Happy Birthday Savannah Grace

So I stole this idea from Emily's blog, I actually borrow a lot of ideas from her blog, she has been doing this for a bit longer than me, so it's nice to use some of her ideas to spruce up my blog.  Anywho, for her son's birthday she wrote a letter to him on her blog. I agree that years from now it will be much easier to read the blog books that I have made instead of a bunch of old cards. So here we go!

Gracie,


Oh my precious baby girl. God knows that before your presence was even known to your daddy and I you were making big and loud statements without any words! I remember thinking I had food poisoning the days before I realized I was pregnant, because I was so sick. Well, that sickness went through the entire pregnancy, up until labor!

You were a little fireball from the start. Even though the pregnancy was extremely difficult and labor long and frustrating, I would not change a thing. In just a year you have turned into a very independent, vocal and beautiful little girl. I look at you everyday in amazement!

 I love your laugh and your "precious moments eyes" as your daddy calls them. Watching you copy everything your big brother does, good and bad, is always entertaining. People always asked me if you were an accident because I was crazy to have children so close in age, well no you were not. You came into our lives exactly when we wanted you to! I have always loved the closeness that your daddy and Aunt Winnie have and I look forward to see you and Preston get to that stage, until then I will just have to deal with the pushing and hitting. 

I must admit, you are a big girl and you can hold your own when it comes to that big brother of yours.

I know little girls are always thought of as daddy's girls, but you are my baby cakes. You bring me so much joy every single day. I love painting your little toe nails, putting your hair in ponytails and shopping for great shoes and clothes.  You're like a little doll baby! Most of all I enjoy our nursing moments. 

 I didn't truly appreciate what a blessing it was to breast feed until you came along. I took it for granted with your brother and I could not wait until he tuned one so I could stop. I have grown to appreciate that special bond we are able to have during these times and I know that I am doing one of the healthiest things for you.

 I try to cherish every single moment I have with you even when you drive me nuts. I know how lucky we are to have a healthy daughter. I love waking up every morning to you. You are really chilled out the first few minutes and then you start laughing so loud! Everyone that meets you always asks me if you are always so happy. Yes you are, although you do have you diva moments! Today is bittersweet because it's your official last "first" holiday/party, but I am also a very proud mommy of the little lady that you are growing up to be. 

I fall more and more in love with you everyday. You keep me on my toes and God could not have created a more perfect fit. I see myself in you so much and I sometimes stare at you in amazement and awe. I don't know what I did to be blessed with such a healthy, happy, beautiful and funny little girl, but whatever the reason I am forever thankful. 

So today we celebrate the first of many more birthdays. I love you Savannah Grace Marks!

I will always be a southern girl...at least in my heart

So in a little less than 4 months we will be a West coast family. So odd to think. I have lived in Savannah, Valdosta and Jacksonville, so living out west will be a new experience. Although I am kinda excited I realized there are some things that I will miss about living in the South, and even some things that I will miss about (GASP)....VALDOSTA! We have been waiting patiently to get orders to somewhere new and now that we have them I am starting to see how much Valdosta has grown on me. Okay, for starters being close to Savannah. Anyone that knows me, knows how much I love going home. Although my parents no longer live there I have a lot of good friends that still do, so it's nice to get to see them and for people to get to meet the kids. I will miss day trips to Jacksonville. Yes, it is a pain to have to drive 2 hours for good shopping, but it's always a fun trip. We go down to the St. John's Town Center and have a lot of fun shopping and eating! I will miss our condo. I absolutely LOVE where we live. This is our 3rd move in Valdosta as a family, about the 5th or 6th for me all together, and this is my favorite place. We moved out of our Sherwood condo for a house that was bigger and closer to the base. It made me realize very quickly, we didn't need all that room or yard and I was excited to move back into a condo. Our condo now has a very small community of people, great location, wonderful saline swimming pool, and they are super nice on the inside with a great floor plan. I also love the fact that Preston's and Savannah's doctor office is about a 2 minute car drive away! We could walk there if it wasn't so hot outside. I also LOVE their doctor, Dr. Criscola is an amazing pediatrician and so good with the kids. He even entertains my crazy mom questions! I will also miss the lack of traffic. The only time you see traffic in Valdosta is during football season and if you get caught at a train! I will miss being 3 minutes away from Chick-fil-A, I love their food and even if i don't leave the house until 10:25 I can still catch breakfast! I also will miss the comfort level I have living here. Although I still hate being by myself when Rob goes out of town (the smallest noises scare me), I have a very high comfort level because I know the area and feel safe. I will also miss Moody AFB....not because it's a super cool base or anything, but I know my way around it! I am awful with directions and can get to any building or part of the base pretty easily. I will be using my GPS a lot out in Cali. Of course I will miss the handful of friends that I do hang out here with and the fact that both my family and Rob's family can drive down here without much notice. So, while Valdosta is not the most fun place to live and Rob and I seriously feel depressed driving back here after we have been out of town, there are a few things that will be missed! Not to be a totally sappy person, Valdosta is where Rob and I met, where we brought both of our children home to, and a lot of other family memories.

PARTY TIME! (Is 4 enough to call it a party???)

So now that I have Rob's birthday out of the way the next PARTY is for Savannah Grace the big 1! It seems that time goes by so fast. I feel as though I just found out I was preggo with her, but May 11, she will be 1. It makes me sad and happy at the same time. I think that i am excited about picking out girl toys to get her. the kids got so much stuff for Christmas and Preston already had just about every Fisher-Price toy for Gracie's age that Rob and I decided not to buy any toys until her birthday. Our place really looks likes a daycare with the amount of toys all over the place. So today I plan on checking out a few of my favorite kid web-sites and picking out some overly girly stuff for Miss Gracie. We won't have a party, well not a big one. I always thought that for my kids birthdays I would want a huge over the top party, but after seeing a friend do it and get stressed and spend so much money, I decided well, Rob helped me decide that we didn't need to really do all that stuff. My kids don't really have any "friends" to invite anyways! They won't remember and I honestly don't need it. Everyone says the 1st birthday is for the parents, not the kid. I don't knock the parents that go all out, but it's not for us. Once they get in school and have friends to invite I will be the birthday party Queen, but until then family parties. My favorite part about not having a party is the fact that I get to spend more on PRESENTS!!!!! The only thing that makes me happier than shopping for kids clothes is kids toys, I get really excited. So Gracie will have fun decorations, a cake to make a mess of, toys, clothes, savings bonds, and her parents and brother celebrating with her! What else do you really need at the ripe age of 1???

How RUDE!!!!!

I think sometime people don't realize how rude they are, especially women! Even when they may think that they are saying something nice sometimes you may need to stop and think before it comes out of your mouth. I am sure I could name a ton of things that I have heard especially since being a wife and mom but I am going to tell you the top ones and the reasons why, so here we go. 
  "Wow, how far along are you? You are so small, is the baby okay?" So I heard this question so many times during both of my pregnancies and asking someone why they are so small is just as rude as asking why they got so fat. I am 4'11" and about 100 pounds so when I was pregnant I gained about 23 pounds, which was a healthy weight. I think so many women use being pregnant as a reason to eat everything, but it's not. Once that baby is out of there you will be stuck with all that baby fat wondering what the hell happened! Question number 2, "How close in age are your kids? Was the last one an accident?" An accident???? How old are we people, I believe that most people knew how babies got here way before they were even thinking about sex, so to call a baby an accident is screwed up. You know that if you have sex there is a chance that 40 weeks later you will have a baby, so let's find a new word. Unplanned or a wonderful surprise or a blessing, but not accident. For the record Gracie was planned, I knew I wanted them close in age and wanted her born in the spring so that gave us a few months of trying and the last month of trying, I got my little girl! Question number three, "How old are you?" Asking someone their age once they are an adult is kind of rude. I usually get this question when I am with Rob, because people notice the age difference. I guess I forget about it because it's not a big deal. My newest response to that question is, "I'm 25, how old are you 46?" Rob and I are 16 years apart for all the people wondering. Okay, so question/statement number 4, "You know you won't be able to have a natural birth, your pelvis is too small..."So you are my doctor now? I am sure they are trying to say how tiny I am and so on, but who are you to tell me how I will be giving birth. And to all of the people who said that, I had both children in a natural labor with no issues. I had an excellent doctor and mid-wife that did an amazing job during both deliveries. Question 5, "Is he walking yet?" I was at the point of being ready to bitch slap the next person that asked me if Preston was walking, I even let it get to me at one point by taking him to the doctor and even had an apt. with a specialist to see if he was okay. The evening before he was scheduled to go see the specialist the kid walked, at 16 months. So what it took him little time, but I could not imagine having to chase after him and watch him climb and jump off of stuff any sooner than I did. he walked when he wanted to, which was okay for me!
And now my final question, number 6, "Why do you use cloth diapers and breast feed? It seems like such a pain in the ass." Well, I do cloth for a number of reasons. I consider myself to be somewhat green, I did not want all those chemicals on my children's skin, I knew that cloth diapered babies were potty trained sooner and it saved a TON of money! If you are thinking gross, you have to wash poop out and stuff, then maybe you shouldn't be a parent. The only times that I have ever had a diaper blow out has been the times when the kids had on disposables. We only use them when we are traveling somewhere and won't have access to a washer. As far as the breast feeding, I could do a whole post or two on why I do it. Not only is it healthy, easy, a wonderful bonding experience and pretty much amazing to see what your body can do, but it burns calories like no other! A couple weeks after having both kids I was bikini ready, no really I was, I will post a pic to prove it lol. 
So next time you are about to say something, take whatever adjective you are going to use and replace it with the opposite and see how it sounds then, small-big, green-wasteful, skinny-fat, etc.!
Below are some pics of me pregnant right before having the kidos, right after baby, cute cloth diapered butts and me and Rob! 

About a month after having Gracie

belly cast of both at start of 3rd Trimester, Preston on left Gracie on right

Nap time, a few days old Gracie

about 32 weeks with Preston

After nursing Preston, a few days old

Preston Daniel Marks

Savannah Grace Marks

My cloth diapered baby girl

Me and Rob