Pizza, Pants, and Party Dresses

We ordered pizza last night and had it delivered…..or I should say we tried to have it delivered.  When I was a little girl, we lived way outside of the city limits and nothing ever delivered to us.  The whole concept of Pizza Delivery is still rather foreign to me because even lately, the addition that we used to live in was fairly new and wouldn’t always show up on the delivery people’s’ maps which caused them to get lost.  There was also the whole gate code thing, thus making it all too much of a hassle.  But the neighborhood that we now live in is quite established, there are no gates and we are still very much inside the city limits.  So last night when Mattie insisted on using her Pizza Hut free personal pan pizza coupon that she earned at school, I was all for it.  Bring on the delivery man.

I got a phone call about 15 minutes after I placed our order, a rather snarky call from a man telling me that he was Dwayne from Pizza Hut and he had been knocking on my door.  I apologized and told him I hadn’t heard anything, but I was standing at the front door now and didn’t see anyone.  Again, rather rudely, he told me that was because it was really cold outside and he was back in his car.  I said okay and hung up.  I decided it would be a good idea to unlock the front door and took a peek outside, there was no car in my driveway.  Grumpy was not in front of my house.  I called him back to inform him that he was not where he was supposed to be and that might be the reason I wasn’t answering my door, but he didn’t answer his phone.  About that time is when I looked next door and saw a car sitting in the driveway and a man standing on the dark front porch.  I called over, asking if he was Pizza Hunt man, (he was) and told him I thought he had the wrong house. As he got closer, his tone changed dramatically.  Apologizing profusely and then he said my favorite part, “I don’t know why they wrote —– on the address”…..and I got to reply “Probably because that’s my address”.

Thankfully, we got our dinner and it was still under 30 minutes.  The kids were afraid that the neighbor lady may have taken our pizza, but I don’t think she opens her door to anyone after about 4:30 in the afternoon, so no worries on that.

So once again, I am reminded that maybe delivery service isn’t really compatible with me.

On a completely different note…..

I stare every day at a neat stack of khaki pants in my closet.  I never put them on, but they stay there just in case the right occasion comes along.  In the 4 and a half years that I have lived here in Memphis, that occasion has yet to arrive.  Fact is, I don’t think I have put them on since before I was heavily pregnant with Reese.  The last few times that khakis have been appropriate I have been pregnant and I those weren’t going to fit.  So they have sat there folded….waiting.  I got curious and brave recently and decided to try them on.  Did they even fit over my childbearing hips anymore?  Because if they didn’t, there really wasn’t any point in keeping them because I obviously don’t plan on doing anything to get back into them seeing as I have you all hunting for cookies and cream Hershey kisses.  I tried them on and thankfully, they did fit.  However, I still didn’t have a need for them.  They are now out of my closet, making space for other more useful things like hoodies and Reese’s batman toys when they get routinely taken away.

But a clothing item that I do need, that is nowhere near my closet is a formal dress.  Brandon decided it would be fun for us to go to the Heart Ball this year, his clinic buys a table every year and all we have to do is show up….dressed all fancy….and have a great time celebrating heart disease.  Maybe not so much celebrating the disease, but  more celebrating the awareness and all the work that is going into research and curing and raising money for it. Anyway, I don’t think that t-shirts and striped sweaters (because I have a TON of those!) and even my dress-up khakis are going to cut it for that, so I need to find myself a formal dress.  The only formals I have are either bridesmaid dresses or things from my high school days and I really don’t think 1998 is considered fashionably retro quite yet.  I don’t even know where to buy something appropriate for this event.  I haven’t purchased formal wear, except for bridesmaid dresses and even those were a while ago, since my teenage years!  I have googled “Ball Dresses for a 30 something year old in Memphis” but that really wasn’t any help either.  So if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Alrighty, its time for me to be productive with my day.  Remember, Pennies for Parks and have a great Thursday!

Happy Birthday Dear Papa

As I was rambling about this and that of the day, I kept trying to figure out a way to artfully bring in the subject of what today is. Surely there would be a clever way of going from snack foods to my father, but nothing ever seemed right.  So he will get his own post and possibly only share it with my eyebrows.  I was looking in the rear view mirror today while waiting to pick up Mattie and wowzers! my bathroom mirror has not been telling me the truth.  Those guys were out of control!  I guess I’ll have to go and sit out in my car to tweeze them because that seems to be the only lighting and mirror set up that shows what’s really going on up there.

Now back to Dad.  Today is my Dad’s birthday, and a day that we are very happy and thankful for. I have a wonderful father, one who whenever I go to see him or he comes to see me, we always end up having out late night Daddy/ Daughter chats.  Others are always welcome to our chats, but somehow it always ends up being just the two of us.  I like these times.  I like that my dad listens to me talk with the same half smile, expectant and waiting for me to finish, like he already knows its going to be funny and inside he is already starting to laugh.  And then he does laugh and its a real laugh, not a pity or polite laugh, but a real heartfelt laugh.  Its the same look my brother used to get when I would come over and tell him my stories.  My dad also answers my questions, and even now at 33 years old, he still seems to know that answers to my questions.  Its important to have someone at all stages in life who has the answers and I consider myself to be very blessed.

My dad irons for me and shines my shoes and loves nothing more than to come to my house and fix or build things.  This past Thanksgiving he built a sandbox.

Even as a grown up, my dad still kisses me and greets me with a hug.  I am reminded over and over that he is proud of me and what I have grown up to be, even if it isn’t anything super spectacular.

I think its funny that I married a man who looks more like he could be my father’s son than I look like my father’s daughter.  I suppose there is something to be said there. And I suppose that means that I should expect brown boys as my sons-in law, as well.

Admiring Number 3, and I believe this was his birthday last year

So Happy Birthday Daddy, and know that you are loved today and every day.  I am thankful for the person you are to me, for the role you have played in my life and now play in the lives of my children and I couldn’t imagine it without you.

Love,

Sally

Papa and Reesie sleeping

 

Forty-Nine Views!

Usual 10 readers, we had 49 views yesterday! That might not be that big of a deal to you, but like I said at the beginning of this, I usually only have about 1o readers so I am pretty darn excited here.  That also means that 49 people read about my Pennies for Parks plans and hopefully they took it to heart and are planning to be a part of that.  By the way, I have 3 readers who have already contacted me about sending in their donations.  And I have this feeling that there are going to be more of you.  Remember, I won’t be sending anything until Valentine’s Day so there is still plenty of time.  If you are not familiar with the Pennies for Parks plan, please check out yesterdays post where you can get all caught up.

So there’s not much going on here.  It was laundry day yesterday and as I was pulling out a load of lights, I realized that I had washed (and dried) a paper towel.  I’m not sure where that paper towel came from, but it’s super clean and ready for round two now.  I think something should be said though for the durability of Bounty Extra Soft paper towels.  That not only held up to whatever it was that was being cleaned by them, but also the spin cycle on my Maytag.

Reese and I had a little photo shoot today.  I try to do the big kids twice a year and since the outfit that I had purchased with 4 1/2 years pictures in mind is pretty much too small and about to go on Ebay, I figured I better get on it.  Here’s a little sample:

 

And this is what Lila was doing while the photo shoot was going on.

In kind of interesting news, I did something somewhat big for me this past week.  I pulled Mattie out of gymnastics.  I loved gymnastics as a little girl and hated it that I couldn’t continue with my classes as I got older and life just got too busy.  I always felt like I could have really been great at it if I had been able to get a few more years in.  I did get on the gymnastics team in high school, but my asset to the squad was my flexibility and myself and my friend Camper were always the decorative split girls at the end of every pyramid.  Like two little bookends, we were.  I did end up having a rough accident my Junior year where I tragically broke both of my thumbs and that ended  even my side-show career.  It makes me sound all hard-core, to say I have a screw in my right wrist due to a gymnastics accident, people just assume I was doing some Gabbie Douglas-esque vaulting routine.  And you know, so as not to ruin the dream, I won’t go into the details of what actually happened, but lets just say that it didn’t ruin my olympic hopes.  So it was no question that should I ever have a little girl, I would want to put her into gymnastics classes.  And with Mattie being a pinch Russian, well, it just seemed like a no-brainer.

So after her 4th birthday, into classes she went….every Tuesday.  And to my joy, she loved it!  Everything about it.  And she had such promise her coaches glowed.  The perfect little body type and energy level.  She practically bounced and at 4 already had muscles in her little calves that no amount of working out would ever bring me.  She loved every minute of it…..but now, 4 years later, her only real skills to speak of are that she can scale a rope like nobody’s business.  And between you and me, that’s not really the results I was looking for.  This past year, she was switched to simply tumbling because that’s what she seemed most interested in.  However, after about 4 months, it had become quite obvious that though she still loved every second of her classes, they were becoming more and more of a playtime.  I wouldn’t mind sending her to an hour-long playtime once a week, but I think some of the girls (her coach included) wanted to take their class a little more seriously.  That and her brother and sister were becoming very vocal about their disdain for our once a week trek across town and then sitting for an hour while we watched Mattie play and have the time of her life and never improve on her back hand spring. They also weren’t very fond of the journey back home that set us way behind in our evening routine and always ended with me losing my patience and them missing their bedtime story and cuddles because we were too rushed.

Last Tuesday, on my way home, I called my dear friend and confided to her that not only was I getting annoyed with my child, but I was starting to feel the pity party thing for myself.  Why was there a gym full of other kids who obviously had mothers that could handle the busy schedule and yet I couldn’t.  And how was she going to become the incredible tumbler that everyone watched in awe, who did back hand spring double lay-outs in the backyard just because she could?  And that’s when I had my moment, this wasn’t Mattie’s dream and it really wasn’t mine, it was just the image that I wanted to throw out there to the world.  And I wasn’t a failure because I was pulling her out of something, I was being realistic.  I have no idea whether or not those other moms have it all together, but my guess is probably a big fat no.  I bet they are just as frazzled as I was on the ride home, if not worse.  And the ones that weren’t may  not have had two other children to tend to.  They may also not be as concerned about their children’s sleep schedules and cuddle times.  And then again, some of them may have had more things on their plates and still do better than me, but in other areas of their lives there could be issues.  It really doesn’t matter.  And to be honest, between the 11 of us here, yesterday felt great knowing that we didn’t have to rush off at 3:00 to make it to gymnastics and not get home again until 6ish.  And I don’t think Mattie missed it at all.

And now here before I go I have a few closing thoughts to share, the first is that the other day, I swear I saw a commercial for new cookies and cream Hershey Kisses.  I love all things cookies and cream and was incredibly excited by this.  However, as of today, I can find them nowhere.  They seem to be like the unicorns of snack food, much like those cinnamon and sugar Pringles that were advertised during the holidays in all my US Weekly magazines, but I never actually saw anywhere.  So if you see any, please contact me somehow and let me know where. The next thing is that I am not renewing my US Weekly subscription…..and it has nothing to do with the misleading advertisements.  I just thought I would see how much I missed it. I’ve been getting this silly magazine ever since a young college boy found his way into are apartment complex the first year that Brandon and I were married.  It seemed like time to see if I could cut the ties.

And P.S I think its a sign that the blog got 49 views yesterday that 49ers are going to conquer the Ravens in New Orleans.

Happy Birthday…..Now Let’s Do Something!

Yesterday was this girl’s first birthday.

I’m not too excited about this whole growing up thing.  I mean sure, come 20 years from now I would prefer that she be walking and feeding herself, but we were in no rush for her to move out of babyhood.  Thankfully, she is still the size of about a 4 month old so when she is sleeping and limp, not zooming all over with her extremely efficient crawl or grinning at me with her mouth full of teeth – I can fool myself for just a minute that she is still just a tiny baby.  Again, thankfully, I have a few very close friends who are either expected to birth any second or due this summer and they have promised to let me smell and cuddle and purchase tiny little baby things for their little ones.  Which is great because we all know that the last thing I need is to be having more babies of my own.  Babies are great actually, babies I know how to handle.  I am a pro at late night feedings and can easily change diapers in complete darkness.  I am a pro at finding just the right bounce rhythm to calm a gassy little person and have several tools in my bag for fussy.  I also know where to shop for the littles and if I don’t say so myself, can dress a pretty adorable infant.  But once they hit 3, things start getting very dicey.  Babies grow into kids and kids require a whole different set of skills.  The words you chose for them make a big difference and it’s not just the words you chose, but how you speak them.  Babies are like word searches, it doesn’t matter how long or even foreign the word is, you just have to look for the letters.  But kids, that will also grow into teenagers and then into adults – they are crossword puzzles where you have to come up with the words, know what the words mean, know how to spell the words.  It’s a completely different set of skills, skills that I am waiting for the parenting fairy to leave on my doorstep for kid number 1, but she is taking her sweet time.

So you can see why it saddens me a touch to see number 3 growing up.

We didn’t do a whole lot yesterday.  Lila woke up bright and early for a sunrise bottle and then went to sleep again for the better part of the morning.  While she slept, Reese and I did a little vacuuming, laundry and I schooled him in a game of Memory. Some people might think that’s really wrong of me to actually try to beat my child at a game, but its a dog eat dog world here in Casa Baughman.  If I don’t educate him on how to lose gracefully, you better believe things won’t be as gentle when his sister wins.  And for the record, he is pretty great at Memory for someone who also gets great enjoyment out of licking windows.  I’m pretty sure that my days of winning are numbered.

We didn’t realize until Reese and I stepped out to get a package, how incredibly warm it was.  Almost 70 degrees outside yesterday! I quickly changed Lila out of the precious little winter outfit that read “Snow Cute” across the chest.  Cute it most certainly was, but I would have looked like an absolute idiot taking her around town in such a thing.  The package, by the way had this in it:

If these don’t  make Lila want to give up a bottle and move on to a big girl sippy cup, well I don’t think anything will.  Thanks Kiki and Rosie and your parents.  I don’t know about Lila, but I love them.

After a good swinging in the backyard, we headed to piano lessons to pick up One, but stopped first at Sonic for Happy Hour – in honor of Lila of course, who can’t actually drink out of a straw and I wouldn’t feed sweet tea or cherry limeades to anyway, but her honor nonetheless. And we ended our night with burgers and fries from 5 Guys, which is the same meal that we had for lunch just an hour after Lila was born.  And ice cream, that girl loves her some ice cream.  Not the most exciting birthday, but for a person who has absolutely no clue of what a birthday is, I think she was happy.

Lila’s actual party is this Sunday.  Just a little brunch because we know that if we had it any later, no one would come for fear of missing the Super Bowl.  We are doing a little something different for her party, this being the first one.  My kids don’t frequently need a whole lot for their first birthdays.  All 3 of them have their days right smack in the middle of a season, so as far as clothes go, we are usually well stocked, also they don’t really grow at a very fast rate.  The also run small and no one really knows what size to get anyway.  Mattie’s first birthday (Lila’s too) comes right on the tail of Christmas, so the toys are still pretty new and everyone knows that babies tend to like the wrapping and the box more than the actual toy anyway.  So I have tried to come up with something a little different for first birthdays.  For Reese’s First, I asked if people would bring something significant to that past year, so that we could make a time capsule of sorts.  He got things like a copy of the #1 book on the New York Times bestseller list, a Time magazine featuring an article about Michael Jackson who passed away that year. A copy of all the top songs from various charts for that year.  It was a neat idea, but not everyone really got it so I decided not to try it again with Lila.

My idea for her party actually came months ago and I have to say, I am pretty excited about it.  On September 11, a friend of mine from high school and college days received devastating news that her little boy, Parks (who was at the time 11 months old) had leukemia.  Their lives were turned upside down immediately.  Every other plan they may have had, from the big things to even the smallest, were shattered.  The thought of your little one not being “okay”, is awful for a mama.  Just them being sick with a typical, run-of-the-mill cold can put any mommy into a dark and gloomy state of mind.  But to know that your little one isn’t just sick, and that the only means of even hoping to get them better is going to be a very hard journey.  Knowing that you are going to have to watch this perfect little person, who already feels bad, get even sicker.  Watch them hurting and being scared and in the end, not even being certain that it is all going to work.  All of this and on top of that, it is going to cost a fortune.  My heart broke for my friend.  And about a week later, this idea came to me. Let’s have a Pennies for Parks party.  Maybe instead of bringing gifts for Lila, (that she wasn’t going to miss anyway) our friends and family would instead being a donation for Parks.  We might not make a whole lot, but maybe if everyone who came even gave $20, that might be enough to cover their utility bill for a month, a cell phone bill or maybe if we were lucky it would be enough to buy a plane ticket for a grandma or auntie to come and help out.  My goal was $350.

Then Sunday came, keep in mind, the party is still days away and invitations have just gone out.  I’m not going to give any details because I’m pretty sure that these people didn’t want a big fuss to be made over them and that’s why their donation was slipped to me in secrecy, but some dear friends gave me a check for $300.  To say I was shocked would be an understatement.  I was hoping, hoping for maybe $20 donations….but I had way underestimated the generosity of my friends.  And though I don’t expect this lofty of donation from everyone, it made me think that maybe I should aim my goal a little higher.  Forget $350, maybe we could raise $1000! And this also got me thinking, I know that I have at least 10 faithful readers here on this blog.  And maybe you guys would like to help out too.  As a way of celebrating the life of little Lila so far and the kiddos in your own life, if the ten of you would each donate $10, that’s another $100!  And maybe if you each told 4 people and they donated just ten, then that could be $500!  That’s half of the goal right there.

I won’t be sending off the donation for about a week after Lila’s party anyway, so lets aim for Valentines Day.  If you are interested in being a part of Pennies for Parks, please leave me a comment and I will give you information to get your donation to me…that is if you don’t already have it because I don’t know of too many people who might read this that don’t.

Not only would it be awesome for Parks and his parents, Angela and Jonathon – to know that people are thinking about them and doing what they can to help, but I would love to be able to tell Lila the story of her first birthday and how friends, family and strangers alike came together to do something incredible.

Here is a link to Parks’ CaringBridge site:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/parksthurmond

And with that, I will leave you with a few pictures of my birthday girl.

Its a Great Day to Celebrate

Today is a day for celebrating.  It is the eve of Lila’s birthday and it is also the day we celebrated a very special little boy in my life who will be turning 8 this week.  Today also is a day that could have taken a very ugly turn.

We have a Chelsea in our family.

She started off being a friend who occasionally babysat or house sat for us.  But to know Chelsea is to love her and she quickly went from casual friend, to a part of the family.  She has become that younger sister that I never had, some one who I am very protective of and I find it my job to call her on the weekends and ask her what her plans are.  She loves my children and treats them as I would imagine a fun, younger sister aunt person would – taking them on little dates to the car dealership and trips to get ice cream (for dinner).  She is in no way their parent figure at all, but rather the one who brings promises of fun (though for the record, she is not a pushover and the kids are extremely respectful of Auntie Chelsea).  She is a part of the family and today we found out that she had been in a terrible car accident on her way home from a weekend trip to North Carolina.  Thankfully, our Chelsea is okay.  Banged up and bruised and in a lot of pain, but she is going to be just fine as soon as we can get her back home.  I wish I could get in the car and drive to wherever she is tonight and whisk her back to her apartment.  I hate that after such an awful experience, she still has to make another 2 hour trip to get home.  But she’s going to be okay and she will get to come home, where the driver of the car that caused this accident will not.  Things happen so quickly, in a blink lives can be turned upside down and I am just so grateful tonight that though ours was a little shaken, it has stayed upright.  And I will be squeezing our Chelsea extra hard when she comes back from school next time.

Another reason to celebrate today is that it is Mumsey’s Birthday.  I am fond of Mums for the obvious reasons, the whole her being my mother fact is pretty significant. And without her, there would be no me and I am kind of glad to be here.  But more so than those, there are a million little reasons why I celebrate my mom.

And here are just a few

* She bought me my first cabbage patch doll, back when they were rare and you had to stand in long lines and order them.  Mine actually came from a hardware store.

* She let me have not one but several kittens as a child, even though she was allergic and not really fond of cats.

* She laid with me at night and never said a word when I crawled into bed with her, just kind of absorbing me in beside her.

* She taught me manners, please and thank you , but also, that it is rude to ask people if they like your new t-shirt just so they will give you a complement because they might not really like your new t-shirt and do you really want to hear their honest opinion.  A compliment isn’t really a compliment when you had to fish for it.

* She taught me how to pluck my eyebrows and where the best place is on your wrist to test out make up.  She also taught me how to blend my make-up and that is a pretty big deal.

* She did her best to dress me cute when I was going through my awkward phase and didn’t let me dress how I may have wanted to on a few occasions during those teenage years.

* She went back to school twice, getting 2 separate degrees

* She was my friend when it felt like no one else was, and my mother when I needed some firm guidance

* She told me the truth when it wasn’t going to be pretty  and stayed beside me to deal with the devastation that came in its wake

* At midnight on New Years Eve, during my senior year of high school, after my boyfriend had broken up with me, she drove me to his house and waited in the car while he and I sorted things out.  She also never once said “I told you so” when that relationship, and all the others that she knew weren’t meant to be ended.

* She taught me how to do the laundry and that base boards need to be cleaned too. How to iron and make cookies.

* She taught me how to drive even though it was absolute torture for the both of us.

* She went to childbirth classes with me when Brandon couldn’t and stayed with me every second of all 3 of my childbirth experiences, holding my hand through each one.  She also spent the night with me at the hospital with each one and those are some of my favorite memories, those first slumber parties.  Staying up late with this new little one, becoming a mom with my mom cuddled up on the bed beside me.

* She was there when I had the best news in the world and the one who delivered the most horrific news I’ve ever heard.

* My mom is firm and strong and has taught me that my opinion matters and to speak up when I need to.  She gives me confidence yet keeps me grounded.  She is my sounding board.  Though I don’t always share it, her opinion is the one that matters most to me.

* She taught me how to be a mother

* She agrees with Brandon when he is right rather than always picking my side, which even though it annoys me, I appreciate.

And these are just the specific-to-me reasons that I celebrate my mother. I could probably write a blog about my reasons for being fond of my mother and have a daily post of over 1000 words.  But that would embarrass my  mom and probably get old for those of you reading.

So I will just leave it as a once a year thing, and wind it up here.  I know you had nothing to do with your own being born mom, but I am so thankful that you were.  You make my life easier when it’s hard and remind me to enjoy it when its easy.  The encourage me to do better and remind me that I’m doing a good job when I feel discouraged.  You teach me things without bossing and are open to learning a few things that I might have to share.  You share the things that make you happy with me, from snacks to vacations. But most of all, you love me.

I may not have the most money in the world, be the prettiest or smartest by far……but my cup runneth over when it comes to feeling loved by my mother.

Cuddles with Mums again

Happy Birthday Mumsey!

P.S – It has occurred to me as I looked through all of my pictures, that there are hardly any of just me and my mother.  It’s hard to find any of me and my children and me and mom, well, we will just have to work on that.

For This Week, I Have A Media Room and I Am Master of the Baby Wipes

I don’t ask questions of my husband, but somehow a large projector showed up at our house in time for Mattie’s birthday party.  It has been set up in the annex, connected to the PlayStation, which is primarily how tv is watched in this house.  We are big HULU and Netflix people so as to avoid all the other stuff on tv that we don’t want the kids to see.  Anyway, the projector is still here and I have to be honest with you, it has been fabulous.  I have the ironing board set up here in the annex, and to get to watch my Modern Family episodes with the MegaTron screen has made it all the more fun.  And since Brandon and I rarely have a date night, this has been almost like going to the movies.  Only better in a way because we have the kitchen two steps away, didn’t have to get a sitter and can change the movie if we don’t like it.  I will miss you projector when you are gone.  Maybe with the good old tax return, we could look into making the projector a permanent addition to our family.  Those school loans don’t need paid off any time soon…..

And speaking of the MegaTron screen and date nights, my honey took me on a date this past Wednesday night. A real one where I was required to change my clothes from what I’d already been wearing all day.  I guess technically, the reason for me changing had nothing to do with the level of dressiness that was required, but rather more of a spirit thing.

When we first found out that we would be moving to Memphis, one of the first things that got Brandon excited was the idea that this town had its own pro basketball team.  It wasn’t so much that he was excited about the Memphis Grizzlies, but the idea that his Lakers would be coming at least once a year to play the Memphis Grizzlies, and that meant he had a chance to maybe attend a game.  Well, after 4 years of basketball season, tickets were finally purchased.

On a side note, let me just say that I support the Lakers because I married into it.  My family didn’t have a team and I grew up in a state that didn’t have any pro athletic teams of any sort.  And if they did, I had no idea that they existed, so I was certainly not a fan.  And if I were to be truly honest, now that I have moved to Memphis, I rather enjoy rooting for the home team.  I got pretty excited when the Grizzlies got to the playoffs last year….there was a certain buzz about our little city and I liked it.  Anyway, on Wednesday, I was sporting my Lakers gold and purple, but as soon as I walked through the doors of the FedEx Forum….I felt like a traitor.

Memphis has adopted us, made us family , embraced us and raised our babies – and here I was wearing LA colors.  At least everyone around us also appeared to be cheering for the visiting team so I didn’t stick out, but I still felt bad.  I will be ordering my Grizzlies t-shirt first thing next week.

Our game was fun.  Brandon got me nachos and for some reason, nothing makes me quite as happy as do good movie/ sporting event nachos.  They take their time-out entertainment quite seriously at these games and I could have watched the Kings of the Court Flying Elvis trampoline dunkers for way longer than the 90 seconds that they were given to perform.  I don’t suppose many other cities could have Elvis impersonators dunking basketballs and it perfectly normal the way it is here.  I also made a firm decision that there really is no respectable reason to be wearing white go-go boots in this decade.  It seems a surefire way to cheapen any outfit immediately.  Oh they can be fun when going to a costume party, but I guarantee people will think you are a little less intelligent than you actually are if you wear white go-go boots.  Just a conclusion I came to while observing the Grizz Girls dance team.

It was also kind of fun to know that for a minute, Kobe Bryant and several other famous people and I were in the same place.  Under the same roof even.  The fact that I had paid money to sit and watch them doing their job is beside the point, but still, it was just fun to be able tho think for a minute that I was amongst celebrities…..even if I could barely tell who they were from my far away seat.

Another fun fact, the Gasol brothers both play professional basketball.  Pau Gasol plays for the Lakers and Marc Gasol is a Grizzlie and they guarded one another during our game Wednesday night.  I sort of doubt if many other people thought much of it, but I rather enjoyed watching these two guys play literally like brothers.  They moved similarly to one another and had almost identical builds.  They pushed and bumped into each other and if you are a nostalgic, sensitive soul like me, you could imagine them as younger boys playing against each other at home in their driveway.  While everyone else was watching to see if Rudy Gay was going to make another 3-pointer, I was wondering if since the Gasol parents still live here in town, would Pau be spending the night with his little brother at his huge mansion after having a late dinner with mom and dad. Probably not the same thoughts as were going through everyone else’s head during this basketball game.

The Lakers lost…..but that’s okay. It was still fun. Check one off on the bucket list.

On a completely different note, Reese asked me today if Lila was nocturnal like the bats.  I was perplexed by that one at first.  Had he seen her doing something strange? Had she been waking him up and night or had he been waking her up and playing with her? What was he talking about?  I told him no and asked why he would think that, very curious as to what he was going to say.  His response,”She goes to sleep when I wake up.  And she likes to eat fruit…..like the fruit bats.” Of course, two very valid reasons for suggesting that his sister might be part bat. I am proud of him for knowing the word, “nocturnal” that’s a good one.

And one last random little tidbit of fun.  If I can make it until Monday without having a major pooh disaster, I will have gone through Lila’s entire first year without purchasing baby wipes.  I received a giant box of them from Costco, and a few singletons as gifts right before the girl was born and have yet to have to purchase any myself.  I don’t know really why this excites me, but it does. I also would have made it through the first year without buying diapers, but the last box that I have hanging out in the closet is a size to big and that just seems wasteful to put the baby in too big diapers just so you don’t have to actually go and buy any.  She will get to them eventually and it will be a pleasant surprise to have them waiting for me when its time. But still, the wipe thing make me feel like a winner.  If I had a Facebook account, that would be my status update.  Its something that I will remind myself when I mess up.  So what if you are running 20 minutes late to Mattie’s field trip and you are making a bunch of children and other moms (who have lives that are just as hectic as yours and they still managed to get there on time) wait.  So what if you almost ran out of gas while driving the kids to that field trip.  And so what if your baby never has socks on even though its freezing outside.  I went a whole year without having to buy wipes and that’s amazing.

So that is my challenge to all of you ladies out there reading this who may be expecting, see how long you can make it on one Costco jumbo box and about 8 single packages. Try and beat me.

And with that, I am going to watch a nature documentary with my husband on our Jumbo Tron in the annex before it goes back to that magical land that it came from.

Have a great weekend!

I Survived!

I am writing today, so that should tell you that I survived.  However, the fact that it is Tuesday and Mattie’s party was Saturday night should also tell you something.  Overall, I think that the little ladies did pretty great.  There were no  middle of the night calls to parents to come and get their little ones.  No one wet the floor or had any other accidents and I’m pretty sure they were all still friends when the parted ways Sunday morning.  I just wish that maybe the big girls had made plans with the little girl upstairs before everyone went to bed for the night because the scheduling didn’t really work out well for the mom.  Everyone seemed to finally get good and settled and our house was filled with peaceful sleepers by 3:00……a.m. I am known to be a night owl but that was just plan ridiculous.  Then Lila demanding her breakfast at 5:45 wasn’t exactly met with a cheery smile.  But really, it was a great party, and to open the Annex door and see my little girl jumping on the bed and dancing with her friends, all the things that are stereotypical for little girls at a slumber party, well it almost brought tears to my eyes.

Making her wish

A very peaceful crew wouldn’t you say?

Happy Birthday Chocolate Cake

 

She told me last night as I was loving on her before she went to sleep, (the night of her actual birthday) “Being 8 has just been magical so far!” And I hope it continues that way Mattie Belle.

We saved Mattie’s birthday presents for her to open after her guests left.  This seemed like a good idea for several reasons, 1) We knew Mattie would be a little melancholy after her big, long-awaited party was over and this would be something to hopefully take the sting away.  Something to ease her back down after all the build-up and it really worked well. 2) There is something slightly frustrating about having all these wonderful new things and wanting to take your time checking them all out, yet having all these friends wanting to open and play with them too. 3) Mattie cannot hide her disappointment or her happiness, and it always makes me nervous when she opens things in front of people because should she not be a fan of something, there’s no faking it.  She loved everything she got so this wouldn’t have been a problem, but you just never know. And nothing makes a gift giver cringe like having a child say really loudly as they tear into your gift, “Who got me this? I have it already.” Actually, it should be a pat on the back that you did so well at picking out something they liked, but instead, you often feel like hiding.  So the fewer public gift opening opportunities for my children the better. And 4) When you are trying to stress to your children that gifts aren’t the most important thing about birthdays or why we invite people over to celebrate with us, having one of the main events of the evening be the gift opening just seems to contradict everything.

So we did it Sunday after everyone had left and let me tell you, Mattie is a very lucky little girl.  She got all sorts of treasures, but one in particular that I have just been captivated with is this:

 

This is a gift from Ms. Nan and Dr. Brad and yes, it is a mannequin head used by stylists to practice on.  Back when I last took the kids for hair cuts, Mattie spent her time in the chair lamenting to Nan about how Elizabeth (you all remember the saga of Elizabeth’s hair) had to go to the hospital and how she was afraid to ever play with her hair again.  While Reese was getting his hair cut, Nan was kind enough to let Mattie go to town playing with “Debra”.  Mattie had a blast combing and brushing and even adding products to Debra’s tresses (you can do that because her hair is 100% human hair….how cool is that?!) So when birthday time came around, I guess it just made sense that Mattie should have a Debra head of her own to play with.  And this is so much better than one of those Barbie heads with the plasticky hair that were so popular when I was a little girl.  I mean, we could give Debra the Head highlights if we felt so inclined….by we I mean Mattie.  This is just a reminder again of the wonderful people who have embraced us and become our family here in the land of Memphis.  Oh and that awesome dentist that I have raved about here before, she got Mattie some of those silly “Stompies” slippers that you may have seen on tv.  They are funny enough to watch go walking by, with their ears going up and down.  But they’re even funnier when she’s stomping off, mad at me for something.  Her face all pouty, arms crossed and a fierceness to her steps…..and then the bunny slippers with the ears going up and down.  It really adds a great effect that I don’t think she is trying to go for.  And one more incredible gift, a personalized hand-drawn coloring book.  Oh Mattie, you are one loved little girl.

And now on to something completely unrelated, but that is weighing heavily on my mind today.  I am missing a box of bras.  This might be considered TMI, but hey, this is my blog and I can chat about whatever I would like and this is important to me today.  Sometime last fall, when I was really starting to show during my pregnancy with Lila, I packed away my undergarments that were no longer effective.  I knew that these pregnancy boobs would not be a lasting thing and come about 2 weeks after I stopped nursing, they would be but only a memory.  So there was no use in getting rid of my pre pregnancy wardrobe, just putting it away for a while because I would be needing it again.  Well, we have moved houses since then and somehow that particular box seems to have been misplaced in the shuffle.  If I didn’t really need them, this would make for quite a funny story as I am sure that whomever has or will find them, will be really surprised and perplexed by this random box of what appears to be a young girls entire collection of training bras.

But back to Mattie, this is how you started your day yesterday morning….on your 8th birthday.

And this is how it started 8 years ago.

You are my treasure.  You make me laugh and cry, mad and so incredibly proud that my heart feels as though it will burst.  I love watching you discover and experience things for the first time, things that I remember like yesterday discovering and experiencing.  Even the freedom and exhilaration of jumping on a bed, dancing with my best friends at midnight.  You are magic and I savor every day that I get to be a part of your life.  Happy Birthday Mini!

Before the Birthday Calm

It is the calm before the storm here at our house.  Mattie’s birthday party, her first sleepover is set to begin in a little less than 3 hours.  Much like childbirth and labor, where they tell you to rest while it’s still calm, I know that’s what I should be doing. I have no doubt that things are about to get crazy around here.  The noise level alone is going to be nuts.  And though the title is sleepover, I have my doubts that there will be much of that.

Shannie asked me today at church if I was ready.  And I honestly wasn’t sure how to answer.  How does one prepare themselves for an 8 year olds birthday party where the guests won’t be leaving until the next morning?  I feel that I have done all that I can, but yet I know that no matter how prepared and how calm I am trying to be, it’s going to be utter chaos.  I know I should be napping…..I tried to do some napping but Number 2, the boy, has a cold and was snoring.  A snoring that no amount of pillows over your own head could drown out and putting them over the head of a stuffy child probably isn’t a good thing to do either.  So I have come down here, by myself, to enjoy the calm.

Its like driving the kid to school in the morning.  That’s usually Brandon’s job, but once in a while he has to be at the hospital at 7 and that’s just too early to be trying to drop the kid off.  That or he’s just really tired from being the only one who goes to work in our house and I let him sleep.  Anyway, occasionally, its me that takes Mattie and though I act like it’s a bit of a chore – I will admit, I don’t mind so much.  This week, I have taken her every day.  We chat on the way there, about her day ahead, about her friends, a lot about her birthday, about what it was like growing up in the ’80’s when I was having birthdays….the iportnatn stuff.  I get some one on one time with my girl and I get to quietly drink my coffee as I drive.  It’s really pretty nice.  I also get her while she’s still happy and fresh, which with Mattie is a very short window.  All too often, the most Mattie I get is the one that has kept it together all day at school and then as soon as she gets in the car with us, one wrong move and Reese or I get the whole day poured out upon us.  She is tired, cranky and hungry.  So I greatly savor these snippets of early morning, chipper and loving Mattie.  The calm before the storm.

We have been listening to Taylor Swift in the car, often on these school trips.  Mattie got her new “Red” album for Christmas and its been  in the cd player for about 2 weeks now.  I have to say, this ones pretty good Taylor.  After I had already dropped Mattie off and was taking the long way home to enjoy what little alone time I have, I found myself turning the volume up ridiculously loud in my family mobile and singing my heart out to, “Trouble”.  It didn’t take me long at all to go back in time and get a firm hold on my young woman angst at having been scorned by a boy.  That Taylor Swift pretty much summed up my young love in that album.  I guess that time in my life was the storm before the calm.

Anyway, all that to say that I enjoy those quiet moments, that little time alone before the world has had a chance to throw one at you.  Not necessarily a bad thing, but still a handful, a challenge – and I imagine this evening will be a bit of a challenge.

In other challenge news lately.  I have two children with birthdays in January.  And that means there have been two birthday celebrations being constructed in my head, details I’ve tried to orchestrate and also keep up with these two and that one other kid that I’m supposed to be caring for on a daily basis.  I thought I was doing pretty good.  That is until the invitations that I had ordered for Lila’s shindig arrived this week.  I was looking over them again and giving myself a pretty hearty pat on the back for how sweet they had turned out.  I can handle this back to back birthday thing right on the heels of the holiday season. No big deal.

A few hours later, while talking to Brandon about the hopeful possibility of his 49ers going to the Super Bowl on Sunday the 3rd, I felt a sudden panic.  I rushed to the dining room where my dainty little invites were and read with great sorrow that I had printed her party to be on Sunday, February the 2nd.  There is no Sunday February the 2nd this year.  Seems as though I may have been looking at last years calendar while filling out the text for her party information. So now I have these darling invitations all printed and fancy, with the wrong date.  It serves me right for thinking I had this and a reminder once again that rarely does anything I do go as planned.  I will try my best to write over the date without making it look too terrible, but I am hoping that upon receiving the marred invites, people will just shake their heads and say, “Bless her heart, she does have three little ones. At least she tried.” And tried I did.

So we shall see how these evening goes.  Hopefully, Mattie will feel loved and celebrated and we won’t embarrass her…..to  much.  I have tried to prepare her that sometimes our parties don’t go as we have been envisioning them and that’s okay.  Sometimes our guests don’t want to have the dance party that we were looking forward to, but would rather spend play hide and seek.  Just enjoy it Mattie and go with it.  Target didn’t have the little flashlights in the dollar section anymore and her world crumbled just a little bit.  I tried to reassure her that no one else even knew that she wanted to give out little flashlights as her party favors, so it was okay.  One of the last parties she was at didn’t even have party favors and she didn’t even notice….I don’t think her guests will miss tiny flashlights.

I have also been asked to sleep on the couch…..just in case.  I am not invited into the “Annex” (our bonus room) to be a party of the sleepover.  However, I have been informed that just in case they need me, Mattie wants me to be close by.  I understand her point and am actually pretty glad that she came up with it.  I know I would be worried that one of the little girls was having a hard time being away from home in a strange house that didn’t have their mom or dad or grandparent or something in it, and I would be worried that they were afraid to walk up the stairs and come get me.  Then they would go home and cry to their parents that it was the worst night ever and to please never, ever make them go to the Baughman’s house again.  So I will spend my night, here on my couch waiting to be needed and hoping I am not.

It seems as though I spend a lot of time here on this couch waiting.

After I take my nap tomorrow, I will try my best to get back here and tell you all about our adventure.  But then again, I’m not promising anything because we have no idea what lies ahead of us.

Job Well Done and There Goes The Internet

So, I’ve had all sorts of little things going on, little thoughts here and there.  Things that I have wanted to share, but wouldn’t you know it….the internet has been out.  It happened on Monday, Reese was having a great time watching his YouTube videos and I noticed the Comcast Cable guy hanging out next door.  About the time he left, so did our internet.  We had our own Comcast guy come for a visit yesterday.  It’s incredible how such a little thing like the internet can have such a big role in our everyday lives.  I had a list a mile long of things to do yesterday and Monday and all of them involved using the internet in some way or another.  Instead, I played games and made cheesecake with the kids.  I got my laundry all done and put away, but I draw the line at ironing.

Now onto the thoughts and musings that I have had to keep to myself lately.  Mattie’s done a little growing lately.  Her pants seem to be getting just a wee bit short and I take my parental duties of keeping her looking undorky very seriously.  How she acts is all up to her, but how she looks, well for now, it’s all on me.  So I ordered her some new uniform pants and they arrived this last week.  We were both super excited because for some reason, getting things in the mail, even if they are just khaki pants gets us really pumped around here.  Mattie immediately put on her new pants to do a little fashion show and instead, we both let out a little disappointed sigh.  I’m not really sure who decides there should be a 4 inch length difference between sizes.  I know kids grow, but that seems a pretty big jump doesn’t it? So now, we are stuck in khaki pant limbo.  The old ones are a bit too short and the new ones are way too long.  What’s a girl to do?  Well, I was talking to Mumsey about this little pickle and she jokingly suggested that she could sew on a little ruffle around the hem to give them a touch more length.  I know she was joking, but I think she could be on to something here!  We could call them 2nd Semester Pants, because at Christmas, kids have grown but not quite enough to move to the next size up.  Maybe the ruffle could even be detachable so you could add them as needed.  I’m really considering exploring this…..especially since there’s nothing anywhere in the school handbook about such a thing.

I made a huge discovery last week while searching for toilet paper in the guest bathroom downstairs.  For a few weeks now, I have been saying to Brandon that something looked like it was missing from our mantle.  He said that it looked fine and looked just as it had before Christmas, I was probably just used to it being all gussied up with the Christmas decorations.  But I wasn’t convinced.  So I was thrilled when I found a little nest of candlesticks and their candles hanging out under the sink.  I’m not really sure why I chose that location to store my home decor, but at least I found them and life seems good again.

And other huge news in our family from last week, we accomplished something that I really didn’t believe we would ever do.  Friday afternoon was awards assembly and usually that doesn’t mean anything for us.  But this time, oh this time was different!  When my baby girl came strutting out to the car, she had the biggest grin on her face.  Before she made it to the car, she pulled her Attendance AWard out from behind her back and waved it like a victory flag.  I have to tell you, I flew out of that car and swept her up so fast!  There was twirling and kissing and hugging and this proud mama took her girl (and the other two, too) to Muddy’s Cupcakes for some celebration. As a little girl, I wasn’t on time to things….no, I was early.  I used to live next door to my school and I used to sit at the kitchen table and watch out the window for my teacher to drive by and then I would head on over to school.  Before that, I would go and sit outside of the school and wait, but I think they were uncomfortable with that.  I was never late to anything!  Punctuality stayed with me pretty well until I got married.  I’m not going to get into that because Brandon can’t really defend himself here, though honestly, I don’t think he would argue with me. But after kids one and two came along, well, time management just went out the window.  And since Lila arrived, we are just lucky to get there.

So back to Mattie’s attendance.  This has been a sore subject in our house because it is my job to get her up and dressed, fed and hair tamed.  I have it down.  We have a routine and every morning when I am tempted to push snooze one more time on my alarm, I remind myself that this isn’t about me, but Mini and she can’t be responsible for herself. So I get up and just hope that we can get her off without waking up the others and maybe I can crawl back into bed for another half hour.  I feel like I do my part and when I am done, she is still on time.  But something happens between me saying good-bye and to be a little light, and her actual arrival to school.  There may have even been a few times when we had to sign a paper acknowledging that she had acquired a particularly large amount of tardies and there were even fees involved.  These occasions are not happy spots in our family memories.  And each awards assembly when she would come home with her head hanging because she hadn’t received anything, my heart just broke.  But this time, we did it.  We were like a family NASCAR crew – Mattie as our driver, our Jimmie Johnson.  The face of our team.  I am the crew chief, orchestrating our moves to get us where we need to be, laying out clothes and figuring out the perfect wake up time.  And Brandon is our muscle, our crew, the one actually getting her there.  It was definitely a family victory and that attendance certificate is gonna get a nice big frame and its own place on the wall where we can all sit back and admire it.  It has Mattie’s name on it, but I wonder if the powers that be wouldn’t consider putting B and I on there, too.

And another little bit of fun, its been a while since Lila was weighed.  She hasn’t been to the doctor since her 9 month appointment and I have been curious how she’s doing weight-wise.  I’m also always curious about how she compares to Mattie, size-wise.  Those little girls have been within ounces of each other every time I “measure” them.  When Mattie was really little, I would weigh her at the grocery store, on those little produce scales and once, the deli lady weighed her on their scales.  She laid down a piece of paper and everything for Mattie to sit on and we had a laugh that she weighed less than several of the cuts of meat.  I asked about doing that with Lila while getting cheese the other day and the deli person looked at me in such a way that I thought it best to just laugh and act like I was completely kidding.  And after that, I was afraid they might see me in the produce section weighing her and think I had been serious (which I had been, but now felt ashamed of) so the grocery store was completely off-limits.

Instead, I weighed her at the post office.  I don’t know how accurate it really was though since she was wearing a fleecy suit and a very wet diaper, but a rough estimate is better than nothing.  Fifteen pounds and ten ounces all dressed and with a soggy seat.  She’s a real chunk isn’t she?

I have more thoughts but the computer is about to die.  More tomorrow I promise!

Names

When I taught Mattie how to prepare coffee and handed that job over to her, I guess I forgot to mention to her that it would also be her job to get the coffee……or at least let one of us that can drive know that we are out so that someone can get more.  I really missed my coffee this morning, especially since it was raining.  Rainy, cold mornings just feel better with a warm cup of cozy.  That, and without the little kick of caffeine and with the extra dreariness, I was slowwwwww movin’.  A funny story in all this, we stopped by Starbucks on the way home from picking up Mattie from school.  When I got up to the drive thru window, the Barista guy looked at me and made this weird winky, double gun finger gesture thing to me.  I gave him an odd look and rather hesitantly, half-heartedly did it back.  He then gave me a big smile and said, “Weren’t you here earlier?” And to that, I just shook my head and said no.  So to you Starbucks Man who thought he made a love connection with a patron earlier today, I am so sorry that I was not her coming back through your drive-thru.  I am pretty sure though that whether you know it or not, you are thanking your lucky stars that I am not her, because there were 3 carseats in the back of my car holding a whole lot of crazy that you probably wouldn’t want to be a part of.  And my husband probably wouldn’t make your life very happy either, I don’t imagine.  I hope his lady comes back tomorrow. And I hope Brandon brings home more coffee for Mattie tonight.

So names……I love names.  I like to see how people spell them, I like to hear the funny ones.  I like to hear the stories behind how people picked names for their own children and how they got their own.  Since I was a little girl, I have always liked reading the names in credits of tv shows and movies.  I love names. One of my favorite people is expecting a baby.  I am so excited about this and the other day it just occurred to me that they would be picking out a little name.  It looks as though a name is all set it place and I am walking around my house getting used to saying it, which I can’t do without a big smile on my face.

I love the stories behind names, I am named after a street in Orlando.  Nothing significant about this particular street, my mom just saw the street sign when she was pregnant with me and thought it was pretty.  She also had a feeling that she was having a little girl and so it was decided that should I indeed be a girl, I would be named Kaylee.  I really don’t know where the Elizabeth came from, except that it was a pretty name.  My brother got his name from a John Denver song, the Matthew part.  Again, I really don’t know anything about the middle name Todd.  Mattie is named after my brother.  I remember telling him before I was even married that I was going to name my frist child after him.  He thought I was ridiculous, but now that he’s gone, I am so grateful that I didn’t listen to him.  I’m also thankful that he knew I did, too.  And Belle, well it was just very pretty.

I love how babies down here in the south often get named after their mother’s maiden names.  Reese is one of those babies.  And he carries his daddy’s middle name, too.  I hope that if he has his own little boy, he will carry on the same tradition and give it his wife’s maiden name and the middle name Christian.  And Lila, she’s named after a character in my favorite tv show.  She also has my middle name.  And being a southern girl, she often gets called Lila Beth, especially by her Poppy.

But even more than names, I am fascinated by the names that people go by.  My mom was named Constance, a very stately name.  But I don’t know that she has ever been called that seriously.  And after giving their first child such a proper and let’s face it, stiff name that she didn’t go by, my grandparents named my uncle Tommy.  Not Tom, not Thomas, just Tommy.  They named him what they were going to call him and they planned to call him Tommy.  My bestie, Steph has a little girl whose birth certificate says, Monroe, but very early in life she became Rosie and that’s how she introduces herself now.  She has a little sister who also has a very pretty, M name on her birth certificate but since the day she was born, she was christened KiKi and its been that ever since.  Fact is, if you were to ask me about McKinley Murrill, I don’t think I would know who you were talking about.

It’s funny how when picking a name for a child or even a pet, you want something that sounds pretty or cool or whatever, but after a while that name gets changed, modified and  takes on a whole new sound either because of the person who it is attached to or because it has actually been changed a little to accommodate them.  I have two people in my life who share the same name.  One of those people is that person who’s expecting the baby that I mentioned earlier on.  The other person is someone who is in my life, but attached to a lot of pain and hurt.  Even though they share a name, it sounds completely different to me when I am talking about each of them.  Weird how that works.  And Lila’s name, it got converted into “Little”  or “Lil” pretty quick.  I think, especially to her siblings, she will always be “Lil”.  Mattie is Sissy, Reese will be Reesie even when he is a strapping young man who could pick his mama up and carry her around, and since Lila is the baby, she will always be our Little.  Even the name “Mom”, so many of us have it, but it’s still uniquely our own.  I think whenever any woman who is someone’s mom see’s a t-shirt with the words, “Mommy’s little something or other” printed on it, we feel like it has been personalized.  “That shirt has my name on it” we think to ourselves.  Even though I am called Mom and can seconds later call out to my own mom, the name sounds unique each time.  Just like how in a crowded store when a little voice calls out ,”Mama?” , there is usually only one voice that replies back to it.  Maybe it’s not so much that the names we hold are so dear, but instead it’s the ones who call us by those names.  The ones who have given us these monikers.  My mom and dad named me Kaylee, my brother named me Kay Kay, my closest people call me Kay and my babies call me “Mama”.