Sweet Taylor's birth...

Can I just tell you how much I *LOVE* doing births? Such a sweet, overwhelming moment where God's love for us is undeniable. What a true miracle babies are.

Taylor's mom was so awesome... she went drug free and was SO strong! The new dad was a fantastic labor partner and so attentive. Taylor's a lucky, lucky girl

Wordless Wednesday

Fun with babies. On the surface of the sun.

It was so incredibly hot. These sessions were at 8am and 9am, and by the end of it... I was a puddle on the floor.

But super pretty babies are SO worth it!

Some dreams are just too weird not to share.

I just woke up from a nap, and it's all pretty vivid - so I thought I'd share.

**If you or one of your relatives is in it, I don't know what that means.

It started that I had to go to a work meeting at the club house of an apartment complex. I was supposed to meet my friend/boss Tiffany there, who was excited to tell me about how they were renting out the bathroom of their house. To get into the clubhouse, you had to have a clicker. To get the clicker, you had to give them your drivers license. This is where it gets super weird.

I forgot my license when I left, so I went back to get it.

Lady at the front desk says "oh, then you didn't have your departing session?"

Me: "Um, guess not?"

She takes me into this room where all of the walls were holograms of waterfalls. This lady with long hair and a long floral skirt comes out and says "ready?"

Me: "Um, I guess?"

She then starts doing an african style dance, stomping and raising her arms - screaming to the skies "God of the trees! God of the trees!"

Me: "Ooooookay."

Then the door opens and a little person walks in - it's a man, and he's wearing a shiny, light grey suit. With tennis shoes. All of the sudden I realize I'm carrying in a ton of used diapers and snotty kleenex and I ask him where the trash is so I can dump it. He has me sit on one end of a traditional therapists couch, he sits on the other, kicks his shoes off - and has us both prop our feet up in the middle. So we're facing each other, reclining. Then he pulls out a remote control and my end of the couch gets higher and higher and higher, while his gets lower and lower until he slides off. He says, "that good?"

Me: "ummmmmmmmm...."

Then crazy dancing lady comes back in "God of the trees! God of the trees!"

At this point I think, okay... I'm done. I slide off the couch, which is still way up in the air, and when I hit the ground I realize a couple of my friends are sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor. It's Nicole, Raelynn, Brenda and Erin. They all look so bored they can barely stand it. Then Jason busts in the door and says "okay, it's time for all of you to get out of here".

I was so relieved.

Then, all of the sudden, I was standing in the front yard between my real house and my neighbors real house, only they were both two stories. I went into my neighbors house, and went upstairs and the whole McLuckie family was up there. Amy, Matt, Kate, Emma and the twins, Cooper & Wyatt. I'm gushing over the babies and think "I need to go back downstairs for my drivers license." I step onto the first step and the whole staircase crumbles. I turn to the McLuckies and say "don't let the babies near that, it's dangerous".

Then I'm in the front yard again, and a guy comes by on one of those trike things (the motorcycles with the two big back wheels). Our houses are suddenly super close together, so he won't fit - but he drives through anyhow. His right tire drills through the foundation on my neighbors house, leaving a gaping hole at the bottom.

I start running after him saying "hey you! Come back here! You can't just leave it like that!"

Then Charlotte started crying in the monitor and I woke up.

Weird.

Just a boring old girls only day....

Miranda, Prestley, Charlotte & I went on a road trip yesterday to meet up with a friend from High School - Misty - who was in town for the holiday. So much fun!

We started the day with lunch at the tea room (Yum!). I didn't get any pictures, I was too busy trying to keep Charlotte from "helping" Misty stir her iced tea, and making sure she didn't eat the rinds of her oranges.

Then we went to Misty's parents house to swim. As we pulled up, someone was backing out of the driveway so Miranda was going to park on the street, in the grass. Trouble was, she didn't see the ginormous crater in the ground and in we went. From the passenger side, it felt like we were about to tip over. I didn't get a picture of it at its worst because I was too busy laughing my head off and kind of freaking out - but here's a shot of it being pulled out. The babies were saying "uh oh!" in the backseat. Then we taught them to say "crash."

Right before we went swimming... that's Prestley, Morgan (Misty's little one) and of course, the President of the Elmo/Ernie fan club. I love the little expressions on their faces. They remind me of the "see no evil" monkeys... only there would be no way I could get them to do those particular gestures. It was near impossible to get them to just sit here.

This is the only picture I got all day of Morgan smiling. She just wouldn't for me! But Prestley must've told a pretty funny joke here...

This picture of Prestley cracks me up... she's so "old" for her age.

Charlotte ate lots of her snacks. And most of Prestley and Morgan's, also.

Don't you hate it when your belly button itches?

Charlotte was so into Misty's Izoo app, that makes animal sounds.

Playing with silhouettes... Prestley was blowing someone a kiss, but I don't remember who.

After we said our goodbyes to Misty and made it back up to our part of Texas, we stopped and ate at Estabans. Live band and mexican food! Awesome way to do dinner, even if it's 100+ degrees outside. I ordered Charlotte the quesadillas, but I should've just gotten her a big bowl of sour cream, she was eating it by the handful.

Then we had ice cream by the fountain! In triple digit weather, ice cream melts REALLY fast... Charlotte had it all over her, because well... that's how she rolls. Messy. Prestley is MUCH cleaner. Which when you look at Miranda and I - apples don't fall far from their trees.

Mmmmmmm. Birthday cake ice cream.

Mmmmmmm. Cookies & Cream for me, please!

She's so messy that I couldn't even let her hold her own cup. I didn't trust her not to dump it on her head.

By now, it's around 8pm - past both girls bedtime - but we were breaking all the rules, so we went to the park! It might have actually only been 90ish by this point.

Such a fun day!

Justin Timberlake loves my friend, so that makes me cool by proxy.

For real.

In all the big land of twitter, His Royal Make-me-feel-like-I'm-12-with-a-crushiness... replied AND started following my friend, Lizz. You can read about it here.

I'm more than likely getting together with her (and some other friends) in Tampa in August - and I'm pretty sure he's totally going to want to come, too.

From the mouths of babes...

In the past few days, Charlotte has reduced her vocabulary down to just two words - Ernie and Elmo. She wakes in the morning calling for them, wants them by her side as she eats her breakfast, she dances in front of the TV and computer calling out their names - waiting for them to appear, she even uses their names as expletives when she's angry. It's somewhat cute, somewhat annoying, often times frustrating (when I can't figure out what she wants) - and truth be told, I'm starting to get a bit jealous of those muppets and the hold they have on her sweet little heart.

Well, we were in the shower today and we were talking about Jesus. She can say Jesus, so I was trying to get her to.

Me: Can you say "Jesus?"

(she pauses, and looks at me)

Charlotte: Elmo.

*sigh*