Thankful Thursday - Many Blessings

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." - Psalm 145:7 (NIV)

So I have decided to start a new tradition. I don't know if it will stick, but for now meet thankful thursdays. My husband and I have been in and out of churches searching for the right one for the past several months , and have made a new commitment to ourselves and to our family to pray together every night, and to be thankful for the blessings in our life. Don't get me wrong, to all you new readers out there, I am not perfect. Far from it. I cuss (way too frequently). I get mad. I yell. and I'm not nice sometimes. But I'm trying to be better. I'm trying to be thankful. I really do have so many blessings and sometimes I just feel defeated. I think it will help me to hold my head high if I recognize some of the things in my life I have to be thankful for.

This past week, I think I have cried myself to sleep about 3 times, maybe more. I simply am not where I hoped to be in life. I had so much going for me when I left high school, and so much ahead of me. All (Not all, but a lot of) the things I said I would never do, I did. All the things I said I would do, I didn't. Right now, I "should've been" a college graduate heading off to graduate school, getting prepared to be married and working on the beginnings of a fabulous career. None of this is true.

I am at least two years from college graduation, and I left my dream school to move back home. Oh yeah, thankful thursday. All of my "dreams" did not come true. But instead, God has blessed me with a new - but definetely different - set of dreams for my life, and many of those new dreams have been fulfilled.

I have a wonderful husband that I never dreamed of having, and he is truly my best friend and such a wonder to have in my life.

I have a beautiful baby girl that is full of happiness and wonder.

I have a gorgeous brand new house. I have an exceptional family. I have my Dad back, and his wife and her daughter. It is so great to really be able to spend time with him again. I have so many blessings that it is really unfair to think otherwise, or to worry about the judgement that people pass on me because I didn't do everything I was capable of.

I look at my life some days and think that I am a failure. I didn't graduate summa cum laude from the U of A. I am not a Razorback alumni as I always dreamed of being. I didn't go to medical school, and I probably won't cure cancer. I didn't do things the "accepted way" but I did them my way.  I'm not sure I could've made through the loss of my grandpa if I didn't know that I had Ryanne on the way. My daughter goes to daycare, and I have no control over it. God knows best. I sometimes wonder where I would be at if I hadn't made some of the choices I did, but then I think that I wouldn't have my sweet daughter or my wonderful hubby. WHEN I do graduate college, it will be so much more rewarding because I did it despite the trials I faced along the way. Victory will be mine.

Please don't judge me, I'm a perfectionist. Hahaha!

Growing Up

It is abosuletly amazing how fast children grow. I never belived anyone when they told me how fast time flies until I experienced it myself. She just grows so fast and learns even faster. Thankfully we have a wonderful photographer to capture the moments we will never get back. Amanda Harris of Sweet Pea Photography takes phenomenal children's pictures.

Here are a few from Ry's latest shoot:

I'm a hair addict!

I am addicted to my hair. Really addicted. I love sitting in a salon having the stylist run her fingers through my hair. I would pay money daily to have them wash and dry my hair. Who wouldn't? The only problem is I don't have that kind of time on my hands. Actually, I'm pretty sure the last time I got my hair done was in early March. GASP!

I'm a religious every 6 week-er. Sometimes more frequently. When I was younger, I had gorgeous strawberry blonde hair that matched my freckles and blue eyes perfectly. Then I decided it wasn't quite blonde enough for me. Stupid Leah. Sometimes I wish I could go right back to the beautiful glistening strawberry blonde, but those of you who take part in the coloring world know that once you've gone, there's no going back. (Ry will not be able to color her hair until she's 23. The end).

Today was my hair day. When I was 39 weeks pregnant with Ry, I chopped my hair all of. Short. Major short. Now I wish it would grow back. Moral to the preggos out there - don't cut your hair when you're pregnant. It won't be easier to care for - I PROMISE. Oh yeah, I digress, hair day. I got my hair colored today for the first time in months. I was starting to look like the reverse version of a skunk. Black in the middle and blonde on the outside. Ugly does not even describe it. Well, new hair - hello. Thanks for joining me.

I feel so much better now. Refreshed definetely. Salon days make life wonderful. The only thing better is movie day curled up on the couch cuddling. And the victory at the end of labor. Okay, there are several things better, but it was wonderful!!!

Must. Blog. Better.

I will blog better. I will blog better. I will blog better.

I started this blog as a way to document our journey as a family. I wanted to be able to share the fun loving tales of a young family as our daughter (and hopefully our children to come) grow and learn and explore. Only problem is, in order to do that, I actually have to write it all down. Don't get me wrong I love blogging. I love the concept. I love being able to spill my heart onto these um pages? and know that it will always be here for me to come back and read. When Ry is 13 and in her "I hate my mom" stage I can read about how she used to cuddle with me and perhaps it will save me from beating my child or locking her in a closet [Only kidding].

Sometimes it is hard to leave this sweet little adorable face to go sit at the computer, though.

The computer doesn't grin back, or crawl all over you, or say Mommy in a sweet adorable voice as it leaps into your arms in the morning. But the computer doesn't spill diarrhea all over your new white pants, or vomit on your new shoes either. I love my sweet Ry, but I want to be able to remember our journey and all the little details - which considering I have problems remembering my name sometimes - needs to be written down.

So, here I go. I'm writing. This is my commitment. I'm going to try my very absolute hardest to post everyday until Ry's first birthday. We'll see. Ready. Set. Go.

Our Love Story

I was the epitome of super nerds in high school. 4.0+ GPA, editor of the school paper, secretary of National Honor Society, Mathlete (yes you read that right), perfect score on the ACT, and so on. BUT - with a twist. I was a farm girl. And that is where the love story begins.

For a super nerd, I was quite cute:

Check out those muscles! Farm girl, remember? My now husband, then unrecognized classmate, was also a farm child. We had been acquaintances for years, and nothing more than that. However, in AP environmental science apparently I sparked his interest. I really had little idea he even existed other than this giant dweeb that insisted on talking about things he didn't understand to try and get some attention.

During high school, I worked part time at a local bank. Cowboy used this knowledge against me. He sent me flowers weekly, and came by even more often just hoping that he would manipulate or convince me into going on a date with him. After weeks of this, and some skillful encouragement from one of my coworkers, I agreed to oblige him. I thought if I finally went out with him he would leave me alone. Damn - was this getting annoying. I had bigger fish to fry, and no interest in this wannabe smarty pants. Some love story right? I promise the love is coming.

We went over to his house where I met his parents (more about that later). My judgment had been proved wrong. So wrong. He was the sweetest, most genuine, honest, chivalrous man. He opened the doors for me. He took a genuine interest in me. He was so perfectly sweet. And he loved that I could chunk hay bales around with the best of them. (Thanks, Poppa!)

I went to bed that night thanking God that he had shown me someone who I just knew was going to make a difference in my life. I still to this day thank him for giving me Cowboy. We continued dating, days to turned into weeks, and weeks into months, and before we knew it we were graduating high school. We went our separate ways - I to Fayetteville, he to Arkadelphia. It didn't last long. The separation made us both realize how much we loved each other and the time we spent together. Did I mention that this boy asked me if he could hold my hand before he ever did? [insert adoring "awes" here] In December, he moved to Fayetteville to be with me.

At this point he had probably joked about proposal about 3,271 times. Seriously. He had really asked me to marry him twice. I suppose the third time is a charm. Don't get me wrong, I had never told him no - just to wait. To be patient. This is not his virtue. We were married in April of 2008,

and got pregnant in October. 

Ryanne was born in July of 2009 - and she is perfect in every way. 

Okay, so I gave you a more condensed version as I got closer to the end, but I'll share more details later. Long story short - I have the most amazing husband on the planet. You should be jealous. God has blessed us both by letting us be married to our best friends, and also by giving us a wonderful, happy, healthy daughter that shares happiness that words cannot explain.

10 Months Old

Can you believe it? She is ten months old {actually 10 months and 6 days because I'm a bum}. This time last year I was having maternity pictures made. Now, I'm having Ryanne's pictures made for her first birthday party invitations.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Isn't she the cutest kid ever? Okay, so she's mine and I'm supposed to say that - but really.

I threw a wedding shower at my newly constructed, barely lived in house today and let me tell you what - it was an experience. I busted my butt getting everything ready and making sure that I had enough food and seating to accommodate the 30 people on the guest list who didn't send their "regrets only" only to host a crowd of 6. Disappointing.

On a brighter note, I have been really prepping rattle-box's birthday. Today's shower gave me insight into some planning aspects I definitely need to cover before the big 1! Maybe, just maybe, if mother nature likes me the sod we diligently planted and religiously water will turn into grass before the big day. Otherwise, the mud pit that is our yard covered by a quickly melting icing of sod will be quite messy. Yikes - I don't even want to think about it.

If anyone has any great first birthday ideas, suggestions, or horrors - I would love to hear them so I know what's a must and what's a must - NOT!

Finals are Over!

Thank the Lord finals are over (almost). I have one more to take, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I just don't hope its like this:

I've been spending my time looking at first birthday party invitations. As you know, Ryanne turned 10 months old yesterday ( I know - INSANE!) so in two short months, I will no longer have a baby . . . but a one year old. I digress. Birthday party invitations . . . .

For those of you who know me - this is my FAVORITE. I mean - orange and pink - does it get any better than that? Not really. Since they are my favorite colors, they WILL be Ry's favorite too, right?

Let me know what you think!