Sneak Peek.

 

All 8 million pictures from the photo shoot with the girls a couple of weeks ago.

They cooperated well which was an accomplishment in itself.

Once the actual cards are been sent, I will make the big reveal!

Not Me! Monday.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
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I did not beg for a date night. It has not been 3 weeks since our last date night.

Ryan did not surprise me by saying he wanted me to choose between Koi {a little Asian bistro} and Southern Exposure.

Where Southern Exposure is located, is not a semi-long drive. I did not choose it anyway.

It is not an eclectic little getaway, tucked away in a little Southern town with a population less than 800.

It was not awesome... as usual.

I did not get the usual pork chop with BBQ drizzle. The meal was not complete with the mac & cheese noodle cake and collards.

Ryan did not have crab cakes.

After everyone went to bed that night, I did not eat 3/4 of a Kit-kat.

Saturday morning, I did not blame it on Emma knowing she had only eaten 1/4 of it. I am a better mother than that.

I did not get my Christmas cards in the mail Saturday. Now, I just have to address them and put them in the mail. Hopefully I will not get it done by the end of the week.

Do you want a sneak peek? I'll think about it.

We do not need to go buy our Christmas tree.

I do not need to go buy laundry detergent.

When I run out, I do not intentionally forget to tell Ryan to go buy more because it gives me a break from washing clothes. I am not on day 2 of my break. ;-)

We did not have another birthday party last night. This one was not for my Nana. My mom did not cook her chili. I did not cook dark chocolate mini cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Everything was not delicious.


Bug did not think that it was her birthday and that everyone was singing to her.



November and December are not busy birthday months for us. Listen to this... we do not have 3 birthdays to celebrate between Christmas Eve and News Years Day. You heard me. THREE! What can I say? We do not love birthday parties.

It was an awesome weekend. Maybe I can get my house all decorated for Christmas so that I can have a great week!

Dear Santa,

I have been a really good girl this year. I mean, I have had a few melt-downs but we all deserve those every once in a while. Right? I knew you would agree.

So Santa, here is my list.

1. Nanette Lepore Sweetheart pumps. These are not very practical. Do you know how many pairs of shoes I have that I hardly ever wear? These just look scrumptious on your feet. Just look at The Blue-eyed Bride, Erin. I understand if you decide to just "overlook" these. I just wanted to share.


2. Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens. Again, I have heard nothing but good things about this lens. I have to have it.



3. BlackBerry® Curve™ 8330 smartphone in Silver. Do you know how many e-mail I get a day? You don't want to. The "crackberry" would make my life a whole lot easier.

4. Tickets to the Biltmore. I would love to see the house all decorated for Christmas but I am not going to be picky. I just want to go. I live in NC and I have never been to the Biltmore. We need to change that.

5. A Big Buddha Bag. I don't care which one. I want them all. My favorite, you ask? PARIS in silver, LOU in gunmetal, MIA in grey and UNION PYTHON in gunmetal.

6. Gift cards. Starbucks, J. Crew, Old Navy, Starbucks, Target, Starbucks. {I think I really need some coffee.}

7. A pedicure.

That is all for now, Santa. I will be adding to this list so be sure to check back.

Love,
Hailey

Thankfulness.

The silver was set.


The china was stacked and waiting.


The food was cooking...


...and Caroline was stirring.



Bug and Mary George were dressed alike in there fall colored dresses.


Mom and Lesley posed for a picture in the middle of all of the chaos.


Caroline and Aunt Ethel had a conversation.


The dressing was cut.


Then the blessing was said.


We were all thankful. Thankful for everything that we have and thankful for each other.

It was a Happy Thanksgiving.

Wordless Wednesday {Sunset on the water}

SUCCESS!!!

Check out this bad boy!

It was awe.some!

As you can see, I used chocolate chips instead of chopping up my own chocolate. It worked out wonderfully {other than the fact that I did not distribute them evenly in this pie.}

Not pictured: The other pie. It was perfect. Yes, I made two. And yes, I we ate half of it therefore it is not pictured.

Let's get together!!

Carrie and I were talking about having a bloggy get together!

We all read each others blogs... why not meet?!

If you are from our area and are interested please e-mail us at bloggygettogether@gmail.com

We will then add you to a private blog list where we will discuss our get-together information!

We are so excited! Hope you are too!!

Congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction.

In human terms, a clogged tear duct.

Yesterday I mentioned we were taking Emma to the eye doctor.

She has always had eye issues. They have never been severe {thank goodness}.

When in the NICU at 32 weeks, she tested positive for bacteria in the eye. They would put all kinds of goop on/in/around her eye. "Do big deal" the doctors said.

At about 4 months, she had green goop in her eye all of the time. It drove us crazy. Green is never a color you want to see so we went to see Dr. H. "Just a clogged tear duct. No big deal. Most babies outgrow it by a year." I was sent home with special instructions to massage the duct with a warm wash cloth. It cleared up the green but her eye kept watering.

"Awww! Have you been crying?" people always ask Bug. "No." I answer. "She just has a clogged tear duct."

So, a year has come and gone. We are on month 14. Bug's left eye still waters excessively. She has clear/white goop all of the time. Dr. P referred us back to Dr. F, the opthamologist.

You may remember my last visit to Dr. F. I can't find the link right now. It involved crazy looking paperclip type things that held Emma's eyes open. Dr. F poked and prodded to the point Emma's eyeball looked like it was going to pop out. SCARY! This was how they tested to make sure Bug didn't have retinopathy of prematurity.

Anyway, this appointment wasn't bad at all. Emma freaked out a little. There were no paperclip things. Dr. F didn't even touch her eyes. He did tell us some not so great news.

Emma's tear duct and passageways never opened. Being that this didn't fix itself, Dr. F is going to have to surgically fix it. We will go to the hospital early one morning. He will use a gas mask to put her to sleep. He will insert a balloon catheter into the passageway. He will pop the tear duct. Dr. F told us it would take about 4 minutes for him to finish. Of course, the paperwork, anesthesia, etc. will take the longest of all. He will finish the "surgery" and we can go home that day.

Dr. F says this is super common. He has at least 3 patients a week with a clogged tear duct. He does about 15 surgeries of his surgery days. Emma will be one of his first surgeries... if not his first surgery.

Dr. F says that this surgery is no big deal. Of course to Ryan and I, it is a great big deal. It is scary to know that your baby will be put to sleep and she is only 14 months old. I am 24 and I have never been put to sleep.

We have a few weeks until the surgery. We are waiting until after Christmas to have it done. Nothing like having surgery to put a damper on the holidays so we feel like it is better to wait. I will keep you posted.

Weekend in pictures.

Nicole is turning six, Greyson is two
Two Birthdays, three weeks apart, what's a Mom to do?

One party, two kids, on their special day
We will celbrate together in honor of Nicole and Grey.

Double the cake, double the fun
Instead of two parties, we will have one!

Low country boil, oysters & wine.







My kids acted like nutballs. It was so divine!




Greyson had his own cake. Cole had her own too.




Thomas and My Little Pony were the theme, everything was pink and blue!


Now, let's play a little game.
This silly picture,
Needs a name!

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*No child was harmed in the making of these pictures.

No need to adjust your screen...

... I really am blogging. It has almost been a week. Where did the time go?

- We went to Charlotte for the weekend. We celebrated my adorable niece and nephew's birthdays. It was a great time.

- I have washed clothes.

- I have been lazy.

- I have gotten our Christmas cards ordered and printed.

- I started my Christmas list.

- I have not unloaded and edited pictures yet. I need to get on top of that.

- Thanksgiving is in 2 days and I cannot WAIT! {I'm making a chocolate pecan pie. Hopefully it will turn out ok. I will keep you updated.}

- Emma has an appointment with an opthamologist tomorrow. Fun times.

- I am hoping we are able to have a "fun day" afterwards.

- I must finish cleaning my house tonight. If it could scream, it would.

- It has not been three weeks since Ryan and I have had a date night. It is much needed. We were about to bite each others heads off tonight. {Fun times}

- Posts to come on Be Serious:
1. Thankfulness
2. Thanksgiving {Foss, Hill, King, Lafone style}
3. Pecan pie
4. Dear Santa

Thoughts for Thursday.

1- Johnny Depp is People's Sexiest Man Alive? Gag in my mouth. I mean he is hot in a nasty, doesn't bathe kind of way but be serious! Sexiest man alive? I think not People. You suck.

2- Taylor Swift's version of Silent Night is awesome. This was not my favorite Christmas song until I heard Taylor sing it. I love that it isn't the normal version. She puts a twist on it and it is awesome. Freakin' awesome.



3- Jessica Simpson is the biggest idiot on the face of the planet. She sent this tweet saying, "CW catching up on MP.who writes this crap?i have had bad scripts to work with,but this?thank God my sister is amazing and got you some press." Seriously, Jessica. Did you watch Melrose? Your sister clearly sucked and that is why they got rid of her. PS- Your twitter background sucks too. Do you think that picture is cute? I think not.
PS- I use to LOVE Jessica back when she was married to Nick. I own every Newlyweds Season on DVD. What happened to her? She went nuts.

4- Caroline loves pomegranates. They are delicious and super fun to eat.


5- Bug has been wearing this shoes lately. I found them at Lollipop Decor in Davidson, NC. I got them for $10 in the consignment section of the store. You can also find them HERE.


6- Emma has been using a burp cloth as a blanket/lovey. It is super cute. Jennifer at Little Chic Boutique made it. She is awesome. Be sure to check her out HERE! Yes, she makes lovies too. We might have to order one. Ha!


7- I love Chester's Cheese Flavored Puffcorn. Have you tried it? It melts in your mouth. We ate a whole bag in 2 days. It is that awesome.

8- We also love Munchos. I can not describe them. You will just have to try them.

9- What happened to my Starbucks salted caramel hot chocolate? I mean seriously! The lady in Target yesterday looked at me like I was crazy. I tried the Caramel Brulee Latte and it was awesome. It was no Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate but still great.

10- I took so great pictures yesterday that I can't wait to share. You will have to wait though. They will be my Christmas card pictures. I'm so excited. They turned out better than I expected. My photo shoot locations were absolutely beautiful!

Is it some unspoken rule?

So, today I had my yearly woman appointment.

Fun times.

No, I am not going to share the uncomfortableness of the situation. I have a bigger issue.

The waiting room.

When you first get to the doctor, you sit in a waiting room with women you do not know. The TV is on, people are watching. People are reading magazines. People are texting. Me? I sit and stare. I totally don't mean to. I think to myself, "I wonder why they are here? Are they here for their yearly? Are they here because they have just found out they are preggo? Are they here because they are having issues." The first waiting room is fine. The first waiting room, I have something to keep my mind off what is about to happen.

Then they call your name. "Hailey!" I wish I could just yell "HERE!" and the whole situation be over. Oh no. Now I have to get weighed, measured, blood pressure, finger prick, tee-tee in the cup. All of that happens in the nurses station. Once that is over, they ask you to sit in the waiting room "across the hall". Yeah. I'm not a big fan of the tiny alcove hidden amongst the exam rooms. It is small. It holds about 8 chairs. It is the doom room.

This is the part I hate. Sitting in this waiting room is hell. I would rather pull my fingernails out. Ok. Not really. It is terrible though.

So today I sat there thinking... "There are 3 other women waiting. Each one is probably as nervous as me. Why aren't we chit-chatting to ease our minds. Why aren't be chit-chatting to pass the 20 minute wait? It is some unspoken rule? Are you not allowed to talk to people in the waiting room with you? I'm sweating and I need to stop so I have to talk."

Well, if it is an unspoken rule I totally broke it today.

At first, I sat there for a minute thinking about what to say. "Well, she is preggo. Should I ask her when she is due? Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe she just had the baby and isn't pregnant. That would SUCK."

"Is this your first baby?" {Terrible mishap avoided! I didn't ask about her pregnancy. I asked about her baby.}

There was shock. I actually heard the shock. It was like, "OMG! She just spoke. We aren't suppose to talk. She.spoke."

After the shock wore off, preggo lady answered me. "Ummm. Yeah. Yeah. This is my first." "Aww. How exciting. I have two at home." "You don't look old enough to have two kids." Well you don't really look preggo. You just look fat. "{Insert fake laughter} Well, I'm 24. My babies are 26 months apart." The conversation went on a little while longer. I had no more questions to ask and she wasn't offering any up so I moved to the next person.

"Do you have kids?" I asked this lady with oddly painted fingernails. We chit-chatted for a little while. The preggo lady joined in a few times.

The last 5 minutes of my wait was spent in silence again. It sucked. Silence makes me nervous. Silence makes my mind wonder. Silence makes me sweat. My nervous were so worked up by the time I got into the exam room. I even sweat through the backless gown and on the table before the doctor even came in the room. Good job, Hailey. You are a rockstar.

So this is my challenge to you people. If you are sitting in a waiting room, strike up conversation with those around you. It eases the tension that everyone is feeling, people don't stare at you and it passes the time so quickly. Plus the talking helps you with your sweat problem.

You can thank me when you don't sweat through your backless gown and onto the table you are about to get felt up on.

Love,
Hailey

Another Birthday.

We had another birthday party the other night. November and December are our birthday months. We celebrated my aunt Lesley's birthday.

I would also like to make a public apology. Lesley, I was wrong about the age menopause sets in. On average, you have 11 more years. {Big thanks to google for helping me produce that answer.}

Birthday parties around our house are loud, overwhelming, a lot to handle... what am I saying? To an outsider, ALL of our family functions I'm sure seem overwhelming.

Just listen to a few conversations I overheard last night.

"Mama, your hair looks like Michael Landon."


"I can't believe it! She just heard everything I said." {Talking about an old aunt that can't hear.}

"Lesley, that would be really cute with a pair of tights." That "dress" was totally a shirt.

Emma yelled "BATH" for a good portion of the night. What can I say? The kid is addicted to the bathtub... Caroline rode her three-wheeler as fast as her little legs would carry her... Brandon recited movies and TV shows.

Then we had a conversation about who had eaten/cooked/tried chitlins. {Gross. I just vomited in my mouth thinking about it.}

Fun times.

PS- You are invited to our next family gathering. Get excited!

Pumped.

You only know what I want you to
I know everything you don't want me to
Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
Oh you think your dreams are the same as mine
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
I always will

I am super pumped about this song. It is awesome.

They called themselves The Civil Wars. You may have heard their song on Grey's Anatomy last Thursday night.

It rocks and so do they. Joy Williams and John Paul White make up The Civil Wars. They are from Nashville, TN. BIG thanks to Jessica for introducing me to them!

Guess what? They are totally going to be at The Pour House Music Hall in Raleigh on November 28th at 9pm.

I really want to go. Now, I just have to talk Ry into it. {Listen to Poison and Wine and you will see why they rock!}

I ^ Faces.

I ♥ Faces always does a weekly challenge. I thought I would play along this week. The theme is "Autumn Beauty". I immediately thought of this picture of Caroline. I took it in a random hay field one day.



Head over to I ♥ Faces to enter your "Autumn Beauty" picture!

Not Me! Monday.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
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I did not have a mild panic attack yesterday. Emma has not been running a low-grade fever for about 3 days. I did not immediately think that it was because I gave her the H1N1 vaccine. Not me! I would never think such crazy thoughts.

Emma does not have 2 molars coming in. We are not blaming them for her fever.

I did not eat too much Moose Tracks ice cream last night while watching Brothers and Sisters.

I have not started 4 different posts and finished none of them.

Caroline did not come home from preschool today in a preschool shirt. She did not spill juice all over herself. I did not take her extra shirt out of her book bag and forget to put a new one back in. I am more on top of things than that.

I did not feel like a rockstar when helping Anna with her math homework. I did not answer a super hard problem in less than 30 seconds. Yayy me!

I did not check my e-mail last night to find that I won TWO Christmas card GCs. I am not super excited and my Christmas cards are not going to rock this year.

I did not steal borrow money from Ryan's pant pocket this morning. I was not too lazy to cook breakfast so we had BK Cini-minis for breakfast once again.

I did not just look up to find Emma pulling every wipe out of the pack. What is the deal with a child's fascination with wipes?

Speaking of Emma, she does not know how to climb the stairs. It is not super annoying. What is the deal with a child's fascination with stairs? I don't know either.

Caroline is not in the terrible 3s. They are not awful. You don't believe people when they say the 3s are worse than the 2s. So far, it has not been sooo true! At three, they do not know how to talk back. It does not suck.

I did not decide today to get tickets for Caroline to Disney on Ice. Fun times!

I am not going to get the kids down for naps. I am not going to take Christmas pictures today. I will not blog later.

Colors of fall.