on the eve of a year

i just laid brette down for bed and i was thinking about

what we were doing last year on this night.



and now 

she will be my one year old tomorrow.

our little brette annaleigh.

so crazy.

it went very fast.

and i'm a little nervous that all the years will fly by like this

and all of a sudden she'll be grown.

collectively, us mammas need to invent some sort of

slow-down-time machine.

am i right?

or at least make it to where we have the best memory

in the world and can recall every small moment with our kid.

when brette was four months old

i went to st. louis to visit marge and she said that she

couldn't remember what the milestones were

for a four month old.

i remember thinking that was kind of sad,

that we forget the stages of our kids.

and now, here i sit reminiscing about our year

and i can't remember what brette was like at every month.

in fact, if i was handed a newborn tomorrow,

i would probably be just as scared.

oh sure, i feel more confident in

my skills today than i did a year ago,

but still, a lot of this year was

trial and error and guessing my way through.

which i'm assuming is mostly what everyone does.

that, and call their parents for advice.

thank god for all of my helpers.

seriously, thank you.

ronnie and i survived and brette thrived,

better than i could have hoped.

when ronaldo and i were walking into the hospital

last year at exactly this time, i was scared.

[mostly about the birth, but i'm sure i was also

thinking about raising a kid forever and ever, amen.]

luckily, this little life-changing, perfect piece of forever

was the best thing we ever did.

 

our little brette annaleigh.

 

 

 

downtown days

 

 

 

lee's summit had its annual downtown days.

we go every year.

i cannot say no to the bbq, concerts, funnel cakes, rides,

face painting and petting zoo.

i still love all that stuff and brette loved

riding around in her stroller seeing all the people.

 

i took her friday night by myself since ronnie had to work late.

and then we made it back saturday evening so ronnie could go too.

then i made him do this: 

hilarious.

 

 

they forgot ronnie's wrinkles,

but still looks pretty cute.

brette loved sitting there waving and laughing at

all the people walking by.

she is such a ham.

 

 

we're currently excitedly preparing

for her big first birthday over here.

more on that soon.

 

 

 

dirty thirty - - again

i mentioned that i went to my friend's 30th birthday party last saturday.

the year that everyone turns 30 is a lot like the year everyone turned 21.

there are some serious parties.

only this time we are in a bit of mourning instead of celebrating.

a minor detail.

shannon, my friend from high school and

college roommate of four years,

is one of the last ones to take the plunge into her third decade.

(only lindsay is left and she only has a

couple more weeks to live it up in her 20's)

we all met at our local winery where this happened:

yeah right.

i would be crawling, not walking.

and my eyes would be pointed in two different directions. 

that's what you get for trying to be nice

and clearing the table.

but it was a fun afternoon and our

other college roommate, margie, made it down from st. louis.

(aka - katie, but we call her marge because

of her uncanny resemblance to marge simpson.)

 

 

 

brad and ronnie missed out because they were both

volunteered to watch the kids.

but lucky for me, marge wanted to see brette while she was in town

so ronnie brought her up and met us for dinner.

 

 

 

 

a fun day outside

with my best friends.

love them.

 

happy birthday, shannie!

 

how may i help you?

i started my new job last friday

and it's a really good schedule for me.

the first weekend was a bit rough.

i worked all day friday,

then worked a half day on saturday.

i came home for an hour and saw brette,

then had to turn around and leave for

my friends 30th birthday party.

saw brette all day sunday,

but went back to work for a full 10 hour day on monday.

so in the first four days,

i only had one full day with b.

i was thinking - um no, i just want to stay home with my kid.

but now that i had tuesday,

wednesday and thursday off,

i'm feeling much better about life.

i get 5 out of the 7 days with brette,

and i still have time to run errands,

grocery shop, cook a few meals and

catch up on some laundry/housework.

i even managed to take brette swimming,

have a play date, made it to storytime and

go to the movies with ronnie's sister and her kiddos.

i get to do all the things i want to do AND work.

(insert fist pump)

i'm really thankful for my trip to mexico the week

before i started back at my job.

it made leaving brette with my mom so easy.

especially since i knew i would see her over lunch

and that night.

 i think once i get into a routine,

it will be a total win/win for me and brette.

 

two bonuses of working and having my mom watch brette:

1- i get to wear all my "work" clothes that haven't

been touched in almost two years.

oh yeah.

 nine months of pregnancy and one year off,

left the majority of my wardrobe just hanging. literally.  

 

2- my mom doesn't watch can't work the tv

so while brette sleeps she feels the need to keep busy.

so far my closet has been reorganized,

my drawers have been refolded

and oven has been cleaned. 

seriously amazing.

i go back to the ol' j-o-b tomorrow

and i'm feeling totally comfortable with it.

yesssssss.

 

 (this was brette yesterday looking all sorts of 80's fabulous)

 



bikini babes

some of my friends were none too pleased

that a bikini picture made the cut on my last post from cancun.

(even though they all look damn good)

so to make it up to them,

i'm posting this hottie in her suit.

see?

it's all good.

leg rolls never looked better.

 

ps - if you need me, i'll most likely be at the pool

with jaime and our girls.

 

 

 

cancun - the wedding

kass and chris had a gorgeous beachside wedding.

the sky was blue,

the sun was shining

and the wind was strong.

[please excuse my hair by the end of the night,

the wind got the best of us] 

 

 

 

 

 

 

they had a lovely ceremony

with a few tears and lots of smiles.

they wrote their own vows,

which gets my automatic respect.

i can't imagine trying to put a lifetime of love and promises

into my own words.

ronnie and i decided 'i do' was good enough.
very romantic.

 

we spent the night dancing

and i spent the majority of time

trying to contain ronald.

he had a few too many and thought

he had moves like jager.

oh cheese.

but it was fun and i think kass loved every minute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

kass asked me to give a speech at her reception,

so i decided to take the fresh price of bel air rap

and redo it for our love story.
[her and i, not her and chris.]

i think it won her over.

plus i got to put my mad skillz to good use.

yo. yo.
i'm working on getting the video,
i'll post it when i do.

 

this is how i got down:

 

Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute
Just stay on your ass
I'll tell ya’ll how I met my best friend, Kass
West of Warrensburg we were born and raised
On the playground was where I spent most of my days
Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool
I was chasing some boys outside of school
i was rockin kindergarten and on the very first day
I met a blonde little girl and man, I gotta say

She was skinny as a rail and her teeth were kind of big

But her heart and her tie dye were what I dig.

She was impressed with my duds, purple head to toe.

And from that moment on our friendship would grow.

I remember bradley baker and z cav jeans
I threw grass in her face once.  Man was I mean.
I was her first sleep over, but eh, she didn’t stay
she missed her mamma too much and went back on her way
I remember rolling dirty in the lumina with natty

I remember sneaking out and lying straight to her daddy.

We curled each other’s hair and picked out each other’s clothes

We had each other’s back with friends and with foes.
She was the first one there when I had my baby girl
And I tried to be a shoulder when her mamma left this world.
There is no one I can think of who deserves this more.
Here’s to happiness and health and not being poor.
Now if everybody will join me and lift up their glass.
I’d like to make a toast to Chris and Kass.
PEACE.

great wedding.

great vacation.

i want to go back.

 

 

and now it might be mandatory to vacation as a group.

best. time. ever.

and a huge congratulations to

mr. and mrs. dewitt.

 

 

 

cancun - the gluttony

i had quite the time in cancun.

so. much. fun.

we had a few days before the wedding

so we decided to test our limits.

i mean, we are not in our 20's anymore,

but we gave it our best shot.

it involved a lot of  miami vices, beer, shots,

sand volleyball, laying out at the beach,

  cards against humanity and buffets.

 

it was glorious.

 

and i have the pictures to prove it.
there also might be a picture of
all of the girls
in swimsuits
in a human pyramid.
[heinous]
but some things are meant to be kept private.

 

 

 

 

 

and if you want my advice,

spray tan before you go.

believe me, its worth it.

 

viva la mexico!