Hold on to your diapers ladies!!!

Ok fellow mommies and friends of mommies, you are going to want to sit down for the little piece of news I am about to divulge. I'll wait as you locate a stable chair to support you in the shock of your life.

I'll start at the beginning. Today is Friday. For me that means Target Day!!! Target is a very happy place for me. There is always something new and pretty to look at in the magical land of Target. My blood pressure rises just a tad when I see that wonderful red and white clearance tag at the end of an aisle on a lovely piece of merchandise. Sometimes I have a need to go to Target when Target Friday rolls around. Other Fridays I just go to see the sites. Today I went on a mission to get the finishing piece to a birthday present. I have a general route when entering Target. Of course, first things first, you must get a shopping cart to haul all of your treasures. Then I head straight for the dollar section to pick up new incentives for my treasure box at school. This section conveniently ends where the clothes section begins. At the completion of this department, I am directed towards the shoes. After perusing this weeks selection I end up in the baby section. Then I move on to cleaning supplies, home organization, seasonal, home decor, toiletries, and finally end my shopping experience in the grocery section. Today, however, after quickly glancing at the shoes, I rounded the corner to find the most beautiful display I have ever seen in Target. I really stopped dead in my tracts and stared with my mouth hanging open in amazement at what stood in front of me. It was as though a spotlight was shining on this particular display and the Hallelujah chorus was playing from the speakers. There, staring me in the face were....

Designer Diapers!!!

Aren't you glad I made you sit down? I am still in shock. I have only dreamed of something so wonderful and here they are! I have often wondered why they don't make separate diapers for boys and girls and have even voiced this concern but never thought of actually making it happen. Up until now the cutest diapers I have yet to find are Target brand (of course this wonderful place would have the cute diapers). Unfortunately Lucy's snooty booty is allergic to these diapers so we are stuck with Winnie the Pooh or Mickey Mouse and I am NOT a fan of character paraphernalia. Characters belong in cartoons, movies, or Disney World not on hieney's or T-shirts!

But these diapers are Pampers! Lucy can (and will) wear them!!! They are designed by Cynthia Rowley and come in 11 covet-worthy designs including madras, gingham, and stripes (sorry mommies of boys; I couldn't find a boy picture but the boy's styles are equally adorable). They are sold in sizes 2-4 and since Lucy is in a size 4 now and almost to a 5, she will be sporting this trend until her little cheeks are oozing out of the sides. Of course, since they are designer, they are a bit more expensive than regular Pampers. At Target, they sell for about $13.50 for a 26 count box. However, I am pretty sure that coupons can be used.

Once again, the totally terrific town of Target leaves me smiling!

I Love Beach Music...

The youth at SVBC learned how to shag tonight and, of course, Lucy joined in. Unfortunately she doesn't know how to count yet so her counts are a little off and she really only has one dance move, but it's entertaining all the same. See for yourself...

All that shaggin' made Lucy a little hungry...

Family Time

My uncle and his family were in town from Florida this weekend. Lucy enjoys being the life of the party and this weekend was no exception. Here are a few photos of highlights:

Lucy loved their giant dog, Gracie. (Compared to our dogs she looks more like a horse.)

She may not like to sit in the booster seat/high chair to eat, but she LOVES carrying/dropping them all over the house.

Spaghetti faces!

Jax and Lucy trying to break free, Jackson eating some dessert, a very prissy move by Lucy, and Lucy finding "Boom Boom".

Can anyone identify the guy on the right?

A Pleasant Surprise

Lucy and I had the opportunity to spend some time at the pool today. This just so happens to be one of my favorite past times. There is nothing better than soaking up some sun with a good friend and an adorable toddler running around the pool with the slightest hint of her belly button hanging out! (See picture from previous post.) I owe a thanks to "Dra" as Lucy would say, a.k.a Aunt Kendra or Ms. Middleton for this wonderful day. Lucy enjoyed a great morning swim session then went to Grandma's for lunch, a nap, and playtime while I headed back to my lounge chair. Well, actually my seat on the step because it was a million degrees outside of the water. (Thanks Grandma for some time to relax!) Between catching-up conversations and working on my vitamin D intake, I started a new book. (Now that is my kind of multi-tasking!) I was a little skeptical about this book simply because of the way I came about it... I won it at a Beth Moore simulcast event. Please, let me explain. I thoroughly enjoy Beth Moore. My skepticism has nothing to do with her. I have been around churches long enough to know that when a church gives out books or cd's it's usually because the book or cd was given to them first. It's usually an author or artist no one has ever heard of or someone who was popular a century ago and the publishing company wants to generate some interest. I, myself, have been known to give out a Sandi Patty cd to a poor, innocent, unsuspecting youth. If you happen to be a woman my mom's age, you are saying, "Hey, I liked Sandi Patty!" And, I'm sure you did, however, the disappointed 15 year old didn't share your enthusiasm as he probably wasn't alive when Sandi was making TAPES!

I say all of this to demonstrate how pleasantly surprised I was when I began reading Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas. I also found out from my pool friend that he isn't an unheard of author... she was required to Sacred Marriage, also by him, in college. And she enjoyed it as I am enjoying this one. If I could have one desire for my precious daughter, it would be that she find a passionate love for Jesus very early and spend her entire life serving and honoring Him. How can she find this love and this desire if she doesn't observe the same love and desire in her father and me? In the few chapters I have read in this book, Mr. Thomas has discussed some of the mistakes parents make and the realities of the world we live in. I am eager to continue reading and recommend this one to new parents.

Haircut Day!!!

Today just so happens to be my favorite day of the month... Haircut Day!!! I don't know if it's the fresh aroma of hair products, the gentle massage as the stylist separates and clips dead ends, or the ability to read gossip magazines without judgement, but haircut day definitely puts me in a good mood. The only drawback from today's visit was sitting in front of my incredibly tan stylist in my pasty white skin. I immediately scolded myself for trying to find inside things for Lucy and I to fill our days with so we don't melt outside in the blazing heat. It takes a lot to ruin a good mood on haircut day so I quickly made a mental note to find more activities to do in the sun and didn't give it a second thought. After some glorious time at the salon, my good mood and I had the opportunity to do a little shopping. We "buzzed" down to Bumble Boutique (I couldn't resist) to look for a gift for Jeff's cousin who will be turning 6 in the next few weeks. While I did not find anything thing for Emilee, I did find a precious bathing suit for my Goose (which she is modeling in the picture) and her Easter dress for next year! Now, Jeff and I are very particular about the bathing suits we put this child in. We feel that we need to protect her innocence for as long as we can. I will not get started on how frustrated I get when young, beautiful girls do not respect the precious bodies God has given them or the integrity of the young men they are trying to attract. However, this bathing suit is just adorable and covers most of the body so we both approve.

In other news, my latest item to invent (since the whole "Bibie" thing didn't work out- who knew it already exists???) is gloves to be used when cooking. The thought came to me as I was getting grossed out while preparing meatloaf for dinner. I suppose one could just use rubber cleaning gloves (never used for cleaning, of course) but the thought of using gloves meant for cleaning also grosses me out. I'll be sure to post my infomercial here before it is advertised on TV... Stay tuned!

Snack time and Miss Independent

Lucy has been feeding herself for months but lately, much to my dismay, she insists on using her own utensils. Don't get me wrong; it is very exciting to watch my baby girl learn and develop new skills, however, being the control-freak mom that I am, eating with her own spoon or fork is one I wish she wasn't so eager to master. Getting the food on the spoon is not the problem. Getting the food from the bowl to the mouth is the issue. Watching slimy, sticky, mushy food slide from the spoon to the table/tray, bib, clothes, floor, and sometimes even the wall, is just a little more than this clean-freak can take. Usually Lucy eats foods that she can pick up and the fork or spoon only lasts long enough for her to figure out that she can get the maximum amount of food in her mouth in the shortest amount of time if she uses her hands. However, in my attempt to give the child yummy but nutritious foods, there are just times when a spoon is necessary. It takes all I have in me not to tear the clothes off of my messy but happy girl and rush her to the bathtub. How many baths can one child take in a day??? I have been known to allow "sink time" in which Lucy gets to splash in the kitchen sink while I scrub remnants from her latest meal off of her soft, slippery body. The nostalgic mom is saying, "One day you'll look back on this and laugh," to which I say, "yes, your right. That's why I have the video." But when I'm witnessing the mess unfolding I have to remind myself that eventually she will gain control of her eating tools and will be able to go on a date and more importantly, this is most likely to occur before she turns 20 years old.

Yay for our blog!!!

After months of saying, "we should start a blog," we finally did it!!! When blogs first became popular (after I figured out what a blog was), I thought, "who in the world would be interested in reading about my life?" I read a book (definitely not about blogs or starting blogs) but the author has a blog and mentioned her blog many times in the book and I got to thinking, "maybe a blog would be a good idea for friends and family who we don't get to see very often". I talked to Jeff about it and he said, "yeah, that sounds like a good idea". (I'm paraphrasing) However, we got stuck on finding a name. Every night for the past few weeks we said to each other "have you thought of a blog name yet?" Finally, we decided on a name while eating dinner last night. You all know how much we love our Lucy and we always have a story of something new or funny that she has done during the day. Enjoy our "Goose Tales" as we document her milestones and funny moments.