Request Granted

Per a reader's request, I am posting one of Annie's pictures and one of my old pictures for comparison ... please bear in mind that my picture is about 32 years old and is a teensy bit "snowy"...

TGIF

Our morning with sunglasses and a picture of me at about the same age Annie is right now ... we're off to do errands!

Kapeekapeekapee

Ok, if anyone sees Anthony don't tell him I let Annie even HOLD my phone, ok? Here's how Annie's latest phone "conversation" went:

"Oh, kapeekapeekapee." (Note: pronounced kuh-pee-kuh-pee-kuh-pee and no clue where it came from or what it means.)

"Tractor."

"Kapeekapeekapee, watching the Rocket."

"Mommy cooking." (actually cutting up stuff for tacos, but if that qualifies as cooking, even in a pretend conversation, that is more than fine by me.)

"M-a-a-a-a-a-ar-y."

"Mommy's car."

"Kay-Kay and Pa."

"Kapeekapeekapee."

"Uh-huh, Mickey shirt."

"Kapeekapeekapee."

And there you have it, folks, the musings of a little tiny genius ...

*** MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS: TERI, MY BEST FRIEND, AND HER HUSBAND, DWAYNE, HAD THEIR BABY YESTERDAY ... THAT WOULD BE DARBY (MIDDLE NAME STILL IN DISCUSSION) SMITH ... SHE'LL BE JOINING BIG SISTERS, KINSEY AND ABBY ... WELCOME TO THE WORLD, BABY GIRL ***

Clippy Things and Beyond

Just some random pictures from the last two days ... yes, we did go in our child's bedroom to terrify her by taking pictures of her while she was going to sleep ... such bad parents, aren't we?? The third picture is probably the one we're most proud of because check Annie out: she's wearing barrettes!! (or however you spell the word ... just seems better than "those-clippy-things-that-hold-your-hair-back") We're so proud of her, even if she only wore them for 37 seconds ...

Any Given Saturday

has been somewhat of a wild weekend ... ok, that's not quite true ... just Saturday was a little crazy ... first the girls went to the vet for their annual shots/check-ups and got a very clean bill of health ... then Anthony brought them home, and somewhere in the excitement and the overzealous playing Mary got a pretty bad cut on her ear ... first we tried a band-aid and bandage (BAD idea because WOW do those band-aids rip the fur right off) then graduated to a fluorescent green bandage wrapped around her entire head so she couldn't shake it off ... Annie, of course, was very concerned about sweet Mary and stayed close by her ...

In the middle of all this hoopla, Hopie went for her grooming appointment and returned with green bows in her hair ... when all was well we moved outside to enjoy the evening and Annie "got sun" on the raft even though it was on the deck because the pool's being cleaned (you can see her newly polished toenails, though)... the entire day was topped off by a visit from our family hummingbird ... All in all, a fairly normal day by our standards!

All Creatures Great and Small

Weekend at the Barclays'

Ok, finally the pictures from all the fun of this past weekend ... Pictured are Anthony's parents, his brother, James, and our sister-in-law, Meg along with their kids Emma and Baby Ethan (Annie's name for him) and of course, Anthony and Annie. Enjoy!

Absence of the Chaos

Oh, it has been one super-long week. Throw in a still-recovering-from-surgery mom and a two-year-and-some-months-old toddler, and there you go. What exactly did I expect except sheer exhaustion by the end of the week?

Also, this weekend my entire family is in Columbus ... make that entire family on both sides, as in Anthony's family is in town for our niece, Emma's, birthday party, and my family is in town for a wedding. We decided awhile ago that since this was my first week back "on the job" as stay-at-home mom/slave, I'd stay here and just hang out instead of making the trek with Anthony and Annie to Columbus, attending the birthday party, the wedding, and then returning back to Nashville. It seemed so logical at the time and as the week came to a close, even a tiny bit welcome. I could sleep in, rest, sleep, rest ...

Wow, I could not have been more wrong. This has easily been the longest, loneliest weekend EVER. I miss my family, and I miss Annie so much I can hardly stand it. The child is somehow cutting more teeth and has been about as predictable as hurricane season the last few days, but still. Good grief, every time Annie and I are in the pool I have this little thought of wishing I could just once have all that water to myself, and so today I did. And guess what? Not so much fun. Nope, once you have a child, I think you somehow intrinsically become used to the constant chaos.

Honestly? I can't wait for that chaos to get home tomorrow. And I'm including Anthony in that mix.

Our Day (so far!) In Pictures