my husband's an addict

A snippet of Lofton's and I's conversation this afternoon while I'm driving home.

Me: Did you go by Target and pick up Reese's medicine today?
Lofton: Yup.
Me: Did you use the coupon?
L: Sure did. The medicine cost five dollars and they gave me a ten dollar gift card so I used it to buy the oatmeal (for my son, the hoover vacuum) and the peroxide (for my husband who cut his finger very badly with on old pair of gardening snips) and the other stuff.
Me: What do you mean other stuff? All we needed was peroxide and oatmeal.
L: What I couldn't hear you? Did I say other stuff? {Clearly he forgot that I am both very intelligent and a teacher of many mischievous children.}
Me: Yes dear, you did. What did you buy?
L: Ummmmmmmm
Me: Did you buy chocolate? { the direct approach}
L: I'm sorry... I couldn't help it. The chocolate bunnies were calling me.
Me: Seriously? From across the store the bunnies were calling, "Lofton... please come eat me even though you know it will make you sick... I highly doubt it honey. I've never known the Easter bunny to be that sinister. You must have misunderstood."
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Chocolate Easter bunnies are to Lofton, what apples were to Adam. What I am going to do with him?

relaxed

post diaper change Sunday morning

His new favorite position. I'm not kidding. Saturday this is how he sat in his seat while Lofton ad I grocery shopped. It cracks me up because it's such a "Lofton" pose. I love that this Bunky man acts so much like his Daddy!

busy bees

I raced from school Friday to meet Lofton at the doctor. We are SO very thankful that Dr. Greer put Reese on some allergy medicine. For whatever reason, some doctors are hesitant to do so, but I did lots of research before we went on Friday and I was certain some type of daily allergy medicine was what we needed. Although Reese does not like how it tastes, he seems (after only three days) to be slightly less sneezy and wheezy!

Saturday Lofton had to work, so Bunky and I slept late and then had a yummy breakfast of oatmeal and pears. So yummy in fact, that after he ate he needed a nap- immediately! I turned around for just a minute to wash some bottles and this is what I found...

Lofton got off work early because of the weather, so we headed to a local nursery my hairdresser told me about and picked up some plants.

Today was spent gardening... I even gardened (with gloves on of course, I did just get my nails done yesterday!)!

Reese wanted to garden with us but it was really cold! Can you see him in the background? He's napping.

Bundled up in a onesie, pajamas with feet, and a hooded sweater to keep warm from the wind. Can you believe this sweet little man will be six months old in a few days?

spring has sprung

Spring has sprung in the Beasley house. Can you tell what we're growing?

I’m a little sad Spring Break is over, Reese and I had a lot of fun spending time together last week, BUT I’m really happy the three of us are home under the same roof with no trips planned anytime soon. Reese and I get lonely without Lofton. Here’s a quick recap of our adventure.

As you know, we headed home on Thursday. The car ride was an adventure to say the least. We stopped in Brewton for lunch with my dear friend Melissa. We met while Lofton and her husband Rigby were in forestry school together. They actually lived two doors down from us in Auburn. She and Rigby have a sweet little girl Ellie who is 21/2 and a brand new edition, Cole, who is three weeks younger than Bunky. I had such a great time catching up on their lives and visiting with Ellie. She has developed such a funny personality. I am under strict instructions not to return to see her without bubblegum- regular, not fruit flavored!

Reese and Ellie

Cole Henry

Once we made it home we spent lots of time just hanging out with the fam, plus my grandmother. She is staying with my parents for a little while. I feel spoiled. Usually I only see her once or twice a year—she came when Reese was born and I’ve seen her twice in the last few weeks. It’s been wonderful. She, Mom, Reese, and I went shopping on Friday. Reese was wonderfully behaved and I got him a LOT of spring clothes. This kid is growing like a weed! He is now eating sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, bananas, and pears. He eats the fruit in the mornings for breakfast with some oatmeal. His favorite is still the squash, unfortunately it makes him a little stopped up.

Saturday, sweet Emily came by to meet Reese. What a wonderful coincidence that she and I were in town at the same time. It’s rare that happens. We don’t see each other nearly as often as I’d like and I think about her whenever I talk about discovering I was pregnant. The weekend before Lofton and I found out, she and Pierce got married.

Sunday morning Bunky and I headed home. The iPod died- no Randy Travis. Needless to say our return trip was not fun. I had to implement the twenty minute rule three times.
{My twenty minute rule: If Reese cries for more than twenty minutes while I’m driving alone, I get off the interstate, climb in the backseat, and give him a little break before we continue.}

home sweet home.....

look heart, no hands

Reese and I are were going to take a blog vacation while we spent time in Pensacola but this story is too funny to not share immediately!
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Yesterday morning I packed the car full of all our "gear." That in itself was quite the adventure. Reese requires a lot of stuff- food, entertainment, bath things, etc...

I had carefully timed our departure to coincide with what i anticipated to be Reese's lengthy morning nap. We left at exactly 8:30a.m.. Being the genius that I am I KNEW that he was tired and would sleep until we got to Greenville, Alabama. I then planned to stop somewhere (no Mom, not on the side of the road, but thanks for the reminder of how unsafe that is) and feed him/let him stretch his legs.

My carefully crafted plan started beautifully. We made a quick pit stop at Chik-Fil-A for a large diet coke and hit the interstate. Reese was asleep before we made it to the Auburn exit (for you non Auburn people that's less than 10 miles). Unfortunately, he woke up a short 20 minutes later. Ironically as we passed the Shorter exit. He was content to sit and stare out the window for about ten minutes, then the shrieking started.

He screamed ALL THE WAY through the hell that is Montgomery traffic. All the while I kept talking to him, assuring him that he was fine and that "Mama is going to stop as soon as she can." As soon as she can was the Pintlala exit, about 25 minutes after the screaming ensued.

I hoped in the back seat and whipped him out of his seat, popped the top of a bottle, and stuck it in his mouth. He still would not stop screaming. Evidently, the prince has decided he doesn't drink cold bottles. I then laid him on the seat, opened a brand new container of formula, dug for a bottle, and made him a new, room temp bottle. He drank it in no time. I changed him and we talked HAPPILY for a few minutes before I had to put him back in his seat. Literally as I lowered his body he started screaming again. I really was left with no other option than to continue driving. We obviously couldn't stay at Exit 177 forever.

Your probably waiting for the funny part.... it's coming...

As I drive, Reese screams in the back, and I sing songs from the ipod. As we are nearing Exit 130, a Randy Travis song, "Look Heart, No Hands", comes on. The screams diminish to a whimper. After that song the next up is "Rehab" from Rihanna. The screams begin again. I flip back to Randy Travis. The screams once again diminish. By the third go round of "Look Heart, No Hands" he is asleep. I kid you not. It was unbelievable. We listened to it eight times before I decided he was napping deeply enough to move on to another song.

Of course I had to call Lofton. He was delighted that old country music is what put Reese to sleep. When Reese came home from the hospital Lofton would sing old George Strait songs to him when he rocked him. Clearly Reese remembered.

First on my shopping list this morning is a Randy Travis CD for the ride home. I'm going to need a little variety.

picture day

We took Reese to Sears today to have some pictures made by a "professional." I'm not sure why, I think I take pretty fabulous photos. Nonetheless, I carefully scheduled a photo time that did not conflict with napping or EATING. That time was 11:00a.m..

Long story short we arrived at the very small studio to a frazzled and very pregnant photographer trying to wrangle a family with SEVEN children. At this point Lofton was not there and I began to sweat. Large amounts of weird people (the mother wanted to talk to me and TOUCH Reese) make me nervous and I have a fear of small spaces/germs.

Lofton arrived just in time for what he thought was our SCHEDULED 11:00 photo shoot. He could tell from my face I was starting to panic. Needless to say, my scheduled time didn't really matter and Reese fell asleep on my shoulder. Not only did it take forever to snap photos of SEVEN children in perfectly ugly matching Easter outfits, it took an equally ridiculous amount of time to pick out which pictures to buy. Did she want pictures of all seven kids toghether? Just the girls? Just the boys? How many of each? Is 64 wallets enough? I'm not exaggerating... Lofton was about to explode. I should point out that the children were running around throwing blocks from the communal toy box at each other.

FINALLY the poor photographer was ready for us. Luckily Reese was easily roused from his nap and we took some super cute photos. I paid for whatever deal gave me the copyrights to the pictures-- so now I can print as many as I want, wherever I want. Below is one of my favorites. Although, this is kid is so darn cute it's really hard to pick!

dear mama

Dear Mama,

I really love my dinner of rice cereal with fruit, an ENTIRE container of squash, and....

my toes! They are super yummy!

love, Reese

G and Gran's house

Over the river and through the woods,

to G and Gran's house we go.....

We went to Lofton's Dad's this Saturday to visit for a little while. Reese had lots of fun showing off his new tricks!

It really pooped us out so then we watched some basketball with our G.

happy anniversary

Thirty one years ago today, on a Wednesday morning, in a small Mississippi town, two kids got hitched. They had only been dating a month (literally their first date was February 9th) and I'm fairly certain most people thought they were crazy!

My parents are unbelievable people. As a gal that's only been married a few years herself, I know I am blessed to have such incredible role models for my own marriage. I wouldn't say that I was looking for a husband in college, but I knew when I found THE ONE he'd be someone that was both my love mate and my best friend. I learned that from my parents. Lots of people think it's odd that Lofton and I do everything together- we grocery shop together, cook, clean, and parent Reese together -- that's our normal, because that's how I was raised. We took family grocery trips until I went to college! My parents are partners in everything and I just believe that's how a marriage should be.

When I was a little girl I thought it was gross to have parents as "in love" as mine were. It could be nauseating at times. Now I can only hope that in the year 2036 Lofton and I will love and respect each other as much as my parents still do.

Happy Anniversary, Mama and Daddy. Thanks for being great parents to Lofton, Jackson and I, and for being fantastic grandparents to Reese. You're the best and we wish you 31 more years of happiness!

This is the oldest picture I have of the two of them. It's from 1983.

Daddy's home

Woo-Hoo! Lofton is home! He picked up Reese today around lunch and when I got home from work they were both relaxing on the couch. We have had lots of fun playing this together this afternoon and I am eagerly anticipating getting some sleep tonight. It's also the start of my Spring Break. Thank heavens....

Reese and i were up all night with that stinkin croupy cough again. I am almost positive he has pollen allergies and so we will probably be back at Dr. Greer's on Monday for some much needed allergy medicine. I called Lofton this morning in tears! The tears were about 70% from exhaustion and 30% from frustration over Reese being sick again. I hate my baby doesn't feel well. It just breaks my heart. As you can see from the pictures, his cough has not dampened his playful nature. His new favorite thing to do is roll around in the bed with us. He still only rolls to the right... but we are working on it!

* For those astute blog readers who may have noticed the Strawberry Shortcake blanket in the above pictures. Yes, it still lives in the bed with me. And no, I don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon. Maybe, one day, if we have a daughter I MIGHT give it to her. Just maybe!

Also, I need to give a HUGE thanks to Ashley and Rich. They are amazing friends to us, but more than that, they love Reese like he is their own. We are so blessed to have you in our lives. You were so kind to take Reese to school while Lofton was gone so that I could get to work on time. WE LOVE YOU!

home alone

Reese and I are going on night two of having no Lofton around. We both miss him terribly.

I hate business trips. I also HATE being left alone. Lofton hasn't gone out of town in a long time though. His last work trip was in September so he just went for the day- in case I went into labor. Before that it was last Spring and my mom came to stay with me. This time, it's just me and my little man.

We've toughed it out. And I have tried very hard to remember to do all my chores and Lofton's. Everyone will be happy to know I have been feeding the dogs. I did get a little distracted last night and forget to feed Reese on time-- but don't worry, he let me know pretty quickly that I had messed up.

Lofton and I are not a couple that spends a lot of time apart. We do everything together, and have since we started dating. Now that we have Reese he just fits right in! Bunky and I are so excited that our daddy/husband will be back tomorrow afternoon! From the phone calls we have been getting, we are pretty sure he misses us too.

feeling good

Finally! Everyone in this house seems to be well-- at least for now.

Bunky's appetite has come roaring back so we are eating baby food for dinner again. We had to take a break last week when he was sick. If you didn't read my post on the joys of having a sick baby, you missed a good one! Lofton fed him green beans last night while I was at work. Reese kindly requested this morning to please not have to eat them again. They gave him horrible tummy issues... all night long. The mylicon could not even curb his gas. It was like sleeping with background noise last night. * Side note: Yes he is still sleeping with us. He's going to move back in his room on Friday when Lofton gets home from Atlanta.*

The green beans have been shelved in favor of sweet potatoes. Reese does really well on those and with his sensitive stomach I'm not visiting the green beans again for a few months!

In other news, Reese is rolling over! He can roll from his back to his tummy- and back again. The only problem? He only rolls to his right! So after a few rolls we have to pick him up and move him back to his starting place!

My sweet boys. Reese and I are really going to miss Lofton when he leaves tomorrow. I have been given very strict instructions to feed the dogs. You forget one time and they never let you live it down!

least favorite things

Two of my least favorite things are laundry and vomit-- not necessarily in that order. My dislike of laundry started quite a few years ago. See, growing up my mama did my laundry. When I went to college I was BLOWN away by the thought of having to take my clothes across the quad to the laundry mat. Are you kidding me? People really did that! Anyhoo, I made the trip from Auburn to Pensacola AT LEAST once a month so after my maiden voyage to the laundry mat I started loading up my clothes to take home with me. It worked perfectly, and my mom was delighted (You're laughing aren't you mom?) to wash all of my clothes for me. When I moved into the KD dorm my sweet roommate would do my laundry. And then I decided to get married. Did you know husbands actually think wives are supposed to wash clothes? I do attempt to do Lofton's laundry, but he doesn't exactly love how I do it. I get the clothes clean, that's all that matters.

Now for my dislike of vomit. Surely most everyone can agree that it's disgusting and after I tell you about our week I'm even more sure you'll agree. The deceptively cute baby pictured below has been full of yucky mucus left by his croup. He threw up on me, and our bed, three mornings this week. After I feed him in the mornings we hang out in bed for a little while before I dress him. At this point I'm already dressed for work. I then get him dressed for school. Three times this week I have initiated this process only to have projectile vomit come pouring out of this sweet baby. He also threw up in his bed twice. That means instead of wearing five outfits this week we each wore nine. I did a load of laundry every day this week. In fact, I washed Lofton and I's sheets four times. It has been out of control. Thankfully, knock on wood, he has not gotten sick today.

*As you can tell getting sick does nothing to dampen his jovial spirit. I found him laughing in bed, rolling around in yucky. This is when I was in the process of getting him clean and stripping his crib, yet again.

five months

Has it really been five months since this perfect little man came into our lives? Time is going so quickly…

Reese is changing everyday. I was going to say he is getting bigger everyday but that’s obviously a given. He is laughing and talking to us now! It is so funny to hear him laugh like an old man. We literally do anything we can to elicit that sweet sound. He is playing in his jumper and holding his head up steady. He isn’t quite jumping by himself but I’m sure that day isn’t far off. He wants to sit up so badly, but he just can’t do it yet! He tips forward.

I think he is almost ready to roll from his back to his belly. He can easily roll from his belly to his back- both ways, but in the last few days I’ve noticed him rolling almost from his back to his belly. Those broad shoulders keep him from making it the whole way.

Reese is also becoming so much more aware of his surroundings. He loves to watch the dogs. He wants to touch them when they come close enough—and grab their ears. Jake and Raleigh better watch out. When this kid gets mobile, they are in for it!

We still eat on a 6,10,2 schedule. I feed him about seven ounces in the morning when he gets up. He eats again around ten and then around two. We have been giving him a teensy bit of diluted white grape juice—mainly to moisten his throat from this croup. He eats a small (4-5 ounce) dinner bottle around 5:30 and then we feed him cereal around 6:15. He usually eats 1/1/2 Tablespoons mixed with water and half a container of sweet potatoes. Tonight I’m going to try green beans. Yummy!!! He takes his bedtime bottle about 8:15p.m. I would say he sleeps all night but this cough has been a nightmare on our sleep schedule. He tries to sleep all night!!!

The days go by so quickly during the week. I try to soak up every moment I can on the weekends. Lofton says Reese definitely loves his Mama more than his Daddy. I’m not so sure, Lofton’s a lot more fun to play with. But for now, I’ll take being the favorite. I’m anxiously awaiting Spring Break in two weeks so I have lots of extra time to play and cuddle!

snow bunky

Get it? Instead of snow bunny...

Don't worry. We only took Reese outside for a few minutes. I had to get a picture of his first snow! Lofton went back out this afternoon to play with the pups.