Another LOOOOONG gap!

Once again, life has kept me busy! Clearly too busy to update my blog ;) Since last post, I have joined the Pearl River Roller Derby, and I LOVE it!! I'm not a very good skater (having not skated since I was 8-9 years old), but I am very determined, and sticking with it!! My derby name is Sookie SMACKhouse (a play on the character Sookie Stackhouse from the series True Blood), and my number is 311. It is an extremely compelling, full-contact sport that allows women to be aggressive and strong while still being feminine.

The kids are doing WONDERFUL!! Tallon is 3 years, 3 months (and getting bad as HELL!), and my Meadow is almost 10 months old. I just can't believe she'll be 1 soon. This past year has just flown by much too fast!!

My 25th birthday was yesterday, and for some reason 25 just seems OLD! The first birthday ever that I felt that way.

Josh is doing great. Still at his job @ AGT, and liking it much more than before. He just got his annual raise, which is awesome.

There's much more to update on, but I'm pretty sleepy, so I'll try to spare a few minutes to update more tomorrow!!

Til next time...

Much Love,

Winter aka Sookie ;)

More catching up (with pictures!)

Well, my baby girl is getting Christened Sunday!! I'm very excited. Tomorrow we're going to get the food, and try to find a white shirt for Tallon to wear (we're all going to wear white so that we can take a fam picture in all white). Then Saturday we're going to pick up my sister at the airport and pick up the cake from Paul's Pastry. Then the blessed day!!

I'm so excited to get my sister. I haven't seen her in 2 years! I do wish I could see my neices and nephews, but I guess I'll settle for just her :o) I'm just so ready for tomorrow to hurry and get here! So much to do, and so anxious to get started!!!

Above are some pictures from over the months that I've missed being on here!!!

Lots to catch up on!!!

My Goodness! I will have to agree with my friend Callie (on her blogspot) that I am reminded each time I get on here how little time I have for stuff like this!! Since my last post, I have pulled Tallon and Meadow from their daycare. Tallon loved his class, but Meadow was having a pretty tough time, and I didn't care very much for her caregiver, so I pulled them both.

Josh's knee got hurt on the job, and he had surgery, so he was able to stay home with them for a few weeks. Ever since then my sister in law, Jenn, has been watching them. Tallon will return to his old daycare (Kids Korner) next Monday!! He is excited, as am I!! I will very much miss seeing his smiling face when I go home to visit on my lunch breaks, but I know that he has missed his friends, and the "school" atmosphere altogether. When Jenn is babysitting, it is hard for her to let him get any outside time b/c she has to watch Mead, and it's too hot for them to all go outside, so needless to say Tallon gets very little outside time during the work week. Also, he very rarely gets the chance to play with kids his age.

Work is still...well, work. It's not getting much easier being away from the kids, even though it's been near 3 months that I've been back.

Something pretty exciting (for us anyway, lol) has happened recently, and we were approved for a new Dell laptop on credit!! We so desperately needed a new home computer, and NEVER would have been able to put up the money for it up front. Plus, I needed an opportunity to build my credit for my new life venture!!

So, I guess you're wondering what this new life venture is. Actually, it was a teenage dream, from the first time that I saw the movie "Empire Records". I'm kind of setting up a 5 year plan. In January I will be taking an online business course, then hopefully by next fall we will be financially able for me to quit working and go back to school full time to get my business degree. Josh and I want to open our own music/novelty store! Our original vision was a record store (i.e. "Empire Records"), but in this day and time, between the takeover of I-Tunes and the economy, we thought we should include other merchandise in order to build a business that would not only survive, but thrive. So, say a prayer for us! Not only would this be a dream job (we LOVE and know everything music, and we would be able to bring the kids to work!!), but also a family business that we could pass down to the kids when they got older and we were ready to retire!

KID UPDATE TIME!!!!!

TALLON JAMES

2 Years, 10 months old

As stated earlier, Tallon will be going back to daycare next Monday. He was scared about it until we went to the open house a few weeks ago, and now he's excited! I'm excited for him!

Potty training seems to be going back and forth. When he's at home with me on the weekend, he goes pretty much every time in the potty. But when he's home during the week with Jenn, she doesn't really push the issue, so it's back to square one by the time I come home from work. It's frustrating, but I feel like when he goes back to school, he will see the other kids going, and this will no longer be an issue (hopefully)!!

He is still my little sports allstar...we bought him a little basketball goal and T-ball stand, and he is awesome! He is a natural, I tell you! I cannot wait until he is old enough to join a team.

He is also still my little comedian. Cracking jokes every five minutes. Josh reincarnated :o)

Meadow Jade
almost 5 months old


My little princess. She will be Christened this Sunday!! Her Godfather will also be Evan Walker (Tallon's Godfather), and her Godmother will be our Aunt Wendy (Samples). Her Patron Saint is Saint Christina. I'm so ecstatic for this blessed event. Tallon's was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed firsthand, and I know hers will be as well.


She has just recently started eating baby food (July 18 was her first time), and she loves it!! She likes EVERYTHING that we give her! We stick to one type of food per week (Dr.'s orders - in order to catch anything she may be alergic to), and so far has had carrots, green beans, green peas and squash.

She gets lots of tummy time each day and sleeps STRAIGHT through the night. I'm talking 10-12 hours!! She goes to bed anywhere between 7 and 9 p.m., and usually doesn't wake until I do, around 7 a.m.

Well, it's about time for me to go home and squeeze these little babies!! I promise I shall try to keep up with this thing more!

Oh, how I miss them!!

Well, yesterday was my kiddies first day at their new daycare. Tallon adjusted WONDERFULLY! As soon as we pulled up, his class was going outside for their morning playtime, and he just went with the flow. All day when I called to check on them, the owner said he was doing great. Meadow, on the other hand, had several crying spells. If ever an infant cries for longer than 10 minutes, the owner will call me just to let me know. She called 3 times. So I went on my lunch break, and as soon as they handed her over to me, she stopped. She missed me!! My 2 month old daughter missed me so much she had been crying all day!! So to all you doctors and authors of parenting books that say 2 month olds don't have separation anxiety... here is proof that you are wrong! Today is better though, I think the fact that I spent about a half an hour their cuddling her before I handed her over made the difference. When I dropped her off yesterday, she was sleeping, and had to awake in a new place with all these new places, she was probably just on overload. But no phone calls from the owner today! And when I called to check on her, they said she was in the swing playing with her feet :o) So, my babies are doing well. I, on the other hand, am still adjusting. I cry at least once daily. As long as I am busy, I am okay. But the moment I slow down long enough to think about how much I miss them, I bust at the seams. I can't stop picturing the three of us sitting on the couch, Tallon and I singing songs from "Go, Diego, Go!" and laughing together at all the funny faces Meadow made. Ugh, SEE!!! I shouldn't have done the blog today. I was doing good until just then and now I'm crying. Geez. Enough for now.

WOW

I can't believe I haven't updated since the night before Meadow was born! There is SOOO much to say!! Well, I will start with Meadow's birth, since that's where I left off. Josh and I left our house at 4:30 a.m. on March 19 in order to make it to Wesley Medical in Hattiesburg for 5:30. When we were on our way, we talked and reminisced about taking the drive to birth our son, Tallon, 2 1/2 years earlier. I wasn't nervous at all, just so anxious and excited to see my babygirl!! We got to the hospital a few minutes late because it was SUPER foggy on the interstate. We went to the ER to get admitted, then they directed us to the maternity ward, where they showed me to my room, got me in a hospital gown, put the iv in, and prepped me for surgery. A few minutes before they took me to the or room, my mom, dad, mother in law, and sister in law showed up. Looking back, the surgery was very quick, but I remember thinking while I was lying there "is this EVER going to end?? I just want to hold her already!" So, I'm lying there with my head on one side of the curtain and the rest of my body on the other, and I remember hearing her cry for the first time, and the doctor saying "Happy birthday, precious!" It took them a while to bring her to me, because they were cleaning her off, and she was SCREAMING the whole time! My babygirl had some pipes! The first thing Josh said when he saw her was "oh my gosh, her hair is red and blonde!", lol! When they finally brought her around, I started bawling. She was beautiful. With her fair white skin, cute button nose, beautiful lips and YES, her light brown/blonde/red hair, she looked like a cherub. They whisked her away, a little too soon for my taste, to go clean her and run all the tests while I got sewn back up and cleaned and taken back to my room. They finally brought her to me about 30 minutes later. Tallon was the PROUDEST big brother! As soon as he came in the room he demanded that his daddy pick him up so he could "kissey baby sister". I really can't believe it's already been 2 months.

Today is my first day back at work, and all week last week up until this morning I have been crying like a baby, but this afternoon has been okay because I've kept myself busy, and just so excited to go home to my babies! Tallon and Meadow went to the doctor today because Tallon had a rash, which turned out to be poison ivy, and Meadow is colicky. Meadow weighed 13.8 pounds!!! She's already gained 6 pounds!! My chunky munky! Thursday she will have her 2 month shots, and while I am sad that she'll have to get the shots, I am so excited to have a day to spend at home with them again.

MEADOW'S BIRTH PICS


March 19, 2009 7:27 a.m.


7 lbs, 8 oz, 20 inches long








Pop-pop and Meadow Jade







Lola and Meadow


Tallon meeting his new baby sister




Daddy bringing Meadow into her home for the very 1st time!


Sleepy girl


Tallon checking in on his baby sister


My 2 beautiful babies sleeping


Me and my babies


Meadow Jade - 1 week old!


So Sweet


These 3 are my heart!

March 18, 2009

Here we are. It's the evening before our second child, our daughter, Meadow Jade will arrive. There are so many emotions flowing through me at this moment. I would write about them, but I am so exhausted that I can barely see. I haven't slept a wink since Monday night. Last night at 9:00 p.m., my husband, Josh, had a seizure. He is a perfectly healthy 24 year old with no history of seizures. It was the worst night of my life. He is my best friend, my lover, my other half, and as I held him in my arms with his face pale as a ghost and his lips blue, his body jerking and all the muscles in his body becoming rigid, I honestly thought God had decided to take him from me. We went to the local hospital and he had a cat scan done, which came back negative. The ER doctor believes with the stress of changing jobs this week, welcoming our new daughter, and some financial problems that we've been experiencing could have brought it on, but not been the main cause. So we have to follow up with a neurologist. I know that everything will brighten tomorrow when I'm holding our baby girl in my arms, but as of right now, it is hard to think of anything but the health and well being of my love.

Meadow's Baby Shower

My baby shower was wonderful! My co-worker, former co-workers, in laws and a friends were there. My mom did such a wonderful job on the food and decorations. Meadow got so many beautiful things!! We are so blessed to have so many great people in our life to give us such great support with our second child. I wish Josh would have taken more pictures of the gifts... the clothes were BEAUTIFUL!!! She will be a VERY well dressed baby :o) Now all we have left to get is a few of the bigger things - a new infant car seat and stroller, the crib bedding, and smaller things like bottles and such. I am just so excited!!!! To anyone who was there and may be reading this, thank you so much! I am so happy to have you in our life!!