It's All About MONEY!!!

Our life is controlled by Money! Our thoughts and dreams are constantly on Money! What will Money be in 20 years. Every second of the day is consumed by Money! We can't get away from Money! That is all that I think about....MONEY!!!! I love Money with all of my heart, but I do wish that this stage of my life was over with...Money is very NEEDY right now. The second I put my mind on something else, MONEY is everywhere I go! I know that all of that will change soon, but right now, change could not come soon enough.
"Money" is my almost 11 month old...AKA- Monroe Elise Craddock, who we refer to as "Money"! Before Money was born, my dad said that he was going to call her "Money-roe"! I told him that Money-roe was a stupid name. He has already REnamed our other two-Lucy and Peaches-which are more normal than Money-roe. BUT- if you know my dad, he does whatever he wants to do. So- the day she was born...Monroe became Moneyroe to him. As time went on, the girls began to call her that....and so did we. And NOW...a nickname has been shortened to MONEY. It's ridiculous! I hate that we call her "Money"! I mean, can you imagine what people would think if at a football game we are cheering for our little cheerleader, "GO MONEY GO!!! Great job Money!" Or at graduation from Grace where we have paid tens of thousands of dollars by that time, we say..."So proud of you Money!" I mean, it already makes it sound like we are saying," We love you, our little girl who will eventually deplete all of our savings, not to mention the weekend getaways because 3 little girls are hard to handle for a babysitter, but we wanted and still want you with all of our hearts, because God gave you to us." What else is bad is that when I text close friends about her, I refer to her as "$$"!
So, in these blogs, you will know that when I say "Money" or "$$", our precious 3rd little girl is who I am referring to. $$ is very sweet, and easy...for the most part. I think that it is just 3 little girls pulling on me in every direction that makes it more difficult. She has been walking now for a couple of weeks, which has been both good and frustrating for both of us. More independence also means more slipping and frustration that she can't go fishing in the toilet. This independence means every single foreign object has to be off the floor, or she will eat it. Mical- Anne and Mia NEVER put things in their mouth, which I expected them to do so. Our little Money is trying to conquer the world, one step at a time.

My attempt... This is my very first attempt "blogging". I have put it off for a long time because I didn't know what to write about, and I didn't think anyone would take the time to read about the Craddock's. However, after many comments and much encouragement about my hilarious "lipstick jungle", I have GIVEN IN TO BLOGGING!!! When I think about keeping up with this, journaling, I am immediately reminded of my dad and what he once did for me. Does anyone else, have a hard time trying to figure out what to get the only male in your life at Christmas?!?! We never knew what to get my dad...every year, we put it off till last minute. So, when I was a Junior in HS, I went to Better Books Christian BookStore and found a leather journal on SALE for $8.00. Perfect! Less than $10-get in engraved- wrap it up- check him off the list! Done! He was very grateful at Christmas, and I was overjoyed with how EASY it was to please him. Now that I am a parent, I recognize the face that he gave me when he opened it up. How many paintings of NOTHING-NESS have I thrown away but acted OVERJOYED when it was given to me?!?!

Fastforward to the next Christmas 1996... My dad handed me a box from him to open. Inside was the same journal that I had given him the year before, with HIS NAME on it! Immediately, I started laughing because surely he KNEW that I hadn't spent any time on his present and he was RE-gifting it to me as a JOKE! I looked at him, and he had tears in his eyes. Confused, I opened the journal, and read this... My Dearest Melissa, In this journal, is a diary into my heart and soul, and my love for you. Everyday, I pray for you, and everyday, I love you more and more. You are my heart, my Braveheart, I love you...Daddy Ken.

My dad wrote in a journal to ME everyday for a year. It is my most prized posession. He not only shared his prayers for me, my future husband and children, but a deep insight into his soul. His prayers, favorite smells, memories, first crush, his love for my mother,and biggest fears are all included. Soooooo many things I never knew about him...and I am a daddy's girl! So, hopefully "Our Lipstick Jungle" blog will be around for a longtime so that all of 3 beautiful, and precious little girls will be able to read about our amazing and crazy life, and I can give them the same incredible gift that was given to me!!! This is for babies... Mical-Anne Elizabeth, Mia Blaire, and Monroe Elyse.