Confessions

Let's get right to it...

- While "making" popcorn this week I got the bag out of the microwave, opened it, and sprayed the entire kitchen with its contents....I called out to Chris "see this is why I shouldn't cook". You know its been a long week when popcorn constitutes cooking. (sorry mom)

- Whenever I talk to my sister about Emerson and my "mom moments" she answers with laughter and "who let you be a mom?" Should I be offended?

- So Chris is reading a book called They Made America, last night he was trying to stump me on a question of who started GE. He was slightly amazed when I answered without hesitation, Thomas Edison. To be honest it was a lucky guess, but I continued to gloat until I fell asleep. Small victories.

-I am using my daughter as bait to try and make my parents move to Charleston. Low?

-Surf Bar at Folly is our new getaway....much less expensive than a flight to St. Thomas. Gotta do what ya gotta do.

- I am looking forward to my allergist appointment on Monday like a five year old anticipates Christmas morning. Really I know an ugly skin test awaits me but I have dreams of a magical serum. I am so ready to look and feel like I havent just spent the last month crying my eyes out.

Thats it. Thats all. What are you confessing?

9 months!

I am not sure what happened to my tiny baby. She has officially been part of this world as long as we were waiting on her to make her arrival. I can't believe in three months she will be a one year old (there I go again with my numbers games...Chris would be rolling his eyes) :)

We don't have our doctors appointment until April 5th so weight and height are just a guestimate. There are a few absolutes though....

She LOVES....baths. water. Riggs. (any animal really) other kids. feeding herself. standing in her crib. her singing dog. outside. copying our faces and noises. waving to everyone. waving to herself. pushing things. her stacking cups. giving kisses.

She LOATHES... changing clothes. wiping her face. changing clothes. being tied down (as in her high chair if she is not actively eating) changing clothes. Notice a pattern?

She has been in such a fun mood this past week. It is so entertaining to watch her personality emerge. I realize the "fun mood" is in stark contrast to last week's post about separation anxiety. Once again, my husband is right.... "it (the fussines) is just a phase, it passes quickly, you are not doing anything wrong" Thankful for his insight. Hate admiting I get caught up in the moment and sometimes can't see past the meltdown in front of me. Thankful that my girl is healthy and happy.

These pictures are getting increasingly harder to take as she would rather do anything than sit still....

Happy St. Patrick's Day! If you know me you know I love a good holiday...and yes St. Patricks Day qualifies. (which was news to my husband) :) I remember waking up to green eggs, or green milk in Lucky Charms cereal. And a leprechaun had always visited our house while we were out to cause some mischief. Don't worry I didn't feed my child green food coloring or marshmallows, but rest assured next year's breakfast menu will definitely be festive. E spent the day with Chris and his parents and I spent the day with some wonderful girls celebrating the upcoming arrival of one of my college roommate's little girl. Pictures to come! But for now I'll leave you with a few of our E. Happy weekend!

Oh Object Permanence...

Yes, a wonderful developmental skill. While I am very appreciative that E is meeting her milestones, this new attachment phase caught me totally off guard. E has always been so good at playing by herself. She still is, if she is in her crib. She can wake up from a nap and entertain herself for a good 30 minutes. But oh no, don't you put her on the floor with a room FULL of toys and try and sneak into the kitchen. This is all new. A phase which I know will pass more quickly than I realize. However, we are in the throws of separation anxiety for sure. I am so very thankful that she enjoys our playtime together but every now and then I do need to wash her bottle or take a shower. She does great with going to the nursery at church or the gym, and even plays on the floor well if we have people over, provided we are in the same room. This seemed to peak once she could crawl? So moms out there, any suggestions? (or validation that this is normal and will pass:)

Aside from this new development this is such a fun age! She is into EVERYTHING. Which would explain the new bruise she is sporting on her cheek :( Her favorite toys are still the empty diaper box, oatmeal container, and of course anything electronic that she's not supposed to have. She is so completely in love with other kids it is hilarious. So if you would like to rent me your child from 5-6 pm to get us through the bedtime hour, we are accepting applications :)

We are off to Greenville tomorrow for a wedding. Praying for naps in the car :) Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend!

Emerson picked out her outfit. Backwards hat and ballet shoe. Naturally.

Confessions

I am having to motivate myself to write this. I am TIRED. I don't even have a legitimate reason either. Other than feeling like a complete mess with this pollen that decided to come out entirely too early. So I'm squinting at my computer from behind 4 plus year old glasses with the wrong prescription, because I clawed my contacts out of my eyes. So I sound pretty happy huh? :)

- I baked cookies the other night and was so focused on waiting for the timer to go off (in order to catch it quickly so it wouldn't wake E) When it sounded I naturally ran into the kitchen and opened the dishwasher. Yeah..no cookies there.

-When I say "bake" . I mean break the dough apart and throw it on the sheet. That's as complicated as we get around here this week, folks.

-On the mornings I work I have to get Starbucks. I have somehow convinced myself that I cannot make it through the day without it. It's a sad handicap I have imposed on myself. My hair may still be wet when I walk in the door to work but you better believe I have my coffee.

- Speaking of being tired, I finally broke down and got my thyroid checked. Yes laugh now. But I had convinced myself it was low because that is fairly common after pregnancy. Plus it would be something valid I could blame my tiredness and paleness on. But oh no, that would be too easy. When the nurse called me to tell me it was normal, my response was "darn it". Seriously who says that to a normal lab result. Secretly I just hated being wrong in my diagnosis too.

-I did a spin class the other night and it was miserable. I generally like the spin classes I have taken but I was a little late to this one so I just had to hop on the bike and get going. Well something was seriously wrong with my seat. Way too high or something. Anyways I am not super proficient in bike mechanics so maneuvering the seat was slightly intimidating to me. That and the fact that the instructor called out anyone who even seemed to pause much less get down. So I was a chicken (and an idiot for that matter) and did the entire class in a position similar to a half push up. I'm pretty sure my arms should not be the sorest part of my body after spin....

alright that's it. its 9 pm and I could call it a night. Who am I?

still do.

Every year on our anniversary we like to watch our wedding video (which is really entertaining, because we forgot we were miked) Thanks Remedy Films! :) Really they are wonderful and you should see their work! Its such a fun day to look back on. And at risk of sounding cheesy we go back through our vows. Its amazing how much more weight they carry once you are living life together. Its ups and downs. The ordinary days, the sleep deprived ones, and the ones that seem to go just right. So here's to many many more years to being able to live out those vows. And many thanks to our wonderful parents to making that day so wonderful and offering continuing encouragement and support.

Images by Travis Bell

Weekend in review...

What I envisioned for Friday morning...

What Friday actually looked like.... :)

A mingling of anniversary and RSV.

We had been looking forward to this weekend for awhile now. Each year we try to go away somewhere for our anniversary. We try to keep it close and this year we decided to stay even closer :) Downtown Charleston here we come. We have such a fun city 4 minutes from our front door but sometimes it is hard to take advantage of. Chris had planned a few things for Friday afternoon, dinner reservations at Husk, and a night at Vendue. (Both of which I highly recommend) Anyway, I work Wednesday and Thursday and my parents were here to keep E, so they just stayed through the weekend to watch her for us. Needless to say I didn't pack a thing, planning to do that and last minute errands Friday morning. Note to self - don't count on those last few hours before an even when you have a little one. My plan, selfish as it may be, went something like this... Get up at 7:30 with E, pack, grab Starbucks, manicure, long shower, relaxing lunch with Chris. Reality went like this.... Get up at 5:15 with a very wheezy and uncomfortable E, call doctor as soon as they open, jump in the shower, run out the door with E in pj's, have E poked and prodded more than I could handle, cry with her, get an inhaler for her, frantically pack, have mini meltdown over leaving sick child, finally make it to relaxing lunch. Thank you to my wonderful mom for convincing me that she had done this before :) And that I still needed to go. And thank you to my ever patient husband who let me have my re-group time on the way to lunch.

E had been fighting a cold all week and after 2 trips to the doc and a few swabs and other unpleasant pokes they landed on RSV. Thankfully we left with just an inhaler to help keep her lungs open and clear. She was as pathetic as I have ever seen her. She is an on the go kind of girl and Thursday after her nap I just held her and read books for 2 plus hours. That would never happen on a normal day...she has way too much exploring to do:) Even something as simple as RSV makes you really aware and thankful for a healthy child. I am in awe of parents that have to face their children's medical struggles. Nothing is harder than watching your child hurt and knowing you can't fix it.

I realize this is a jumble of a post but that is how most things are these days :) Everything is intertwined and somehow it works. Thankfully E had a great night with my parents, and Chris and I had a great escape to celebrate 4 years! Complete with a carriage ride and wait for it.............sleeping in!!!