Firsts

As I was downloading the pictures from my camera today, I noticed that there were several "firsts". Are there enough to blog about? Probably not. But then the most noteable first would be the fact that I am actually writing an entry on my blog. It's the first in a while (a while = 6 months). Of course, I have a lot of bloggers guilt, but it hasn't started keeping me awake at night. And if I'm sleeping peacefully, I don't feel the need to disrupt the harmony. However, I did receive an email from the "mother of all bloggers" inquiring about my lack of production. It felt a little like being called to the principal's office and being asked why I was no longer completing my homework assignments, and why was I occupying space at a desk if I wasn't going to use it. But if anyone could make me come out of the blogging black hole, it would be the "mother of all bloggers"....because I hold her and her Ocala blogging budddy high upon a pedestal in this world of web logging!

So....on with my firsts!




Knox's First Titans Game





Richmond's First Day of First Grade


And last, but not least.....



My first car with under 75,000 miles on it at point of purchase....and a sunroof, too! We're forming quite a bond - my little black beauty and me. And its a good thing, because we will no doubt be getting to know one another well. I suspect I'll be looking through her sunroof for the next 10 years. And today, I'm okay with that.

On that same note, anybody wanna buy a Tahoe.....190,000 miles, totally ragged out on the inside and out, no driver's side interior door handle (we use the "mechanism" to open it). Not one first remotely associated with this machine - except maybe the extensive carpet cleaning I gave her last weekend. That was a first! And a last. The good news is, you could probably pay cash for her. The bad news is, you'll have to take out a loan to quench her thirst. She sucks gas faster than my kids suck down a chocolate milk at the "Pancake House" on Sunday morning! Whoa Nelly!

Yessiree, she's a beauty.


As a side note....when one doesn't blog regularly, one forgets the ins and outs of blogging. Then one can spend countless hours trying to figure out how to fix the things one has screwed up. And then one says, WHATEVER! and moves on. Thus, my titles under my pictures don't line up. But as I mentioned in a previous post, I am not an attention to details person. So. WHATEVER!

It's A Girl

Julia Avery Thompson is here. In fact, she's been here for 10 days now. She is the beautiful, black-haired, big-cheeked daughter of my sister, Marcy and her black-haired, big-cheeked husband, Tre. (Do you see a pattern here?) She arrived on February 7th - a Thursday - and I could not be present for her arrival. So...I did what any normal person would do - I begged them not to tell me one little detail until I could get there on Friday - not the sex, not the weight, not the name - nothing. Because in my family, we don't find out what our babies are until they are this side of the womb. It's somewhat controversial in this nursery decorating and monogrammed gift giving world that we live in, but it works for us. We like surprises! And I didn't wait 9 months for somebody to call me on the telephone and give me the details.

So I arrive in Birmingham the next night and I'm walking through the halls of the hospital checking out the blue and pink bows on the doors. And I'm thinking....I don't want to find out what this baby is by way of the door bow. As I approach Marcy's room, I am elated to see the naked door...a no-go-on-the-bow, if you will. Excellent. I open the door, expecting to see pink or blue ribbons or balloons or something. No, it is the most sterile room I have ever laid eyes upon....except for the blinding smiles of my sister, my mother, and Haley (my sister's sister-in-law). And there she is....the bundle of joy, swaddled in a blanket with the traditional blue and pink stripped baby hat. I take the baby and practically assault it trying to get it de-swaddled so I can find out who she/he is at long last. But all I see is white...just like those crazy (almost evil) smiles on those around me. She is dressed in white from head to toe. Ya'll. They made me go to the diaper to check parts. Parts is parts, but there was definitely one part missing. IT'S A GIRL!!!! We haven't had a girl on my side of the family for a while - 7 years to be exact. And the name, well, it was my grandmother's. And you know how we love my grandmother. (As a side note, I wanted to name my child Julia, but after I married Richy that became impossible. I was not going to have a Julia Roberts...wasn't gonna happen. Also, both of my children have "parts", so apparently, God made that decision easy for me.)

The next day we performed the most incredible "Extreme Nursery Makeover"! We turned the neutral nursery with its green walls and yellow bee bedding into a suite fit for a princess. Fortunately, Tre's mom, Shelayne, happens to be a decorator - which comes in handy when you are trying to rebuild Rome in a day. It also helped matters that the next door neighbor, Amanda, had some extra pink toile crib bedding and she monograms on the side. OK....she was a big piece of the nursery puzzle. The crib bedding - that was HUGE, but at 10:00 that night she is monogramming the window treatments with Julia's initials. I love it when a plan comes together!!

Ahhh, it was a lovely weekend! Thank you to my husband for staying home with our children so I could spend that time with my sister. I'm thinking that Extreme Nursery Makeover would not have happened had Richmond and Knox been on the scene. Or Julia would have had her room decorated with Mater and Lightning McQueen with some touches of Spiderman. Yes, all hail to Richy! It was a special time...

Here's hoping that Julia will forgive me when she's old enough to realize that it took me 10 days to blog her arrival into this world. But by then, she'll know me. And by then, she'll know she was lucky it was only 10 days and not 10 years! And she'll forgive me....because she had the cutest nursery E-V-E-R!

Stuff

Stuff....just uttering the word makes me want to crawl into the fetal position. We have a lot of stuff. Anyone who has ever had the misfortune of seeing the inside of our garage, or who has been a guest in our home and hoped to hang their clothes in the closet, can attest to the fact that the Roberts have some stuff! And to make matters worse, organization is not my strong point. In fact, Richy and I recently took the Myers Briggs test in our Sunday School class, and yada-yada-yada - we're not attention to details people. I'm sure that I was suppose to get something deeper from the results of my test, but mostly I just thought....no wonder our garage looks like it does - it's our nature! As a couple, we have a lot of fine qualities - just none that are visible in our garage or closets :)

Last month as we were preparing to decorate our house with Christmas stuff, I had a stuff meltdown. I became overwhelmed by the stuff - the Christmas decorations stuff, the everyday stuff, the autumn stuff, the toys stuff, thoughts of the new toys stuff that would soon be coming our way, my work stuff. I began to vent to my unsuspecting husband that the stuff was making me crazy. Much like this post, I am sure that I used the word "stuff" approximately 167 times as I ranted and raved on and on until my husband began boxing up the stuff and taking it away. To this day, I'm not sure what or how much stuff was carted away during my meltdown.....but it wasn't enough!! Though I give my husband much credit, he knew just what to do in that moment....and it made me feel better. Seeing him carry out garbage bags of stuff....I'm not sure I've ever loved him more!

So I started thinking....in this new year, what if I made a deliberate effort to only purchase and bring into my home the stuff that we need - not the stuff that we want. Not necessarily to save money (though that will be a nice side effect), but to save my sanity. Someone may want to warn Target and TJ Maxx, so they can be accountable to Wall Street for their declining numbers! I mean seriously, how often do I go to Target and peruse the aisles just to find a deal....on anything....because it's a deal....and I'm sure I will need it for something....one of these days....in the next few years.....before I die. This is a problem. How does it come to this? (I am sure there are spiritual implications here, but we can't go there today.)

Also, I think it will be a great exercise in determining what it is that we really do need. We need toilet paper and milk, but do I really need another pair of black shoes? Not so much....I think the 10 I already own should cover it! Odds are, I will find that we have everything we need.....and then some. By posting this, I suppose I'll have some accountability to the 4 people that still read my blog! I'll try to post some updates and let you know how my "stuff-less" adventure is going.


Lord, I pray that You will be the "stuff" in my life. You, alone, are sufficient.

He Might Be Learnin' Something

Conversation overheard at bedtime:

Daddy: Knox, are you ready to go night-night?

Knox: Nooo, I don't want ni-ni!!

Daddy: You want to stay up all night?

Knox: Yes!

Richmond (very matter-of-factly): Maybe he's nocturnal.

I'm not sure that I knew what "nocturnal" meant until last year. He's 5. I'm dreading the homework in 1st grade. Will I be able to hang? Stay tuned for the next episode of "My 5 year old is smarter than me".

First Day of Kindergarten

and we survived!!!



In uniform and ready to go.....



But not without a hug from Dad. Is he holding onto his leg? Not a good sign.....



In his classroom


Teacher's pet already?


Mrs. Tracy's busy bees!

Slow Down Already

In the past several days, it has become shockingly apparent that my baby is not a baby anymore. Oh, I've had subtle hints - like his vocabulary which now consists of "dude", "awesome", and "for real?". But this week, I feel like I've been hit in the head with a two by four called reality. On Tuesday, Richmond turned 5. On Wednesday, he lost his first 2 baby teeth. What the heck? Can't a girl be eased into reality instead of being hit over the head with it? All of this, together with the whole Kindergarten thing....it's almost too much for this mom to grasp. It doesn't help that I was in my mid 30's when I had him. You know what they say......the older you get, the faster time goes. It's soooo true! In fact, I'm now old enough to realize the truth in all of those things people told you when you were younger. You know the "old people logic" that you totally blew off because old people don't know what they're talking about! Oh to be 20 and ignorant again.... (Not that all 20 year olds are ignorant, but I was. Maybe "unaware" is a better word).

Anyway, I now am the proud mom of a dynamic and toothless 5 year old. He has made my world a more interesting place. Quite frankly, he has rocked my world. He is the sunshine of my days, with a scattered thunderstorm always on the horizon ready to reap havoc at any minute. He is very bright, and he challenges me to look at things from a new perspective. He is lots of fun and loves life just about as much as anyone I know. More than anything, he has a precious and caring heart. He plays hard and loves hard. And if your sick or hurting, he is a wonderful prayer warrior. His teacher was bothered with a sore back for about a week at school in the winter. He is still praying for her back. I wish I was more like him in that respect....

I simply could not be more blessed than to be a part of this little man's life. I am so honored!


From this......


To this - in the blink of an eye



He's 5!


The Boyzzzz


Party!


We Lost the Tooth


We Found the Tooth!


It's Gone!


And a Few Hours Later....Tooth #2

Hitch A Ride With An Angel

We recently visited the doctor for Richmond's physical that is needed for his Kindergarten registration. (Yes, Kindergarten! This Mom does not have the energy to post about that topic - too much emotion to invest) Anyway, at each of the yearly visits, we receive a handout that explains typical behavior, development, etc for that particular age. As I was reading it, I noticed that it stated that 5 year olds often begin to show a keen interest in death. And one day after reading that tidbit, this is what Richmond says to me out of the clear blue as we are driving through the Mickey D's:

"Hey Mom, I'll bet when we die...the angels swoop down from the sky with their huge wings. We'll just hop on their backs, and they'll carry us up to Heaven to see Jesus. Won't that be fun?!!!"

Well, I don't know about you, but that is the way I will choose to view death from now on. Just. like. that.

Isn't it wonderful when we can view the world through the eyes of a child!