Peaceful Days

It seems that lately there's been so much going on but when I sit down to write something, I can't come up with anything at all. Christmas was pretty good for the kids. I couldn't get them everything the want like I usually do but I'm going to make that up to the after tax time. We need a shopping spree and I've been a good girl lately with little shit talking, so I deserve one. There's not much to talk shit about since it's been so peaceful around here the passed few months. I'm so glad for that. I was getting tired of hearing shit from people who think everything on here is about them. Them shutting the hell up has been a God send. Gwen raised all her low grades and even raised the ones that were pretty good to start with, she made honor roll this time around and a reading test they took said she's reading at a second to third grade level. I'm so proud of my little girl. She's finally going to get her Wii and I'm replacing her Nintendo DS, it's getting rather broken in and thankfully with us moving back up there, I get to use my brother's dicount on games. I'm going through shopping withdrawals, so it's going to be on.New Years was okay too. We didn't go out but we just stayed home and watched some bowl game and a Hooter's swimsuit competition on TV and the ball drop of course. I did some whiskey shots to bring in the new year. I would have rather been with my mom drinking her margaritas. I don't drink much anymore. Probably again on my birthday and whenever we do get married I was pink champagne. I used to be a heavy drinker, so I don't want to get too used to drinking again.Presley is going to be 6 months old next week. I can't believe that much time has gone by since he was born. He's getting so big and to look at him you can't tell him was premature. He's rolling all over the place and trying like hell to crawl. He's getting more and more vocal and loves spitting bubbles. I can't wait to take him shopping. He loves his Daddy. Presley will watch him walk from one end of the room to the other and back. At night when I can't get him alseep, he'll go right to Daddy's arms and crash. Darryell went back to work after two weeks of vacation and my days suddenly turned to hell. Presley knew he was gone and wasn't liking it. There's so much to look forward to in my little man's life.I'm excited and ready to move back home. As of right now we're leaving in June. Unless I freak out and make us move sooner. I tried it down here and I wanna go home. I'm not going to whine about how much I miss my family. I made up my mind and Darryell's and now I'm up rooting my old man to get my way. H'e excited about moving too. Not looking forward to his first winter up there but excited just the same.Darryell's working with Glenn now in Texas. I'm not sure how long he'll be working there but he's getting a company phone, a gas card and a company truck. I love the big red Clean Harbor trucks. And it's always fun to listen too them bullshitting about work and stuff. We'll sure miss Glenn when we leave. Presley just loves it when his Uncle Glenn comes over. He loves bragging to his girlfriend about how much Presley adores him. Even though Darryell jokes with him saying Presley is his baby, he knows better. Presley looks like his brother James in some pictures and has redish/strawberry blonde hair. Well, what hair he has.That's enough for now. Going to spend then evening with my mother and sister-in-law. So I better get ready to go.

2008

2008 was a pretty exciting year from me. Darryell and I had our ups and down at the beginning of the year but by May we had everything smoothed out and things are going wonderfully. My beautiful baby boy Presley was born on July 19th. He had Darryell and I both stressed out with him coming 5 weeks early but was perfectly healthy and has grown into quite the little butterball. Gwen has came along way. She made it throught Kindergarten and has made a smooth transition to first grade and a new school in a new state and has made new friends. I'm learning to be not so up tight when she's out playing with her friends. We moved to Louisiana to be with Darryell in September. That was the biggest change for me last year. I moved from the city I've called home for 24 years. We didn't even make it to St. Louis on the way down here and I was already crying. In December my friend, Tom, had passed away. Which was kind of a shocker to me. Me seemed fine but had had previous heart attacks. He would was my security guard when I worked overnight shifts at the hotel. And he would have no probably hunting down a root beer or driving to McDonalds to get me a sweet tea at 3 in the morning and could handle my pregnancy gas. He'll be missed.
I'm hoping 2009 we been even more exciting for us. Gwen is going to be 8 and in second grade in the fall and she's going to be growing and changing more and more everyday. Presley has a ton of changes I know he's going to be going through. He'll be 1 in July . There's so much to look forward, his first word, crawling, first steps...wow, there's so much. We're planning to move back to Indiana by Christmas 2009 and I'm completely excited about that. To be home where I feel more comfortable. We're also planning a trip to Indiana and Las Vegas in June. And hopefully getting married in Vegas. Why not, we're there. And while we're in Indiana we're going to do our hunting for new places to live and new employment for him. I'm hoping to get back in shape and finally start some college classes and just enjoy being Mommy to two beautiful kids.

So Lonely

I'm getting increasingly antsy about wanting to move back to Indiana. The more I look at my brother's profile and see his pictures, the more I miss them. I'll be down here for Christmas and I'll miss the snow. Even though I hated snow when I was there. I'll miss New Years with them. I never didn't anything special, maybe nurse my own personal bottle of Vodka and watch the ball drop with whoever is still up. Heck, new movie days even make me miss it even more. My brother and I would always go shopping on Tuesdays just to get the new movies and going home and watching them. Buying Wall-E and 101 Dalmatians 2 made me think about that. The more I think about it, the more I think about going up there in June for a visit should be an opportunity to move up there. Darryell knows I'm unhappy here at times because I miss home so much. He's trying to figure out a way. Saving his vacation time and sick days to go up there. He rarely uses sick days and promised he wouldn't use his vacation days for anything or anyone else. Hopefully, I'll be able to be home soon. I'm just glad he's willing to do that for me. I know there's a dumb self-centered person who'll probably think this has something to do with them but fuck all the dumb bullshit I care nothing about. I have my own life to worry about and grew bored with the petty bullshit long ago. This is what I want for my kids and myself.

Thanksgiving

I had a good Thanksgiving considering it was my first one away from my family back home. It made me miss them even more. I had a great time with Darryell's family. I was nervous at first but as usually they made me feel super welcome and like I was part of the family for years. Gwen completely fit it. She played with all the other kids and even rode a horse. I was glad they loved my pies and cookies that I made. I was stressed that they wouldn't like they or even try them. My pies went faster then the pumpkins pies. That made me feel good. Someone even offer to pay me to make some pies for him. Which was odd. My first holiday with them, I wanted to show I can do more than just boil eggs or pick up ice or something. Now I'm preparing recipes for Christmas. I'm not so nervous about the Christmas party with them. Thankfully.
This Thanksgiving I'm so thankful for my family. My daughter who has adjusted very well to the move. She's enjoy her new school now and loves playing with her new friends. My son who despite being born 5 weeks early was born perfectly healthy and no serious problems and has tripled his birth weight and is doing very well. My family back home who I miss very much and hope to be with next Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for Darryell. Who has tried to make the move so easy on me. He works long hours to make sure Gwen, Presley and I have what we want and need. He takes care of things when I'm too tired or sick to keep up on things. And for thanking me every night for all I do around the house and with the kids and tells me how much he appreciates me. I love my family more than anything.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

It's getting close to Thanksgiving and it's making me miss my family back home a whole lot. I would usually have to work on the holidays. (The down side of working at hotels, they never close) And last year I worked every holiday up until Father's Day, so I missed a lot around the holidays. I wish now I would have told them to shove it and been with my family but you got to work. This year will be my first holiday season down here with Darryell's family and I'm starting to stress out a little bit. Well, not so much stress but worrying about how I'll handle the family get togethers. I've met most of the family at one time or another since I've been here but all together in a group....I don't know if I'm ready for that. So to get over those worries, I've moved my thoughts to what the kids will wear. I always made sure my kids always look nice when the go anywhere. Once clothes were picked, I moved to what we're going to take. I don't want to be the family they always asked to bring cup or chips or ice too. My mom always hated that. Since I like making desserts, I'll make a couple desserts. I love baking and this is a way to contribute to the family event. His mom said bring whatever you want, so it's on. I'm hoping for a safe holiday this week and I'm looking forward to the kids having a good holiday.

Birthdays, Sick Days and Cold Days

It seems like it was yesterday that my baby girl was born and now she's in the first grade and 7 years old. She had a pretty good birthday. We tried to do the best we could for her since this was her first birthday down here. Darryell thought he was going to go on the road for work the day of her birthday, so we did it a day early. We spent all day baking her a big cake. With the colors and decorations she wanted. Since Darryell did have to go on the road, we took her to Pizza Hut on Friday. She's been wanting to go for a while now. She loved getting packages in the mail from our family back home. And you know how Grandma's do it, after she opened her gift from her Mamaw, nothing else compared to it. Thanks Grandma. So now she's started on her Christmas list.
This weekend everyone started to get sick. Gwen got better real fast but I on the other hand was out of it for a couple days. I'm not 100% yet but it's much better. I have to give Darryell his props, he totally took care of me while I was out. He made sure I got me medicine, kept up on the laundry and dishes, made me breakfast in bed, cared for Presley. Basically, he waited on me hand and foot. Everytime he went out, he'd bring me home something to make me feel better. I was worried he was going to go out of town for work for the week while I was sick. But they keep putting that off, so he's still on his regular shift for now. Now he's sick and I hope I can be as patient as he was with me.
Today Presley is a whole 4 months old. He's getting bigger and bigger everyday. Turning into quite the little butterball. That boy does love his vegetables. He's such as happy baby. He loves to laugh and his whole face lights up when he smiles. It's amazing how Darryell and I made such a sweet baby. It was this date when I got pregnant with him. He came 8 months to the date of his conception. And Gwen came 9 months to the date of Valentine's Day. I guess my kids like coming at the right time. Gwen is starting to come around with the baby. At first she was excited he was here but after seening he mainly ate and slept all the time, she was bored with it. Now that he's getting bigger and notices what's going on, she's always acting goofy for him. When she was out of school for Veteran's Day, they were laying on the bed while I was making Gwen's breakfast, she put him on her lap and gave him his bottle. She's starting to like her role as the big sister.
It's nearing Thanksgiving now. I'm looking forward to Gwen being home from school and Darryell being home with us. I'm a little nervous about going to dinner at his mom's house. I don't know why, I've met a lot of his family and have survived family functions before. But I know it'll be fun and the kids will have a great time.
I guess I better get busy catching up on housework. Since it's just Presley and I today, I'll be able to get things done....hopefully.

Another Week Has Begun

So here I am, another week has started. Just when I think I'm starting to feel better, it starts getting cooler down here. For the past couple weeks I've had Strep-throat and now that it's cleared up (for now), my stomach has been acting up. I think it may be from my lack of sleep. I'm a night person and would rather stay up. Thankfully Presley sleeps until around 5 or 6 AM. So I rarely have to do middle of the night feedings anymore. I'll get used to the colder weather, I'm used to it. All I now is I'm starting to miss the Fall season in Indiana. The smell of the leaves and things like that. I can't say yet if I'll miss snow or now. Knowing my crazy ass, I probably will.
I'm so excited about Gwen's birthday coming up. She reminds us everyday that it's November and her birthday is this month. It's her first birthday away from everyone she grew up with, so we're trying to make it as special as possible for her. Darryell has been thinking long and hard about what to do for her. He wants her first birthday with him to be something she'll remember. He doesn't want to let her down. We spent Sunday while she was in church walking around Toy 'R' Us looking for something for her. He got tons of ideas for Christmas now. We finally settled on something we thought she'd totally enjoy. It really makes me miss my brother's discount at Toys 'R' Us.
Darryell's mom's birthday is the week after Gwen's. After hanging out at her house after church, we were talking about her birthday and not knowing what to get her. But we somehow started talking about my camera and some pictures I've been taking of the baby in black and white and when she showed interest in that, Darryell and I said we'd give her one of our digital cameras. She said we could call it her birthday present. I figure if that's what she wants and it would make her happy, it works with me.
I'm really hoping we'll be able to make it back up to Indiana for my family Christmas party. That would mean the world to me. If I would have known last year during the party, I would have told work to fuck off so I could go. Like they would have cared, I got screwed at every holiday when I worked there anyways. I'm thinking of some great things to get my mom, dad and brothers that are at home. My mom won't be that hard to buy for but my dad and brothers may be a little more difficult. I miss my family so much and I know this holiday season won't be the same without them.