My weekend of rest and relaxation and healing and food and family and FUN happened. And just in time too. Hannah was gone most of the weekend so it was just me, The Man and Livie. We laid around. We went for a walk. We shopped. We ate out. We hung out with friends. We saw our family. This weekend had everything I’ve been needing for a long time.

And my baby girl who’s almost all the way over her cold was back to her normal self and ran around and played like a crazy woman. But if I ever left the room, she was right behind me. She was attached to me all weekend and I gotta say, it was kind of nice.

So I followed her around a lot with my camera and got cute pictures of her making her “thinking face” and her “happy face” and I loved it all. My little baby girl who I had fun dressing up in ALL homemade clothes because while I adore me some Target and Gymboree, Etsy and custom made stuff for my girls is where it’s at.

Know what else hits the spot for me? Watching The Man with our babies. It’ll never EVER get old to me.

And so by the time Monday came along I was ready to eat some burgers and hot dogs and laugh with the family and see my oldest baby girl who had a great time on her weekend trip away with her Nana. It was a weekend away from eachother we both probably needed and when she got home I just KNEW she’d be different.

I was right.

She came running up to me and told me she missed me and couldn’t wait to see me. That’s the daughter I knew was in there.

And Livie missed her too.

And so we did just that. We ate. We laughed. We told stories. We did what we do best when we all get together. It may sound corny but to me it’s magical how this family operates. I can’t say enough how grateful I am to have amazing in laws and people that consider me blood just as much as they do The Man or my girls. I feel like I was born into this family and that I’ve always been here.

It was a good, good weekend. The last weekend of summer…at least according to me. So now I anticipate fall and all the stuff I LOVE about fall. We may not get fall weather here or fall colors but we have our family and our get togethers and our pumpkin spice punch and Halloween parties. And that? Makes me happy.

It makes us happy.

Last night marked 1 week since my emotional breakdown with Hannah last week. I have to say that although not much improved, I feel like what I said to her sunk in a little. Last night during dinner, AFTER being grounded from our neighbor for her usual sassy mouth, she said to me ” So, you want me to act opposite of how I’ve been acting….like how I act at with BeBe.” (BeBe is The Man’s step dad and pretty much the only person in our family who she listens to and behaves around.) And it was like a lightbulb went on in her head when she said that. I said YES! Exactly. She loves her BeBe very very much and they have a bond that she has with no one else. They play together, laugh together, read together and tell stories together. She adores him. And yet, she never disobeys him. I don’t know if it’s a respect thing or just an admiration thing…who knows. But it was HUGE for her to finally realize how I WANT her to act. So last night, she hugged me, told me she loved me, said sorry for how she’s been and that she’s going to change and be better because…and get this…if she does the right thing then I’m happy which makes HER happy because she won’t be grounded anymore.

I saw this on my way home yesterday from work.

I just knew it was a sign that my evening was going to be good. Hannah left today to go on a weekend trip with her Nana and Bebe and she’s been so excited for it for months. Last night I told her I loved her and that I’d miss her. I meant it. Truthfully I’m welcoming a little break from her because the last week really sucked me dry. But when she gets back on Monday evening we are gonna start this new track together, her and I. And it’s gonna be good.

So this weekend it’ll just be me, The Man and Liv. Poor, sick Livie. She’s still a sicky baby but she’s finally playing again and smiling.

And back to getting into EVERYTHING. She was being mighty quiet in the kitchen and I caught her in the laundry, behind her high chair just sitting there babbling away.

It’s gonna be a good, long weekend, y’all. I can’t wait.

Happy Labor Day!

The good in Hannah shines through just when I need it to. I’m grateful for this because sometimes I have to be reminded that my child IS good and IS sweet and not always the crazed 7 year old I think she is or make her out to be. I went through some old blog posts and found these gems from when she was younger.

4 years old:

me: aw Nettie I love you so much her: I love you too. me: You’re such a beautiful little woman her: *nods* me: You’re my precious little baby her: And you’re a grown up.

5 years old: (on me getting pregnant)

“mama, do you have a baby in your belly yet?”

“nope honey not yet”

“well I hope God puts one in there soon and I hope it’s a girl. If it’s a boy, that won’t be right”

“um, it would be right. whatever God wants to put in there is what’s right. He doesn’t make mistakes”

“but I ordered a girl!”

I remember having these talks with her and I’m so glad I put them here to look back on. We used to lay in bed at night and just talk before we went to bed. I need to start doing that again. I miss how we used to be.

And as promised, a HAPPY Hannah in her dance stuff.

Let’s hope this lasts!

And my poor baby girl…she’s all sicky and yucky. She’s getting better little by little daily but I still hate to see her all mopey and whiney.

She still finds time to be cute though because she can’t help it. I speak the truth.

So my week is going better now and I’m SO thankful for all of your input and ideas. I honestly don’t know where I’d be without this online community that I’m a part of. I’m truly blessed.

Living in a Gulf coast state brings getting familiar with certain terms. We get our share of hurricanes around here and a common term  is “the eye of the storm.” It’s the center of the hurricane where the rain stops and the winds die for a short time and you can see right through to the top of it straight to the blue skies and the sun. It’s small and only lasts for a bit but it’s the calm in the middle of the storm. I feel like my evenings this week are the calm in my otherwise stormy week. I feel like I’m barely staying afloat. I’ve barely taken pictures this week. I’ve barely blogged this week. I’ve barely looked at my reader and I miss reading my favorite blogs. I’m dying for the routine that I know will come eventually. Last night I took these and desperately grasped for my old life that was just here last week.

And once again my silly girl made her appearance. Livie was none too pleased.

And since she just sat in Hannah’s arms screaming because it’s oh so horrible to have your big sister carry you, Hannah shot her this look which I’m SO glad I caught on my camera.

This was a genuine, you’re making me sick, kind of look and it cracked me up that I got it captured forever. Bad. Ass.

This little stinker has gotten in the habit of stealing Daddy’s Playstation remote. This is a huge no no in our house and yet she continues to smirk at us and snatch it and then run off with it. Since Daddy was in another room and hadn’t noticed yet, I decided to document this event because she KNEW she was being sneaky. She just didn’t care.

And yes, I’m still in love with her profile.

The eye is passing by and the storm is about to pick back up. I’ll be taking a mini blogging break since I’ll be out of town FINALLY til Tuesday and then probably drowning at work again for the rest of the week next week. But stay tuned because when I DO come back here hopefully by the end of the week next week I’ll have stories and pictures galore from my trip and of my girls after I get back home.

Next week is gonna be a good week. I’m going to make sure of it.

It was coincidence I’m sure but both my girls decided to do things like their mama yesterday. Hannah put on my heels and pranced around like I apparently do…at least in her eyes.

Even pretending that Liv was her daughter.

Of course that lasted about 2 seconds and then Livie ran off because she decided last night was a not-like-your-sister night.

And Livie had her own way of pretending to be me. She went grocery shopping.

She also was into things she wasn’t supposed to be into, per usual. This time I caught her in the Tupperware cabinet.

Busted

I once again need these pictures because the kind of sleep I got last night due to Livie’s still HORRIBLE sleeping habits and the fact that the next few weeks at work are gonna be rough…well I need a pick me up in the worst way. So my girls are my pick me up for today. And tomorrow the Halloween in July party that I’m going to will be my pick me up. And Sunday I’m determined to take the girls out to a park or some outdoor location and take some pictures of them and THAT will be my pick me up. I have things all around me that pick me up when I’m down and I know that they’re constants in this life of mine. The constants that MAKE my life no matter what else may come our way.