The Things Kids Say

Over the weekend:

Sunday lunch at Sassy's with Maw Maw, BeBe, Uncle Doug, Aunt Linda, Griffin, Mommy & Daddy.

Maw Maw: "Maison, would you like some of my baked beans?"
Maison: "Yaa-ya" (Yea has two syllables in Maisonese)
Maw Maw dips her out some beans onto a little plate and passes them over to Maison.
Maison: "Thanks, Maw Maw. Dat is so sweet."
I almost spit my tea across the table. And Maw Maw laughed so hard I was afraid she would fall out of her chair. Every time Maison shares anything, I tell her that is so sweet. I guess sometimes she is listening to me.

Sunday afternoon I was in the flowerbeds pulling weeds. Maison decided she was hungry and wanted a biscuit, so Daddy took her in to cook them. After supervising him putting them in the oven, she came back out side with me and very matter of factly started the following conversation:

Maison: "I gonna have sauce on my biscuit."
Mommy: "Butter?"
Maison: "No, Mommy! Sauce!" (stated in a tone that actually made me feel unintelligent)
Mommy: "Jelly?"
Maison: (lets out a an exasperated sigh) "No, Mommy! Panny-cake sauce on my biscuit!!!!"
Mommy stifling laughter: "That is called syrup baby!"

After a ride in the pasture to check on the cows Maison comes running back in the house.

Maison: "A cow is a gwirl, bull's a boy!"
Daddy stands behind her beaming with pride. Paw Paw is smiling down from heaven. All is right in Vancleave today.

Happy Birthday, Joe Joe!

Today is Uncle Joey's birthday. 29 years ago, this world became a much more "special" place...

Happy Birthday, Joe Joe! We love you!

Some Days...

All I want to do is kiss her sweet little face!!!

Sweet Home Alabama Day 2

My grandparents have had the same kitchen table for over 40 years. It is a pretty large oval shaped table that has a pedestal base. There is a platform on the pedestal that, according to my grandmother, became a play place for children starting with my oldest cousin, David. The 6 of us that followed him sat under this table eating snacks, hiding, giggling with each other. My cousin closest in age is Andrea. I have memories of sitting under the table with her as a child. Andrea has a daughter named Allie that is about 3 and a half months older than Maison. Let's just say that the next generation of our family has discovered the kitchen table and all the fun involved in crawling under it.

Maison was all about Paw Paw on this trip. She did not want to be anywhere but upstairs with him. She helped him read the paper and showed him every little trick she could think of to get his attention all weekend. That was one happy little old man!

When it came time to get in the car to leave, Maison threw a fit. She cried and screamed that she did not want to go home. "I stay in Bir-min-ham with Nana PawPaw!" Next thing I knew, I had a crying toddler and a crying 88 year old lady on my hands. I sure felt like the bad guy strapping her in that car seat and pulling out of the driveway.

We got to have a quick lunch with Chuck, Kari, Lucy and Charley before leaving town. It warms my heart to see my child loving the children of someone I love beyond words.

Sweet Home Alabama Day 1

Maison and I traveled to the Ham this weekend since Daddy is in the Big Easy for a bachelor party. I was a little nervous about the trip because this was the first one with a fully potty trained toddler. Plus, it was just us girls. MAE did great. We made two pit stops on the way up and she stayed awake the entire trip never getting cranky.

We got a chance to go see some cousins we have not spent time with in a while. Maison met Bunny and Harry at Sissy and Joe's wedding, but it was quick, she was only one and there were about a gazillion other people around. After our visit this weekend, I think they will be BFF. Not only did they buy her a new Disney Princess cell phone, but Bunny loaded her up with sugar while we were there. I think Maison ate her weight in donut holes! Bunny and Harry's son is named Tres and he is married to a sweet, sweet lady named Lisa. I remember as a "tween" thinking my cousin Tres was the coolest thing since sliced bread. He was a big bad football stud and I thought he was what every high school boy should be! Then when he went off to college and met Lisa, I thought she was the coolest girl I had ever met and I wanted to be just like her when I got to college. She even let me borrow a dress for a middle school dance. I made sure everyone there knew I was wearing a dress that belonged to a "college girl". Now, Big Bad Tres and Super Cool Lisa have two sons. Brent, is a sophomore in high school and Brandon is about to start college. Brandon and Brent came by to see us on Saturday and I was just amazed at how awesome they were. Two teenage boys should have no interest in spending time with long lost cousins, but those two were so nice and polite, you would have never thought they would have rather been somewhere else. I almost fainted when Brent called me "Ma'am" and then realized that to a 15 year old boy, I was a "Ma'am". I've got to give my cuz some credit... he raised two mighty fine boys... which says a lot for teenagers in this day and age. It gives me hope that, if parents do their job, kids can grow up to be good and decent. So, Tres and Lisa, you might be getting some phone calls for parenting tips from me in the future...

Bunny had a special surprise for me too. My Paw Paw passed away about 6 months before Trey and I got married. He was awesome. And I miss him a lot. It makes me sad that Maison won't know him except for stories she hears from me or my sister. And I wish he would have lived to have been able to see where I ended up. He might have moved in with us if he had ever seen the cabin. There was one item of his I always wanted, but never got my hands on. Turns out, Bunny had a copy and gave me this:


That is Pat Dye, my Paw Paw and The Bear on a hunting trip. I know that most of you reading this blog did not need me to tell you that. I don't know what year it was taken but it was at Paw Paw's hunting lodge. The first place I went upon leaving Bunny and Harry's was Target to get a frame for the picture. It now sits in it's place of honor on top of the armoire in our living room and has been added to the list of things that must be grabbed as we run out of our house should it ever catch fire.

Thank you, Bunny. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have no idea...

The Night the Lights Went Out in Vancleave

We had a pretty intense thunderstorm last night and the power went out. This was the first storm that I can recall the power going out since Maison has become keenly aware of "unner" (thunder). Usually if we hear thunder, I can just pump up the volume on the TV or turn on the radio and she forgets about it. Without electricity though, there was no distracting her from the thunder and with no lights, she really noticed the lightening.

We lit candles and sat in the living room hoping the power would come on soon. Trey was most fearful that we would sweat to death in our sleep with no air conditioning. I was not finished packing for our trip to Birmingham this afternoon, so I was hoping it would come on soon so I could finish up.

In an attempt to distract Maison and keep her from getting scared, we called just about everyone we know. She talked to Grant and Miss Tommie, G-Daddy Dave and Passy. She tried to call Bella but did not get an answer.

The first thing she said to me this morning was "The lights out and unner coming and I bow out da cannel!" Miss Cindy got the same earful as soon as I got the door open to the daycare.

On another subject, school started back this week and Maison has been extremely excited to see the school buses on the road in the mornings. The last two days, Miss Cindy has been letting her go with when she walks the "big kids gowin to big scoo" to the bus stop. The look on Maison's face when she goes out there with Cindy makes me think the thoughts in her little head are something like this: "I da mos portant ittle kid in dis daycare cause I getta to walk da big kids to the scoo bus. I gonna be a big kid on the scoo bus before my mommy can blink her eye."

I have also been amazed lately at how much her language is developing and we are actually able to carry on conversations with her. Last night we were watching TV and there was a make-up commercial or something and she looked at the woman on the TV and said "Her gots blue eyes like me mommy." Trey and I just looked at each other and then I asked her when she got so smart. Then she crawled up in Trey's lap and said, "Your eyes hazel, Daddy!" Trey's jaw about hit the floor. We have told her his eyes are hazel in the past, but it has been weeks if not months since that conversation.

We have also been working on her "listening" and "minding". This is one child that cannot stand to be told no. And shame on us for not telling her more often. But she is finally starting to get it. I have put my foot down about her sitting in my lap while I eat dinner. She sits in the chair right next to me and stares the entire time I eat. As soon as I push my plate away, she smiles that smile and says "You food awl gone, Mommy. I sit in your whap now?" When the crying fits do happen, we have found that most of the time we can send her to her room and when she calms down, she'll come out saying, "I done cryin' now" and then it is over. Sometimes she will test the waters and yell back "You not tell me no, Mommy/Daddy!" Recently I responded "Oh yes I will because I am the boss!" Screaming, she responds "No you not! I DA BOSS!" As much as it pains me to say it and I sure would never tell her this, but she sure is right...

Pumping Iron... Part II

Seth stood me up. First he tries to kill me and then he stands me up. I am not feeling the love from him. Turns out he had to head back to USM a day early because he got a phone call from a friend that someone stole his bed out of his dorm room. I have fond memories of those times that the most stressful thing on my mind was something similar to figuring out how to steal a bed from a dorm room. Back in those days I did not need a Seth. I could eat pizza at midnight and still look halfway decent in a bikini the next day.

I think I did him proud. I made it through the workout and even tacked on 5 extra minutes of cardio.

Trey made sure he asked me if I needed help getting out of the bed before he left for work this morning. Such a thoughtful husband I have.

Looks like my relationship with Seth was short and I definitely would not call it sweet. He did leave me the name of another trainer to continue my sessions with... such a thoughtful young man, huh?

Oh, and by the way, I made it out of the bed unassisted... barely. Climbing the stairs to my office felt like what I imagine climbing Mt. Everest would be like though.

Pumping Iron

I've always wanted to be a real runner. You know, one of those people that LOVE to run and feel like their day was not complete if they didn't. I do enjoy it for the most part, but even after all these years of making myself do it, it is still a chore. I have good months and bad months with it and seem to jump on and off the wagon. I have found myself slowly sliding off the wagon lately for one reason and one reason only:

South Mississippi+August+Running=Death from Heat Exhaustion

So, rather than kill myself every day after work at the track, I decided to go back to the gym I belonged to prior to getting pregnant to get some good exercise IN THE AIR CONDITIONING! Now that my MIL (mother-in-law) is retired, she has been picking Maison up from school almost every day and this allows me those extra few minutes I need to justify the expense of a gym membership.

Being that it had been 3+ years since I went, I was no longer in the gym's computer system and was therefore considered a "new member". New members are entitled to 3 free personal training sessions. Sweet. I had decided I needed to incorporate some weight training into my exercise regimen, because whether I want to admit it or not, I am getting older and things just aren't the way they used to be...

Monday was Day #1 with Seth. Seth is an early 20's former college football player at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has long hair (think Fabio) and is built like a brick-poop-house. The dude is a competitive body builder. On our first day together, we worked arms. After we finished, Seth asked how I felt about the workout and I said, "Good. I think I could have handled more for sure." He explained to me that mommies usually do fine with arm workouts because they are always lifting their children. Makes sense to me. Being the nice guy that he is, Seth assured me that this workout did not have to count toward my 3 free sessions since he was just showing me around. I thought "What a nice guy. Awesome. I will really get 4 sessions!"

Yesterday was day #2 with Seth... official training session #1. When I got there, he asked me what I wanted to work and I said legs. We started with leg extensions. OK. The last few reps of each set burned, but I made it. Then we moved on to what Seth jokingly referred to as the "Yes/No Machine". You basically sit on the machine and push the weights open and closed with your thigh muscles... I am glad I wore capri length pants for this workout instead of shorts. This was not the most lady like machine in the joint! After finishing 4 sets, I felt good. Seth assured me it wasn't over yet. We moved on to this contraption that had my hind parts straight up in the air doing donkey kicks... I seriously doubt the other patrons appreciated the view, but whatever it takes to get those buns of steel, right? Then we did what Seth called a "Super Set" where I jumped off the donkey kick machine and onto the leg press with no rest and repeat this cycle 4 times. About halfway through the 3rd "Super Set", I noticed what looked like little devil horns sprouting out of that long mane of hair on Seth's head. But I endured, completed the sets and even did a couple of extra reps on the last set for good measure. I thought we were done. Nope. Still have to do lunges. Seth casually strolls next to me chit chatting as I lunge my way the length of the gym and back. About halfway back on the 4th set of lunges, I wobbled a little and Seth asked if I was OK. "What makes you think I'm tired? Did see that little wobble? I'm tired, but I'll make it." I mean, I am not the most coordinated person when it comes to balance in the first place. Seth tells me he was just checking because last week he had a lady lose her balance and fall over on the floor. I told him that if that happened, I promised that while I was laying on the floor unable to get up, I would be the first person in the gym to laugh hysterically and that I would not be mad at him for making me embarrass myself in front of all the meatheads lifting 6 times their body weight. I made it through the 4 sets of lunges without kissing the carpet, but I am telling you that walk to the cooler for my bottle of water felt about as stable as the first few steps to the bathroom when my epidural finally started wearing off after 22 hours of labor. Lucky me, I still had cardio to do!

I have always heard the second day after a work out is when the soreness really sets in. Judging by the effort it has taken for me to stand up and sit down today, I think I might have a problem tomorrow.

Signing off now... My next date with Seth starts in 20 minutes. Hopefully my fingers won't be too sore to update tomorrow.