The Silence

I bring home dinner and when I walk into the house I notice that something is visibly different... it's quiet!

No Mikayla is not taking a nap, she is spending the night with my parents. So it's 6:15 on a Memorial Day Weekend Sunday night... and I will enjoy the silence and watch a movie with my husband.

I miss my little girl, but I will cherish the peacefulness of this evening!

Some More Wedding Non-sense

So it appears that Mikayla is OBSESSED with marrying Zeph! She keeps talking about it and the only thing I know to do is ignore it. My way of thinking is that if I ignore it, IT will go away...so far that hasn't happened.

Mikayla has been on this topic of kissing Zeph, which morphed to marrying Zeph, which has totally blown out of proportion to needing to have a baby shower with Zeph for the past two weeks!!! (I blame the baby shower part on all of the gifts that our cousins received this past weekend and the fact that Shrek and Fiona had triplets)

MAC: Mom, Zeph and I are going to have a baby shower!!!
ME: What?? Where??
MAC: We are going to live in Arlington and have a baby shower!! Will you bring me and Zeph a gift??


This is me ignoring that conversation...

Weddings, kissing and more

So last Thursday my little girl dropped a bomb on me...



MAC: First thing when I get to school I am going to kiss Zeph

Me: (learning that Zeph is short for Zephinias) What? Why?

MAC: Because I love him!

Me: Well, maybe you should ask him first...(thinking, maybe you should as ME first!)

MAC: Why?

Me: Well, beacuse not all little boys want to be kissed yet

MAC: Well he's thrree and I'm three so it's ok.



When we get to school, I ask the teacher if there really is a boy named Zephinias (hoping and praying this might be one of her imaginary friends..) and by golly there is a little boy named Zeph! I gave the teacher a heads up...don't want my little girl to be the class tramp!



We had a lovely weekend in Arkansas, celebrating the imminent arrival of a new baby cousin and visiting with family and friends. Upon seeing the soon to be mommy with the pregnant belly Mikayla asked me if baby Riley could come out of her mommies tummy so she could hold her. That brought on an ENTIRE conversation of why that's not possible. Luckily there was a new swing and a few dogs which I used as distraction devices! I was also holding and loving on another little cousin who is 9 months old...Mikayla informed me that I had to put him down because I don't love him, I only love her....I am sensing a little jealousy!



All of this leads me to today...

On the way to the mall to meet my mom for lunch Mikayla informs me of the following...



MAC: Mom, if you want to get pregnant and have a baby I can't be your baby anymore because I won't fit in your tummy. So you will have to get another baby because I am not your baby I am your big girl.



Once we find my mom (aka Lola) Mikayla informs us of her soon to be marriage to Zeph...

MAC: Lola, we need to go to my size clothes and pick out my wedding dress.

Lola: Who are you marrying?

MAC: Zeph... (almost like she was saying Duh)

Lola: Why?

MAC: Because we are three and in love!

Lola: (Big smile and giggles)

ME: But you don't need to get married until you are 30

MAC: How many more birthdays is that?

Lola: giggles...

ME: Too many to count!

MAC: Lola, do you want to come to my wedding to Zeph? Do you want to see us kiss?


I am beginning the ban on Disney movies!!! Even Shrek gets married and kisses the bride at the end....Jeesh!

A House Can Be Replaced But Memories are FOREVER....

So yesterday was one of those life altering days....

Four years ago my parents bought an old fraternity house...the house of the fraternity that my husband was a member of and I was a sweetheart for the chapter!!! I was still pregnant with Mikayla (by a few days) when they "closed" on the house. The property came with the Main House (DU House) and the Garage Apartments (the GAP). Our goal was/still is to make the main house our real estate office and the GAP will be totally renovated as a two unit garage apartment. After many revisions the city gave us permits to start re-habing the GAP in June 2009. Since August 2009 this rehab has been my main goal. It's finally to the point where cabinets, trim and doors and painting were all scheduled to happen this week.

Yesterday, between the hours of 2 and 3 am a fire broke out in the main house!! Take a moment...yes, the house burned down! (ok it's still standing, just missing the attic and most of the second floor) What a way to start a Monday.

At 6:45 am (I'm still sleeping) my dad calls and says there has been a fire at the DU House. ( I later discover I missed a text at 5 am from Michael's cousin who saw it on the news) Michael tells me he will swing by on his way to work. I get up, brush my teeth get Mikayla dressed when Michael calls to tell me that the DU House has been on fire, firefighters are still there and he's not certain but it looks like the GAP is still standing. My parent's are on their way from way west Fort Worth...I call and tell them what Michael said and load Mikayla in my truck and head over...

Two fire trucks are still there...along with the Fire Commanders (?) suburban and the Fire Marshal's Tahoe. They are done "fighting" the fire...in fact I think most of the fire fighters were packing up (which is a long process in and of itself) but there are a few still walking the house making sure there aren't any "flare" ups. The Fire Marshal is doing his thing by trying to ascertain where the fire started and possibly determine what started it.

What's truly amazing, is that the GAP the place I have poured my blood, sweat and tears into...and is located a mere 15 feet from the burned building...is ok. I mean it's OK! Not a stick of wood was touched by the fire or is damaged from smoke... amazing!

Mikayla and my mom sit across Thornton Street on a tire stop in the parking lot...looking like displaced people and we don't live there... we were just hoping to rehab it to have an office with some rental income. Mikayla asking questions and mom answering them.

I walk around taking pictures and answering questions when I can. I watch my dad do his "dad engineering" thing... which means he is doing his best to answer questions and being as helpful as he can walking around and amazingly not getting too dirty. I look over and see my daughter talking to my mom. I walk over and Mikayla points out that this beautiful, old pecan tree. She wants me to know that it's going to be ok because the tree just only got burned in the middle and the rest of the tree is ok. WOW! Not only was she incredibly patient for over an hour and a half but she was way insightful. To look at things through the eyes of my child...

So this leads me to the highlight of the morning. Mikayla got a very personal tour of a fire truck!! All of the guys were really great in dealing with her and she was able to get up in a fire truck. The fire fighter opened all of the nooks and crannies of the truck and showed her some pretty cool equipment. Of course when she got in the truck she had her hands covering her ears (the truck just running, no sirens, is kind of loud) she noticed the roll of stickers!! They gave her 10 or 12 for being great at the scene and she was in HOG HEAVEN!

So, to the old DU House...thanks for the memories. Luckily, it is just a house...it can and will be rebuilt. People are precious and memories are forever!

Friend to all

So as I am kicking back with a diet coke, sitting on the back patio watching Mikayla throw a ball back and forth over the fence with the neighbors kids I realized that my child has a farmer's tan! I know this because she is shirtless (she was partaking in a red popsicle...hence the no shirt on). Her belly and shoulders are a creamy white and her arms and face have a healthy summer glow to them. It's incredibly cute. What's even cuter is that our neighbors speak Arabic to each other and Mikayla pretends to speak Arabic too!! The neighbor's daughter is approx 9 or 10 years old and is a wonderful big sister type. She is always willing to play with Mikayla and she knows how to say things so Mikayla understands. Anyway, she gets a kick out of listening to Mikayla mutter non-sense trying to imitate her.

Which leads me to ponder how my child acts around other kids... Needless to say I am blessed. Mikayla can go to the park and not have anyone to play with and be totally at home with her over active imagination (we have several siblings we are forever picking up from school...and for those who don't know, Mikayla is an only child). If there are others around, Mikayla flocks to older kids and babies...but she will play with anyone, anyone at all. She truly likes people of all shapes and sizes...accents included! We were at the mall play area and she heard a mom speaking spanish to her child. She comes running over to me to imitate the conversation!! We were walking into her school and she wanted to know why the lady behind us was speaking spanish...I had to explain that the lady behind us was speaking chinese (I hope) and not spanish. Mikayla then wants to know why she doesn't understand chinese!! What a fuit loop!!

I am lucky that she is soooooo open and I hope to foster an environment where she continues to sees no boundries.

Happy Mother's Day!!

To all my friends who are moms and to their moms...

The hardest job in the world is Mommy.
You have to know when to guide, praise, punish...
You can heal all things with a single kiss...
Your heart breaks when things don't go their way or when they don't feel good...
Your heart can grow to 100 times it's normal size from a smile, hug or slobbery kiss...
You ache when you haven't seen your pride and joy all day...
You have a new appreciation for going to the bathroom all alone...
You want to protect, shelter and encourage them...

So many more things I could list but for now I will say...

Thank you mom for raising me...I happen to think you did a great job! Thank you Mikayla for being an amazing daughter! I am sooooooo lucky to have you and I want you to know that no matter what, I will ALWAYS be here for you and love you unconditionally!!
I LOVE YOU!!!