Seven Years

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 trip every year!

And that first anniversary, we did just that. We took a 5-ish day trip to Southern California. The only thing I remember about it was watching the fireworks at Disneyland every night. The second year we were in St. Louis for a friend's wedding. I do remember that we stayed downtown in a hotel instead of at my in-laws' house. It made it seem more like we were on a vacation. And then the third year, we went to San Antonio. That trip was the first time that we ever seriously talked about actually having a real-live child. And by the fourth anniversary, she was with us...that was a bittersweet anniversary as we were able to go to dinner together but, we had an 8-day-old child in the NICU that dominated our thoughts and conversation for the evening. Then the 5th year...St. Louis again and we spent the evening with the friends who share our anniversary. The 6th year we were in Mississippi for my family reunion. And then today...our seventh anniversary.

Today was the first anniversary that we did not spend the entire day together. I was here for the morning but, had to go to school this afternoon/evening. I probably will not remember much about our seventh anniversary. There was just nothing about today that has the potential to stand out in the future. But, nevertheless, it is the only day that will ever mark our 7th year as husband and wife so, I guess it'll be special for that reason. I've often heard that the seventh year is the hardest. So, I guess I'm glad to be over that hump and really, if that's as hard as it gets then we just might make it for the long haul...

First Week of School

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).

The Three Has Landed

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 time. Tomorrow is the first day of school and even though she's been in the pre-K classroom since June, tomorrow is a milestone because she will be wearing a school uniform for the first time. This morning she told me, "I'm not a baby anymore, Mama!" I have no idea what prompted that statement but, she's right...


I'll be back soon with pictures from the birthday festivities this weekend!

A Night on the Town

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 to see the Backyardigans in "real life".


She loved it. She stared at the stage the entire night, in disbelief, clearly planning to soak in every detail of the show. During the intermission break, she refused to go to the bathroom for fear that they would start back without her. And I guess it paid off because she somehow managed to memorize the entire dialog of the show and continues to recite it on command 7 days later.




You think she's too young to understand the concept of an "early birthday present"?

Disney Comes to Chick-fil-a

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 dressed in their Cinderella gowns (including our friends) and the parents snapping pictures of the magical moment of meeting Cinderella.

I walked in, waded through the crowds, and got in line to order my family some chicken. The next thing I know, Jayla is screaming "Cinderella!" and jumping all up in her lap. We had not even told her that Cinderella was supposed to be there so she figured all of this out on her own while I was trying to figure out which side to order with her nuggets. But, as to not appear to be "the worst mother ever", I quickly borrowed my friend's camera and these are the pictures that I snapped:



Jayla LOVED meeting Cinderella. Cinderella was walking around the restaurant as we ate and every single time she passed us, Jayla was all smiles and waves and "Hey, Cinderella!". The irony of the whole situation was that our friends were really excited about their daughter getting to meet Cinderella and here's the picture that they got. Lauren was not a fan!