Extra pictures AND a coupon.

Here are a few extra pictures from our park outing yesterday. We had to go to two different parks. The first park we went to didn't have baby swings. We drove across town to the Nature Center for playground number two. We all had a great time.
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On a side note, if you look in the left hand column you will see the button for Cole Baby Tutus. I have moved it up AND added an awesome coupon for you. Just use tutu20 to receive 20% your next Cole Baby Tutu purchase.

You're welcome!

Goose eggs and armpit soap.

Today was a roller coaster of emotions/feelings/moments.

It was a good day and a bad day all rolled into one.

I laughed.

I cried.

Not about anything in particular. It was just a normal day being a mama.

As both of my children are tucked in their beds {well, Caroline is actually snuggled up in her Daddy's armpit but that is beside the point}, I sit in front of a brightly lit computer screen thinking back on our day.

I think about how Caroline made me cry {again} and how I am about to google "ways to react to your children talking back to you other than crying." I'm telling you, that girl is going to be the death of me... or at least the death of my xanax bottle. Thank God for refills.

I think about how Emma got away from me and was running after her big sister. I was getting them out of the tub and Bug was soaking wet. She slipped, fell, and hit her head on the tile floor. My heart dropped and a goose egg appeared. As a mother, you look back on those moments and say, "WTH? What was I thinking? Why did I not hold her as I turned to get her towel?" You relive those awful moments and learn from your mistakes. Lord knows, we all make a hundred million mistakes.

I think about how proud I was today of my Sweet Caroline. She tackled the little climbing wall at the playground. She was nervous at first. However, I turned around and looked and Miss. Priss was climbing.


Look at this sweet face of total triumph. She was on top of the world and so were her Daddy and I.


I think about my sweet Bug who wanted to "ming" so badly she couldn't stand it. Of course, we chose a park with no baby swings. Therefore, her Daddy worked with her and she semi-mastered the big girl swing.


She has not perfected it and does much better in the baby swing, but she thought she was big... even if it was only for a moment.


So, even with all the bad that has happened today there came a lot of good.

And at the end of the day I realize, there is nothing sweeter than my goose egg headed Buggie and my "armpit soap" smelling turkey nugget.

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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We did not have date night Saturday night. We did not decide on a sushi place that we had never tried before. My brave husband did not try octopus. He did not actually digest one whole suction cup off of the octopus. I did not close my eyes and cover my face and vomit in my mouth while he ate it. This is not what happens when you order a spicy tuna roll and 8 pieces of the chef's choice. The chef just might decide to throw a little octopus up there for you.

Caroline did not call me an ugly word. She doesn't know words like that and she definitely doesn't know how to use them in the right context. I did not cry and consider myself a failure as a mother.

If you did not already know, I did not join the world of Facebook. I have not learned all these new slogans in the process like FML. I mean really, who says that? That is awful. And to think, I thought I was up on internet slang. I guess not.

My awesome uncle, Brandon, did not propose to his girlfriend Caitie this weekend. I am not super excited for them. BIG Congratulations to Brandon and Caitie!! (Leave your congrats in the comments. Brandon is a Be Serious reader. He will enjoy reading them.)

The girls and I do not LOVE this song. Love.it.



While watching the very end of the Golden Globes Red Carpet, Bug did not say "dress"> It was not just a sound that sounded similar to the word dress. It was not one of my prouder moments as a mother... pretending my daughter said "dress" while watching the Golden Globes Red Carpet. Awesome.

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Don't forget to read THIS POST and comment.

Hola.

Sorry for not posting in a few days.

Bug has had a fever for about 48 hours. Not a fun time. She has no other symptoms and acts fine most of the time. She has just needed a little more love and attention than normal. I promise to get back to blogging soon.

Until then, what would you like to hear from me? Do you want to know my opinion on vaccinations? Do you want to know my natural hair color? Do you want to know more about my marriage? Do you want to know about the new excerise I'm doing?

What do you want to know about me/my children/my life?

Tell me. I just might blog about it. ;-)

Answers.

1. I don't have enough teeth. I am missing my 12 year molars/second molars and my wisdom teeth {not that that is a bad thing.} Therefore, I only have 24 teeth where normal people have 32 {with their wisdom teeth}. So very true. Weird, huh?

2. I am left handed. If you guessed this one... you win!! I am most definitely NOT left handed. However, I wish I were. I also wish one of my children would be left handed. Being that me nor Ryan are, their odds are pretty slim.

3. I knocked my two front teeth out when I was four. Totally true. I was running to the merry-go-round. To bad I tripped and fell and my teeth broke my fall ON the edge of the merry-go-round. It scarred me for life I think.

4. I was born in Wilson, NC. Yes, I was born in Wilson, NC. My dad and his family are from Wilson. My mom went to college in Wilson. They fell in love. They married. I was produced.

5. I have never broken a bone before. Nope, I have never broken a bone. Praise the Lord.

6. I met Jaime Pressly at a local restaurant. I went a little overboard and listened to her conversation and laughed as if I was in the conversation too. I wonder if it scared her? {I LOVE Jaime.} So true. I relive that moments multiple times a day.

7. Chicken makes me gag. Most of the time I can't eat it. If I do eat it, and I see any imperfection, I throw up in my mouth and refuse to eat the rest of it.

8. I only have one sister, Anna. She is my BFF. Very true. Anna is 5 and 1/2 years younger than me. She is awesome and she is my best friend.

9. I bite my fingernails. I admit that this is my super bad habit.

10. I am now writing a blog for a local newspaper. So true! Be sure to read there too! I am excited!

11. I had braces in high school. I hate to say that this is true. The sad thing? I need them again to be honest.

12. I drive a jeep. Yep, true.

13. I wear my Uggs most of the time. True, and it drives my Mom NUTS.

14. I am a SAHM. Duh!

15. We went to a little antique shop recently. I saw these beautiful books out of the corner of my eye. They were in a set. There were 10 books out of the 12 that were suppose to make a set. The guy sold them to me for a dollar a piece. $10. I paid $10 for them. We came home. Ryan did a little research. The whole set? Worth $250. We found one of the books on eBay for $4. We ordered it. Now, we just have to find the last book and we will have the entire set. SCORE, Hailey!!! True! Cool, huh?

Let's play a little game...

Below is a list of facts about me. All of them are true except one. Can you choose which one?
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1. I don't have enough teeth. I am missing my 12 year molars/second molars and my wisdom teeth {not that that is a bad thing.} Therefore, I only have 24 teeth where normal people have 32 {with their wisdom teeth}.

2. I am left handed.

3. I knocked my two front teeth out when I was four.

4. I was born in Wilson, NC.

5. I have never broken a bone before.

6. I met Jaime Pressly at a local restaurant. I went a little overboard and listened to her conversation and laughed as if I was in the conversation too. I wonder if it scared her? {I LOVE Jaime.}

7. Chicken makes me gag.

8. I only have one sister, Anna. She is my BFF.

9. I bite my fingernails.

10. I am now writing a blog for a local newspaper.

11. I had braces in high school.

12. I drive a jeep.

13. I wear my Uggs most of the time.

14. I am a SAHM.

15. We went to a little antique shop recently. I saw these beautiful books out of the corner of my eye. They were in a set. There were 10 books out of the 12 that were suppose to make a set. The guy sold them to me for a dollar a piece. $10. I paid $10 for them. We came home. Ryan did a little research. The whole set? Worth $250. We found one of the books on eBay for $4. We ordered it. Now, we just have to find the last book and we will have the entire set. SCORE, Hailey!!!
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So, tell me. Which one do you think is false?

Being a mama is a hard thing to do.

I was watching Momversations at Heather's website, Dooce.

It was about our worst parenting moments as a mother.

I, like Heather, don't think I can choose just one.

There are many moments I look back on and just laugh. They were totally not funny at the time but they are now.

These are not my proudest moments as a mother but I will share...

- There was the time right after she was born that I told my mom that I was going to throw Caroline in the trash can. It was one of those days that she just wouldn't stop crying and I didn't know what to do. {I wasn't serious so don't think that I was serious}

- There was the time I laid in the middle of the kitchen for 15 minutes crying because Caroline threw a vase full of M&Ms on the floor. M&Ms were everywhere, the vase shattered... along with my self-control.

- There are those nights that I have to wake up to change Emma's diaper and have to give her more bottle to go back to sleep. I am so angry {not with Emma, just with the situation} that all I can do is cuss. Imagine me running into walls, tripping down the stairs, spilling milk all over the kitchen counter, tripping back up the stairs... all while speaking obscenities that do not make any sense at all.

- There are nights when Caroline has extreme tantrums because I have to wash her hair. She will kick and scream. There is always TONS of water on the bathroom floor. I will tell her that I am going to dunk her under if she doesn't stop... that I am going to splash her in the face if she doesn't just lay back and let me wash her freakin' hair.

- There are the times that I have extreme road rage and let dirty words slip. I am not proud but my child knows a few ugly words and has most recently used the word "balls".

- I barked at my child.

- I laugh in nervous situations... like when my children get shots.

What are your not-so-proud moments as a mother? Make me feel better.

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 pee my pants a little bit last night during a family tickle fight. My bladder is WAY more controllable than that.

I am not cooking a big pot of chili. I can almost taste it with all of its cheesy yumminess.

I am not upset at our Netflix picks this week. The Green Mile is one of them... which we have watched a hundred million times. It is an excellent movie but there are so many others I want to see. Ryan also picked Old Yeller. Ugh! Like I want to watch that. It's ok though because I most definitely did not add a long list of chick flicks AND a workout video that he is just going to love.

It is not freezing outside. I live in Eastern North Carolina for goodness sake. There is no way it was like 19 degrees this morning.

If it were that cold, Caroline most definitely would not announce that she was "freezing her balls off." I teach my kid better than that.

Emma has not fallen out of the kitchen chair 3 {maybe 4} times since yesterday. She stands up in the chair which leads to the falls. She will learn sometime... hopefully without a concussion being included.

Being a three year old does not mean that you learn how to talk back. It also does not mean that you roll your eyes and move your body as you talk back to your mother. Three year olds aren't suppose to do that. Someone just needs to send that memo to Caroline.
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I'm off to stir my chili.

Look for blog posts for the rest of the week. {I will try to post early for you early birds}

Reminder...

I wanted to remind everyone that there is one more day to vote for Emma. We are just a few votes behind the leader!!

Thanks!

Jamie at The Kubeczka Family is having a great blog design giveaway. Be sure to head over to her blog and enter to win!

Phone conversation.

Phone rings.

Me: "Hello?"

Friend: "Hey. What are you doing?"

Me: "Well, getting Emma dressed. I just got her out of the bath tub. We went out to dinner tonight and just got home. I was on the phone and didn't noticed that Emma had pooped. When I got off of the phone, Ryan asked what was on the back of her pants. We then realized that it was poop. I took her upstairs and put her in the bath. I took the diaper off and laid it on the floor." I continued to go into extreme detail about the poop, the diaper, Emma's diaper rash.

3 or 4 minutes into the conversation, my friend finally says, "Oh. Well, I was just calling to talk." And, I am sure that is exactly the conversation she wanted to have.

My late night phone conversations have changed dramatically.

You might be a mama when...

Top baby names of 2009.

I am about to admit something that I have never admitted before.

I don't love Emma's name.

Emma Raegan.

Ryan wanted Fiona or Francis. Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth.

I wanted Emerson or Emilyne.

We both loved Lilly but it was just too many L's with our last name.

We decided on Cameryn.

I was doped up on mag and couldn't see my baby yet. Ryan went down to sit with her in the NICU and came back with a weird look on his face. I remember he grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and started writing.

"We have to come up with a name," he said.

"I thought we decided on Cameryn?" I asked.

"She doesn't look like a Cameryn. She isn't a Cameryn."

We were back at the beginning. What now? I knew he didn't like Emilyne because it rhymed with Caroline. I knew he didn't like Emerson because he associated that name with a random strip club in SC that he may or may not have ever been too.

We knew Raegan would be her middle name.

Blank Raegan.

Emilie Raegan. Yep. That was it.

Nope, it wasn't... Ryan wanted to spell it Emily and so we scratched that name off.

Emma Raegan.

"I like it." I said.

That's it then!

No five minutes to think about it.

We decided on Emma Raegan.

Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful name and she is definitely an Emma. However, the popularity of the name Emma really takes away from the beautiful name. I wish the name wasn't so popular.

I received an e-mail the other day with the top 100 baby names of 2009. Guess where Emma fell?


Numero tres.

Emma Raegan.

I guess that's better than being named after a strip club, having the same name an an ogre or your name meaning "crooked nose". {Cameryn means crooked nose.}

Now that I think about it... that makes me love the name Emma. To be honest, there is no other name I would have rather used. There is nothing like writing a blog post to make you realize that you really do love your kid's name. And that my friends, is reason number 543 that Emma will need therapy when she grows up.

Wednesday night dinner.

Shrimp and grits

Wednesday randoms.

- My children would rather stand in the bathroom and watch me tee-tee than watch Noggin {which is now Nick Jr. by the way but still referred to as Noggin at my house}. They will leave their favorite shows when they hear the bathroom door open.

- I began writing a post about how a quiet house makes me sad. How I wondered what in the world we did before our children were born. Then, my children woke up from their naps and I deleted the post.

- Ryan said to me "You are like an ice cream sundae." Sweet huh? Well listen to the rest... "it's like layer upon layer" referring to my rolls. All I could do was laugh. Who thinks that up? Haha!

- Caroline's sentences are starting to run together... "I need to go lay in my bed I sleepy Mama I need to tee-tee turn the light on Mama I love you Mama Mommy I left my book in der let's go Mama" No periods. She speaks with no periods.

- Technology does not scare me. Most of what I do can be fixed if I mess it up. Computers, cell phones... if I don't know how to use something, I can figure it out. Do you know what scares the hell out of me though? A Playstation 3. I can't figure the stupid thing out. I had a panic attack the other night trying to play Caroline's new Snow White DVD. How hard can it be? Why can't I just put the disk in and the movie start to play? Why must I go through a hundred million options before I can play the DVD? The lights flashed at me... it shot the DVD out a few times. I had to call Carey {who is 12} to talk me through the process. That is sad. That is so so sad. Don't even get me started on turning the stupid thing off. I thought about just unplugging it from the wall. I miss the Wii. Remind me again why we sold it?

- Emma has learned how to climb. She tackled the stairs a while back which was bad enough. Now, she climbs onto everything. I looked the other day and she was on the TV stand dancing. I don't remember Caroline going through this. I'm blaming it on the fact that Ryan is part monkey. I guess the gene just skipped Caroline.

Not Me! Monday.

I can't believe 2009 is over.

2010 is here.

We rang in the new year at home, with our babes. It was a normal night in the Lafone home. We were in bed at 10:30. We just couldn't make it.

Now that it is here, I will probably make some stupid New Year's resolution that I won't keep and I will continue to write 2009 for at least a month.

And now, for the first Not Me! Monday of the year 2010...



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.

I am not extremely stressed out about what to call our new year. Twenty-ten? Two thousand ten? What the H do we call it?

I did not get carried away and cut most of my hair off AND dye it for the first time in my entire life. It was not way too long... way too black... way too Elvira/Morticia Addams. It was so bad, I started calling Ryan "Fester", Caroline "Wednesday" and Emma "Pugsley". Anyway, it is shorter and lighter now. {Thank goodness!}

Caroline did not informed us on Christmas Eve that Santa was not coming. Why? She said he wasn't coming because it was still Fall. Too bad ole man winter finally decided to show his face. It is freakin' freezing in eastern NC.

Speaking of the cold weather, I did not get in my car this morning to find that an old Coke {in the glass bottle} was frozen solid. It's bitter cold, I tell you.

We have not reached a new milestone in our house. Caroline and Emma are not playing extremely well together... most of the time. It is kind of nice. They entertain one another.

I am not declaring the Leap Frog Tag Jr. the coolest gadget ever. Caroline LOVES it. Santa only brought two books but Caroline has read those books over and over and over again. It is super cool because parents hook it up to their computer to see what their child has accomplished/learned. We love it and I can not recommend it enough.

I did not only take about 4 pictures over the Christmas holiday. We forgot to even take a picture of what Santa brought. I am a mother that is on top of things like that. I would NEVER let Christmas pass us by without taking a single picture. Santa {Mom&Dad} bought my new 50mm lens and lots of other camera goodies. Santa {Ryan} bought me Adobe Photoshop CS4. Did you know that if you are a student, you can get AMAZING deals on software? Who knew?

I am not super excited about The Bachelor starting tonight! And how about Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters last night?! SO GOOD!

I do not have more posts coming... promise. I am getting back into the swing of things. I just needed a little break.