teething.

pratt's friends.

before we left maumelle, clint loved getting to play poker with some of his buddies on wednesday night.

something must have been in the water many months ago...because 3 of the poker wives were pregnant. me and clint. natalie and derek. and hillary and kevin.

so fast forward something like....11 months....

here is pratt with his two new friends.

me and pratt (nearly 4 months); natalie and cayman (2 months and a few days) and hillary and petyon (7 months).

bring the rain.

i have seen the "bring the rain" button many times. and i've clicked on it. read a few things. cried. promised i'd come back to it.

but i've been busy.

until today.

today i clicked and had time to read. for a solid 2 hours. pratt slept for a solid 2 hour nap. i love those naps. he's so refreshed afterwards.

i got to april. april of 2008. and i'm crippled and can't move on. can't keep until i share this.

many of you have read the story of audrey caroline, i'm sure.

but i hadn't. and so this for all those like me...who hadn't heard of her.

i'm sharing it because my best friend emily emailed me this morning. discussing this. and she made a statement. about how blogs are supposed to make us better mommies.

and so i'm trying to pass that on.

click on the rainboots. upper right corner. click on it. and see where she has allowed you to click on the tab to start from the beginning.

and get a box of tissues. because if you haven't needed them by april (which is highly unlikely)....you'll need them then.

what an amazing woman. mother. Christian.

a real life Christian. someone i wish i knew.

you will want to meet her too.

be blessed.

just a swangin'...

that's a country song for all you city folk...






sorry about how dark this video is. i took it in pratt's nursery last night. it was late and i was trying to get him to sleep. (this is how he gets right before i want him to sleep) so i had only one lamp on. it didn't seem this dark when i did it.

it's so funny though...so i had to post it. he reads our facial expressions frighteningly well. it worries me and makes me feel like i should "put on a happy face" throughout the entire day. this being a parent thing is getting harder and harder :)

and i'm pretty sure at 50 seconds, he mimics me. like word for word. i'm not saying he's a genius or anything...you decide.

just kidding...well, sort of.

some very special friends.

i have been blessed with some of the best teachers. school teachers, more specifically.

dr. trey berry. i'll never be able to call him "trey". even though he has asked me to. i just can't do it. something about how he'll always be "dr. berry" to me.

he was a history professor at ouachita. and THE reason i was a history minor. i didn't really need the minor. i just knew that by graduation, i would have so many hours from taking his classes. i think i took everything the man taught during my four years.

his wife kathy was the first person i spoke to at ouachita. i wasn't supposed to be a tiger. i was supposed to go to the university of alabama. i was enrolled there....had classes...had a roommate. but i went for a visit, about a month before school started. and i hated it. it was not me. AT ALL.

for reasons i'm sure of now (ie. my husband and my dearest friends), God led me to ouachita.

my parents didn't think it would be a good idea. it was either fayetteville or out of state for me...as far as they were concerned.

so i drove to a pay phone. at a gas station. in fairview. dropped money in and called 1.800.dial.obu.

and kathy berry answered. she sent me a packet on ouachita. and when my mom took me up to tour the campus that next week, she was the person to show me around.

they had a son several years ago. and they've recently adopted a little girl from china. their story is incredible. it can't help but be. they are two of the most incredible people i know.

so say a prayer for them. and visit their link. it's the last link on my list of friends.

enjoy. and may God bless you all.

thoughts this am.

1. pratt is a total morning person. i don't know who he gets this from. it must be me because his dad is so not a morning person. i don't think of myself as one...but i guess i am moreso than clint. pratt wakes and as soon as he sees your face, he grins his big grin where his eyes close. it's pretty great.

2. i spooked myself last night watching "the first 48". i love true crime shows. always have. when i was a kid, i'd get on the couch, get snacks and a coke on the coffee table within my reach, wrap a blanket around myself (think...snug as a bug in a rug)...all in preparation for "unsolved mysteries". i would watch and be so scared. my parents house has a gazillion windows in the front. with no curtains. and for the longest time, no blinds. and i'd lay there and watch that...scared of who was looking in on me. but i kept doing it...every single week.

anyway, last night i watched an episode that took place in memphis. i lived in memphis for 2 years...or 1.5. something like that. i was always scared there. clint made me that way. i remember we thought mud island was safe...and then clint's best friend had his car stolen right in front of him one night.

4 adults and 2 kids were murdered in one house. and 3 other kids were in the hospital from their injuries that night. i love the show. i love the narrator. i wish he'd narrate my life. like in that will ferrell movie. "stranger than fiction". the guy has a really deep voice.

i was terrified the entire time i was watching it. clint was asleep...and i just layed there. looking out our bedroom door. cutting my eyes that way. i'm nuts.

anyway, turns out it was the brother of the murdered guy who killed everyone. one of the females detectives spoke to the 9 year old son while he was in le bonheur. he finally was able to talk. and when she asked him who stabbed him, he said, "junior". i gasped. junior was in protective custody with the rest of the family. because the detectives/cops thought that what was taking place was a "blackout". that's when a member of the gang does something that deserves punishment...and what ends up happening is that the entire family is wiped out.

junior admits to what he's done. he was a young black guy. 33. he had just been released from prison for murder. he'd been in there 14 years. nearly half of his life. and he was about to be going back.

he tells the detective...."i wanna see my momma." that's when i started crying. he was so soft spoken about it.

they bring his mom in. she's sitting on the opposite side of the table as him. they are holding hands. and he tells her that he's killed her other son, and her grandkids. and she keeps looking at him. grasping his hands. he apologizes to her. she starts crying. but never lets go of his hands.

at that point, i went and got pratt out of his bed and brought him to our bed. neither of us slept. neither of us were comfortable. he wanted to be in his bed, i'm sure...but i couldn't let him sleep alone.

what happens for our kids to kill their own family? what happens to them to kill anyone? what goes wrong? society? family? what? another thing that i couldn't get over was his race. he was a young black man. and family is so important to them. not that it's not important to me, being white. but family was so much of what black people had for such a long time. you held onto that. what happens for you to turn against them?

i felt sorry for the guy. but more than that, my heart broke for his mom. a mom who was now losing two sons. a daughter in law. and 3 grandchildren.

and on a much lighter note...

3. it only takes me 3 wipes to clean a dirty diaper. this is amazing people. in the beginning it took me...oh, i'd say 10. maybe 12. i'm down to 3 good ones...and then a 4th just to check. you know, that's the one i look at. to make sure he's good and clean. you know you all look at the toilet paper...don't even try to lie.

4. i had a dream last night that bob harper from the biggest loser showed up at my front door. this is weird. not because i don't love him....but because if i could chose, i'd pick jillian. i love how she says, "i don't care about your family, about your kids...about your jobs. the only think i care about is getting your butt smaller!". but she doesn't say "butt". bob brought me socks in my dream. and said he was going to take me to get new tennis shoes. this was exciting to me. i complimented him on his all-stars.

and finally...most importantly...

5. the razorbacks beat texas last night. basketball. i couldn't watch the entire game. once fortson and washington were taken out for fouls, i stopped watching. i'm a nervous wreck with sporting events. i mean, remember that time agassi won the french open. and as he fell to the ground...that clay court...i did too. i fell to the carpet and puked. yes, puked. i was a nervous wreck that entire match. so i came in on the razorback game with about 2 minutes left. it was great. a wonderful game. go hogs!

look ma, no hands!

so pratt hasn't really gotten the hang of the johnny jump-er-roo. or whatever it's called. i think there was a "johnny" in it somewhere...and he jumps in it too. so that's what i've been calling it. i'm pretty sure that's close to the true name.

anyway, he loves it. i will have to post the video of him in it. he's really gotten the hang of it. he will stand in it forever...just bouncing away. talking as fast as he bounces. it now makes sense that they put grip on the bottom of baby socks. i didn't get it...but now i do.

there's only one thing. he doesn't really know what to do with his hands. when we first sit him in it, he'll play with the horse. the toys around the horses head. but then after about five minutes, his hands disappear.

i hadn't really payed attention to where they were going until today...

and how cute are those chubby, chubby legs!? i love it!