Accomplishments

Today has been a day of accomplishments for both me and Amelia.  I decided that it was time to turn her crib into a toddler bed.  She is not huge, but she isn't small for her age either.  It was really getting difficult lifting her in and out.  So, that was what we did first thing this morning.  She was so excited about her "big girl" bed.  She did great for nap time, which is what I was worried about.  We will see how she does tonight.  She woke up from her nap and just played in her bed.  I really thought she would jump up and run for the toys.  She didn't get up until I got up there to get her.  I don't know that it will be like that for long, but I hope it lasts for a little while!

So, my big accomplishment...I not only killed a wasp today with a shoe, but I just killed a roach with a shoe.  Granted, I found the longest shoe in my closet to get that roach.  But, I did it without even a screech.  The wasp didn't scare me too much.  I thought, well, I don't have a choice with the wasp.  Not that I've ever reacted to a wasp sting, I sure don't want to risk the first time to be when I'm 30 weeks pregnant!  Unfortunately, with the roach, Drew had just left to take Cody for a walk, so there was no choice, and we just put little girl to bed, so it couldn't be anything noisy like the vacuum.  But, I must say, I am pretty proud of myself!  Don't know if I can be so brave again, but there is hope. 

This is a completely unrelated photo, but she loves Cody so, and I don't really have a photo today.  So, enjoy my sweet baby and her best friend!

Well, hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!  It is a weekend of chores for us!  But, it feels good to get some things checked off the list of things to do. 

Flashback Friday

Since it is vacation time for most families, I decided that for this flashback Friday, I would tell everyone about our trip to Puerto Rico.  We went this past February.  Amelia was 14 months old.  It was her first time to see the ocean, and first time to ride a plane.  Drew had to go to Puerto Rico for work, so his company was nice enough to allow us to tag along.  Going to a tropical island isn't the same with a 1 year old. 

I was very nervous about the airplane ride.  And, I don't know what I was thinking booking our flight at 6 AM.  Amelia actually did really well though.  She slept from Memphis to Atlanta.  But, Atlanta to Puerto Rico was 4 hours!  She did great though!  All the people on the plane complemented her.  I was so proud!

Our daily routine was usually beach, pool, lunch, nap, then back to the beach for a little while.  Daddy tried to do all his work during Amelia's nap time.  There was 1 day he had to work all day, but we did get a lot of family time in. 

The beach of Puerto Rico is not like the white sandy beaches of the gulf.  It is a very short distance to the water (which was nice for strolling to the beach), and the sand is a coarse brown.  Amelia didn't mind one bit.  She loved it!  She didn't quite know what to think of the water.  She wouldn't get much more than her toes wet.  But, even though it was about 85 degrees outside, the water was still cold and the wind was cool. 

This was about the most daring she got with getting in the water.

I love this picture of the 2 of them looking out at the ocean.

Yes, mommy is very pale!  It is February, and I don't tan well anyway!

It almost seemed like we had the entire beach to ourselves. 

It's hard to keep your balance in the sand!

One day, daddy didn't have to work at all, so we took a trip to the rainforest.  Puerto Rico is such a strange island.  It really isn't very big, but the part where we stayed was in its dry season and the northern part of the island was in its rainy season.  So weird!  But, it does rain year round in the rainforest. 

The week we went, I was about 9-10 weeks pregnant.  So, not feeling so great to begin with, but on top of that Amelia had the stomach bug the first night we were there (which let me say, after 5 hours of throwing up, she was a trooper and ready to go that morning when she woke up), and I got it 2 nights after she did.  I took a little longer to recover than she did.  So, hiking through the rainforest was doable, but mommy sure wasn't trying to race to get anywhere!



We got a little lost trying to find the state park, but this was a stop we made as we were trying to find our way.  There was a really pretty water/rock fall on the other side of the bridge.  Drew climbed down and got some photos.  I couldn't find them though.  But, he slipped and I just about had a heart attack thinking he was going to die in the middle of nowhere, Puerto Rico.  Luckily he recovered well!

This is a roadside waterfall that we had walked to.

This was looking out over the island from where a tower was built that we had hiked to.

This was a good view of the island.  You can see the sunny south side of the island.

Amelia was such a big girl and wanted to walk everywhere.  We did put her in the stroller though for the trails.

This was the waterfall we hiked to.  It was about 1.5 miles there I think.  You could get in the water and swim around or climb up to the top of the falls.  We weren't that adventurous.  Poor Drew had the job of pushing the stroller, and it wasn't that easy of a trek.

This is just another picture of the roadside waterfall.

Our hiking ended with the last trip to the waterfall.  Mommy was worn out and Amelia had fallen asleep.  So, we took our tired stinky selves back into town and ate at Chili's.  I'm sure the locals would have rather we had kept on going till we could clean ourselves up, but we love Chili's and we were ready to eat!  We enjoyed our little adventure though!

By the time Friday came, we were good and ready to head back to Mississippi.  It was a nice week, but there is something about being at home.  I don't know if I would want to go back to Puerto Rico.  But, I am thankful for the opportunity we had to go.  Our next family beach trip will be to the white sandy beaches of Florida or Alabama!

Mommy/daughter day

Amelia and I get a lot of time together.  I am very thankful for this, and that my job schedule allows me to have all of this time with her.  But, by the end of yesterday, I was exhausted, and just wanted to go to bed.  Daddy has been out of town all week, and I finally reached my point where I just had to go to bed.  So, sorry, I am a day late. 

I get up yesterday morning, and looked at my phone and saw that it was 60 degress outside.  I immediately thought, we've got to hurry up and get dressed and get outside.  It was fabulous!  It was an absolutely beautiful morning in Greenville.  We played outside for a while, kicking the ball, attempting to play baseball or golf, and playing chase.  She discovered the berries on the holly bushes.  At first it was fine because she would pretend to eat the berries.  Then she figured out how to actually pull them off.  I distracted her from them until I couldn't any longer, then we had to go inside.  But, that was fine because we still had errands to run.

So, then we went to exchange some shoes I bought her.  She was wearing a size 4 and I was truly only buying her new because her shoes are now brown instead of white.  So, I bought her a 5, had to get her a 6!  How horrible am I!  Apparently I needed to buy new because they were way too small!  Luckily, she doesn't know any different.  She just loves shoes and wants to wear them.  The funny thing about her though is when we look at shoes, she is always attracted to men's tennis shoes.  Very strange!

After nap, we went out to our fabulous pool to soak up some more rays.  I went to put her bathing suit on her and her bathing suit it is kind of frufru (how ever you spell that), but it has a ruffle and kind of looks like a dress.  I get it on her and she starts twirling saying, I pretty.  She was so excited!  She does the same thing on Sundays when I get her dressed for church.  I just love it.  Plus she'll look at me in a dress and say mommy pretty.  Makes this huge pregnant girl feel good. 

My girl being pretty!  Her hair is finally long enough to put in a ponytail.

Well, the heat really kicked in that afternoon and the water was almost on fire.  We stayed in as long as we could, but Amelia really was happiest when she got out and played in the mudpuddles.  I wish I had a picture of her after being outside.  Imagine the above photo with her covered in black.  We went straight to the bath when we came inside.  All in all, we had a truly fun day just hanging out and enjoying the beautiful weather!

Daddy's going to be in trouble!

When I went to pick Amelia up from daycare today, her caregiver told me that one of the little boys from Amelia's previous class had come to "visit" with them today.  He is about to move up to Amelia's room, and he was one of her favorites when they were in class together.  Well, her caregiver told me that Amelia was very excited to have him in the class today. 

So, I like to ask her about the kids in her class.  I ask her if she played with each of them, if they are her friends, and if she is nice to them.  She usually answers no to everything, mainly cause she still doesn't know what all that means (at least I hope).  But, today, I asked her if she loved the little boy that came to visit (I know a little immature of me) but she said, Yes!!  I was shocked.  I asked her about the other little boy and she said no and then the other boys name.  My little girl is already chasing boys at the age of 18 months!  Her daddy of course says she will be 30 before she dates, but I think he's going to have another thing coming his way!   She definitely doesn't get that from her momma!    Anyway, I think that it is hilarious that she has a little crush already. 

A little this and that

So, I hate to go 2 days without posting anything, but Mondays are never very interesting.  So, I'll share just a few little fun things from our weekend.  Friday, Amelia really wanted to play outside.  And, you know this momma isn't too fond of the heat, but I am fond of my child playing outside.  So, we decided to go to our screened in porch and have a little fun.  We decided to play with our sidewalk chalk.

So, I was trying to get Amelia's photo with her art, but if you remember my previous post, she isn't in to taking pictures anymore.  So, I got a few shots of her running from my camera.

This is a little of her fabulous artwork! 

She really didn't like the chalk on her hands.  So, as she tried to wipe it off her hands on anything she could find, it ended up all over her face.

Once she got bored, she decided to play a little table tennis, or ping pong as we call it.  I think she is pretty talented at the sport!  Plus she really loves it!

She doesn't feel the need to play at the table. 

Lastly, a little bragging on my sweet girl, she can say her ABCs!  I'm pretty proud of this.  I'm sure it's probably not that big of a deal, but when she just does it without prompting, it is pretty exciting. 

Well, baby girl is in bed, so mommy is going to go now to take advantage of some free time to be a little crafty.  I'm working on a project for Anna Claire's room.  I'll post when I'm finished

A walk on the wild side

For Saturday family fun day, we decided to head south to Delhi, LA.  We went to a wonderful place called Wildlife Country Safari Park.  It is a drive through zoo, or you can take a tour bus (but this momma is too big to not be in air conditioning in this weather), and a petting a zoo.  We all had a lot of fun.  But, I think it was the best thing Amelia has ever seen! 

When we first went in to pay our admission, the lady pulled out some animals for us to pet and play with.  Amelia wasn't quite sure about that.  It took her a little while to warm up to the place.

We first walked over to the petting zoo.  She loved the goats.  Which was good because they were the only ones that wanted to be sociable.

It took her a second, but she quickly warmed up to feeding the goats.

Next, we went on our ride through the park.  They allow you to buy food and feed the animals.  We first came up on some bison and water buffalo.  They were being lazy and hanging out in the water (I can't say I blame them), but we were a little nervous that none of the animals would be interested in coming close.  We next came up on a donkey, and of course it was on my side of the truck.

As you can see, I'm a little reluctant to just put my hand out there with food for them to eat.

We next came up on the zebras.  They really didn't want to eat from the food cup, so Drew had to dump it on the ground.  He ate it up then.

The camel was very eager to eat the food.  He even left behind a lot of saliva on the cup as a souvenir.  I'm glad Drew was holding the cup then!

I was the lucky one to feed the llama.  I was so scared it was going to spit on me.  There was 1 crazy looking one that was showing us his teeth before we even pulled up.  I was very reluctant to feed him.  When Drew had decided that he had had enough, and to scoot up to the next one, he hit it in the head with his mirror.  I just knew it was going to happen then, but luckily they were not in a spitting mood today!

She was trying to get out to get the llama.  We have been reading llama, llama red pajama a lot lately.  It's her favorite book.  So, she liked the llamas.

At the end, we passed back by the bison.  This time, there were 2 that wanted to be friendly.  Drew fed them the rest of the food.  I think he swallowed it all in one big gulp.  I was a little intimidated by it, but he got his food and was content with that.  He was one big animal though!



We made it back to the main building and decided to go back to the petting zoo one more time.  The animals were more active.  Amelia wanted to get in and run around with them so bad.  She was trying to climb the fence to get in.  She loves animals!

We then went back into the main building to wash our hands, and the lady was nice and pulled the chinchilla back out for us.  Amelia was not nearly as shy this time about touching Willie.

I would highly recommend the wildlife country safari to any family.  It was a fun little morning trip.  I don't think I will ever be that close to those animals again, unless we go back (which we are planning to).  They are very family friendly, and your kids will love interacting with the animals!

We lastly headed into Monroe for lunch.  We did a little shopping when we were there, then headed back home. 

We ended the day by going on a family walk around the neighborhood.  It was a great day!  









Flashback Friday!

For this flashback Friday, I am not going to go that far back, but to just a few weeks ago.  I want to flashback to Memorial Day weekend.  It is one of my favorite weekends!  I love holidays where all there is to do is prepare food and have a good time.  No stress about buying presents or rushing from here to there to make sure you see everybody.    Plus, it is always around our anniversary, so we have a lot to celebrate.

This year for Memorial day, we met some really good friends at the Tennessee River to spend the weekend.  We spent a whole day on the river hanging out and playing with the kids.  Amelia loved playing in the kiddie pool and the river.  The girl loves water!  It was really nice because the water was really shallow for a while into the river, so she could play around without me feeling too nervous.  Don't get me wrong, she was either in her float or had her life jacket on the whole time in the river.   We spent the evening eating some yummy food!  It was wonderful to relax with good friends and have all our babies together to play and have a good time!

She loved having a friend to play with in the pool.  Too bad her other friend wasn't there yet, I forgot to get the camera back out after the first photo session!

Bubbles

Today was pretty uneventful.  Work, doctor's appointment, then dentist.  I was told that I had gained too many lbs, but he was at least nice about this time.  I couldn't really get my feelings hurt.  I think the water retention is just beginning to start. 

Amelia wanted to play outside all night, which is fine, but getting harder on this growing momma.  We can only stay out there for short spurts of time.  But, we enjoyed hanging out with daddy, blowing bubbles, and playing in the dirt.

This picture is from several months ago, but is the only one I could find of her playing with bubbles.  She loves them!  She tries so hard to blow them herself, it is so cute to watch her, she just can't blow hard enough.  

Celebrations and glimpses

Today is daddy's birthday!  Happy Birthday, Daddy!  He is officially 32 years old.  He spent the day having a little father/daughter bonding time.  I had to go to Jackson for an ultrasound, so I made a trip to Gigi's cupcakes, and picked him up a little treat.  I have heard they are wonderful.  It will be a first for both of us.  Can't wait to try them!

Chocolate covered raspberry!  Yum!  Those of you that know us, know how much we love raspberry!

Drew was so excited to finally be able to have a day to "sleep in" meaning till Amelia wakes up.  I had to get up early to head to Jackson.  So, I get up and go to the bathroom, like everyone else, but this morning, I turn on the light and there is a massive roach.  Roaches freak me out!  We haven't had any yet this year, but I knew it was coming.  When you live in a 70 year old home surrounded by massive trees, you are going to get roaches.  Well, you would think after 3 years of living here I would be able to handle a roach by now.  But, no I can't.  I wanted Drew to be able to sleep though, since it is birthday and all.  So, I told myself, ok I can do this.  So my plan was to pick up a shoe and throw it at him as hard as I could.  Well, my aim was really good!  The shoe landed right on that roach, unfortunately all it did was make it really mad.  It took off straight for the dirty clothes hamper.  I decided I would use the restroom and come up with my next plan.  Well, the roach comes darting out from the clothes, and I have never seen a roach move so fast, I couldn't help but start screeching.  I would say scream, but it isn't a scream, it is a distinct screech that can only be reproduced when I see a roach.  This of course ended Drew's plans to sleep in.  He thought I had fallen and had to check on me, but luckily he did come to my rescue.  The roach eventually lost that battle, and Drew was able to catch a few more minutes of sleep.
 
I went to Jackson today for an ultrasound of sweet baby Anna Claire.  Baby girl is already 3.5 lbs.  I looked up on babycenter.com, and average at this time is 2.5 lbs.  I hope that this isn't a sign that she is going to be huge!  We got to see a profile of her finally.  She has never cooperated before.   Her profile looks nothing like Amelia.  I know that doesn't mean much.  But, I can't wait to see her in person and know what she will look like!

We ended the day eating at the local Mexican restaurant before going to church.  I put Amelia to sleep.  She sang me a song, I wish I knew what it was, but it was sweet to hear her sing.  I will post if I can ever catch it on video.  She is very stubborn when I try to film her and wants to see what is being recorded making it impossible to record her doing anything. 
Good night!

Patience and enjoying the moment!

Our church's marquee sign has read for the past several weeks, Patience is having trust in God's timing.  I have read it every time I pass it, which is practically everyday, but never really thought about it.  Today it really just struck me.  I have so been wishing and praying for God to bring our family back to Memphis.  Especially these last several months.  And, as much as I want this, I do know that God has and always will do what is best for our family.  The truth is that sometimes what we really want is not always what is best for us.  Some times we have to learn that the hard way, or we just have to be patient and know that God's plan for us is often better than our own!

Ok, so now on a less serious note, today has been a pretty good day.  I usually judge my days not just on how things go at work but what my sweet baby girl is like when we get home.  Let me tell you, she was in a fabulous mood tonight!  Happy, not whiny at all, and just completely adorable!  Plus, I got a phone call from her daddy who said that he will be coming home tonight!!!  Yay!!!  But, all she wanted to do was go outside and play.  We were out there for as long as I could stand the mosquitos.  The thought of west nile kept passing through my head.  But, she has started doing this really cute thing where she will grab my hand and say momma come on, and take me where she wants to go.  She wants to know what everything is, she constantly says what's that.  Even if she knows what it is.  But, the cutest thing tonight was bath time.  She would look at me and say kick, kick, kick, which was her telling me to say that to her and she would go crazy kicking in the tub.  She thought that was the funniest thing ever.  After her bath, she loves to run around naked.  It is a job trying to catch her to just get a diaper on.  But, tonight, she started playing her music, and it was the funniest thing ever watching her dance.   Little girl has got some moves!   

Anna Claire has been so active tonight.   It's amazing that she will really move a lot when Amelia is around me.  She always kicks when Amelia is touching my stomach.  I think it is the cutest thing ever!  I know that she is just as excited to meet her sister as we are to meet her!

So this is actually a picture for Easter, but this is what we spent our night doing, playing with her car that our sweet neighbor lets her borrow until her grandkids come to visit.  She loves her car, and loves to get in it and say bye, bye and wave like she is leaving us.  I laugh now, but can't help but think that it really won't be long before she is really getting in a car and waving byebye.  It helps to remind me to soak every moment I can!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy father's day to my dad, and to my wonderful husband!  Today was nice and relaxing and pretty uneventful!  Unfortunately, Drew had to leave to go out of town again this afternoon for his job.   Just a few more weeks, and we will have him back with us all the time! 

Amelia and I started the day by waking daddy up, and giving him his presents.  She loves jumping on him in the bed.  We had eaten so much the day before, that no one wanted a big breakfast.  So, poor Drew got a bowl of cereal for breakfast, but he did get homemade biscuits yesterday.  

After church, we had lunch at a friend's house.  It was so yummy!!  Thank you Ms. Denecia for all of the yummy goodness.  She is a wonderful cook!  We then all went home to take naps.  I think Anna Claire is officially sucking all of the energy out of me!  The inability to sleep at night doesn't help either!  I don't know if I can make it 12 more weeks!

I did manage to get 1 picture of them on Father's Day!  Amelia really does love her daddy!

Firsts and celebrations!

Life in Greenville on a Saturday is very laid back.  There really isn't an abundance of activities, so it takes a little creativity to find ways to find entertainment.  Drew was really wanting to take Amelia to a petting zoo that is about 1.5 hours away.  That sounded like a lot of fun, but knowing Amelia has not had a good nap since Wednesday, and mommy had made big plans that evening, I was worried about toddler melt down.  So, we decided it would be better to stay local this weekend.  We tried to take her to our church playground, but unfortunately it has a lock and chain, and we don't have the code, so the only other thing we could think of was McDonald's.  So, Amelia had her first trip to the McDonald's playground!

She loved going down the slide!

There wasn't much more beyond the slide, but she didn't mind!

It was so cute watching her.  She was the only one for a while, but some older kids showed up and she had so much fun playing with them! 

Later, she got a good nap, while mommy and daddy worked on some projects.  When she finally woke up from her nap, we put on her swimsuit and headed for the kiddy pool.  I know, not very exciting, but she loves it and it keeps us cool, so everyone is happy.  The local tennis club will allow summer memberships for the pool, which is wonderful, but this summer they decided to cut back on the spots allowed, and mommy was a little slow getting by there and missed our opportunity.  We won't make that mistake again!  Luckily daddy found a fun pool with a slide to keep us entertained!



As you can see, she is very fond of slides, but really loves being in the water!

Our day ended celebrating daddy's birthday at his favorite local restaurant.  Does Eat Place, it is a local landmark.  It is famous for it's steaks.  We met some good friends, and had so much fun that mommy forgot to take pictures.  It is truly an experience to eat there.  There is no menu, you order the type of steak you want and how you want it cooked.  We ate some yummy tamales, shrimp, and steak with salad and fries.  







I found this picture on the internet. 



We ended the evening hanging out at our house, and eating some fabulous Paula Deen's banana pudding!  You really can't get any better than that.  I think that Drew enjoyed his birthday this year! 

Flashback Friday!

So, my friends know that I am stealing the flashback Friday from them.  But, the truth is I am 18 months behind on sharing the life of my sweet baby girl, so I will need to do a lot of catching up. 

I thought that for my first "flashback Friday" I would start with the second most important day of my life (first being the day I married my wonderful husband).  Plus, it just so happens that it actually occurred on a Friday.  The birth of my sweet baby girl on December 3, 2010.  She was 8 days late.  But, I think she came right on time.  We went to the hospital to start the induction process, but luckily my contractions turned out to be true contractions, and I was in labor and did not have to be induced!  She was born at 9:02 am, weighed 8 lbs and was 19.5 inches long, and was completely perfect in every way. 

She had just finished her first bath, and was all comfy cozy. 

We live several hours away from all of our family, so we had told everyone to wait to come once we went home from the hospital.  I really didn't want an audience while I was in labor, and who wants to entertain during that time.  It's not like living close where everyone can come for a short time then leave.  My parents and sister came to the hospital and spent the day with us, they arrived shortly after Amelia was born.  Drew and I were both completely exhausted by the end of the day, and I am pretty sure I went to sleep right after they left.  The nursery only brought Amelia in 1 time that night.  It felt good to get some good sleep before heading home to take on parenthood. 

I love this picture because she looks like she was smiling!  So sweet from the very beginning!

We went home on Saturday.  We couldn't leave the hospital until she had a wet diaper.  She had had plenty of dirty, but mommy didn't know she was suppose to be checking for wet too.  So, until we were certain she could urinate, we were stuck in the hospital.  You have never seen 2 people more excited to see a wet diaper!  It also happened to be the day of the SEC championship, so we were really hoping to watch it from home and not a hospital! 

The first night really went well.  We didn't get a bit of sleep, but she slept so good.  I don't know why you worry so much that they are just going to stop breathing if your not there listening to them.  I know so many people that say they couldn't stand all the new baby noices at night, and couldn't wait to get them in their own room.  But, I loved them.  They gave me so much reassurance that everything was ok just as long as I could hear those noices.  We actually woke her up to eat for the first several nights.  I was too paranoid to let go much over 3 hours because she was born with low blood sugar.  Eventually I got over that. 

Anyhow, she has been the biggest blessing in my life, and is truly a joy to be around.  She is the funniest person I know, and continues to make us laugh more and more everyday. 

Ray of sunshine

This morning, I was grumpily getting out of bed to get ready for my day.  That is pretty much the norm for me, never quite ready to face another day.  And then, I started thinking, in just another hour my sweet baby girl will be waking up, and when she does she will be laughing and talking, and just as happy as she could be.  She is always happiest first thing in the morning, as if she is just happy to see the sunshine again.  It made me think why can't I be like that. 

When she woke up this morning, she was singing and bouncing around.  I love listening to her sweet voice over the monitor.  When I get to her room to get her, she will stand up, hold on to the railing and start jumping as if she were on a trampoline, she doesn't want to get out of bed most of the time because she is having so much fun!  But, when she does come to me, I always get the biggest hug and pats on my back.  She gives the best hugs, and I love that she pats me on the back. 

This is what I get to see every morning when I go to get baby girl.  Just knowing that I get to wake up to this little ray of sunshine should make getting out of bed a lot more exciting.  What a blessing to wake up to every day!  I am going to challenge myself to learn from my little girl, and instead of being so grumpy, be excited to see the sunshine everyday!

Welcome to our world!

 Let me start with, I am not a writer!!!!  I am doing this because, my sweet baby girl is 18 months old, and as much as I think I will be able to remember everything about her childhood, the reality is I can barely remember yesterday!  And, once baby sister comes in September, there will truly be no more hope for me.  I love being able to keep up with my friends and their family through blogger also.  So, I thought, why not give it a shot.

Well, to introduce you to our family, I'm the mommy, Stacy.  I work part time as a nurse practitioner.  I love being able to have both a career and lots of time with my little girl!  I think my job keeps what little sanity I have.  I was born and raised in Memphis, TN.  Moved to Knoxville to get my master's degree in nursing, and to be closer to the love of my life.  He was already there working on his Phd.  We currently live in Greenville, MS.  It has definitely been a new experience for me, but I feel very blessed to be in a town where life is a little slower and less complicated.  But, I do look forward to living in big city again! 

My husband, Drew, is daddy.  He works as a weed scientist for a large chemical company.  He works very hard and is out of town a lot.  We miss him when he's gone, but are very blessed by all the benefits his job gives us.  He is from a small town in Tennessee called New Johnsonville.  He loves small town life.  We both would love to be back in Tennessee, but are making the most out of life here now.  We are huge Tennessee Vol fans, and plan on both of our girls being fans too, no matter what state we live in!

Baby girl's name is Amelia.  She has been the joy of my life!  I say every step of her life that I love the stage that she is at right now.  Truthfully, I does just keep getting better and better!  She is no perfect child, but she is pretty close.  Unfortunately, she seems to have gotten her mommies temper, but she is very easily corrected.  Her favorite things right now are, swimming in her pool, elmo (melmo to her), her pabi (paci), eating (little girl isn't very picky), our dog Cody, and animals.  She loves all animals and telling us the sounds they make. 

Our newest addition will be here in September!  Her name is going to be Anna Claire.  She seems to be more active than Amelia was, but that varies day to day.  I was worried that we would be in trouble when she gets here, but I think we will be just fine.  We are all looking forward to her arrival, but I know that Amelia will love having a little sister.  She loves other kids.  She doesn't seem to be too fond of newborns, but I keep talking to her about baby sister, and she seems to be getting excited.  She likes to point to my belly and say baby and sissy.  I think they will be good friends! 

 This is a picture of Drew and me on a mini vacation to San Antonio.  This was on our cruise around the river walk.  We try to do a weekend trip every year for our anniversary instead of giving presents.  This was our trip last year.  We are skipping this year since baby girl will be coming.  But, we will make it up next year with a week trip!

This is our family on Christmas Day. 



This is baby girl at the zoo. 



Next blog will be a lot less background info.  But, you have to start somewhere, right!  Just wanted to give a quick introduction to our family.