mandy lou

there are some days i just miss my life. today was one of them. wait, so was yesterday. i miss being able to come home without any work. i miss being able to have dinner, around a table, enjoying real conversation. i miss terry. i miss addison. i miss my friends.

i was at work yesterday and while carrie and marc so graciously took my addison to the park to play, mandy called. mandy lou. probably my oldest friendship, and definitely one of my most cherished. i have known her so long i can't remember when we met. or where. or what i was wearing. or if i even liked her at first. we don't have those memories. we have just always been. and i love that. it is the most unique friendship i have. one that has no beginnings and no end.

well, my sweet mandy lou is getting married to her love in two weeks. and as usual, i kinda fret about the dress and how i will look, but to be honest, i really don't care. i am not there is impress. i am there to stand in her honor. to stand there and watch her give her love to her guy. it brings such sweet tears to my eyes to even think about it. i am so thrilled for her that my own heart is overwhelmed. i can't wait to see her beautiful self walk down that isle.

so even though right now, this week, this day, i am missing my life. in two weeks i will get to be such a big part of someones life. it is the light at the end of this tunnel. deadlines will cease, rest will come, and a sweet wedding will take place. and i can't wait.

blue and a box

i am working like a dog these days and poor addison is having to spend a couple hours at work with me in the evenings. today, i gave her a box filled with paper, plastic laminate samples, tupperware, and basically anything i could find laying around the office that wouldn't kill her. well, next thing i knew, she had dumped it all out and replaced the things with herself. and there she sat. watching blue's clues.

little evynne

in the midst of work craziness, i had a chance to photograph little evynne. it was nothing special, just an impromptu, post nap photo shoot in our neighborhood. it was hot and the girls were silly, but we got some good ones and we had fun. this is my absolute favorite. head over to the photo blog to see more.

parenting

Parenting. It has so many different elements that make it so amazing, yet so challenging. Addison has had her moments, but I can safely say that the past 15 months have been so easy…so rewarding. I consider us quite lucky that it has taken 15 months before we have had to face the harsh reality that my child is a sinner. And more explanatory, she is a biter. Though it has only happened twice, it is still wrong. And what hurts even more is that it is so intentional…my little girl intentionally hurts her friends.

Now I know it is that age, just a phase, a daycare thing, learning to share, ect…but it has physically hurt my heart. If I am honest it is probably my guilty emotions ruling this pain. I should be at home. I should be raising her instead of designing stupid buildings. I should be teaching her myself instead of relying on someone else. But I can’t. Not yet. I pray, deeply pray it would happen soon. In the meantime, Terry and I will love our little miss despite her sharp teeth. We will cover her with grace and mercy, and we will point her to Jesus.

tulsa recap

so, alot of you wanted to know how the trip to tulsa was...well, it was a much needed, wonderul adventure! i haven't done bullets in a while, so bullets it is.

• mom, brooke and i did quite a lot of shopping to get annie ruth ready for this world. and eating...we did a lot of that too.
• uncle josh got some good practice in...he made delightful snacks for addison and even got a chance to change a fabulously nasty diaper.
• plane trip friday "c-"...plane trip home monday "a+"
• i have found a whole new respect for people who travel with children, all on their own, with carry-on luggage, carseats and strollers. whew. it took all three of us (mom, jim and myself) to get addison and all her gear on the plane(s) and off the plane(s).
• thank goodness we bought baby annie a bathtub...poor addison wouldn't have had anything to play with.
• addison loved sweet welsie...i think she would have spent the whole time in the kitchen if she didn't have the bathtub to climb in, and out, and back in again...
• brooke looks fabulous pregnant. i am serious...just beautiful.
• it was in tulsa that i fell more in love with my iphone. how sad, right? but seriously, we needed a babies-r-us, the trusty gadget found us a babies-r-us, and icecream, and bbq, and...
• and finally, just a few pics to end the bullets.

october 15

I adore music. Let me rephrase that, I adore good music. And I am an eclectic music lover. Besides my all time Van Morrison love, it is hard for me to nail down a favorite singer, songwriter, or even genre. I like it all. I posted not too long ago about when a song hits me, it gets me.

Ok, so why another music post??? Well, I have another quirk. As much as I like music, I am not a concert fan. I just don’t find joy in spending my money in order to stand around and watch someone sing…until three years ago. Three years ago I experienced the most amazing concert in my entire life. Ladies and gents, can I just say, Michael Buble is not only an amazing vocalist, he is an extraordinary entertainer. Even my Terry, who was not so happy about entering the doors of the BJCC concert hall that fall night a few years ago, loved this concert. Buble was funny, he was entertaining, and his big ole brass band was out of this world.

I know what you are saying, “Whitney, what is your point???” Well, the POINT is…He is coming back. To Birmingham. October 15. And baby, I got seats on row 24. Front and Center. OMG!

bath time in tulsa

we had a blast visiting aunt brooksie and uncle josh this weekend. something about the water in tulsa made bath time so fun!

p.s. if you frequent brooke's blog you will see this pic again but it was just too cute not to post.