russell love

Pretty obsessed

2012-01-26T21:03:00.001-06:00

i think he looks like elmer fudd.

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Checking In

2012-01-23T17:15:00.001-06:00

Just checking in to say sorry about the lack of posts. But these days I've got to time when I can run to the potty! So that leaves little time for blogging. Sorry, if anyone other than my friend Richard reads this blog and missed me. Well Wynn was 6 weeks old yesterday. He is so cuddly and sweet. Not sure what his stats are but at his 2 week checkup he was 7 lbs 15 oz- he came home from the hospital at 6 lbs 3 oz, I believe, so the doctor said that was a "ton" to gain. Ha! I'm guessing he is well over 9 by now... Little man is on a pretty nice 3 hour feeding schedule. He is also going up to 6 hours most nights without a feeding, and one night recently he went from 10 till 6:30 without eating, and slept from 12-6:30. He has started to be fussy some so I am trying to watch what I eat so his tummy doesn't get upset. The girls are still doing great with him. They both love him and are sweet to him. They are also beginning to play well together, which is so special to see.Alex is amazing. He helps so much and, best of all, he is patient and understanding with me when I have my crazy lady moments. He turned 28 yesterday. He was content to celebrate by sleeping in, family trip running errands, football, and dinner at Toyama with his best gal. Which means we left all 3 with a sitter for the first time. But we didn't go far and we were gone just over an hour. The sitter was great with them and there were no problems!So that's what's up! Xoxo

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Wynn Alexander

2011-12-15T11:29:00.003-06:00

i cannot believe we have a SON! i must admit while i was pregnant i could not imagine having a boy. and i could not imagine how i would feel toward a baby boy. something about it was just odd to me. i knew it was easy to just gobble up a little girl because girls are thought of as dainty and vulnerable and all of that. boys are supposed to be tough and rough. but not babies. so how would it work?

well omg. now i don't have to imagine it anymore. this baby boy is so precious and vulnerable and little and helpless. and we just love him so much. i always get sad thinking of my babies growing up, but man oh man, i SERIOUSLY don't want this little boy to grow up. i want him to stay a newborn forever. his poor future girlfriends... i'm going to have to work on sharing him. i cannot be that crazy mom that turns him into a mama's boy... well maybe just a little. i have a while until all of that will happen. for now we are just soaking him up in all his preciousness.

the girls are truly in love as well. Farrah asks "where's Wynn?" as soon as she enters the room. and is oh so protective. telling everyone, including Alex and her Poc, that he is "fragile" and to be careful not to break him. i'm going to write a post later about all the sweet, funny things Farrah has had to say about it. she also tells P "not too much pressure, Pearl!" when she hugs on him. Pearl loves "baby brother" and when he is crying she will find him a paci and toss it to him (thinks he can put it in his mouth himself) and when i am changing his diaper she drags over one of her chairs so she can step up and watch. i have to admit i am so happy and my heart is so full with the way these 2 big sisters are receiving their little brother.

i'll have to share my birth story at a later date. it was insane. the pain. wow. thought i had died. seriously. my friend who was at Pearl's birth, Samantha, was there. she was SO great and helpful! as was Alex. He has wounds on his hands from where i clawed him to death. but he never complained.

Wynn Alexander Russell. Born December 11, 2011 at 7:22am. 6 lbs, 5 oz. 19 1/8 inches. With white blonde hair! We all thought he looked mostly like Pearl at birth, but he is changing every day.

santa claus

2011-12-05T12:43:00.001-06:00

the entire way to the mall Pearl talked about seeing santa. when we asked her if she wanted to see santa claus and sit in his lap she would enthusiastically nod her head and say, "uh huh!" psht. once we got there it was a no go for little p. honestly, he looked good (real beard and all) but he seemed like he might have stayed up too late partying at an elves corporate party or something the night before. he did not ho ho ho or even wish a merry Christmas.... oh well. farrah whispered to him what she wanted. which cracked alex up because she is normally so loud.

maybe next year pearl will want to sit with santa! and maybe he will be a bit jollier.

happy birthday, Pearl!

2011-12-04T15:17:00.001-06:00

pearl turned 2 yesterday. i feel guilty because she hasn't had a real birthday party last year or this year. 2nd child. but she doesn't know the difference. next year i PROMISE to give her a cool party.

we did go to the ymca while "professional" cleaners came in to detail clean the house. i put that in quotations for sarcastic reasons... i was thoroughly dissapointed in their cleaning job. pretty sure it's the same as when i, alone, take 2 hours to clean my house. and there were 2 of them. and it was supposed to be detailed. they didn't even wipe off the top of the fridge... sorry, had to vent about this! it was a gift from my parents to have the house cleaned really well before the little man gets here. but don't worry, i spoke with the owner of the franchise and they are coming back tomorrow to fix what they did not do.

so anyway. after the ymca we met alex, who had to work in the morning, at chik-fil-a. ate, played, traded in our prize for some ice dream action. then we went and picked out our Christmas tree. came home and farrah and i baked cupcakes and a cake for pearl. then we played, ate pizza, sang happy birthday, ate cake, and decorated the tree.

i'd say it was a fun birthday for pearl girl. cannot believe she is 2! i think i would be way more sad if i didn't have another baby coming along. she is such a diva, but can be the cutest and sweetest thing ever. she can go from mad as a snake to sweet as a little lamb in .087 seconds. she LOVES to sing. her favorites right now are "twinkle twinkle" which she leads into "abc's"... rudolph the red nosed reindeer, the dinosaur song, dinosaur train, mickey mouse clubhouse, someone like you (by adele, yeah you read that right), and pretty much anything else she hears she tries to sing. both of my girls have always been chatters, but i think pearl's vocabulary is more developed than farrah's was at this age simply because she has farrah around to quote all the time. she says her abc's perfectly, and counts to 15 or further. she can also recognize some letters, like "R", and she knows most all of her shapes. we are still working on colors. she thinks everything farrah does is awesome. and farrah thinks pearl is hilarious, unless she is stealing her dinosaurs and being a "bad Christmas baby" as farrah says.

happy 2nd birthday, pearl! love you sooooooo much, chunk monk!

37 weeks- full term!

2011-12-01T11:44:00.001-06:00

okay, little guy... you can come at any time now. i am ready!

Thanksgiving 2011 and P's 2nd bday celebration

2011-11-28T09:29:00.001-06:00

We headed to Birmingham for Thanksgiving. Although it made my Memi a little nervous for me to be traveling this far along, the midwives felt fine with it. :) We had a great time.

My parents came the weekend before to visit some good friends here in Nashville. On Sunday they took the girls back with them. Alex and I got A LOT done while they were gone (and even got in dinner and a movie one night) and then headed to Birmingham Wednesday night. We all came home last night. It was hard for Farrah after spending an entire week with Shug and Poc. She got pretty weepy. :( I told her it was okay to cry, and to miss her grandparents. I told her I was the same way when I was little and had to leave Montgomery. She is such a sensitive, little thing. So sweet. We all assured her she would get to see Shug and Poc very soon when her little brother makes his debut.

Thursday was fun. Beau and Madeline were there, as well as Maw Maw- which was great because she has only seen Pearl once since she has been born. It's special to me that my girls have two great grandmothers. (Earlier in the week Shug took them to see Memi, which was also special for them.) After the delicious Thanksgiving dinner we had a little celebration for Pearl's 2nd birthday, which is on the 3rd. Then later on we all decorated the Burdick family Christmas tree.

Fall Photos 2011

2011-11-28T08:43:00.001-06:00

I have been so busy with photo shoots I have not been taking many photos of my sweet girls, except on my phone. But I had to do something for Christmas cards. I love the way these turned out. Enjoy!

Mothers Day Out Thanksgiving Potluck

2011-11-17T13:54:00.001-06:00

We just finished a yummy lunch at MDO. This is what Farrah is thankful for:

This is what I am thankful for:

And this:

And my dear husband:

And our health. And our home. And our jobs. And our friends and family. And DVR. :)

Happy week before Thanksgiving!

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glue

2011-11-11T15:43:00.001-06:00

weeeeeeeeeeell. when farrah was 2.5 and i was pregnant with pearl, she fell out of a stroller being pushed by another little girl on our back deck and had to get a few stitches on her forehead. here is the post about that.

so last night after getting farrah out of the tub and drying her off i wrapped a towel around her and instructed her to head into the den to get her pajamas on (where daddy was)... i hear a few thuds and a fall and a cry. alex starts scolding me for not drying her off, which i did, she was just running on the hardwood which we have asked her not to do. then i hear alex call my name and i knew something was a bit more wrong than just a little fall. i went out of the bathroom to blood on alex's shirt and farrah screaming crying. i took one look at her busted chin and knew she would probably need a few stitches or something.

so we headed to the ER. all 4 of us. last time farrah fell, i was hysterical. my friend who was with me had to calm me down. this time i was pretty calm and controlled. alex on the other hand... i thought i was going to have to slap him to get him to calm down. he was really upset about his little girl getting hurt.

at the ER we were taken right back, and there for less than an hour. she only needed glue, and she did so well. she only cried a little when the glue started to burn a bit. they gave both girls popsickles afterward. it couldn't have gone better.

so poor, sweet farrah now was 2 scars on her little head. :( this one shouldn't be noticeable as it is under her chin, though. kids are so resilient!

trick or treat

2011-11-04T09:46:00.001-05:00

this was the first year since living in nashville that we have stayed here to trick or treat. the girls had fun. they were dinosaurs, of course. although everyone thought they were dragons. farrah says she was a giganotosaurus and pearl was a cryolophosaurus.

at first pearl was NOT happy about putting her costume on. and having her sister rarrrrrr! loudly in her face.

once pearl realized she got to collect candy from the neighbors, she was fine. "let's go guys!"

after about 5 houses farrah was asking to go home. so we made it to about 10 houses. and it was a perfect amount. then the kids ate some candy and watched charlie brown!

fun night!

hope you had a sweet halloween! we are ready for thanksgiving!

Sweet babies

2011-10-31T15:08:00.001-05:00

Yesterday morning Alex fixed the kids breakfast and came back to bed to snuggle. Pearl soon followed, and she could not have been cuter. She laid on Alex's tummy and just rested for the longest time. Then she laid in between us, rubbing A's arm and then his face and beard. So sweeeeeet! After about half an hour of all of this she sat up and started pretending her Mickey Mouse doll was talking and singing, "it's Mickey mouse cub hoooooooouse! Come e-siiiiide!" We are kind of obsessed with this age. It's the cutest. I could eat her cheeks. Seriously. Then she got this excited look on her face and yelled, "ooooh! Daddy! Sssssssssnack! Snnnnnnack!" and pushed him out of bed. "let's go snack, daddy!"

This morning while Alex was in the shower Farrah tip toed into our room. I pulled the sheets back for her to join me. As she crawled into bed with me she said, "that's so nice of you to let me come in your bed." and snuggled up close to me.

I LOVE our sweet girls.

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Wearing me out

2011-10-25T17:52:00.001-05:00

Pearl makes Farrah look like an angel. I know it's the age. But still. F follows directions. P does about 25% of the time. Farrah might protest about "no" as my answer to something, but she will genuinely accept it as the final. Well toddlers don't. No to Pearl just means she has to pitch a fit.

No, you can't wait Einstein on my iPhone right now.

No, you can't take your spaghetti in the den to eat.

No, you can't have a 3rd pack o fruit snacks, Pearl.

No, I can't pull the car over to buy more pumpkins right now, Pearl. We are running late.

No, you can't jump on my belly like that...

You get the picture? And all of this causes a fit pitching session. I just walk away after explaining why the answer is no. Then she throws her juice cup and the motion alarm beeps in the house. Or she smacks the table and then cries harder because that hurt....

Ohhhhhhhh toddlerhood.

She can turn it off real quick though....

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Farrah loves

2011-10-20T13:08:00.001-05:00

Last night while snuggling in the bed with Alex and Pearl, watching Toy Story 3 Farrah said the sweetest thing.

"I love you so much, Daddy. I love you as much as I love."

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walden farms 2011

2011-10-15T17:02:00.001-05:00

we realized that Pearl has never been to walden farms! this is our 3rd time going in the 5 fall seasons we have lived here. we had a lot of fun, and got some great pumpkins!

Pearl did not want to leave. :)

Pretty calzone

2011-10-14T18:56:00.001-05:00

Pinterest has given me some amazing inspiration for fun recipes and DIY projects.

Tonight I made a pretty calzone. It was super easy, fun, and very yummy.

First I used pillsbury dough. Smoothed it out to the thickness I liked- next time I'll do it a bit thicker so it's easier to braid at the end. Then I added the pizza sauce and toppings, in the middle only. I used mini pepperonis and black olives- olives on only my side since Alex isn't a huge fan.

Then added the cheese.

Next step was to cut the sides into strips for braiding. The original recipe I found said to use kitchen sheers but I used a pizza cutter and it worked perfectly.

Next came the braiding. Stretch the pieces to cover the toppings, and overlap it nicely so its pretty. Like you would a pie.

Bake at 365 for 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven. Mine is a convection and cooks fast. I put mine in for about 23 minutes and it was perfect!

I got excited/hungry and cut it before I took a picture. But here it is! Isn't it pretty?? Made about 4 large servings that I paired with a side salad. So good!

Happy calzoning! :)

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Farrah's words

2011-10-12T15:57:00.001-05:00

Today as I was waddling to the bathroom yet again I mumbled, "ugh I have to tinkle all the time!" Farrah said, "that's just cause the baby, and you can't be mad." sweet girl. :)

A few days ago we were at a store somewhere and I was letting a fussy Pearl watch baby Einstein on my phone. When a video started playing and it was the creator giving an introduction something different than what I thought I had picked, I said "wait... What is this..." Farrah said, "it's the narrator, mommy. It's just the narrator talking." smart girl!!

If you can't tell, her latest picture pose includes dino claws.

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Dinner is served

2011-10-04T19:54:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned before, I'm very much into cooking these days. Much to my husband's liking.

Tonight I made this:

Baked spaghetti. I didn't have ricotta cheese, so I substituted with cheddar. So yummy. Everyone gobbled it up. And we have LOTS of leftovers.

Last night I made an "Oh So Yummy Chicken" casserole with rice and salsa. Also SO good.

I love cooking for many reasons.

I am not the greatest housewife when it comes to the whole organize/clean/laundry part of it. I'll do these things, begrudgingly... I would just rather be having fun with my kids. Or reading. Or googling. Or facebooking. Or crafting. Or painting something. You get the picture. So cooking and, actually being decent at it, is something I take pride in as a housewife.

I also love the fact that I am giving nutrients to my family. My husband, daughters, and little guy in my belly are all being fed well because of my hard work... and Alex's...;)

Also... Leftovers. DUH. I can provide my husband with lunch the next day!

Another reason I love cooking: family time. Growing up the one family time we could count on was supper time. Not every night, but most nights. And that's what I strive for here. Alex is gone from 7 till 6 or later. So it's important to share that meal together and talk about our days.

And certainly this new table my parents gifted us makes meal time SO much better! :)

Happy cooking!

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Let me count the ways

2011-09-29T19:22:00.001-05:00

Alex and I had a rocky start. Actually, that's an understatement. My close peeps know what I mean. It's been HARD.

I have realized so many things. Learned so many things. And realized I have so much more to learn. But the bottom line is this:

I have an amazing husband. He would do anything to make md happy. ANYTHING. Anything I ask of him. He may not know what I want/need at all hours of the day, but come ON! what man does?? Tell him what I need and BOOM he's there.

Have I mentioned his many talents?...

Guitar player, duh, he is absolutely amazing. He serenades all us Russell women with his talents.

Handy man? He has fixed so many things that need fixin since we've been together, it's unreal!

Hands on daddy? Not a day goes by that he doesn't change a diaper, give a bath, clean up a dish, or fold a load of laundry. NO JOKE.

And he is a CPA. Works 9 hours PLUS a day...

And he still finds time to tell me I'm beautiful and hot and sexy in all my pregnant glory.

LOVE HIM SO.

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I love thursdays

2011-09-29T16:50:00.001-05:00

Thursdays are great. Farrah is in school. I don't have to work. The next day is Friday. It's just me and P diddy. I cherish our alone time together. She is so good and sweet with no big sister around to tell her no, steal my lap, or take over tv time with Dinosaur Train.

Today I had my glucose test and check up with the midwives about this little guy:

So that means I had to drink that less than pleasant drink and wait an hour before having my blood drawn. And Pearl was pretty much perfect. As perfect as a 1.5 year old can be.

Then we got to go to lunch with Big Daddy Alex! A rare treat.

Then she passed out. Hard.

Then it was time to pick up this sweet, Dino fanatic.

Love thursdays!

And ps... If you don't like my bare belly pics, you don't have to read my blog. We happen to like it over here! ;)

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Third trimester

2011-09-24T17:42:00.001-05:00

7 months. 3rd trimester. And totally feeling it. Third time around really takes it's toll! Not to mention chasing two around rather than none or one! I'm feeling a lot of pressure that started last week. And I compared a picture of me at about 29 weeks with Pearl vs about 26 weeks with W (on the right)....

I'm bigger with him already. The scale certainly says so anyway... I've also never had thunder thighs or a badonk my whole life, even in my chubby high school/college days but I do now!

Large and in charge, y'all!

And here i am in all my glory glory with my 2 girls who just basically sit on me or at least right by me all day. Watching Bambi.

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My new sidekick

2011-09-13T10:45:00.001-05:00

Pearl and I have been hangin so much. She just wants to be by my side or in my lap ALL.DAY right now.

When Farrah is in school we have a lot of fun just the two of us. Which I love since she has never been able to be the only child at home. Reminds me how EASY one child is!

Farrah would pass out if she saw what P does with her dinosaurs while she's away. Oh my goodness. I make sure to arrange them all back to their respected positions before we pick sissy up from school, don't worry!

Love this ham!

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TN state fair

2011-09-10T21:12:00.001-05:00

Kids had a blast. Too young for the rides, but Farrah did ride a pony. The petting zoo was a big hit, along with the blow up house and slide. I was appalled neither one of my children liked the funnel cake! As my mom said, "not even the human eating machine??" aka Pearl... So A and I were forced to share it alone. :)

Funny thing about this is that I thought taking a photo of me by this giant bull would show how large he was in comparison. But as you can see I do not look so small. Ahhhh pregnancy.

I got a confidence boost when the guess your age/weight guy guessed 28. I was sure he'd take one look at my 2.5 children and crows feet and guess at least 36. (no way you thought I'd let him guess my weight, did you??)

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5 years

2011-09-10T14:27:00.001-05:00

Yesterday made 5 years with this guy.

Happy Anniversary!

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Fashionista

2011-09-07T13:12:00.001-05:00

P decided to add a little accessory to her outfit today.

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Dinosaurs

2011-09-07T13:07:00.001-05:00

First it was cars. Then trains. Then dogs. Then reindeer. Now dinosaurs. There have been some other obsessions along the way I'm sure. But right now it's most definitely dinosaurs. Specifically Dinosaur Train on PBS.

Farrah can pretty much tell you all the facts about carnivores and herbivores and omnivores. She knows about all the different species. She will correct you if you don't know.

Thanks, target dollar section. Dinosaur flash cards.

Good gracious. What will it be next?

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W

2011-09-07T09:41:00.001-05:00

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Chinese please

2011-09-05T12:45:00.001-05:00

I'm not the only one with cravings. Chopsticks and all.

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DIY monogram

2011-08-29T14:47:00.001-05:00

I love making things personal with our home decor. I have sooooo many things I want to do. But we have to do it little by little.

This weekend I personalized a cardboard letter for our home. We used to have a gold one my mom gave us but it broke. So with scrapbook paper and glue I made this:

I don't think I ever posted about the DIY chalkboard we made. If so, pregnancy brain doesn't recall. Either way... using ply wood, crown molding, spray paint, a saw, and chalkboard paint we made this for the kitchen:

I love crafty ideas and DIY projects that save money and personalize our home!

Which leads me to... Pinterest <3

I think I'm going to eat my toddler

2011-08-29T12:35:00.001-05:00

One minute she is grabbing yogurt out of the fridge and eating it with her hand. The next she is tossing her (and often farrah's when she forgets) plate and fork into the sink, helping to clean up. Sometimes I want to smack her little bottom, and two seconds later I'm ready to eat her cheeks with a spoon.

Pearl has such a vocabulary. Granted Farrah did at this age too, but maybe Pearl does even more so with her talkative big sister around. And she uses her phrases at the most appropriate and opportune times, don't you worry. These include:

"I sorry."
"Bless you" (sometimes even
right before she sneezes)
"Here you go"
"No, mine!" learning from another kid in this house..
"Let's go!"
She loves calling for "sissy, Farrah, daddy, or Alex."
"mmmmmmmm. It's good!"
"Yuck! It's yuck!"
"No ma'am!"
"Aww man!"

She is saying most any name or word when asked. She also loves to sing and dance. ABCs and theme songs to shows Farrah watches like Wild Kratts. She has rhythm when she dances- she can catch the beat. She also likes books and puzzles, and watching tv. She will watch whatever F wants to but she loves Mickey and Elmo and Baby Einstein movies. She asks for Einstein by name- it's too cute.

She is a spunky thing. She is in an unfortunate hitting phase. She will throw back an arm, or both, and hold it for a few seconds before hitting whatever the target is- be it Farrah or the couch or, gasp, her own mother. Then she immediately looks to me for reprimanding. Farrah was not a hitter. But she also did not have an older sibling to stand up to.

I'll take the good and the bad days. They are fleeting, and this age is so cute I can hardly stand it.

Did I mention what a snuggle bug she is?

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Frame for WAR

2011-08-26T15:37:00.001-05:00

My Maw Maw sent me a piece of decor she said I wanted. But I've never seen this before in my life. It's a frame with 3 pictures of bathtubs.

Well I figured I could use the frame to make something for the new baby. So I got an idea in my head. Went to Joanns. And here is the result:

I am happy with how it turned out. What do you think?

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Food

2011-08-26T09:24:00.001-05:00

Being pregnant has given me some kind of cooking gene I never knew I had.

I've always cooked, or tried to, but this is different. I'm trying lots of recipes and new things. I'm thankful Alex tells me it's good, even if it's not. But I've become more confident in my culinary skills lately.

Some of our favorites lately have been:
Memi's homemade vegetable soup with cornbread.
Mexican lasagna.
Huge salads for dinner.
Roast with potatoes, carrots, made from scratch biscuits, and gravy.
Hamburger casserole.
Kabobs on the grille.

I always encourage the girls to at least try a few bites of whatever I've made. Pearl is definitely more cooperative at this point. The girl loves to eat!

Barbecue chx salad with ranch dressing we had the other night. Was sooooo good.

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Lately

2011-08-26T09:17:00.001-05:00

Been a bit mia from the blog world..

Alex's mother was in a bad car accident last week and is being treated in Columbus, Ga. All thoughts and prayers are appreciated at this time.

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Tree swing

2011-08-14T21:09:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting a swing in our front yard for a while now. I love DIY projects, obviously, and this one could not have been easier.

Alex already had a perfect piece of wood from his deck railings project. And a drill bit. So all we needed was rope and paint. 30 feet of rope, and cherry red paint.

A thought the swing seat would be too big, but I knew... and it turned out just the way I had envisioned.

I'm so in love with it, and really excited about how good it will feel to swing in the fall weather.

Our friends Anna and baby Callan swinging!

Let's just hope my large pregnant self won't break the rope...

Ps. The dog days of summer are over. Hooooooooray!

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My little conversationalist

2011-08-12T13:40:00.001-05:00

Today I had Farrah's hearing and speech tested. She has trouble with her "l", "th", and slightly with her "s" sounds. The testing is free through metro and at the encouragement and suggestion of some family members who are speech therapists we decided to go ahead and see if she qualified for therapy.

Her hearing was normal, and she did not qualify for speech therapy. She is right on track for her age as far as articulation, almost at the above average line.

The pathologist went ahead and did a full evaluation for vocabulary and speech. For vocabulary comprehension and expression Farrah scored way above average- 6 years and 3 months.

After the testing was all over the pathologist said how refreshing it was to work with such a sweet, smart, well behaved little girl. I was beaming with pride.

Afterward we picked Big Daddy Alex up from work and went to McDonalds for lunch. She certainly deserved a happy meal after being so good through almost 3 hours of testing, and for being such a smart girl!

One series of questions F had to answer was sentence completion.
"We eat food because..."
"We want to grow strong, and live healthily!"
The pathologist said, "Oh bless your heart, Farrah!"

Love this sweet talker so much!

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Eleven

2011-08-08T22:55:00.001-05:00

YouTube Video

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Tight squeeze!

2011-08-08T16:32:00.001-05:00

It's gonna be tight with 3 little ones in the back.

But I think Pearl is excited about it.

Well we thought so. And left the infant seat in for a test run... Then she got cranky after spilling her water on herself back there. Started kicking and hitting the carseat. Screaming, "No, no, no, ma'am, baby!"

Maybe we will need Farrah to mediate in the middle.

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Needy toddler

2011-08-04T09:51:00.001-05:00

Pearl has hit quite a needy phase. She either wants to eat or be held all the time. Or climb all over me and press her paci face so hard on me I think it leaves an imprint. It's very sweet and I'm enjoying it. But it's making housework and cooking supper difficult. Especially this pregnant.

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Blogpress

2011-08-03T22:12:00.001-05:00

I'm hoping now that I've got blogpress on my phone I will be blogging more often.

I'm just so tired at the end of the day. All I want to do is rest and watch sex and the city reruns. And apparently that's what I need to be doing. At my 20 week checkup my midwife informed me I'm dehydrated. That's why I've been feeling like I ran a marathon by 3pm every day. And why I'm having cramps that cause me to double over from time to time. We all need to be careful right now in this heat. I am so beyond ready for fall!

Pearl is just the most lovey dovey thing. She will give out hugs and kisses all day long. She sure knows how to throw a fit as well though.

Farrah is my big helper. She is eager to please. She is so inquisitive. Very intuitive and observant. And oh so sensitive.

They are both too darling for words.

Happy August! May the blistering heat go away soon!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

holy smokes!

2011-07-01T15:20:00.003-05:00

it's a boy! it's been a few days, and i am still in shock, but we are so excited! i think i said, "oh my gah" about 25 times during the ultrasound. the moment the screen popped up i could tell. he was flashing all his business right away. i looked at the tech and said, "is that what i think it is?" and tears started stinging my eyes.

alex pretty much frolicked out of the building. farrah was excited too.

can't believe how much he already looks like a little baby at just 15 weeks. we weren't expecting any 3d pictures. i've always thought they looked creepy, but when it's your own baby it's pretty cool. so here he is in all his glory!

as for names, we have some ideas. i actually have one very strong idea, and since i tend to get my way- ha- it may be the one.

ah! i can't believe we are having a boy!!!

and here farrah is with the first outfit we've purchased for the little lad. she picked it out.

iphone

2011-06-28T14:38:00.005-05:00

that's the reason i have been mia in the blog world. i realize i can download blogpress and blog from my phone, but i've been a little busy with angry birds and hangin with friends. alex got me an iphone, and it's pretty much the coolest ever (my apologies to my macbook.)

tomorrow we are going to find out the sex of the baby. i am 99.9% positive it's a girl.

farrah and pearl are such little darlings. they play together well most of the time. i love to observe them together. they are both the biggest cuddlers still. much to my enjoyment. we have family dinner most every night. pearl loves to eat. sometimes she eats so much and then leans back in her chair, with her belly sticking out, and groans and moans. it's hilarious. farrah gets the biggest kick out of her.

alex has started a new job and he really, really loves it there. we are very happy and thankful for that.

last weekend farrah and i went on a special date to see Cars 2. we've been waiting for a while to do this! this was her second movie theater event. last time was fine until the last 30 minutes. but she was just a 2 year old then, not a big 4 year old like she is now! she was ecstatic and loved it as you can see. :)

video from chattanooga

2011-06-09T15:28:00.002-05:00

i meant to post this video from chattanooga earlier. it's from the park we played at.

pearl can count

2011-06-09T14:58:00.004-05:00

from one to nine. pearl can count! she just started this a few days ago, and it is precious. she says, "one... two... three... four... five... six... ducka... eight... nine...GO! YAY!" and then claps for herself. so seven aka "ducka" or "duckaduh" is kind of hard. it's usually the one farrah leaves out when counting. my favorite number, but they don't seem to care too much for it.

break my heart into a million little pieces

2011-06-02T20:43:00.002-05:00

i love my sweet, sensitive, angel, darling, first born baby girl. every day she manages to both make my heart go pitter patter, and break it into pieces. the love i have for my children just makes me ache every day. i know other mommies know that feeling. they make me so happy, but i know one day they will peace out on me for some guy, or yell, "i hate you" in anger and i will be heartbroken. devastated. millions of pieces.

"can a bee sting hair?"

"may i please have a peanu-belly sandwich?"

"good morning, mommy. how are you doing today? good? what would you want to do today?" basically every morning.

"i love you." <---- about 47 times a day. literally.

"when i grow up can i just marry daddy with you?"

"wait, i don't want to grow up. i want to stay little forever and live with you."

"is your belly button gonna stick out when your baby gets bigger?"

and the MEMORY on this child is incredible. i have an extremely vivid and sharp memory. i guess she got that gene from me. but some times it comes back to bite me in the you know what. like earlier today. farrah watched the labyrinth. yeah. i let my kid watch one of the coolest movies ever with david bowie in it.

anyway. when it was over she turned to me and started bawling and said, "remember when i was 3 years old and you put that thing over my crib and i couldn't get out?!"

ohhhhhh. yeah. i do remember that. you were 2 years old and we put a crib tent over your bed because you started climbing out of it and would NOT sleep in your bed when we converted it to a toddler bed.

WOW. i wanted to bawl right along with her. she remembers that as a tragic event. she remembers being stuck in her bed not able to get out. trapped. and her parents put her there. i'm sorry, farrah.

break my heart into a million little pieces, you darling angel baby.

last minute trip!

2011-05-31T14:05:00.022-05:00

we took a spontaneous, last minute trip to chattanooga sunday. it was SO fun. we left around noon and went straight to ruby falls. it was crowded since it was a holiday weekend. so we waited in line for about 30-45 minutes. but the girls did great. there was a little, climbing playground thing while you waited. and a harp player was playing music. she even let farrah strum a bit!

once we got into the tour it was quite a walk through the mountain to the fall. it was only a mile to the fall, and a mile back. but at some points it got so narrow we had to squeeze through. don't think very overweight people could have done this. it was that tight. we also had to stop and wait at times for the "survivors" (people on the way back from the falls) to squeeze by because it was a one way in and out type of deal. there were lots of neat formations, and i got some cool pictures.

it was wet and cool, but it was a fun adventure. pearl got fussy toward the end, but i put her in a sling on my back and she did fine. she perked up once we got to the falls, "Wow wow!" there are no restroom breaks, so it is not ideal for a pregnant gal. :)

after the falls we headed to the blue plate for dinner. it was pretty good, and no crowd. pearl slept almost the entire dinner. i woke her up to eat, and so that she would sleep for us at bed time... little did i know... after dinner we stopped by a playground on the way to the car and played for a bit before heading to the hotel for the night.

this was our first time all staying in a hotel together. pearl's first time ever. it was fun. as farrah told us at dinner last night, her favorite part of the trip was, "watching tv in the hotel room." our plan was for girls to possibly, hopefully sleep together on the pull out couch bed, while we enjoyed the king size bed all to ourselves. yeah. right. sweet farrah went to bed around 8:30, but her precious baby sister didn't hit the sack until, ohhhhhhhhhh, about 11pm. AH. and that was after alex tried driving her around in the car to sleep to no avail. and after she knocked her head into mine about 576,983 times in exhaustion, fighting sleep. and after she fell off the king size bed we were forced to share from rolling around. that was actually what finally got her to sleep- falling off and crying and being rocked and consoled by mommy. she wouldn't let us hold her for more than sixty seconds prior to the fall. whatever gets the job done! ha.

the next morning we got up and had breakfast in the hotel. then we showered, packed our bags, checked out, and headed to the Tennessee Aquarium. Alex and I went a little over a year ago for ADS' President's Club. there were no kids, and a lot of drinks then. this time was definitely different, and just as fun. while we were waiting in line to purchase tickets a lady came up and offered us an extra adult ticket she had. for free! it made me want to cry. it saved us 25 bucks, and it's just things like that that make your day sometimes. both girls loved seeing all of the fish and animals. farrah's favorite was the shark. she picked out a stuffed shark at the gift shop for her little souvenir. go figure. she even touched one of the fish you could pet at the river section, and i was so proud of her! pearl was very tired from her late night, but was content in her stroller, whispering "wow. wow." every once and a while. :)

pearl passed out before i even buckled my own seatbelt in the car. she slept almost the entire way home. farrah finished her nuggets and apples and was out herself. i was soon to follow. poor alex. oh, wait. but he got his 2 hour nap in once we got home.

happy memorial day!

10 weeks Pregnant

2011-05-25T13:54:00.002-05:00

and ALREADY showing. i guess that's how it goes with number 3 ...

shepherd's pie aka poor man's pie aka cottage pie aka

2011-05-16T19:08:00.005-05:00

DELICIOUS.

okay so my biggest comfort meal/greatest meal in the world would have to be, hands down, my memi's cube steak with sticky rice, peas, gravy, and homemade biscuits. and even add in some sliced, ripe tomatoes. but i have never even attempted to pull that off. only memi can make it in my eyes.

shepherd's pie is a pretty good comfort food, i have to say. being that i am pregnant and most things are making me queasy these days that normally make my mouth water... when i have a craving for something i jump on it. and last night as i was laying in bed i just couldn't stop thinking about shepherd's pie. i had me a hankerin'. so today i got all the goods and made it. i tweaked it to my liking a bit. i was e-mailing with my memi the other day about how you just have to try different things while cooking to figure out what works best for you. and let me tell you it was GOOD. even pearl gobbled it up like a pro. and there are plenty of leftovers for tomorrow. YUM-O.

also, i got the ripest cantaloupe i think i have ever had in my life at harris teeter today (or "the teeter harris" as my maw maw calls it). like candy i am telling you. mmmmmmmmm.

happy monday!

BIG surprise

2011-05-15T20:54:00.005-05:00

we're having a baby. another one. number tres. that's right! i'm pregnant. according to my last you know what the due date is december 21st. according to my first ultrasound the due date is CHRISTMAS. not ideal. at all. but we know there is a reason, and all will work out fine. besides, the ultrasound tech was rushing and i'm pretty sure she measured wrong. seriously.

i am going to a midwives clinic instead of seeing a particular ob. i will see midwives, nurse practitioners, and a doctor will deliver the baby at vanderbilt. this is our plan for now anyway.

so far i have been pretty sick. dissolvable zofran is amazing. it has really helped with my nausea. we are hoping the yuckiness passes once i'm in the second trimester like it did with pearl, and not go on until the day i give birth like with farrah.

farrah is excited. she says she wants a sister that will sit in between her and pearl in "grey"- the car. her daddy thinks she should be wishing for a brother. :) aruss swore he saw a little something on the ultrasound. i assured him he did not. we shall see- probably some time in july/august. and i already have a name, but the old man never wants to discuss names until closer to time. but i'll make a bet with you that i win in the end. ;)

all looked great on the ultrasound. baby's heart rate was a very strong 152bpm. pearl was there to witness it. she even said a "tank you" to the technician as we were leaving.

happy mother's day!

2011-05-08T11:28:00.005-05:00

me and my mother, 1984.

what i woke up to. well, there was much more on the plate but i quickly ate it all up :)

and Farrah writes her name: H r r F :)

big news.

2011-05-03T16:59:00.005-05:00

it's finally happening. listen up. big news.

MY KIDS ARE PLAYING TOGETHER.

i am telling you i have waited for this day since pearl was a newborn. actually since farrah started playing and i knew she needed a sibling one day to play with.

i've enjoyed their 33 month age difference for a lot of reasons, but it's been hard in a lot of ways as well. i've wished they were closer in age so they could be more on the same level for play. but it's finally happening. they are playing together.

farrah is slowly letting pearl in her room and allowing her to touch some of her toys- even her favorite toys some times. a few days ago pearl got a hold of rudolph and farrah didn't even turn red or shoot nails out of her mouth. she just let her do it!

so anyway. i am happy about this. they play tickle games. chasing games. the best part is that farrah thinks pearl is HILARIOUS. when pearl dances or speaks chinese farrah just gut laughs. it's incredible. and i can actually go to the bathroom sometimes now without a toddler sitting in my lap. ahhhhh.

burdick/russell family portraits

2011-04-26T15:03:00.006-05:00

while in alabama the other weekend mom wanted me to take some family pictures of us all together. we had to set the timer for the one with the whole family and, of course, pearl isn't looking because no one cool is behind the camera screaming and making funny faces for her to smile at. but at least we are all in the shot!

a-day game 2011

2011-04-22T08:23:00.017-05:00

farrah, alex, beau, poc and i went to the a-day game last weekend. to say farrah had a blast is an understatement. she was revved up and, i assume, couldn't have made poc prouder with her enthusiasm. shug stayed in montgomery with pearl, which was so nice and helpful. it was great to have a day to just spend with farrah. lots of our cousins (and aunt faye) were in auburn too. so farrah had a blast playing and catching up with them. :) i'll let the pics speak for our day...

how she rode most of the day- on beau, poc, or daddy's shoulders.

they both got their faces painted...

"they are so pretty, mommy."

playing at memi great's house

p diddy's newest word

2011-04-14T12:07:00.002-05:00

mama?? well, actually she did say it a few times yesterday. even farrah got excited. "she said it! she said your name!"

her new word?........... alex.

what's up what's up

2011-04-12T14:23:00.004-05:00

not a whole lot going on right now. syke. lots going on right now. that's why i have not been blogging faithfully. sorry to the 1-2 readers out there.

tuesdays and thursdays F goes to mother's day out. she LOVES it, and i know she will be super sad when summer comes and school is out. but then we will just have to live at the pool, and i bet she'll forget all about it. the great part is that she will surely see all of her friends from school this summer because they are all members at the YMCA we frequent.

tuesday and wednesdays i am still working CBS (community bible study) and it is about a 30 minute drive. it's worth it, though. good money, and good ladies that i work with. and pearl and farrah love it.

so mondays and fridays we have been busy catching up on housework, editing photos, photoshoots, and visiting the Y so i can keep "mah figer" and my sanity. :)

oh, and i am also working at Robert's Western World as an events coordinator for private parties. while working in the Y nursery i met a lady and we realized we live so close it's crazy. she has 2 kids right around the age of P and F, and we have all hit it off. she started booking private parties at RWW a few years back and has been looking for someone to help her. i am really happy she thought of me, and i am really enjoying it. so.... if you are in nashville and needing a place for a private party, corporate gathering, rehearsal dinner, WEDDING... BOOK ROBERT'S. it's classic country music in a fun, laid back atmosphere!

we have also been enjoying the weather of late. well, it's so unpredictable we don't know what to expect. but when it is nice (and since the mosquitos are not out yet) we are outside enjoying it! farrah even ran her little heart out jumping through the sprinkler on saturday. she kept yelling, "this is so much FUUUUUUN!" i later realized she got that from "tangled"... oh and, also, farrah is a pro at mario kart. seriously. my good friend, casey got married saturday- YEAH!- and when i got home the sitter asked me if farrah could read! ha. she said she kept navigating her way through everything and pointing out what she wanted to play and saying it by name "grand prix", etc. ha! her father's child i guess.

oh aaaaaaaand. our faucet is broken and the replacement part is going to take forever to get here because it's been discontinued. so we have had no water in the kitchen since saturday. that has been a fun challenge.

ellington ag center, nashville, tn.

jd simo with the don kelley band at robert's western world. an amazing talent.

Trouble Drama Russell

2011-03-28T18:32:00.005-05:00

is what we have all but legally changed Pearl Naomi's name to. seriously. i also thought of katie scarlett o'hara. or i guess i should have just named her kathryn leigh....

she puts on a show for everyone. she GETS IT. she KNOWS what she is doing. if i want her to do something, or alex really, then all of a sudden she doesn't know how or pitches a fit. queue screaming baby. not even 16 months and this little girl has got some ATTITUDE.

oh and she knows exactly what she wants. and, buddy, you better know it too. today she searched through her shoes until she found matching pairs. she brought me 2 at a time and ~~screamed and stomped while she~~ pointed to the window seal where she wanted them displayed like so...

kathryn russell photography

2011-03-21T15:17:00.004-05:00

i am taking on a few different projects right now. one major project- i am starting my photography business. here is the blog to kathryn russell photography. i have a photo shoot this thursday. and a few more coming up! if you are interested, please contact me! let your friends know. :) i'm trying to get things going here. making a hobby into something more! also, you can "like" me on facebook, and follow me on twitter. i've got some photo shoots coming up that are going to be really fun. don't miss them! :)

thanks for letting me share. and make sure to check it out!

pearl's growing vocab

2011-03-15T18:04:00.005-05:00

pearl's vocabulary includes:

hi
hey
daddy
paci (sounds like daddy)
sissy
coco (character from chuggington who says, "go coco" and so whenever i say "let's go" pearl chants "coco, coco, coco.")
doggy
please
thank you
yay!
yes
ooooooooooo-weee!
ouchie! (when she falls down, etc.)
uh-oh (when she drops things from her high chair. on purpose.)
shug

and mommy, right? nope. still won't say it. yes, i occasionally here it while she is crying about something. when she falls and i scoop her up i have heard it muttered. but ask her to say it and she will shake her head. or just smile like she has no clue what you are asking. or say "daddy." :)

and shug. yep. she learned shug in the last couple of days. today shug and i picked her up from the nursery at the ymca. she saw me and toddled over, all smiles. reached out for me like she usually does. then side-stepped, gave me a shove, looked at shug and said, "hey, shug."!!!!

happy 4th birthday, farrah!

2011-03-09T18:40:00.006-06:00

"farrah, in a couple of days you are going to turn 4... and i'm gonna cry."

well... when you're done crying about that can we have a party?

that's just what we did!

2 friends

2011-03-03T18:49:00.004-06:00

i have 2 friends to pray for.

the first friend is alyssa. alyssa is a few years younger than i am. her older sister and maddie were good friends as kids. i babysat alyssa and her little sister a few times. and we all went to church together. we've kept in touch a lot recently. she is newly married and becoming a mommy soon to a sweet baby girl.

the next friend is rachel. rachel was a childhood friend. we lived in the same neighborhood in memphis, tn. and because of the great facebook world, i have been able to communicate with rachel as a mom, and a fellow aquarius, and a crafty lady like myself :) rachel is expecting her second child, a sweet baby girl as well.

both of these ladies have recently found out some news about their little girls. alyssa reached out to me a few weeks ago, and rachel just posted about her situation yesterday. all i want to do is share these 2 friends' blogs with you so that you can pray for them. they are both very special, very strong women.

alyssa

rachel

my favorite verse always comes to mind.

romans 8:28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose

farrah goes to the dentist

2011-02-23T14:36:00.007-06:00

yeah... so i know she should have gone a while back but, hey, all checked out great so no harm no foul. the hygienist was so great with her. farrah was so brave and patient and sweet and well mannered. she kept trying to stall the process from beginning by talking. after the hygienist explained everything she said, "now, farrah, do you have any questions for me?" to which alex quickly whispered, "you don't want to ask that..." ha! at one point during the cleaning farrah said, "excuse me. i can't really talk with your hands and everything in my mouth." ha! she is such a talker.

this past weekend susu and doc visited. i asked susu at one point if alex was as talkative as farrah when he was her age. susu said, "all kids talk this much at this age." ha! not as much as farrah- my child. seriously. allthetime. farrah had a great time with susu and doc while they were here. friday night they babysat while alex and i went to see umphrey's mcgee for the umphteenth time - hardee har har- and that was a nice break. saturday alex and i took a run together- aaaah. then we all headed to brass pro shop and then out to eat at olive garden. sunday i got to do a special sips n strokes. i can't reveal the painting yet as it is going to be someone's birthday present. ;)

pearl wanted a tooth brush too

paci juggling

2011-02-15T12:34:00.003-06:00

this cracks me up. sometimes she will sit there for ten minutes just juggling those pacis. HA. alex came up with "paci juggling"... love.

oh. and the foot wiggling. definitely genetic.

farrah's newest hobby

2011-02-13T13:37:00.005-06:00

"taking photographs." she loves to "take photographs" all the time with my older camera. i'm so proud. here are some of her shots! :)

self portrait!

farrah dealing with change

2011-02-10T16:20:00.004-06:00

lately farrah has been telling me that she doesn't want to grow up. she comes to me with tears and says she doesn't want to have to move out of our house. she asks why don't i still live with my mommy and daddy, and why did big daddy alex take me away from them. i explain to to her, and then she tells me she wants to live with me forever and doesn't want to leave when she gets married!

i remember feeling that way when i was young, not as young as her, but young. i remember feeling sad when one of my cousins brought someone to Christmas dinner and we all talked about how they would get married. it made me so sad because it was CHANGE. but i've had A LOT of change in my life so far, and i know i'll have more. farrah doesn't like things changed either. and i know all children take comfort in things being repetitive, etc. but the fact that she says these things to me at this age just blows my mind. i tell her she can live with me as long as she wants. and i hope she will always want to be near me, but i am sure that will change.... but for now i am SOAKING IT UP.

monday, "mommy, i think after i turn 4 on 4th march i'd like to tell God to slow down. because that's enough for a while." angel baby.

she is also in a, "no babies allowed in my room" phase that is welcome to come to and end ANYTIME. she stashes everything in her room and then shuts the door so pearl can't get in. ayiyiyiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

coloring is definitely her favorite thing to do atm. fell asleep coloring the other day.

mama shmama

2011-02-10T13:00:00.004-06:00

pearl's first word? mama. mama. mama. mama. all day long. now if you ask her to say, "mama"or "mommy" she smiles. looks at me. looks at you. and says, "DA-DDY!" boo. she SO knows what she is doing. i guess she figures she already has her mama wrapped around her little finger, so why spend any time wooing that one?

eating ravioli today and quite enjoying it.

happy thursday! i am pretty excited about tv tonight. ha.

on my front door

2011-02-09T15:24:00.003-06:00

o decor

2011-02-07T20:46:00.005-06:00

i so stole this idea from a blog i follow. i don't know if she'd mind me sharing her blog link (so shoot me an email if you don't mind me crediting this PRECIOUS idea to you!) after i saw this i googled it. simple as cherry pie. not that i bake, but...

gotta go. i'm working on one for the front door. and laughing with my husband as we indulge with some yarn and some "sunny in philly"..... ;)

snow baby photos

2011-02-07T08:56:00.006-06:00

we've had a lot of snow this season. i know everyone is sick of it, but i am still enjoying wishing upon a star that it will hit us again before the warm weather. i'm hot natured. i love spring time, but we've got a while, so i'd like the snow to play in and look at for a little while longer please.

Christmas and snow

2011-01-26T08:32:00.009-06:00

Christmas was great. the fact that it snowed the night before and we woke up to a winter wonderland was just about the best icing on a cake you could ask for.

alex has never had a white Christmas before. in fact, since we moved to tennessee, he has seen more snow than he has his whole life i think! today is another snow day. i'm sure if i had kids in school i would be really annoyed with all the school closings, but i can't help it, i just love the snow. if Christmas is over and it is going to be cold and get dark before the boss man gets home at night, snow is one of the only fun things about this time of year. so bring it on.

so farrah thought that when it snowed, that meant it was Christmas. so, it was perfect. enjoy the Christmas photos.

with her first barbie ever.

cinderella dancing with her prince

what a mess!

Christmas breakfast

touchdown, auburn!

not sure about ET!

walking with her memi great

war eagle!

2011-01-11T15:15:00.002-06:00

jingle belles

2011-01-07T15:20:00.005-06:00

ice 2010

2011-01-07T08:49:00.006-06:00

we went to ice a few years ago with farrah and a couple of friends. the theme then was charlie brown christmas. this year it was santa claus is coming to town. we went Christmas eve day and it was FREEZING, but fun! toward the end farrah was pretty fussy and saying her hands were freezing. pearl just stared, wide-eyed the entire time. ha. it was a good time.

i can't put my arms down!

freeeeeeezing!

water woes

2010-12-30T11:49:00.004-06:00

water is a necessity. everyone needs it. and i am so thankful that we have it. to drink. to cook. to wash clothes and dishes. to bathe. but when it is pooled all in your laundry room and half of your carpeted "down room" it's not so great.

tuesday i went out to return some things like millions of other americans, and run some other errands. before i left i started a load of laundry so i wouldn't get behind (i had managed to get ALL of my laundry done before we went out of town, which hasn't ever been done- by me- since i've had 2 children) and well... the sensor is going out on our washer, apparently. almost 2 hours later i came home with groceries and noticed the water sounded like it was running. i thought, that's weird, did alex come home and start another load or something?? i headed toward the laundry room and stopped suddenly. water everywhere. all over the carpet. pouring out of the washing machine at least an inch or two on the laundry room floor. clean folded clothes in the down room soaked. old record albums next to our record player soaked. books and toys soaked. shaking my head and throwing my hands up to my head, "oh my gosh. oh my gosh. oh my GOSH! this is a nightmare!" and i ran to cut the water off. i called alex and he rushed home.

the good news is it could have been a lot worse. and compared to the flooding that happened with a lot of our tennessee neighbors this year we are blessed. we are getting it all taken care of. my main concern is making sure there is no chance of mildew. we don't know yet if we will have to replace the carpet or what. we are in the process of everything now.. so it may be a day or so before i can update the blog from Christmas, etc.

i can always find humor in any circumstance. duh. standing at the top of the steps crying, "this is a nightmare!" farrah stands beside me and says, "well, this doesn't look like a nightmare to me. what happened, mommy? did you tinkle in here?"

pearl walking video!

2010-12-20T09:34:00.003-06:00

9 steps

2010-12-20T08:58:00.005-06:00

pearl took 9 steps yesterday! about a week ago she woke up and started standing without holding on to anything. a few days later she woke up and took a step. yesterday we got her to take 9 steps! and the entire time she is laughing and clapping for herself. it's preciousness overload. the greatest part is i actually thought to grab the video camera while she was walking to alex yesterday. so i got it on tape! i have no idea how to get that transferred on to the computer, however. but it's so very exciting! how different from her big sissy who didn't grace us with her walking skills until almost 15 months! i believe she is saving her big stuff for Christmas morning. she's going to wake up and walk all the way from her crib to her chair filled with toys that santa will bring her. :)

oh. and pearl is currently OBSESSED with mickey, and with her "abc puppy" as farrah named it. i mean, she thinks they are alive and they are her best friends. whenever mickey comes on tv she loses it. she LOVES that little mouse. and she hugs and lays all over abc puppy all day long.

oh. and pearl now has 4 teeth! now if only her hair would grow just a bit faster so i can put some precious hair clips in it and little old people will stop saying "he is so precious" even though she is wearing pink. merry Christmas week!!!!!!!!!!

pearl's birthday celebration and the 2010 IRON BOWL

2010-12-19T11:05:00.013-06:00

after watching the amazing iron bowl- war eagle! beat bama! woohoo!!!!- we had an early birthday celebration for pearl. then we decorated the burdick Christmas tree. pearl was not as interested in her birthday cake as farrah was on her first birthday. she would daintily scoop icing off of the cake and lick it very carefully. :) everyone was in a GREAT mood after the iron bowl. it was a lot of fun. again, my camera battery was left in nashville, so these photos are courtesy of madeline burdick. :)

getting ready for the iron bowl!

playing with my big girl

birthday girl giving a big CHEESE!

opening her presents

thanksgiving in lagrange

2010-12-19T10:21:00.006-06:00

for thanksgiving we headed to lagrange, ga to see alex's family. alex's sister lives there with her husband, aunt savanna and uncle adam (or "big red" as farrah named him). unfortunately my camera battery went out and i left my charger at home, so i didn't get many pictures. susu and doc were there, and adam's family was there for dinner as well. the food was great! we stayed the night and then headed back to birmingham the next day to watch the iron bowl.

snow

2010-12-13T19:40:00.005-06:00

today at supper i thanked God for our food, for my family, for pearl's 2 hour nap, and for the weather- for the snow. (farrah thanked Him for her food, her dogs, the trees, her napkins, her ornaments on her Christmas tree, the snow, her lunch, her doors....

because of the beautiful, powdery snow that came down yesterday and all through the night last night i did not have to work today. it was so different from the norm as of late. and i realized it has been so long since i have days like this... i work at least 5 days a week these days... and a lot of times a 6 hour work day or longer...

today was so fun. we were lazy in our pajamas all morning. (except for farrah who was dressed because alex dresses her every morning and i guess he either forgot we didn't have to go anywhere or he just decided to go ahead and dress her anyway :)) pearl went down for a nap (and slept over 2 hours!) and farrah and i played in the snow. then we ate lunch and i got caught up on A LOT of laundry. i was able to complete some very overdue blogging... ;) and we ran an errand to the bank and got all my Christmas cards sent out (so be on the look out.) pearl watched some baby einstein and farrah and i colored a picture of rudolph and his girlfriend, clarice. oooooh and i put a pot roast in the crock pot this morning....mmm.... it feels like i haven't been a stay at home mom in a long while.

oh! and i read half a chapter of my book!

the snow was SO beautiful.

halloween 2010

2010-12-13T11:39:00.011-06:00

we headed to birmingham for halloween again this year. we got together with (almost all) of the cousins from the wells side of my family. it's becoming a tradition! it was very fun. lots of fun costumes. and lots of cute babies! i especially had a soft spot for the dalmation puppy and the pearl oyster. ;)

before we headed back to nashville we went to a park in birmingham with shug and poc. the weather was beautiful, and so was the scenery.

war eagle!- beat lsu

2010-12-13T09:31:00.006-06:00

we went to tiger town for the lsu game. it was incredible. farrah loved seeing aubie, and tiger walk. alex and i went to the game with madeline and beau. we barely got in at the last minute, and had to stand on the ramp the entire game, but it was worth it! waaaaaaaaaar eagle!

cam! heisman winner!

with our auburn friends, nina raine and tommy. tommy and alex grew up together.

a very special friend, tommy's mom- julie. she watched alex grow up!

music and molasses arts and crafts festival

2010-12-13T09:29:00.000-06:00

on sunday oct 17th we went to the music and molasses arts and crafts festival at ellington agricultural center just down the road. it was a lot of fun. farrah had her first pony ride which she LOVED. there was a horse whisperer, a man shearing sheep, a horse drawn carriage, and lots of arts and crafts.

happy birthday, pearl!

2010-12-03T16:10:00.009-06:00

happy first birthday to our sweet angel baby, pearl naomi russell. i seriously, seriously cannot believe it has been a whole year. a year filled with joy. a year filled with changes. a year of HARD adjustments- mainly for me as getting used to having 2 has been the most difficult thing i've EVER done, i believe. a year of many, many wonderful memories.

pearl is such a joy. she is such a happy, smiley baby. but she can go from the happiest little thing to the angriest little thing faster than you can blink. she sure can thrown a tantrum. and she usually does if her food isn't coming to her fast enough, or i walk by her and don't bend down to talk to her and pick her up. she is a huge mama's girl. she is a big snuggler- i believe she'd cuddle with just about anyone. she loves to eat. she says mama, dada, hi, hey, yeah, yay and sissy (sounds more like shishy). she is starting to wave bye bye. she dances- it's the cutest little body wiggle thing. she just started shaking her head "no" when she hears the word. and, boy, does she LAUGH. i could eat that girl up when she giggles. she loves her big sister. her big sister loves her. she loves baby einstein and she loves music. (her new favorite song is "all i do is win" since she heard it so much c/o poc before and after the iron bowl.) she doesn't have much hair, or many teeth (still just 2) but she has the biggest smile! no walking yet, but she can get around just fine crawling and cruising!

smiley girl

love that sweet angel baby! so elated to have her here with us! what a wonderful first year.

we love you, pearl naomi russell!

under construction

2010-11-28T16:37:00.000-06:00

sorry sorry. i know i have a TON of updating to do. it makes my head spin to think about all i need to post. please be patient as i work on fixing my blog and updating.

xoxoxo

a saturday at centennial park

2010-10-10T17:07:00.010-05:00

newest member of our family

2010-09-27T10:39:00.007-05:00

meet benji. a mini labradoodle mix with possible terrier. hypoallergenic. doesn't shed. just over a year old. super sweet. great with the girls. obedient. well trained. snuggly. cute cute cute!

i've been looking for a while for the perfect dog or puppy to add to our family, mainly for farrah's sake. as we all know farrah's love for puppies and dogs is borderline obsessive. although bonnie is doing better and becoming more patient with farrah, she's not exactly the best playmate.

the other night i was browsing craigslist and came across this add "we are moving and can't keep our wonderful labradoodle". long story short- the new place this couple was moving to only allowed for a certain number of pets. since they had only had their labradoodle for less than a year, they decided to find him a new home. i immediately texted the owner, and she said he was already placed in a new home. i was sad but it wasn't meant to be, i thought.

the next day i got an email from her saying he was still available. since i had time to think about it i thought maybe he would be a little bit big, and maybe getting a younger baby puppy that could grow up with the girls would be better. but we decided to meet the dog anyway. he came over while the girls were napping so that we could make a decision first. it took about sixty seconds and i was in love. he's only about 17 lbs- perfect size- just what we were looking for. plus he is in the end of his puppy phase, so he is still fun and puppy-like, but he's potty trained and out of his chewing phase. perfect. and he was so sweet and so playful with us and with bonnie. his name was houdini- cute, but i knew farrah would rename him benji. he looks like a smaller, black benji and farrah has been wanting a "benji" of her own. i think the previous owners really loved him and took good care of him. he has such a sweet nature. but he was outside for so long that we discovered shortly after they left that he was covered in fleas. we had this same problem with rosie the cat when we first adopted her. the previous owners told us he loved baths so we gave him a long, long flea bath and got rid of every single flea on his poor little body. he was SO good and never tried to get out of the tub or shake all over us. he even closed his eyes and relaxed while i brushed and blow dried him. so cute! later i went to a vet and got him a flea and tick prevention pill that works in 3o minutes and lasts a month. he hasn't had a flea on him since then.

in perfect timing, as i was finishing drying the little guy, farrah woke up from her nap. she was eating a pb&j alex fixed her as i opened the door and he came running past her. at first she didn't see him, but then snapped her head around and gasped, "is that my benji puppy?! is that a benji puppy for me?! oh my goodness! he's so cute!!!" and benji loved all over her.

we decided to have this weekend as a trial run in case there were any problems. well, we're keeping him. he is just the sweetest, most well behaved, cutest little thing. i just feel right about it, like it was meant to be. bonnie is still adjusting, of course. and he enjoys barking and chasing rosie around, which she does NOT enjoy. but they will all adjust i'm sure. and one sad thing is that he still needs to be neutered. that will be a harder recovery for the little guy since he is already over a year, but it will calm him down a little more. he is very playful if you engage him, but if you are just hanging out on the couch he will sit in your lap or at your feet with his eyes closed. he loves pearl and she likes him too. she will grab his fur and he won't even blink- he loves it!

we know that having another pet is a cost in itself. but we have discussed this decision for a while, and the timing and the dog just felt right. farrah couldn't be happier and more excited. she is very helpful as well.

big girl pulling up on her own now

tututututututu cute

2010-09-26T12:25:00.004-05:00

head over teal

2010-09-23T20:07:00.011-05:00

last weekend we headed to birmingham for a 5k race that benefits ovarian cancer research-head over teal. it was the first year they've done this 5k. i ran in honor of shug and honey. it was a SUPER hot and pretty hilly, but a very pretty run. they did not have shoe chips or anything to clock personal times. i'm not sure how they did that. but according to my watch i finished between 22 and 23 minutes.

after the race they had a dog parade, so lots of dogs were there for farrah's enjoyment! shug, poc, alex, farrah, pearl, and aunt maddie (and her poodle, tito) were all there. they had a bounce machine, a clown, and a "tattoo" artist. farrah enjoyed all of it. pearl was happy to be along for the ride. all of the runners got complimentary barbecue- yum. and after i ran i gave blood withlife south. i used to be so scared of giving blood, but with so many needle pricks and tests during pregnancy and delivery i have made myself deal with it, and now i really enjoy being able to donate blood whenever possible.

we headed back to shug and poc's house and MEMI GREAT was waiting there for us! it's very special to me to see my grandmother with my daughters. precious. shug and i went consignment shopping- love doing that! later we ate santa fe soup that shug made (by my request) and watched football- including the crazy auburn/clemson game- yikes!

farrah and tito

proud of her puppy tattoo

could this baby be any happier to be with her memi great??

war eagle!

selective reduction...

2010-09-08T20:47:00.011-05:00

aka abortion...

aka MURDER

talk about euphemisms...

educate yourself.

this is the article i read prior to breaking down in the dental chair today. i do not handle dental procedures well, and during my numbing shot i got a little teary. i had just finished reading this article and barely had time to contemplate it when- bam- sharp stinging from a huge needle in my mouth. the worst... and as the dentist left the room to give the medicine time to numb my mouth i burst into tears. please read.

first day of "school"

2010-09-08T14:57:00.003-05:00

and no one cried- not even me. i mean, it's 2 days a week and it's not really even "school" but "mother's day out"... which, for me, is actually "mother's day to work with only one child rather than 2". :) farrah didn't even turn back to say goodbye when she got to her classroom. she gave me a big hug when i picked her up, though. her teachers said she did great. she really seemed to love it! she said they played outside, played with playdough, had rest time, ate lunch, and painted. every tuesday they will have a swim lesson. we are very excited about that!

it's the most wonderful time of the year

2010-09-05T11:35:00.006-05:00

sweaters. jeans. hayrides. jumping into leaf piles. pumpkins. bright reds, oranges, greens, and purples of nature. football. AUBURN football. beer. touchdown taco dip. FALL!

i love fall. atumn. it's my favorite time of the year. i'm not crazy about any one particular holiday or event this time of year. i just LOVE this time of year. i hope it gets cool and stays cool. i can smell fall in the air. it's not very cool right now, but compared to this summer, it has been feeling great this last week. fall weather- normal fall weather, like 20 years ago weather- is the best weather. it feels perfect.

every fall when the leaves had just changed into their beautiful colors, and when there was a bi-week in auburn football, my family would go hiking for a day. we'd go go to chimney rock. we would hike up the mountain and to get down we'd take an elevator that was built inside the mountain. i was TERRIFIED of this elevator. i went through a phase where i was deathly afraid of elevators. a giant elevator inside of a mountain was certainly no exception... i would have rather taken the long trek back down the mountain. i just remember my dad always talking about how beautiful all the leaves were. i'm sure i probably rolled my eyes at him in the back seat of the chevy astro van. but i so get it now.

i love fall.

just because i love this picture, and i cannot believe this was almost a year ago.

teeth, biting, crawling, pottying, puppies, and exams

2010-08-31T15:46:00.005-05:00

PEARL. 2 teeth. up on all 4s. rocking back and fourth. and today she finally took a couple of "crawls" forward. (i don't know what else to call it. not steps...?) that is what pearl has been working on lately. oh, and using the 2 bottom teeth for biting me while nursing. nothing i have done has worked to make her stop. nothing. i have tried a big "NO BITING". i have tried stopping the feeding session. i have tried turning her away from me and not giving her any attention. i even bopped her on the mouth- it was a reflex...it really HURTS when she bites... don't call social services please... it didn't phase her anyway.

my goal was to nurse pearl for a year, other than when she was not with me, exclusively for a year. after a lot of thought and discussion i have made some decisions. i WILL nurse her for a full year. until december 3rd, 2010. but she is also taking some formula now too. a little of both. so i made it 9 months exclusive breastfeeding. and she LOVES the bottle. she loves both really. so why do i still feel a little guilty? i guess because i always second guess every decision i make. and i think that's part of being a MOMMY. and a little bit of a crazy one at that...ha.

FARRAH. farrah now tells us about 90% of the time when she has to tinkle on the potty. i'm still not prepared to put her in undies yet. she still has the occasional accident. oh, and the number 2 thing... well she actually did that on the potty today. i mean, sorry for TMI but it's a huge deal. i wanted to celebrate like she had graduated from high school or won a gold medal at the olympics. so we pulled her overalls up and watched bolt.

farrah has loved bolt for a while. but man oh man. she is in a huge puppy stage. HUGE. she pretends to be one. she carries around as many stuffed puppies, puppy figurines, puppy books, etc. as she can hold in her little arms. she talks about puppies all the time. i think i know what she's going to be for halloween this year. bonnie is actually doing a lot better with her lately. she lets farrah hug her and pet her every once in a while. i can tell she isn't exactly enjoying it, but still. huge improvement. and farrah thinks bonnie loves her. ignorance is bliss. but sweet farrah really does need a puppy of her own. we are just waiting on the right time and the right dog. we want a mid sized dog that doesn't shed a lot- ha. what i REALLY want is a mini goldendoodle. but i don't believe in breeding. and i can't justify spending a grand or more on a dog. i just think that is wrong, especially with all the dogs needing to be rescued out there. but if a mini poodle and a golden retriever happen to meet and like each other a lot, and then have puppies, and then one of them roams into our yard... that would be perfect.

ALEX. bragging on my husband for a minute. someone who reads my blog told me i never talk about him and wouldn't know i was even married if they didn't know me. :( i didn't think that was true. but. alex has taken all of the 4 parts of the CPA exam. he has to get back his last score, but he feels really confident. he has made really high scores on all the parts. he is so smart. i could NEVER study the way he does. he is so dedicated and disciplined. people say this exam is harder than the BAR exam. he's so smart. :) we are SO glad all the test taking is finally over though. no more studying! he says it feels so good to be able to come home and just be with the girls and not have to worry about studying. but all of his hard work is paying off. :)

ME. i got my hair CHOPPED off. like super de duper short... that's all. :)

at the park. they have my mouth for sure. ha. and pearl just keeps hers wide open any time she is happy or excited. so cute.

and because this is hilarious. bozo pearl. bahaha

i can't see my eyes

2010-08-23T16:38:00.002-05:00

today farrah told me she was, "a little bit frustrated cause i can't see my eyes." a few days ago i told her to lick her ear. that got her real frustrated. "UH! it's not working!"

today farrah asked me to make it cool down outside cause she was too hot. i told her she could pray and ask God to do that. she said, "and then he will come tomorrow and hang out and make it cooler?" i tried to explain to her about how God lives in your heart if you ask him to, but that you can't see him. that did not fly. "well, i think he lives in my tummy a little while."

at the ymca farrah was talking with a teacher about the baby swings in the infant room. she was talking about how you put babies in there and they like to swing in them. the teacher suggested that farrah put pearl in a swing. farrah replied, "oh no. i can't. i'd be too nervous."

water

2010-08-19T10:26:00.006-05:00

pearl loves to splish splash in her "tub" aka the sink. the only tub we have is a big jacuzzi tub, which i love and use more than you know. but putting a slippery 8 month old in there for bath time is out of the question for my back and knees. thankfully we have a pretty big sink as well. pearl LOVES playing in the water. i can usually get dinner started while she is in there... then bathe her real quick and put her pajamas on and get her rocked and in bed (all while finishing up dinner- USUALLY...) i am lucky to have an amazing husband who has been doing bath time with farrah since she was about 1. he doesn't get to see her all day long like i do, so this is his time to hang out with her. he usually takes her outside to play while i do my thing with pearl and dinner. after dinner he bathes farrah and puts her pajamas on. we take turns reading and singing with her, and tucking her in, depending on who has had a more stressful day- ha.

here are some bath time pictures of little miss P. she is such a happy baby. don't get me wrong- the girl can SCREAM when she is unhappy aka hungry. but overall she is just SO happy and smiley. she can't even finish a feeding with me without looking up to giggle and smile and squeal to get my attention about twenty times. love it.

center hill lake

2010-08-09T16:05:00.010-05:00

alex and i went to center hill lake and stayed with some friends (kennah and jansen) saturday. it was SO much fun. the weather was perfect. we hung out on the lake all day. we both tried surfing behind the boat for the first time. i did pretty well. i got up and held on, but could never let go of the rope. i am surprised i have not been sore from all the falls... alex gave it a couple of shots too. i don't think he was in the right mood though... ha! so he's better than i am at math, playing guitar, managing money, being nice. and i beat him at boat surfing. we're even. everyone stayed up pretty late, except me- i was out by 9!

kennah

jansen surfing. you are so close to the boat you can touch whoever is sitting on the back.

and alex... ha!

birmingham

2010-08-09T09:30:00.010-05:00

last weekend we traveled to birmingham. alex's mother had surgery at st. vincent's. she was in the hospital for almost a week. susu and doc (as farrah calls them) are home now, and susu is recovering well! farrah was very excited to see susu, doc, and aunt savanna.

i can't count how many times we visit the ham. or drive halfway to the athens/huntsville exit on 65 to meet shug, and sometimes poc, to drop farrah or both girls off to stay with s & p for a few days. i always miss the girls so much when they are gone, but we take advantage of the situation and enjoy the breaks so so much! it's nice to look forward to since we don't have family in town to call on when we need a sitter. and we don't go on many dates considering you basically have to consider taking out a loan from the bank just to finance dinner and a movie plus a babysitter. so we look forward to the help. we really appreciate shug and poc for this! i know the girls love their time in birmingham as well.

pearl loves to watch dixie

shug putting a bow in pearl's peach fuzz

vacuuming with shug

puppy family

2010-08-04T20:44:00.004-05:00

during pillow talk time with farrah tonight she talked with me about how she wanted a puppy one day. she wants to name HER benji. and she will be brown and just a little bit small. farrah also wants "mommy to have a BIG mommy puppy- like you, mommy" and for "daddy to have a bigger daddy dog, and his name is 'daddy dog'" so i asked her, "what about pearl? doesn't she get a puppy, too?" farrah sighed,

"she can't. she can't have one... because she's got short little arms. babies can't have puppies because their fat, little hands are too short and they can't hold 'em."

private

2010-07-27T09:22:00.001-05:00

most likely will be making this blog private cause of all the crazies out there. please click the follow link or email me if you would like to be added to my list of followers.