Time---would you just slow down a little bit?

Here are some pictures I just took the other day. I can not believe how fast time flies and how quickly my baby boy is growing!

Time would you please just slow down a little bit?

The Apple Did Not Fall Far From The Tree

If you know Russ then I really do not need to explain anything concerning this picture of Analayne on a creeper under our car. The apple did not fall far from the tree!

The pink shotgun

IF you disappear and leave Analayne with daddy for even just a minute (or 6 minutes)at Opry Mills mall you might return to find Analayne completely in awe of a pink pop air shot-gun. As I returned from my 6 minute (or 15 minute) Carters, Gymboree speed shopping trip I could hear the air-pops as I entered Bass Pro Shop. She is her daddy's girl!

The Famous Painting

Have I ever mentioned that my child is creative (and silly, and spunky, and full of tenacity--- and that I love this about her?) Well, I do...just sayin!

Last week I picked Analayne up from school and she had painted a picture. The teacher asked her the open ended question, "tell me about your painting" and then wrote her exact reply on the paper. The reply was, "my daddy on a donkey." Why yes... yes of course you painted a picture of daddy riding a donkey. By the way...daddy has never taken a ride on a donkey---but that is beside the point. When I sincerely complimented Analayne on her painting she replied "it was really hard to paint. I did a good job." I replied, I know you did awesome. I bet it was hard to paint. I laugh myself silly every time I look at the picture but I LOVE IT. Daddy loves the picture too and he was so proud that she painted a picture of him. I am saving this picture forever. At our house this picture is famous. The painting is hanging on our magnetic door where everyone can see it and who knows someday as a result of my blog posting it might be famous world-wide right?

Going to Preschool

In June I made the mistake of telling the most social child ever that she would begin preschool in the fall. It was definitely a mistake to begin preparing her so early because I would conservatively estimate that she asked me no less than 3,000 times if she would be going to school "today?" Each day you can imagine my secretive rolling eyes as I patiently and gently replied, "no not today." However, on September 7th the day finally arrived and I helped Analayne get dressed, pack her lunch, get her backpack ready and load into the car for her first day at preschool. I can truly say that I was excited for her. As I have mentioned before this kid is full of spunk and tenacity (have I mentioned that I LOVE this about her?) and I know this year is going to be just great for her. Her excitement about her learning environment is awesome! We are now 3 weeks into the school year and she is just soaking up every thing. She has new stories to tell me everyday. She especially loves the class pet (a hermit crab named Herbby) and thus far I am pretty sure she is a fan of the playground...specifically the sand. I always know she has been in the sand box when she gets into the car, takes her shoes off and pours some sand out. It took me two days to realize that the smarter thing to do would be emptying her shoes before we got in the car! Here are some pics of the first day of school.

No Gold or Silver Could Make You Feel This Powerful...

Check out our family bracelets Analayne made us. I don't know about you but you start feeling rather powerful when everyone has a fancy bracelet on. I am thinking about wearing my bracelet everyday!

My Dear Analayne

My Dearest Daughter,

Another year has flown by and my how you have grown. You are 4 years old now! I am constantly amazed by you and your spunk, creativity and sweetness. Watching you grow and learn is a blessing. I feel so blessed that God has entrusted me to be your mommy and honestly that is not something I take lightly. I truly feel that motherhood is God’s calling on my life and despite our most difficult days I still cherish it all. Sometimes I think about how much I love you and I am still amazed that Our Heavenly Father loves you even more than I could ever imagine.

I remember the day you were born just as if it had happened yesterday. I remember the long (oh so very long natural labor) but my most vivid memory was when they placed you in my arms with your eyes fixated on me and your mouth wide open. I remember the first night in the hospital after you were born; it was about 2:00am and suddenly I awoke and headed to the nursery to check on you. There you were wide awake, laying in your bassinette with your gigantic blue eyes scanning your surroundings. You were just a few hours old and nonetheless you were already embracing life, taking it all in.

This year your baby brother, Leighton has entered our world. My how you love him, watch out for him, try to protect him and in your own way you advocate for him. Just the other day as I was bathing you both you said, “Mom, Leighton told me a secret.” I replied, “Well, what did he tell you?” You said, “He wants some pudding and some ice-cream.” I thought to myself, why yes… I am sure he does. The next day as Leighton was napping you said, “Mom, I don’t like to sleep. I like it when the sun comes up and we get out of bed.” Once again, I thought to myself, why yes… you certainly do! However, in my sleep deprived way I love that about you. You love life and you love people. You take life on full heartedly and I love that about you. You don’t want to miss a moment and I don’t want to miss it either.

I love being your mother. Some days I am challenged and stretched more than you could ever understand but the happiness and joy that you add to my life is worth every bit. I love you. Happy Birthday!

(letter written July 2009)

A Horse is a Horse...Unless of course its a Donkey!

Have I ever mentioned that my daughter likes horses? Let me re-phrase that...my daughter loves horses. For what seems like forever she has been infatuated with equine! She even has a stuffed horse that she takes almost everywhere with her (his name is Bulls Eye). This summer the Ellington Agricultural Center has had some special programs where families could come and visit and learn about horses and donkeys. One Saturday they even had a program where the police horses were available for the children to interact with and I must say that has been a big highlight for Analayne! The first Saturday program we went to was all about horses. The next Saturday the focus was donkeys. I forgot my camera on the first outing so I only have pictures of her with the donkeys. However, for her birthday Mimi and Popa have given her a gift certificate for a horse back ride so rest assurred as soon as we go for this adventure I will post some new pics!

The Future is Bright...

Lately Analayne is really into playing doctor and beauty parlor --- ON Leighton! He is such a willing (uuuhhhh...forced) patient/candidate. Occasionally, she will use her doll in addition to Leighton, but in all honestly Analayne tries hard to be a very gentle big sister! Leighton is SO intrigued by her. Leighton rarely takes his eyes off of Analayne (not sure if this is for entertainment purposes or because he feels safer knowing her whereabouts!) In general, he just lets her do her thing and he typically smiles and coos at her. Yea-- for a relatively easy going baby. I am just glad that she put the cotton in the baby dolls mouth instead of Leighton's!

The Secret Is Out...

Those of you that know me well understand my "germ phobia" and "organizational methods." Really, I have had these "issues" for nearly as long as I can ever remember. However, I have adapted my personal methods for dealing with them, especially since having my children. I still carry sanitizing wipes in my purse for the public restrooms and a small bottle of hand sanitizer for the wee little hands that must touch everything, but most of the other random issues I have are slowly diminishing. For instance, my backyard is fenced in and I have several toys that are for the "yard only." At one point in my life I would have commented that it is tacky to have stuff strewn across your yard. I don't so much care about that anymore! Well, recently Analayne took a drinkable yogurt outside and apparently her curiosity got the best of her because she decided to pour her drink down the tubes of one of her toys. A few days prior she and her friend poured sand down the tubes so you can only imagine what it looked like when I walked out the back patio and saw what she had done. Whew--Hoo... sand and yogurt all mixed together in the 100 degree heat! The old me would have taken it apart and got the hose out and sprayed the toy clean. The new and too tired to really care "me" gave her a bottle of cleaner some paper towels and let her do her best to clean it herself. In addition, I saw that a storm was on the horizon so I instructed her to drag it into the yard and told her we were going to let the rain wash it off. She thought that was a cool suggestion so once inside she stood at the door and watched the yogurt get washed off her toy. I ended up with a clean toy and a child that was entertained during the entire storm! Shhhh... don't let my secret out!

Mothers Day 2009

I am one PROUD and Happy Momma!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Iv'e Got 3 Words For You....Spirited, Tenacity & Spunk

I love Analayne. I love the way she lives life with spirit, tenacity and spunk. She embraces each moment, lives freely and she has FUN. Analayne wants to "feel" everything! Don't get me wrong...she needs some down time but "less is more" for Analayne (unless of course you are serving up ice cream).

You see I first realized that Analayne would be the type of child to want to "capture" each moment and embrace the day about 7 hours after I delivered her. It was about 2:00 in the morning, Russ was asleep in our tiny hospital room and despite my 18+ hours of NATURAL labor I could not sleep. Analayne was in the nursery and I just wanted to see her. I walked into the nursery and quickly spotted her bassinet. There she was just a few hours old, lying there beautiful as she could be...with her eyes wide open, looking around. I thought to myself..."I thought a newborn would be asleep?" I then quickly eyed the other babies in the nursery and saw that they were indeed ALL asleep and it was at that moment that I thought, this girl is full of life and I was RIGHT.

At almost 4 years of age I see my daughter living life to its fullest. Happy, singing, talking, dancing, being silly, never meeting a stranger.... LIVING each day with anticipation and tenacity! This is just Analayne's personality. She is a "people person." Analayne gets up early and likes to go to bed late. She can outlast and outplay both me and her daddy! She inspires me and I love how God gave us a daughter that is SO very different from me. As her mom, I get frustrated with her energy sometimes but in all honesty I want to to bottle up some of her cheerful spunk, tenacity and spontaneity for myself.

Well, that is after I contemplate the idea for a week, think through all the pro's and cons and then make a list of all actions involved in accomplishing the aforementioned task!

Enjoy some of our latest pics that capture just a glimpse of the REAL Analayne!

How many nick names can you give a baby?

Sweet Pea, Doodle, Baby, Cry Baby, Little Buddy and Crank are all "names" we (I) use when referring to Leighton. Don't you just love to make up names to call a sweet little baby? I think my favorite might just be "little buddy" because that is the name that Analayne started using on her own and it is just sheer, sweetness to hear her talking to Leighton and refer to him as her, "little buddy." Crank is the nickname that Mimi started in reference to Leighton's funny cranking noises he makes as he gears up for a good cry!

Analayne still gets confused and says things to Leighton like, "Hi, sissy." I then say, "Analayne you are the "sissy" he is your brother." She knows she is the sister and therefore would correct herself. However, lately I think she is giving up on being so gender specific because I noticed she is now just going up to him and saying, "Hi little baby."

Falling Into The Fountain

If you know my daughter this might not come as much of a surprise to you! On Sunday following our Sunday morning worship Analayne was outside the theater playing around the large fountain with her dad and another little boy while I was at home caring for our new baby. Playing around the fountain has been a highlight of Sunday for the past two years but apparently yesterday she took a spill into the water. Russ was right there with her and he just grabbed her out but it all happened so fast that she had been totally immersed in the water and was soaking wet from head to toe. I guess is was good that I was not there because I don't respond to these "incidents" as well (calmly as daddy does). Anyway, since Russ wanted to go eat some lunch with Mimi and Papa and Analayne was soaking wet he took her to the store to buy new clothes and shoes so she would have something warm and dry to wear.

Since he does not do any of the shopping in our household he really had no idea what size she wore and I don't think he wanted to make any phone calls to me for assistance so he got the sales lady to assist and ended up with a size 6X sweat suit from the clearance area and some size 6 underwear. He then headed to the shoe aisle and against good discretion he let her pick out the shoes. She picked out some ultra glittery, light-up Strawberry Shortcake Velcro tennis shoes. My personal opinion is they are hideous but Analayne loves them and is so proud of them so I have actually grown to like them a little bit.

I asked Analayne if maybe we should not play up around the fountain anymore and she said, "no I am not going to run around the fountain "ANNNNNYYYYYMORE." She then went on to say, "thank you daddy for getting me out of the water." Even when he was putting her to bed last night she was thanking him for helping her.

As parents we can't really be upset. We all learned a lesson and out of the 3 of us, maybe I learned the most.

1. Accidents happen and you have to LET IT GO. You can choose to make it positive!
2. Tacky,glitter shoes become a little "cuter" when you little girl loves them.
3. If you swear you will never do something.... you will.
4. Clothes that are too big are okay when daddy picked them out and enjoyed doing so.

Check out the designer "kicks" that Analayne will be sporting when she plays outside or is riding her tricycle!

We have our princess....now we have our prince!

Hello Friends and Family. Meet our new baby boy, Leighton! After being induced 7 days after my due date he was born on March 27th at 5:12 pm. We are adjusting to our new family of 4 and I can easily say that Leighton is proving to be a sweet cuddle bug. He wants to be fed and he wants me to hold him (I'll take it)...

Enjoy the pictures,

One very in love mommy of TWO!

Freedom Rings

For about the past year Analayne's bedtime has been loosely formed at our house. She would go to bed anywhere between 9:30-10:00pm but would take a nap for almost 2 hours each afternoon. The schedule worked but we were pulling our hair out at night because the late night bedtime was about more than we could handle. Well, I knew that with baby #2 coming very soon her sleep schedule was about to get blown out of the water. In addition, I was keeping in mind that the preschool program we have her enrolled in for the fall does not schedule a nap time, so I should probably start letting her skip the nap and try to get her bedtime to a more REASONABLE hour!

So I talked to Russ about the situation and he agreed that more time at night would be a big blessing for us both and that we should try a new schedule. One of the downfalls to her going to bed early is that in the spring/summer/early fall months Analayne will have very limited time with her dad during his work week because he works late (which is really the reason we had the later bedtime to begin with).

Despite this we decided our no nap decision would be best. This is our first week with our "new schedule" and it is working for us. However, every day Analayne still falls asleep for a cat-nap sometime in the afternoon. Sometimes the nap occurs in the car and sometimes she just falls out on the floor wherever she is at the time. Today she climbed under the office desk! She usually sleep for 30-45 minutes and then wakes up ready to go but that's okay, its working and every night around 8:30 I can't help but think.... Freedom Rings!

Check out her sleeping arrangement from today.

The Trumpets

A week or so ago I got out the dreaded Medula pump in preparation for baby Leighton's arrival. It dawned on me that I probably needed to get it out and do a good cleaning of all the parts and accessories and make sure it worked perfectly.

Since I have a very observant and bright 3 and a half year old...she helped. She helped and when I say helped I am using that term loosely (very loosely). Nonetheless, as always she had me laughing hysterically almost the entire time we worked. She had no idea what the pump was or what it was used for, so of course I had to sit down with her and explain. She thought the cone shaped pieces were trumpets and began blowing into them make trumpet noises! While sitting at the kitchen table, I began telling her about "chesties" (she already knew all about her chesties) but I went on to tell her that when you area mommy your chesties make milk. Now that statement surely did get her attention (probably got your attention too!) Ever since that day a week or so ago she reminds me almost every day that when she is a mommy she will have chesties for the trumpets too. I can't wait till she is older to tell her of this story. In the meantime I think she will be a well prepared sister for the baby's arrival.

Big Words for a Big Girl

Analayne loves to use big words and her vocabulary is exploding. Here are some recent words she has incorporated into her daily language.

Mimi: Analayne where do you live?
A: Montana

Me: Analayne, I heard you played with Mrs. Ginger's dog yesterday. What was the dogs name?
A: Archeologist

Of course some of her other favorite topics to discuss include anything "stinky" or any sentence she can squeeze the word "poop" into.

Just last week I said, "I am pooped" (I accidently said this...not thinking anything of it and after I realized it caught her attention I quickly said, sometimes adults say this when they feel really tired). Now I have a 3 year old that goes around saying, "I'm pooped because I'm tired."

Oh the joys...more to come soon!

Christmas Does Not Really End...

We had such a great Christmas this year. The excitement at our house was off the charts and I must say that this Lackey household is blessed! I know a certain 3 year old who should never ever tell me that she is bored because I can locate about a million fun and entertaining toys for her to play with. We celebrated Christmas beginning on Christmas Eve morning by going to Gob and Minnie's house for breakfast and family gift opening. Then that evening we went to our church's candle light service, which helped to definitely remind us all of the true meaning of Christmas. On Christmas morning we played with all the fun things Santa brought and then Mimi, Poppa, G-pop and Gigi came over to our house for breakfast and we opened more gifts. On Christmas night we went to Uncle Mike and Aunt Kay's house for the Christmas family fun night and had a blast there too!

Despite the fact that December 25th is over I am reminded everyday of the fun we have had. Analayne is still singing Christmas carols and telling me about baby Jesus and how Mary had a baby just like mommy is having a baby. What I love is that I always respond to her by saying, well mommy is having a baby but the angel did not come to mommy and mommy is not naming the baby Jesus. By the way in case you have not heard, we are naming our baby Leighton (pronounced Ley-ton). Only 7 more weeks to go --- Yippee! Below are some pictures from our Christmas season.