What a YEAR!

So I see it's been a while....blah blah blah....

Here are some things going on with us!

1- House!  We moved into our dream home January of 2014.  We LOVE it and it is just perfect for us.  The best part is the playroom/office!  The kids play and have a blast.  We are just so thankful God saw fit to give us this particular house!

2- February- Tucker turned ONE!  It is still hard to believe how fast he is growing.  He had a Construction Themed birthday party because his Nana calls him her little Bulldozer. He is into everything and meets everything with gusto!  February was also the month we found out that Aunt Dani was going to have her very first baby!  A boy, Titus Elston Neal, due in November!

3- March and April were just regular spring months for us.  Millie did fantastic in her 3 day a week, 3 year old preschool.  We were very pleased with her progress and all that she learned.  Somewhere in there Tucker had to have a little surgery to put tubes in his ears.  He did great and it has proven to be a great thing for his health.

4- May was a big month for us!  It started with Millie and I taking a girls trip to see Karen and her belly (she was pregnant with Lille) along with Holly and Kara.  I am SO glad we were able to do that.  We had a great great time and Millie is such a good travel companion.  May was also the month that, on a whim, I decided to sell Jamberry nail wraps.  It has been a blast and I am enjoying riding the wave of direct sales!  Millie finished up preschool and also had her big dance recital.  She did a great job and we were SO proud of her!

5- June started summer and with that brought some changes in our child care.  Clint's cousin Chris' daughter Abby came to our house daily and watched the kids so Nana could have a summertime break.  Abby is 17 and did a great job!  I never onced worried about her!

6- July was great!  Millie turned 4 and had her very first friend birthday party.  We rented a bouncy house had pizza cake and ice cream and LOTS of little kids all over the place.  It was great, but I vote for a swimming pool party next year...July in South Georgia is WAY TOO HOT!  We also ended July with our Annual Thompson family beach trip.  This was THE best trip we've taken!  It was SUCH a great time.  The kids loved the water and the sand.  The condo we stayed at was lovely and we just had a blast.

7- August brought the 1st day of PreK for Millie and Tucker's first day of 1 year old preschool.  Millie goes 5 days a week for 4 hours a day and Tucker goes twice a week.  We really love their school and wish they could stay there forever.  They both love it and are doing so well!  Makes my momma heart proud!

8- September- My birthday month!  Clint and I were able to go to the Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood concert on my birthday.  It was SO GOOD!  We enjoyed our day with Mike and Megan too! Oh...and that cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory....YUMMY!

We are blessed, provided for and loved!  Maybe I can keep up with this bad boy!

Until next time,
Sam

Tucker's Birth Story

Tucker’s birth story.  Better late than never, right? 

We knew from the moment we found out we were having a second baby that we would have a C-section.  After my experience with Millie’s labor, we just knew.  We had been told that we could schedule at 39 weeks.  So, that is exactly what we did.  February 22^nd would be the day.  2-22-13.  Cool date for a birthday!  It was the perfect day since it was a Friday…it worked out for family to not have to miss too much work and so on.

Thursday the 21st was my last day of teaching and I couldn’t have been happier!  I got home and busily got things ready.  We were waiting for my sister-in-law Megan to arrive with my niece, Allison so they could be on Millie duty.  The plan was for them to spend the night so when we left early the next morning, they would be settled in and ready for a fun day with Millie.  They planned to make the drive to Tallahassee the afternoon Tucker was born so Millie could meet her baby brother. 

We awoke Friday morning and were excited for what the day would hold.  We took one last picture as a family of three, and one final shot of my big belly.  I hugged my sweet girl so tight and we were off!

We arrived at the hospital, signed in and waited.  My dad and Cindy arrived shortly after we did, followed by my Mom and Larry and then my In-Laws, Nana and Papa.  We all chit chatted in the waiting room until it was time for me to head back and get the ball rolling.  We hugged and said our goodbyes.

I remember getting all suited up and just smiling.  I waited so long for this day and I couldn’t wait to lay my eyes on my brand new baby boy!  I remember the nurse that gave me the IV had a son named Tucker so we bonded immediately!  She was so gentle and the IV went very smooth! (I hate them!)

I was supposed to be in surgery at 11:00, but it ended up being later than that.  I got checked out by the anesthesiologist (totally spelled that right the first time)  and everything was set.  I then WALKED myself to my surgery room and crawled up on the table as gracefully as possible.  Clint was in holding as he got suited up.  The spinal tap went okay, other than the Jamaican nurse and the surgical tech girl arguing at each other and cussing at each other.  It was quite uncomfortable.  They laid me back on the table and in walked my doctor…Dr. Ramsey…with a boom box.  I’m not kidding. He had music blaring the entire time I was in surgery….it was like “bahama” type music.  Weird.  Very Weird. 

I remember them counting the tools and getting things all set.  Finally they brought Clint back in and started the procedure.  I felt a little woozy, but otherwise fine.  At 12:15 p.m. My sweet, handsome, precious baby boy was born.  Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures of him before being taken to the side because when He came out he was “grunting,” which was a sign that he breathing was labored.  The nurses immediately started working on him and made the decision to take him to the NICU.  It was taking SO long and I was straining my neck to see my boy.  I was SO SCARED!  The anesthesiologist had the personality of a wet rag, however, as tears rolled down my cheeks, he would say “Blink” and then wipe my tears with a cotton ball since my arms were tied down.  My heart yearned for my baby, but he needed help that I couldn’t give. 

They put me in recovery which seemed to take forever.  I was just so concerned about my boy.  On the way to my room, they wheeled me to the NICU so I could see my baby.  It was just so emotional to finally get to see him and tell him how much I loved him.  I cried and cried.  When I heard him breathe, I knew he needed to be right there.  I said “see you later” to my baby for the night. 

Finally I got to my room and got to see my family.  They were all concerned and anxious as well.  They were able to see him and assured me that he would be fine.

I remember the first night after having him, he stayed in the NICU.  I “rested” as well as I could, but was constantly calling and checking on him. 

FINALLY, Saturday afternoon rolled around and he was discharged from the NICU and brought to our room.  I was on cloud 9.  Megan and Allison came to visit bringing along the new big sister, Millie.  We got to introduce her to her baby brother and just had a joyous time of snuggling with our baby boy.

We were discharged on Sunday and made the trek  back to Thomasville through the POURING DOWN RAIN.  It was awful.  I cried all the way home…hormones and FEAR of the awful storm!

We made it home, Millie was in Tifton with her Nana and Papa and we forged ahead into sleepless nights and parental bliss.

Our baby boy was the snuggliest, squishiest baby that I’ve ever known.  He is a momma’s boy and will be forever!

Home Sweet Home???

It's Friday again!  Yay!

Sitting at my desk eating my lunch and answering the phone when it rings.  Taking a late lunch today to go look at 2 more houses.  UGH!  We still have about 8 more days to wait before we find out if we "get" the house we put the offer on.  We did find out, however, that the doctor that put the other offer on that house..well..he put a CASH offer!  UGH!  But...like my friend Holly told me yesterday...no one is going to get our house.  God has it and is saving it for us for just the right time.  I believe that!

Taking a break this weekend to head up to WR to see my family.  We are going to the state Fair on Saturday!  I am SO excited!  We are taking both my kiddos and my 9 year old neice!  We figured she and Millie could ride rides together!  I'm trying not to have grand ideas in my mind of how I want this to go...I'm just going to roll with it!  My mom and Larry are coming too, so that should be fun.  (Minus the fact that my mom told me she may have to get a wheelchair) (long story)

Tucker has had a cold this week.  Of course that makes sleeping really hard when he cant suck on his passie and breathe at the same time.   Poor guy.  I went to Walmart at 7:00 this morning and got him a humidifier for tonight. 

I also picked up The Little Mermaid!!!  I am thrilled!  Millie loves Ariel, although she's never seen the movie.  We are going to have movie night tonight complete with blankets, pillows and popcorn.  That usually lasts about 15 min if we are lucky, but I'm hoping she will be up for the whole movie....I know I am!

I've gone from uber organized, on time, put together mommy to "Oh, it's show and tell day?" in all of ONE MONTH of Millie being in Preschool.  THANK GOD for Nana!  She is just on the ball...packs Millie's snack that I forgot and found something for show and tell that started with an F.  I must get it together!  At least I had the tuition check in her bag!

I will no longer be a temp employee starting Monday!  I will officially begin working for the city!!!  AND...I found out I will be making $2.20 more an hour than I was originally told!  PRAISE THE LORD!!!

I started Weight Watchers this week!  After going to the doctor last week, my eyes have been opened.  I'm feeling the motivation and determination WAY more than I have the last 300 times I've started and stopped dieting!  I'm down 9 pounds in my first week!  GO ME!

Well, I think that just about covers it all.  Peace and Love!

Until Next Time,
Sam

CA-RA-ZY!!

Happy Friday!

This has been one CA-RA-ZY week!  Seriously!

Monday, Clint left for Savannah for the week for a business trip.  I have been DREADING this week for quite a while because I knew I’d be in charge for 4 whole days/nights!  Thankfully it hasn’t been that bad and the kids have slept pretty good!  Oh, and we put an offer on a house we love!  We had to raise our offer due to finding out someone else put an offer down too.  We shall see!

Tuesday, we get a call from the lawyer’s office that is handling the closing on our house in Thomasville.  Well, basically they waited until the very last minute to get the papers to us to sign, notarize and overnight back to them.  It was a big ole mess because Clint was out of town.  And on Tuesday he was on a 15 passenger white van going on a farm tour, farm to farm to farm.  He was at a loss as to how he was going to get his stuff signed, notarized and over-nighted.  Thankfully people overheard the 435 phone calls he took and helped him out.  They stopped in Vidalia (The Onion Capital) and he was able to go to the courthouse and the post office.  Long story short…we closed on our house!  All the little details worked out and with a wire transfer of a chunk of money…SOLD!

Wednesday was normal.  I got to watch the new Nashville!  It is amazing that I now can stay up until 11:00!  Don’t have to be up as early with my new job and I just sit at a computer so I can be dead to the world for a little bit!

Thursday rocked my little world.  Well, God rocked my happy little Samantha world!  I had an 8:00 appointment for Worksmart which is through the hospital to get my drug screen and physical since I am a new hire with the City of Tifton.  WELL….looong story short…the doctor comes in and small talks for a bit.  He tells me about his 80 year old mother and his mentally challenged adult sister and the fact that he too is trying to find a house so he can move them from Alabama to Tifton so he can take care of them.  One thing led to another and we found out that HE IS THE OTHER OFFER on the house we put the offer on.  I’m not joking!  We were flabbergasted!  We even had a little church up in that doctor’s office.  God did that.  He did that for me.  For little ole Samantha!  I want that house so badly…In my mind, I KNOW it is perfect for us.  We are still waiting to hear if we got it or if we didn’t.  But now, after my experience yesterday, if we don’t get it, I will not be sad.  I will not be disappointed.  I will know that someone else needed it more.  I will put my head on the pillow and thank the Lord for my healthy children.  I love HIM!

See, I told you it was crazy!

Until next time,

Sam

Randomness

1-      Millie got her first order from Scholastic book clubs today.  She was THRILLED!  Made me happy to get to do that for her.  Well…to be honest…I didn’t.  Her Nana saw her looking through the order form and threw $40 on the kitchen table and said “order you some books baby!”  That she did.  My plan was to stick a few away for Christmas, but she got to them before I did.  Makes me smile!

2-      My sweet Tucker boy has a photo shoot on the 23^rd for his picture to be in a calendar.  It’s a fundraiser for newspapers in education so that is neat.  The only not neat thing is that the professional photographer that is doing the pictures called and said I have one time slot, one day and one place I can take your sons picture.  If you can’t be there, then he is out.  RUDE!  On a Monday at 12:30 in the afternoon, 20 miles away.  Clint is going to make it work.

3-      Almost…ALMOST fell in love with a 2400 sq ft house.  Realized it was in the Historic District of Tifton…which apparently comes with a lot of rules and regulations about what you can and cannot do to the house.  Fell out of love when I realized it was built in 1948.  That scares me!

4-      Our house closing has been changed to September 25^th.  UGH!  Just want to get out from under this house!

5-      Going home this weekend to visit my family.  My grandma is over the moon excited and cannot wait!  It has been a while!  My mom has officially retired from teaching due to all of her health problems.  Makes me sad.  I just hope she doesn’t  take it as an excuse to sit around all day. 

6-      Found out another pastor left from my old church/school.  I will say it again…I got out just in time!  There are other awesome people still there, and I know God has a purpose in them being there.  I’m just glad our purpose was to move on.

7-      I’m excited Xfactor is back on!

8-      In fact…all the good shows are coming back.  I keep asking Clint to sit down and make a schedule.  We don’t have DVR anymore, so I know it would help.

9-      I would love some pizza right now.

10-   Clint is covering football tonight.  I sure miss him when he is gone, but I know he loves to do that, so I just deal!  I need to pack anyway!

11-   13 minutes til I can go home! YAY!

12-   Need to contact my sister in Denver to see if she is okay with all that flooding.  Sad.

Until Next Time,

Sam

The House Hunting Begins

It’s Friday, Friday…….

I forgot how much I looked forward to Friday’s while I was home all summer.  Now that I am back to work…I totally get it!

Still working hard at learning all the ins and outs of the natural gas world.  My boss is admittedly off the charts, scatter-brained and CANNOT stay on task, so things are being learned at a slower pace.  It’s all good.

We are going to look at our very first house tonight to start the house hunt.  It is a nice home, only had one owner and has about 700 more square feet than our old house.  The main catch is that it has 4 bedrooms.  I am desperate for a playroom/office area, but we shall see.  My other preferences is a pantry…because our last house didn’t have one… and a laundry room rather than a laundry closet.

I know that “beggers can’t be choosers” so I am just thankful that we get to entertain the idea of buying another house.  I am thankful that all of our stuff is in storage, and that we have a place to stay until we can move in.  There shouldn’t be anything “hurrying” us like it happened the last time.  No apartment lease to be out of or stuff like that.  I know my in-laws are ready to reclaim their home as their own,  but they are the most patient and giving people I’ve ever known.  I can only hope I am half as awesome as they are when my children are grown.  They are the definition of “we will help in any way we can” type of people.  It also helps having really cute grandchildren for them! ;)

Millie went to her second day of preschool today and I am anxious to get home to her to see how that went. 

Last night, she was pitching a fit in the bathtub about washing her hair.  I told her that she was being unkind to mommy and that it wasn’t nice.  I asked her if I should tell her teachers that she was being a mean girl.  She absolutely straightened up!  It was kind of neat.  I’ve had parents tell me as the teacher that they have used that tactic, but I got to witness the power first-hand.  Kind of funny.

I know that every parent thinks their kids are the cutest/greatest/smartest in all the land.  I get it.  But my Millie is SO SMART!  Even Pre Preschool.  Her reasoning skills and thinking skills blow me away.  Yesterday, her Nana was on her way out the door to go to WalMart.  The night before, Millie’s Dora soap in the bathroom ran out.  On her own, clear as day, Millie asked her Nana “Nana, I need you to buy me some new Dora soap, mine’s all gone!”  I don’t know why that catches me as being so smart, but it just does.  I can’t take it!

Alrighty…..

Until Next Time,

Sam

Thursday

Happy Thursday!  I love Thursdays.  I always have!  You can feel the weekend and the excitement of that, but it isn’t SO close that it is practically gone.  Does that make sense? 

I am currently at my desk, eating tuna and crackers, “working” through my lunch break to make up the time that I missed yesterday from taking Millie to school and leaving early for a doctor’s appointment.

It is REALLY slow during the 12:00 lunch hour, so I am trying to pass time. 

Tucker is 6 MONTHS OLD today!  I am amazed at how fast that happened.  He is such a sweet sweet sweet boy!  His favorite thing in the whole world to do is sit on the front porch swing and look around.  He doesn’t need a thing with him either.  I, along with his Nana, am convinced that he says “Hey” to us.  It sure does sound like it!  He is an eating fool…well except for the whole bottle thing.  He really acts as if he cannot be bothered by a bottle…except at 2:30 a.m.  He is eating veggies AND fruit which I started a little early due to the fact that he acted as if I was abusing him by stopping at ½ a container of veggies.  Im not sure how long he will last on ½ veggies, ½ fruit, but we shall see.  He still doesn’t have any teeth, even though he is drooling like a mad man.  Very strange since Millie had 2 teeth at 4 months old.  I just know he’d love some puffs, but he has to have teeth for that!  We are taking him on Saturday to get his 6 month pictures taken.  I am excited to get some good shots since Millie’s 6 month pictures were my all time favorites!  I know, I know…stop comparing! J

I found out this morning that my Grandma has been diagnosed with Dementia.  I am not sure what all that entails and will be catching up with my mom this afternoon to get more details.  It really makes me sad.  Especially knowing the kind of woman she has been all her life.  I do love her so much and want nothing more than for her to be involved with my babies, but it isn’t looking like that is going to happen.  She is very paranoid and cannot handle loudness…which is hard to control with 2 little ones.

I am just praying that she is peaceful.  What a scary thing to have to deal with.

Well….I must run.  Picking up dinner tonight while Clint and Larry are picking up the VERY LAST load from Thomasville.  Things are happening!

Until Next Time,

Sam