Baby Scarlett is here!!!

"Scarlett Isabella Neal is here!!! The little angel arrived just after 6PM on August 20, tipping the scales at 6 lbs. 10 oz. Both mom and baby are doing great!"

I went to see Melanie and baby Woo Woo Scarlett today - she is so pretty and so very tiny! Lindsey and Stella came by too while I was there! Here are some pictures!!!

More babies...

So the first week of February is going to be very busy! Lots of babies I know will be born! I guess we can also assume that the middle of May was pretty freakin boring... Stay tuned for updates!

First and second additions to families are on their way and it's really exciting for everyone! Congratulations!

Also here's the list of baby mommas... in a potential birthing order... this goes back to my continuous 85th percentile of prego friends - not ALL these babies are due in February, some are due any day now.

Melanie
Erin
Kathleen
Heather
Serena
Shefali

News FLASH! Stella may be French...

On Tuesday, Stella and Lindsey came to Fayetteville to browse in my shoe shop... Stella is walking and starting to talk, she kept chasing Presley around saying PUPeeee --- she must be French. Presley is very selfish and doesn't like anything smaller than her, especially if they get more attention, so she growled alot, but her tail kept wagging so I think she was mildly entertained at the idea of having a small child around about as much as me - 2 hours tops - then they go back to mommy!

Milestones for babies!

As previously mentioned (more than once)... my group of friends stay in the 80th percentile of consistently being pregnant... I feel that's a good term of measurement because I hear about a lot of percentiles ie my baby's head circumference is in the 60th percentile, my baby is in the 108th percentile of height and weight, my baby's middle toe is in the 4th percentile in the fact that it should be longer than the big toe - ya know, everyday things like that.

Anyway, so as nature has its way, these babies all grow up so fast! Stella celebrated her FIRST birthday and Dunning and Anna Claire celebrated their 1/2 birthdays!!! Very exciting for their families and their fan base! All these precious babies have blogs of their own, they can be found in the "real people" blog list to the right... it's amazing that these kids type so well - what percentile would that be considered?

A day at the beach ... or as close as you can to the beach in Arkansas = Stephanie's Pool!

We all got the text early Saturday morning - "Open invite to come to Steph's pool - BYOB - noon on..." or, as it was in our case until huge and threatening thunderheads roll in!

It was a great and relaxing afternoon. Stella brough Lindsey and Jason to play too! Stella is such a fish - she has no fear - watch out Mommy! I taught "Mommy and Me" swim lessons for about 8 years and it was so much fun to be back in the water with a brave little girl - that truly was one of the most rewarding jobs I've ever had - anyone need private swimming lessons?


Of course, what's a pool party with out a beer, Stella even knows this.
We all had a great time and can't wait to do it again soon! Thanks Stephanie!

Baby Shower Happy Hour

The mother of all baby showers was this weekend - Baby Shower Happy Hour! It was for the always fantastic Melanie Neal in her anticipated birth of Scarlett Isabelle who will make her apperance sometime in mid August. Melanie and I first met when she hired me at Bath and Body Works - A LONG TIME AGO! She's always been a party girl and famous for always getting the crowd at any bar to to a WOO WOO shot - I honestly think she made this up but, still it's fun none the less. Here's how that one works - 1) you must have a group of girls 2) you must tell the bartender what to make - I don't even know the exact recipe but it's normally "some rhum and some vodka and some ... I don't know, I'm already drunk, give me a damn shot of something tasty...

We had to go over the top with this shower - nothing but extravagance was expected. I've hosted quite a few showers - bachelorette, wedding, baby (normally in that order) but this has to be one of the most fun baby ones in a long time to plan!

Anyway here are some great pictures!!!
In sort of an order... the pictures are - the entry table with the invitation, nametags and Melanie's Princess Crown and maternitini glass for the evening - a close up of her glass that Cheryl painted - out side we used large martini glasses filled with oversized silk flowers - we filled huricanes with an abundance of silk flowers to really embellish the look - next is the drink table and a close up of the individual glass decoration, each had a tag to ensribe your intitials as well as a pink crystal pacifier! -next is the food spread, it was great! - followed by the fabulous cake - then there is the group shot with Melanie in the middle - then the local hostesses, Sylvia, Chris, Carrie, Cheryl, me and Lindsey - and last but not least - Melanie doing her infamous WOO WOO shot - non-alcoholic of course.


Here's to Baby Scarlett Isabelle - you are welcomed into this world by your mom's fabulous friends! Of course, all of our children will party like we did not too long ago!

Memorial Day Weekend

Over Memorial Day weekend, I enjoyed a 4 day weekend since I took Friday off as well. Saturday night we went out with Mark and Lane and Whitney and Suzanne! A good time was had by all!
On Sunday, Mike and I drove out to Lost Valley along the Buffalo River for a hike. It was about a 3 mile hike with a cave at the end. There were some really pretty stops and waterfalls along the way. By the time we got to the cave it was really crowded so we decided just to turn around and head back to the car. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

On the drive home, we ran into some really strong thunderstorms and were very grateful that we were not still on the trail when the bottom dropped out. In honor of the holiday, we decided to grill steaks. Mike is a great cook and the steaks were fantastic! On Monday, besides being the actual holiday, it was also Lindsey’s 7th 21st birthday! We went to Lindsey and Jason’s house for a cookout. There were LOTS of babies! Since as previously noted, over the past year 87% of my friends have had kids! Really – that’s not an exaggeration, I did the math. Of course Stella was the center of attention – as it should be. Lindsey’s mom made some Sprinkles Red Velvet Cupcakes AND she fed Stella a whole one.

It was hilarious and Stella LOVED the cream cheese icing – her first birthday is the end of June and I can’t wait to see what she does with her cake!

for my PEEPS!

Yeah, so its a cheezy title... oh well...

I hope everyone had a happy Easter. I received some fabulous pictures... Here's Stella in her Easter ears...

Libby looked oh so pretty in her yellow Easter dress.

Here's to SPRING!!! Hopefully summer is fast approaching!

3 weeks and counting...

Well I'm really pretty proud of myself - I haven't had a coke in 3 weeks!

So what's been going on...

• Valentine's Day was great! Mike sent me some beautiful flowers in a really cool vase which apparently was the selling point! But they were all very pretty together. We went to dinner at Tapinazo's which was good but we definately think its more of a warm weather place where we can sit on the patio. Then we went to Stir to celebrate Lane's birthday.
• Saturday night was the Stock the Bar Party - Olive Us Are Getting Together for Brad and Jennifer! It was a BLAST! Everyone had a fabulous time and we polished off way too much alcohol - who is surprised
• Bible Study ended on Monday night which is good and not so good - Good because I never really got into this study and bad because that was really the only time I got to see all the Benton County girls... we'll have to make time with out Beth Moore.

Pregnant Friend Tally has increased by two - Melanie and Leigh are both due in late August - nothing wrong with Virgo babies!

This weekend is Jennifer's Bachelorette Party in Kansas City - it should be just as fun... Erin has done a great job at pulling everything together.

Ok so that's my update... more soon!

Babies! & Kansas City & no $

Lynn updated her baby blog finally… after like 6 months– so check that out – Baby Dunning in the line up on the right.

As mentioned earlier, most of my friends have babies. Lindsey – you need a blog for Stella.

It’s an Ice Day here today – not snow and really not a whole lot of ice but enough for me to stay home since I can’t get off the hill. I’m working from home, which I really enjoy. I think I am definitely disciplined enough to get things done on my own. The hardest part is not being able to just run across the office to talk to someone. I’m watching the True Hollywood Story of the cast of Full House. Jodie Sweeten didn’t age very well by the way…

I’m trying to figure out the best way to put some pictures on here.

I was in Kansas City all weekend long setting up my booths for the Wal-Mart Year Beginning Meeting – Here are some pics of my fabulous display booths. It was FREEEEEZING in KC – the high was 14 and the wind chill was below zero – I’ve never been to KC for anything but work but I’m going back in about a month for Cole’s Bachelorette party and I know it’ll be fun, no matter what the temperature!

Not much going on here – still vowing to not go out until Valentine’s Day so much unless its free – that’s going to work in our favor the next few weeks – I have a couple of Komen events and Young Professionals – all free! YAY!

Wow, I really am a slacker!

Yeah, so I haven't written anything in a while. Anyway - a big, fat thanks goes out to Elizabeth for the reminder of the Taco Bell incident - I may not have remembered that, but she always knows how to make a girl feel good! Ha!


So this week I actually did pretty good - I want you to know that I (yes ME) turned down biscuits from Popeye's - that is EXTREMELY hard to do! Mike wanted to go to Friday's on Friday...(take this time to laugh at me, I know...) anyway I was very good there - I only had one drink, may have been the size of my head, but only one then I had grilled shrimp and broccoli! It was yummy. AND I haven't had any taco bell this weekend - YAY me! I've also lost 3 pounds.

Big news of the week - Hilary won New Hampshire - VERY exciting! I'm thinking it was a bad idea for Kerry to back Obama, don't you think it looks bad for Kerry to not even back the man he would have had for his own running mate --- he should have at least waited til Edwards dropped out because Hilary beat the crap out of him. I think this country is ready for a Hilary/Obama '08 ticket!

I'm trying to popularize the slogan: Hilary/Obama - I don't care who's on top.
Spread the word!!!

In other large news - since Christmas I know 3 people who have had babies - Lynn and Mikel had Mikel Dunning, Darla and Kevin had Anna Claire and Diana and Thomas had Chace Thomas. And for those of you who are not attached to entertainment news - Nicole Ritche had Harlow Winter Kate and Christina Aguliera had Max Liron - I really like those two names and am glad they were not called Heroin or Pomegranate or something like that...

Pretty much at all times in the past 3 years more than 80% of my friends have been pregnant. I have now decided to wait until my friends kids are old enough to baby sit before I have any of my own. I think that's fair!

Have a fabulous week everyone!