No Use Cryin' Over Spilled Milk

Who knew you could actually take for granted that your car smells normal?

I discovered this truth this past week. Mister Cooper drinks his "chachi mih" (translated: chocolate milk) and eats his "panies" (pancakes) on the way to Ms. Staci's house every morning. Yea, it's a terrible shame. We don't get to sit down together around the breakfast table four days a week. Instead we fly around the kitchen warming up microwavable pancakes, sloshing chocolate milk about. It's glorious in it's own on-the-go kinda way.

So. Coop drank his chachi mih on Monday. Monday turned to Tuesday. Tuesday turned to Wednesday. And before you know it it was Friday morning and I was driving to work (sans Coopie 'cause he was having him a daddy day), and out of nowhere a dead animal nestled itself somewhere in my car. Mysteries of mysteries. I dry heaved (hove? jk.) all the way to work. I rolled down the windows and contemplated opening the trunk. I applied peach scented hand sanitizer fifteen times and batted my hands around to mask the smell.

I screeched in the parking lot of work with my head clear out the winda and threw it in park. I spent all of 3 minutes scouring the car for the dead squirrel or spider monkey. There it was.

In the floorboard of the backseat.

Mister Cooper's chachi mih cup. FROM MONDAY. Slammed up against the door. Lid popped off. Milk ehhverywhere.

Oh my gracious. It's been three days. We have scrubbed and foamed and vinegared and baking soda-ed. We have googled horror stories of people trading their cars in after such nonsense. Heavens to Betsy. It. Is. Foul.

Wanna carpool with me this week? ;)

Out of the clear blue sky we got hit with an "unresolved matter" back from the days of kudzu this week. I have tried to resolve it three times now but for some insano reason, every single time I try to make a phone all about it, I end up a blubbering mess. It's not just the ridiculous left over financial reminder, it's really not. It's just that dealing with it brings up all that hubs fought through last year. It brings ugly tears just thinking about it, but within seconds, my tears turn to absolute JOY for what God has seen us through. I know the doctor's office thinks I am mentally unstable. I finally called Friday and spoke in a British accent and reported that I was calling on behalf of the Davis family. They couldn't take my payment info quick enough. Giggles.

Speaking of giggles, I am in full party planning mode for Coop's second birthday party. SECOND. Seeeeeeeehcond. Gesh. I'm having ridiculous amounts of fun thinking of ways to shower our little man with lots of love.

Think mustaches and bow ties and photo-opt props and little manwhiches and pretzel rod cigars. Ridiculous, and so much fun, no?

It's a good distraction these days from the oober hard time we are having on the baby front. We are so incredibly enamoured with Coop. We love him upside down and inside out. We would go to the ends of the earth for him. He has given us the best gift in all the world. He has allowed us to become parents. And we LOVE it. We LOVE him. And the ache in our hearts for another little Davis baby is just indescribable.

God's sovereignty in it all is so abundantly clear to us. Doesn't change the fact that I cry and cry and cry and we pray and pray and pray every single month. God has answered so many ginormous prayers for us over the past year. He gave Chris life. A second chance. He brought us insurmountable joy through the birth of Cooper. He has graced us with His strength and comfort and amazing peace. He is teaching us something these days. And we sure don't want to miss it.

I fell asleep last night praying my heart out about it. I prayed for God to teach me how to pray about it. You see, this fertility business has me stumped. That's how I know it's exactly where we're meant to be. It is one of the absolute most difficult things to "give up". You take this med on this day and this med on that day. You chart. You pee on sticks. You go for tests. It makes it super duper hard to a) "forget" about it and b) pretend that you have absolutely no role in it. We know that God will provide. That's not the question. We know that we get to have fun in the process. That's not the problem. It's just this bizarre journey that is teaching us SO much about our faith and about how big our God is and how small we are.

My friend Natalie blogged a few months ago about how thankful she is for her experience with infertility. I'm gonna have to second her. Without it, we wouldn't be drawn to Him. We wouldn't realize the amazing grace that comes through His blessings, no matter how big or small. We wouldn't be on our knees. Our little miracle to-be wouldn't be half as prayed for or half as waited on. In a way, I almost feel honored. I feel humbled. God's not through showing us His power, and that is a mighty beautiful place to be.

Bang! Bang!

Ok. So I thought the Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity's had changed my life (and oh, it did), but tonight I discovered something that absolutely knocked my socks off. Get ready. Bang Bang shrimp. That you make at home. That's right at home. For less than ten bucks and in under ten minutes.

I know. I was skeptical too. I really was. But when I went to pick Coop up from his drop in class at Crimson Academy (cannot say enough incredible things about this place) and found him in the corner, on the floor, laying face down making "carpet/snow angels", singing "night night night night" while everyone else sat in circle time eating their snacks, I knew it was time to have a low key stay at home kind of afternoon. (Poor baby, Dada's out of town (STILL), Mama's been gone, he started a new weekday gig, and now a Wednesday big boy school gig too...he's absolutely EXHAUSTED and completely out of whack. In a throw the remote at your head and crash his car into the wall kind of way).

Lori told me about this Bang Bang recipe last week and I tucked the sticky note in the side pocket of the diaper bag for a rainy day. We stopped by her house today to give her and Coop's girlfriend Landree hugs and Great American Cookies and Lori reminded me of the shrimp.

I pulled the recipe out tonight, took Coop for a drive in the Kroger neon green Car-Buggy, and am SO GLAD I did.

Holy yummy.

I am a die-hard Bonefish fan. If you know me, you know this. We even had our wedding rehearsal dinner there. They are phenomenal. We go for $5 Bang Bang Wednesdays every week in the summer. Their House salad (with side of bleu cheese crumbles) is heaven on a chilled plate. Love them, love them, love them.

Still, it was a stay home in ugly pajama pants kind of night, remember? So we scooped up the ingredients...all THREE of them and headed home. Coop built with legos while we talked about notsomuch laying on the floor making carpet angels next week at big boy school and I whipped up these little babies in less than ten minutes.

Here's the run down:

Get yourself 1 box of frozen popcorn shrimp (I know, I know, but believe me, you won't regret it, I promise), a bottle of Kraft's Hot and Spicy Mayo, and a bottle of Franks Red Hot Sweet Chili sauce.

Go home and pan fry the shrimp on the stove top (I used a little olive oil to help get the shrimpettes golden brown and crispy). Mix 1/2 cup of the Hot and Spicy Mayo with 1/2 cup of the Sweet Chili sauce and toss the shrimp in it. You could skip the whole "tossing" part and dip them or drink the sauce with a bendy straw too, whatever suites your fancy.

I'm saying. [Mom, are you reading this????] This dish will change your life. Me and my ugly pajama pants ate one too many before building more legos, sliding down the bus slide 15 times, and soaking in the tub while rocking out to Chris Brown and Justin Bieber for 45 minutes.

Yes, he is wearing Santa Suit jammies. Yes, it is January. Psych! (Did I just say 'psych'? Must get sleep.)We're a total mess around here, but not that much of one. This pic's old but it made me smile today, so I thought I'd share it.

We ended the night Facetiming with Chris. Coop decided he wanted to show Daddy how he wrestles with me while he is away. Camera rolling. He did a spin move, spider monkey crawled his way on top of my head and promptly tooted in my face.

What. are. we. going. to. do. with. this. lovemuffin?? Heaven help me, being his Mama is the absolute best thing that has ever ever happened to me. Toots and all.

Home Sweet Home

Welp, one more frozen hot chocolate (no shame) followed by a looong flight home and a disappointing drive through a big fat closed-Varsity (I got off the plane and all I could think of was a slaw dog, go figure), and this Vegas Mama is HOME SWEET HOME!

I couldn't wait to get my hands on our little Pistol Britches! Our convo on the way home went something like this:

Me: "I missed you so much baby! Did you have oh so much fun??"
Coop: "Poppy toot".
Me: "Oh Poppy tooted?"
Coop: "Ball go night night".
Me: "So Poppy tooted and your ball went night night?"
Coop: "More sweet tea mama?"
Me: "Maybe in a little while Coopie. So tell me, what did you do? What did you see? What did you eat?"
Coop: "Eat cookie?"
Me: "You ate cookies?"
Coop: "Tank you Mimi. Ollie go pee pee. -Breaks into song- Do Lord, oh Do Lord..."

Is it possible to love a little person so much it hurts? I think so! Now to survive the looooong days ahead until Daddy gets to come home. "Daddy eat Mellow Mushroom on airplane Mama?". Love.

PS. Emily had her baby!! Welcome Sweet Baby Rylan! Oh my word, what a cutie pie!!

Doll. Baby. Congrats Bell Family!!

These Boots Were Made For Walkin'

Shoo-wee. I think I walked approximately 500 miles today (and I would walk 500 more, da-da-da-da-da-da-dumdididideedidoo).

This picture makes me smile. It's outside the Forum Shops at Caesar's, where I entertained myself for HOURS today while Chris worked. We swung by as we traipsed about the Vegas Strip late tonight. Who knew it was so fancy on the outside?

There's a whole lotta fountains here in Vegas. Coop would sure love them.

There's a whole lotta sparkle, glitz, and glam too.

Take this enormous Disco Horse in the lobby of the Venetian, for example. Glitz! Glam!

And a trip to Vegas wouldn't be complete without a Gondola ride through the canals casino/mall.

Love this man so much! Most especially because watched the Miss America Show with me and helped me recover from what happened when I tried to take a "spa bath" in the hotel room.

Ahem. They ain't kiddin. Front row seats to my very own Bellagio Water Show in the hotel bathroom. This trip just keeps getting better and better :) 

Viva Las Vegas!

I should clarify. The whole "faux cigs" and "table top dancing" did not actually happen last nght. The boots did actually happen, and they were oh so fun, I have to admit.

It's just Jill and I have this crazy habit of texting each other most inappropriate and outlandish things just to make each other giggle. I don't need an intervention or a week in rehab. Truly, promise. 

Side note: there were actually half nekkid girls in cages in our lobby. I shudder.

What we did do last night was sip frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity's under these adorable lights:

Oh my gracious. Let's talk about this "Frozen Hot Chocolate" business. De. Lish. It was so yummy and so romantic. Think of a chocolate milkshake, a mug of hot chocolate, and a Frosty from Wendy's all wrapped up into one. Topped with dark chocolate shavings. Yes, it was that good!

We browsed the shops at the hotel and contemplated whether or not Coopie needs a tiny terry cloth robe or suit of armor. I have seen 128 men wearing aviator sunglasses and it still hasn't gotten old. Lots of lycra, sparkle heels, and also 80 year old women on scooters. It's glorious. 

Oh, and I played the penny slots. Lost two dollars. That was enough gamblin' for me. Cha-Ching!

Hubs is working super hard, so today brought tons of shopping, people watching, and Gigi's Cupcakes (my first ever)!

Oh my gracious! This place is hilarious. Can't wait to see what we get into tonight!

Oh. My. Stars.

I just typed the following text to my friend Jill:

"I saw half naked girls dancing in cages last night in hotel lobby. Don't worry, between my knee high boots and faux cigs, they were actually intimidated by me. Turns out they won't let muffin tops dance on tables, no matter how stellar your boots are."

One problem. When I went to hit "send", somehow it went to my mother in law instead of my friend Jill. 

Totally. Dying. 

Totally.

Oh, and totally having ridiculous amounts of (not so scandalous) fun!

Airport Observations

1. There is a distinct difference between leggings and pantyhose. If you wear pantyhose in place of leggings with your tunic, we will in fact, see your panties.

2. Although tempted, it is not recommended to dance in the body scanners at security checkpoint. The not so chipper TSA man told me that doing so might result in an extra pat down. I feel that asking somene to place your hands above your head and spread your feet apart is like an invitation to break it down. I apologize.

3. Hartsfield Jackson, if you position a Krystal two feet from my gate, I will eat a Krystal Chik for breakfast. I cannot help myself. I am a victim.

4. If it looks like I am deep in thought with my sudoku book, do not be fooled. I am people watching and you might just end up on my blog. 

5. A Pinterest subscription and a two hour wait at the airport is the perfect recipe for complete bliss. 

6. Realizing that a single Krystal Chik wasn't enough to hold you over twenty minutes into a four hour flight can be crushing. 

Having an absolute blast!

Skinny Jeans

Today was ridiculous amounts of fun.

I am sitting here in awe and so thankful for sweet friends. I took a huge leap of faith this morning and started a {professional} journey I've been wanting to do for many years now. Details still in the works, but the whole shebang turned out super fabulous. Mrs. Lori invited Coop over for a play date and loved on him like crazy while I did my workin' mama thing AND she spoiled me rotten by giving me the afternoon stroller free at the mall.

I won't lie. I was lost without Mr. Picklebottoms and the jog stroller. I considered pushing it, empty, just to feel better. I digress. I sprinted off to the mall for marathon sparkle clothes shopping and Abby met me helped me sort through all sorts of fun fancy outfits. She sported the big mamajama double jog stroller with JB and his little buddy, so I instantly felt a-ok and at home surrounded by little people.

Our only rule: It had to be out of the box. I came home with a pair of Fergalicious leopard print flats (OMG-cute cute cute), a crazy cute belt with a gigantic burlap flower in front, skinny jeans, and tall slouchy camel colored boots. Oh, and also two fancypants tunic tops. Out of the box and oh so fun!

Coop and I came home and built tunnels and bridges and robots and buildings out of Legos for over an hour and then Ashley, Lorelei, and Baby Madelyn came over for a playdate. We had the best of times. We laughed and chatted and changed diapers and cut up chicken nuggets and caught up with each other while Cooper taught Lorelei how to ram cars and trucks into things.

I am truly so thankful for precious friendships! It's a great big blessing to be surrounded by a million and one fabulous girls who all seek to lift each other up. Monday night we visited our friend (she's actually a super hero) Melanie, who just endured a double mastectomy after fighting kudzu COURAGEOUSLY for the past year. As we stood at her bedside and cracked jokes about the most inappropriate (and fun) things, I thanked God for the awe-inspiring example she sets for all of us.

My best friend Jennifer recently moved to our neck of the woods and I couldn't be more tickled. We have missed impromptu trips to Target and cheese dip nights for the past 5-6 years and it feels so good to be so close again.

I work with a group of awesome girls with hearts of gold and have the best small group friends in all the world. Us Davis girls have the most incredible group of Ya-Yas who stand by us through thick and thin--we prop each other up when we want to fall down and rejoice with each other in the glory days. I could go on and on.

Past the point of ramblin', just wanted to stop offer up praises for amazing examples of Godly women. It's mighty special and I am oober thankful for each and every one of my sweet friends.

Chicken and Singin' and Whatnot

Chickfila has come out with two new entrees in the last two weeks. It's almost more excitement than I can even handle. Almost. Woowee, the chicken tortilla soup is sure yummy and has a big fat kick to it too. The grilled chicken nuggets are good. Well, they are good for you, and good as long as you can pay a visit to a hypnotist first and erase all memories of the chicken fried goodness that existed before the little grilled nuggets.

Y'all are so stinkin encouraging. Several other good friends got totally equally brash comments on their blogs this past week too, so it makes me realize that there are just some wackos out there. My favorite was the four page rant on my bestie, Abby's blog about her visit with the pediatric cardiologist. For the love of Pete. She is a fabulous mama, doing the absolute best for her sweet Parker, no comments needed from the peanut gallery. Whatever happened to not saying anything at all if you don't have anything nice to say? "Dr V almost killed my daughter...", totally understand where this lady might have been trying to come from, but come on, zip it lippy.

Coop is all kinds of into singing these days. It cracks me up. There's something about hearing that sweet little voice hit notes twice his range that just melts my heart. I'm like really, really into acapella music. Like embarrassingly. He will sit and watch ridiculous (and random) YouTube videos like this one with me without flinching.

Tonight while he was in the bath he asked begged me to sing the "Heaven" song.

"I got shoes, you got shoes, all God's children got shoes. When I get to heaven, gonna put on my shoes, I'm gonna walk all over God's heaven". He sat there shaking his booty with his soapy mohawk, just stealing my heart.

I almost forgot to post pics of Emily's Pickles and Ice Cream shower Sunday! Oh what fun! We had ice cream sundaes and great big dill pickles and sweet tea and chocolate cake.

It was enough to send anyone into labor. Except sweet Emily. She's still hanging tough, toting that precious Rylan around and chasing two busy toddlers around all day. We are so excited to watch her precious family grow by two more tiny feet!

Confessions

Confessions:
1. I watched three episodes of Dance Moms and two episodes of Teen Mom today.
2. I miss our sweet friends sitting in the pew next to us every Sunday at church.
3. We don't have pews at 12 stone. I was raised talkin about church pews, so I say it anyway.
4. My prayer for this blog has always been that it would bring more good than bad and that I might use this space to glorify God and His mighty presence in our lives. Last week was the first time I felt compelled to take it offline. I'm still struggling with it.
5. I ate three helpings of yummy sauce at Hibachi tonight. Fried rice soup has it's place on the food pyramid.
6. I miss my brother. I'm not sure I will ever hear from him again and it makes me lose sleep at night.
7. I have an eyebrow phobia. I have contracts with two friends stating if they ever, ever return to their pre-2001 status, they will be shaved in my sleep.
8. I am seriously addicted to playing Family Feud. I can sing the theme song in my sleep and eagerly await my free daily spin to obtain additional coins to support my habit.
9. Cooper still has his pappy. He might get to keep it til he is fourteen years old. Totally goes against all SLP recommendations. Totally.
10. I might have taught Coop the Macarena this weekend. And the Cabbage Patch. And the Roger Rabbit.

There, that's better.

I've been trying to pack for my trip for the past two days. My mom jeans and frumpalicius ruffle tops just aren't cutting it. I found myself standing in Forever 21 with the jog stroller and a snack pack of Goldfish crackers, sweating bullets and trying to distinguish thr difference between shirts and dresses. Yes, I actually thought I might find something fabulous in Forever 21. Yes, i tried to fit the jog stroller in between the overstuffed racks of jeggings and glitter tanks. That's how much I'm out of touch with reality. Thank heavens for Pinterest and those smashing outfit pins. Take two this week.

So tell me, what are your confessions tonight?

Do Lord, Do Lord

There are just some moments that you want to savor forever and ever.

Our little Do Lord, Do Lord (and his horn honking and vacuum cleaner loving) baby:

Melt. My. Heart.

2012 Strive to Thrive

January 1st. Such a humbling day. I love it oh so much because we are able to look back over the past year and into the upcoming year, all at the same time. We celebrate the triumphs, learn from the struggles, acknowledge the growth, and cling to the lessons learned.

What tickles me to no end is that God already knows the details of every single day, every single hour, every single second of 2012. Isn't that amazing!? I love the mystery and wonder that lies in this verse:

"God has given them a desire to know the future. He does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he is doing." -Ecclesiastes 3:11

I tried to create a list of resolutions, but they just felt so silly. So I scratched the list and did some soul searching instead. I am praying over these things and can't wait to see how God uses 2012 to reveal more of Himself to us.

Seek: grace, happiness, surrender, joy, wisdom, courage, laughter, inspiration.

Run from: fear, worry, insecurity, impatience, perfection, busyness.

This year it is my hope to pray harder, praise louder, worry less. Be a champion for my husband and a light for my Cooper. Compliment and raise others up often.  Eat more of what I love, just less of it. Celebrate others. Play more, work less. Drink a little less sweet tea (who am I kidding??) Give more than I receive. Run again. Increase personal accountability. Spend more time with my family. Check "statuses" in real life, not on Facebook. And be ok with going to sleep with dirty dishes in the sink.

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you.

Never excuse yourself." -Henry Ward Beecher

What is on your heart to go after in 2012?