A Ponytail!

Can you believe it? I was SHOCKED! I was messing around with Giuliana this morning and thought for sure her hair would not go up into a pony. I am glad to say I was WRONG!!




I took her to go get her hair cut this morning, and I got mine cut as well. I am glad we had some McDonalds to keep her busy while It was my turn to get my hair cut.




We didn't do much else today, kind of a lazy day. But it was a nice one. We did some playing and some singing.



We also went through 2 outfits today, and 2 pairs of PJs lol.

Matilda Jane Blog

http://www.matildajane.typepad.com/

Denise was kind enough to feature Giuliana's picture on it last night. The picture of her that she posted is down below and one of my all time fave art fair pieces!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Smiles @ 6:30 am

This little girl is just as happy as she can be at 6:30am when I wake her up and get her ready for school. I love that! I am not a morning person by nature but over the past few years I have learned that it starts the day off better if you are smiling and being kind to people in the morning. So, I have adopted that. Here are 2 of Giuliana this morning. Nothing fancy, but look at her excitement. I love it!




Shes so cute. I am one proud Momma that's for sure!!

It was a GOOD mail day :)

Know why? Because my 1st box came from the show I did on the 1st. Matilda Jane, of course. As if I would buy anything else?!?! I know, I know, I should really branch out, but I just really love the stuff and Giuliana seems to as well. I love all of the stuff we got, but then again, I knew I would. I don't think I'll be exchanging anything except the 1 pair of ruffles, if I can get a pair of 18s that is. The 2s seem to be running a tad long. There were more clothes, but we'll have to save them for another day because she was done. Ah well, without further delay, here are the pictures her highness was kind enough to let me snap..



Doesn't she look cute here? I love this outfit and it was totally on accident. I would have never thought to put these 2 together, but it works!


Can we all please take a moment to notice the PHONES on this dress :D I wonder why I got her this dress hahah!

Sunday Afternoon Ice Cream

Before Giuliana laid down for her nap this afternoon she was requesting that we go for Ice Cream- really she was requesting I TAKE her for ice cream, but whatever. I told her we would go after she took her nap. She promptly said "No, no nite nite me" but with in 5 minutes she was asleep in the backseat of the car. So we came home and I laid her down, and she slept for 4 hrs. But remember, she wasn't tired. HAH! Yeah right. When she got up, I stayed true to my promise, even though she had forgotten it all together. I got her dressed in one of my fave play dresses I picked up from target and I added the perfect accessory.. a bow from Aunt Carol!! I love that she makes bows for Giuliana, and they are always so well made.



At this point she decided it was to much work to use the spoon so she decided she would just bite into it.. but then she hurt her teeth with the cold..so she went back to the spoon.. thank goodness!!




Needless to say, it looks like she enjoyed her cotton candy flavored ice cream :)

Peace & Quiet

It's what I have had a lot of the past week. With Clara passing Chuck and Darlene were away with the rest of the family in Ohio getting all of her arrangements together and burying her next to her husband, John, who passed before her. I was able to stay at their house, and tend to Mr. Khat while they were gone. Yesterday morning before the neighborhood awoke I took Giuliana outside to take some pictures. I need more practice with my camera, and I don't like a lot of people watching me all the time :D

Anyhow, these were the best ones I got.

I really like this peasant top and it looks cute with these pants- but I liked the peasant more underneath the knot dress, so I think that's prob how she will wear it most of the time.


She wanted to smell the flowers, and then she turned around and next thing I knew she had ..


picked me a flower !! She was so cute she told me " I pick flowers Momma, I love you much" It was cute. I almost fell over laughing.


I taught her how to say "Spin Spin Sugar" while she twirls and that's what she was doing here.


And last but not least, even though shes not looking, it's my fave. The lighting and everything.. I don't know, she looks like an Angel to me.

A Little Matilda Jane Love!

I got a small box in the mail today, and Giuliana let me try on a few little goodies, but not much. I was also running out of light, and these are unedited because I'm on my lap top... But anyway, just something to post...




The pants I already had, but I hadn't been able to find the right color "white" to go with them, so they have sat in the closet for a few months. I am glad to say we have a shirt to match that is the right color off white :D





These are both new, and I hadn't planned on having her wear them together, but It was the easiest way to check the fit and so I put them on together haha :)

By the way, if you are wondering what she is looking at, and freaking out about , it's the squirrels up in the trees behind me!

Just 2 pictures

Because it's been a long day. Clara passed away. I'll say more about it all later, but for tonight, just 2 pictures.

First up is Giuliana and Pop Pop enjoying some "Vitamin M&M" out on the back porch Saturday night.


Next is Giuliana in my Mother's office- she was pretending to be my Mother hard at work.. and I was trying on a skirt I got in the mail last week from Matilda Jane :) I love it, so bright, colorful, and very SPRING!

2 year + 15 days old

Today was a day I had both dread, and looked forward to. It's hard to really explain why. I guess you'll just have to kinda figure out what I mean and bare with me. I had hoped to write something a little more eloquent this evening, but really, the words escape me tonight. I'm a little to emotional to be eloquent I suppose.

Today Giuliana is 2 years and 15 days old. I normally wouldn't be aware of how many days old she is. I stopped counting the days once she reached a 1 month old. But today is a little different. Today was a day I knew would come, long before she was ever even born. Today Giuliana is the EXACT same age that her brother Vance was when he passed away.


I dreaded this day, for obvious reasons. Today was the day I would be looking at a child, full of life, just like Vance was at her age. I would be looking into the eyes of a child who shared the same Father, and a lot of the same personality and physical traits. I would see EXACTLY how fast 2 years can go by before you knew it. I also knew that today I would be staring a little girl who did not have a Big Brother, but a Guardian Angel instead.

I said at the beginning of this post that I had also looked forward to this day, and that reason is not so obvious. You see, in the back of my mind, the fear has always been there. The fear that something would happen to my baby too, or that someone would hurt her the way they had Vance. For me, this day is sort of like a turning point. Today will come to and end, and tomorrow, my baby will still be here. The fear that something will (or could) happen to her will always be with me, but I am hoping that it becomes less and less evident in my every day decisions.



Child Abuse and Domestic Violence needs to stop. It's a simple statement, but if you really think about it, it should sound powerful. INNOCENT women, children and babies die each day because of it. Just walk away. Everyone loses their cool, even me. But walk away. NEVER hit another person, let alone a 2 year old toddler. There is no excuse, no reason. EVER.

At some point we are all held accountable for our actions in this world, and the man that killed Vance will be held accountable for his as well. His lousy jail sentence is coming to an end and he will be able to rejoin this world & his family ... But what about Vance? He doesn't get to come back from Heaven, so why should this guy get to go anywhere but Hell? It's just not right. Just think about that for a second...


I only have one question I'd personally like to ask the man who killed Vance 4 years ago and it is this : What kind of man does that make you if you beat up on a 2 year child??





PS: These kind of pictures I am posting tonight are the ONLY kind of pictures Giuliana and Vance will ever have together.

Bright & Colorful

I love Bright & Colorful clothes. Not on me, of course. But on children. My Step Mother never let me wear dark colored clothes growing up, I of course rebeled. But I get it now. Little girls LOOK like little girls when they are all dressed in BRIGHT colors, funky shapes, and even funky pants. I really dont think Giuliana owns anything darker than brown, and certainly dosnt own anything thats black except 2 pairs of shoes. Me on the otherhand, I own lots of black. But Im an adult, and black is slimming, and always looks nice no matter what the occasion is.



I mean, seriuosly, whats not to love about this outfit? It's perfect for Giuliana. It may not be YOUR style, but you have to admit (even if you only admit it to yourself), It is Giuliana's style. She ROCKS her Matilda Jane like no other!

Look at these two kiddos, they are second cousins. His name is Michael, and he is my cousin Sheena's son. How cute are they? I loved watching them play, Giuliana was so gentle with him, and he just followed her around. Here they were playing hide-n-seek in her closet (Well, one of them anyway)



And then of course one of MDR III by himself.. Yes, that's what I call him, it's his intials. I'm either calling him MDR or Russell (which is his last name and what I call his Father). His Mother prefers I call him MDR :D So, MDR it is!

See MY Daddy!

When I picked Giuliana up from school tonight I asked her if she wanted to go to the park and see Daddy. To which she promptly replied "See MY Daddy!" at the top of her lungs. Then she turned around to her friends at school and said "Bye, See Daddy!" and walked out of the class room. It was cute. The whole way to the park when she would break away from Abby In Wonderland on her DVD player she would ask about Daddy and where he was. I think that was her way of telling me that I wasn't driving fast enough. Anyway, these are a few of the pictures I took of them tonight. It was a lot of fun watching them two play. What you can't see from these photos is how absolutely DIRTY she ended up. Oh well. She got a bath when we got home!

Daddy picked up "De Donald's" for her on his way to the park to meet us

The last picture I have of them two swinging together she was about a 2 weeks old, if that.


I LOVE these last two pictures. In the one she's crawling towards us through a tube on the play ground and in the last picture they were saying " 1...2....3" before they BOTH slid down the slide :D

"The NANA"

Well, tonight, The Nana, FINALLY called me after a week long sabbatical and asked me "Why are there no pictures of Nana and Giuliana on your BLOG?!?!?!" I laughed. I told her that there were. I was sure of it. I came home, looked through the blog, and found that there were no pictures of the Nana and Giuliana posted. WHOOPS! My bad. So, tonight's post is all about Nana & Giuliana.

Lori is a great person, and a wonderful Nana (Not Grandmother) to Giuliana. She loves Giuliana, and more importantly, Giuliana loves her too. It's sweet to watch them two together. They argue from time to time, but that's what happens. More often than not Nana is sneaking cookies, M's (M&Ms to most people), or Strawberry bars. Lori spends a lot of time teaching Giuliana the most important lessons in life :

How To Shop & Spend Pop-Pop's Money :D





Nana also takes Giuliana on trips to the beach, and even lets her Momma tag a long for the ride. These pictures I am posting tonight were all taken in Mexico Beach last summer. It's one of the best vacations I have ever had, and truly one of the only ones I think I have ever actually RELAXED during.

(Giuliana MUST see me do this quite often, what do you think?)

Do you know WHY I got to relax while I was in Mexico Beach?? BECAUSE the NANA was there!! You see, when Nana is around, she pretty much takes charge. She's a "take charge kinda girl" and it's sometimes nice to have someone OTHER than myself run and chase after Giuliana.

Everyone should get themselves a Nana, if you're lucky, you'll get one HALF a good as Giuliana's Nana. But then again, Every Nana should have a Giuliana, and I surely know that there is but just ONE of those ;)


So, Nana, How did I do? You have MADE it to the blog. Now you're famous. There was a lot more I wanted to say, some details I wanted to go into. But I'll skip it for tonight. I don't want you to cry when you read this, because you would have ;)

"Meeesha"

Yep! That's right folks, Giuliana tried to say Mitra tonight. Thankfully she was unaware of what she was saying, and who she was actually calling. But none the less, she did try. When I asked her what my name was, she said "Momma!" but she seemed some what confused as to why my Mother was calling me "Meessha" lol.

Sunday was pretty low-key for us today. We BOTH slept in till 10am which was amazing. We hung out together at the house for a bit and then got cleaned up and went to Grammy's house.



Some of these pictures I took here at the house before we left and some I took at Grammys house out by the pool. I love this top, so much. It's so girly and SPRING!

I of course was afraid she was going to fall in the pool, but she insisted on swinging her little heart out on the railing...thankfully there was no swimming... for either of us..

A little FASHION SHOW :D

I got my "Blog Win" yesterday from Matilda Jane. Denise does contests on her blog from time to time, and I won one of them a few weeks ago. Any how, I got the dress yesterday in the mail. Oh how I love brown UPS boxes with Matilda Jane stickers on them!! I even love it when I'm not sure WHATS inside of it :D I got a dress from fall that I wanted for Giuliana because its ALL blue, and it's got the leopard fabric I like so much. I'll be saving it for this fall, but I wanted to try it on to see how it looked on her.. She was being a ham this morning... can't you tell?



I also tried on some of the Anticipation stuff that came last week.. I love this stuff. The coloring is GREAT for Giuliana, and so beautiful.

There is something about this photo that jumps out at me. I am not sure what it is, it's not her eyes. Although they are beautiful, it's not what "calls to me " from this photo. Maybe it's the peace I SEE in her eyes. I don't know. But I do love this picture.





And then last but not least.. here is what she actually wore today.. Its GiGi and MiMi before we took her to McDonald's for lunch :D




Oh yeah, and before I forget.. Giuliana hugged me today and said " I love you pieces" which means she's trying to say what I say all the time, which is " I love you to pieces". I won't lie. I almost cried when she said that to me. She's such a sweet baby.