13 Weeks

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!

Speaking Her Mind

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 but, he likes to warn people about walking on his grass anyway. Twice in the past week, Jayla has done the same thing.

We were getting in the car to take her to school one morning last week and the same cute little old Asian couple that is always walking around the neighborhood was doing just that. They, however, were walking on the opposite side of the street from our house and on the sidewalk. This little factoid did not stop Jayla from running to the end of our driveway, putting on her mean face, and shouting, "Hey! Don't walk on our grass!" at them. And I wish I was kidding. I had to muffle her, pull her back over towards me, and tell her to stop saying that. Her response? "But, mama, these are OUR grasses!"

And then yesterday, we were pulling into our driveway on the way home from church. My husband stopped the car to let a little girl ride her bike past our driveway before he pulled in. Apparently, even though this girl looked like she a good 8 or 9 years old, she hadn't quite mastered the art of riding a bike well. So, in her nervousness, she lost her balance and ended up in our grass. From the backseat, Jayla witnessed it all and I could tell that she was getting fired up. Once we pulled into the driveway and I got Jayla out of the car, as soon as her feet hit the ground, she ran right up into the little girl's face (she was still trying to get her balance on the bike long enough to ride out from the front of our house) and screamed, "Hey! What's the big idea!?!? Get off our grass!" Again, I'm not even kidding. Seriously, if she weren't three years old, I think she would've scared the little girl. We directed her into the house and told her that it wasn't nice to yell at people that you don't know.

And then I told her to give her great-grandfather's personality back to him because our grasses really ain't worth dying over.

One Month Later

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 leave if it was coming straight for us (which it did!) and we did not need a repeat of our Hurricane Rita evacuation experience!

We stayed in Shreveport for two more days after the storm and enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous weather. We played outside at the park even.



It’s almost like it was fall or something in Shreveport. Fall is something that just does not exist in Southeast Texas!

I was in absolutely no hurry to come home but, my husband was and so we came home to power poles snapped in half and laying across the road, blocking our normal access to our neighborhood. Once we finally made it to our house, we were relieved to see that we were merely missing a few shingles off of our roof, which thankfully managed not to leak. As we pulled into the driveway, Jayla said, “Look mama! God saved our house!” Indeed, He did.




In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, we got our power back about a week later but, the damage had been done to my semester. The schoolwork apparently did not stop just because I had no access to the computer or gas to drive to school and the university says that students who were affected by Hurricane Ike could have excused absences from class that week. None of that mattered and I fell behind quite a bit.

Then we went and had to go out of town two weekends in a row. They were awesome trips but, served to stress me out more about the whole schoolwork thing. First, we went to Detroit for the weekend. My grandparents had a party for their 50th wedding anniversary ON their 50th wedding anniversary! So, my whole family made the trip and it was nice to experience a little fall once more.



Then last weekend, we took my dad to San Antonio to celebrate his 60th birthday. It was a lot of fun and he declared it to be the best birthday he’s ever had, which may or may not have offended my mom who took him on a surprise trip to New York City for his 50th birthday.



And so now I think we’re caught up as to why this blog has been so neglected. I guess I’m back now. I know you've missed me terribly!

Revisiting

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 the one taking her on Monday evenings...at least not this semester. Instead, daddy will be taking her to dance class while I'm driving home from College Station. As I drove home tonight, in fact, I was hoping to get a cute picture of her first day in her new dance ensemble. But, daddy had already changed her back into her school uniform by the time I got home. So, it was not to be. Instead, how about some more birthday girl pictures?



I completely forgot to light the candles. So, we all sang Happy Birthday to Jayla then she immediately drew in a deep breath as if to prepare to blow out of her candles. And it's hilarious in the video because she looks at me, looks at the cake, and then looks at me like, "Hey!". It was a good 5-10 seconds before I realized what the problem was. So, then we went the through the same drama as last year of trying to find something with which to light her candles. But, we finally got them lit and Jayla got to hear us all sing Happy Birthday to her again. She was able to blow out her candles the second time around though.

Can I also add that one of Jayla's requirements for her party was that everyone wear a party hat? And can I tell you that every single person at the party had on a ridiculous Power Puff Girls (don't ask!) party hat!?!? Everyone from my almost-60-year-old dad to the 11-month-old baby. It cracked me up! But, she was in heaven and that's what matters.

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...