My Birthday Letter to Preston!

To my precious baby boy Preston! I cannot believe that it has been three years since you came into my life. You are my heart! I remember when I was pregnant with you how excited I was and how good you were. I was able to work up until the day you were born with ease. The labor and delivery were also a lot easier than imagined. I had a natural labor with you and you made this process so easy by getting out of my tummy and making your first appearance very quickly. We immediately bonded and you took to breast feeding so well. I was so scared when it came time to take you home. Although I had been around a lot of babies the thought of being completely responsible for another human life was a bit overwhelming. It didn't help that your daddy was set to deploy 5 days after you were born, but I was so glad he got to see you before he left. The first 4.5 months of your life it was just you and me buddy. I did not let you out of my sight! I even took your bouncer in the bathroom with me when I would take showers! When grandma and grandpa watched you for a few hours I left them a book, yes a book of instructions!  When your daddy came back you quickly warmed up to him! We took you EVERYWHERE with us. You were so well behaved and adjusted to any place we went too. When your first birthday came around I remember being so worried because you still weren't walking, but your doctor told me to give you time. Well, the day before we were set to see a specialist about why you were not walking you decided it was time to walk! You have always done things at your own pace and you can be stubborn at times. You know what you want and have no problem holding out until you get it. When your second birthday came around you did it big boy style in MIAMI! Although we were down there for stuff for mommy and grandma we still had a blast celebrating your big day. Now today, I celebrate your third birthday. I am realizing that the years are going by faster than I want them too at times. You started Montessori school this week and that was a really big step for the both of us. You have always been my little buddy and slowly I am having to let go, a little bit at least. As I reflect over the past 3 years I am a very proud mommy. You can do so much and you are so smart. Yes I know all parents believe their kids are smart, but you really are!!! Already at 3 your have been completely potty trained for almost a year, can sing your ABC's, can count to 30, you know all of your shapes(even the hard ones), know all of your colors, know so many animals and the knowledge you have when it comes to any Apple product still amazes me. People that knew me before you came into my life could not believe that I was going to have a baby, I couldn't believe it either! I know from the bottom of my heart, that God brought you into my life at the perfect time. I never knew what people would mean by unconditional love until you were born. The moment they put you in my arms I knew that whatever it would take to keep you safe, healthy and happy I would do it. Even now if I see you cry a part of my heart aches! At times I wish I could put you back in my tummy and protect you from so much, but I can't. I have to continue to trust that your daddy and I are raising you as best we can so that you turn out successful. Every parent always wants more for their child, and I am no different. I love you so much, I still kiss you a thousand times a day and you still push my buttons to the extreme. But no mater what, I love you so much and with that I say HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY Preston Daniel Marks!

Almost here!

September 9, 2008, He is here!

Sending daddy off

Kisses from mommy

1st Birthday!

And he is walking!

Out at Flavor of New Orleans 

HI!

Baby Boy!!

Handsome at dinner at Ruth's Chris

2nd Birthday in Miami 

My 26th Birthday

So Saturday I turned 26, where are these years going? For the past 3 birthdays I have either been pregnant or just done dinner with the family, in the past my step son Tre' has been here as well, so we all just do a family dinner out, nothing fancy. This year I decided I wanted to go home to Savannah, even if it was for just one day. The closer we became to moving day the more I started to panic and realize that I will no longer be a 3 hour drive from some of my dearest friends. I also have never gone without the kids so this would be interesting. The only time j ever spent a night away from Preston was to have Gracie and then I spent 5 days in the hospital after the kidney donation, besides that these children don't leave my side! Rob's dada decide he would come down on Friday so that helped relax me a bit, I knew that Rib would have some help. I made list of instructions for both kids, pumped some milk for Gracie, got the clothes together for them and as soon as he pulled up from work Friday I took off! He didn't even turn the car off, I was ready! The drive is never exciting but I can't tell you the number of times I have done it, I should be use to it by now. Well, once I got to Savannah I picked up some food and headed to meet Amanda. She recently had a baby as well and had a sitter all night long, it was already starting out great. After a beer and YouTube video watching we headed downtown to Bar Bar. One of my super good friends is the head bartender there so this stop was double great. Awesome drink and awesome friend! Before leaving there, one of my best guy friends came by to hang out for a bit. I was also able to hang out with other friends that I had literally grown up with. We went to about 4 more places before calling it a night! I think I went to sleep around 4:30 that morning! I do not know the last time I laughed so much with friends. I have my friends here, but you can't beat friendships that you have had for atleast 12 years, some longer than that. Once I finally decided to get on the road I talked to Rob and he told me that they were about to take the kids to Wid Adventures to see the animals, I started crying! We have done the zoo before, but not WA and I couldn't believe he would do this without me. After about 5 minutes he called back and said he was joking. Not funny! Once I got home my babies we beyond excited to see me. Having a night from them was hard, but it really made me so much more excited to hug and kiss them. I was pretty tired that night so we picked up some fast food and I went to be super early. The next day we went to church and out to eat. On Monday I was able to get my birthday present. I have known about it for a while, I'm pretty nosey and hate surprises. My parents told Rob a while ago to not waste energy trying to surprise me and he still tries. I have yet to be surprised. Anywho, the gift was a huge, I mean 4x3 huge painting of me hold Preston in my lap and Gracie is holding on to my leg. The pictures due it no justice! I wasn't crazy about it at first especially since I had asked for something totally different but the more I stared at it I grew to like it. Overall, I had a pretty fun birthday although my 20's are on the higher end now!
I will add the picture later today when i get on my computer.

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!

Birthday and Mother's Day

So Saturday we had a little I mean very small celebration for Savannah's birthday. Her actually birthday is May 11, but my parents came up so we did a little cook out on Saturday. We grilled out and she had fun with her cake and opened a couple of gifts and then took about a 2.5 hour nap on her granddad! Of course once she woke up from the nap and realized he was holding her she flipped out, but she was so content while sleeping on him. I have mentioned before that we don't do big birthday celebrations for the kids and we won't until they have real friends to invite. If I wanted to have a ton of adults over I would just throw a party, which if you know me it's not gonna happen. It's not that I don't like parties, I just don't like having a ton of people at my house and some people don't know when to go home!!!!! Anyways, for mother's day all I asked is that I get to sleep in....well that didn't happen so I ran away and spent the day at the pool. It was supposed to be for an hour or so, but it turned into almost 4. I guess all the other mom's had the same idea of a great mother's day would be to not have the kids around! We all laughed and had drinks and just relaxed. Rob stayed home watching basketball and movies with the kids, lucky him. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend nothing to extreme or exciting, but it was nice. here are some pictures of the day and her playing with some of her presents!

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???

Happy Birthday!

So Monday was Rob's birthday. He turned the big 42, not exactly the most exciting number to turn, but it's still a birthday. He usually isn't in to the bday thing and I usually make a big deal about it, but for some reason this year he was kinda pumped! Maybe my birthday spirit is rubbing off on him. Well anyways he had to go to work yesterday, so while he was gone the kids and I went crazy at the Dollar Tree buying silly party decor and balloons! He was surprised when he came home and said for me not to expect the same on my birthday because he is just not that creative! We ended up having cake and champagne and catching up on some tv shows. I am taking him out to dinner tonight as well! Overall it was a pretty low key birthday and we got to spend it together, which is all that matter, at least to me! The kids even had fun decorating their cards to him and Preston decided that Gracie needed a blue hand during this time! I can't believe she sat there and let him color her hand. It was kinda funny though. For it to be a Monday it was a pretty fun evening. Oh and Dancing With The Stars is always an added bonus!!!!!! Tuesday the kids to him to dinner which was a surprise to Rob! Check out the party pics.

Gotta find a better SMILE face!

The kid has a SUPER SMILE

Part of the decor

I even put signs in the yard

YUMMY!

Silly hat!

Preston wanted to make it work!

Fantastic Friday, kinda...

Well it's Friday!!!! Although it really doesn't mean too much to me, just another day, but since it's Lent we will have fish and grits for dinner...YUMMY! It's also April Fool's Day which means Rob's birthday is right around the corner, the 4th. Since we have been married I always do him a special cake, last year I really didn't do anything too special because he had to fly to Texas on his birthday so we didn't have a ton of time. I was also about 8.5 months pregnant and taking care of a dog and toddler, so I wasn't really in the festive mood. But this year I once again made him a cool cake! It's an iPad 2 cake! I expected it to take a lot longer so he got it early. I am really bad at keeping things a secret, I just get too excited. I'm not sure of the gift that he will be getting yet, but since his birthday is Monday I guess I need to figure it out. I always do a cool gift that has a personal touch to it, but I'm coming up short this year. Oh well I will figure it out soon. Mr. Preston decided that he was feeling a little creative as well, by coloring on the kitchen floor! Oh happy Friday. Check out the pics of birthday's past and Preston's wonderful artwork!!!

2008 downtown Valdosta, dinner at Bistro and hung out at Bass Bleu Cafe

2009 at Mori

 Beck's Lite Cake, everything is editable 

Alpha T-shirt quilt, I took all of his fraternity shirts and made a quilt out of them

2010 opening B-day card from Pres

Preston after eating the chocolate birthday cake!

iPad 2 cake, Preston thought it was really and got upset when he couldn't swipe it

Preston's  art work on the kitchen floor