Love/Hate #3

Welcome once again to all Noels Beautiful Life readers.  It's that time of week again, time for Love it/Hate it, where I tell you something I love and then something I hate about the same thing.  So here goes.

I LOVE that school is out for the Summer.
I HATE that it's about 102 degrees here in Alabama.

Breaking the Rules

When it comes to my children and how I raise them, I have my own set of "rules."  It's not that what anyone else does it wrong, it's just hings I wouldn't do, just for me personally.  Like, my daughter was exclusively breastfed until the ago of nine months and then had a bottle until the morning after she turned one.  She also lost her pacifier on the same day.  She never had a happy meal until she was at least three and never a carbonated beverage or tea until four or five.  And candy, she was probably about five or older when she got candy, except Halloween of course.

Wordless Wednesday with Words - Bath Time Buddies

Well, this week I feel I need to use a few words so I can explain the situation and a few pictures.  I have an ear infection and my son loves water, so he's a splasher.  I didn't want to take any chances of my ear getting wet, so his sister volunteered to give him a bath since his daddy was at work.

Where Oh Where Would I Like to Go?

Hello to the readers from Eloping Stethoscope and welcome to all the Tuesday Link-Uppers.  It's time for the Tuesday 10 and this weeks Tuesday ten is the 10 places that I want to go.  I'm sure a lot of us will have a few in common.

1. Paris, France

Just Another Manic Monday

Yep, Monday was a Monday in all her glory.  Yesterday, my ear was hurting some, but I hadn't been swimming in about three weeks, so I wasn't very concerned.  AJ woke me up at 8:15 am and at that moment, I knew something just wasn't right.  I really needed to go to the doctor, but Monday is speech therapy day for baby AJ.  I made a call to my mom, who was already at work to see if she could take him to his speech therapy with my older daughter, Ellyssa, and I could run to the doctor, because I was in no shape to take the children to the doctor with me.  My most awesome mom left work to take care of her grandbabies.  It is so wonderful having a mom so close by and I can't imagine living away from my parents.

Adventures With Alex - It's a Toad

I absolutely had to share...  When we came home the other night from spending the evening with my sister-in-law and her family, we had a couple of toads on our door step.  These toads were born around the same time as baby AJ, and for a long time we could walk outside and about 15 toads would scatter.  We normally hold AJ at night, so he doesn't see them.  On this occasion, he was walking and of course they have gotten bigger now and this was his reaction.

Life is NOT a Bed of Roses

The main reason I write this blog is for my children and one day my grandchildren.  Also, for the family that we don't get to see all the time so they can follow along with us on our journey.  I am having my blog printed into a book, so I can pass it down one day.  No, not Blog2Print, although it is a great site, I am working with a publishing company to achieve what I want in a book.  That being said, I don't nor will I ever lie in my blog or to my children and tell them life is roses.  I don't sugar coat life as some bloggers do.  I have found a great number of blogs lately where moms tell it like it is, and for that I am so thankful.

Flashback Friday - My Dad

Welcome to all the A Matter of Choice readers.  Normally on my flashback Fridays I don't stick with the topic or normally just use a picture for my flashback.  Well, this week I will be staying on topic because it's very dear to me.  It's my dad.  I will warn you, this may be kind of long, as my dad has played a big part in my life for my entire life.  I honestly don't even know where to begin other than saying, I'm blessed to have a dad like I have had over the years.


My parents are still very happily married, but only because they are best friends.  They have lived a part before, but not by choice.

Love/Hate #2

Well, I have had sort of a chaotic week, so i am late linking up, but love this link up so much that it's better late than never.  Welcome once again to all the Noels Beautiful Life readers.  It's that time of week again, time for love it/hate it, where I tell you some things I love, but hate other parts of it.

I LOVE that my son will finally cuddle and sleep in bed with me.
I HATE that my husband doesn't get a good night sleep when he's in bed with us because he thinks he's going to roll over on him and kill him.

Wordless Wednesday - A Rainy Afternoon

A Trip to See My Niece and Nephews

Yesterday we went to Tennessee to see my husband's sister and her husband.  It has been awhile since we have seen them.  The last time we saw her was at lunch on my husband's birthday in early April.  The trip was long overdue.  We headed up there when my husband got off work last night and arrived at about six.  Gary, my brother-in-law, had the grill going so we all hung out and talked while the men finished grilling.

A Stay At Home Mommy

Welcome to all the Mom 2 Memphis and Ruby readers.  It's time for the Tuesday 10 link up.  This week's Tuesday 10 is ten reasons I love _____.  Well, mine is ten reasons I love being a stay at home mommy.

1. School Parties

My daughter will be entering 5th grade this next school year and I have never missed one school party.

I stopped working during the summer between her Preschool graduation and the beginning of Kindergarten.

I did everything in my power to make it to all of her preschool parties and I believe I only missed one or two, but now I don't miss any.

Daddy's Day 2012

Yesterday was the day we honor and give thanks to our dads.  I know technically it's "Father's Day," but any man/boy can be a biological father, it takes a real man to be a dad.  So I say it's Daddy's Day.  I was always close to my dad and I still am.

Surprise From My Husband

With today being Father's Day, my daughter and I were still trying to figure out what we were going to do for my husband last night.  I was on the phone with a great friend talking around 11 pm last night and realized no one had checked the mail.  My daughter ran out to the mailbox and came in with a package addressed to me.  The odd thing was we were talking about friend's with cancer and health problems and something was said about "pieces to the puzzle."

Love/Hate #1

Welcome to all the Noels Beautiful Life readers and a special thank you to Noel for asking me to link-up.  This seems like such a fun idea to tell a few things we love, but hate another part of the same thing.  So here are a few of mine.

I LOVE morning kisses from my husband.
I HATE that it means he's headed to work for the day.

Excitement With Ellyssa - Softball Camp

What a busy week we have had, but it has definitely been a fun one.  My little softball player decided she wanted to go to softball camp, this was the first year it was offered, so she just had to go.  It was supposed to be Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but due to the storms on Monday, it was pushed back until Tuesday.

I had a lot of running around to do this week and luckily my husband was off work on Tuesday and could watch Baby AJ.  I dropped Lyssa off at softball camp at 8:45 and went to do my running around.  I got back to the field a few minutes before camp ended for the day and didn't have my camera.  I was bummed because they were practicing sliding, but I knew there were two more days.  Tuesday morning, I dropped her off and went back home to get breakfast in me and Alex, before heading back to the field.

Wordless Wednesday - Dog Walking

Adventures with Alex - AJ Says "Hi"

For my new followers that may not be familiar with my son and what's going on with him, you can read about it here and another story here.  He has come quite a long way from not speaking at all.  Here is a short little video of him on our back porch yesterday.

My 90s Favorites

Welcome to all the Mom 2 Memphis and Ruby readers.  It's that time of week again, yep it's Tuesday.  And that means it's time for Tuesday 10.  This weeks Tuesday 10 is my ten favorite things from the 90s.

1. Tamagotchi or Giga Pet
These were the "electronic toys we took everywhere instead of iPods
Remember to feed and walk them :)

Lowe's Build and Grow - Monkey-Powered Plane and Ice Cream Truck

Yep, it's that time again. Time to head to Lowe's to participate in their kid's workshops. This Saturday was a great day to go since my mom said she would keep baby AJ so Lyssa and I could go. Upon arrival we saw that they were building outside instead of inside and it's for the new Madagascar 3 movie. Today was a monkey-powered airplane.

hammering nails

Dental Cleanings

I got a reminder call yesterday to let me know that BOTH of my babies were going to have their teeth cleaned at 2:30 today. Wonderful, right in the middle of AJ's new nap time of 1:30-4:00. At 2 o'clock we headed towards the dentist office. Upon arriving at the dentist, this is what I found in the backseat.

Wordless Wednesday - He-man with a Bowflex and His Car

Signing in Sentences

When parents hear their children's first words, it's nothing short of heart warming. When those children begin stringing those words into sentences it's remarkable. Let's be real, the first time our children do anything it's special.

A picture I snapped of him today

Alabama Softball and Their First National Championship

Being from Alabama and an Alabama fan, it comes easy to support all things Bama.  However, next to the football team, we love softball (especially since my baby girl plays) and this team of ladies is so awesome.  No, I don't know them personally, but we met some of them in February when we made a trip back to my home city of Opelika, AL.  On that Friday night before we went back to our hotel, we went by the Marble Slab to get some ice cream.  Now, when we go to the Auburn area, the last thing we expect to see is anything Alabama.

My Favorite Books

Welcome to all the Mom 2 Memphis and Ruby readers.  Today's Tuesday 10 is my ten favorite books.  This is kind of hard to narrow down, but I tried it out and I hope you enjoy.

Adventures With Alex - Speech Therapy and Lunch

Today, was our first official day of speech therapy at Stepping Stones Pediatric Therapy.  We have been trying to teach him on our own some stuff that was shown to us at the evaluation and stuff that was recommended to us at the evaluation at the Teach Me to Talk website.  He has been doing great!  It was a bit of a challenge to get him scheduled for his speech therapy due to the fact that he can't deal/handle schedule changes.  We now have him going Mondays and beginning June 18th, he will be going Monday and Wednesday.  This will last until at least January 1, 2013.

Bad Dreams and Your Parents' Floor

I know growing up we all had bad dreams at some point or another and as an adult, I have them more than I would like to admit.  I had a lot of them when I began to take Melatonin to help me sleep, but I switched to something else and have been fine lately.  It's funny how our children can do stuff and it brings back memories of things we did when we were younger, but we totally forgot.  I had a reminder this morning.

Today I Became "Momma"

I know, at first glance, it's like, "What?  You've been a mom."  Well, yes I have for many years now, but it's hearing the words that make it that much better.