Turkey Day Recap

I hope you all had a great turkey day and holiday weekend! We had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday. I took some time off blogging and picture taking {neither on purpose, just happenstance.}


Even though I didn't take many pictures of our actual turkey day, here are some cute ones of T with the turkey hat everyone I know pinned on Pinterest. As soon as I saw it I had to go to Etsy and buy it!









We ate a ton of food and shared many laughs. Timothy ate and ate and then ate some more! I'm not sure I've ever seen him eat so much!

On the health front, his RAD is flaring up really bad. It's sort of odd though because just last week, Megan and I talked about a RAD and how to treat it. Then, boom.. His gets really bad-- all the sudden. I think each year we will be better prepared to deal with it, and get T well each year!

We also got all our Christmas decorations out and up last night when we got home! I felt so accomplished and proud of us for getting everything on the inside complete. BTB still has the outside to finish, but we are plugging along! Pictures to come! Do y'all have yours up, yet?

What The Lord Has Laid on my Heart

I love Christmas. But I R-E-A-L-L-Y love Thanksgiving. You may think I'm crazy, but here's why: Thanksgiving is still pure. It is a holiday that asks us to remember for what we are Thankful. Plus, it is a holiday which surrounds itself around amazing food! And, frankly--I lurrve me some food! :)

{not so much the WTF part, but I love this sign!}

What does all this have to do with God laying something on my little heart?!? Everything. As we all get ready to gather around tables, stuff our faces and say our thankful moments for the year; I've been reflecting on how blessed my life is.




Honestly, my little family and I want for absolutely NOTHING! If T needs or wants something--we buy it. If we want or need something for ourselves or each other--we buy it. I'm not saying this to make you think we have a pool of money we swim in, but we work hard and are able to treat ourselves because of it.




The last few weeks the more I thought about Christmas and what I may want or need-- there isn't really anything coming to mind. God spoke to me and told me that I needed to use my ability to shop to help others.

So the other night as BTB and I watched tv, I told him what God placed on my heart. I am using my Christmas funds from BTB to adopt a couple of children to buy Christmas for, this year. I told BTB he could get me a couple things, but nothing big. I just don't need it.

Of course--we will buy for Tbird. But I also want to spoil some children that aren't as fortunate as our family. I just think Christmas should focus on God, what he has given us, how we can bring others to Christ and how we can be a Christian example to others. What better way to do those things than to help children have a special Christmas.

I realize this approach may be crazy to some of you. I'm not judging you if you've made a list a mile long for your friends and family. Because most years, I do too. This year though-- God has different plans for me!

Who Needs Two Good Ankles With a Toddler?

I had a scheduled post all pretty and ready to go off this morning. But then--this happened as I was taking Tbird into daycare.

Yep. I totally fell and twisted my ankle! I was letting T walk, and I was holding his hand--so I luckily didn't take him down with me. But I was preoccupied trying to make sure I got him to the door without being hit by cars pulling in, I hit this place where the pavement isn't even-- and boom, hurt ankle!

A couple, who has a  daughter in T's class scooped him up for me and carried him in, and I hobbled behind. They were so nice and I am so thankful that they were there!

I went to the nurse at work and she wrapped it and told me to elevate for a while, see how it feels and if it still hurts to get my dad to xray it. Because ankles were tricky and its hard to tell with them how serious the injury is. She then tried to give me crutches. Which-- I promptly refused. I can put weight on it. It hurts like no tomorrow, but I can put weight on it. So, here I am-- foot propped up, praying the pain goes away soon and I will be fine with Tbird this weekend.

Hope yall are having a better start to your Friday than me! :)

This is the picture I sent to BTB after it happened! ha!

World Prematurity Day

Today is World Prematurity Day. If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time you know that this is a cause near and dear to my heart!

Our sweet Timothy is a NICU/Preemie graduate! When he came nearly 8 weeks early, our lives and style of parenting were instantly adjusted. I spent every moment I could T and some days it still wasn’t enough for my heart. I watched as he fought the greatest fight of his life and prayed he would survive.

 I hope that World Prematurity Day will remind folks that 1-8 babies are born early. Not all are born to women who smoke, drink, do drugs or are teenagers. Every day, moms like me, deliver babies too early because of health complications that could kill them. Or Preterm contractions that cannot be stopped.

I have found so many mom blogs out there with preemie babes. It is so nice to have a network of women who are going through the same things we are. The hours of therapy, types of therapy, feeding issues, weight gain/loss and trying to decide whether something is happening because your child is preemie or is it normal?!? It is so hard to determine, and with all of us working together--we’ve been strong resources for one another.

 We are going to be the ambassador family for our areas MoD, March for Babies this year, and we are so excited about it! If you don’t know much about Prematurity and want to know more, check out the MoD web site or ask any of us mommy’s we will help educate you!

Thanks for taking the time to read this post!

How to Win the Trophy

In my futile attempt at winning that shiny, unattainable Mom of the Year trophy-- I made mini donuts for Tbirds class today!  I made cinnamon and glazed! Then, in an attempt to make my co-worker love me even more than they do, { I know, impossible!} I brought the rest in for them!

 I originally got the idea from my sweet blog friend, Meredith. She was showing off her super cute donuts on Twitter and of course I had to know how she made them! She opened my eyes to one of the best inventions—EVA! The Babycakes! If you don’t have one go buy one.. like yesterday! I am so proud of my little donuts! And everyone at work really liked them too! Hopefully the kiddies in Tbirds class will like them because let’s face it, if you can’t please a toddler, you are pleasing no one! {Please hear my sarcasm in that statement}

And I needed to make the donuts to redeem myself from yet another epic mom fail. I forgot to take Tbirds kindermat for two days. I have no idea what my child has been sleeping on or why they didn’t remind me.. but either way, MOM FAIL! Hopefully the donuts will help me redeem myself in some way!

Hope everyone has a fantastic Wesdnesday! {So almost typed Monday.. YIKES!} Here is a little picture of T from this morning. I was trying to show off his super cute turkey.. but he was not a fan of the mommy paparazzi!

This is the best I could do! :)

Worry Wart

Over the last few months I’ve had a tough time trusting God’s plan for me and knowing I need to let go of trying to control things. Then, Megan’s post the other night brought it to the forefront of my thoughts again.

I’ve been really convicted to stop worrying over things. Worrying over things shows a lack of faith in God. And I really do not want to do that. Because I have faith in him. But sometimes I have this overwhelming urge to worry. Is this a woman thing? I worry about decisions I make regarding Timothy. I worry that we will get in a wreck and be hurt. I worry about getting some rare form of cancer and not getting to see my child grow up or grow old with my husband. I WORRY. And sometimes I worry myself to tears! Why? Why do I make myself crazy with fear when I am a child of God? And as his child, He’s Got This!

 I’ve got to let go! I forced myself a week ago to let go of something I was worried about. I felt so free. I just turned it all over to God. I’m not sure how I did it. But here I am a week later worried about something else and I am trying to let it go, but still have that tight feeling of worry in my chest. Where last week I was free from it. I want to always be free from the worry and fear because my life is so much healthier that way. But, alas—here I am sitting almost one week to the day, worried.

If you have an extra minute in your prayers, please tack me on. I want to have faith in God’s plan for me. I want to be a faithful servant to him and to my family. And I can be neither if I am carrying all this worry, fear, doubt and uncertainty with me-- day in and day out.  I know that this prayer request is nothing in the scheme of what some people are going through in their lives right at this very second. But for me, it is a personal “hell” {pun-- clearly intended} I am trying to kick.     

Good Grief, Mondays!!

So in honor of today being Monday and me being just a tad bitter about that, here are a few things that are really annoying me right now…

Timothy loves Diego or De-dough in Tbird toddler speak. That is not the annoying part. The annoying part is when Diego is affectionate with a animal. He always  says, “aww”. This seriously makes my skin crawl! I really do not know what to do with myself when I hear him do it. Please do not expect me to tell you why this gets to me so bad--because I have no reasonable explanation for it- IT JUST DOES. The rest of the cartoon is completely fine for me. I even sing along with Tbird when the credits roll… Go Diego, GO!

 People who sit at a right hand turn on red and just sit there. It tears my nerves up! Why are you still sitting there? Are you waiting on traffic to come? Typically it will be a older person and I feel bad honking. But sometimes, if I have waited a long time, I will honk my horn and look around like I am trying to figure out who did it! Bahaha!

And my third and final complaint… Are these stinking Mondays. Why do they come so quickly? I feel like the time span between Friday and Monday is nonexistent! And I love spending time with my family and friends and Friday –Monday is typically it.

 Ok, I am tired of hearing me complain so here are few things I am thankful for..

 My hubby, son and parents. They are my world. Every day I wake up loving each of them more. Just as I think my heart can’t get more full with love for them, I wake up the next day with more love! God has blessed me with an incredible family.

 My BFF, Heth.. I feel like I am so lucky to have my best friend living all of ten minutes from me! And it’s not like we have been best friends for 5 or 6 years or anything, (which if you and yours have been, there’s nothing wrong with that) but Heth and I have been BFF’s over 15 years! And, you can’t beat that.. not even with a stick. And in “girl drama world” that is like 4 lifetimes! I actually went by her house last week just to borrow two cans of chicken broth. We decided then, the 10 minutes were too much we needed to be closer! But that is just how we roll! I just love the girl!  

 My J.O.B. I saw a woman standing on the street corner with her young son last week with a sign that said: Single Mom. No Job. No Money.  And she was standing there with tears rolling down her face, uncontrollably. My heart ached for her situation and how she must feel. Again, God has blessed me with a job and a way to help provide for my family. So many people are out of work right now and can’t even put food on the table for  their family.

 Anyway,  as a human we complain. Things get on our nerves. But we have to put things in prospective and realize, life is good!

Tailgating with Tommy..The Turkey

Since Thanksgivings a couple weeks away, we thought ole Tom should make an appearance at the game! Hope y'all enjoy some football today! Go Tigers!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday all!

 Last night as I cleaned the kitchen and made Tbirds lunch I brought my iPad in to listen to some music and I have a new song I am totally loving!!

Of course while it was playing I was so “white girl” dancing in my pajamas! I probably looked way less coordinated than this, but this is how I wish I looked:

Do yall kitchen dance or house dance? I love it! Sometimes I make BTB do it with me. But typically he will just stand there and I will dance around him. He can’t keep up with my mad dance skills! He will slow dance with me though.

 While I was getting everything ready for today and the weekend, BTB was busy ironing some clothes for today. Once I finished I grabbed a glass of milk and sat on our island/bar and talked to hubs. Just us. About life. I thought to myself, this is real life. This is what real life couples have to do to spend time together and feel connected. It doesn’t have to be over an expensive dinner for two, just a few pair of wrinkled pants and glass of milk.

Then, I started thinking how I wished Tiffiney was there right then—hiding, taking pictures of us. The real us. How much would cost me to make you my personal paparazzi, Tiff? You know, just show up places and take pictures of my fam? Until that day comes, I guess I will just treasure my memories in my head and remember them many years from now when I read my blog.

 We are so ready to see the Tigers play tomorrow! We are going to celebrate BTB and our friend Christian’s birthday tomorrow too! And our other friends are having a tailgate baby shower  tomorrow! So, that will be loads of fun as well! Tbird will be with his Nana and Papa getting spoiled rotten!

What are yall doing this weekend? Anything exciting?

Are You Ready For Some Random?

Happy Wednesday Friends!

 Let me start out by telling y’all this going to be a total hodge-podge of nonsense! I have tons of thoughts swirling in head and this is sounding board!

 First of all, I have tons of great pictures on my “good camera” of Halloween and our adventure with Megan and E over the weekend.. But I am being super lazy about putting them on my computer.

 Speaking of pictures with your “good camera”.. Do y’all print out a lot of your “good camera” pictures? Heth and I were discussing this the other day and I have yet to print out a picture from my camera. Isn’t that crazy?!? I love looking at them on the computer and sharing them with people.. But none have been printed. I think I need to do it! But I think I am going to do one of those digital scrapbooks. They are so cool!

Coffee creamers. Do they not make life/work a little better. When I sit down at my desk every day and take that first sip of yummy goodness I poured in my cup, I just know that I can get through the day! {One cup at a time!}

Meal Planning and Preparing. I am a huge advocate for meal planning and prep. I was educating a newlywed in my office just the other day on how we run our meals, grocery shopping and cooking. Here’s how it works for us: I shop on Sunday afternoons. I know you don’t get all the best coupons, but that is the day that works for our lives. I make out a list of the meals and ingredients we need plus any another items we need and meal plan for Tbird. I then go home and cook, par-cook and or prep for the entire week. I find that I can save a lot of room in my tiny pantry and two refrigerators, if I just do it all at once and not have to put away all those random ingredients. Here’s what we are eating this week:

 Monday: Marlboro Man Sandwiches {P-Dubb rocks world as always!}

Tuesday: Jalapeno Popper Chicken and Cheesy Potato Casserole {Pinterest, thank you!}

Wednesday: Chili and Cornbread Muffins {My own blended recipe of chili awesomeness}

Thursday: Lasagna Soup and Parmesan Bread {Again, Pinterest, thank you!}

Friday: Out to dinner with friends

Saturday: Tailgate Food

Sunday: Smorgasbord of leftovers {And cooking for next week!}

Well, like I told y’all last week, Timothy was going to be a duck for trick-o-treating.. Here, finally are a few pictures. Now, these aren’t the super awesome ones from my camera.. but hopefully they will feed the need to see Timothy the Duck! Hope y’all had a great time with my randomness and have a fantastic hump day!

Happy Birthday, BTB!

Hope you all have been having a great week so far!
Today is a very special day for someone very special to me. My husband! Today is his birthday! 30-some-odd years ago {no worries BTB, I won’t completely rat out how OLD you are} my wonderful sweet hubs was born.   And from that moment until the moment we met-- I know God was preparing him for me!  

BTB is a Godly man, a wonderful husband and a fantastic father. {All in that order!} He takes care of our family so well. From being our spiritual head of house {like God commands him to be} to changing dirty diapers with what we call “goat pellets” in it.  The man even vacuums and does our laundry! Both because he hates the way I do them, but that is neither here nor there.

I look back over our 8 years together and can’t imagine being with anyone else. We both value our marriage and what that means {hello, 70 day marriages?!?} We may not always agree with one another, but neither one of us are ok with fighting for days over anything. He is more strong-willed than I, but that balance is what works between us.

I love him more today than any day before. And I look at his grandparents, married 58 years—and can’t wait to married that long. Last night on the news they did a story on Billy Graham and his 92 birthday. His son told the interviewer that he firmly believes his father loves his mother {whom died in 2007} more today than any other day. That when she was sick, they would sit and stare at one another, not saying a word.. but when you walked into the room, you felt like you were interrupting an intimate moment. THAT is LOVE. 

So, today I wanted to be all lovey dovey and dedicate my post to my hubby. Who may or may not even read this post for weeks. {Ha!}