A whole year! Actually, one year ago at this time I was on my way to my 40 week appt. at the OB. They sent me on to the hospital and about 4-5 hours after I checked in, there was our beautiful baby Emily. I remember the time because last year's writers strike meant no new episodes of Grey's Anatomy. On this night though, a new episode was airing and I was happy to have something to watch from my hospital bed. The nurses were joking with me about not missing my show and I informed them that Emily would not arrive until after 10. Well, I did get to see the whole thing, but I was a little distracted at the end.
Emily had a bit of a rough start. She was seemingly fine for her first few hours of her life, but by the morning she couldn't keep anything down. She was whisked off to the the NICU while I was in the shower and ended up staying there for 5 days. She was on an IV for 3 days with no feedings until the doctor could rule out infection, a bowel blockage, and whatever else they were looking for. It was a scary time and I'm thankful for the support and prayers of my family and friends. I saved all of the emails and letters. It turns out that Emily was just fine and we got to bring her home on Tuesday Jan. 15th. Despite her stressful beginning, Emily has spent every day since she came home from the hospital making us smile. She really is a joy.
When Ava turned one, I spent days and days to compile a slideshow of her first year. I met with the multi media guy every day after school for help. Ava's slide show ended up being 4 discs because we couldn't figure out how to save more information on each disc. The soundtrack was on a separate CD because I didn't have a program to lay a music track over the pictures. Now I look back and I'm grateful that I've improved my knowledge of technology. I ended up making Emily's First Year DVD on One True Media, because it was the quickest and easiest, but I think we've got 2 or 3 programs on our desktop that would've done the job. I worked for a little bit every night after the girls were in bed and I'd finished the cooking blog. That said, this movie is about 40 minutes long. It contains my favorite pictures and video clips from each month of Emily's first year. If you're coming to the party next weekend, you might want to save yourself the 40 minutes and watch it on our television. If not and you have 40 extra minutes in your day, enjoy the show. I know it's not really that entertaining looking at 280 pictures of someone else's kid, even if it is set to music. Of course, it makes me cry every single time I watch it.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Sledding
I took the girls sledding yesterday. There are a few good sledding hills within minutes of our house, but I decided to stick close to home. I first pulled the girls up and down the sidewalk around our block. Then we headed for the back yard. The house next door is on the market, so we have lots of extra outdoor space. There is a little hill between the two lawns which was perfect for sledding with little ones.
Both girls intensely dislike all of the winter gear. Ava argued the whole time I bundled her up and then informed me that it was a "bad idea, Mommy." Emily just cried. She can hardly move in her snowsuit and boots. It's like looking at the little brother from A Christmas Story. Once they were in the sled, they were on Cloud 9. At first I thought that Emily was falling over backward, but as it turned out, she was trying to lay down in the sled. She preferred to lay down and just be pulled around. I think she would've laid in that sled all day. She just stared at the sky and smiled and laughed.
We're supposed to get about a foot by tomorrow night, so it looks like we'll put some miles on the new sled. Sledding is one of my favorite past times, so I was having a blast. I used to have sledding parties for my birthday. Speaking of birthdays, maybe we'll celebrate Emily's tomorrow with a few runs down the hill.
As you can see, my little Southern belles have adapted well to the Northern Climate.
Both girls intensely dislike all of the winter gear. Ava argued the whole time I bundled her up and then informed me that it was a "bad idea, Mommy." Emily just cried. She can hardly move in her snowsuit and boots. It's like looking at the little brother from A Christmas Story. Once they were in the sled, they were on Cloud 9. At first I thought that Emily was falling over backward, but as it turned out, she was trying to lay down in the sled. She preferred to lay down and just be pulled around. I think she would've laid in that sled all day. She just stared at the sky and smiled and laughed.
We're supposed to get about a foot by tomorrow night, so it looks like we'll put some miles on the new sled. Sledding is one of my favorite past times, so I was having a blast. I used to have sledding parties for my birthday. Speaking of birthdays, maybe we'll celebrate Emily's tomorrow with a few runs down the hill.
As you can see, my little Southern belles have adapted well to the Northern Climate.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
My Toddler
Emily has been taking steps since right around Thanksgiving. She finally got the hang of it over Christmas break. Now, nothing in the house is off limits. In the last couple of days, not only is she walking everywhere, she is climbing everything in sight. She has figured out how to push her toys and kitchen chairs alongside of any piece of furniture and climb up, which is how I found her dangerously standing atop of our coffee table today. She also thinks it's wildly funny to crawl into a room and shut the door behind her. I filmed this clip on Friday night just minutes after we returned from our Christmas vacation, so please excuse the mess and suitcases.
Flour Baby
While I was rolling out the gingerbread this year, Ava took a knife to a bag of flour. Of course, Emily had to get in on the action. I rounded the table to find my baby sufficiently dusted.
New Year's Eve
It's hard to believe that last year on NYE I was just 10 days away from delivering baby Emily. One of our New Year's traditions is attending a party with our college friends. Obviously, last year, in my late state of pregnancy, I was not "allowed" to make the trip from Atlanta to Indiana. Now that we live closer and I am not pregnant, I was making it to the party come hell or high water. Our friends "Norm" and Steph are gracious enough to host every year and friends from as far away as San Diego make the trip to bring in the New Year with the old gang. The party seems to have gotten tamer now that many of us have entered into parenthood or just lived as a grown ups long enough for it to affect our eternal "party animal". It's fun to catch up and hear how everyone's life has changed in the last year. One thing that doesn't change about this party is that we always celebrate with a theme. Past year's themes have been "White Trash" New Year's(an excellent excuse to don my Hooters Racing tank top) and Rock Star New Years(I was Cher). This year was a little more thought provoking: Good vs. Evil. Hmmm. What to be? Super Man or Lex Luther. Batman or Catwoman? In the end I was good and evil.
Here is the host as Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. He was carrying a little seat and had money spilling out of his pockets.
My friend Amber and I being "good".
Mike's brother Dave and his sister Katie. If anyone reading this is confused...Purdue is good.
My sweetie and I on NYE. I puffy painted matching shirts with quotes about evil for Mike and I. I know, I'm too cool for school. Puffy paints. Geesh.
My good friend Michelle and I. Her husband wore "The Joker" shirt.
Some of my "evil" buddies. Moreno as evil incarnate...IU...ha ha. Me, my friend Brandon as "Chuck"(I've never seen that show) and my brother-in-law Drew as Osama bin Laden.
And what 2008 New Year's Eve party was complete without Rock Band? Though, I'm not sure that butchering lead vocals to American Woman at 4 am was the best way for me to begin my year. In this picture are the hostess Steph in the back (dressed as beer pong) my friend Jen, and my brother-in-law on drums.
I wish all of you the best in the new year!
I didn't have my camera out very much, so if any of my fellow party goers would like to share pics, send them my way and I'll add them on.
Here is the host as Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. He was carrying a little seat and had money spilling out of his pockets.
My friend Amber and I being "good".
Mike's brother Dave and his sister Katie. If anyone reading this is confused...Purdue is good.
My sweetie and I on NYE. I puffy painted matching shirts with quotes about evil for Mike and I. I know, I'm too cool for school. Puffy paints. Geesh.
My good friend Michelle and I. Her husband wore "The Joker" shirt.
Some of my "evil" buddies. Moreno as evil incarnate...IU...ha ha. Me, my friend Brandon as "Chuck"(I've never seen that show) and my brother-in-law Drew as Osama bin Laden.
And what 2008 New Year's Eve party was complete without Rock Band? Though, I'm not sure that butchering lead vocals to American Woman at 4 am was the best way for me to begin my year. In this picture are the hostess Steph in the back (dressed as beer pong) my friend Jen, and my brother-in-law on drums.
I wish all of you the best in the new year!
I didn't have my camera out very much, so if any of my fellow party goers would like to share pics, send them my way and I'll add them on.
Christmas and Christmas and....more Christmas!
I've been so bad about updating lately. We just got back home from our Christmas vacation on Friday night. I immediately launched a war on clutter. I've been trying to organize and do laundry for the last few days. 1 closet down (and the playroom), 2 closets and a very messy 4 year old's room to go. Barbie's house does not get assembled until I can see the floor in there! That said, I'm taking a break and trying to look past the basket of laundry that needs to be folded on the family room floor so that I can bring you this little slide show of our Christmas.
We started Christmas the weekend before with the Bailey family Christmas. You'll see the pictures of the girls holding a stack o' cash in the slideshow. My grandpa always gives the Christmas money in "ones". Pretty exciting for the kiddos. With all of those bills they must be rich, right? Ava was dancing around the room waving her money. At 4, she gets the fact that money = buying power.
We returned to Ohio and had a really sweet Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with just the 4 of us. After the girls went to sleep Mike and I turned into elves and moved all of the furniture out of the playroom so that we could blow up an enormous bounce house. It's meant for outdoors, but the child in Mike could not resist that giant Christmas surprise. I have to say, it was totally worth it to see the surprise and pure joy on the girls' little faces.
Once we'd finished Christmas under out tree and packed up the cars, we took off for Christmas night back in Indiana with Mike's side of the family. Then on Saturday we were back up at my parent's for Christmas with my family. On Sunday we parted ways, Mike returned to Indy to be the Godfather for our nephew and the girls and I stayed at my parent's to attend my mom's side of the family Christmas. Mike headed back to work in Ohio Sunday night. On Tuesday the girls and I made it back down to Indy and Mike re-joined us on Wednesday, just in time for New Year's Eve. Craziness, right? Nope. Pretty normal for us and definitely worth it. It was so good to see everyone this year!
Of course, the girls were sufficiently spoiled. Ava made her own list this year(she dictated it to her secretary, that is) and the big items were a Baby Alive Doll, the Rose Petal Cottage, and a tire swing. You'll see all of the above in the montage below...so she made out just fine. All she wanted from Santa was her "favorite" bubble gum (individually wrapped Dubble Bubble) and grape soda. That made Santa's job pretty easy. Her stocking was filled with bubble gum and the fireplace lined with cans of grape soda. Ahh, the the simple things. And since Christmas really isn't about the gifts, I have to share my proudest moment. On Christmas Eve I was running my last errand and trying to hurry home to get ready for church. Ava yelled from the back seat, "I'm so excited for Jesus' birthday! I love the baby Jesus! Happy Birthday Jesus!" The girl gets it.
Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday! Enjoy the pictures:
We started Christmas the weekend before with the Bailey family Christmas. You'll see the pictures of the girls holding a stack o' cash in the slideshow. My grandpa always gives the Christmas money in "ones". Pretty exciting for the kiddos. With all of those bills they must be rich, right? Ava was dancing around the room waving her money. At 4, she gets the fact that money = buying power.
We returned to Ohio and had a really sweet Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with just the 4 of us. After the girls went to sleep Mike and I turned into elves and moved all of the furniture out of the playroom so that we could blow up an enormous bounce house. It's meant for outdoors, but the child in Mike could not resist that giant Christmas surprise. I have to say, it was totally worth it to see the surprise and pure joy on the girls' little faces.
Once we'd finished Christmas under out tree and packed up the cars, we took off for Christmas night back in Indiana with Mike's side of the family. Then on Saturday we were back up at my parent's for Christmas with my family. On Sunday we parted ways, Mike returned to Indy to be the Godfather for our nephew and the girls and I stayed at my parent's to attend my mom's side of the family Christmas. Mike headed back to work in Ohio Sunday night. On Tuesday the girls and I made it back down to Indy and Mike re-joined us on Wednesday, just in time for New Year's Eve. Craziness, right? Nope. Pretty normal for us and definitely worth it. It was so good to see everyone this year!
Of course, the girls were sufficiently spoiled. Ava made her own list this year(she dictated it to her secretary, that is) and the big items were a Baby Alive Doll, the Rose Petal Cottage, and a tire swing. You'll see all of the above in the montage below...so she made out just fine. All she wanted from Santa was her "favorite" bubble gum (individually wrapped Dubble Bubble) and grape soda. That made Santa's job pretty easy. Her stocking was filled with bubble gum and the fireplace lined with cans of grape soda. Ahh, the the simple things. And since Christmas really isn't about the gifts, I have to share my proudest moment. On Christmas Eve I was running my last errand and trying to hurry home to get ready for church. Ava yelled from the back seat, "I'm so excited for Jesus' birthday! I love the baby Jesus! Happy Birthday Jesus!" The girl gets it.
Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday! Enjoy the pictures:
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