(9) Loves.

9 posts to 200. Today is Nine Loves.

 

1.) Diva Days. Mom took us out today for "Cawfee at Stahbucks wit da gurrs." Or, if you don't speak Lillie, "Coffee at Starbucks with the girls." We also went and got our nails did after grabbing our coffee (or fancy organic chocolate milk and a birthday cake pop for those who don't have to worry about their girlish figure yet.) It was baby's first pedicure. I now know what I was missing all my life. Little girls are the world's best secret. Don't tell anybody.

2.) Finding Brenda... that hussy... well, pretty much anywhere Lillie tosses her. Where Brenda is, the party has OBVIOUSLY started. Why am I humming Katy Perry's "Friday Night?"

3.) The pink camellia. Which unfortunately, like every other blooming bush/tree that I love, blooms and almost immediately sheds its petals and/or turns brown. If you'd like to get me something that lasts longer, I'm pretty partial to fuchsias.

  4.) Taking the kids to school and picking them up. Well... Most days. One or both of them are destined to whine and/or complain... but seriously... look at mah widdle scholars! This was obviously taken before the pollen blizzard of 2012 hit and we were allowed to enjoy a ride with the windows down. Don't let the hands holding her hair down fool you, she likes it.

 5.) A good mullet accompanied by a good jab at my Alabama AND West Virginia roots. Somebody has to.

 6.) This kid. THIS kid. This kid and all his questions, SO MANY QUESTIONS. I speak about him at every visit with my therapist (like y'all didn't know I needed one... HAH). And every visit she asks me how I'm going to handle him. She asks because he is me. He is so detail oriented but blinded by the big picture. He has huge dreams, but can't take the first step. He's got a big heart, but fumbles on all the awkward words falling out of his mouth. I want to squeeze him and sniff the warm cinnamon scent of him until he's too big to squeeze. I want to whisper into his ear all night that it's going to be ok, just keep breathing and loving like he does. I want to bubble wrap him and keep him safe from all the unknowns, because I'm scared too. A lot. Just like him. Just like me.

 7.) That man I married. He's handsome, funny, loving, passionate, and irritating as snot. I've watched as we've changed from a young couple, to newlyweds, to parents and now... here we are. I think marriages fail if you go in blindly assuming that the other person is always going to be the person you fell in love with. I know I'm not, and I'm grateful he stuck around when I had my moments... just like he's lucky I stuck to breaking plates and slamming pots around once the kids were in bed instead of walking away stating we had irreconcilable differences. Anyways, just look at those smiling eyes. Swoon.

 8.) Finding self portraits taken on my phone and not knowing when she could have taken them. The kids are so fascinated by the camera, and understandably so. I've only been shoving cameras in their faces since they day they were born. I spend more time deleting ceiling shots than I do editing. This one however, is all her. I can attest that instagram does in fact make you a photographer, you should see some of her final products.

 9.) Coffee ice cream or frozen yogurt... with lots of dark chocolate involved. My hands down, slap yo' mama favorite is a tie between our local Fro-Yo place's coffee yogurt with Ghirardelli's dark chocolate syrup on top (see above) or Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino Ice Cream straight from the container. If I could afford to be more frivolous in the budget, I would take the kids out for Fro-Yo more often. More for me than them, obviously.