Thanksgiving 2014

I am Thankful. 

I am Grateful.

I am Overwhelmed by Love.

Thanksgiving 2014 [Baby's first Thanksgiving]

Family gathered.

Football on.

Turkey cut.

Ham sliced. 

Crock pots filled.

Casseroles scooped.

God is Great. 

God is Good.

Let us Thank You for our food.

Completely Blessed. 

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours.

Emma is 5 Months... [Monday]

A little late on this post. Oops! Too busy having fun! 

Emma turned 5 months young on Monday and what a fun month it has been. Ms Thang is definitely growing up and learning new things every day! I'm absolutely loving this age (I think I have said that every time I write her month post...)

E's new schedule:

• Wake at or around 630a - change diaper, eat cereal in our bumbo, take 5.5 oz bottle
• Go down for a morning nap around 830a. (this nap time varies. could be 2 hours. could be 30 minutes. we take what we can get) 
• 10-1030a - eat half a container of food (we LOVE sweet potatoes, bananas, and pears. not too sure about peas and squash as of now. we kind of like carrots) and take 5-5.5 oz bottle (this is now either formula or breast milk)
• After we eat, we play play play... sometimes napping around 1ish... (depends on what we did in the morning. Again we take what we can get)
• 2-230p - eat the other half of food and take 5-5.5 oz bottle (formula or breast milk)
• After we play some more. Read a book or two or three. Go outside. Usually, if its the week days, D comes and picks her up from Grammy and Paw Paws or comes home to GiGi. We watch TV for a little bit with Daddy.
• Take another 5 oz bottle around 5p
• I come home around 630p (YAY!) and we play for a little bit on our play mat and watch Moose be a crazy dog
• Dinner time around 7p-8p - eat half a container of food and nurse 
• We go down for bed around 915-930p 
• WE SLEEP THE WHOLE NIGHT! 

That hair. "Friar Emma"

Yes, we have started formula. With the stress of pumping at work and stress at work in general... I'm not producing enough for you to eat every day. I'm trying but me and your daddy agreed that it was time. My goal was to breastfeed/pump until 6 months (Christmas time), so I feel somewhat successful. There has been a lot of crying on my part (I think I have cried more than you actually...) BUT we are getting through it and you actually are taking to it pretty well. I'd rather be the one that is struggling with this than you, so for that, I am happy!

First thing... you saw your first snow! You absolutely LOVED it. It was a just a light dusting but you LOVED it. I'm hoping for a white Christmas... but we will see. It is 63 today... 

You are now moving a ton. Wiggle worm is what we call you. You roll and roll.... back to front. Front to back. Laughing the whole time. Always SO proud of yourself. Of course. Its a big accomplishment. 

You love changing clothes. You smile the whole time. And once the clothes are off, you let out this big squeal. If you like clothes as much as you do now... Me and your dad are in trouble. You also are probably going to be our crazy nakey baby. I can see it now... 2 years old... walking/running around in just your diaper.. screaming and giving Moose a heart attack. Good times ahead!

We think you are starting to teeth a little bit. Your top left molar keeps "floating" in and out. And now I can feel your bottom 2 front teeth are trying to come through. Its definitely hard. We have introduced you to Sophie the giraffe and you LOVE her... especially chewing on her nose and face. I'm nervous about this whole teething stage, but its a part of growing up. So we will roll with the punches. 

Baby selfie

You are getting more and more shy around people that you don't know. You definitely know Grammy, Paw Paw, GiGi, your daddy and me. Everyone else... you have to warm up to them. I love it because you light up when you see me but we have to get used to other people, its a part of growing up and making friends. Plus we have a HUGE family so prepare for crazy holiday fun that is just around the corner! Also, I think eventually day care will help with this. Big crowds, right now, are not your scene. 

Daddy and I LOVE you, Peanut! You make our hearts so happy. We love you to the moon and back! XOXO

I like to eat... eat... eat...

I can't believe I'm posting this already... How is this happening? Why is time going by so fast? 

We are now eating solids! 

We tried rice cereal for the first time on Halloween night. All I can say is... Girl can eat! The doctor recommended we try with a spoon not in the bottle to get her more acclimated to eating like a big girl...

Big Girl? What... she's only 20 weeks. 

Anyways... so we spooned up some cereal... and she love it! It was very entertaining! Rice cereal face is the best!

AND then (this past week) we tried Bananas or 'naners' as we call them! We might have a new favorite. We definitely like them heated up just a bit AND then we chow down... and we get them everywhere! (Moose's favorite time) 

New eating routine: 5 oz in the morning, 5 oz around 11a (plus some 'naners'), 5 oz around 3 and breastfeed (plus some 'naners' or rice cereal) at night. 

I can already tell you are getting bigger and no longer a little newborn nugget. (You will always be my little bug.. even when you are in your 20s. No worries.) I'm loving this stage, though! So... we will continue with new foods. See what you like and dislike.. and go from there! 

Next up... Peas!  

XOXO

Halloween 2014

Well its November (the 3rd of November) which means Halloween has come and gone. But that's OK, we "celebrated" for a week. You will learn that Halloween is one of my favorite "holidays" (Thank you Hallmark). Great excuse to dress ridiculous and eat LOTs of candy. What's better than that? E, with you being 18 weeks, you did dress up but the candy eating was done by me and your dad. It turned bitterly cold the day before Halloween, so we didn't have as many trick or treaters as we expected (we bought 6 bags, we will know next time. 4 bag limit)... so we have a TON of candy leftover. Oh shoot. Guess we'll have to eat it and bring it to work! 

Wednesday, October 29th, we went to Uncle Brent and Aunt Ashley's church for some trunk or treating. Your cousins were there too! Davis was dressed as a skeleton and jumping in the play house. Ava was the prettiest pirate and was painting the little kid's faces, and Amelia, was a ghost. Yep. A white sheet with holes cut out. She cracks me up! We all used to go to Brentwood Baptist but that church has gotten so big that they needed to expand to the communities surrounding. Cue the West Franklin church. This church is a smaller version of Brentwood Baptist but IN Franklin... AND right down the road. We will probably visit once you get a little older. Sunday School is at 9:30 and Service is at 10:45. How perfect is that? 

We dressed up like the Flintstones! You were Pebbles, Dad was Fred, I was Wilma and Moose was Dino. We looked pretty good if you ask me! 

Yabba Dabba Doooooo!!

Friday.. October 31st! Halloween was HERE! 

In the past Me and your Dad would have dressed up and gone out with our friends and would recover the next day. I will explain what that means at a later date... It was always so much fun but this year was the best... because you were here!! So this year we dressed up at work! Your dad's work peeps dressed up like the Addam's Family. Your dad was Lurch. "You raaaannggg" Creepy but perfect! (Yes, your dad has make-up on...)

My work dressed up like Mario Kart characters. Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Princess Peach. Mario and the gang are cartoon characters (TV show and movie) but I remember them as a video game that I played on Nintendo 64. Another thing you learn about once you get older, even though it will be vintage by the time you are old enough to know about it. Either way, it was perfect and so much fun! 

Halloween night we had Grammy and Paw Paw over for a cookout and to hand out candy to the (lack of) trick or treaters. It was all around great night! You were in a great mood and were the cutest little baby witch. You got lots of "awwws" at the door from the neighbors! 

Next year, we will be those trick or treaters going door to door getting candy. I wonder what you will be next year, what we will be. 

Let's start thinking! 

First Halloween in the books, little girl! 

Until next year.... 

XOXO

Emma is 4 Months..

We have been a busy little family this past month. Every weekend has been filled. We have been non-stop. Could be why we have had some ups and downs this month.

The "ups" are my favorite part though...of course. 

Daddy's smirk on the right.. You look like you are up to no good. 

Again... up to no good. Still loving bath time!

You have started babbling and "talking" like crazy, girlfriend. You have been testing the volume limit, too. You go from 0-10 in less than 3 seconds. Pretty sure the whole neighborhood can hear you. Moose gives you this look like "she used to be quiet.. what was that?" I'm loving it! You also LOVE petting Moose and I think he likes it too... well let's say he is getting used to it! 

You love playing with your zebra that Kimmie got you.

You found your feet. Cute little booger. You also have become a drooler. We go through at least 2-3 onesies and 2-3 burp cloths a day. Could be a sign of teething but I think it is more like you don't know what to do with all of your spit so... it goes on your shirt. It's fine, mom and dad got ya covered! Burp cloths to the rescue!

Look at that drool... 

You rolled over from your back to your belly. Your Paw Paw saw you do this. No one else has seen it, so if you could do that again, that would be great. I would like to get a video of it, if I can. So come on baby girl! And because you rolled over (so Paw Paw says..) we transitioned you from being completely swaddled in your crib at night to just partially, you now have your arms out. If we swaddled you completely it could be hazard if you were to roll over, so it was time. You seem to like it. You cry out but you go back to sleep after a little bit. Also, on top of rolling over (according to Paw Paw..) you also have been trying to sit up by yourself. The night of 10/13 we were watching TV after dinner and you sat straight up in your boppy and hung out like it was no big deal. You are so strong little one. Keep it up! #proudmama

This is your focused face..

With all of these amazing "ups".. there are always the "downs"... 

You got sick for the first time on 10/19. You were acting strange and fussy (which is not your norm) so we took your temperature in your ears. Right ear read 101.8; left ear read 100.4. Call the doctor. It was Sunday so we got the on-call nurse. She said that yes it was a fever (obviously) but a "good fever", one that you can fight off and shouldn't be afraid of. She said to just watch you and if we noticed anything strange to call back and/or go to the hospital. 

Sick baby face. Breaks my heart.

We took your temp the next day and to our delight it was normal at 97.4. But you still weren't your normal fun, smiley, talkative, lively self and to make matters worse (sorry for all the poop talk...) you went for 1.5 days without pooping, yet you were eating the same amount of food. Before you were quite the regular pooper (after every feeding), so that had to have been very uncomfortable for you, little miss. Also, you woke up in the middle of the night (1am.. 3am.. and 6am) screaming at the top of your lungs. Again, not your norm. I think you started getting over it on the 23rd. You started pooping again and you have been acting like yourself again, playing and cutting up with everyone. We think you might have had a little bug, which will happen from time to time.. but the main thing is.. you fought it off like a strong little baby that you are! Once again... #proudmama

Smiling again...

We saw Dr Moss today (10/24) for your 4 month appointment and you are officially a string bean, little miss. 13 lbs 13 oz (50th percentile) and 26 inches long (99th percentile). It makes sense seeing as your dad is 6'4'' and I'm 5'9''. You are growing like a weed! Dr Moss said you physically are perfect. That's what I like to hear!

Baby Zoolander doing her best Blue Steel

Like I said we have been non-stop, so I think its time we take it easy. Daddy is working this weekend, so walking around the neighborhood, getting some fresh air, watching lots of Disney movies, and perhaps a picnic in the backyard are in order. You know hanging out Mommy/Daughter style (and Moose will be there too!)

Love you Sweets! XOXO

Its Wedding Season [First Road Trip]

Its Wedding Season and, boy, do I love a good wedding. We hardly dress up fancy anymore because we work at very casual work places, so any excuse to dress up.. we are there! 

First up - The Huspen's Wedding! Lizzie looked absolutely gorgeous and Anthony looked so handsome. Lizzie would be considered my sister in law...law. She is Meredith's (my sister in law) sister. It was in Murfreesboro which was nice because it made for Murdock family affair. GiGi, Papa, Morgan, Meredith, Jeremy, Cody, Ashley.. the whole gang was there! It was an outdoor event in the backyard of her parents house. Being the end of September, the weather could have been miserably hot or cool (welcome to the South), but it was perfect! Great food, great weather, GREAT company! 

Emma, you looked adorably cute and Grammy was so happy you wore the tights and shoes she gave you. Always fashionable, of course!

Your handsome daddy. Love!

This past weekend, was your first road trip to Memphis. Up until now the longest car ride has been to Murfreesboro, which is a short hour away, so 3 hours to Memphis.. here goes nothing! Emma... another proud Mama moment... you did great! You slept majority of the time and when you woke, we played with your giraffe, duck, birdie, and zebra. You loved it! 

We drove up Saturday morning during your nap time. We arrived at Grandma Hammer's house around 11ish and you were ready to eat! You played for a little bit and visited with family but then it was time for the adults to eat. Back in the car seat. We went to Memphis Pizza Cafe.. all 10 of us! It was delicious! 

You LOVE Bink.. and so do I!

It was time to get ready for the wedding once we got back from lunch, so you played with your daddy and PawPaw while Grammy and I got dolled up. We dressed you up in this adorable baby blue dress with bloomers and your fancy shoes (entire outfit was from Grammy!). You were wedding ready... 

The Dotson's Wedding was peacock themed and so so cute! I loved all the bold colors and glitz of it all. Hollye (my cousin) looked so pretty! Her dress was exactly what I pictured, fit her perfectly! You were great for the wedding ceremony but didn't want any part of the reception. The reception was at Germantown Country Club, which was really nice and big, but you were done for the day. 

The only picture I got all night #momfail. BUT I'll take it. How cute is this?

It was a longgg day for a 15 week old. Overstimulated and ready to go "home". We got back around 9 (still pretty late). You were exhausted! You fell asleep in your pack n play and were out for the night. Your dad and I thought for sure you would wake up and to our (and everyone else) surprise, you slept through the night. AND woke up late, 7:20a! Someone was tired! 

Sunday was here and we originally planned on going to the Memphis Zoo, but there was a 50%-60% of rain and we didn't want to risk it so we just hung out with the family instead. Cue picture taking! 

4 generations

Very special moment. Great Grandma, Grammy, Mama, and You!

Cheetah baby!

You got your morning nap, we went to lunch.. all 10 of us (again!) and we were on the road (again!).You slept THE WHOLE WAY home! So sleepy! 

Me and your daddy are so proud of you. You have been to TWO weddings, traveled to Memphis, and you aren't even 4 months yet! You are truly a little sweetheart and a very entertaining one... Ha!

We love you, little Miss. You have completed our little family!