of the mommies met a few months ago up in Chicago for a zoo trip. I missed that and was terribly sad. Then a couple of other times a couple of mommies have gotten to meet up. So far no one has turned out bad, everyone came back alive from the meetings.

In the last week I've had the pleasure of meeting 2 of the mommies/babies from the message board. One from MS (Mandy) and her husband and 2 boys. They were driving through here going to visit family and we (Britt, maliyah & I) hit up an IHOP for b'fast. We had lots of laughs, all 3 of the kids were nutty and it was great to get to finally meet Mandy after talking to each other for so long. Today we (Britt, maliyah, Amber & I) got to meet another mommy (Rayne) from Montgomery and her daughter. We had beautiful weather for walking outdoors and shopping. We had a great lunch at Macaroni Grill and had tons of fun!! We hope to meet more of our virtual friends in the near future.

Please Keep Your Under Garments On!

Ever have one of those situations in life that seriously has you sitting on pins and needles?? I have one of those right now. Not one that I'm at liberty to talk about but still.....It's like making plans but not being able to complete them because it all hinges on one thing in particular but you can't NOT make plans because that would just be silly. Crazy.

So I just got a call from my 2 oldest daughters. They spent the night in Nashville TN with my ex-step-daughter (hereinto referred to as Emily for brevity) last night. Apparently they had lots of fun. From what I understand there was some alcohol involved, Coyote Ugly (as well as every other bar in a 12 block radius), dancing on bars, body shots and talk of selling undergarments. Not sure, as the mom, I want all the sordid details on that one but I do take comfort in learning that they are all returning home with their underwear intact. From what I do understand the older daughter told the other daughter and Emily that the guy wanting is was like 50 so he was OLD and that was just gross LOL. I'm thinking I should also thank my lucky stars that the mechanical bull was out of order or I feel sure I'd have spent the wee morning hours driving to an ER in Nahsville where broken bones and head injuries were being attended.

I love being close to my daughters and they confide in me the things they do but at times while I'm in the role of "friend" the "mom" in me jumps up in my head and screams "YOU DID WHAT?!?!"

I think I may have gotten someone in trouble...

So yesterday was veteran's day. There is a clothing store in our town called Goody's clothing. They always give people with a military ID 15% off. That's really nice of them. Well, yesterday they gave military families 25% off instead. Amber and I went shopping there. At the checkout counter the young lady told us if we apply for a Goody's card we get an extra 40% off making a total of 65% off our total purchase with no exclusions (yeah, I know mathematically it shouldn't be 65% but she said it not me). Anyway, I went back and picked up several other items to purchase. Ended up getting $334 worth of merchandise for $97. How awesome is that!

We met up with Britt after her dentist appt, told her about the deal then we all went back to Goody's. She picked up tons of things too. Only the girl that checked us out was no longer there. We got to the counter to pay and Britt asked if it was still 40% off to open a credit card. The girl behind the counter said "No, it's only 25% for opening a card with 25% off with military ID but that discount excludes jeans (which Britt had 6 pair of(". I explained that we had been there earlier and were told 40%. I asked her to call the manager to make sure. The manager said I must've been mistaken, no one there would've told me that. Ummm......yah she did. I described her and told her about my earlier purchase with 65% off. She said she wasn't going to make me pay the difference but that the earlier clerk was definitely mistaken. I think when she gets to work today she's in trouble. Hope she doesn't get in too much trouble. If you're that girl.....you know who you are.....I'm sorry.

Now that I think of it, Britt had on one of her new shirts last night and I really liked it and thought about going back to Goody's today to pick up one for myself....maybe I'll wait and go later...much later.

What if Nothing is Funny.....

So if I tell myself I'm going to post and I have nothing to say.....then what? I have a headache. My mind is full of crap. Davin's boyfriend's dad died suddenly at the age of 49. No one can find his will.. He was divorced, has 2 kids that are 22 and 24. And adopted daughter estranged from teh family for 9 years has shown up wanting her part of stuff. they're fairly certain he has a will, update in the last 2-3 years. No one knows where it is, who the attorney was, nada. We've gone through every piece of paper in that house.....nothing. Anyway........my head is full of crap trying to help them figure out something.

I'm going to get a massage this morning. I need one. No, I don't work outside the home. I stay home and play with my 1 year old granddaughter all day but still....I need one. The girl that's doing it though is like a lady wrestler. She almost killed me last time. Seriously, my back hurt worse the next day than before she started :-) I'm going to have to tell her to ease up on an old lady today.

We have a birthday party to go to this afternoon. One of my ex-husband's daugher's baby. (yeah, go try to figure that one out). I've been married a few times. Well, OK 6 to be exact but who's counting?

I married Britt's dad, we stayed married 7 months and divorced after a big fancy wedding, stayed divorced 4 months then remarried (at the courthouse) for 3 years. He's remarried and we are friendly. I really like his wife. She's a great stepmom to Britt. He was a forklift operator (this is important later in the story)

I married Davin & Kaylor's dad. We had a fance ceremony (tux and fancy dress) at the courthouse. We stayed married for 5 years. He's remarried and has a son. We're friendly with them as well. Nice people (just not good enough to be my hubby). He's a mechanic.

I married a guy that I knew from work. We dated 6 weeks then got married. I was doing a 2nd job as a contract nurse for the health dept, he was doing a day shift at the police dept. We met on break at the court house and got married. He's a jerk (well, was a cop by profession). anyway, I put him most of the way through lawschool. None of us like him. We were married 5 years. He's still a jerk.

I married another guy I knew from work. We knew each other for years then he got divorced, I was divorced so we got married. We got married on the riverboat in Chattanooga TN. He had 2 girls that lived with us. We were married for 3 months then while I was at work one night, he packed his stuff and moved back in with his ex-wife. Nice. We got an anullment (so technically that one doesn't count). He was a fireman.

It's been said that I've been married to The Village People. HAA! (see that's why the occupation was important. Get it?)

Anyway the fireman's daugters and Britt and I still stay in touch. The older one is Britt's age. She's married now with 3 kids. One is a month younger than Maliyah. We get together for lunch sometimes, take the kids to the park and such. Today we're going to lanie's b'day party. HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY LANIE!!

Man, for someone with nothng to say, i sure said a lot.

Everything is For Sale.....For a Price

A little story from my previous life as an ER nurse....

I was charge nurse in the ER from 7P to 7A. We had a guy named Doyle that came in allll the freakin' time. Doyle annoyed everyone to no end. Doyle was in the ER on a particularly busy night. We had no beds so we put him in a chair in the hall. I was busy running all over and took a second out to greet a co-worker who was pulling a shift on the ambulance. He gave me a hug then went on his way. For about 1/2 hour after seeing him everytime I'd go into or out of a room or walk into the hallway Doyle would yell out to me "HEY LADY! HEY LADY!!". I responded each time with "Doyle I'm busy, go sit back down the doc will be with you shortly". An older man and his extremely hot son came to me at the desk and inquired about a patient we had seen earlier. Being single at the time I, of course, set out to impress the hot son. I put on my best ER nurse smile and said " follow me out front and I'll find out where she is for you". THey followed me out to the area where the log book was, I found the info they needed and turned to find them both looking at me with huge smiles on their faces. I thought to myself "Man.....I must be making quite an impression!! Bet he thinks I'm hot too". I pointed them in the right direction and they went on their way, the dad whispering to the son. Feeling pretty proud of myself, I trotted to the back and picked up where I left off. On my next trip in to the hall (by now about an hour since I'd greeted my friend) Doyle again called out "HEY LADY". Exasperated from the other end of the hall I yelled "Doyle, I'm busy.....what do you want?". His reply....."I was just wondering why you have a sign on your back that says "For Rent....Cheap"

As my ego slipped to the floor and under the desk, the patients within ear shot giggled, the doc and my co-workers cracked up. I set about trying to find a way to get back at my "friend".
Good times :-)

Laundry Mystery Solved

For the last year and half or so there have been 5 people living in this house. Jerry and Myself, Kaylor, Amber and Amber's fiance' Chad. Every Monday I had a mountain of laundry to do. Heck, most every day I had a mountain, some days only a hill, but still.....I have had to do laundry every single weekday for the last 18 months. On Mondays is was an allllll day thing because I chose not to keep up on weekends. Anyway.....you get the point. 2 weeks ago Amber broke off the engagement with Chad and he moved out. The following week I couldn't figure out where all the laundry went. I searched everyone's room thinking there would be dirty laundry lurking behind the doors, in the closets......nope. Nothing. I did laundry as usual on Monday. Took me 3 loads. Hmmm something's not right here. Tuesday, didn't even have enough laundry to do a whole load. Wednesday I did one load of laundry. Thursday when I had virtually no laundry to do it hit me like a bolt out of the blue....CHAD. He was missing and so was his dirty laundry. You wouldn't think one person would make that much difference but when I thought about it, he took a shower before work and put on clean clothes, of course. He took a change of clothes with him to take to the gym. He changed at the gym, came home afterwards, took another shower and put on clean clothes. Before bed he'd take yet another shower. Ahhh....mystery solved.

Now, while I have to find something else to count (see OCD blog) I can at least vouch for Chad's cleanliness if the need should ever arise.

A Fun Day........or Not

So it's happening already. A monkey wrench in the works, a kink in my plan, a bump in the road, call it what you will. I don't get to blog a bunch today. I'm going to an auction in Atlanta with Brittany today. I've been going to these auctions since 2001. This is Britt's first time. Jerry & I used to go with my mother, brother Jeff and his wife, Lynn. We used to have tons of fun at these things. Then my brother and his wife stopped going so often, Jerry started a new job so now I go with my mom. Someday when I write more about my mom you'll understand this better but my mom managed to take alllll the fun out of going. I'm not sure how she does it but she has a talent for doing that. At any rate, it's to the point now that I dread going. I get grumpy for 2 days before I know I have to go. So, why don't I stop going, you may ask......again, you'd have to know my mother. My telling her I'm not going any more would be akin to telling her I'd decided to no longer wear clothes. It would just not be pretty (her reaction, silly, not me with no clothes....well, OK that too). I'm hoping it'll be more fun since it's Britt & I going. We usually have a good time wherever we are.

After reading some of Dawn's blog last night, I started noticing that I, too, start lots of my posts, sentences, stories with the word "so". Not sure why, it just sounds right so I'm making no attempt to stop doing it.

It's freakin' freezing (I also use the word freakin' a lot) here this morning so I'm out to warm up the car.
XOXO

Sippy Cup Battles

Maliyah had her one year doctor appt on Oct 8th. Dr Snell told Britt it was time to get rid of the bottle and move on to sippy cups. Britt & Maliyah went cold turkey! It was awesome. For 2 whole days she used her playtex sippy cup (stage 2) and all was well with the world. Day 3 rolled around and Maliyah rebelled! No more sippy cup for her. She'd just do without any liquids at all rather than drink from a sippy cup. Day 4 we were getting deperate to get liquids in her. We used straws to pour some in her mouth, let he drink from our cups, whatever we could do. We had Avent sippy cups, Nuby sippy cups, Playtex Sippy cups, Baby Einstein sippy cups, Cups with and without valves. Cups with and without handles. At one point Britt lined up 6 cups with milk in them and let her try each one. She refused them all.

Last Saturday we were at Babies R Us. Britt found a new kind of sippy cup. A Nuby sport sipster. It has a straw like top but you have to turn it up to drink from it. She bought one to try. We went to lunch at Outback Steakhouse. Britt gave her the cup and low and behold.....she liked it!!! We went back to BRU and bought 3 more. Yesterday she drank out of it and got mad when I took it away!

The sippy cup wars may be over........we hope!

I have OCD

Yes, the rumors are true. I have OCD. Not the kind you read about in psychology textbooks where people interrupt their day because they are compelled to wash their hands 72 times. Not the kind where I can't function. I guess I have functional OCD. i can carry on with my normal activites of daily living just with a few quirks.

I count my laundry. I count items of clothing as I put them in the washer then count backwards as they go from the washer to the dryer then backwards again as I fold then forwards again as I put them away.

I count steps as I go up or down then backwards when going back up or down them.

I can't stand for a drawer or cabinet door to not be completely closed. I've put laundry way and almost closed a drawer all the way, tried to walk away and couldn't do it. They HAVE to be completely closed. Jerry left to go to Keith's one day. I went into the kitchen and found every cabinet door and drawer opened. Funny man :-)

I hate walking in a circle. If I'm at the bed and turn to go to the closet to put something away, I have to turn and go back the same way. If I go in a complete cirlce I have to turn and go the other way to "unwind".

I have a list over every bill we have to pay every month, how much it is and when it's due. Not so bad. But then i also have a page where every bill is listed according to which pay check it comes from. Each bill also has it's own seperate page where the payments are marked off and dated. I look at our accounts online every single day to be sure I don't miss something. I hope when I die, my family appreciates my hard work ;-)

I have a file in my file cabinet labeled "Stuff You'll Need if I Die". One of the things inside is my obituary. yes, I wrote my own obituary. Of course, the family is free to change it if they want, I was just afraid they'd leave something out.

You never really realize how strange you are until you see it in writing :-).

Boob Jobs and Bras

So you get a boob job. You tell the plastic surgeon what size you want to be and then you are. That's pretty much the size you'll stay. Your boobs will stay where they belong now. They won't succumb to gravity. You'll be a 90 year old with perky boobs (well, assuming you live to be 90). When you die and they lay you in the coffin your boobs won't end up in your arm pits. People will come to pay their respects and say "awww, look, her boobs still look nice". Those things are all true and wonderful. Now some will say, though, that once you have a boob job, you know what size you are and you can buy any bra you want in that size and voila! it fits. That's a lie and anyone who says it is a big fat liar! Before my surgery I could only find one style of bra that fit. It was a 34.00 bra from Victoria's Secret. Pricey but worth it because it could undo the effects of time and gravity. $7700.00 and painful surgery later, I've tried on every bra known to man....the only one that fits well is a 45.00 bra from Victoria's Secret. How is that fair?

Recovering Shopaholic

OK so totally not trying to recover :-) I used to go to the mall almost every day...seriously, 3-4 times weekly. That's harder to do now with a baby in tow. I hate staying home though. You can only clean and do laundry so many times (OK so I have a housekeeper, takes care of the cleaning part) a day. I compensate now by going to lunch with the girls 3-4 times a week. Usually just the girls because Kaylor is a night owl and prefers to sleep till at least noon. He's homeschooled so that works well for him :-)

Anyway, we found that we were spending 20 min trying to decide where to go or arguing over who had to choose last time. We devised a plan....We wrote the names of the 25 places we eat on slips of paper, folded them and put them in a bag. We choose a restaurant and that's where we have lunch! The first day we put the plan into action, Britt didn't want to go to the chosen restaurant so she vetoed it. We decided then we could each have one veto a day. The next restaurant chosen was good with us all so we go there only to find out they're not open for lunch :-( Was the plan really gong to work? We just went to a place close by and decided to try again the next day. Since then the plan has worked great! We ended only going to each one like once a month and the choice gets made quickly!! Awesome! Today we're having barbeque!!

As for the shopping, I still freakin' love to shop! I'm obsessed with Coach purses and shoes of all kinds. I love love love to shop for the kids and Jerry. Now that it's almost time for Christmas shopping (I can't officially start until the day after Thanksgiving) I'm all in a tizzy about it! I can't wait!!!!!!!!

I give each of the kids a Christmas list to fill out, due back to me by Thanksgiving. Everyone has to have the same number of gifts. I'm OCD like that. I still like to play "Santa". Every year all the kids would stay here Chrismas eve night so Santa could come. Every gift was wrapped and under the tree. Christmas morning everyone would open a gift and then figure out to whom it belonged because I didn't put names on anything! It was awesome!

Christmas was always nuts around here for 2 days because of tradition. Christmas eve was at my grandmother's house with my extended family. Then the kids would exchange gifts here. Christmas morning was Santa at like 4 AM then breakfast here with my mom and grandmother. Then at 10 we go to my mom's to let he do "santa" too. Back to my grandmother's for Christmas dinner then the kids would go to their dads or their significant other's family and everyone would be exhausted by 3 or 4 Christmas day. Tradition will change this year. Hopefully for the better. Christmas eve still at my grandmothers (she'll be 92 in Jan so who knows how much longer we'll get to have that tradition) then here for the kids to exchange gifts with each other. Britt, Keith and Maliyah will stay at their own home this year but the rest of the kids will be here. When Maliyah wakes up (usually around 7:30) we'll all go there to be with her to open her gifts from Santa. We'll cook breakfast there then still go to my mom's around 10. All the kids will come here then for 'santa' about 5 Christmas afternoon. Hopefully everyone won't be exhausted because we won't have to get up at 4 inthe morning to cram everything in. I think instead of cooking a full meal though we'll do finger foods and desserts though.

I HEART CHRISTMAS!!!

OK enough of the past......I think I've just decided all my posts now are going to be about the present and the future. Unless, of course, I think of something I just HAVE to share. :-)

The baby arrives!

Yeah, it's been a year now. Time for reflection and remembering. The whole time Britt was pregnant the girls and I spent almost every Sat together (still do). We'd get massages then go shopping. We'd hit every maternity shop and baby clothing dept we could find. We traveled all over for shopping. We had a blast. Then on Sat nights we'd all meet at the house with the whole family for family night. We'd throw steaks or burgers on the grill then play board or card games. Towards the end of Britt's pregnancy she took off work. She and I started going to the mall and walking every day. Trying to get the baby to come on out! We'd walk the mall, walk the track at the park, anything we could do.

On Sept 30th, we had the same plan, went shopping, ate dinner here, played Uno for a while. Since Britt was due Oct 1st, when they left at 9:30 I reminded her she'd go into labor the next day. At 1AM the phone rang. It was Britt. She'd started having pains about 10 and was now ready to go to the hossy. She asked if I wanted to wait at home until they found out something. Apparently she was delirious. There was no way I was missing one second of this!! I ran around the house grabbing camera, video camera, waking everyone up along the way. Grabbed shirts I had made for the kids (Ambers and Davin's each said "No, I'm the best aunt" on the back, Kaylor's said "But I'm the only uncle", even though he's not he's the only one that was there). We jumped in the car and headed the 1/4 mile to Britt's house to find her pacing the floor and Keith leisurely getting dressed. At the hospital, she was dilated 2 cm so they kept her. My friend Diane, was working L&D, thankfully. Britt got some pain meds, hooked up to monitors and we waited.....and waited.....and waited. Lots of folks came in. By the time Maliyah decided to make an appearance everyone and their brother were there. I was getting delerious from lack of sleep. I was starving but didn't want to leave. We sent Davin and Amber out for food and had a picnic in the waiting room....all 15 of us :-) Finally at around 5 or 5:30 Sun afternoon she was fully dilated and ready to push. The nurse, Pam Farley and Dr Christenberry were all great about letting everyone Britt wanted stay in the room. keith was there, of course. Me, Britt's stepmom, Davin, Amber and Britt's best friend, Leigh. At 6 PM Maliyah Rayne decided to show up, ripping and tearing her way out at a wiggly 7 pounds 6 ounces and 21 inches long.

In the last year she's grow up sooo much. She has a wonderful personality. She loves people, loves to wave and throw kisses. She's been walking a while now. Keeps me on my toes for sure :-) We have a chihuahua and a Westie. She loves the dogs and is very gentle with them. She loves the Wiggles, Barney and Baby Einstein. She's a very good eater (finally!!). Still doesn't talk much, Momma, Dada, Look, Dog. That's about it. She has her daddy and her pop wrapped around her little finger. She's so amazing and full of wonder and curiosity. I never thought I could love a child as much as I loved my babies but guess what.....I do :-)

I love you Maliyah!
XOXO

OK......I admit it..........

I LEFT MY SON AT THE MALL...........FORGOT HIM!

Britt & Keith had been trying for a while to have a child. After going to a fertility clinic for a couple of years, they had started looking into adoption. One Thurs in late Jan, it was the 19th I think, I was Britt's house and she was showing me some adoption literature she had rec'd in the mail that day. The folliwng Mon Jan 23rd Britt called and asked if we wanted to go out to dinner. I had a doctor's appt at 4:45 but figured I'd be out in time to make it. She even wanted me to call Jerry to see if he could meet us at the restaurant. She asked my mom to go, Amber, Davin and their respective boyfriends at the time, and Kaylor. I knew something was up. Could she be pregnant? No way, she had just looked at adoption literature 4 days earlier. That was it, they were going to announce that they had decided to adopt. How exciting!! I was so happy for them.

So halfway through dinner Keith says "Do y'all want the good news or the bad news? The bad news is someone has to pay for dinner. There is no good news". So I sat there waiting...and waiting...and waiting. Finally Britt couldn't take it anymore and said "Ok I can't stand it, mom you're going to be a grandmother". After spitting out my mouth full of tea, I screamed. Everyone in Logan's steakhouse looked at me like I was nuts but I didn't care. I WAS GOING TO BE A GRANDMOTHER!!!!!! Sweetest words I've ever heard (well besides "You're going to be a mom") Turns out that at Britt's appt at the fertility clinic that day, her pregnancy test as positive. I couldn't eat. i was waaayyyy too exicited! I was ready to shop (yah, I always want to shop but really really wanted to then). As soon as we were done Britt, kaylor and I headed to the mall. We parted ways with Kaylor at the door and told him we wouldn't be there long...it was already almost 8 PM. We hit Gap, Belks, Parisians and cleared out the baby depts of every cute outfit we could find, boy or girl (figured we're return whichever we didn't need later). Still chattering away, I dropped Britt off at home, went to our house and showed Jerry & Amber the cute things we had bought. After about 20 min Jerry said "Where's Kaylor?" OMG.........I HAD LEFT MY SON AT THE MALL!!!!! I jumped in the car, called his cell phone and said "Where are you?" He said "I'm outside the closed mall, where are YOU??" Yah, he still reminds me of that to this day, usually when he wants something :-)

Sooooo.....

Brittany goes to school full time, hoping to graduate in '10 with a BS in nursing. I watch Maliyah during the day while she's at school. I love spending time with her and watching her grow. She loves putting things in and taking them out of anything...everything. Amber gave her a small purse to put things in. Her current favorite thing to do while she's here is carry the purse around, put the strap over her head then scream like a wild banshee until I remove it for her. Then she promptly repeats the process. Fun game. :-)

I was extremely proud when our oldest daughters decided to become nurses. Following in my footsteps? Not so sure that's why they did it, but we're proud of them nonetheless. I went to LPN school, graduating in 1985. I then went on to get my RN degree in 1987. I worked one year in general med surg, diabetic, psychiatric nursing then in 1988 found my true calling. I was an ER nurse at the 3rd busiest ER in the state until I retired in '01. I loved the people I worked with, I loved the docs (well, most of them) and loved my job. It's wonderful to get paid well to do something you truly love doing! I have soooo soooo many stories from my life in the ER. Some super funny, some super sad but all more posts for another day.

Guess I'll post more later. Maliyah has found a new game of closing the front door and squishing the dog with it. The dog's not enjoying it so much so I'll go rescue her.

My Very First Blog.....EVER

So I've decided to start a blog. Everyone does it, right? I figured I may as well jump on the band wagon.

I guess for starters I'll write about us...as in my family. No one may ever read this but me, however, in case I ever forget who we are, I'll have written verification i guess. My name is Lisa (Nana to most). I'm 46 and I'm probably the most happily married woman in the world. My husband's name is Jerry (he's 47 and HOT). We have a total of 5 kids...this is where is could get confusing for some so try to keep up. The oldest is Brittany (she's mine). Britt just turned 25. She's married to a really wonderful guy named Keith. They are parents to our one and only grandchild. Maliyah is the light of my life. She just turned one on Oct 1st. The child puts a smile on my face every single day. She's the most beautiful, smartest, cutest, funniest baby EVER (of course I'm not biased!). Next in line for the throne (oh I shudder at that thought, you would too if you knew him) is William. Will belongs to Jerry. We love Will but he's sort of the "black sheep" of our younger generation (I say of the younger generation for reasons that may never become known to any of you LOL). Right now he's in Korea until the Army makes him leave (should be any day now). He plans to come home to live with a girl he dated before. He broke up with her in '05 because she cheated on him while he was in basic training. She just gave birth to a baby. The daddy is the guy she cheated on Will with. ANYWAY..... the next child in the heirarchy is Amber. She belongs to Jerry. She just turned 23. She's beautiful and single :-) She lives with us. She and Britt are going to college together to become RN's. Next on the list is Davin. She's my baby girl. She's 20. We tell her we keep her around for comic relief. She's beautiful and freakin' hilarious! She's in a breakup process so she'll be single soon too (we hope, not that we don't l ike Carl but well.....). Finally the baby of the group is Kaylor. He's the freaky one :-) He's into Insane Clown Posse and wants a tattoo so bad he can't stand it. He'll be 18 in 4 more days. I cringe when I think about what he'll do then :-). He, too lives with us, in a room painted black and white, covered in graffiti left by friends. Strange but true. Someday when I'm brave enough to go in there I'll post some pics of his room. It's very unique.

So now that I've started writing several things come to mind to write about. I'll proably be posting several times a day if time allows. At least for a week or so :-) Then I'll probably forget to write, then once I do remember, I won't remember where my blog is, then if I find it I'll probably forget my log on info. We'll see.

Remember there is always always always something to be thankful for.
XOXO