Greenleigh is Two!

My baby girl turned TWO yesterday. TWO. I started the morning off with a good cry, which if you know me at all, is extremely out of character. Nothing can get me teary-eyed faster than watching my babies grow up. Then I went in her room when I heard her awake and started singing the Birthday song and she cut me off with a smart alleck "Good mornin', Mama." Kind of like, "Please hush." Then we put on her party clothes (an adorable pink tutu skirt and a Birthday Girl T-shirt) and she walked around all morning showing them off. We went to the community center to decorate and set up and Tabitha brought over the cake her aunt Chrissie made, which was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Another thing- balloons. WHY does it always seem like an Ordeal to get balloons blown up, no matter where I go? I usually wait til about an hour or so before whatever party I'm decorating, and I ALWAYS end up running late because the stupid people at the helium tank want to make friends and talk for 45 minutes while they blow up SIX balloons. And by the way, if you want a cute Dora character balloon like the one pictured below, it'll cost you a whoppin' NINE DOLLARS at your local Jasper Ingles. I don't have all the pictures from everyone's camera yet, but here are a couple from the Dora Birthday Fiesta:

Blowing out her candles. How awesome is her cake?

Opening presents

Showing Aunt Tab and MeMom her new outfit

When we got home, we played with all of her new toys. She put her Dora backpack on and proceeded to bring me a piece of paper and markers and said "Make a map, Mama." So I drew a map to Aunt Tab's house, and she put it in her backpack and walked around the room for a minute then said, "Where's Aunt Tab? I don't know. Look at the map! Swiper, no swiping! Swiper, no swiping! Aww MAN!" Just like that. It's better than television, I swear.

Sleepy girl at the end of the night

Baby Canvases

My sister-in-law, Shelly, is expecting a baby girl next month, and her shower is next Saturday. Everybody always gives clothes and things, but I wanted to give my new niece something personal. I am by no means an artist, but I can usually manage to make something out of nothing. Here's what I've got so far. I'll post the finish product when it's done!

I found the quote on the Internet.

The ribbon I'll be using. It's also the ribbon she's using in the nursery.

Friends are the Family We Make For Ourselves

Growing up, I always wanted a sister. Someone who would be able to share in all of the important moments in my life, someone to laugh with, someone to cry with. But my mom never spit out another female. However, she did enroll me in dance at Performing Arts Unlimited when I was two years old, and it was there that I met my sister. It's been 20 years, and we have never had a single fight, a single problem. We have shared in every big moment that has ever happened to either of us, from competing in dance when we were little, to stalking out boyfriends in high school, we were standing by each other on our wedding days, she was there when both of my children were born, and most recently, I looked at the pregnancy test she peed on before she did, and I was the first to know she was about to join me on this journey called Motherhood. The day she got married, she wrote me a letter, and although I'm not going to share all of it, there are parts to it that are perfect for this blog.

"Sometimes in life, there are bonds made that really never can be broken. Sometimes you really CAN find that one person who will stand by you no matter what. Maybe that person will be a spouse. But, there's also the chance that the one person you can count on in a lifetime, the one person who knows you sometimes better than you know yourself, is the same person who's been standing beside you all along."

"We now both have our dream spouses- our soul mates. But while Ed is the love of my life, I consider you my other half. You're the one person in my life who has NEVER let me down, and I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for that."

And the next part, Tabitha McEntire, is your own words, only now I can say them back to you: My hope for my new niece or nephew is that they find friends that are as loyal and compassionate as their mother. You are going to be a GREAT mother (I know this because I could not ask for a better aunt to my own kids), and I am so proud of you!!



She hates this picture,  but I love it. I think we are 6 and 8 here.



Her Senior recital, I was a sophomore. And squalling because my best friend was leaving.



Side by side, they're glorified. Where the underworld can meet the elite, 42nd Street.



At Club Europe for Tab's 21st Birthday



She drove over on 3 minutes notice to help me address about 200 wedding invitations

My wedding day

Talking to Greenleigh in my belly

New Year's 2009

Holding Greenleigh for the first time- April 16, 2009




Circle of Best Friends



(Morning after) Tab's 23rd birthday







Circle of Best Friends Take Two- Superbowl 2010

She helped with my first dance recital- May 2010

At my favorie place in the world! Coolidge Park

APPLEBEE'S

Poolside at her Couple's shower



Why yes we do still match from time to time :)

I have to admit- I threw her an AWESOME bachelorette party



In the hotel the morning after her Bachelorette Party







Her Wedding Day



My 22nd birthday

She hates this picture because of who she looks like... and that is why I included it :)

New Year's 2011

Meet my "nephew', Achilles

March 19, 2011- Congrats, new Mommy-to-Be!

I am so excited to meet my baby!!!

My Gifts From God

From the time I was little, I always knew I wanted to be a mom. What I didn't know was how being a mom would change me forever. You hear it all the time- when a child is born there is a love that comes into existence that is inexplainable. But it's the honest to God truth. I THOUGHT I loved Mexican food. I THOUGHT I loved dance. I THOUGHT I loved my little brothers. I THOUGHT I loved Tyler. All of that pails in comparison to the way my children have captured my heart.

Greenleigh Nevaeh. We found out about her on August 17, 2008. I'll never forget that morning as long as I live. We were both shocked and then Tyler got excited, so I became that way too. We had gotten engaged a month earlier, so we put a rush on the wedding and she arrived April 16, 2009. This was the best day of my life, because THIS was the day I became a mother. 


Pregnant with our baby girl! 38 weeks



The day my life changed forever- 04.16.2009

Skyler James. He was a Pill baby, and I definitely wasn't planning on having two babies so close together. But he's been nothing but sweetness from the minute we met him, and I'm actually glad that my kids are so close together now. They will always have someone to play with and someone to count on, no matter what. He came into the world May 1, 2010, and once again, it was one of the best days of my life- I had a baby boy!

The day I went into labor- April 30, 2010

Meeting our sweet boy- 05.01.2010 1:21 a.m.



Greenleigh meeting her baby brother




 

The Bryans- Skyler- 3 months, Greenleigh- 14 months



My babies- Christmas 2010

My BEAUTIFUL kids- April 2011

Pilot

"Starting over". This is a phrase that seems to be insanely frequent in everyday conversation lately. Normally, I'd start this blog off talking about how peachy my life is with my two beautiful kids and my amazing husband and our wonderful life... but that's not reality. Reality is rough. And that's what this blog is about, for me. Embracing reality. Dancing through the chaos when life is getting the best of me. So. I'm a twenty-two year old woman who just barely escaped a divorce, and in the middle of that mess I lost my business doing what I love, teaching dance. The past three months have been heartwrenching for me, and some days I don't know how I even got out of bed.


Yes, I said I barely escaped a divorce. My husband Tyler and I were in a dark place for a long time. The economy hit us hard- he earned a degree from KSU in 2008 and until he finally found his career in July 2010, all we had to show for it was a huge debt for his student loans. He became depressed and fell into a dark place where I felt like I couldn't reach him. Meanwhile, I was pregnant for (what felt like) two straight years and raising two babies that were 12 1/2 months apart. We were both stressed, all the time, and in January 2011, we almost called it quits. We separated for two months, and in the meantime, I also lost my dance studio. I did everything I could to distract myself from what was going on. The ONLY reasons I got out of the bed every day were Greenleigh and Skyler. They needed me, therefore I kept going. After a LOT of talking, a LOT of dinners, and a LOT of tears, at the beginning of March, Tyler and I had worked through almost all of our issues and decided that our love and our family were worth fighting for. He is and always has been my best friend, and that was where we started back from- Square One. Make no mistake, it's not an easy road to go down, but it's definitely worth it.


Now it's April, and I'm starting a new blog along with my new life. We're looking for a new place to live, I have a new job, and he just got promoted in the credit union he works for (company policy won't let me post its name on the Web). And with all of this, Tyler says I need an outlet, and since my two oldest friends (Hey Hannah and Tab!) are Bloggers, I've decided to make this a daily "Thing" as well. Stay tuned and join me on this crazy ride I call my life!!