About Me

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Welcome to my blog. I'm a Mississippi country girl transplanted to Grapevine, TX. I have been blessed with a great husband, and my kiddos, Aleck and Ella. When I'm not eating bon bons on the couch, I am my kid's room mom, PTA member, Sunday School teacher, taxi driver, amateur photographer and personal chef. When I'm not doing those things, I'm running a small jewelry business, 2nd Amendment Jewelry (www.2ndamendmentjewelry.com), that I started with my twin sister, Glenda. It's a crazy and busy life, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world. I am so thankful for all the blessings in my life!

Monday, August 24, 2009

"Not My Child" Monday!

It's Monday, and it has been ages since I participated in "Not Me" Monday, , a brutally honest confession of things that I most definitely did not do over the last week. We are adding a twist this week and writing about things our kids definitely did not do. To find out where Not Me! Monday originated, click on the link above to check out MckMama's blog, a blog I absolutely love.
When I happened to pass gas in front of Aleck, my precious 2 1/2 year-old, he did not look at me with the most curious face and say, "Mommy, you poopy? You need a diaper?"
I was walking through the living room and Aleck was leaning over the pack n play talking to Ella. When I looked closer, I noticed he had several small rocks that he had taken out of the gas fireplace insert scattered around Ella's head. Aleck appeared to be headed towards Ella's mouth with a rock. Thankfully, I stopped Aleck before he was able to complete his mission, or so I thought. I checked Ella's mouth and retrieved a rock, but I'm certain that it was an accident and Aleck would never intentionally place a small rock in his baby sister's mouth.
Even though Aleck desperately wanted a small magnet that I had taken away from him earlier in the day he would never push a chair up to the counter and crawl across the stove to retrieve the magnet. Aleck always listens and never disobeys me.
When we were at an indoor play area escaping the Texas heat, Aleck didn't climb to the top of a three story tree house and proceed to scream bloody murder until I climbed past all the other small children and helped him find his way back down. He is so brave and loves going down the super fast slides. At the same play area, Aleck definitely didn't enter the dress up room and slip on some high heels and proceed to clomp around the building. He is all boy and would never be caught wearing girls shoes. He also didn't cry when we where leaving and I made him remove the heels.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Life with Ella


















We have had a great first month with Ella, but it has absolutely flown by. Ella pretty much slept through the first 3 weeks. In the beginning, she slept 22 hours a day. At 6 weeks, Ella is awake more often, but only remains awake for 20 - 30 minutes at a time. She started smiling socially last week. It is so adorable when her eyes light up and a smile spreads across her little face.


Aleck is adjusting to life with Ella, but he remains a bit jealous and requires, make that demands, lots of attention these days. As challenging as it is to leave the house with a newborn and a 2 year-old, I have found that if Aleck gets to run a little every morning, it makes the day so much better! We have become regulars at Boomerangs, an indoor play gym. The other day Aleck took small rocks out of the gas fireplace insert and I caught him putting them in Ella's mouth. Luckily, I caught him just as he was about to put the second rock in her mouth and I was able to get the first one out before Ella swallowed it. I freaked out! I no longer leave the two alone in the same room.


For the first few weeks, Ella was plagued with constant diarrhea and a diaper rash. After the third doctor visit, we discovered that Ella does not tolerate dairy products in my diet. Her diarrhea has improved big time since I gave up dairy products, but she developed a rash after I started drinking soy milk so I suspect she doesn't tolerate soy either. We have an appointment with a pediatric dermatologist next week and I pray the rash is not the beginning of eczema. Aleck has battled with eczema, but thankfully it is much improved with only an occasional flare-up.


At five weeks, Ella started sleeping 4 to 6 hours straight at night. Yay!!! Aleck sleeps right through Ella's 2 a.m. wake-up cry for a diaper change and feeding. I only hope Ella is as sound a sleeper since for some unknown reason, Aleck thinks that all doors in the house should be closed at all times, and slamming doors is a sound that frequently resonates through our home.

We had some professional pictures done when Ella was a week old and I have posted some but you can see the entire shoot at


http://beebeebrooks.smugmug.com/gallery/9243289_J3s7D#617113037_Cb8h7 Hope you enjoy. Unfortunately, Eryn had to work and couldn't make the photo shoot.


Now that I am not so sleep deprived, I will try to post more often.