tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100362542012-01-04T20:59:06.350-06:00Tomikanoreply@blogger.comBlogger2381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-63433152727375439482011-01-04T21:39:00.011-06:002011-01-04T22:28:04.419-06:00

So, can I just say that trying to go to bed earlier is making me more tired, it seems? I've been sitting here in front of the laptop for like 20 minutes with no energy to actually start typing...instead I'm watching my husband fail on the medium level of Rock Band guitar. So, ummm...I think I am at May (too lazy to check back and actually see where I left off)May - Maybe I'm suffering from more

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-12461247185916213762011-01-02T22:26:00.005-06:002011-01-02T23:32:25.534-06:00

Wow...look at me...2 blog posts in the same month! I must be on a roll or something. Actually, I've been thinking all day about the fact that if I wait another 5 months to post on my blog, people will be reading all about how I didn't do anything in 2010...which just isn't true. SO, I'm going to attempt to do a quick re-cap off the top of my head...no peaking at my 2010 planner, pictures, or

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-9259103929080016492011-01-01T22:56:00.002-06:002011-01-01T23:14:24.803-06:00

It's the first day of the new year and I've spent a decent portion of the past week trying to figure out what in the world happened to my 2010. I really have been beating myself up trying to think of the notable happenings and accomplishments and I just keep coming up short. I'm concluding that my dissertation sucked up my entire 2010. That project is completely overshadowing the awesomeness

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-22535593426639366262010-12-30T22:22:00.002-06:002010-12-30T22:24:50.657-06:00

Just returned home from a trip that spanned 8 days. We drove home from St. Louis today in our quickest time since have two children...13.5 hours. I am so, so incredibly tired but, I refuse to still have "submit completed dissertation to the thesis office" on my to-do list when I ring in the new year. Since that new year will be here in just 25.5 hours, I must work...when I would so much rather

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-66027592751716307772010-11-30T18:52:00.002-06:002010-11-30T21:34:44.343-06:00

I smashed Jayla's fingers in a classroom door today when I was picking her up from school. It was really bad. I haven't seen her cry that hard in a very, very long time! I couldn't look at it because it really was that bad. Some of the teachers at her school helped us out with some ice and compression to stop the bleeding. I just hung in the background trying not to get emotional about it.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-16051194450031276872010-11-16T22:00:00.003-06:002010-11-16T22:02:36.865-06:00

This morning I was informed that it's okay to show a little skin. In fact, girls don't need to wear a shirt under their real shirt; only boys do that. Thanks Jayla! Where would I be without you?! Probably wearing a tank top under a shirt that otherwise shows entirely too much cleavage for me to be appropriately dressed for my work environment. Silly me.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-86242265557926236572010-11-14T23:00:00.003-06:002010-11-14T23:06:42.268-06:00

So, every afternoon when I pick Jayla up from school I have to check her folder for her daily work. The folder is generally full of paperwork and projects and I often wonder how in the world they get that much stuff done in a day. Well, on Friday when I went to pick her up, I went to check her folder and there was a note: "Don't forget the crabs". The...huh? "The crabs, mama, we have to take

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-40198400769725900732010-06-14T16:34:00.002-05:002010-06-14T16:40:06.850-05:00

So, the girls and I are attending Vacation Bible School at our church this week. Today was the first day. Tamyra spent a nice chunk of the three hours screaming her head off in the nursery because the nursery volunteers dared to sit other babies beside her at the table to eat. And Jayla made me so proud with her answer to the question "What do you pray to God about?". Her answer: "a pretty

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-52320412337013551972010-06-07T22:12:00.003-05:002010-06-07T22:17:17.523-05:00

Well, I just got off the phone with Jayla for the third night in a row. She is having a BLAST at my parents house. She tells the stories of her day with such enthusiasm in this grown-up voice that I never hear when she is talking to me in person. She doesn't sound like she's spent the bulk of the day whining and complaining the way that she does at home. Instead, she sounds refreshed,

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-68199611134298095022010-05-24T23:36:00.002-05:002010-05-24T23:48:21.692-05:00

Jayla started walking 8 days before her first birthday. I remember at her first birthday party she was a fairly competent walker, even in her new Air Jordan's that her Tee Tee bought for her.Tamyra, on the other hand, has never seemed particularly interested in being mobile in any sense of the word. She wasn't even a fan of crawling until probably 11 months or so, even though she had the

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-33819244573568019102010-05-18T11:47:00.002-05:002010-05-19T19:11:45.652-05:00

The summer is quickly approaching. I've spent a considerable amount of the past couple of weeks trying to plan for the summer. This will be the first summer ever that Jayla will not be in school. Jayla has been in school full-time since she was 16 weeks old. I'll also have Tamyra full-time this summer. So, I'll be all stay-at-home mom-ish, I guess. When I told Jayla that she'd be home with

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-61051376501597950412010-05-14T21:32:00.010-05:002010-05-14T21:48:21.879-05:00

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-24608532386239164572010-05-09T23:23:00.006-05:002010-05-09T23:56:51.661-05:00

Last year at Mother's Day, I had a brand new baby and was pretty unsure about the whole 'mother of two' thing. We were adjusting to being a family of four and were teetering between "oh, wow...this baby sleeps all the time and is so, so easy" and "oh my goodness, this baby has turned our lives upside down".We took the baby out to lunch that day. She was asleep when we got there. Once she woke

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-16668850278106818262010-05-06T22:52:00.003-05:002010-05-06T22:58:33.091-05:00

Last weekend my husband bought a used copy of MarioKart and two steering wheels for our Wii system. He has proceeded to go from sucking to "usually winning" in the past 5 days. Tonight, I was trying to get dinner on the table so that I could sneak out to the gym while they ate it. My husband was keeping the girls occupied by letting them watch him play MarioKart. At the end of a particular

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-72414177340415728372010-04-30T09:50:00.002-05:002010-04-30T10:06:06.200-05:00

So, Jayla got written up at school yesterday. Ummmm...yes, she is only 4 years old and in Pre-K...why do you ask? But, seriously, the teacher filled out a form yesterday and checked the boxes indicating that Jayla was: "disruptive at naptime" and "would not follow directions". At the bottom of the form, she wrote: "We know that Jayla is starting to outgrow her naps. Can you please talk to

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-47934624309792093142010-04-28T13:38:00.003-05:002010-04-28T13:52:28.865-05:00

...and so my second baby is a year old now. I'm not sure how we got here. Or what I was doing during that year...I certainly wasn't blogging!Tamyra is not quite walking yet. She prefers to just hold on to us and drag us around the room, and down the sidewalk, and up the stairs, and around Wal-mart, etc. She still gets regular comments from strangers about her hair and cheeks. Both of which

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-9434582096716218702010-01-23T10:28:00.004-06:002010-01-23T10:34:45.008-06:00

...and if you're wondering, the sad person at the bottom is me. The happy one is her.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-45091852462236352612009-11-12T23:09:00.001-06:002009-11-12T23:10:54.438-06:00

Jayla: Mama, you are mean to me everyday!Me: I'm only mean to you when you do bad things.Jayla: See, I told you!Me and Daddy: *crack up laughing*

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-62296200857082195942009-10-04T22:27:00.007-05:002009-10-04T22:44:26.139-05:00

So, remember when Jayla was Student of the Week last time and I worked for way too long on her poster and was all proud of her as if everyone in the class doesn't get a chance to be the Student of the Week? You should, because it was a Big Deal. Last Wednesday when I went to pick her up from school, the October newsletter was posted on the door to the classroom. As I always do, I glanced at it

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-35858158313320459772009-08-23T22:02:00.012-05:002009-08-23T23:34:40.734-05:00

My baby turned four months old yesterday. And as a cruel reminder of how much she's grown over the past four months, we attended an event for a dear friend to meet the baby to which she gave birth just three weeks ago. And it became clear that we are, indeed, not dealing with a newborn anymore. Tamyra is a full blown infant.She is, in fact, so much of a non-newborn that the first thing anyone

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-6677019414925800752009-08-03T21:12:00.007-05:002009-08-03T22:23:38.678-05:00

Today we went to a car dealership. I drove onto the lot in this:I've had my Maxima for seven years and the vast majority of its 155,000 miles. For the most part, it's been a good car and yet, I drove off the car lot and returned home in something that looks more like this:Apparently, it wasn't enough to just turn 30 this year...I also had to go and turn into my mama (whom I vividly remember

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-720379338092707052009-08-02T00:22:00.004-05:002009-08-02T00:32:17.560-05:00

My husband snapped this picture of me and the girls last night. I can frequently be found in this exact position - a 12 pound girl on one knee and a 46 pound girl on the other one. Jayla rarely just lets Tamyra sit on my lap without claiming a knee for herself. Balancing the two is not as easy as I make it look.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-92152443663866924422009-07-13T13:03:00.004-05:002009-07-13T13:30:28.287-05:00

My great-great grandmother died on May 21, 1979 at 84 years old. I was 3 months old. For her funeral, I made my second trip from my home in Ohio to Mississippi where 90% of my family resides. The first trip to Mississippi occurred when I was about 6 weeks old. The trip was for the specific purpose of me meeting my great-great grandmother. Mama Delie (as everyone called her) had been sick

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-9206956680407544242009-06-22T19:27:00.008-05:002009-06-22T20:17:22.557-05:00

The husband's 32nd birthday happened to fall on Father's Day yesterday. And we managed to do almost nothing for the entire day! Quite honestly, I think he appreciated some time alone to just surf the 'net while the girls and I engaged in our Sunday nap ritual...or at last that what I've been telling myself. We went to church yesterday morning and the girls were dressed alike for the first time

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-27504644533109774542009-06-19T23:10:00.007-05:002009-06-20T00:17:31.492-05:00

During the first year of her life, Jayla was known for rocking a headband almost everyday.And while most people probably remember Jayla looking like this in her infanthood, the truth is that we really didn't do anything to her hair AT ALL until she was probably 5 or 6 months old. That's about when the completely natural afro started needing a little attention.Tamyra's hair has, likewise, needed

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-43692830707809390092009-06-08T18:16:00.006-05:002009-06-08T18:37:11.045-05:00

Exhausting. There were times when I wasn't certain that I was going to make it out alive. But, she had a blast!Before the show - excited to be wearing "lips"...After the show - twitching her nose in hopes that her bouquet of flowers will turn into candy!Shunning the camera to punish us for buying flowers instead of candyHeading to the car...resigned to the fact that her brilliant dance

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-54522193125246035442009-05-26T09:19:00.003-05:002009-05-26T09:40:59.259-05:00

Remember how I declared that I was not going to post a picture of myself? I need to make one exception to that statement. Yesterday, we celecbrated Memorial Day with a trip to the neighborhood splash park with some good friends. I was dutifully trying to take some pictures of Tamyra (80% of the pictures that I take are still of Jayla!). Then a friend suggested that she take a picture of

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-13188906374098674962009-05-20T21:27:00.005-05:002009-05-20T22:21:40.455-05:00

I know I am going to have to make a conscious effort to NOT constantly compare Jayla and Tamyra to each other. And one thing has made that relatively easy so far. And that is the fact that for the first 27 days of Jayla's life, she was primarily cared for by the wonderful nurses in her NICU. As her parents, we could feasibly have done nothing for her at all during that period and she would

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-40445470726140681212009-05-17T23:21:00.003-05:002009-05-17T23:39:06.945-05:00

It was a good day...church, lunch, nap, dinner. I was not showered with lavish gifts, served breakfast in bed, or forced to go spend the day at a spa where I would be pampered with a massage and a much-needed pedicure. However, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend the entire day with the people who made me a mother in the first place. That should count for something. Note:

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-77035189629876821052009-04-28T21:12:00.007-05:002009-05-14T21:14:11.119-05:00

I feel like there isn't much to say in the way of recounting Tamyra's birth story. I think I feel this way because there were so few unknown variables surrounding her birth. We knew the time, the place, the means of getting her out, her gender, her name...the only thing that we didn't know is how she and I would make it out of surgery and what she would look like. Everything went exactly as

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-42089910724760415572009-04-24T10:46:00.006-05:002009-04-24T11:01:56.868-05:00

Tamyra Jade was born Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 7:57am. 8 pounds. 20 inches. Beautiful.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-82502571791870981112009-04-13T12:06:00.018-05:002009-04-13T21:18:43.166-05:00

We had a great weekend...complete with all-day pajamas, naps for mama, and plenty of nesting time for daddy. I think while we were doing all of that, Jayla was either watching DVDs or sliding her stuffed animals down the stairs in a laundry basket. Seriously, she did that for about an hour (either Friday or Saturday - I can't remember which day because they were mostly indistinguishable from each

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-20361809121639235282009-03-26T11:14:00.004-05:002009-03-26T11:53:08.310-05:00

I've seen a couple of blogs lately where the moms asked their kids a series of questions and posted them. I thought it'd be interesting to see if (a) Jayla would even stay in one place long enough to let me get through the questions and (b) what is going on in her little head!So, Saturday, I sat her on (the little bit that is left of) my lap and we quickly ran through some questions that I

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-1199835141254159252009-03-17T14:53:00.005-05:002009-03-17T15:11:33.436-05:00

AKA Happy 31st wedding anniversary to my parents (the math technically works since I was born a full 11 months and 6 days after the date that they've led me to believe is their anniversary)AKA Happy "the husband doesn't have to wear his finger splint 24/7 anymore" DayAnd one other random tidbit...Jayla is brilliant. Yes, we all know that. She takes after her mother. And, in all seriousness, I

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-53110137058222848512009-03-15T22:05:00.004-05:002009-03-15T22:40:48.466-05:00

So...I wanted to post about my surprise birthday party after I posted about my birthday. But, then I had to wait until my surprise party actually happened, which wasn't until the weekend after my birthday. Then I decided that I would wait until I had a few pictures from the party to post as well. I have yet to see any pictures because only one person there was actually taking any pictures and

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-68361823742983763302009-02-23T22:05:00.007-06:002009-02-23T22:20:48.860-06:00

I turned thirty today. THIRTY! That is still crazy to me but, at the same time, I'm very excited to be entering what seems like a new stage of life. My husband took the day off from work today so, we were able to spend a leisurely day together that included the gym, IHOP, and a movie before we had to pick Jayla up from school.I just returned from my conference in DC yesterday afternoon and

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-86156381788255231852009-02-16T13:41:00.004-06:002009-02-16T13:51:44.911-06:00

I'm leaving tomorrow...going to DC for a conference for five days. I don't want to go. I mean, I want to do what I'm going to do there. But, I don't want to leave my family for that long. They will be fine without me. But, I know they will miss me and I will miss them. Jayla cannot remember a time when I've gone anywhere without her. She's been asking me all weekend if she can come with me

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-6986884086814849092009-01-20T15:12:00.004-06:002009-01-20T15:42:58.590-06:00

I can certainly never be accused of having much interest in political affairs but, this time is just a little different. Possibly because during the current economic recession, I happen to technically be an adult and for the first time ever, my husband and I are in a situation where his job actually does matter in our ability to pay our mortgage and feed our child(ren!). At all other points in

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-70587634452419707562009-01-19T20:02:00.004-06:002009-01-19T20:23:25.200-06:00

I spent an embarassing amount of time on constructing Jayla's poster for Student of the Week. But, I will spare you the details. Instead, I will focus my energy on not being bitter about the fact that my child's spotlight is occurring during the rare 4-day school week rather than the typical 5 days that each student usually serves as the coveted "student of the week". I am trying to operate

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-8606751061258828682009-01-17T21:11:00.008-06:002009-01-17T21:50:42.454-06:00

We were out to dinner tonight when our (highly incompetent) waiter came over to the table to take our drink orders for the third time (I am so not even kidding!). Out of the blue, Jayla blurted out, "Ummmm...I think your head is too big for your body!" I laughed heartily before explaining to her that it wasn't a nice thing to say. Luckily, I don't think he really understood what she said to

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-16841313317373860882009-01-14T20:32:00.008-06:002009-01-14T22:37:34.044-06:00

It was at this point in my pregnancy with Jayla that I started to stress a little about the reality that I was actually going to be a mama and that I might want to make a few preparations for her arrival. I remember thinking that 15 weeks seemed like such a short amount of time until my life would be flipped upside down. Little did I know, I only had 12 weeks of pregnancy left!This time around,

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-77899460124029662212009-01-07T19:25:00.012-06:002009-01-07T20:08:09.224-06:00

I know I'm a bit late but, the Christmas season was rather hectic - full of traveling and visiting with family and friends. Somehow over the past two weeks, our little family has traveled the entire stretch of highway between here and Washington, DC via the Deep South.The first leg of our trip involved the 8-hour drive from Houston to my parents house in Mississippi. We spent Christmas in

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-13207649632247304482008-12-10T20:40:00.005-06:002008-12-10T20:55:59.676-06:00

Why is it snowing in Houston!?!? We've lived here for almost 8 years and this is the first time we've seen it snow here. It did snow on Christmas Eve four years ago but, we were out of town for the holiday. My husband and I have been trying to figure out all night if this is Jayla's first time seeing snow. I think it is. He can't remember and that is why it is important to document things

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-70175904054181997102008-12-03T21:33:00.002-06:002008-12-03T21:50:17.018-06:00

Well, we had our ultrasound on Monday and I've already lost the ultrasound pictures. Yet, I could probably locate Jayla's pictures in about 30 seconds. Anyway, the radiology department at the hospital has been completely remodeled. But, this did not make the operation any quicker. They even had little coaster-shaped pagers like they do at restaurants where as 3.5 years ago, they just yelled

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-82226275121753161122008-11-25T23:45:00.006-06:002008-11-26T00:19:16.736-06:00

So, all day I've been trying to figure out why November 25th seemed like it should be familiar to me. I've literally been thinking about it all day. At first I thought about how Jayla is 3.25 years old as of yesterday. And although I now have a secondary question (when did I start forgetting that Jayla is a month older on the 24th of each month?), I knew that wasn't the significance of today.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-75819065812850375172008-11-24T22:38:00.002-06:002008-11-24T22:44:07.840-06:00

The plan was to try to take one of these every other week but, you know, this is the second child. Also, this is probably the last time that you see that oh-so-flattering tank top.I had another prenatal appointment last week. As usual, everything was good except my ability to gain weight like I'm in a contest. The ultrasound is scheduled for next Monday morning. In the meantime, I'll be

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-37359091637120406622008-11-17T20:19:00.009-06:002008-11-17T22:15:31.925-06:00

On Saturday night, the three of us went to dinner and then ran by the grocery store afterwards. My intent was just to pick up a few things so that I could successfully make a lasagna for dinner on Sunday. With that information, I present to you our grocery receipt:Two things do not belong on that receipt nor in a lasagna. And to help you out just a little, item #7 is a dozen eggs. If you

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-77602837317436750572008-11-12T19:37:00.010-06:002008-11-12T20:04:54.481-06:00

I'm 16 weeks today. The pregnancy is going well. I'm growing. I feel perfectly fine though. The professor that I work for is in awe of my ability to act like the pregnancy is not even there. In reality, it's not that hard to forget about this time around. However, I did manage to remember to actually take a picture last week. So, I'm pretty sure I'm a little bigger than this now but, this

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-46374525005231432652008-10-29T20:32:00.008-05:002008-10-29T20:44:45.537-05:00

When I posted about my pregnancy last week, I intended to come back within a day or two to post the earliest belly shots that I have (which I think is just one). I was very diligent about documenting my belly growth with Jayla and have been advised by most of my friends and family that I need to do the same thing with this second child. Ummm...I am not getting off to a good start. Instead of

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-10345452660691134572008-10-22T14:20:00.005-05:002008-10-22T14:29:29.906-05:00

For those of you that don't already know this, it looks like I'm going to have another baby - somewhere around April 29, 2009. And it's a good thing, too, because somebody stole my other baby......and left me with some random big girl that thinks it's funny to put a spoon on her head when you ask her to look at the camera for a picture!

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-3520114611511364362008-10-20T19:54:00.003-05:002008-10-20T20:10:43.878-05:00

Me: Jayla, you're the best!Jayla: Mama, I know I'm the best!Me: [Giggle] Well, don't ever let anyone tell you that you're NOT the best.Jayla: [In all seriousness] I won't, mama.And somehow she has managed to channel my grandfather's personality...or at least his loathe for people walking on his grass, which is impossible because he has a fence around every square centimeter of his property

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-3379168537918773252008-10-13T21:55:00.016-05:002008-10-13T22:41:29.792-05:00

A month ago today, my little family and I were in a hotel room in Shreveport, LA flipping between all of the national news stations and The Weather Channel. We watched Hurricane Ike roll through and attentively watched for any reports of what kind of damage had been left behind, especially in our own neighborhood. We had evacuated to Shreveport two days earlier because we knew we wanted to

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-16925042832006453902008-09-08T20:33:00.005-05:002008-09-08T22:10:39.097-05:00

Tonight marked the return of dance classes...for Jayla, that is. Everyone else started back on August 4. But, seriously? That was way too early for me, especially considering the recital wasn't until June 22. I needed more than just a six week break after all that Jayla put me through during the last dance season. I have a feeling that this year will be much better. Mainly because I'm not

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-50351366098501963022008-09-01T21:38:00.003-05:002008-09-01T22:00:02.581-05:00

Back in 2000 when I was trying to pick a wedding date, I remember thinking that Labor Day weekend would be perfect. Since we were getting married in Mississippi, a state where neither of us lived, a holiday weekend would be more likely to bring our friends and family from North Carolina and Mississippi. Plus, wouldn't it be cool to always get a day off around our anniversary! We could go on a

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-3986062502898214402008-08-28T11:09:00.003-05:002008-08-28T11:21:48.548-05:00

She rocks the school uniform, no?Monday:Tuesday:Wednesday:Thursday:Tomorrow (Friday) is free-dress day. I am no longer confident in my ability to pick an outfit for Jayla that is not navy blue and white (See also: her birthday outfit for church on Sunday).

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-14506511310913782612008-08-24T21:49:00.004-05:002008-08-24T22:06:20.407-05:00

48 minutes ago I sang Happy Birthday to Jayla for the fourth or fifth time this weekend but, this time was a little different since I sang it at the exact time that she was born. She was born at 9:01pm on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 so, I was holding out all day today - still calling her a two-year-old. I put her to bed about 10 minutes ago and said good night to my three-year-old for the first

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-69856964228867818782008-08-17T00:12:00.005-05:002008-08-17T00:26:07.960-05:00

About six months ago Jayla started watching the Backyardigans. She slowly but surely fell in love with the show and its characters, especially Uniqua. She now screams that obnoxious teenage girl scream when she sees Uniqua on television. So, naturally when I saw that their live show was going to be playing in Houston, I bought the tickets without a thought. And last Saturday night, Jayla got

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-58742628735749048162008-08-03T16:47:00.004-05:002008-08-03T17:07:37.473-05:00

Last week some friends of ours invited us to dinner with them as Cinderella was supposed to be appearing at our local Chick-fil-a. We are always up for some good fellowship with friends, so we went. I totally expected Jayla to not care about Cinderella. I didn't even bring my camera and I take my camera EVERYWHERE! As we were getting out of our car, I rolled my eyes at all the little girls

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-2731296117503194882008-07-26T22:09:00.005-05:002008-07-26T22:16:54.034-05:00

Exhibit A: Jayla at the Houston Comets game tonight...She looks like a real-live little girl. I have no idea when this happened.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-30967467841917081612008-07-23T13:28:00.003-05:002008-07-23T13:38:20.689-05:00

My child will be three years old in a month. I've been thinking about this for the past few days as I'm attempting to plan her birthday party. It is so entirely cliche to talk about how fast it has gone by but, it really really has. I remember telling someone last year about how fast the second year had gone by compared to the first. And oh my goodness, I was so not prepared for how fast this

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-14254516695597771612008-07-16T18:42:00.006-05:002008-07-16T19:35:37.732-05:00

This past Saturday, my little family and I attended my husband's company picnic. They do it every year but, this year was the best yet. It reminded me so much of when I used to go to my dad's company picnics as a little girl. They were always in September, right after school started back. Their picnics were a big deal because almost everyone I knew in our small town had at least one parent

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-78856730966644873812008-07-10T17:42:00.008-05:002008-07-10T17:58:21.755-05:00

Oh wow - I didn't realize that I haven't posted anything since June! Life for us has been incredibly normal and not terribly busy but far from boring. In other words, it's been very nice around here lately. And since I really don't have anything else to say, I leave you with the most entertaining aspect of our 4th of July holiday.We went to a "block party" at our church and played BINGO like

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-13990110402429780662008-06-29T20:04:00.011-05:002008-06-29T21:31:25.428-05:00

On the very first day of June I declared that I needed the month of June to just be over already! Between working a contract training gig for a week, teaching the two-year-olds at Vacation Bible School for a week, and taking a trip to Mississippi while taking 9 credit hours in summer school, it was a very busy month. Last weekend had been on our radar screen for 7 months. It was my husband's

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-41077106905503921302008-06-20T23:39:00.003-05:002008-06-20T23:50:47.465-05:00

This morning I woke up and drove the 100 miles to school where I proceeded to spend my entire day in class. It was glorious! It felt so good to be back on campus and back to focusing on my academics. I have missed it tremendously over the last few weeks. I haven't been on campus in 2 weeks, which is the longest stretch of time since the Christmas break 6 months ago. I realized today how much

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-76540372997281785342008-06-18T15:05:00.001-05:002008-06-18T15:07:13.943-05:00

I am exhausted. I am entirely too exhausted to even exist today. I can hardly hold my eyes open. I have a headache from trying to hold my eyes open. I have a paper due on Friday. I have not started writing it. I have spent all week teaching a two-year-old class in Vacation Bible School. I need some rest.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-8726305222954293622008-06-15T20:08:00.005-05:002008-06-15T20:16:08.403-05:00

Last night Jayla was playing dress up. At one point she had a blanket wrapped around her and she was walking around the family room curtsying to everything in sight. She kept saying, "You're welcome, your heiness". I finally asked her who "your heiness" was. She replied, "Mama, you're my heiness". Then she turned to her daddy and assured him that he was also her heiness.Happy Father's Day!!

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-19772111346832142842008-06-12T22:24:00.001-05:002008-06-12T22:25:45.478-05:00

Jayla told me today that girls don't play drums, boys do. So, I asked her what girls play. She informed me that girls play other instruments like the harmonica or the piano.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-40502660243757244852008-06-05T12:47:00.003-05:002008-06-05T13:02:47.854-05:00

Jayla and I overslept this morning. I hopped out of the bed right at 7:56 and explained to Jayla that we were running late for her first day in her new classroom. She, of course, didn't care but, I quickly got us dressed and we were out the door about the same time that we usually leave home anyway.As I pulled into the parking lot at her school, I mentioned again that she was going to the new

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-40797334872080754962008-05-29T21:58:00.003-05:002008-05-29T22:16:59.436-05:00

Today was Jayla's end of the school year party at school. It seemed especially fitting since tomorrow is her last day in the toddler room that she has called home for the past 16 months. As usual, I was responsible for bringing one of the entree items for the party. I kind of like bringing hot food for the party because I know I am one of the few parents in the classroom that can do that for our

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-71922177502006716152008-05-27T21:53:00.004-05:002008-05-27T22:13:47.986-05:00

I am glad to have the past two weeks behind me. I was teaching a May-mester class which required me to be up, dressed, and out of the house by 6:00am. This meant that I did not get to see Jayla in the morning and it meant that I was going to bed at the same time that she was. It took away time that I cherish at both the beginning of the day (lounging in bed with Jayla while Daddy gets ready

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-14581437540576793442008-05-23T21:32:00.002-05:002008-05-23T21:35:08.992-05:00

Either ordering a new laptop after a month of using a broken down one is really, really exciting or I really am the dork that I fear that I am. However, in my brilliance, I waited until the Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend to finally order it...which means it has a projected shipping date of NEVER.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-25660657340901801122008-05-11T22:41:00.009-05:002008-05-11T23:14:51.713-05:00

(I promise that my two-toned arm is not so obvious in person! - However, I suspect the appearance of my arm has something to do with the outdoor 2-year-old birthday party that we went to yesterday...that required me to feed ducks in the park and attempt to function under the blistering sun of 90-degree Houston weather! Ahhh...what I won't do for my child...)After church, I managed to suggest

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-33949244382542701822008-05-10T20:06:00.003-05:002008-05-11T22:40:42.412-05:00

This past week was what I was considering to be my "free week". It was the only week that I could relax a little bit between semesters and maybe focus on some me-type things. I had planned to:Go shopping for some summer attire to combat this 90 degree weather we are already being subjected to Get a pedicure Attend "Muffins with Moms" at Jayla's school Get an estimate on some work that I want done

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-6529644587884459912008-05-01T12:29:00.007-05:002008-05-01T13:56:54.840-05:00

Lucy (oh, how I miss you!) suggested that I talk about school, so here goes:This is the last week. On Sunday I had three big things that were staring me in the face that I needed to do this week...a paper that I've supposedly been writing all semester, a statistics exam, and a dreadful group project/paper/presentation thingy. The paper is done and I turned it in on time on Tuesday. The

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-918699015995162772008-04-24T15:48:00.002-05:002008-04-24T15:55:20.917-05:00

Ya'll - once again, Jayla does not disappoint! She was very well-behaved in dance this week so I told her that we could go to the store and pick out a treat. She could have whatever candy that she wanted. We went to the CVS down the street and she walked in with her ballerina clothes on saying, "I want some purple." So, she went down the candy aisle looking for purple. First, it was bubble

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-14197947565040523372008-04-21T13:35:00.003-05:002008-04-21T13:47:13.719-05:00

This weekend I was in class all day on Saturday. One of the class activities involved everyone bringing a song to class that they felt relayed some important part of their identity. The idea was that as consultants, we could use the song to help tell a potential client more about who we are.I decided to use the song "To Zion" by Lauryn Hill. It was one of my favorite songs back when that CD

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-51908274641917088102008-04-17T11:57:00.005-05:002008-04-17T12:07:45.613-05:00

A few weeks ago, I was talking to the Professor that I work for. He likes to analyze me. You know - figure out what makes me tick and how I tick. He's the kind that has every Meyers-Brigg type description memorized but, "I would never put you in a box". So, anyway, he was telling me about how he thought I was a crammer. I adamantly declared myself to NOT be a crammer. I was one in college

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-37381395383546629452008-04-10T19:42:00.002-05:002008-04-10T19:46:00.952-05:00

For the past two days Jayla has been asking me about her beach party. She apparently wants a beach party for her birthday and she already knows her guest list. She wants to wear her "baby suit" (swim suit) and she wants to get in the water and get her hair wet with Dominique, Skyla, and Leah. So, she's basically planned the entire party in her head. There's only two problems: (1) I have to

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-37462112864622094642008-04-07T21:18:00.006-05:002008-04-07T21:29:19.847-05:00

I've been sick for the past two days. I am pretty sure it is all allergy related now that I know that I am prone to allergies. I think walking around outside all day on Saturday didn't help because I did not sleep well at all on Saturday night. I couldn't breathe and just couldn't get comfortable. On Sunday morning I woke up feeling like 2 trucks had run over me during the night.Jayla came

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-59477665713207255392008-04-05T21:28:00.007-05:002008-04-06T14:59:47.245-05:00

We spent the day outside at the Houston Children's Festival. The sun bouncing off the bling on her back pockets nearly blinded us.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-38221184117868133952008-04-05T00:16:00.004-05:002008-04-05T00:28:23.259-05:00

I am so glad that it is Friday. Well, actually, it's 16 minutes into Saturday. But, I actually took a quick (10-ish minutes while Jayla was catching up on her Dora the Explorer) nap this evening so that I could enjoy Friday evening for as long as possible. It's not that I had a long week - quite the contrary...my weeks go by entirely too fast! And now, here at the end of the semester, I'm

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-91279260143149502512008-04-01T10:28:00.009-05:002008-04-01T10:54:20.805-05:00

Oh - sorry to keep ya'll waiting. I know you're on the edge of your seats wondering how the hair experiment turned out. Well, the answer is somewhere between 8 and 12 hours. I'm going to go with 9 hours and 17 minutes. That's how long that hairstyle lasted without me feeling compelled to change it up. The photographic evidence - Here is Jayla Sunday morning after waking up (and eating a

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-53642882839152684422008-03-29T21:56:00.007-05:002008-03-30T00:06:41.699-05:00

Jayla let me wash her hair today. Now, I know that would not be big news for anyone outside of my little family but, that is HUGE news around here. She HATES getting her hair washed and therefore, rarely consents to letting me do it. And since I'm all about picking my battles, as long as there is nothing growing on her scalp or anything, I generally go fairly long periods of time without

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-24834107786000021372008-03-28T11:08:00.003-05:002008-03-28T11:13:28.641-05:00

I really haven't had much to blog about this week. It's been a regular week where the daily routines have gone off without a hitch and now we're at another weekend where we'll be attending yet another birthday party. I like our routines but, they don't make for good blog material. So, at the risk of exposing the fact that only 4 people are actually reading this blog, I'm taking suggestions.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-27991482656959486682008-03-27T11:59:00.002-05:002008-03-27T12:03:15.163-05:00

When I posted that picture of Jayla in the bunny visor the other day, I had a weird deja vu-like epiphany. That child looks just like her mother at the age! And rather than bore you today with pictures of me in 1982, I will bore you with a direct quote out of Jayla's mouth this morning:"Mama makes Jayla happy too!"I was singing a made up version of You Are My Sunshine and this was her response

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-75926980506586799472008-03-24T15:08:00.014-05:002008-03-24T15:44:15.875-05:00

I thought a more timely "what we did this weekend" post would be appropriate this week because who will care what Jayla wore on Easter by tomorrow?Anyway, much like any other weekend, we made an appearance at a birthday party. Never mind that we literally met this little girl exactly seven days before her party, we were going to be there! And it was a blast because the adults got involved in

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-32129472589097636782008-03-20T14:58:00.006-05:002008-03-20T15:14:36.133-05:00

Jayla stayed pretty busy last weekend - between a birthday party, being invited to play at her best friend's house, and participating in the Easter party and Egg Hunt at church. Here's some photos to commemorate the activities.First, the Cookie Monster cupcake. The birthday boy's mom made cupcakes to resemble Sesame Street characters. There were three different kinds: Cookie Monster, Big Bird

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-5924888698321420812008-03-17T11:36:00.004-05:002008-03-17T12:01:54.537-05:00

This morning as I was doing Jayla's hair, we were watching the same Disney Channel programming that we watch every single morning. And there's this one little filler that they always play before Little Einsteins comes on. A blue monkey and a red monkey (oooh and aaah, for those of you that are familiar with Playhouse Disney) talk about what colors they are and the red monkey talks about other

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-37191997076796956392008-03-12T21:31:00.003-05:002008-03-12T21:48:43.213-05:00

I've been on spring break this week. And just to stay true to myself, I have given myself a fairly long to-do list this week. It's a daunting list but, thanks to fairly easy list items such as "mail the letter", my list is starting to dwindle.My main goal for today was to take Jayla to the zoo, which I did. We actually had a really good day. We spent the morning at the zoo. Then came home

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-61634821742794592242008-03-10T11:32:00.004-05:002008-03-10T11:53:35.614-05:00

Something very, very rare happened this weekend - I spent it with my nuclear family: my mom, my dad, and my sister. Sure, the four of us see each other alot, especially considering my parents live about 7.5 hours away but, usually it's on occasions where we're surrounding by additional people - extended family members, etc. But, this weekend, my husband was in St. Louis with his family,

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-82523646853708003612008-03-07T20:50:00.004-06:002008-03-07T21:02:16.468-06:00

My husband bought me a new camera for my birthday. A mere 13 days later, I have finally taken the first picture with it:This is Jayla and my father immediately after returning home from Outback Steakhouse tonight. Constantly stuffing our faces is pretty much what we do around these parts.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-446978263218620072008-03-05T22:31:00.003-06:002008-03-05T22:34:04.526-06:00

Last Saturday night, my husband and I went to a birthday party. A real grown-up party where you had to be 21 to get into the venue, even. And what did I do? I showed people pictures of Jayla. Not just "people" - I showed her pictures to people who did not have children and, therefore, did not care. The next thing you know I'll have one of those bags with the plastic pouches on the outside,

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-13206145436591766822008-03-03T21:33:00.002-06:002008-03-03T21:38:34.116-06:00

In the backseat of my car there is a pile of papers and projects that Jayla has done at school over the past few months. For some reason, whenever they are given to me, I never take them out of the car. So, we ride around with them until someone else has to ride in the backseat of my car. At that point, I throw them all away. Many times when we’re in the car, Jayla will ask for one of her

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-28889838227893075582008-02-29T10:09:00.003-06:002008-02-29T10:22:52.108-06:00

All week, I've been planning to write this deep post about the trials and triumphs of Jayla being in full-time childcare since she was 16 weeks old. But, it has become clear to me that I am never going to finish that post and it's holding me back from other ground-breaking writing that I could be doing. So, the gist of that post was going to be that the worst thing about childcare is that you

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-45539972910616392752008-02-25T14:27:00.005-06:002008-02-25T21:34:18.897-06:00

I have two dear friends whose birthdays flank mine. The three of us were born on February 22, February 23, and February 24 of the same year. And since we’ve known each other our entire lives, birthday time has always been fun for us. It was so much fun that in middle school, we used to celebrate our half birthdays. And yes, on August 22, August 23, and August 24, we wished each other a “Happy

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-70247837276333717992008-02-24T17:47:00.015-06:002008-02-24T20:39:07.968-06:00

Jayla and I made this video Friday evening after we got home. She had sung the song to me in the car after an in depth conversation about how good the birthday cake was going to be. And you'll notice that she is only slightly confused as to whether the Backyardigans theme song or the Happy Birthday song is more appropriate. The whole thing cracks me up. Enjoy! Happy Birthday Mama on Vimeo.

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-49516707639406259402008-02-21T22:19:00.005-06:002008-02-21T22:37:41.772-06:00

My birthday is on Saturday. I'll be 29. For some reason, that sounds just a little older than I think I should be. In my head, I'm not a day over 24 or something young like that. Several things, however, have happened in the past week or so that lead me to believe that maybe I am getting just a little bit older:For my birthday, I'm going to someone else's birthday party. Only old people celebrate

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-37545180504885510422008-02-19T15:13:00.004-06:002008-02-19T15:36:01.329-06:00

Ms. Crystal, Jayla's dance teacher, left a message on my cell phone the morning after last week's incident. I, of course, did not get the message until 5 days later but, the general gist was that she wanted to help if she could. She was wondering if something was scaring Jayla because she had gone from seemingly loving dance to absolutely wanting nothing to do with it. Ms. Crystal suggested an

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-40921266792049319622008-02-17T21:52:00.003-06:002008-02-17T21:59:36.622-06:00

The weather was irresistably beautiful today, so Jayla and I went out for a walk. We ended up stopping by some friends' house. These friends are the same age as my husband and I - except they have four children. A 13-year-old, a 12-year-old, an 11-year-old, and an 8-month old! And guess what - yep - she's pregnant again. Last year when we found out they were pregnant, we had run into them in

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036254.post-49405265797951794372008-02-14T21:31:00.002-06:002008-02-14T21:37:07.307-06:00

We hope that you were also blessed today with an opportunity to spill juice down the front of your L-O-V-E shirt while wearing multi-colored, heart-covered pants!

Tomikanoreply@blogger.com0