I've been thinking...

There's an incredible mother (Jennifer) whose blog I follow with a sweet baby boy (Stellan) that has heart issues. Over that past week or so, she has seen her 9 month old turn from this smiling cutie:

to this hurting little one, with a speeding heart rate, vomiting and swollen from high doses of heart medications:

And, while I have learned so much from her over the past year as she has dealt with her son's illness, I think the thing that God has taught me most is to just appreciate having my kids in every situation. So, when Reese is being disobedient and disrespectful---I remind myself that I'm sure so many mothers out there with sick kids, or kids that have died, would love to have a little sassy girl telling her Mimi that maybe she'd start obeying "when she turns 20". And, when John is crying for 2 hours at night b/c of teething, I fight the urge to complain or feel sorry for myself for sitting up with him at 2am. I mean, I'm sure Jennifer would love to be sitting in Stellan's room right now holding her baby boy who has nothing more than a nagging toothache.

Its been such a good lesson for me. And, honestly, it has kept me calmer than I used to be when Reese would do things like sneak out of time-out in her room, get the nail polish and proceed to paint her nails, getting polish all over her quilt and bedsheets. (Though, mind you, it doesn't stop me from taking said polish away from her and telling her that she may not got get out of time out until the next morning. It also does not stop me from needing a glass of wine before my own bedtime that night. That is, after 2 loads of laundry that were required to wash her bedding that had pink, green, red and blue nail polish on it. Because, of course, Reese decided to use FOUR colors of polish. What little girl wouldn't?) I was disappointed in her for her disobedience. But, honestly, I was never mad at her like I used to be. I just kept being so grateful for this precious little girl that God has entrusted to me to teach right from wrong.

After all, these are two of the greatest blessings God has ever given me. (Gigi, notice the first position that she still remembers from ballet class.)

Will you pray?

Will you pray for this sweet baby and his awesome mother?

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!

Everyone once in a while, I have a little chat with God about the weather. It usually goes something like this, "Hey Father, I know that you made me. "Knit me together in my mother's womb" as the Psalmist would say. Yet, this weather, Lord, does not suit this body that you gave me. It is so hot/cold (depending on the season). Can you help me out with that? Thanks! Amen."

This weekend, boy, did He deliver. The highs were in the low 80's. All we needed was a good football game and some rotel dip, and I think my weekend would have been perfect.

On top of that, Lee and I purposely did not plan anything for this weekend. The past many weekends have been jam packed. This weekend, we just enjoyed being together as a family.

Saturday, we headed to the pool. A bit chilly in the water, honestly, but after God gave me the weather I have been praying for....no complaints came out of this mouth.

John enjoyed the little playground that is adjacent to the pool. (Awesome addition to Pinetree's pool, by the way. Totally enclosed, so the only way he can get out is to come back into the pool area. So, I can be in the pool with Reese and watch him at the same time.) Reese enjoyed it too---but mostly stayed in the pool with Lee.





That afternoon, my loving husband stayed at home with the kids while I went and got a pedicure and went to the grocery without kids (which any mom will tell you is like a spa treatment itself). And, then we played with Cash.


On Sunday, we went to church and then had fun outside washing cars, etc.

Sunday night, our church had a thing where different bands/singers from inside the church played on the front lawn. Everybody brought food to eat and their lawn chairs and we just enjoyed God's outdoors, music and fellowship for a couple of hours. It was alot of fun!



(ok, I realize in the above picture, that I should not have been letting Reese run around with a sucker in her mouth. But, the kids had worn me down so much at that point, I was just glad to be sitting down. I had to take 2 ibuprophen b/c my knees ached so much Monday morning from all the getting up, getting down, picking up a kid, putting down a kid, etc. Just call me MeMaw.)

(After John got tired of eating Cheetos, he would just suck the cheese off and then feed me the rest. Gross, I know, but it kept him occupied and let me just sit in a chair for a bit. I'm sensing a theme here.....)

Then, tonight (Monday), we went to Popsicles in the Park. Every Monday night, the great Marla Newman from our church brings a cooler full of popsicles and a laundry basket of toys to the park. Whoever can just comes, plays, eats popsicles, and fellowships. We've also been able to meet a number of people in the neighborhood without a church home, so its been great for outreach too.

Reese's 4th Birthday

Reese's birthday was yesterday. She woke up that morning and I gave her a little necklace that I had been saving for her. It wasn't expensive---but was a cute pink pendant with white polka dots and the letter "R" on it. She was so funny that morning. When I told her "Happy 4th Birthday" for the first time, she stood up, looked at how tall she was and said, "Well, look at that---I AM four years old today." I guess she thought she just grew into a 4 year old overnight. (Though I will say as her mom, it sure feels that way!)

Then, she went to VBS for the morning and I went to work. Around noon, my mom brought her to the Galleria (where my office is) and we hit the mall. First, we went to Claire's. My uncle Jerry had given her $10 to spend and that is where she wanted to spend it. It was too funny, but after she chose a My Little Kitty necklace, braclet and ring, I told her that was all that her $10 would buy. She said, "Man, $10 just doesn't go a long way." I wanted to say, "Just wait until you have to work to earn it, babe."

Then, we went and rode the carosel and I let her pick out 1 toy at the Disney Store.

Then, it was off to the McWane Center. They have a new shark and sting ray tank that I knew she'd like. None of the sharks or rays came close enough for us to pet---but she still liked looking at them.

Finally, we stopped by Savages for some birthday smiley-face cookies and went to Mimi's and Dutch's for birthday pizza. Mimi's birthday is next week so we were celebrating both birthdays that night. Dutch gave her a softball glove and ball and my mom had gotten her a Dora book/doll and had gone to the dollar store to get her a few things from John. Lee's mom and my sister both called to wish her a happy birthday.

After dinner, we headed outside for some play time. Dutch worked with Reese on throwing and catching. It was so fun to see him work with her b/c it really took me back to my own childhood. I am so, so lucky that we are in the same city so that Reese and John can know and spend time with their grandparents (including Lee's parents).

Here are some pics from the day...

Thompson Reunion 2009

The Thompson Reunion is on the 2nd Sunday of July each year in Fayette. Most everyone makes their way to Fayette on Saturday---and we get together Saturday night for dinner and Sunday for lunch. For the last few years, the cabin has been finished enough for the Saturday night dinner to be there. Its really alot of fun--and alot easier than the restaurant dinners we had done in the past. At the cabin, the kids can run around like crazy people without disturbing other diners, everyone can move around and visit with different people, and we don't have to wonder how long it will take the restaurant to get everyone's dinner together. This year, we did hamburgers and hotdogs with homemade peach icecream for dessert. Lee has worked extra hard this spring/summer to get the cabin even more finished and I was so proud of him for how good everything looks and how comfortable the place is.

We went down Friday night after Lee flew in and had Friday night with just us and the kids, which was nice. Saturday am, we got up and cleaned a little and went riding around on the golf cart around our property for awhile. We stopped in some corn fields and tried to teach Reese a little about corn stalks. Not sure she really was listening---but we tried. When Lee's parents and some other family arrived, we ate lunch, made the customary Wal-mart trip, and then cooked what we needed to for dinner. People started showing up around 3 or so and the visiting began. Really a fun night.

Sunday was just breakfast, playing and then off to lunch. Seemed like a quick trip--but fun nonetheless. Lee and I are getting old and were so tired when we got back. We even asked ourselves for a split second, "Do you think our 4 year old and 2 year old could feed themselves dinner, bathe themselves and put themselves to bed so that our sorry selves could just go to bed at 5p?" Unfortunately, the answer was no.

Here is a slideshow of some pics from the weekend.

A normal night in the Thompson household

Lee and I laughed the other night about how crazy the house can get sometimes when the kids are being---well, a 4 year old and a 2 year old. I told him that he should see it when he's not there and I'm outnumbered. : )

Last night was one of those nights...

This is a vague representation of what I looked like this morning....

...except I'm pretty sure I looked worse and was spouting off some not-so-ladylike words.

Let me explain.

I get home from work yesterday afternoon and the kids wanted to play outside. "Sounds great", I said. In my mind, I was thinking, "wonderful. We'll play with Cash outside for about an hour, they'll get tired out, we'll do bath and then off to an early bed." I've been sick with a cold for about a week and really needed a good night sleep.

So, we go outside. Soon after, John proceeds to walk straight thru some of Cash's poop in the yard. I mean, he flattened it with his bare foot. But, hey, I'm tired and in my mind, instead of rushing him inside to clean his foot off, I'll let some of it rub off in the grass and driveway before I clean off the rest. So, I go about reading the mail and blowing bubbles for Reese to catch and I look around and John has made a poopy diaper, taken off said diaper and thrown it in the middle of the driveway, and then proceeded to slide down the slide, leaving a thick line of poop from what had remained on his bottom down the slide. So, I run grab the diaper and go to throw it in the trash---and in the meantime, Reese decides its a good idea to slide down the slide too---straight thru the poop. What in the world possessed her to do that?!? She said she thought it was just dirt---but come on---it smelled a mile away.

Now, I'm not proud of this, but at that moment, I just said "forget it" and just let them play another 20 minutes or so outside, poop and all. John kept showing us "the goods" and being proud of it. (I guess boys are just born proud of what they have or something?!?) And, Reese just laughed at him, egging him on. And, I longed for a glass of wine.

Then, we go inside and Reese refuses to get in the tub with John b/c he is "poopy boy". So, she sits naked and crying in the bathroom while I bathe John.

Then, honestly, we have about an hour of just good ol' play time. John played with his trucks, while Reese and I played doctor with her play doctor kit. Then, they watched WonderPets on TV, while I went outside to shovel the dog poop out of the backyard and clean off the John-poop from the slide. Reese and I had our nightly argument or 5 about obeying and listening. Pretty much normal stuff. I put both kids to bed, talked to Lee and went to get supper about 9p. Reese called me back to her room about every 5 minutes for something trivial--but past that, pretty normal rest of the night.

I went to bed about 11p. Reese came and got in bed with me about midnight. Then, at 2am, more fun began. John began screaming his head off. Over the next hour, I went in there twice and loved on him, changed his diaper and gave him a sippy cup of milk. At 3a, when nothing was working, I thought "Hey, he's happy when I'm holding him. I'll just hold him in my bed and maybe I can fall asleep too."

DISASTER.

For the next hour and a half, Reese and John fought over which one would sleep on my right side. (Not sure what was wrong with the left side of me.) John never went to sleep and when he saw that Reese had dozed off, he would slap her across the face or something. And, whenever John would be just about asleep, Reese would whine about why she couldn't be on the side where John was and wake him up. Finally, at 4:45a, I took John in the kitchen, put him in his highchair, turned on the TV and gave him a truck and some milk and went back to bed. Reese asked if she could go watch TV too and I said "fine". Honestly, the awesome mom in me was kinda glad b/c I knew she'd tattle on him if he did anything bad. You know, 4 year olds are great babysitters of 2 year olds.

Thank the Lord above that my mom came and I slept about an hour before I needed to get up and go to work. I think I mumbled to her on my way out the door..."May God have mercy on your soul with those 2 today."

So, I write this post so that when Reese and John are teenagers and yelling at me about how I don't love them b/c I won't let them stay out until 2am or go to some random party----that I will have documented evidence that I have loved them thru all the poop (literal and figurative) that they have dished out. And, still, they are my little ones that capture my heart everytime.

Sometime between 3a and 4:45a, John reached over and just rubbed on my hair and cuddled up to me. Then, Reese scooted over by John and put her arm around him. And, for about 2 minutes, we just laid there loving on each other. It was heaven and my heart melted, and all the "poop" went away.

July 4th

4 years ago today, the meaning of July 4th changed for me. It still, of course, is a reason to celebrate this great country of ours. But, now it is also a sad day for me because 4 years ago today, my Nanny died.

I have 2 grandmothers in heaven. One is my Memaw. Memaw was the typical great, doting grandmother. The one that made homemade biscuits, held me and hugged on me, and let me sleep over in her bed while we cuddled and watched the Lawrence Welk Show, I Love Lucy, or Andy Griffith. I loved, and still love, Memaw for just always lavishing her love on me.

Then, there is Nanny. Nanny was independent, strong-willed, blunt and honest. Still very, very sweet and always loved me---but just in a different way. And, honestly, I saw (and still see) so much of myself in Nanny. Do you have a member of your family that you look at and say...."Oh, I get it. THAT is why I am the way that I am!!" That is the way I felt when I was around Nanny. I loved so much being around her because we just "got" each other. Even physically, I saw myself in her. I admired so much that she was so strong and independent. And, she took crap off nobody. And, man, was she funny. She loved to laugh. She'd make fun of you (in a good way) in a heartbeat. And, she was a smart-alec (which is the only trait that I did not get from her : ) ).

I remember when she'd come visit us and light a cigarette in the house. Daddy would tease her and tell her to put it out (we were and are a non-smoking home) and she'd say, "I brought you in this world and I'll take you out. I'll smoke where I want to smoke". Or, the time that Lee was making fun of my cooking in front of her and she asked me why I just don't use a crock-pot. I told her that I tried, but everything would dry out in it. She rolled her eyes and got up. She went and got the directions from her 1950's crockpot and handed them to me and said, "Here--any idiot can follow directions." All I could say was, "I know, Nanny, I know. I'll try it again."

Also, a little went a long way with Nanny. When we were little, she'd drive down to Clarksdale and stay just long enough for us to take her to Resthaven at lunch for homemade ravioli and then she'd head back home. I married into a family that, when they get together for lunch, it's a 4-hour affair. Now, there is nothing wrong with that and there is so much value to "visiting" before and after meals. But I know the Thompson's can't understand why my side of the family doesn't do that like they do. And, everytime I sense their confusion at my side of the family, I think of Nanny. A little goes a long way with the Bratschi's.

And, then there is our shared hatred of bad weather. We both would head to an interior room or bathroom the minute a tornado warning was around. And, I also remember one Christmas when she refused to go to Christmas lunch/dinner with my uncle/cousins because there was a little ice on the road. As she put it, "They can come see me, but there is no way I am getting on that death trap they are calling a road right now." She knew her limits and was not afraid to just stay in.

I remember calling her to tell her that I was pregnant with my first child. Her first words weren't "oh, how lovely" or "oh, I'm so excited for you". It was "Well, its about time, I was beginning to wonder about ya'll." I loved it---it was so Nanny. It just made me laugh.

So, when it was time to name that first child, I wanted to name the baby after her. Now, Nanny's name was Mauriece. And, she didn't have a middle name. (If you asked, she'd tell you, "Don't you think Mama did bad enough with the first name?. She quit while she was ahead!!") So, we shortened it and changed the spelling to "Reese". I know its not exactly her name---but it was certainly in tribute to her. We weren't going to tell anyone the name, but then Nanny got sick with throat cancer---and it was very advanced. I was too pregnant to make the trip to Memphis to visit her, and because of her throat, she couldn't talk on the phone. So, I wrote her a letter, telling her the name we had chosen and how much I loved and admired her. I sent it with Daddy and Mary Grace when they went to visit her that July 4th weekend. I never imagined that would be my last communication with her. They said she was so proud and it makes me so happy that I could give her a little joy at the end.

I still remember where I was when MG called and told me that her breathing tube had gotten clogged and she had died. I was in Target of all places, pregnant as could be. I rushed to the front, checked out barely, and sobbed all the way home. I'm suprised I made it home. Nanny was just so strong that I never really imagined her ever going. I figured somehow she'd outlive me. And, the thought that I'd never talk to her again, and that she'd never meet Reese was almost unbearable to me.

Let me say this now---I DO NOT BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION. But, from the moment Reese was born, I have seen Nanny in her. Even as an infant, when she'd scream her head off, somehow I saw Nanny in her. And, to this day, she is head-strong, blunt and sarcastic---just like Nanny. As sad as I was that Nanny was gone, somehow having Reese come in the world just 10 days later helped me see the circle of life that was happening. And, it helped me see the importance of passing along the memories and stories of those loved ones that have already gone Home. Hence, me writing this post. So, that Reese and John will have those memories to read one day when they are older.

Finally, I must admit, sometimes when I'm having a particularly hard time with Reese or John, I just imagine Nanny and Memaw up in heaven looking down on me. Memaw saying, "oh, poor Kelly, I wish I could go down and help her." And, Nanny saying, "Are you crazy? Learning this stuff is half the fun. We had our turn, now let's just sit back and watch her figure it out." And, them just having a good ol' laugh at/with me. I doubt that's how Heaven really works---but I kinda like thinking that they are still around cheering me on and, yes, laughing at me. I can't wait to share that laugh with them one day.