I'm baaack!

Ok it's been a while since I've updated this blog. I am trying to do better.

Our lives have been so busy. We are having a baby girl!!! I'm 21 weeks. Time has surely flown by. The boys are excited and so are Mom and Dad. Now we have to chose her name. Wow, it's so weird saying "her". We know that she is already stubborn. Two ultrasounds and she didn't want to cooperate in either one. I don't know if she gets that from me or her daddy. Who knows? A little of both maybe.

Trace's football season has been going well. He's really liking it. Trev just finished up his first season of kid-pitch and it went very well. We're just really sad he never got a chance to pitch. It's OK though. I know he will get his chance.

Halloween is right around the corner, one of our favorite times of the year!!  We haven't picked out costumes yet, but maybe soon.


I"ll post some pictures later of Trace's football games. 
I hope everyone has a blessed day and I promise to do better with this blogging thing.

8 weeks

I was 8 weeks pregnant yesterday!!  Times going by slowly so far. I know it'll go by faster once I hit the 2nd trimester,and all the sickness goes away. I think I'm still in shock that the third baby is on its way. It doesn't feel real right now. The only sign of pregnancy is of course the all day sickness.

I'm excited and scared all the same. I had great pregnancies with the first two, so I'm hoping this one will follow suit. I get ask all the time what I want. I want a healthy baby, no matter what the sex is. At first I just knew I was having a boy, but my body is different with this one, so I'm thinking now a girl??? I don't know and I don't care. God has planted what He wants us to have. We have picked out names already and they have special meanings to us. They're not set in stone, but I'm pretty sure we're going to stick with them.

God has a plan for everyone and our plan, although a big surprise, was to have another child.

"“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”"

Jeremiah 1:5 ESV

I think the Big Man upstairs has an awesome sense of humor. I love this baby already.

---

Summertime

Ahh the joys of summertime. I love it! We enjoy family and friends.. and then of course there's baseball.

and of course there's plenty of swimming with friends!

when there's not a pool around he finds ways to play in the water

Then the best part of it all? We get to spend it with the ones we love!!

Happy Summer!!

I forgot how it feels

With all the storms and tornadoes that's been happening, Trevor is terrified. He's scared of storms, as he should be.

Tonight at ball practice everyone was talking about the storms that are supposed to come in tonight. He and I made eye contact and I saw the fear and dread in his eyes. He didn't want to be at ball practice he wanted to be at home, his safe place. After the May floods, he hates it when it rains and watching the news doesn't help either. We were on are way home and he was very quiet. I starting talking to him about what was going on and he tells me that he is so scared of the storms. He started to cry. As I sat there listening to him, I thought to myself; this is me at nine years old crying and scared of storms. I forgot how it feels to be so scared you don't know what to do. That was me sitting in that passenger seat crying and asking  how bad the storms were going to be. I remember asking my mom to stay up until the storms passed. That was him asking that of me.

When I was Trevor's age we lived in a house with a basement and when tornadoes warnings came i gathered all of my favorite toys and slept in the basement. My granny used to tell me "When you see me get scared, that's when you get scared." That never happened; she remained calm through the worst storms. She was my rock., she made me feel safe. I want to be Trevor's rock through the rough storms. I want him to look to me and feel safe.

I promised Trevor that I would stay up until the storms passed and keep him safe throughout the night.
I want my boys to know that I am here to protect them and get them through the rough storms.
So tonight I'll be burning the midnight oil while my baby boys are fast asleep right in the middle of Mom and Dad.

Happy Birthday, Trevor Robert!!!

9 years old! Wow I can't believe it. Trevor will officially turn 9 at 5:35 pm this afternoon. I can't believe my baby is getting so big. He's is our calm one,our thoughtful one... our first born. Trevor is the type of kid that wears his feelings on his sleeve and would do anything in this world for his family or friends. I love that about him. He has given us joy this past nine years.

Dear Trevor,
Thank you for making me a mama. I love you more than you'll ever know. I love your smile,your laugh, your everything. I love you to all the stars and back and again.

Love, Your Mama

Happy Birthday Baby

Happy Birthday, Trace Owen!

May 4th 2005 is the day the world became a brighter place. My baby boy was born! I'm a little sad because he'll be six tomorrow and he's my baby.{of course he'll always be my baby}

The day Trace was born we weren't ready. No bags packed, the car seat wasn't in the car... we were not ready. Troy and I went to the doctor for a usual checkup, he checked my BP and straight to the hospital I went. I was going through a lot that you can read about here. So of course we went straight there and later that night at 10:10 pm Trace Owen Blansett was born weighing 7lbs even. The very first thing I noticed about him was his dimples. His dimples have kept him out a lot of trouble these past six years. It has been an adventure for sure. He is our wild child, free spirit, and our funny boy. He always keeps us laughing and on our toes.

Dear Trace,

I love being your mommy. You are the light of my life and you definitely keep me running. I love you more than you know, Lil Guy. Thank you for being you. I love you to the moon and back.

My Papa

My Papa will be be gone six years on May 5th,. I think about him everyday. I cry as I am typing this because my heart hurts so badly, I nuiss him.

Papa was my hero, my father. I remember his laughter, his smile. I have only good memories of him. He had nine grandchildren; eight girls and one boy. He had us all spolied rotten. He made us believe that he had a secret candy factory hidden under his bed. That man loved candy, especially chocolate covered cherries and M&Ms. Someone always got him the collector M&M man every Christmas. He believed that everything old or rare "would be a collectable someday" and he played the lottery faithfully. He worked up until the day his body gave in. He always provided for his family with our needs and most of our wants. Papa paid for my first year of college and was so proud that I decided to go. I wanted to make him proud.

I used to write notes to him every morning asking him to get me up at a certain time for work. I later found every single note from me that he kept. He never said I love you a lot, but I knew without a doubt that man loved me. Trevor thought  Papa hung the moon. He would have to go with Trev just to get a haircut. Trevor wouldn't go without him. I remember Trev sitting in Papa's lap while he got his hair cut and the look on Papa's face was priceless. They loved each other so much, As I look at Trevor today, I see some of my grandfather in him. The way he sits sometimes, his smile and I see my grandfather in Trevor's eyes no matter what anyone says; I see him. I'm really sad that Papa never got to meet Trace. He did name him though. He knew we were having a boy and picked out Trace. Papa died 12 hours after Trace was born. He waited on him to be born before he went. I was the last to speak to him and I let him know that Trace and I were fine and he was healthy. His last words to me were "OK" He didn't have the strenght to talk, but he let me know that he was listening.

I want the world to know what kind of man my Papa was. He was a hardworker, loyal, friend, father, husband, brother,uncle, and most importanly he was my Papa. I miss him each and everyday. He was saved when he died, so I know for a fact that he's in Heaven looking down and watching over all of us. I just want him to know just how much I love him and miss him.

Dear Papa,
 I love you to the moon and back.

Love, Tink Tink

30 has been good to me.

Turning 30 wasn't as bad as I thought. I think it has definitely changed me for sure. I feel more gown up, smarter, wiser, and overall happier. My granny used to tell me that her 30s were the best years of her life. I didn't understand why, but now I do. I look at life differently now. I'm more open to issues that before I was dead set on my way. I have matured over the last year, I try not to let the little things bother me. I have new goals and have accomplished some old ones.

 Not that I used to, but now I don't take my friendships for granted. I love my friends and I love them all for different reasons. I have a few that are very loud and outspoken, {completely opposite of myself} but I love that about them. They make me laugh, and turn red sometimes and they know I would do anything in this world for them. We have a few friends that are married and like the simply life, just like us.

I'll be 31 in a little over a month; if it's better than 30, I can't wait. i don't think getting older is such as bad thing. I think it just adds character to your personality and makes you so thankful for Him and that He has given you all these years.

Let the games begin!

Baseball season has arrived..finally.  Trace' s coach called to give us details about his practices and what not. We got the gloves oiled, the bats swinging, and the uniforms ready to wear! We are ready, This weekend we are taking a trip to Jackson, Tn for the Renegades first tournament. They are all excited and ready to play.

We get grief from some people about the amount of time we spend on the field. Yes, it's a lot of time and money spent, but we wouldn't have it any other way. We love watching our boys play. We met some of our very best friends on through baseball. We are all like family. Our boys are like brothers. they play together and sometimes fight.. but hey, they are eight year old boys, right? Over all, they have a good time together.

Growing up, I played soccer. I loved it. I played up until I hurt my knee and couldn't play anymore. Then when I had children I decided to let them play whatever sport they chose and it was baseball. Trace grew up on the baseball field. That's all he knows. Trevor was three when he started playing.  I want my boys to do whatever they want. If baseball takes them somewhere when they get older, then so be it. If it doesn't, that's fine too. As long as they want it, we'll be there to support them.

So for right now, that's how our life is spent, on the baseball field.

Technology has us spoiled.

Yesterday I realized that my phone was a part of my life more so than I thought before. Our carriers' network went down so I couldn't place a call or text and I FREAKED! I almost had a panic attack! Although, I could still access facebook so that made it a little better. Finally my phone started working again and I was happy. It doesn't really take much to make me happy, I promise.

I like waiting now. When we go to the doctor, I'm fine. i have my phone to keep me entertained. While we wait for our food at a restaurant, I'll wait for as long as I need, as long as I have my phone. Old faithful keeps the boys entertained as long as they are not fighting over it. Today i had a wait on someone and when i looked for Old Faithful,... I LEFT IT AT MY DESK!!!! I was antsy and felt naked not to mention that I was worried that while I was away my phone would get hijacked and some crazy person would hack my facebook status (withholding names). I have to say that an obsession with my phone is not good. If you look around you always see people on their phones- texting, talking, updating their facebook. I mean at our house Troy's on his, I'm on mine, Trev's on his, and Trace is fighting for one of them. After all this I have decided to put down my phone when I'm at home. I'd much rather be spending time with my family than to see what so and so is putting on facebook. I'd much rather spend an hour talking to my husband than texting one of my crazy friends a "guess what song this is?' Yes, I text random things to my friends.. just as they text me random things.

Our phones make life a lot easy for everyone, but sometimes I think they over take our lives. So starting today I'm going to put the phone for a while... well after I check facebook and text a couple of people and tell them that I saw a man running in daisy dukes... but after that I am done for the night and the rest of the night will be spent with the ones I love the most.

Are you reading this from your phone???

yes, I'm a slacker

I haven't blogged in a while and I'm sorry. Nothing major has went on and we have been super busy. So right now everything is still pretty much the same. Baseball training has started, so Trevor's trying to get ready for that. We are going to Atlanta in March and we are looking forward to that. Trace starts ball in March sometime. Speaking of March, Troy will the the big 3-0!!!! Hopefully I can plan something special for his milestone :). Next weekend a group of us are going to Tunica, wish us luck!

So far the snow has stayed away, thank you very much. We're just trying to do things around the house before our lives get hectic with baseball. So for now as you can see, our lives are pretty normal. So I'll make sure I post more about what's going on with us Blansetts.

Trevor

This afternoon as I watched Trevor and Trace, I realized what awesome eight year old I have. He's my best friend, he's my little man, he's my everything.

Trevor was a surprise for Troy and I. I went to the doctor Sept 19th 2001 with a "stomach bug" that I just couldn't get over. Well... it lasted for nine months. I had no clue at all that I was expecting. My granny took me to the doctor and she was just as surprised as I was. To be honest I wasn't happy or excited. I was scared and in shock. How did this happen??? Well I know how it happened, but you know what I mean. I called Troy as soon as we left the dr's office. I said "Troy, we're going to have a baby." You know what he said to me? Nothing, he hung up. I know I know, that wasn't very nice, but you have to understand we were young and had our whole lives ahead of us. I was in college and Troy was working a full time job. We had no responsibilities, we were just young and free. After the initial shock was over... WE WERE HAVING A BABY!!!

Fast forward to May 3rd 2002. My great granny Goldie McElyea passed on this day. I was to deliver any day, but I wanted to say my last good byes to her. Troy couldn't travel to Huntsville, AL that day. So my granny and mom, and mother-in-law went to Huntsville. My mother in law was determined that I was not going into labor without her there. I got through the funeral without any labor pains and I was relieved that I didn't have any problems while I was down there. The next day I had a dr's appt. and we decided that I needed to be induced on May 6th. I went to the hospital on the 5th to start the process. A whole day passed and still no baby. I was having major pain in my lower back, but no contractions. That night the doctor said that he was going to send me home and just wait and that's when the "daddy" came out in Troy. He refused to take me home. I was hurting so bad in my back, they then discovered that I was having back labor pains because the baby was faced down. The doctor broken my water and then it was just a waiting game.

A few hours later  I thought I had an accident and I could feel something. I called the nurse for more epidural. That stuff is awesome. When she came in to "check" me ..." Uh- the baby is crowned, it's time." OMG! I was so scared and excited all at the same time.

I'll spare the details, but just so you know... TROY, yes that's right, Troy delivered Trevor all the while the doctor videoed the whole birth. Yes, as weird as it seems.

So at 6:35pm on Tuesday May 7th 2002. Trevor Robert was born. Weighing 7lbs 7oz. My baby boy was finally here. That was one of the very best days of my life. Trace's birth was the other best day.

All the pain and struggle was so worth it. It didn't really hurt that bad and I would do it all over again.

Fast forward to the present- Trevor is such a humble, patient, considerate child. He has a heart of gold and it's as big as the world. He loves with his whole heart and cares about everyone around him. I am so proud of him and so blessed that he is mine all mine. He's there to make you laugh. He's so funny. I love him oh so much and i want the whole wide world to know what an awesome kid he is and just how much I love that little guy.

***To my sweet boy, Mom loves you to the stars and back.

What is Family?

 We cleaned out Trace's closet and found all kinds of old pictures of friends and family. Troy and I were looking through them last night and we took a stroll down memory lane. It was nice looking through all the pictures from long ago and that made me think of family.

I saw old pictures from way back when. Old pictures of my cousins that are now all grown up. We were so close back then, we were sisters. I miss those days. Then we saw some of friends that I grew up with. It was like I was looking at each chapter of my life.

Family is the most important thing to me. I still love all of my little and older ( Marsha) cousins just as much as I did back then. Life happens and we grew a part. We all have children now, so it makes it hard for us to see each other.

The friends that have been in my life since forever ago, are still and always will be my lifelong friends. I love you( you know who you are) and always will. I have made some new friends over the years and I consider them as family as well. I don't think that you have to be blood related to be a part of my family. I would do anything for these guys and we love their children as if they were our own. You guys know who you are.

I want my boys to understand the value of family and friends. To treat them right and be a good friend.

Now since I have married Troy I have another big 'ole family and I love some most of them... I kid I kid... I love them all. Some are a little crazy, but they are worthy to be loved.. :)

so I ask you... What is family to you?

Time to move on

I have really enjoyed the snow, but now it's time to move on. I am thankful that He gave us a white Christmas. This past Christmas was one of our very best. And I am thankful we got enough snow for the boys to enjoy playing in. But Spring when are you going to be here already?

The snow we got last night was just enough to cancel school and make driving hectic. The boys spent the night at the g'parents house so I wouldn't have to drag them out in it this morning and I'm so thankful that my mother in law works for the county. She has been a blessing . I don't know what I'd do without either one of my in-laws.

I am ready for the green to show itself again. I am ready for flowers to bloom, for trees to bud, for birds to sing. I love the smell of freshly cut grass and to open my windows, turn my music up, and clean house. Can you tell I am ready for Spring???  Spring makes me happy. I always enjoy grilling out in the evening with family and friends.

Baseball training is a sign of spring being right around the corner. The boys start practice next weekend, so that means it's not too far away, right?. We are ready to get outdoors. Cabin fever has taken over the Blansett household.

Again, we have enjoyed the white stuff, but we are so over it now.

Did I mention that tulips are my very favorite flower??? (wink wink Troy D Blansett)

Our Renegades

Today we are have the Renegades' first fundraiser of 2011. It's being held at the Smyrna Rescue Squad building on Front St. It's a spaghetti supper and silent auction, with a lot of good stuff. So please come out and show your support to this awesome team. A lot of people have worked hard to pull this off.

The Renegades are a group of very talented boys that work their butts off during the whole season. They practice two days and week and most games are Friday thru Sunday. So you get it? They.work. hard. They have won a lot of championships.

We are more than a team, we are family. We spend more time with each other than with our own families. The boys have a bond that is unbelievable. We have a great coaching staff. All of the coaches devote so much time to these boys and have helped them to be what they have become. Personally, we have the most devoted coaches I've ever seen and I'm not just saying that because my great husband is one of them, ha ha.

Even the lil bros have made some lifetime buddies.

The parents and grandparents play a HUGE part of the success of this team as well. We all support our boys and  coaches. I love our team. When tragedy strikes one of our players' family, we pull together and make this happen to help our fellow teammate out. We are so proud to be a part of such an awesome team/family.

We love our Renegades!!!!

Mom and Dad vs. Trace-- Round 1

We've been having a battle at the Blansett household- Trace's battle with food. No, he's not eating too much, he not eating enough. Trace's menu consists of chicken, macaroni and cheese, Ramen noodles, and anything sweet and that's it. I failed as a mother on this part because its mainly my fault. I believe what kids are fed when they are toddlers is what they grow a custom to. Well when he was a baby and toddler I gave him a variety of food and he liked most of it. When he got old enough to talk the battle started. He let me know what he liked and didn't like and I, of course, gave in. I mean how could you say no to a dimpled sweet face?

Both of my boys are healthy and not over weight. They are active, but I want Trace to eat more and healthier. He's a skinny kid to be five years. Tonight I cooked meat loaf, mac&cheese, and green beans...and guess what? He ate only the mac&cheese and then I was told that if he ate the other stuff he would throw up. UGH that kid comes up with some stuff I tell ya. So after this fight at dinner Troy and I decided to make a change: no junk is coming back into this house.. well Trace won't know it's here anyway. We are not going to leave him an option. he's going to eat what I cook or else. I hate bringing to this point, but somethings got to give. I don't want him growing up with health problem related to bad eating habits and its all my fault. I should have taken action sooner.

 See what I'm talking about? Look at the sweet face...ah such a heart breaker.

I hope everyone wishes us luck through this change as Trace is not going to be happy. He won't understand that we are taking away junk to benefit him because we love him and want him to be healthy. Now, the next step is to get the g'parents to take our side and help us out with this when he's at their house. We'll see how that goes. Like I said before he's so hard to say no to.

Us

A friend of mine has been posting on a social site about her hubby and how much she loves him. She goes on to say how lucky of a girl she is to have him and she's right. He's a good man and a good father. Although, he likes throwing fire crackers on his friend in a drive way, so that the rocks can explode all over her legs and cause excruciating pain, but that's another post. As I was reading her post it made me think of Troy. How good he is to me and just how lucky I am to be his wife.

We met in 1998 through a mutual friend.  On Feb 22 1999 we became a couple and the rest is history. After almost 12 years together, eight years married, and two kids later we are still going as strong as the first day we met. Troy is my very best friend. We've been through a lot together and remained strong. I look at some couples and think "Wow, why do they stay together?" We enjoy being with each other, we have respect for each other and I think that's the most important. Our marriage is not perfect and we've our  share of problems, but we still love each other more and more everyday.

 He loves me even when I want to take picture after picture...

I love that man more than he'll ever know and I'm so glad that he's mine all mine.