Happy Birthday to ME..

Well another year.. another year older. My Birthday was last Saturday.. I did have a fun birthday though, thanks to MJ.. He booked a wine tour with VIP Limo's in OKC and for them to take us to Stroud and Chandler to taste some wines.. It was a lot of fun. Chantry, Brandon, Mom, Lauren, and Kristen all went.. 1st Stop was Stableridge.. It was good wine and we had a lot of fun.. but that was it! All the rest of them were closed.. I have since told VIP Limo, that a "TOUR" is more than one.. and that they should probably check and see if wineries are actually open before they offer them as a TOUR on their site.. But whatever.. We had a good time anyway.. MJ stayed home with the girls.. Why you ask? Well 1) He doesn't drink 2) He doesn't love Limos and 3) He doesn't really like my friends and I together in a limo anyway, so it all worked out!

After the few weeks I had.. I needed a wine tour.. Its been pretty stressful. One of my good friends, and girls from our small group ended up having to have a C-section for her baby at 29 weeks.. Which is a Micro Preemie.. The whole thing has been a rollercoaster from thinking she was going to have to be on bed rest, to being monitored in the hospital, to having to have her baby.. Thankfully she is at home now and doing ok.. but baby is still in the NICU, and it hasn't been easy.. Shortly after she was born she had a Stage 4 Brain bleed, (Which is a big deal) And was having some breathing issues, stomach issues, heart issues.. Which weren't AS big.. but when you are that premature EVERYTHING becomes a big deal quickly..They also got the diagnosis that she had Down Syndrome.

I have been up with her as much as I can and trying to offer whatever help I can, because my heart just breaks for her and her sweet family. We don't know what the Lord has planned for this sweet baby, but we know he DOES have a plan, and God is good in all things.. so we just have to wait and be patient. The complications could range from Mild to Severe.. and they really won't know until she gets a lot older.. so we just pray and lift them up, and try to be wherever they need to be, and to be supportive.

This whole experience has been surreal for me.. because when people get pregnant, NORMALLY everything is fine.. but you just never know. I mean I was building TWO lives at once.. I didn't even know my body was capable of doing that! With my friend, it was a failed Placenta.. but no one knows WHY it failed.. or if it would fail again.. or what you could do to prevent it from failing.. I mean its all just a crap shoot. I know women have babies everyday and its usually fine, but when things like this happen it just really puts it all into perspective.. its little lives you are creating and any one little thing could go wrong and change that life.. or change your life.. I have felt so bad for my friend because she is now mourning the loss of a child she 'thought' she was going to have.. Not to say she isn't thrilled with the one she has, because she is.. but no one ever wants to think about their babies having to grow up in a world where hardships are going to constantly follow them.. and we never know when hardships are going to happen.. Terrible things happen in this world every day. Its scary to think about having babies in it sometimes.. but we just have to trust that God has a plan for our babies and for us. .

In other news with the girls.. LL has started talking more.. she is saying new things everyday.. She and Cross have been doing this thing where they both go "ahh Ahh Choo!" and pretend to sneeze.. LL has had a cough so when she coughs Cross says 'You ok Sissy?".. and LL says "I Ok".. its pretty cute.. But something that is NOT cute is them yelling to see who can be the loudest. NOT cute. LL has also taken to having a blanket with her at night.. I am not mad about this.. because I still have my blanket at night.. so don't judge us.

Cross has been doing funny things.. She is obsessed with wearing her Boots that Gigi got her.. and she is obsessed with her Giant.. Her Giant is a Grim Reaper. Yes, I know.. I know.. We went to Walmart and she saw a 12ft inflated Grim reaper and started referring to him as her Giant.. She didn't want to leave the isle.. just stare and talk to him. When we went home she kept asking "To go see her Giant at the Giant store".. When Gigi came up for my birthday party she told Gigi she wanted to go see her Giant.. so of course Gigi took her back to Walmart and they bought the giant.. So now we have a giant, in a box, in the kitchen.. we are waiting to air him up until we move to our new house.. So right now she just visits him in his box, kisses him, and offers him food and water.. What can I say.. this kid is weird.. I know she is, but she's mine..and hilarious.. and has a soft heart for the Grim Reaper!

Property Brothers, where are you??

So for the past few months.. we have been in the process of selling a house, and buying another one.. When we went into this little adventure we thought it would be made up of Rainbows, unicorns, beautiful houses, awesome sellers, and perfect houses.. I can now tell you that it is made up of NONE of those things...

We sold our house Quickly.. 3 weeks to be exact.. We have an amazing realtor, Laura Feix from Harris Realty, who I have started to feel sorry for on a daily basis for having to deal with us, but she has stuck it through with us, and we are super thankful for that.. So.. We didn't really want to look at a TON of houses before we sold ours for fear that the other houses would sell and then we would be sad that we didn't get to pick them.. So we really didn't start looking hard core for a house until Late July.. We figured a 60 day close on our house would give us PLENTY of time to find another one... After all, we had already found several that we liked anyway, how hard could it be? Um Very..

Why you ask? Well.. because as awesome as MJ and I are.. We are really not built for house buying.. I'm not built for long term looking..and MJ is not built for negotiations.. This does NOT make a great buying team, lol.. We also don't come at things the same way.. so I'm looking at 1970's houses with waterfalls in their bathrooms thinking "Um, this is incredible!".. and MJ is thinking.. "You have lost your mind" while he is oogling a 3 car garage, theater room, or something new and shiny.. We don't really even agree on what KIND of houses we like.. We don't really know WHERE we want to be.. and HOW MUCH we want to spend... Once again, pray for Laura.

For those of you who don't know.. We bought our first house when it was almost finished.. Just finished enough where we got to pick out the carpet, fixtures, tile, paint, etc.. Guess how much I did of this? Yup. NONE. I hate stuff like that.. I don't care about paint or tile, and I dang sure don't care about grout color.. MJ, On the other hand, LOVES stuff like this.. and he did an amazing job with our house. Awesome tile, paint colors, backsplash, etc.. I mean its awesome.. thats why we sold it in 3 weeks! I was smart for leaving this to him, because I probably would have picked a rainbow Tile with crystals sparkling on top of it, and a hand painted mural of Roy Orbison.. Probably not great for resale value.. but anyway.. So he does all that and it turns out awesome.. The only thing I pick for the house? Bling Knobs for my Cabinet. They are legit. I love them.. and I'm taking them with me to the new house. That was my ONE thing.. Probably for the best..

So the first offer we made didn't agree to what we asked for.. and we walked.. only for them to come back and agree to it later, and us to decide we didn't want to spend that much money.. The 2nd offer we made was just kinda weird.. WE couldn't get the info we wanted, and they couldn't get the price they wanted.. and it made us all feel uneasy, so we walked..

The 3rd offer we made the seller decided he was not down to pay any closing costs. Like Any.. Well that was obviously not workable for us, so we even offered him MORE than he had the house listed for.. He STILL said no.. even though the house had been on the market for a LONG time..and he had no other offers.. Still said No.. So at this point.. I'm throwing money at people screaming "SELL ME A HOUSE! And praying Laura doesn't walk out the door.. But like I said, she's awesome.. so she only continued to power through with us, pray with us, and fight the good fight!! At this point I'm also thinking its a shame that Property Brothers, or Fixer Upper is not ringing me on the phone.. then I remember that I didn't really apply to be on that show.. so there's that..


Finally.. Finally... We came back to a house.. Agreed on a house.. because at this point.. we are truly running out of time. We close on our house Sept 25, and you have to do inspections, appraisals, blah blah.. so we literally had 0 days left.. BUT.... We have a house!!!! And its close to everything we do in life..church.. work..friends, etc.., With wood floors, a field for the dogs, more space... And yes, MJ got the 3 car garage, and No, I don't have a waterfall for a bathtub.. boo.. But...Marriage is all about compromise folks.. So thank you so much to Laura Feix.. We could not have done this, or would have wanted to do this without her.. She's been super helpful throughout this process, and we have appreciated her honest opinions and the fact that she always had our best interest in mind.

Do also want to give special Shout out to our Awesome Mortgage person, Ces Vorse at 1st Mortgage Company.. Love her and couldn't have done this without her either.. She is EXCELLENT at her job.. and fabulous... which are 2 great qualities! We have some awesome ladies in our life! So with that being said.. We are moving on up! I'll have more details on the house and such at a later date..

In other sad news.. My friend Shelly died last week. She was only 46 years old. I've known her since 2005 and we have had a lot.. LOT of fun together.. We went to college together, worked in radio together, and attended MANY a concert together.. We even managed to make it to Hawaii!! I think she had been sick for awhile, but no one really knew that..and I will say that she certainly went out with a bang.. Taking some trips to New Orleans, awesome concerts and such.. She was truly the life of the Party and she always readily accepted new friends and made them feel welcome. She was a gem, and I'll really miss her smile. RIP Shell.. I know you'll be throwing awesome parties in Heaven, and you'll be glad to hug your mama again. Thanks for all the good times.