Mart & Stella

Remember a few weeks ago, when I blogged about my best friend, Heather, giving birth to that super-cute little baby?

Well, unbeknownst to Heather, my other best friend, Martha, and I put together a sneaky plan for Martha to come home from Indy, and we'd surprise Heather with a visit. We're always doing things like that for one of us.

While Martha was in town, we decided to do a quick, little shoot with her and her dinosaur dog, Stella. Stella is an English Mastif and is by far the biggest dog I have ever seen with my own two eyes. When she stands next to you and wags her tail, she leaves bruises. Trust me. I've stood next to her.

And if you know anything about Mastif's, if you stand next to them, you also get drooled on. LOTS of drool.

But boy is she pretty. And sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo lovable.

And Mart isn't too hateful on the eyes either! =) She has these amazing eyes that are almost crystal-like. Piercing.

Sawyer Gene

Two nights ago, my best friend delivered a little miracle. Literally. He was disguised as this cute little baby package.....all 8 pounds and one ounce of him.

And, you know me, I was right at the hospital the next morning to hug Mom & Dad and hold that little ball of deliciousness with a stinkin' cute name.

With camera in hand, no doubt.

I couldn't make up my mind on my absolute favorite image, so I put them all in a slideshow:



Isn't he the cutest thing you ever laid eyes on?

Beauty

Before I left for vacation I went over to my best friend Heather's house for a Pampered Chef party. I'm not sure what it is about Pampered Chef, but I could spend a fortune on that stuff. Maybe it's because I think that just by purchasing their gagets it'll make me a better "cooker" as Harley calls me.

I always try to show up to Heather's functions way early so I can just hang out with her for a few minutes before anyone else gets there. It seems like the times we get to spend together get fewer and fewer. Life just gets crazy.....

So anyway, while I was there I thought it'd be a great idea to grab a couple of quick maternity pictures for her. I think I had a total of seven minutes before people started to show up. I was able to snap a few:

Heather is due in 2 weeks and 5 days (I only know the exact date because I talked to her yesterday and she is soooooooo ready for this pregancy to be over). Just like last time with Kase, they aren't going to find out the sex of the baby until she is born. Yes, I said she. She as in girl. I am adamant that this child is a girl...no real reason, just do.

I will be (and have been) waiting for this baby to get here. And you can bet your sweet toosh that I'll be at the hospital when she's hours old, camera in hand, taking pictures just like I did with Kase.

There are still times that I find myself in a reality check, thinking to myself "oh my gosh, we're parents". We aren't the 14-year-old lifeguards anymore. We have mortgages and responsibilities. There are diapers to change and softball games to cheer at. There are dinners to fix and jobs to do.

Funny how life happens right before your eyes and you don't realize it.

"It has senitmental value!"

So.....I've realized -- and admitted -- that I have a packrat issue. I have a serious problem trashing things that I've deemed having "sentimental value".....even if I long forgot what that sentimental value was.

Last night I was going thru our storage down in the basement with the goal of getting rid of some of my "stuff". We've started this whole "put it in a garage sale" phase and I was on a roll last night. Now, mind you, I've moved 3 times in the last 3 years and there are boxes that I chose to just move instead of going thru them and pitching what needed to be trashed. And that all stopped last night. It's a more massive nightmare than I had originally anticipated. Waaaaay more massive.

I blame my mom and BEING a mom with this whole problem. After I lost my mom when I was younger (15) I wanted to save every single thing that reminded me of her. I feared that if I threw away something that had a memory of her attached to it, I'd begin to forget about her. I'd forget the smell of her skin, the way her eyes would light up when she'd smile, the sound of her laughter, or the way she made her j's when she'd write. So I saved everything.

And when I became a mom....well, let's just say it had a violent shove into overdrive. I have 3 boxes of Taylor's school papers from preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade. 3. What on earth do I need 3 boxes of that stuff for???! I saved every coloring book, every doodle, every time she tried to write her name and every napkin I traced her hand on. You name it, I saved it. I wanted to preserve her being my little girl....so when I pulled all these papers out years and eons from now (which was then), I'd remember how her dimples were deeper than her eyesockets, and how her toothless smile made her s's and f's sound funny, and how she used to say "juice bosk" instead of 'juice box', or "yogrit" instead of 'yogurt'. So....again....I saved everything.

So, back to last night.... I was doing a pretty good job of consolidating things I could bare to part with, things that we had duplicates of, and things we just simply do not use. I had a pretty good pile going when I pulled out a square flat box that read 'girls clothes' and the word 'save' written on it. I opened it and found this:



And my heart melted with the memory of Taylor in these red shoes.

One of my best friends, Martha, bought them for her before a trip to Chuck E. Cheese one afternoon. Martha was the best aunt to Taylor when she was little (not that she's not now). She'd call on Friday nights and ask if Taylor could spend the night with her. Martha and my other best friend, Heather, had a bond with Taylor beyond anything I could ever put into words. They taught her words to N'Sync songs and how to dance to Fifty Cent. They'd take her shopping and buy her sparkly belts and cute shoes.

Taylor wore these shoes continuously. And by that, I mean she even wore them to bed. The instant she got out of the bathtub she'd put them on. Even if they didn't match her outfit, she had to have these shoes on. She wore them to the point where they had no tread on the bottoms....you could even see where her little toes were. They are permanenty curled and the rubber is pulling away from the canvas. I bet I bought 6 pairs of shoestrings for this poor pair of shoes. I knew it was finally time to retire them when she couldn't walk normal. Her toes were so smashed in the ends of them that she went from walking heel-to-toe to more of a waddle. She refused to give those shoes up.

And for the first time, what I wanted to happen when I opened one of these boxes....when I saved something that was going to remind me of my past.....did just that. 7 years later....

Kase and Aunt Pretty Girl

It's funny how life goes faster the older you get. When you're younger the days just drag on...hour by hour. But when you're older, you could swear it's only Tuesday when it's really Saturday. There's bills to pay, a career to follow, a house to clean, a yard to mow, groceries to get, friends to see....and then you factor in the kids and it goes ALL haywire....field trips to chaperone, parties to plan, practices to make, and the games that go along with it, laundry to wash, socks to match, and loads of homework. Haircuts, parent-teacher conferences and doctor's appointments.....Holy schedules, Batman!

Most of the time I'm pretty good at these things, but it never fails that the one that always gets shoved to the back is the "friends to see". Everyone gets so wrapped up in life that our visits go from every week, to twice in 6 months. Crazy.

Heather and I have been best friends since elementary school. From that point on we have been virtually inseparable. We've seen it all, done it all, been thru it all, said it all and laughed a good majority of the way. She has been my rock nearly all my life.

And even though we talk nearly everyday, we'd both tell you that we don't see each other enough. Admittingly, up until this past Sunday, I haven't seen her since Christmas. Awful, I know.

BUT! Chris and I went over to her house on Sunday for dinner (she makes killer macaroni salad) and a quick photo session with her almost-two-year-old son, Kase. Stinkin' cute....that's what this kid is. He's ornery and adorable wrapped up in one little man. He has these unbelievably long lashes and trouble-making dimples.

The entire afternoon we were there, Kase called me Aunt Pretty Girl. So, apparently he's pretty smart, too. Just kidding...kind of. "Pretty Girl's drink"...."Pretty Girl up?"...."Pretty Girl silly" I could listen to it all day long. I don't think I'm ever going to tell him my real name.

Kase is going to be a big brother, too. So, you'll be seeing more of him and his momma (and the baby!!!) around here soon!!

Interesting facts about my Best Friend Heather:

* She and I have been best friends since 3rd/4th grade. She was in 4th and I was in 3rd (even though our birthdays are less than 3 months apart). We met on the playground.

* Heather idolized Laura Ingalls. When she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, the answer was always "Laura Ingalls". And that's what she did, too. She has cows and cans applesauce, for crying in the mud! How much more 'Little House on the Prairie' can you get???

* She ran over my foot with her 1st car -- which we referred to as "the peanut".

* She taught me that just because you are related to someone by blood, doesn't make them family. And even if you're not related by blood, doesn't mean that they aren't.

* She loves the smell of her own upper lip.

* She named a calf after me for my 32nd birthday.

* We used to be cloggers together.

* And we used to be lifeguards and bartenders together, too.

* We used to live so close to one another that I could yell out of my bedroom window and she'd hear me.

* She has tried for the last 20+ years to convince me to write a book about my life.

* She's, undeniably, in love with Justin Timberlake. She once entered a Nabisco contest to win backstage passes to one of N'Sync's concerts in hopes that she'd meet him and persuade him into marrying her.

* She can do the wave with her belly. (Well, pre-pregnancy.)

* In her own mind, she's best friends with the stars. I can remember one time when she called me to complain that Brittany Spears didn't call her first before releasing her pregnancy news to the press.

Things are so crazy-busy for us, that Heather actually booked me for her son's 2nd birthday party. So, I'm guaranteed to see her in the next 40 days, which is a heckofalot better than 6 months.

xo,

e