On being and becoming a Bruce...

January Continuum, Yoga X & Knoxville

2012-02-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

If this is any indication of how hard it is for me to carry over January's goal and add in February's while maintaining my life...well, y'all just hang in there with me when I get to March, April and all the way through December. So far so good though at least in checking off my decluttering list. This week I had to catch up on my weekend decluttering tasks because we were out of town. Saturday's activity was cleaning out the fridge. Remember when I said I dreaded doing this? It was of course, not as bad as I had feared - but I did take every shelf and drawer out and Emerson helped me wash them all off in the sink. She was a good helper, and we are all loving how sparkly the inside of our fridge is! February's 'goal' is yoga everyday. So far, so good - even while out of town! I am doing the P90x yoga DVD - Yoga X which is intense and long and good. I have really loved it. 30 days in a row of it seems a little daunting, and I'm still balancing when the best time is to do it - but some days have been morning and some have been night. Have any shorter favorite yoga DVDs you want to share/pass on to me to try? 30 days of this same thing could get monotonous!

So this weekend, we were out of town in Knoxville for Bella's baptism & dedication at church. Emerson was looking forward to the trip all last week, and I was looking forward to being there - but not about the drive. I have gotten crotchety and like a cliche woman in my old age. I never drive on trips anymore, so I don't love driving on trips on my own at night anymore, it makes me a little anxious. This feels comical for me to even write considering how many countless hours I logged in my car in college and beyond in long distance relationships and on random weeknight or weekend adventures. No wonder my mom always worried about me! Point being, I don't enjoy the drive to Knoxville at night because of the stretch through the mountains between Asheville and Knoxville. Clearly I had prayed plenty about my anxiety with that part of the drive because there was a rock slide that afternoon that closed that stretch of I-40. ~~Awesome~~. Note to self: remember to pray for safety and the Lord's will instead of detours. I took a back detour that wasn't the one the highway patrol was suggesting and it made it not as out of the way, which was nice. And I wasn't anxious, which was really nice. The girls had such a great time together. Saturday morning, they lounged around the house in their robes, reading their Bibles. Yes, seriously. All by choice. They started in Bella's room with Jingle, the new puppy, moved the couch, and then followed me into the bathroom while I dried my hair. It was really fun to see them excited to see each other, wanting to play together, and really loving on each other on this trip.

We spent the weekend just hanging out with no real plans, which was really nice. We helped get things ready for Bella's party on Sunday by making crafts and taking a trip to the grocery store where we all got our own carts. Sunday was exactly 2 years to the day that Molly brought Bella home. What amazing timing to get to have her dedication and to celebrate her life. I am so thankful for that little girl, and truly adore her. We were thankful to get to be there to 'stand with' Molly as she committed to raising Bella up in truth and love. While in the grocery store, we saw one of Bella's friends from school and it melted my heart that the kid and the mom both knew who "Emmy" was as Bella proudly showed off her best friend as she called her - to people who have already heard of my Emerson because of how Bella talks about her.

(Sidenote: look at the determination in Bella's face here! She took her job very seriously!)

Saturday night, before Gigi, Molly's mom, came over so we could go out to dinner, we gave the girls a bath and got them ready for bed. Emerson LOVES when she gets to take a bath with Bella because we always let them close the curtain and splash to their hearts' content. Their is some serious belly laughing that goes on during this splash fest. But this time around, she learned a new reason that she might like taking baths with Bella - popsicles. I guess I have never given Em a popsicle before, because when Molly gave it to her, she tried drawing on the tub wall with it and running it under water until she realized she was supposed to eat it, and then...well - you see how excited she was:

Don't worry, Bella was equally excited - I think she was just trying to figure out why Emerson had been painting with her popsicle in the first picture. And then once Emerson caught on, she was much too busy to take time to look at the camera:

More pictures and a continued post later when I get the rest of the pictures from Molly off her camera of the dedication and some priceless ones of the girls together from Sunday. These were all I had on my phone and needed to be done separately from the ones I got of the girls after lunch Sunday anyway - you'll see that they deserve a post of their own!

Here's to finishing up week 2 of the January/February challenge and to better balance with the rest (as in respite/relaxation) of this weekend and a fresh start of next week! By the way, the 'pattern' I am trying to follow of my monthly goals is to remove something one month and add something the next. I'm also trying to alternate that these be things for my family and things for me. Decluttering was 'mostly' for my family...but equally for me. Yoga is mostly for me...but hopefully my family is going to benefit from me taking this time for myself also! Emerson did do a few poses with me last week which was precious and hilarious - another time I'll try to get her on video with me!

Little Things

2012-02-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

Here I am, Wednesday morning, reminding myself to be filled with joy in little things. I've never been one to make much of a 'deal' of Valentine's Day - or really holidays in general, but I am trying to be more crafty and creative with this for Emerson to have memories and traditions. We found a cute mailbox in the $1 section at Target recently that we are using for love notes until Valentine's Day. More on that later in a separate post, but I hope it will remind me to be intentional and purposeful, and to really think on why we celebrate love and how we love others. Semi-along those lines, here are things from my phone, from my day yesterday that I loved:

1. The spring weather in January that let Noah's Ark meet the farm animals for outside playtime. The farm (which used to be mine as a child) comes with a feeding trough - Emerson lined all of the animals and people up to wait their turn to have something to eat. And she made a munching noise as each of them took their turn. She is at her heart, a turn taker, such a nurturer, and loves animals.

2. 3 John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than this, than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." I know that this isn't her choice yet, but her childlike faith fills me with such joy and I expectantly wait and hope for the day that I can speak this verse over her. Given a choice of 10 things to do, her number one choice every time would be to read her Bible. Unless, maybe one of the choices involves a sucker. That might win. I had the door open as I was making dinner last night and the gate up on the porch, and she and Salem walked outside with Raffi and her Bible and sat down and hung out and read for quite awhile. Precious.

3. Speaking of dinner, here is Terry's dinner from last night. After a hard week at work, I was happy to spice up his life with bacon on his sandwich - I know, again, living on the edge - and we love our panini maker. It could change your life, just ask my mom. We gave her one for Christmas and I think she has used it 3-4 times/week since then!

The cutest kid

2012-01-30T10:07:00.000-08:00

Preface: excuse the absurd number of pictures here, my mom asked for more!

We had a fun end of the week and weekend around our house this past weekend with no big plans, which are typically my favorite days. The hunt has begun for the containers we want for the laundry room, but no final decision yet, so I'll post after pictures once we have found them and put them up! Fun event #1 for the end of last week was another fire with s'mores. The weather here has been gorgeous and we are enjoying every outside minute we can get! As you can tell, Emerson loves it, and continues to be such a ham and source of constant humor and fun at our house. The only s'more that I ate was all the leftovers off her sweet cheeks as you'll see below:

This next picture kills me, I think it is a glimpse into what she looks like as a 'grown up' kid. She looks so old and so precious here but it breaks my heart a little at the thought of her growing up.

Friday night, after we finished dinner together, we all stayed at the island for some Pinterest inspired arts & crafts. I had seen this on Pinterest recently and knew Emerson would love it as we have talked about Valentine's Day coming up and she loves anything that involves baking and being in the kitchen with me. The same week that I saw this on Pinterest, I also found these silicone ice cube trays at Target in the $1 section, aka, my favorite section in Target. We have also used these to make OJ ice cubes and put 2 in Emerson's cup of water to spice up her life a little bit. I know, I'm living on the edge. So, here's how the arts and crafts project went:

Step #1: Have a brilliant husband who realizes that Crayola has made it really tricky to get the paper off of their crayons. The Pinterest sites that inspired this craft did not mention this, but don't waste your time trying to peel the paper off the crayons like I did, just use a kinfe to slice down the lenght of the paper and it pops right off - you can see the difference in our attempts in our scraps pile. Tiny little pieces by me, perfectly shaped wrappers by Terry.

Step #2: Other sites show cutting the crayons, but we wanted everyone to get to do this together, so we just broke them, even Emerson got the hang of it after a few tries - and put them in the silicone trays.

Step #3: Fill each heart up, stick them in the oven at 230 degrees for 15 minutes, carefully take out and cool until solid.

Step #4: Admire your handiwork! These turned out great and they came with us several places over the rest of the weekend and kept Emerson very entertained! I will have to keep my eyes out for other fun shapes to keep doing these. Great for little hands!

The fun isn't over yet! Terry had been craving chocolate chip cookies, so Saturday we spent some more time in the kitchen and finally got around to making some and to using my Christmas present from my mom - as you can see, mom, the stand mixer was a hit with everyone! This recipe is from a friend, and I think it is from Cooks Illustrated? It makes huge thin cookies that are a little crunchy with just the right amount of chewiness. They are delicious. Let's just let these pictures speak for themselves. I couldn't choose to take any out, because the progression of Emerson realizing I would let her take a lick of this cookie dough straight off the mixer was priceless:

"Hmm...that was pretty good, please God let my next choice go over well..."

"Yep. Lip lickin' good!"

It's amazing that I am the one laying in bed recovering from a violent stomach bug that knocked me off my feet last night, considering the amount of cookie dough I let our family eat as we baked these...Here's Terry teaching Emerson the art of eating raw cookie dough. He would rather eat the whole bowl raw than eat one fresh cookie out of the oven. True story.

Emerson was a quick learner. I think Terry's eyes are closed in euphoria here.

The finished product in all their crispy, chewy glory. Recipe below, go make them.

2 1/8 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

12 Tbsp (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled slightly (approx 5 minutes)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk (hmm, oops, I definitely forgot this part!)

2 tsp vanilla

1-2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325

Mix flour, baking soda & salt. Set aside. Mix butter and sugars until well-incorporated. add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour in 2-3 batches until just mixed. Stir in chips.

Cover baking sheets with parchment or silpat. Drop 1/4 cup scoops (Seriously, that is huge. I use a heaping Tbs) of dough onto sheets, space 2 inches apart. Bake 15-18 minutes. Let cookies cool on baking sheet before transferring to cooling rack (they are very fragile and thin)!

Yum.

Friday Funnies & The Before

2012-01-27T07:26:00.000-08:00

You know your child is hilarious when you find this in your bed...oh, hello Elmo - I see you brought some of your favorite books to bed. And turned on some reading light. And oh, what is that? The Pottery Barn magazine for me? Really, you shouldn't have. Alright fine, you can have a sleepover. But that's my side of the bed, so move on over. (Don't worry, Elmo didn't really sleep in the bed with us.)

Declutter 2012 has gone alright this week with getting the laundry room tackled. It isn't finished yet (and shouldn't be, 2 more days of decluttering!) but I do have before pictures to show. Sorry all the pictures today are from my phone. I'll do what everyone does and make the before pictures poor quality and poor lighting, and be sure my after pictures are taken with my camera and in great lighting! Then you'll really be impressed with my decluttering skills! Too bad I can't just use photoshop to declutter my laundry room. That would be nice. Our laundry room is tricky to me because it is our only 'storage' space other than the attic space - which is also small - and under our bed - which is already decluttered.

So here is how it looks now, and some of my thoughts for what I hope it looks like by the end of the weekend include:

1. Something new to put dog food in that can

go on the floor beside the washer

2. A 'tabletop' of some sort

(painted plywood?) to go on top of the washer/dryer

3. Some sort of bins for that shelf (wicker baskets? galvanized buckets? votes?)

What? Keeping Emerson's arts & craft supplies in a Victoria's Secret bag isn't a good idea?

The door idea, of course, came from here, but of course mine didn't turn out quite as well as hoped/envisioned, so it also will be included on the declutter plan for this room for round 2. Here was the inspiration:

Come back next week hopefully for the hopefully organized and beautiful after-pictures that will be so great I will be inspired to pin something from my own house!

Highlight or Preview

2012-01-24T05:55:00.000-08:00

12 days of Code Orange Revival wrapped up last night and they were all amazing. It was amazing to see the work that all of the staff and volunteers of our church poured in to make this happen, to read crazy tweets of how long people (ourselves included) stood in line to get to experience this. Last night when our Pastor introduced this video [sorry I don't know why I haven't been able to embed videos recently], he challenged us to see it not as a highlight reel of what had happened over the past 12 days, but as a preview of what was to come for the next 12 months (and beyond). Live vicariously through the video for now, and I will let you know when all of the podcasts are available to be watched again! I will watch TD Jakes several times over, but it will not touch how awesome it was to be there in person. Emerson has been asking all week to go to "Elevation Blakeney" since it is not our regular campus, but I think she had a blast in the eKids rooms there.

And for good measure, since I have no pictures to include in this post, which is why most of you read this blog anyway, here is Emerson this weekend killing time out of the rain at Target while dad waited in line for T.D. Jakes. We went on every aisle - this is her heaven.

We are getting back in the routine of our normal-ish life this week, and I am glad to say I am still going strong on Declutter 2012. Last week while cleaning out the top shelf of my closet which just had old purses on it, I found my class ring from UNC, which I actually really like; and more importantly, my pearl earrings that Terry got me that I thought I lost shortly after Emerson was born. They were in a pocket of an old purse! I think so far they win the award for best result of decluttering. Mostly so far I have learned that decluttering really isn't so hard or overwhelming as it feels when you do it one day at a time. Example: At our house, the toothpaste lives in Terry's drawer in the bathroom. Don't know why, it just always has. Also living in this drawer are a multitude of other not so well organized things: old razors, deodorant, face lotion, fingernail clippers, a mirror, old packets of Benadryl, Nyquil, Claritin, chapstick, and the buzzers used to shave his head from which tiny little hairs escape. It bothers me everytime I take the toothpaste out of the drawer, worrying that tiny little hair particles are going to sneak into my toothpaste. It was so difficult to take the dust buster and clean the drawer and put the buzzers in a container so the tiny leftover hairs don't escape into my toothpaste. Seriously, Ellen? How could I have let that bother me two times a day (most days at least if we're being honest, some nights I am just too tired - I know, gasp!) for this long when the solution was that easy? It's because I thought if I cleaned out that bathroom drawer, I also needed to clean out under the bathroom sink, and then I needed to replace cleaning supplies, and clean the bathroom, and that would lead me to think we needed a new shower curtain liner, and it just snowballs. But no, it was just one drawer. And it was easy. And I have really enjoyed opening that drawer to get my toothpaste out now! The rest of the week is storage piles and storage shelves. That's going to be the laundry room and it does feel a little daunting because I don't have good storage, and I don't know how else to store it and organize it. Wish me luck. I'll try to do before/after pictures.

In the Fireplace?!

2012-01-19T18:47:00.000-08:00

Several of you have emailed me laughing about Emerson's 'in the fireplace' comment - here is the video, nevermind how ADD she ~~appears~~ is in this video, it was early morning!

Merry Christmas. Yes, really.

2012-01-18T08:44:00.000-08:00

Most of you have probably already seen this; but Emerson and I had a great time learning the Christmas story this year by playing with several of the nativity sets around the house. Here is a pretty good rendition of her telling the story that 'Uncle Jak' took at dinner after our Christmas service at church when we had some friends over for dinner. Merry Christmas. Better late than never.

(*You have to click on the link above where you see the word this because the video is private so I can't upload it to the blog directly)

Code Orange Revival & What Lives Under My Bed

2012-01-11T18:45:00.000-08:00

How's that for a post title?

First things first. Well, actually, no let's go with second things first because they are less important and quicker. Quicker? More quick? Hmm...either way. The second (first) thing is just a quick declutter update. When I looked at this week's activities, I was already dreading today's - clean out under the bed. Not so much because I store so much under my bed, but it is a king size bed, so technically I could store a lot under that bed. There were, and are mostly suitcases, hanging bags, and backpacks. Plus the TV stand for our TV before we mounted it on that wall [maybe more on that later how I always said I would never have a TV in my bedroom and now have a huge one - don't worry, one month's challenge this year is no TV in the bedroom for a month at night]. But I digress. Back to what other things are under our bed. That TV stand, a guitar case, and some nun-chucks. Yes. Nun-chucks. You should all rest better now knowing how safe I am with my husband beside me and those nun-chucks within constant reach - see?

Haha. Oh my husband, how could you not love him?

(He got them at a flea market for $2 in Asheville with this crazy crew and is proficient with them - my protector!)

All that to say, there isn't much under my bed, so it wasn't that terrible - though there was dust, lots of dust. So, it wasn't what was under my bed that was making me anticipate this task...rather, what has been under my bed. Don't know what has been under my bed? Go ahead and amuse yourself with my trauma by catching up on the following links: here, here,and here. (Sorry those are sort of in backwards order and don't give the whole story - but you'll get the gist when you read these and find out that that THING was actually living in the boxsprings of our bed.) Thankfully there was none of that under the bed tonight when I cleaned out. That, and I haven't been missing any underwear recently. But I did feel anxiety when I flashed the flashlight around under there.

Now for thing number two, which is really thing number one. Our church is doing an amazing 12 day revival called Code Orange Revival. For more info on the revival and why it is called Code Orange, etc go here. Tonight was the kick off night, and it was awesome. I didn't get to go but it is all being streamed live online, so I hooked the computer up to the TV and enjoyed it all from my sofa. It was awesome to have the worship streamed online and get to be a part of it that way. It starts online every night at 6:12, and then re-broadcasts online for the next 24 hours at 10:12pm, 3:12am, and 12:12pm before the next one begins. There are amazing speakers lined up, and we can't wait to be a part of it for the next 12 nights. Now, go be a part of it also and get online and watch tonight's, and tomorrow nights, and the next. You get the point. d

Life with Two

2012-01-08T17:53:00.000-08:00

For the past week, we have gotten to 'try on' life with two kids as full time working parents. A little skewed because it was our nephew and he and Emerson are close in age and Luke is so easy...but then again so is Emerson, so here's hoping that we'll do it right and God doesn't have other plans for us with our own #2 also and we can keep saying that the next time around. I didn't know what Emerson would think of having someone else in her house and playing with her things from Monday - Sunday, but they really played so well together and especially for the last 3 days had a total blast together. I think she was sad to see him leave tonight! Here are some quick snippits of our week together.

After several fun picnic meals on our front porch because the weather was so amazing this weekend, we braved going out to dinner one night and the kids had a great time chowing down at the new Chipotle close to our house. This could be dangerous because we love Chipotle and now it is even closer to home - yum. It cooled off for the rest of the weekend, and in celebration of Luke's parents being in Colorado skiing, we had s'mores in the backyard over the firepit. This was a first for both kids and they both loved it. And yes, I did put a pair of Emerson's pajamas on Luke since I knew their pjs would smell like campfire so I could throw them in the laundry and put on new ones before bed! Emerson loved them, as you can tell by the pictures below.

(Oh dear...we need to manage these curls a little better...this is why there's always a bow or pigtails keeping this curls out of her eyes - especially this big one right in the front!)

Emerson has been getting more sugar in the past few weeks than she has ever had before. We potty trained a few weeks ago, and she has done amazing with very few accidents only in the early days. She gets 1 jelly bean or one Reeses pieces when she pees and well, we tried lots of different high value prizes for pooping (sorry, TMI?) but she just wasn't motivated. "No fanks!, Hold me mommy," was always the response. It has been no big deal because she regularly goes during nap or right before bed when she has her diaper on - but I don't want her to be a kid that always just goes in her diaper. So we bought these individual ice cream containers at the grocery store and those have been the new prize. And today, it worked. And...well, let's just say she probably lost a few pounds when she went to the bathroom so I didn't mind that she ate the whole little container of icecream! Actually it was frozen yogurt...maybe a little better? Here she is enjoying herself in bed with her icecream (oh yeah, the prize was ice cream and a video - which is a big prize and not the norm at our house). Here's to hoping that this was a breakthrough and we can just keep going from here!

In other January news, Declutter 2012 has been going well - probably because the first week's activities have been pretty simple and not ones that I dread or avoid - for example, dust the top of your cabinets, clear off a storage shelf, clean out old food from the freezer, throw out expired spices, organize canned food. Well, I don't have many cabinets, definitely don't have many storage shelves, did throw out some things from the freezer, use my spices too frequently to have expired ones, and have 1/4 of one shelf in one cabinet dedicated to cans - sigh, no pantry. So far so good. And I think that if this is how my house looks before I go to bed Sunday night from just normal clean up after a week with two 2 year olds and 30 people at my house Friday night for John's 30th birthday, I think I'm off to a good start! (Sorry, these are cell phone pictures and pretty dark)

And yeah, maybe the side of my refrigerator needs to be on the declutter list. But here, you can see (from left to right, top to bottom): Terry's brothers and sister-in-laws after our rehearsal dinner, [on the magnet clip:] pictures from a photo booth at a recent wedding, things Em has made from church and who knows what else), side by side pictures of my mom and I at Easter as 3 year olds where we look incredibly alike, Terry and I in highschool before I knew how much I would love this man, me with Salem as puppy, one corner of Emerson's head in a picture from her dedication, the Walgreens clip holds the declutter calendar that I have been marking out, Beth's family, the group at Emerson's dedication including: Beth & Dean, Molly & Bella, us, Laura, Mom & Rebecca; a picture of me kissing Terry on the cheek after my grad school graduation covered by some recent cut and paste crafts Emerson has made, and Terry and I in January 2005 (or was it 2004?) before we were dating but probably the trip that I thought the most about maybe dating him :) See - who would want to declutter any of that?!

Declutter 2012

2012-01-02T08:56:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year - are you surprised to find me here? After a weekend spent with my dad, brother, sister-in-law and precious nephew, I spent a really exciting New Year's Eve...alone in my bed, asleep before the ball dropped. And, I didn't care one bit. I am officially old. Our family loved all of our time together over the holidays even though we didn't have that much actual time off work. It was sad to think of coming back this week with no big holidays or short work weeks to look forward to. Thankfully, there is plenty to look forward to this year!

I know some of you have laughed that one of the things I am looking forward to and I am excited about is this calendar that I found on Pinterest.

I know that my house is clean. Relatively. Cleaner than most. Yes. More organized than many. Maybe. But that doesn't mean that there isn't clutter. It doesn't mean that I don't have 3 junk drawers that I have no idea what is in. It certainly doesn't mean that my attic space doesn't have things thrown in there - like a laundry basket full of shoes that are never worn and should be given away. Most dreadfully, it unfortunately doesn't mean that the inside of my refrigerator doesn't have sticky goo inside the drawers and little pieces of old parsley, cilantro, kale, and other green things flaked off in the vegetable drawer. Because my house does have all of those things. And dog hair. Lots and lots of dog hair. And, just ask my poor husband - as clean as my house may be, I always want it to be cleaner and more organized. But when I think of decluttering, I want to do it all and then it is overwhelming for everyone and I get stressed...and maybe a little grumpy. Maybe even a lot grumpy. So I am decluttering little by little thanks to this calendar. I hope it feels manageable, and I hope I can keep up with it. I need accountability and someone to commiserate with, so thankfully, Kristi says she is going to do it with me. Anyone else want to join in?

A client's mom told me that instead of New Year's resolutions last year, she picked one thing a month and tried to stick with it every day of that month. Six months were things to remove from her life and six were things to add to it. If it stuck by the end of the month then it got added into her regular routine, and if it didn't, then it didn't and at least she could say she tried. For example, when she told me about this it was October, and she walked their dog everyday in February. She also said she felt pretty sure the poor dog hadn't been walked again since then. I loved this idea (not the not walking the dog for 8 month idea) - the one thing a month idea. So I'm going to give it a try this year - I have a list...but only 9 things on it so far. I need one more thing to add to my life and two more things to remove - it's a work in progress. But I am starting with January - remove clutter - and I hope that it will stick and I can keep with this calendar!

I hope that one of the tasks on this calendar includes: buy yourself a new wardrobe for all of the clothes I will have decluttered. And another has a magic wand attached to make my dog stop shedding. And another one is definitely going to say something about throwing away all of those pictures in my attic from highschool that I thought I would definitely want to keep...and now can't declutter fast enough!

Year in Review

2011-12-10T11:01:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to me and welcome back to the 21st Century, we have the internet back in our house. I will actually say that it was a mostly welcome relief to be unplugged from the internet at home this year, thanks to having internet on my phone for looking up take-out orders, directions, and last minute necessities. But, I have not enjoyed being so far behind on storing and organizing (nevermind printing!) pictures of Emerson - and I know some of you haven't either based on the hard time(s) you have given me. So I'll recap the last 6 months with my favorite pictures of the month and remain for now, unpromising of what next year will look like on this blog.

June: Emerson loves baking/cooking; we went to the Asheboro zoo on our way to cousin Caleb's party where Emerson spent the day in the baby pool; and Carver came to visit and even spend the night!

July: This was a FUN month - Emerson and I spent part of a week at Windy Gap with Molly and Bella, and we were all in Emory with my family for the 4th of July (please don't miss the collision that happened on the

slip and slide!

August: Played outside naked in the water lots as all children should in the summer; saw Bella again and spent a lot of the weekend playing in a fort; had a day at the lake and birthday celebration with and for cousins; and even wore pigtails for the first time!

September: As if we weren't having enough fun...we spent the day at a local petting zoo, and Terry and I got to go to our first Red Sox game at Fenway on the 4th row with Kat and spend a long weekend with Terry's family in Boston. We got to cross a big something off our bucket list with that trip to Fenway.

October: We had the cutest cupcake ever for Halloween - who is clearly a blast and a trip; hung out around the house some more to enjoy family time (whilst wearing Mr Potato Head's glasses upside down, frequently); said goodbye to Dave & Natalie as they moved back to Hawaii; and enjoyed some festivals around Charlotte thanks to the view from Terry's shoulders.

November: Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures from November - but we did celebrate Emerson's 2nd birthday, dedication at church and spent great time with family for Thanksgiving. You can read more about those things here, here, and here. Otherwise - here is how we celebrated her birthday at home, thanks to a fun idea (God bless you, Pinterest) to decorate her floor in balloons when she woke up, which was maybe her favorite thing in her life to date.

December thus far: We got our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and Em had a fun time decorating with us. We have snuggled around the house lots reading books and the best part is that Emerson can pretty much recite the Christmas story/birth of Jesus with a few prompts which is really sweet. This morning we went to Lowes where they had a kids' celebration including Santa!

Happy 2011, here's to coming back in 2012!

Mama

2011-05-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

Usually I am the one behind the camera at our house as I am sure you can tell because there are very few pictures that have me in them. I got this cute wooden camera before Em was born, as inspired by who other than Tara Whitney when I had seen it on her blog a long time ago. I loved it, and in general love wooden toys. This sits on Emerson's bookshelf beside her rocker where we read stories every night, and after stories, Emerson practices saying 'cheese' while Terry takes her picture with her camera, and then she turns it around on him and practices taking his picture. She loves looking through the hole and pressing the little 'shutter' button.

Last weekend, Rebecca was in town Friday night and she had her real camera with her during bedtime routine and story time. She snapped this cute picture of Em taking her picture as well as the next one of story time. Her cute little tongue has been sticking out of her mouth a lot recently while she is concentrating or really enjoying something. It is hilarious. And I L-O-V-E story time with this girl. She is so snuggly and so smart, if I do say so myself.

On our normal Saturday morning trip to Owen's Bagels, I even got to be in front of the camera for a quick snap of a picture with my favorite little girl. Even though she isn't smiling, I just love this picture of her with her big eyes and gorgeous curls. I never knew I'd have a little one with blonde hair, blue eyes, and big curls, but I sure do love her this way, and I am more than proud to be her mama - even if it is not well documented in photographs! As her mama, I am super looking forward to a long weekend off of work with her - happy Memorial Day weekend!

Concert on the Green

2011-05-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

Another one of our favorite things around Charlotte in the summer is the Symphony's "Pops in the Park" series which is a huge event. So much fun is had at the huge outdoor ampitheatre where you go early in the morning to stake your claim to a spot, lay out your tarp/blanket and come back later that night with a picnic dinner and drinks packed and sit around with friends in the scorching heat :) I'm sure there have been pictures from Pops on the blog in summers before. A few weekends ago, we headed to Davidson with Beth's family and some of their friends for Davidson's concert series which is very similar. Emerson got to stay up past her bedtime and had fun being the life of the party while also taking some breaks for sticker decorating, toe nail painting, dancing, and trying on other women's jewelry.

She was quite proud of her accessories, and accessories isn't something that she has had much of a chance to get into at our house. I wear the same necklace every single day, watch and my wedding ring and somedays I might try to make it exciting with one of my 3 pairs of earrings. So this was a great treat to her. It is so funny how she has intrinsically taken to maternal and girly things like this. She loves a race car for sure as well, but mostly she loves playing tea, playing with her dolls, doing the laundry and unloading the dishwasher with me.

Em and Beth danced to some good beach music (while Beth whispered sweet nothings into her ear!) by Band of Oz and then she enjoyed her view from above perched on Terry's shoulders watching everyone else dance. The most exciting part of the night for her was probably the firetrucks that zoomed by on the street right in front of where we were sitting. Please note Terry's face in the picture below is staged to look like Emerson's expression, and while a little more zoned, it again amazes me how they can look so alike.

You will also see though that they can both quickly go from being zoned to their same wild and crazy selves. While she enjoys girly things, Emerson is far from prissy and loves being thrown around. Not gently tossed, but thrown! Crashing onto the bed, pillow fights, being thrown high up in the air, etc. This is the same throwing game that you saw in the last post from Midwood Mania - Emerson loves this trick, and judging by his expression, I'd say Terry thinks it is a pretty great time also.

We had a great time enjoying the music and food, and mostly the company on this fun night in Davidson before the heat of summer came on full force. Emerson was sleepy by the time we left and changed into her pajamas before hopping in the car and was snoozing hard by the time we got home. Thanks Williams family for a fun night out with you all, we love you!

(This dress is one that my grandmother made that I wore as a little girl also - it is so sweet on her!!!)

Midwood Maynia

2011-05-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite times in our neighborhood is Midwood Maynia. It's the kind of thing that makes you proud to live where you live, have the neigbors that you do ... and never want to have to move to suburbia.

We know it might happen one day, but this is just one of the reasons that we would really mourn Plaza Midwood. When we first moved to Charlotte, I dreaded the stereotypical Charlotte lifestyle - but our neighborhood was such a great breath of the fresh air we both hoped to find in a place we wanted to live - a neighborhood, but not one with a club house and HOA fees. Neighbors that you can borrow butter or a cup of sugar from, but not neighbors that live so close to you that they could toss that stick of butter to you from the front porch. And the two most important parts are: neigbors that don't look just alike, and in fact, all look quite different; and neighbors whose houses don't look just alike...but you wish your house looked like all the parts of lots of them (does this make sense?).

During Midwood Maynia, the day starts out with a Pet Parade - which is hilarious and we gave Salem our own "best behaved" dog award for herself. Not necessarily the best behaved dog during the parade, but the best year she has ever had in the parade 4 years running - BY FAR. The pet parade (led by the local highschool band) - the schools not being something we love about our neighborhood - ends in the park where there are festivities that last all day long: balloons, face painting, free give aways, bounce houses, ice cream, bands, food, beer, vendors, lots of people and lots of fun. Emerson loves to be around lots of people and take it all in, and she was so excited. She really wanted to get to go in the bounce house, but was too small - so Terry gave Emerson a bounce house of her own. He tossed her up in the air and caught her down low, and she cracked up every time - clearly, so did he. I love this picture of Terry & Em - don't you see what a great dad he is and how much they love each other? It's priceless.

All of that throwing around wore everybody out, and Emerson was rewarded with one of her favorite things - ice. But even better, shaved, flavored ice. We tried to let her eat mostly off the top and let Terry drink all the syrup out of the bottom of the cup...but she is a smart girl, and she wanted that sugary syrup! She loved this icee!

...can you tell?

After we walked around and picked up some 'loot' and Terry guessed how many dog bones were in a jar (and came in 3rd place and won us 3 free nights for Salem of boarding!) we went and listened to the bands where Em and I danced and then we shared some food. Emerson tried so shredded pork tacos with Terry for the first time - and loved them, but can you see who really wishes that they were getting in on the pork taco action in the photo below? Unfortunately it was not her lucky day, she had eaten one too many board books this week...

Emerson made quick friends with our neighbors at the pavillion while we listened to the bands and fell in love with a dog who was sitting in his own chair. She would walk over and pet the dog, or just point at it and crack up laughing - she thought it was hilarious to see the dog get in and out of the chair and she just laughed and laughed every time she looked at it. Too cute.

Oh Plaza Midwood, how we love you and hope we do not have to leave you too soon...

Here's to more neighborhood fun times, icees, and days outside at the park!

Budding Artist

2011-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Recently, I got some finger paints for Emerson to try out some new arts and craft activities with her. She enjoys coloring with crayons and likes playing with sidewalk chalk, but mostly now just likes to carry little nuggets of the sidewalk chalk around like rocks, etc. - you see that this is becoming a theme. So before bath one night, I stripped her down to her ~~very wet diaper that needed to be changed but I didn't want to waste a diaper change since she was about to get in the bath~~ diaper and we headed outside to avoid too much of a mess inside.

She wasn't sure how she felt about using her fingers at first, so she just helped me get it set up and then enjoyed dipping the paintbrushes in. It's amazing how intrinsically kids figure out how to do things; but it also reminds me to appreciate and be so thankful for how intrinisically she figures out how to do so many things because I work with so many children who can't and don't.

Once she had painted a little with the brush, she let me paint her hands and then made handprints and kept painting with her hands for awhile. Once she was finished, she was covered in paint from head to toe and was ready to get in the bath. Lessons learned during this art project: finger paints do come off of cement sidewalks with a simple spray of the hose; Emerson is a great artist; and most of all, I am going to have a hard time not hanging up every single thing that she brings home from preschool.

Nashville Vacation

2011-05-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

In case you were beginning to think that Emerson was the only person in our family, we wanted to remind you (and ourselves) that we are still alive and well and actually got away this weekend to spend some time together. It was once again, time for an intern reunion for a wedding with some of my favorite people in my life.

We all still are amazed that 7 years later, we continue to get together every year and have the BEST time, and are certain that we are the only group of interns Windy Gap has ever seen come through that has bonded the way that we have. Terry and I realized in the car on our drive home that just in our 4 years of marriage, including our wedding, we have gotten together seven times - from LA, NY, NC, SC, VA, GA all together with a whole lot of love - this time around, we were short 2 interns and one spouse though. There are not words for this kind of love and how I love these people. Time with them is such a reminder of the way God calls us to be in community together and such a picture of the way He loves us and wants us to love each other.

We left Emerson at Beth's house on Thursday night and hit the road to spend the night with Bella & Molly in Knoxville to break up the drive. Friday morning, we hit the road so that we could spend some time with Stephanie & Shaka and sweet Emma Ruth. As an added bonus, Kelly & Seth were also there; but we didn't get to see Seth because he was visiting with other friends as well. I haven't gotten to spend much time at all with sweet Emma Ruth, so this was so great for me to get to love on my friend's baby girl and to catch up with my friends at the same time. It was very surreal to sit with these girls and their husbands and talk about our children - when did I grow up? How are Kelly and I not still in middle school or Stephanie and I not still driving around listening to 102 jamz in highschool? Surreal as it was, it was wonderful The weather was gorgeous so we sat on the front porch and ate lunch and caught up for a few hours and it was so fun. While of course I missed Emerson all weekend, it was glorious to be on such a tight schedule or trying to get back somewhere to relieve someone. We left Steph's house and headed down the road to meet another friend who used to live in Charlotte and is now in Nashville for some drinks out on another porch. Did I mention the weather was glorious?

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with the interns at dinner, at the hotel, and around Brentwood - right outside of Nashville where the wedding was. The wedding Saturday was beautiful and with an awesome service. I love being reminded of my vows to Terry at others' weddings and refreshing my heart to my role as a wife and how blessed I am to have Terry as my husband. The reception was so fun as well with lots of personal touches and great indoor/outdoor space so we could take advantage of all of it! We snagged the bride and groom for a quick picture and will look forward to many more reunions that will now include Katie at Robby's side.

You all must have been praying because after two mornings of not being able to sleep in, this morning when we rolled over, the clock said 10:20, central time! That's 11:20 to my body, folks! WOO HOO. I can't even begin to remember the last time I slept that late - ever. It was glorious. Now we are in Knoxville waiting to finish our trip tomorrow morning and get home to see our baby. We have missed Emerson tons of course but have gotten lots of text message pictures from camp Grammy & camp Beth so felt like she was with us much of the time! And best of all, we had such a great time being together, and know that one of the best things we can do for Emerson in her life is be sure she knows how much we love each other; and so we know that weekends like this are so great both for us and for her! And this man sure is easy to love!

Easter Sunday

2011-04-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it has taken me a whole week to post about one weekend - but clearly it was a fun and packed weekend! Hopefully you read about our Easter service at Elevation, and then you'll know why we were excited to get back home for church. It was such an awesome celebration and reminder of what Christ has done for us. Emerson has just recently started to do well in the nursery, but she still melts down at the end if we aren't the first people to get there to pick her up. Once other parents coming, if they are there before us she is always crying once we get there. So recently I've been going to get her after the sermon ends and bringing her back in for the last song. She was so funny this week dancing and bouncing around. She loves it. The worship team at Elevation is incredible. Here is a video I found on You Tube so you can get a taste. And if you didn't already check out the service, seriously, go watch it here. Parts of the service were 3D, but don't worry, you can watch it in 2D and skip the glasses (which by the way, I'm terrible at watching things in 3D - I kept closing one eye and then the other, totally defeating the purpose and making everything look either all blue or all red)! I think that the sermon is recorded at the Matthews campus maybe - we go to the Uptown campus - an aside, for those of you who this makes sense to.

After church, we decided to go out to lunch since we had been out of town the rest of the weekend, so I hadn't gone to the store or fixed anything. We had a delicious brunch at our favorite neighborhood spot, Zada Jane's. Emerson, in true Emerson fashion, was a total ham and enjoyed entertaining everyone there. She has learned to cover her mouth when she coughs, which is hilarious (and that's what is happening in the first picture. The rest are clearly just cute :)

Please notice that she is holding rocks in her hands in all of these pictures - I wasn't kidding when I told you she loves to carry something small around with her at all times. 'Nuts' as she refers to them are currently her favorite things in the world (this could include acorns, rocks, bark, mulch, sticks etc)

She already opened a great, fun Easter basket from Grammy which hopefully you saw pictures of on my sister's blog when you also saw the hula pictures. So we saved her Easter basket for after she got up from her nap. She loved (trying to) blowing the bubbles, putting stickers on paper, opening all the eggs, and eating her favorite little bunny crackers most of all. She regretted her decision of dumping the Easter basket out at the end as she dug for more treasure in it, because she was not such a fan of how the Easter grass felt - but then again, who is?

We had such a great weekend and now I'm enjoying looking at these sweet pictures of her from my bed in a hotel in Nashville while we are here for an intern wedding and she is enjoying camp Grammy & camp Beth! The only bad news from the trip thus far, other than how much I miss her, is that my sleeping in plan has thus failed, despite sleeping pills, and I've been awake at 6:45 both mornings so far. I have 2 more mornings to try. Please sleep in body, PLEASE.

Easter Saturday

2011-04-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

We kept ourselves busy Easter weekend, but it was also so relaxing and didn't feel overwhelming at all. Emerson hasn't gotten to just 'hang out' with her Grandma & Grandpa very much recently, so we planned a trip to Winston to see them. They had something at church Friday night, so we had dinner at my mom's, which you (hopefully) saw pictures of on Laura's blog. That hula picture is going to haunt me and crack me up for years to come. After dinner, we headed to the Bruce house and put Emerson to bed (so handy that they have so many grandchildren so they are all stocked up on cribs, pack-n-plays, highchairs, etc. so we don't have to pack much)!

And in case you were wondernig, YES, Emerson still looks exactly like her daddy. This side of the family has some crazy strong genes - look at those profiles!

We enjoyed a night with Bob & Gloria catching up before turning in for the night. The real fun was had all day Saturday playing outside, checking out Grandma's garden...

... helping water the plants that Terry & Gloria planted while I went and got my hair cut...

...and walking down the street to see her cousins and Uncle Robert where she led everyone in many songs, including Baa-Baa Black Sheep, If You're Happy and You Know It, and attempts at Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes (this one is new and she is still easily embarassed) :)

We had a blast with them over the weekend, and it was a much needed restful weekend catching up with them. I know that I am so blessed to be a part of the Bruce family - they are many in number, BIG in love and generosity, and amazing in humility and service. I feel 'enlightened' just being with Terry's parents, and we love how they pour into our lives and help guide us and push us closer to the Lord's plan for our marriage and lives! Bob & Gloria (Grandpa & Grandma), we are so thankful for you - thanks for a wonderful weekend and for loving us all so well!

After a delicious dinner that we got to share with Dave, Natalie, Kaden & Mikayla as well (see, I told you they were many in number!), we hopped back on the road because we wanted to be in Charlotte for church on Sunday. It was an awesome service, which you can read more about here, and I'll tell you more about with Day 3 of our Easter weekend when I make it to that post. We're headed out of town tomorrow night until MONDAY for our first nights away from Emerson - she's going to camp Beth & Camp Grammy for the weekend; and we know we will all have a great time, ... but I am a wee bit anxious about how much I'm going to miss her. I hope the Ambien and increased number of sleeping hours will help sway that a little bit :)

Easter Friday

2011-04-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

We have had a fun and busy Easter weekend and will have to tell you about it in 3 separate posts. To read about Friday instead of recreating the wheel I will redirect you to my sister's blog...www.lauravirginia.me

More later, stay tuned!

Belize it or Not

2011-04-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

I always wonder who has the amazing job of naming OPI's nail polishes, and how they are creative enough to come up with a billion great names for shades that change by tiny hues from one color to another. Whoever they are, they are super creative.

This weekend, Emerson watched me give myself a pedicure - first helping me remove my old toenail polish (don't worry mom, I gave her a dry cotton ball so she wouldn't have acetone all over her hands); and then sitting beside me outside while I painted my toes with OPI's 'Belize it or Not' - not my favorite color, and not very spring like, but it's what I had on hand and I needed a change from my go-to 'Big Apple Red.' After I'd finished painting my toes (why is it that you can never paint your own toes as well as someone else can?), Emerson brought me the bottle of polish, climbed up in my lap, and said "please?" [Side note, actually she said, "puh-puh-puh" because in my thinking recently that she uses sign language so well that she isn't going to be motivated to talk, I asked her, "Emerson, can you say 'please,' 'puh-puh-please?" - I was just trying to emphasize the 'p' sound! - but instead she very efficiently said 'puh-puh-puh' and left off the rest; now that's what she says when we ask her to say please - guess that is what I get!]

Okay, so normally I am kind of against things like painted toenails on little girls before the age of 3 or 4ish. I feel about painted toenails on little girls as I do about pierced ears and two piece bathing suits but maybe not quite as strongly. But, since I don't feel quite as strongly about painted toenails, and no one else will really see them, and I couldn't say no to how sweet it was to me that she saw me do it and then wanted it done as well, I went for it. Terry was sitting outside on the porch with us and snapped a few pictures with his phone. This next picture was totally unstaged...

You know, like "Oh my goodness mom, thank you so much you are the coolest mother in all the world, I think I will kiss you for it!"

I got a couple of sweet kisses like this as I was painting her toenails, she would just crane her neck around and kiss me and then go back to watching me. Other things you should note about the above picture: those lovely flowers are from sweet Terry on our 4 year anniversary last week - thanks T! He and Emerson planted them in a pot for me and we'll look forward to planting them in the yard once I'm finished enjoying them on the porch. And another not so sentimental thing to notice - see that gargoyle in the top left background? That thing sits on our neighbor's porch railing, ew, first of all. And second of all, when Emerson was maybe 9 or 10 months old, she saw it when we were outside and she made a growling sound, like it was a lion or bear or something. Hysterical.

We really had such a fun weekend in the gorgeous weather - including the rain which we as a family enjoyed watching roll in while we ate a picnic dinner on the porch with Emerson [the crazy hail and tornadoes were south of us]. I enjoyed a productive weekend of getting lots of spring cleaning done while also getting to go for a family walk to a great spot for lunch on Saturday and tucking into bed early to watch a movie during the rain storm. Sunday was another beautiful day and we made it to church, Terry napped, and Aunt Becca stopped by on her way back from DC just long enough to play with Em for a little bit and stick around for Emerson's bath and bedtime. Who wouldn't love a few good stories, snuggles and kisses from this girl in her pj's?

So here is the finished product of Belize it or Not, along with one of the cutest pictures of Em with Becca. Emerson is so proud of her toes, and grins with delight every time she takes her shoes off and sees them, or lays down to have her diaper changed. She is spending the week with her cousins (5 of the 6 of which are boys) - yes, 6 cousins all under one roof - while Beth is travelling to see her oldest daughter who is travelling abroad! So she probably knew that she needed to bring some extra girliness into her life this week, thus the proudly painted toenails!

Belize it or Not!

Love you Aunt Becca!

(I may or may not return to look at this picture 500 times today. I could look at that cheesy grin and kiss those big, sweet cheeks ALL. DAY. LONG. - Emerson's big sweet cheeks that is, not Becca's) :)

Day at the Beach

2011-04-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

Part of me wants to just post this picture and not add any words or captions to it because I feel certain I can't do justice to all of the emotions that are wrapped up in the day/moment of this picture. There are some moments that as they are happening, you know you will always remember every detail of - and this afternoon at the beach in Charleston this past weekend was one of them. I'll be honest that I was not looking forward to this trip to Charleston because I didn't want to travel, felt like Emerson was still a little off kilter on her schedule and from being sick and the introvert in me seriously considered bailing and sending Terry alone; but we knew it would be a great time with friends and love Charleston and haven't travelled together like this in awhile. If for no other reason (but there were other reasons), this brief afternoon at the beach made the trip totally worth it.

When we got there, the wind was whipping around like crazy and I felt bad because I was sure that Emerson was going to hate it and that we were going to go sit in the car and play for an hour so we didn't make everyone else that rode with us leave early also. (Which wouldn't be the worse thing in the world for her, because Beth's minivan is ~~maybe~~ definitely Emerson's favorite place to play.) But instead, from the minute her feet hit the sand she was running and happy as a little clam. She would stop and scrunch up her face when the wind would come and blow sand on her legs but she quickly figured out to turn her back to the wind so it didn't blow in her face.

Emerson loves to carry something small around in her hand with her during the day - preferrably a pebble, acorn top, small piece of bark, piece of dog food that didn't make it into Sadie's bowl (Beth's dog). So she immediately found a seashell [seen clutched tightly in her left hand above] and took it with her running across the beach, chasing the birds and running back and forth between John, Kat, Terry and me. She ran after the birds and flapped her 'wings,' calling out after the birds, "Fly, fly!" Terry tossed a little piece of food out in front of where Emerson was and the birds swarmed her. She was THRILLED and went back and forth between running around in the chaos of their flapping wings and standing still, bending down low and taking it all in. I kept worrying that she was going to panic, but instead she would just crouch down, very still, and wait for them to fly higher or to make a path for her to walk through.

I felt like I was watching a scene from a movie. I could not snap enough pictures fast enough, take enough video or wrap my mind around the scene fully. She looked so tiny on this huge, mostly empty, beach on this windy day, surrounded by these birds and just loving it. Her little chubby legs looked so precious as they worked so hard to run around with sand stuck to the bottom of her feet and dusted on her legs as it stuck to the suntan lotion. Her bow flapping back and forth in the wind and her big curls in the back of her hair getting tangled and wind blown; her little dress wrapping around her as the wind blew, and the look of pure delight and joy on her face like this was the coolest thing she had ever been a part of. I adore every part of this little girl - all of these tiny little nuances about her and moments spent with her. These were especially great moments. I hope that the Lord will use them to remind me over and over to be open, to wait on Him, to open my heart, and to be reminded of the way He pours His heart out over us. Because as much as I love this adorable little girl, He loves her so much more. We want nothing more for her than to know that fully in the quiet moments of her life, in the depth of her heart, as well as when the chaos surrounds her - I pray that in those moments she will always be able to be still and know.

Peas in a Pod

2011-03-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

We have dug ourselves out of the sick house, thrown away tooth brushes, and sanitized every surface in sight. It is nice to be reporting from a house full of well pdeople! It's even nicer to be sitting out on the front porch again (this time not with a glass of milk!) enjoying the gorgeous weather and browsing through some hysterical photos from this past weekend. Molly & Bella made the trip down to Charlotte this past weekend for a few days packed with fun - we had SUCH a blast. Emerson had so much fun with Bella, it warmed my heart countless times to see how they already love each other. It also gave me some serious mother's guilt that she doesn't get more time playing with other little kids, but hopefully I'll get over that part soon. I'll try to do pictures in synopsis here of our weekend.

As always, the girls had a blast together in the bathtub. I don't know why we didn't take video of this; probably because we were all busy laughing too hard at them. It is so funny how they get each other so cracked up and they are both belly laughing so hard as they doused themselves, us, and the entire bathroom in water splashing around like crazy.

The girls think it is a trip to wear the same clothes, so they wore their matching pjs to bed that night and snuggled in for story time and were up in the morning eager to see what was going on outside so that they could go get in on the fun.

We played hard at the playground and let them share a stroller on the way there. We laughed at how submissive Emerson is and she so willingly does whatever anyone asks of her/does to her - her younger siblings will luck out on this some day!

The girls dressed alike on Saturday for their train ride and Em even was eager to wear a hairbow (miracle of miracles!) because Bella wore one like she always does. When her bow would fall out, she would take it to Bella and wait while Bella tugged on her hair and tried to put it back in for her. Truly hysterical. (Sidenote: The train and Uptown were packed because of the NCAA tournament and a St Patricks Day parade - we had great 'views' of the parade with horses, leprauchans, cheerleaders and beyond during lunch!) Bella also taught Emerson ring around the rosy ...(rosey?) while they waited for the train which everyone enjoyed watching.

Bella was great at helping get Emerson undressed when it was time for the bath - such a good helper [check out Emerson's face, maybe she's catching on that she is like B's little pet here]!

Molly and I got to go on a date Saturday night to our favorite restaurant and for (of course) some frozen yogurt afterwards thanks, hugely, to my fabulous and adoring husband who stayed home with the girls and watched Barney & Sesame Street (lucky man!) with Bella until she fell sound asleep on his chest - precious.

We will get to see Bella & Molly again at the end of April for another intern wedding, but we aren't taking Emerson with us on that trip, so we had to be sure to maximize play time to store up until our next get together! Clearly, and as always, we had a blast and were sad to see them leave - they were just what the doctor ordered to get our house back up and running and feeling well again!

While we tried to push Em's bedtime back when the time changed so that she got to stay up until 7:00 (late night!) with us, we gave it a go for 2 weeks, and it just wasn't working well and she was not adjusting very well, so we have been back to getting in the bath at 6:00 and she's been sound asleep by 6:30 for the past three nights and seemingly very happy about it! I'll try not to feel so sad or guilty about the little amount of time that we get together during the week and instead soak up how glorious our Monday afternoons and weekends are together!

On our way...

2011-03-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

(Pardon how unkept the girls in our family look - we are sick and busy watching the Tarheels here.) Sickness has taken over our house for the past two weeks and it just keeps knocking us down! Apparently Emerson and I keep passing the same resistant strain of strep throat and some nasty virus back and forth - let's just hope that's all it is. The day she finished her antibiotics, she ended up with a scarlatina rash meaning that her antibiotics probably didn't kick the strep out and we'll be going back to the doctor for another super exciting throat swab. And I'll be going back because we still can't figure out what's going on with me and I'm far from better. Gotta love co-pays...

If we could stretch ourselves and say that any good has come out of these few weeks of being sick, the pros to the long list of cons here include: I've lost several stubborn pounds, Emerson naturally gave up her pacifiers because it hurt too much to suck on it - they are packed up and gone and she hasn't looked back, hallelujah!, we have come well within our food budget for the month because neither Emerson or I have been eating much! However, if she is any indication of what I will be like once I'm well, we better have stockpiled some extra cash into that budget because the girl is playing serious catch up now that she's up to eating again! Back to the pacifiers; I'd been thinking for awhile about giving them up as she only uses them at naptime and bedtime and planned on doing it a few weekends ago but Aunt Rebecca was coming into town that weekend and said Emerson wasn't allowed to associate such a traumatic event with her being in town - probably a good call :) I didn't think it would be too hard for her to give them up because she has no problem only having them in her bed and easily puts them in her bed most mornings when we got her up (most of the time), but you know - change is still always a little nervewracking. And if I'm honest I kind of miss the way she sucked on her paci at night as we snuggled and sang because she would randomly take it out of her mouth to kiss me and then put it back in. But on the bright side, now she can kiss me whenever she wants, and she has been sgining with me at night - cutest thing ever. I've even caught Terry a few nights recently standing outside the door to listen. I sure do love him and the way he loves his girls.

The weather has been so gorgeous this weekend and we were all so desperate to get out of the house and we enjoyed a glorious trip downtown on the train (choo choo! says Emerson) [click on choo choo to watch a video of her on the train - she seems super out of it, I think she didn't know at all what to think and mostly likes to stand at the platform and watch them come by - I swear she isn't ever this 'calm'....] and ate at Jason's Deli where Emerson ate her weight in the salad bar, and lots of time watching basketball. A sad ending today for the Tarheels, but still overall fun for us to spend some time watching games together - Emerson's first 'real' "screen time," we figured that the ACC tournament would be a good way to start!

I am thankful to say that now we are ending the weekend one of my favorite ways - Terry and I are sitting on the porch - he with a beer and me, sadly, with a glass of milk because that's about all I can drink or eat (how lame) - but all the same enjoying the air, each other, and some great music to accompany the crickets. Oh spring, how I love you.

GO TARHEELS! NCAA tournament, here we come - boo Duke!

Strep Throat

2011-03-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

After several days of thinking that Emerson was running a fever from her most recent set of vaccines (and wanting to hop on the delayed vaccination bandwagon despite all my education...), she kept getting worse and worse. She had the smelliest breath ever and wouldn't eat or drink anything for two days. She was pretty traumatized to have her throat swabbed at the doctor's office and immediately started waving bye to the nurse because she wanted her to get the heck away! Her strep test immediately came back positive - very rare for her age. Her gums are swollen and bleeding and she has sores all over her tongue, it is so sad! She has been so pitiful, snuggly and sad since Thursday. When she woke up this morning I thought maybe she had turned the corner because she ate for the first time, but by 11:00 she was very puny again. Poor kid. While my heart has been breaking for her, I have also been loving all of the snuggle time that I have gotten with her morning, noon and night - she is such a cuddle bug. Normally she is so busy that she will come over for the occasional hug and/or kiss, and will sit in my lap to read her favorite books; but mostly likes to be running, dancing and climbing all around.

Since pictures of sick babies are pitiful [though I did snap one of her on the table at the doctor's office in her diaper crying and snuggled in our bed drinking a milkshake in her pajamas at 9:30pm!!!], all of the pictures here are from earlier this past week before she got sick when we played at the park and around the house. The sky was about to open up with rain this afternoon while we were at the park and it was super windy - Emerson loves when the wind blows in her hair (see below) - it totally cracks her up. I cannot say enough how ready I am for spring and at the same time how much I dread that it means summer is coming sooner. I need a summer getaway home. Hopefully it will be in Stowe, Vermont since I registered 852 times to win the HGTV home! Keep your fingers crossed...you can all come and stay!

Once it started raining, we headed home and snuggled in with our favorite books - just more proof that she really will sit and do this for so long, and she definitely has her favorite books. I'd put the "First 100 Words" book (on the right) in her top 3 favorites - she can name/make the sound for/act out probably 95/100 of the things in this book and she likes to read it over and over...and over again.

Hopefully her delicious pink medicine that she's living for right now will kick in completely soon and she'll be back to herself. Until then, we'll be busy snuggling for the rest of this rainy weekend before we have to head back to work and start the week again!

16 months

2011-02-28T12:06:00.000-08:00

While I love the 'new era' of "smart phones," one of the more annoying things about them is when I forget to turn the sound off on my notifications at night and the 800 random emails I get everyday come through at 3a.m. (i.e. Gap, Old Navy, Groupon, My Baby at __ Weeks, etc. etc). I guess that when I was pregnant I signed up on many of these sites for weekly updates on how Emerson is growing. The first few weeks and months I really enjoyed reading these and reminding myself of things that I should have been working on with her. These days though, they aren't quite as entertaining because development is somewhat running together; and while there are clearly many more 'big' developmental steps for Em to meet, it's not the same as waiting around for rolling over or crawling or walking. But last night, when my email chimed me awake about "My Baby at 15 months 4 weeks," I had a mini breakdown. Seriously, how on earth is she 16 months old (almost)?! At her 15 month check-up last month, our nurse was saying something about Emerson 'almost being two.' I can barely wrap my mind around the fact that she has already turned one, much less that she will be TWO this year.

All that to say, there are so many things that our '16 month old' is doing that blow my mind everyday. It is so fun to communicate with her and see her personality. She is such a trip, and I live for my weekends at home with her. She loves to snuggle and loves to rough house both with dad and with me. She is happiest hanging upside down, being thrown into a pile of pillows, reading books, and/or playing outside with sidewalk chalk. She is still loving to use sign language and is great about asking please which we are SO thankful for as it has helped us avoid ever really having a meltdown yet when she wants something. She has a ton of other words and it's hysterical to hear her talk.

Two current favorite stories about her words are: 1. As I have referenced, Salem has been....toeing the line...around our house a lot recently with a recent unmentionable experienced where she jumped over the farm door in her room and went to all of the rooms in the house where she isn't allowed. We'll just say it resulted in having to have the carpets cleaned and they may ultimately have to be replaced. So several times Emerson has watched us shake our finger at Salem and say "bad dog." We reserve this for serious infractions, I promise. So the other day we walked in the house and Emerson walked in in front of me as I got the mail and I could hear her in the living room saying "bad dog!". She was standing on the carpet looking at a pile of wrapers from granola bars that Salem had gotten into and eaten - Salem wasn't even in the room! - but Emerson knew she had done it, and knew just how to 'correct' her for it.
2. She loves when we whisper a secret into her ear, and in the past few weeks, if we whisper "I love you" in her ear, she will whisper back to us, "la la la." It will melt your heart every single time.

Pictures & video from our weekend (sorry again about the video being sideways) - Emerson loved washing the car and even sang her song that we sing when we wash her hair about the car "wash, wash, wash (your hair) (the car)...." - the video stops being very cute after she sticks the rag in her mouth at about 50 seconds in :) We aren't sure if she or the car ended up with more water on them by the end of this experience. Her favorite part was just dipping the rag in the bucket and watching the water drip off!

Naked Babies

2011-02-25T08:12:00.000-08:00

Why is it that naked babies are so cute? ...and that we are not so cute naked once we grow up? If anything 'good' came out of the fall of man (hopefully you all know this is sarcasm), it is that Adam & Eve decided to cover up and thus clothes were born. All the same, babies and toddlers are so dang cute when they run around the house naked - even at the risk of having to mop up after an accident, which we (knock on wood) haven't had to do yet. So this is an old video of Emerson, and sorry that I didn't know when I took it that I couldn't rotate videos on my phone or on YouTube, so turn your head sideways - or your screen if you have a laptop! - and enjoy this precious little girl doing what she does best - unloading her diaper caddy. A definite favorite past time around our house. I think my mom is the one who first let Emerson do this - thanks mom...

Playing Catch

2011-02-23T10:26:00.000-08:00

It's of equal importance to Terry and I ... maybe and to Uncle John, that Emerson does not get my motor skills. It's always a joke to anyone that knows me that part of my job includes teaching children motor coordination skills. Since I have none. And got to stay home from almost every field day of my elementary aged life. And the ones I had to attend I cowered through. So we are starting young ensuring that Emerson gets in some good practice.

Please also notice in the background the sweet kitchen that my mom gave Emerson for Christmas. She loves it and can often be found stirring up something in a pot with her spoon. Or the best is when I go to pack her lunchbox and I find a cloth baked potato or watermelon slice that she has put in there while playing at her kitchen. As a sidenote, we love this little lunch pail. I love that it is old school, and that it is the perfect size for the containers I send her lunch in...that can be for another post; and that when you open it up, one side of it is a chalkboard so we can write her love notes.

Story Time

2011-02-20T18:04:00.000-08:00

Emerson LOVES to read. We read 3 books every time before she goes to sleep both at nap time and at night - we're a little rigid in our schedule...but at least it seems to have worked GLORIOUSLY since she is a great sleeper and sleeps from 6:30pm - 7am every day. Sometimes we like to get crazy and switch up the order and even the books. We always read Goodnight Moon, but the other two books we change out every few weeks when she starts to get tired of one or when we get a new one that I am excited about. Our whole family can recite Goodnight Moon from memory, so that one is easy. Recently, my mom gave us one of my old books called "I Can Read" which Emerson loves because we point to our nose, mouth, tickle her back, wave our hands, stick our feet up in the air, and point to mom and dad. We tend to only read these books at bedtime so she knows it is bedtime, but recently she has really enjoyed climbing up in the rocking chair and reading them to herself during the day [after having chosen some winter boots from Bella that are two sizes too big currently that she would please like to wear with her shorts and tshirt during the gloriously warm weather that we had this weekend]. Beth also started reading Corduroy with her this past week, so we've added it to our lucky bedtime 3 - I ad lib this one, so it's different each night, which Terry really enoys. Emerson's favorite part is the dramatic 'pop-boom-bang-crash' that Beth started with her when Corduroy pulls the button off the mattress and crashes to the floor. We get a great belly laugh out of her every time.

Nevermind the Pottery Barn chair her size that we got her for her room that is her size - she mostly loves the big chair that we sit in together for story time at night and even tries to rock back and forth to get herself moving.

We had a great weekend this past weekend with Laura in town and the gorgeous weather, several trips to the park - including Emerson's first picnic...and two trips to Yoforia. God bless frozen yogurt. This family is ready for spring to come and to spend more time outside!

Photo Catch Up

2011-02-15T17:50:00.000-08:00

In case you wonder what we've been doing for the past few months, here we go....Emerson was a chicken for Halloween and she wore part of her costume for Halloween that Mom made but made too small on day #1

...then she wore the whole costume on day 2 after Mom re-made part of it...it sort of fell apart by the end of the night

Turned 1 and got to eat cupcakes or birthday cake THREE days in a row

Here was her first cupcake - she ate EVERY. SINGLE. BITE.

Went shopping for our Christmas Tree and loved finding all of the little ornaments on it! Her favorites were the Santas and she perfected saying 'ho ho ho' every time she saw one!

The tree skirt made a great dress for Em!

We went to a Christmas light display late one night at Lowes Motor Speedway

They had a little petting zoo area which Emerson loved!

We cheered on the Mountaineers of course...

Enjoyed celebrating a great Christmas with family. Here she is at her new table from my mom which is so sweet and she loves having her own place to sit and play, snack, and draw!

....had a WHITE Christmas!

Emerson was less than sure about the snow

She gets lots of smooches from her daddy who is trying to capitalize on her not being embarassed yet by this!

We're working on self-feeding. Here is how well it went with hummus one night...not sure if she actually ate any of it or just face painted. The spoon got ditched early in the process.

Ditto on the yogrt. We love this Trader Joes yogurt for the record.

Emerson loves Salem and loves to pet her, sit with her, give her treats, feed her a bone, throw the ball with her....and shake her finger at her and tell her 'bad dog,' we don't know where she learned that one...

We met Bella & her mommy in Emory for a fun quick weekend get together, these girls love playing together, especially in the bath!

Emerson always loves her bath - especially if there's someone to play with in there!

Terry's brother David and family moved to Charlotte from LA and spent a few nights with us when they got here - what fun having cousins around! Mikayla and Emerson are just one week apart!

She loves reading books - especially ones with farm animals or flap books! We snuggle in bed or on the couch most mornings before she leaves for Beth's and we leave for work for some reading time. It is the best.

This girl could not be cuter.

So if you've been wondering what we could have been doing that has kept us too busy to blog, here are just a few of the things. We cannot believe that our little peanut is 15 months old and walking (running!!!), talking, and showing us her precious personality more and more every day.

More to come...

Resolutions

2011-02-04T07:40:00.000-08:00

Hello to all of you who used to read this blog about my family and me. Mom had taken an (obvious) hiatus from the blog for awhile with a 'resolution' of sorts to start again in January. She's non-committal and can't decide if she's really willing & ready to commit again...but she's thinking about it, so don't give up on her quite yet. We'll let you know. In the mean time, here is my parents' favorite ever picture of me. If you have been wondering what kind of kid I am now that I am growing up and you haven't gotten to see much of me because no one has been telling you about it on this blog - well this cheesy smile pretty much sums me up!
xo - Emerson

Football, Cheese, and Hurt Feelings

2010-10-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were in Boone for peak leaf weekend, Appalachain football, a fun weekend in a gorgeous cabin with friends, ~~and the Wooly Worm Festival~~. Oh right, just half of the other extra people in Boone causing all of the traffic that made us not get to campus until 5:00 for a 6:00 game were there for the Wooly Worm Festival! Despite all of the traffic and getting everywhere late, we had such a fun time at the game while a sweet girl from Charlotte, who is a sophmore at ASU kept our sweet Emerson back at the house!

Emerson was a total ham this weekend (and beyond) and is really loving getting attention from people and being told non-stop how cute she is! She's been venturing out on her own, taking as many as 12 steps at a time, so we know that a walking one year old is not far away in our house! When you tell her that she is cute, or she meets someone new and is feeling 'shy' (don't be fooled, this is just for show!) she shrugs her shoulders up, tips her head to the side and grins. It is hilarious. She is pointing to her ears when you ask her where they are, occasionally can show you where her nose is, loves singing if you're happy and you know it (she's great at clapping hands and recently added a verse for 'pat your head'), can tell you what an elephant says, and started making the sound of a bear/lion/tiger this weekend - this is very helpful that I can say she can name 4 animal sounds since 3 of the 4 make the same sound! Emerson LOVES her daddy these days especially and points to him all day long saying his name. I sometimes try to coerce her into pointing to me and saying 'mama,' but instead she just looks at Terry, points, says 'dada,' and then does her little head tilt like she knows she's being funny. Since I like Terry so much and love to see her love him so much too, it isn't hurting my feelings...yet. We are getting ready for her birthday weekend extravaganza and daily think that she is cuter than the day before. Here are some examples:

(yes, this is what I meant by 'cheese' in the title of this blog - I mean SERIOUSLY, she is such a ham!)

(LOVED being up on Uncle Wes' shoulders!)

Her most recent 'development' is that she got her feelings hurt for the first time. It was undoubtedlty at the same time the saddest and funniest thing she has done to date. Other than brief crying when I leave her room at nap times, Emerson really hasn't cried in response to anything we've done (or not done) until now. We were sitting at the island eating dinner with her last night, and because she's so into her dad right now, she kept reaching over to grab onto his arm, finger, hand, arm hair, or anything else she could get her hands on. She reached with a little too much...zeal...and got a firm grip/pinch on his arm one of the times and Terry responded with a pretty enthusiastic 'ouch!' I made him tell her 'no,' (calmly and sweetly, we promise!) and then she looked at me and I said, 'no Em,' and she looked down and got really quiet and her little eyes welled up with tears and she looked back up at me and slowly started crying. She would not let Terry console her, but once I picked her up and let her lick some hummus off of my finger, she was all better :) I wish I could convince myself that it will always be this easy to make her feel better when her feelings get hurt as she grows up.

Maybe she is growling like a bear here...or just showing her teeth...or just being her normal hilarious self!

10.5 months

2010-09-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

Every day I find it harder to believe that in less than 2 months I will have a one year old living in my house! As I hunt for birthday invitations for Emerson's birthday, it all feels very surreal. Our lives have changed so much since (almost) one year ago; but it seems even moreso, she has changed so much in (almost) one year!

Here we are at a 10 and 1/2 months and she gets cuter every single passing day to me! There isn't a morning that I'm kissing her goodbye in her carseat as Terry takes her to Beth's that we don't look at each other and say that she's the cutest girl ever! She is such a big kid these days, walking with her walking push toys, saying 'mama,' 'dada,' 'duck,' 'dog,' and 'bye bye!' (at least when there isn't a crowd around); and her best trick of all, throwing her arms straight up in the air when we say 'touchdown!' She is most proud of herself for this last trick, and immediately goes from touchdown to clapping for herself. Emerson loves playing with other kids, especially little boys - and so she was thrilled to get to play with Caleb this past weekend for her Grammy's birthday in Emory!

(This hilarious tutu outfit is from her Grammy - she looked like such the little girl!)

This past month has been seemingly extra fun as her personality comes out even more! She has the greatest grin full of 8 shiny teeth (which she loves to brush!) with two more teeth on the way! She is always on the move, and loves to climb under the table, up the stairs, to any object that she can pull things out of, and thankfully has also recently learned how to put things back in! Em loves to count her toes and play 'this little piggy,' her favorite song is Old MacDonald (aside from the ones we've made up about her which she also loves), and her best best friend in the world is "Cali," the pig she started sleeping with in her crib after our California trip, that her Aunt Laura gave her. Aside from Cali, we like to think that we are her best friends. At least she is ours - we couldn't love her more! I miss her more with each passing day of going to work and keep praying for some miraculous way to get to work part time instead of 3/4 time! (Better go buy some lotto tickets!)

Broken, broken, broken...

2010-08-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

The internet is broken.
The computer is broken.
The point-and-shoot digital camera that takes video is now also broken.
I haven't been able to find the cords to the cameras to bring them to work to upload pictures (despite a clean house thanks to my mom who helped us out with babysitting and all things house related all summer)!

But I found the cords, so I have at least a few pictures to share so you can see how big our girl is growing and get a glimpse of what we've been doing during all of this chaos. We have been having such a fun time, and our 9 months with her have FLOWN. Life has changed in huge ways as parents, almost all wonderful. I still might dream of sleeping in until 9 or 10am on a Saturday :)

We went to California and played with the cousins.

We went to the beach for a wedding and let Emerson play in the ocean for the first time.

She has been standing and cruising and letting go and getting a few bumps along the way.

We spend a lot of time playing with the tags on her stuffed animals.

We made our house look really redneck and kept an inflatable pool on the porch during the summer which she LOVED.

We traveled to Wisconsin for an intern reunion and flew there with Molly & Bella (somehow, the only picture on my camera was from in the airport...) - And yes, those are 7 teeth in her mouth.

And (surprise) she looks more and more like her daddy every day! (except who knows where these killer baby blues came from!)

It has been a busy and wonderful TWO MONTHS (I know, horrors that it has been that long since I have posted!) Somehow, we love Emerson more every day and I keep trying hard to cement memories into my mind of her just how she is each day. She has the sweetest most joyful spirit and we pray every day it sticks around for life. She loves to eat (as evidenced by the chub!), loves to play rough and be tossed up in the air by Terry, but also loves to snuggle at bed time and early in the morning. She is on the go and we feel pretty sure will be walking soon.

I started working a different schedule this summer which gives me more time with her each day that has made life as a working mom feel much more manageable even though I still miss her like crazy and can't wait to get home to her. Beth is still keeping Em, and she had a blast having all of Beth's daughters home this summer for extra loving. Terry and I got to have several date nights this summer while my mom was in town, which were such a welcome gift of time together. Terry also became a master Scrabble player - we played each week when my mom was in town - and won almost every game. I didn't win any. Alas.

Hopefully technology will be repaired around our house soon and you'll be hearing from us regularly again! I miss my blogging world!

Food 101

2010-06-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

Go back with me in time 1 month ago and pretend Emerson was just eating food for the first time and you wanted to hear all about how it went. It's taken us about a month to learn how to eat, so it's really more appropriate than not that it took me this long to blog and post about it! Emerson LOVED chewing on the spoon, but the fist time she ate rice cereal, she wasn't totally sure what she thought of it. She didn't seem to not like the flavor, she just wasn't really associating that opening her mouth equated in getting food. So lots of it ended up lots of places other than her mouth.

[Oh hello big picture - haven't tried this yet since the new formatting lets you upload pictures in XL fashion!]

So after about 2 weeks of eating twice a day...the sweet girl still hadn't gotten it. Poor Emerson that her mother is a pediatric therapist that specializes in feeding...poor, poor Emerson. Wait, what am I talking about - POOR, POOR ME! This was super stressing me out. I was stressed every time I fed her, and for like 20 minutes before and afterwards. Just ask Terry. And in the meantime, be thankful that Beth fed her a lot during the week and her report was always that she 'did great.' Again, praise the Lord for Beth. So not to worry, of course I asked a speech therapist I work with about it, who of course told me she was fine but to just keep working on it and she would get it. And one weekend, she did. She just got it. The mantra in my head when I was stressed is exactly what I tell families all the time, as I have been taught: "Variety=quantity, variety=quantity, variety=quantity." And it worked. Imagine that!

So the rice cereal was fine, whatever, I spiced it up with cinnamon, switched over to oatmeal, kept spicing it up, tried it bland, but the real fun started when the real food started. We were having roasted sweet potatoes for dinner, so Emerson did too. We were having green beans for dinner, so Emerson did too. The sweet potatoes (with nutmeg and cinnamon) were a breeze, but the green beans...well not so much. I thought I had done my due diligence in reading about how to 'best' make them, but I had no idea how hard it would really be to puree the shells. It might have something to do with how old my blender is. But don't worry, I tried the food processer, blender, and immersion blender - just to be thorough.

All this turned into these tiny little pods (which were a total rip of and waste of money - have switched to ice cube trays) - way to think you needed something fancy at first just to be proved wrong Ellen, K.I.S.S! [remember this acronym??]

If I had remembered it, maybe my kitchen sink wouldn't have looked like THIS the first cooking process:

I know, I can't believe I'm showing you this either. But really, I'm just showing you so that I can tell you it's gotten much easier, cleaner, and efficient.

And since, we have made & eaten: sweet potatoes, green beans, avocado, butternut squash, carrots, pumpkin, strawberries, blueberries, pear, apple, apricots, prune juice, watermelon and 3 bites of icecream :) Now she opens her mouth and chows down like a champ - hooray Em!

More on the ice cream and visit with Molly & Bella later. But before that you'll get to hear all about our trip to California!

[I'm kind of loving these new huge pictures. Please tell me if they are obnoxious!]

Proposal

2010-06-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

For the record, I am so glad Terry didn't do something like this when he proposed to me...but this is hilarious and awesome! Found it here. It makes me so happy to be loved and in love. xo

Still kickin'

2010-06-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

If any of you are left out there, you've either:
a. been checking daily for blog posts and have been very disappointed
b. stopped checking all the time and are shocked to find something new on here today
c. know that our computer hasn't been working and take pity on us, because you know no one wants to read a blog post without pictures!

But thankfully, Aunt Becca was here this weekend, and I was able to steal a picture from her on facebook so I could post and not lose all of our family members, blog stalkers, and other miscellaneous friends! We have been crazy busy the past few weeks checking lots of boxes off of Emerson's list of firsts!

- First plane ride, check. All the way across the country to California - and she did AWESOME. No crying, took 2 hour long naps, no ear problems from the pressure change, entertained nearby passengers with wide mouth smiles and lots of giggling.
- Met 5 cousins that live in California, check. LOVED them, I mean she loved them - Taylor, Riley & Jordan could make her smile and laugh like no one else! She and Mikayla loved grabbing at each other's faces and smiling, and meanwhile Kaden was a pro at making a baby laugh from the backseat! [I have SO MANY cute pictures from this trip, I cannot wait to share them with you all once the computer isn't sick anymore!]
     - Went on her first yacht ride
     - Stuck her toes in the sand and in the freezing cold ocean - she might not have liked the ocean so much. But it sure did make for hilarious photos.
     - Went to In-N-Out. Yum. Well, she didn't eat it, but we did, yum. Also on this list should be: Pinkberry, Yogurt Town, Yogurt Land, Yogurt Mania, and 800 other yogurt places we saw and wanted to go to because they are all delicious. [Sidenote, HOORAY found out this weekend there is a new yogurt place here in Charlotte - Yoforia. I wonder how many other names they can come up with.]
- Eaten a ton of new foods including but not limited to: rice, oatmeal, avocado, sweet potatoes, ~~green beans~~, butternut squash, carrots, apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, ~~prune juice~~ (as you can imagine the ones that are crossed out aren't really preferred...at all)
- Gotten 2 teeth ?!?!?!?!
- Started babbling with all kinds of new sounds mamamamammababababababbabadadadadadada

Hoping to get the computer and all of its accessories working this weekend - while visiting Molly & Bella and celebrating Molly's 30th birthday! - (I'm blogging from work, shhhhh) so that I can show you some of these fabulous photos from the last month's happenings. Don't give up on us, we'll be making a big comeback!

Mid-week Musings

2010-05-05T06:05:00.000-07:00

Little known facts and other miscellaneous things floating around in my head today...

We are the Bruces. I know you know this, but do you really know that we are the Bruces and not the Bruce's? When you come to our house, you are going to the Bruce's house, but when you are talking to us, you can say, "hey Bruces!" We are plural, not possessive. Updated. I have since researched my correction. We are still the Bruces, (which was the point of this debacle) but sources (online grammar sites, teachers and peers included) have varying opinions on if you are going to the Bruce's house or the Bruces' house. Hmm...

I think Emerson knows that today is her 6 month birthday. And she decided she should not sleep through the night without her middle of the night feeding until she was 6 months old. So she did. Last night. Praise the Lord. Please do it again tonight Emmy. And please let the doctor tell us next week that it's okay to keep doing this even though you are so wee.

These are some of the cutest little hair clips. I cannot wait for Em to have hair to wear these.

Could this dress be any cuter, and at any point in my life can I validate spending that much money on a dress for a child? But I really love it...maybe it will go on sale, you know before Emerson is 4 or 5 and would be cute in it. Or maybe by then I can become a seamstress. Or at least be able to hem pants - baby steps.

Oh yeah, I'm really thankful for the randomness of the gene pool that resulted in the blue eyes pictured above. GOR.GEOUS. [thanks katie b for the precious outfit to bring out the blue!]

And have I mentioned recently how much I love my husband? He is a great man, and makes me understand why a synonym for patience is long suffering. He is very long suffering with me...aka, I think I make him suffer for long periods of time with my craziness :) Thanks, hubs!

Twins

2010-04-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Emerson.

Seriously. Could you look any more like your father? Bruce genes are the strongest genes I have ever known. You, my child, are not anything like I ever imagined you looking. You are SO MUCH cuter. You will turn 6 months old next week. I have no idea how we suddenly have a 6 month old child and not a baby anymore (I know...you are still a baby). But you are almost sitting up for more than 30-45 seconds at a time, though you still face plant if there is a toy you really want in sight; you are starting to commando crawl around on your belly if there's something to push off behind your feet and something worth crawling to in front of you. Next week, you will get to try some real food, which I know you are excited about because you keep trying to get your hands in everything your dad and I are eating if you're around it! You are growing up TOO FAST and you are precious to me little girl.

Your mama loves you, xoxo.

Getting by

2010-04-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been feeling like I haven't really been doing anything other than just getting by - in most areas of life: sleep, sticking to my exercise routine, sticking to my budget, work, keeping my house clean, etc. I know that that is okay and that some days/weeks/months/phases of life are just about surviving and letting everything else go to the wind while you __(fill in the blank)__. For me (us, really) that blank has been spending time as a family and with Emerson for the few short awake minutes we get with her before her bedtime at night and before she goes to Beth's in the morning. Sometimes that not really doing anything trickles down into even the smallest areas of life. Insert: recycling, giving back, supporting, living outside of myself - these things are all wrapped into one in my mind.

Gone are the days of roommates leaving me notes inside the peanut butter jar that they threw in the trash can to just leave it there instead of digging it out and cleaning it like they knew I would. Recently, if the recycling bin in the kitchen was full instead of emptying it into the larger one outside, I would just throw something away. In fact TODAY was trash/recycling day, and I noticed that Terry didn't get a chance to take them down to the curb like he normally does, but I didn't take them down either. Today! Earth day! I didn't even recycle the right day on EARTH DAY. Get it together Ellen, be a good steward!

Then as I perused my daily blogs, I read this. Let's not be surprise that I was inspired by this, I feel like I am inspired by Tara Whitney EVERY time I read her blog. Which is daily. If I ever come home saying I have a great idea, Terry's first guess is most likely that my great idea was probably inspired by someone else, and if he hears it was from a blog, he's going to guess it was her. (And the best part is...I am a total blog stalker of hers. I have never, not once, in my ... years(?) of reading her blog left a comment. Silly me! Blog writers love comments, it inspires us - at least me - to keep doing this instead of going weeks without blogging, oops. Yes Katie Tison, I know you are out there!!! Perhaps if enough of you blog stalkers comment, I'll make myself comment on TW's blog also. And I might blog more often. Perhaps.) And here is a shout out to some other inspiring people that I blog stalk: here, here, and here. Anyway. Back to the point. I was inspired, and I want to be doing more than just getting by. I mean, how do things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch exist without me even knowing? And these bags, yes please! And did you see how she used little silicone cupcake holders to hold snacks? Please let me be a cool and thoughtful mom...heck, person!

[picture: unrelated, but precious :)]

I do my part in small ways for sure, but I would like to commit to those small ways and make those ways habit rather than just luck or happenstance. I recycle my plastic grocery bags when I forget to bring my re-usable ones, and on good days, I recycle all things recyclable. But I still use plastic tupperware, and I still use Ziploc bags like they are going out of style - though I do reuse the ones that I send Emerson's bottles or extra clothes in in her diaper bag, that's one step! I don't want to over-commit or I know I'll end up doing nothing. So here's to the Bruces figuring out what it is that we are passionate enough about that we can stick to and do. If it's being more than the average recycler, or helping provide clean water, or sponsoring a child, or __(fill in the blank)___, great - as long as we are inspired, and as long as we are doing more than just getting by most days. Because we are called to live life, and to live life abundantly.

Easter Dress

2010-04-07T11:49:00.001-07:00

Per many requests - the obligatory Easter dress picture - which, by the way, I worked hard for (on ebay) - and then we (gasp!) didn't go to church in Emory, so she literally put the dress on for this picture and took it off - you can tell by her sleepy eyes that it was early in the morning. So. If you see this dress again next year...do. not. judge. me.

Also, she got a pretty stinkin' cute Easter basket this year filled with fun toys from Haba, which I scored from The Mini Social, which I love, and a cute dress from her daddy.

Barnes & Noble Inspiration

2010-04-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

Today is our three year anniversary. Three years! Didn't we just meet in high school yesterday? Wasn't I just giving 'my little Terry Bruce' rides to his exams because he moved from California and didn't have his license yet? Nope, that was a long time ago - and time has been flying ever since - but these have been fabulous three years! I could go on and on...but I won't...happy anniversary T, don't want to make you cry at work today :)

[yes, i know you have seen this picture on the blog already, but it's the only one i have from our wedding on the computer. beggars can't be choosers. feeling the need to reminisce with us, you can check out Kevin Milz - we are all over it!]

In honor of three years, we took the day off work yesterday to stay at home and relax (yes, our lives are that exciting that that is ALL we both wanted to do to celebrate!) but our amazing and fearless sister-in-law, Jenn (mother of 4 boys!) asked if she could keep Emerson overnight for us Monday night to let us really enjoy the day Tuesday by sleeping in! Despite a little sadness at Emmy being on her first sleepover, we said YES and enjoyed a full, uninterupted night's sleep for the first time in 5 months, and hung around with no agenda. FABULOUS. Emerson also slept for 12 hours, only waking up 1 time to eat - it must be something about Jenn's magical mother-of-4-children touch - that and the cave of a closet that Em got to sleep in. [Black out curtains are next on the list of things to buy for her nursery!] In our lounging around, I requested that we go to Barnes & Noble to peruse, something I've been wanting to do for awhile now but haven't felt peaceful enough to do! Boring, I know. But I loved it. And I read excerpts from some fabulous books that I wanted but decided not to get, and read excerpts from others that I thought would be fabulous and planned on buying but didn't because they weren't. Good to know. But I saw a book with this quote, and thought it was fabulous and 100% described motherhood for me:

[It was when I had my first child that I understood how much my mother loved me.]

My mom used to always say to me "you'll understand when you have kids." I always thought I already got it. I loved kids and was super involved in lots of kids lives and had lots of kids super involved in my life. But she was right (surprise)! To be a mother, to have a child, is to know a whole new kind of love - protective and endearing, long-lasting, full of fear and adoration.

And I imagine she would tell me the same about being a grandmother - that I'll understand when I have them. That seems forever away, but I'm sure by the time it gets here, time, again - will seem to have flown. Thanks Ma, for loving me and for loving Em in a way I could have never known until I got here.

[picture: Emerson, Mom & Caleb swinging in Emory over Easter - SUCH a fun time]

Writers block

2010-03-31T06:46:00.000-07:00

Two weeks between posts means that I must have writers' block. It could be because I've been working too many hours and somehow am deciding to work more [note to self: next time around, don't build a house, furnish it, have a baby, 'furnish' it, and take 3 months off work all in 12 months time]. (Picture: Emerson early one morning before work/going to Beth's wondering why I always have the camera in her face) Speaking of Beth, let me introduce you to her - here she is with Emmy and Regan. We L-O-V-E Beth. I cannot say this enough - biggest biggest blessing.

It could also be because I've been having potluck dinners inspired by PW herself. We (read: Becky) wrote her an email about said dinner. She has not heard back from her, Becky is getting testy. Rhododen-drum (right girls?) better watch out when she comes to Charlotte - control yourself Becky. This potluck dinner, by the way was amazing, and you can read more about it here and here - why reinvent the wheel, right?

The delay of posts could also be because I've been having too much fun dressing up the world's cutest baby in cute clothes - like a dress of mine that my grandmother smocked for me; or her bathing suit that she only wore indoors because it was too cold at the beach.

Speaking of, the delay could also be because I've been at the beach! The annual trip to Litchfield with the girls was the coldest yet this year (bummer!) which stuck Em and I inside most of the day Saturday; but it didn't keep me from lots of fun Saturday night with a delicious dinner, hilarious annual pre-dinner conversations, and a riveting game of poker (we're sorry that we don't have better poker faces Kat!) And for the record, Helen might or might not have stolen all of Becky's chips after she bowed out of the game and none of you noticed because you were too busy making fun of Helen :) We did, thankfully make it out on the beach for two quick seconds when we got there Friday night where Tara snapped this picture of Emerson - her only picture on the beach - which is okay, because it's cute enough to make up for it! And one on the porch with the beach at least in the background to prove we were there! We are LOVING this warmer weather, and it might just inspire me to actually get out in the mornings with Emerson before work. Seeing as how the 'mommy-and-me' yoga DVD I got because I thought it would be fun and peaceful has my arm muscles burning this morning, I'd say I need a little more exertion in my days! We are headed to Emory for Easter this weekend and are looking forward to a warm weekend of relaxation, time with family, and hopefully lots of photo-ops with cousin Caleb! Maybe even a rejuvination of my brain to help me write blog posts more exciting than our daily life!

**Because some of you have already asked, that is Becky's bling in the photo here with Em - gorgeous, right? Way to go Mike!

Moments

2010-03-12T05:23:00.001-08:00

I have been lamenting recently about how little I remember. Just a few weeks ago, I told Terry I already can barely remember Emerson being so tiny as a newborn and that makes me so sad because I want to remember that always and it's only been 4 months and I'm already forgetting. I have glimpses of memory, but what I've always wanted more of is a memory of whole events - the big picture and all the details. Instead, what I've always had has been snippits and snapshots.

Last week, Blake posted this video on his blog...[pause to go watch the video]

Moments from Everynone on Vimeo.

...and as I watched it, I realized I needed to change my view on my memory - I remember these moments, these flashes of the brilliance of life. I remember just enough to know what has changed me and touched my heart, and if we could all see into eachother's minds' eyes to see everyone's personal video of their moments like this, it would be so inspiring, and so telling.

If I could capture the moments from the past few months since Emerson, I think these are some of the things you would see...

me sitting in the parking deck of the doctors office on the phone with my mom, pregnant and sobbing, so. flipping. afraid. because i'd just been told i was having my baby that day
terry and me standing in Target choosing between pairs of slippers
terry holding my hand
the look on my mom's face when she saw emerson
emerson's face the first time she nursed (sorry, x-rated, you could watch the censored version if you needed to) :)
a hospital room full of people loving on a new family
me breaking down crying in the bathroom at home because i was afraid i had no idea how to be a parent
terry and emerson sitting on the couch late at night
the three of us sleeping in the bed
molly helping me put the carseat in the shopping cart on our first outing
a mimosa for my birthday lunch
emerson and adam sleeping on the couch at christmas
her precious smile when she sees terry come home for the day
us frantically getting the camera to catch her laughing on film
emerson sleeping in the sling on a family walk
a road trip with aunt becca in the snow
terry in bed with emerson and bella
emerson's toothless, juicy mouthed, drooling grin (which might be blocked by two fists sticking in said mouth)
the view from our front porch
a patient hugging me on my first day back to work
terry cooking dinner
my living room on a tuesday night during bible study
laura and em in their matching bunny slippers (because it wouldn't be a post without a picture of emerson!)

Those are the first things that pop into my head, and I'm sure if I thought longer, I would remember more - which is just a reminder to me that it's okay if I don't remember everything about everything. I remember the moments, big and small, that are telling the story of my life, and her life, and our life as a family; and that is what matters most. Moments that are leaving imprints all over my heart.

Thanks for sharing the inspiration Blake!

Catch up, catch up!

2010-03-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

I am super behind on blog posts, and part of the problem is that I have tried the past 3 nights to upload the last 2 weeks worth of pictures but they won't upload to the computer. Who knows if that is the fault of the camera or the computer, but I will work on that this weekend for sure! There are great things to share of Emerson and Beth, a surprise wedding, our weekly trip to Owens, etc! But luckily, on this weekly trip to Owens a few weekends ago, Aunt Laura and Jordan were with us because they came to spend the weekend!

I have been haggling Laura to come to see us for awhile now since I'm a lousy sister who hasn't been to see her in her new place in Raleigh. But I have great bait now (her favorite niece!) so she signed up quickly. Growing up, I begged and begged for a little sister. I have in my mind what seems like a 'clear memory' [if you know me you know this is a joke because my memory doesn't go past 2 hours ago] of finding out I was going to be a big sister. My 'clear memory' goes like this: Mom had just picked Adam and I up from school and we were on Silas Creek Pkwy, just one intersection away from Sherwood Forest Elementary where I spent my days K-5 (with a slight bump in the road along the way with a teacher who made us smell her armpits as part of 'health education' - EW). Mom had brought me a surprise in the car and it was the new pink Swatch watch I had been wanting and wanting. I remember looking at the watch while mom told me about Laura. Now. I am SURE this is probably not the way it went down...right mom? Surely you didn't tell us about her just casually one day in the car? I don't know why I remember this if it didn't happen, but I'm sure Terry will also testify that I 'remember' lots of things that didn't happen, and don't remember KEY things that do happen! Either way, true story or not - I was so stinkin' excited about a little sister.

Jordan, sorry you didn't get the message that everyone was sad in this photo...

And the best part is, I'm still just as excited about her today as when I found out she was coming into this world! Eight years older, I loved playing with her when she was a baby, and my days of rocking her as a baby and singing Amy Grant's rendition of "Thy Word," [which I thought the words to were 'died bird' - yes, seriously] probably prepared me for my hours of rocking and singing to Emerson. Laura called me her 'real mom' when she was little, which was no offense to the lack of time my mom spent with her just a testament to how obsessed I was with a baby sister! We now (even though 8 years apart) get mistaken for each other all the time, but you can tell us apart because she was blessed with the gorgeous blue eyes, while I got the grey hair...hmm, fair? I think not. But she also got the cool, relaxed, super fun genes that I'm just digging out of my genetic code, and I have loved to watch the freedom of her spirit grow and excel and HAVE FUN. I would SO want to be her friend if she weren't my sister...I mean, she is my friend, but you know, even if she wasn't, she's the kind of girl that when you meet you know you want her to be your friend. Except you (I) might be jealous of her. Because she's gorgeous, and keeps getting more and more beautiful every time I see her somehow!

We had a blast when she and Jordan were here, making homemade pizzas, doing a little shopping for Emerson's first bathing suit, lunch at Owen's, dinner at Cantina, splitting a milkshake from Cookout, playing Settlers of Catan, and snuggling the world's cutest baby.

Sorry, this is all you get to see of my beach ready self (the sun hat) the suit will be revealed at the beach!

Jordan was such a trooper and took to Emerson as if she was his own niece - feeding her a bottle and hanging out with her in the backseat in the car! We loved loved loved having you guys in Charlotte, and if you come back again I feel sure Terry can convince you to move here. Live-in nanny, what?!?!

Rubber Ducky

2010-03-03T10:58:00.001-08:00

A big post coming later about Aunt Laura and Jordan's trip to Charlotte this past weekend (which was SO fun). But first, did you see this clip on the Today show this morning? Fantastic. Maybe I can put super glue in the holes of these little squirters that Laura and Em played with for the first time in the bath last weekend! But then again, we all turned out okay, didn't we?

Olympics

2010-02-24T03:44:00.000-08:00

Unlike some other star Olympians, somehow this little girl didn't make the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated this past month (guess she was covering up too much!). But, not one to hold a grudge, Emerson is nonetheless a HUGE fan of the Winter games!

25 Baird Street

2010-02-19T12:15:00.000-08:00

Warning: I got a little nostalgic. This post went on a liiiiitttllleee longer than planned!

What seems like forever ago, but was really 'only' 7 years ago, I was graduating college and getting ready to head to graduate school. Headed to a school that was turned out to be a great experience for me but was in a city that had lost its charm and I was going it alone - out into the great unknown I went and I wasn't super thrilled about it. Before I headed that way though, I spent my last summer at a camp where I had spent all my summers from childhood on and where I had experienced all the highs and lows of life. My home away from home. As a kid, I would get home from my two weeks of camp and close the door to my room and CRY and CRY and CRY. I was writing letters to my friends about how much I missed them before we were even down the mountain on the way home, I longed for the smell of the dirty cabins, the damp feeling of my pillow under my head from the humidity of an afternoon rain; and all I wanted was to be back there. As I think about sending Emerson to camp once she is old enough, I feel sad for myself that I will be so excited to be picking her up to bring her home at the end of those two weeks, knowing that all she will want (if she's anything like her mama) is to STAY PUT.

But I digress. All that to say, I was spending another summer there, in a comfortable place, before I moved on to that something new. Things for school were a little up in the air and I didn't even know where I would be living. Not really wanting to live in Johnson City, but not knowing I had another choice, I half-heartedly started the hunt for an apartment. The longer the summer went on, the more (as always) I wished I could just stay in Asheville - just an hour's drive down the mountain from Johnson City. But I didn't have any more reason to stay in Asheville than I did to go to Johnson City alone. UNTIL. Until I asked Kristi (BFF, almost-family-member-stuck-with-me-through-it-and-still-loved-me, one time co-counselor) who had an equal magnetic pull to Asheville and was at camp that summer as well having just finished up at University of Florida with no concrete plans of what was next...didn't she want to live in Asheville too? Well once our old counselor from when we were ten (see how helpful all these camp connections are proving to be) - who lived in Asheville, told us she and her roommates were moving out of their house and we went by to have lunch and see the house, we were SOLD. And that was that; and for the next two fabulous, wonderful, marvelous, freeing, find-yourself-and-love-yourself years, we were the residents of "the Baird house." I drove up and down the mountain 3 days a week for class with Erin, another classmate who lived in Asheville also. This was a saving grace in more ways than one - so great to have someone to talk to and ride with; but even better, it was a built-in 2 hour study session every day! It might have helped me make it through school!

Well, we were the residents of the Baird house along with Fred, the ghost. Seriously. The people who lived there before us once called the police because they were so scared and convinced; Kristi and I definitely huddled on the sofa together crying after one window shutting, glass in the bathroom shattering, freaky night! After we had lived in the house for a few months, I got a phone call from some girl I had never met who wanted to be our roommate. She worked at one of the other camps in Asheville and a mutual friend from Crestridge told her that we were living there and had an extra bedroom. Enter Emily Ogletree (now Dimitris). She was a shoe-in right from the very start and she was a great addition to the frick-and-frack of Kristi and I living in that house. Emily is the most put together on the outside person you will ever meet. Until you see her bedroom. Or her handwriting. The first time we sat beside eachother in church and I looked over at her notes, I think I audibly gawked. I don't know why this chicken scratch surprised me to be coming out of this girl's pen, but I guess she just seemed so put together that I couldn't imagine anything other than typewriter like handwriting to go along with her personality. I love Em for her messy handwriting and piles of clothes in her room, as well as how quickly she could get it together and put on a party and be a hostess, a little mini-Beth Moore - wait and see! I even love her for writing a note in the peanut butter container she put in the trash can telling me to just leave it and not try to wash it out to recycle it after she had already thrown it away. Who....me??

Well, in one week's time, I have had impromptu visits from BOTH of these girls, making my heart so happy! Kristi, Daniel, and new baby Carver who is only 7 weeks younger than Emerson were on their way through town to see Daniel's parents who live in Winston. We were on our way out of town to meet Bella, but got to get together for a super brief 'meet & greet' at Brueggers (a favorite old stomping ground of Kristi & I's - nothing glamorous, but a treat coming from Demorest) :) I was so glad to get my hands on Kristi's cute little guy and to get to hug her and see her even if it was super brief! I loved getting to be pregnant with Kristi and other friends who were pregnant at the same time (Nellie, Debbie!) - it is such a fun thing to share. Then, Thursday I had a voicemail from Emily after work saying that she was in Charlotte for a girls' weekend with her mom and sister. Except actually, when she called her mom from the airport to tell her she was there to pick her up, her mom reminded her that the girls' weekend is actually next weekend. Doh. Oh well, we got to enjoy her mistake by having her over for dinner and a glass or two of wine - we were trying our best to get her to spend the night! My little Em was so happy to meet my other Em and aunt Kristi this week! I love these girls and am so thankful for BOTH of you and our time together in Asheville - it will always be in a top spot in my heart of times that changed and made my life!

Heartbreaker...

2010-02-18T10:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture to break your heart. This is Emmy after her first attempt to cry it out at bedtime 3 weeks ago. She cried FOR TWO HOURS and wasn't any closer to putting herself to sleep than when we started. When Terry finally got to go rescue her and picked her up, she had her little hand on her cheek like this and kept it like this for at least 15 minutes. I feel pretty sure she was pouting...and exhausted. You can see she gets her expressions from her daddy. Beth just called to tell me that she has been awake since 8:30 this morning and wondered if I had any tips. Other than lay down with her and snuggle her sweet self while you pat her back (upon which deep sleep ensues), I'm at a loss. She prefers lying on her right side with your left arm under her head and your right arm draped over her legs for a little bit of weight to remind her you aren't going anywhere. Seriously. We will be working this weekend on a 'middle of the road' approach in our household to help her recover from getting off schedule from our travels this weekend. You might want to pray for us. :) I should also probably start planning now for how to handle schedule changes and time zone changes for when she goes to meet her cousins in California in the spring....Lord, help me! And in case you needed a close-up of this pitiful little face...

Vote for Becky & Mike!!!

2010-02-16T07:53:00.000-08:00

Sweet Becky and Mike are potential WINNERS in a contest on a blog for their proposal story!

Becky entered a "Best Proposal" Contest a few weeks ago, and she found out yesterday they are one of the finalists!!! But in order to win, they have to have the most votes...so that is where all of you come in :)

Here is the link to Morgan's blog post about the contest finalists; at the end of the blog, there is a survey link you can click on to vote. If you don't want to read the blog, just click here and vote for them. I think you can vote over and over again - do it! Help Becky win so I can live vicariously through her since I've never won a contest or drawing before!

Here is a picture of their fabulous save the date - you know you want to vote for them!

Ooohhhh Bella...

2010-02-15T13:54:00.000-08:00

[***edited Tuesday afternoon: I added video at the end of this post of Bella playing on her new activity table - one of the many many many toys that Aunt Becca brought from all of her fabulous and generous babysitting peeps! You can see some of the loads of stuff in the background of the video - so awesome!]

Our adventure to Knoxville this weekend was just that - an adventure. Our travels have failed to be boring since Emerson was born! They were calling for snow in Charlotte starting Friday night, but since we haven't had any in the city yet, we figured we wouldn't really get any. But as I left work at 5:30, the roads were covered even though it hadn't been snowing at all when I had started with my 4:30 patient at the end of my day. But we packed up, got Emerson all snuggly and decided to hit the road, figuring it wouldn't be a big deal since we were driving out of the snow since the storm was coming from the south, oddly enough. WRONG. Three hours later, we were finally hitting Hickory which is only 56 miles away and I was feeling like the most inadequate mother around, so we decided to stop at the lovely Fairfield in for the night. It wasn't that the roads were horrible, though they were bad - but people were driving as if we were getting the feet of snow that DC got, and with the detour on I-40 because of the rockslide, we had HOURS to go. So we tucked into the hotel with 200+ highschoolers whose ski trip got put on hold half way to their destination also. What a blast for those chaperones I'm sure! Em slept in an arm chair scooted up beside our bed - she was the perfect length for it, and she slept like a rock. [sidenote: do you see this precious onesie (actually called a hoodsie) that she has on with her baby legs? terry got it for her when i was pregnant - it has a bear wearing wings, asking a bee for honey - we love it.] When we got up in the morning, the roads were looking good, so we hit the road again and 5 hours later, we made it to see Bella! Oh yeah, and Molly!

When you talk to Bella, if you say "ooohhh Bella" to her, she will try to say it back and it is the cutest. We were packed floor to ceiling in our car with things for her, and when we got there and unloaded it was like Christmas morning! Sweet Molly's house has been overflowing with gifts of love like this for Bella and her, and we went through it all finding some great clothes, toys and books, along with some stuffed animals that scared Bella to death and went straight to the Goodwill pile. We tried our best to help sort through some stuff to make room for all of the new baby things in the house, and after doing loads of laundry, cram more clothes into her already full closet. This girl has got more fantastic clothes than she will every be able to wear before she outgrows! After a rough night of belly pains from tapeworms...yes, tapeworms - I'm not allowed to discuss it here because Terry can't handle it. But people. YUCK. - Bella came and tucked into bed with Terry, Em & me while Molls got some sleep. She could not be cuter. She loved Terry and snuggled right up with him to drink her bottle and play with Em before we headed out to the kitchen for more playtime and a second breakfast.

I can't wait for another road trip to go back and see this girlie and love on her more! It is amazing to see how far she has come in just a few short weeks from being unable to pick her head up because she was so weak to now having a full belly, a mama who loves her with a community fully supporting her, standing up and cruising around playing with all of these new toys, and defining what people mean when they say 'it takes a village.' Bella, you got yourself one FANTASTIC village girl. God sure has been lookin' out for you!

Backseat

2010-02-08T07:55:00.001-08:00

sorry folks, we've been a little tired around here and the blog has taken a backseat. i'm kind of at a loss for updates now that i feel like our days revolve around wake up early, take em to beth's, go to work, come home, feed em, go to bed early, repeat. last week i worked my first full week and it felt looooong. the thought of having a second child feels so far away and impossible (don't worry not that we were planning on it anytime soon anyway). in fact it makes me so tired i can' t even seem to muster up the strength to use capitals in this post :) we head to knoxville to meet bella this weekend, so we'll have a BIG FUN post when we get home!

12 weeks

2010-01-28T14:46:00.001-08:00

Hello people.

Did you know that I get cuter every day? Seriously, just ask my mom and dad - but they are trying not to gush over me to other people, so maybe don't ask them too often. I am very strong these days and am learning lots of new things! I taught my parents last week that I can no longer be left alone on the bed unless I'm in the dead center (because its huge) because I'm rolling over! Only to the right when I'm on my belly, but that is my favorite - I'll figure the other side out later. Dad says he hopes it takes me awhile to learn to roll from my back to my tummy because he's really worried I'll face plant and not be able to breathe. He's a worrier about this. He forgets that he isn't the only one with killer upper body strength; see the picture above of me for an example! I also told mom and dad this week that I think dad is HILARIOUS. He does all sorts of goofy things and I love it, it really cracks me up.

Mom was very brave going back to work this week, and I was very brave going to stay with Mrs. Beth all week. She didn't even cry (okay maybe a little the night before she went back - but I cried some too so it's okay). It didn't take much for me to be brave because Mrs. Beth is great but I do miss my mom and dad while I'm away. I have 2 new friends though (Ragan, the 4 year old Beth also keeps) and Sadie, Mrs. Beth's black lab. My dog is CRAZY. c.r.a.z.y. I didn't know any better, I thought all dogs were as wild as Salem, but nope, not true. Sadie is 12 though, so maybe by the time I am 9 years old Salem will have chilled out a little when people come to our house.

I also found out this week that I have a new best friend on her way home. Her name is Bella Hope Marks and she is going to be on her way home from Haiti soon with my Aunt Molly. I will wait to show you pictures of her until I get the okay from Aunt Molls, but I'm so excited, and mom is freaking out. Bella is 15 months old so we'll be tight, and I'll have cute hand-me-downs (I'm okay with those) one day! You can be praying for them, Molly is in Haiti with her and isn't coming home until Bella comes home with her, we cannot wait to meet her!

They are calling for snow and ice here this weekend, I might have 2 big snows in my first winter - alright! Tomorrow is my first daddy/daughter day while mom goes to work and dad stays home with me - I can't WAIT. He's the coolest.

Hope you peeps have a great weekend; check back in next week because I'll be three months old - I know, isn't it confusing that I'm already 12 weeks old but not 3 months yet? Mom doesn't get it either and dad keeps trying to explain it, but we are still a little confused...

Playmates

2010-01-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

I feel like every other time I tell a story now, it starts with "my friend who also had a baby around when I did..." I don't know if the whole world was pregnant at the same time or if you just start to notice pregnant people when you are pregnant the way you notice your car everywhere on the road after you get a new one. But either way, Emerson has gotten some great friends out of it! Some we have met, some we talk to on the phone, and some are still in their mommy's bellies and on their way! We already introduced you to little Kessler, but here are a few more that we have gotten to play with recently. I have loved my time at home getting to catch up with girlfriends, 'do lunch,' have playdates, go for walks together, etc. Oh sad day that this maternity leave is coming to an end!

Hanging out with Lilly Whoa babies! Nellie freaking out at the idea of twins...
sidenote: look at the difference in the size of their little booties!
After a walk with Laura and baby Jackson (2 days apart!) in matching strollers,

carseats, and Bundle-Mes!

Jackson is staring Emerson down because she blew out her diaper and had to borrow a onesie from him - way to make a great first impression on the boys Em!

Lowes baby!

2010-01-20T15:37:00.000-08:00

Last week, Emerson went on a big adventure with me to see Terry at work. We went for lunch and to meet some of his co-workers who have been waiting to meet her. Here she is at home super excited about going to see dad. She did great! She was happy and awake almost the whole time we were there, and when she wasn't happy and awake, she was happy and asleep! Way to go Em! While she was there, she learned lots about spreadsheets, submissions, and being a great support team member to vendors! Emerson knows already that we are a Lowe's only family [minus the lights in our house - many of them are ah hem... from the other store]. Yes, you know the one. In fact, some of you shop there.
does she look like her daddy here or WHAT?!

We had a great time going to see Terry and I think it helped break up the loooong hours of his days at work - especially since we went on dreaded Wednesday! He's been giving me tips all week about how to handle going back to work, because next Tuesday is my first day back! I can't believe it has already been almost 3 months and my time at home is up. Gulp. I sure am going to miss her little face and will wish I could be holding her in my lap at work just like this!

(thanks for my cute pants aunt becca!)

2010-01-06T08:37:00.001-08:00

Dear Emerson.

Mom here. I've got a little confession to make to you about myself. I like to follow the rules and I have the best of intentions. I hope you get at least a large part of this part of me so you will stay out of trouble while you grow up, even if that makes you boring and a nerd for awhile. However, since I had you, I have been breaking some serious rules, maybe even some cardinal rules of having/raising a baby.

I read books and books while I was pregnant with you about having a baby and raising you once you got here so I would be super informed...even though I already knew a lot about babies. I talked to friends, moms, friends of moms, moms of friends - you get the picture. So as to not get myself attacked by friends and family, let's just review a few of them...

(#1) 'They' do not encourage co-sleeping. I would never co-sleep with my baby - gawk! - as if! You have slept with us almost every night since you have been born and I l.o.v.e. it. We tried the swing for awhile, you were over it after a few nights. You had zero interest in your Moses basket that I was just sure you would love. And hello - I'm just starting to put you in your crib for naps. You are two months old. (#2) Whilst sleeping alone [right, you aren't doing this - see above] there should be nothing else in the crib with your baby. Well you know, you aren't in your crib, so there isn't anything else in there, does that count for anything? However, in our family bed, there is me - your mom, - your dad, 4 pillows, a sheet, a faux down comforter (because your dad is allergic to feathers) and a quilt. YOU love these things, it's like the greatest nest ever. Your head is up above mine, not near pillows and the covers only reach up to your knees, so there is no chance you are going to get smothered. And am I afraid I will roll over on you? No way. I spent 9 months not being able to roll over so I'm pretty used to it by now - sometimes I forget I can sleep on my stomach now! (#3) A Soothie pacifier is the best kind of pacifier for a baby's oral development. It's what I recommended to all families in the NICU when I worked there; it is what every hospital I know sends home with babies. Well, if they send them home - but we didn't take one home, no thank you, because my baby (that's you) won't be taking a pacifier until 3 weeks of age until nursing habits are well established. I get some points for this, I only caved 2 or 3 days early because your Aunt Molly told me I could. She counts, she's a nurse practitioner. And you were screaming. A lot. But here's the problem. I'm working on rule #1, getting you to sleep on your own, and you can't keep said Soothie pacifier in your mouth on your own when you lay down. So I bought a NUK pacifier yesterday. You have been napping for 96 minutes on your own in your crib as I write this. Sold.

You apparently did not read the same books I read while you were in my tummy growing. You do not abide by their rules, you follow a set quite of your own. Hopefully, we will keep figuring out our own little set of rules for you and who you are going to be. I know one thing for sure, you are the cutest baby that ever WAS [see below - hello!] and I adore you.

xoxo
Mom

2 months tomorrow

2010-01-04T09:48:00.001-08:00

2 months already, really?? That means in just a few short weeks I return to work. Ugh. A woman told me when we were out to dinner (when this picture was taken) that she had been listening to an NPR broadcast about the amount of leave women get in other countries. While enticing...I think I'll stay put and prepare myself for crying the first few days (or weeks) that I return to work. How about this little ham face that Em is making in this picture? She is super smiley these days, especially in the mornings when she wakes up and sees one of us. This might change over the next few days as we officially had our 'last' slumber party last night with her sleeping in our room. Today starts one sad transition, which is putting her in her own little crib in her own little room to sleep. This might not be as big of a deal if her room wasn't upstairs and ours down...but it is, so it feels super far away. I'm sure she won't be the only one crying it out tonight :) [insert plea for prayers for us this week!]

Here is a great example of her smiley self - I'm pretty sure this was taken right after her daddy fed her - another favorite time of her day! We have started our family 'flex week' with Terry working 4 long days and being home with us on Fridays. He might not be the happiest guy ever on Wednesday nights when he's already worked 30 hours, but man is it worth it on Fridays when we are all home together - 3 more of those to go before he is the lucky one that gets to stay in bed and hang out with her all day while I go back to work! But we took advantage of our long weekend this weekend and stayed busy taking down Christmas decorations and trying to get/stay organized in our new life. I told Terry yesterday that the thing I wanted to accomplish in 2010 was figuring out how to be a great (not just good) wife and mom; balance work and find a way to not have to work so much; keep my house clean and life organized; have a healthy dinner on the table every night; still hang out with friends; and lose my remaining baby weight. Hmm...that is a RATHER large order and I feel pretty sure it will take me all year and then some to accomplish this. But I'm determined. If I can't do it with one kiddo (and a dog) then my sanity might not make it to be ready for a second kiddo (in a few years, don't worry)!

Speaking of that dog, she also wanted to wish you all a late Merry Christmas...this picture might also double as an ad on the days that she's driving me crazy and I consider putting her on Craigslist as a gift to someone else! (Don't worry Salem, I only half-way mean it - in fact today I don't mean it at all, but yesterday when Terry could have dropped Emerson because he tripped over you under his feet in the kitchen, well then...I at least half-way meant it.)

1st Christmas

2009-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

We had a great first Christmas with Emerson this year - we have laughed as people ask us if she had a 'big Christmas' referring to lots of gifts - the answer is yes...but not because of presents we unwrapped for her. She had a big Christmas because she is HERE and healthy and precious and loved and has parents and a home. And we had a big Christmas because she is here and healthy and precious and loved and we have her with us in our home - our new home! - and there is no better way to celebrate Christmas with her. It put such perspective for me all season long on the fact that Christ came here as a baby just like our little bundle and how much Mary & Joseph must have loved him and been in awe of him as their child on earth and their savior all at the same time. How amazing!
We stretched out our holiday celebrations this year, celebrating with the Bruces a few weeks before Christmas as Bob & Gloria were headed to California for a west coast Christmas with David, Scott & their families. We had a great time getting together with Chris, Robert & their families ate a big lunch and enjoyed being together with them! Christmas Eve, we traveled to Greensboro to have lunch with my dad where we have been celebrating for the past few years at the Green Valley Grille - we all look forward to a delicious lunch here - even if Laura and I do always get the chicken salad sandwich, whatever it's delicious! Em slept through most of lunch, but woke up in time for some snuggles with my dad (and Caleb, who seriously LOVES her - it could not be cuter) before it was time for her to eat.
Then we headed home to my mom's house where we hunkered down for the next few days. I got whooped in a game of Scrabble that night and Laura and I went through all of our family ornaments and divided them up between ourselves. There was a coveted 'barter' pile of about 10 ornaments that we had to battle it out for, which was hilarious, but we mostly came to a truce on them. And for any sadness I might have been feeling, I was consoled with my longest night's sleep yet! Emerson went 6 hours between feedings that night and I sang her praises in the morning! After the most longed after meal of the year, Christmas brunch - complete with hashbrown casserole (a personal favorite), fruit, bacon, sausage, cheesy eggs (and I mean CHEESY), coffee cake and more deliciousness, the kids opened presents and then cozied up for nap time, book reading, and play time with the little ones. I love having Caleb & Em around for holidays, they make life so much more fun! When we found out we were pregnant, we told Adam and Ashley by getting pajamas for Caleb and matching ones in a newborn size telling them it was so he could take a picture Christmas morning in matching pajamas with his cousin...too bad he has already outgrown his and Emerson's are still like 6 inches too long for her!
The next afternoon we headed back to Greensboro for a housewarming party for the Brackens. This was their second party at their house, and slightly more successful than last year's. We were not at last year's party, but the 'housewarming' theme was a little too literal and a fire broke out in the house and their house burned pretty much to the ground. Thankfully with so many people there, they were able to save most of their valuables from their house, and after a long year of rebuilding, they have been blessed with a beautiful new home! And there wasn't a candle lit or fire in the fire place this year - and they filled the Christmas tree stand to the brim with water before plugging in their lights this year! [Lynn: send me your picture of you with Em from the party and you will make the blog, insert HERE!] On our way back to Charlotte the next day we stopped back through Winston so Terry could watch a little football and Emerson could meet her first friend, Kessler Hill! For the first time in awhile, Em actually seemed big to me next to someone younger and smaller than herself! (We just got back from the doctor and she's doing great - has been gaining an ounce a day just as she should! She's a 'chubby' 8.8!)
Overall, it was a great Christmas and we are blown away at the blessings on our family this past year. We are happy to be back home and unpacked now, but dread having to put away the Christmas ornaments and take down the tree. Hopefully we can keep the warmth and spirit of love and thankfulness full in our house all year long!

Oh, and for New Year's resolutions, mine will be to get my butt as proportionally small as my daughter's! :)

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-28T13:51:00.000-08:00

I would have blogged last week, but we were trapped - actually, stranded - in Asheville! As we drove smack into the heart of the enormous winter storm last Friday, I thought to myself, 'self, are you already an irresponsible parent and your child is only 6 weeks old?' Then I looked over at my husband who has hours worth of driving in the snow from living in Boone and felt a little more confident - all of that 'testing the limits of his car in the snow' finally paid off! And I figured if we had gotten stranded on the side of the road, Emerson had food (me!) and heat (Terry!) so we'd make it okay!

We had planned to go to Biltmore Friday night for the candlelight tour because Terry has never been and he loves those kinds of things (Biltmore) and especially since it involved serious Christmas decorations. We got into Asheville just in time to eat lunch at our all time favorite, Tupelo Honey Cafe and then headed to our hotel. On our way we saw multiple wrecks and even some cars flipped over! Once we made it into the hotel, we were there for the long haul. Terry ventured across the street to get the essentials from the grocery - frozen pizzas, chips, drinks, cookies and peanuts - what a way to be snowed in! Thank goodness for the microwave and fridge in our room. Our hotel parking lot was a ZOO - people got stuck left and right trying to pull in, and when we looked out the window in the morning, we saw that people had parked all in the road leading up to the hotel where they had gotten stuck and just left their cars there. We were glad we had gotten settled before the 17" of snow settled in! But, I figured it didn't matter if we got snowed in, Emerson and I would be doing what we do all day at home anyway: eat, sleep and watch tv! (This isn't entirely true, I'm much more productive at home these days and she will now sleep places other than on my chest or in my arms.) Seriously though who would want to put this bundle down?!After some good family snuggle time in the hotel, we were able to make it to Biltmore Saturday night for the tour - it was great! I carried Emerson in her sling and she slept the entire time and we loved seeing all of the decorations and it was just what we needed to get us especially into the Christmas mood! More on Christmas later in the week- can't spoil you with it all in one overdue post. We ate breakfast Sunday morning at another favorite restaurant in Asheville - Early Girl Eatery - and then headed back down the mountain once the roads were clear to a dry, snow free Charlotte. It was an adventure and I'm so glad we went - it was a great first snow for her and a fun family get away!

5 weeks

2009-12-11T08:16:00.000-08:00

Terry has been sick and hasn't held Emerson for a week now, sorry for the lack of blogging! He is going through baby withdrawal and I am shaping the world's most amazing biceps and triceps along with an incredible respect for single parents! (This picture was pre-sickness)

On Monday, Emerson weighed in at 7.35 pounds at the doctor - still a total peanut but gaining weight and doing well. I certainly didn't ever think we'd have a Bruce baby in the 10th percentile, but here she is! She's been a trooper with dad being sick and has seemed to chill out a little over the past week, enjoying more time hanging out on her play mat and in her bouncer on her own. We have been camping out in the guest room upstairs while Terry's germs have taken over the bedroom - and she seems to do okay up here, hopefully it will help with the transition into her crib one of these days.

We are headed to a work Christmas party tonight and then to Winston tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with Terry's parents and family because his parents will be in California over Christmas. It will be our first 'road trip' with her and day out of our own town. Sunday night is our church's Christmas celebration where Em will be making a star guest appearance in a video - we'll let you know how she fares as a child star! People keep asking what she will be wearing to these events and I am sorry to say that not much fits this little one other than onesies, gowns, and footed fleece pj's - all of which are my favorite things on a baby. Do I really already feel pressured about what other people think about what my daughter (WHO IS 5 WEEKS OLD) is wearing? I think I'll have to put her in something simple just to keep myself sane and prove a point. 5 week olds don't need to be wearing dresses and tights and frilly things right...? Right. After all my favorite thing in her closet is a hoodie, and her dad bought her lime green Air Jordans. Way to be cool Em!

1 month

2009-12-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Happy 1 month old birthday little Emerson - your mom and dad will never be able to tell you how much we love you.
xoxo

THANK YOU dear, sweet Amy for these fabulous moments on film!

Miss Popular

2009-12-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

We can't believe that Emerson turns one month old tomorrow! What a busy and fun month it has already been. We are so thankful for how loved we have felt and how much love she has gotten in her first few weeks - Terry, who knows more fun facts involving numbers than most, also loves that on her first day of life, she had 27 friends & family hold her and love on her. (Yeah, we didn't really realize how exhausting that would be until that first sleepless night in the hospital!)

So here is a pictoral shout-out of thanks to everyone who has gotten to come love on her and be captured on camera with her...

Her namesake

Aunt Laura
Uncle Adam
Grandpa Rocky

Grandma & Grandpa Bruce
(some) Bible Study Girls
Aunt Becca
Uncle Jack

the newly engaged Aunt & Uncle Philary (Philip & Hillary)
Aunt Molly

Aunt Ashley & Cousin Caleb

Doesn't this last one kill you? I just love it! We had a great Thanksgiving here with my family and letting these little cousins meet and play. Can't wait for her to meet the rest of her 15 cousins!

Happier Bathtime

2009-11-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

Well, we tried and tried to post another video of bathtime - real bath (soaking in her little tub) but it just isn't working so I'm throwing in the towel and will just put up some pictures. Emerson LOVED soaking in the tub, she was wide eyed the whole time. Since this bath, she has also gotten in the real sized tub with me, and she is in HOG HEAVEN to be in so much water. If her daddy is lucky, maybe it means she will love the water as much as he does. (I on the other hand...well, it took me 28 years to learn how to dive through waves in the ocean...)

She is doing great and sleeping pretty well most of the time and is a total eating machine. She has had a little bit of reflux type stuff going on this week that seems to be fading, so you can all be praying that will make its way right out of here, we do NOT welcome reflux in this house! She still makes the greatest little faces and my current favorite today is those she makes when she's waking up - she stretches her arms up over her head and scrunches up her face. I feel pretty sure I make the same faces when I'm waking up from a deep sleep...but it's been awhile since we've slept like that, so I'm not sure :)

We are getting ready for Thanksgiving on Thursday - having it at our house this year! We are so excited to celebrate her first holiday and our first holiday in our new home with our family. Here's hoping that it all goes well! Terry is probably mostly excited about Thanksgiving because it means as soon as we are finished eating, we can go get our Christmas tree and start watching Christmas movies. He has been begging to be allowed to start watching them early and I did cave on a rainy day last week - we snuggled in, turned off all the lights and watched The Family Stone, and I admit - it was great. I just don't like to throw Thanksgiving under the bus. But Terry has an affinity for Christmas movies and he says we crammed them all in last year. We have a whole separate section of Christmas movies in our DVD collection. If you are wanting to watch one, come on over - you can be sure there will be at least 3 playing a week at our house after Thursday!

Love, little e

2009-11-17T08:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Dad.

Today you had to go back to work. Bummer. Big, big bummer. This past week has been the best week of my life. Okay, I know, it's been the only week of my life out of the womb, but it has still been the very best. Being home with you and mom has been the greatest - I have loved our snuggle time early in the morning after mom feeds me breakfast - you are so warm and cozy! Mom tells me she thinks I sleep the very best when you are holding me - I think she is right! She also tells me it is her favorite time of day to walk by and see us snuggling together - I think she really likes us. I love daddy/daughter time late at night when you stay up and watch movies with me while we let mom sleep a little bit. I hope that just because I am becoming a better sleeper you won't make me skip out on late night movies too often. Mom just goes to bed so early, boring! People keep telling me that I have your very same nose. I think this is great because I know you are hot stuff (mom tells me all the time about you being so cute) so I must be really cute also!

I thought it was really cool that you guys took me to church on Sunday and that Pastor Al introduced me to the church and you talked about me and everyone prayed for me. It wasn't my 'official' dedication, but it was great. I was 10 days old. And guess what? You were 10 days old when you were dedicated at church also - it says so in your baby album. I guess that makes us pretty close huh? And cool - I hope I will be as cool as you one day. Mom says if I am just like you it couldn't get any better. She even hopes I sing like you and jump like you and we already know I make funny faces like you - we make her laugh lots.

I hope you come home soon dad, I miss you and your snuggles and your kisses. Thanks for snuggling me this morning before you left for work and thanks for being such a great dad and bringing home the dough while mom and I snooze the day away. You are already my bestest friend and the greatest dad. Thanks for loving me.

I like you. I like you a lot. Like, I really like you a whole lot. The same a lot that you like mom, and the same a lot that you like me.

xoxo
little e

Splish Splash!

2009-11-12T09:43:00.000-08:00

Here is a post-bath clip from earlier in the week; can't get the actual bath one to upload but you aren't missing much since she didn't...shall we say...well, she didn't love it. :)

Can't believe she is one week old today - she opted for extra milk instead of a cupcake to celebrate! We head back to the pediatrician tomorrow for a weight check - wondering how 'big' this little peanut will be!

2009-11-10T05:31:00.000-08:00

Welcome home Emerson! Here we are in her room trying to also show the fall leaves out her window. Aunt Steph took this photo on her phone when she came to meet Em
We can't believe it's already been five days - then again the days do all run together when you sleep in 20 minute intervals! In her first few days, Emerson has:

met lots of people that love her
tried out 8 different places to sleep (mom's arms, dad's arms, pack-n-play, swing, carseat in the car, carseat on the floor, moses basket on the rocking stand, moses basket on bed)
found one last night that works - swing but not swaddled, just in her cozy cocoon - thank you Aunt Amy, the 4-5 hours of sleep mom got were great!!!
gone on her first family walk swaddled up in my sling
gone to the doctor and gotten an excellent report
spent 40% of her life eating and the other 60% sleeping
pooped on mom twice
peed on dad once
hung out on the front porch with mom while dad did yard work
is about to get her first bath (I almost don't want to wash her because I just always want her to smell like THIS - her own sweet little smell)

We have so many favorite things about her and seem to find new ones every minute. Some current favorites are the little creases under her eyes that give her such sweet sleepy eyes; her nose that came straight from her daddy; and this face she makes when she is really cozy and we think she looks like a little turtle poking her head out of her little shell. Here they are:Sweet little Em is one very loved girl by her parents - it is wonderful and overwhelming all at once to love someone this much. We are settling in today for a snug, rainy day at home and trying to treasure every little minute that Terry has home with us this week for family time!

Emerson's Big Day

2009-11-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

Hello World!!!

Emerson Jayne Bruce is here!!!

Yesterday was a huge answer to prayer as everything went so smoothly and everyone is happy and healthy. 2 hours after Ellen was given the low dose pitocin her water broke so they moved us to our birthing suite. Ellen progressed very quickly & dilated from 3 - 10 centimeters in just 3 and half hours! She pushed for one hour and there she was - little Emerson! Overall the whole thing went very smooth with no complications. Emerson was healthy and Ellen was in great shape and is on her way to quick recovery. Above are a few pictures from our special day. I'm sure there will be many more to come but for now enjoy our little girl!

vitals:
6 pounds 5 ounces
20 inches long
the softest skin I have ever felt

Terry, Ellen and Emerson (who is quickly working on being and becoming a Bruce!)

Ready or Not...

2009-11-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

Here she comes!

Short version of the long story is that I've had some protein in my urine since my appointment last Friday and mildly elevated blood pressure; so they ran some lab work and took me out of work Monday to start bed rest. While on bed rest, I had to do some other fun lab work and a 24 hour urine collection (because it's really easy to pee in a cup every time whilst pregnant!) and then went back in to the OB today. My BP had 'spiked' (140/90 - super high for me, normally 90/60) so here we are. The plan has/had been to give me something to help finish getting my cervix ready; but from the minute they hooked me up to the monitor (LITERALLY) I started having really regular contractions. Soooooo, no medicine to help the cervix get ready because that could make me have too many contractions and freak little Emerson out; and instead they will give me some low dose pitocin overnight and my midwife just said she thinks we'll have her here by tomorrow afternoon!

More tomorrow once she comes!

Welcome Mikayla Clare!

2009-11-02T17:24:00.001-08:00

Have been waiting for pictures to be able to share the exciting news of Bruce grandbaby #15, bringing the score to 7 boys and 8 girls (stole the pictures from Dave's facebook!). SOON, we will take over the family to really outnumber the boys with girl #9 and grandchild #16 - what proud grandparents Bob & Gloria are! We were so excited to be pregnant at the same time as Dave & Natalie even if it was a cross country pregnancy!
EAT.YOUR.HEART.OUT. over this most adorable face. I LOVE this kid.

Natalie had a c-section last week and delivered this beautiful sweet girl at a whopping 8 pounds 15 ounces, 21 healthy inches long! Welcome sweet Mikayla Clare Bruce!

Congrats Dave, Natalie & Kaden -we are so excited for you all and cannot wait to let these cousins meet - so fun for them to be so close in age!

HIS name is Ralph...

2009-11-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

(the guy in the picture - you know, Ralph Waldo...)

HER name will look like this on her elementary school artwork:

Her middle name is a family tradition and a honor of love and while I wish I could say that this was mine, it might be even cooler that Terry found this on the back of his Luna bar (yeah, you know - nutrition for women) last week:if you can't read it, it says:
"Mom: Now that I'm about to become a mother myself, I'm more grateful than ever for the strong, inspiring exampule you set for me and my child-to-be.
Love always, Ellen"

Seriously. It really says that. And it wasn't me that wrote it - though it should have been, and is what I would say, and is what we are saying with her middle name. Which not all of you know mom's name - Jayne. So follow along here. My mom's (Jayne) sister is Ellen. Jayne (mom) had an Ellen (me), and Ellen (aunt) had a Jayne (cousin). Cousin Jayne just had a daughter this year and named her Ella. So while we were tempted by Jayna (kidding) we stuck with the tradition of Jayne.

Welcome little Emerson Jayne Bruce, we know you will be here soon and can't wait to smooch on you and snuggle your sweet self!

* By the way clues from the name game post (1) Ralph Waldo, (2) Emerson, Iowa, (3) a very cool company - EmersonMade.com

A noun and a name

2009-10-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

And now announcing your clues to the Pea's first name. Like a noun, her name is also a person, place or thing. This game is not open to those of you that already know her name by the way!

noun: a person, place or thing

i.e....

a person:

a place:

or a thing (although a little stretch):

happy playing!

xoxo

terry, ellen, & ...

p.s. sometimes i really don't like blogger. i tried 1800 times to make these lines align correctly above their pictures. no luck. sorry.

Surprise Dinner Shower

2009-10-26T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hello...?

Is anyone still out there?

If I were you, I might have given up on us. But maybe you are better friends than I would be in the blogging world, and you know that life has been a little chaotic and you still check in here once and awhile to see if we are still alive over here in cyberspace. We are HERE and back and have just been occupied with checking things off of my 'get-ready-for-baby' list with everything from joining SAMs Club so we can get good deals on diapers, to selling extra sofas, to washing 150 loads of laundry and running the dishwasher 15 times so all her clothes and bottles can be clean for when she comes home!

In the meantime, we also had a surprise shower for sweet Whitney at our house last week. Whitney and Andy are getting married in January in Greenville SC - this will be Baby Bruce's first trip and we are bringing Aunt Molly along to babysit and snuggle. Whit and Andy are SUPER loved and have 18 million parties and showers before their wedding so we wondered how we would get to squeeze anything in for them. Adele, Becca & I put our heads together and decided the best way would be to just get to really love on her and do a dinner shower with just the girls. Maybe a little selfish of us, but we don't mind :) Andy & Terry grilled our salmon for us before we kicked them out (they did a great job, it was delicious!) and then we got to eat and chat wedding plans and love on Whit while she opened up kitchen-themed wedding gifts. While she got 2 salad spinners because yes she registered for 'his and hers' as she says (really an accident) she didn't get any of the 72 vegetable peelers that she is registered for. Seriously. Who do you think got to hold the registry gun when they were at Belk???

Thanks to Adele, here are some pictures from the night: (plus this way you can see some more of the house, the kitchen, and our new chairs in the living room!)

More photos

2009-09-22T08:46:00.001-07:00

Because we had more faves from our time with Amy, here are a few of them :

Ramblings

2009-09-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Have you ever moved into a new house while you were pregnant? Every time I get overwhelmed thinking about a box that needs to be unpacked or an item that needs to find a home, I seem to prefer to climb into the bed and pull the covers up over my head. It is not helping me get my house ready for this babe, but my body sure is enjoying the rest! As I often do, I'm sure Terry would say I'm over exaggerating. We are moving into the house just fine, but we do still have boxes and things that need homes - including 2 sofas which are overcrowding our living room and one that got put up in the nursery until someone other than a scam artist decides to buy it off Craigslist; one crib in a box that almost gave the UPS guy a stroke whilst carrying up the driveway; and a whole lot of books, picture frames, and DVDs.

Until these DVDs have homes, we have been busy watching half of them in our bedroom. We are SERIOUSLY loving the TV in our room even though I always swore I wouldn't have one. Just might be changing my tune. Most recently, we've been going through Back to the Future - I and II. III might or might not be on for tonight. But last night over dinner (at our new island which I love eating at vs on the floor in front of the coffee table like we've been doing for the past MANY months...) Terry told me one of the greatest stories EVER. He said that Back to the Future I was the first movie he ever saw in the theatre, and he remembers being so excited to see it. He went with his brother Chris, and he said he was so pumped that he dressed up for it. In his teal suit that he wore to church. (Got a good mental image of my then blonde curly headed 6 year old husband in a teal suit?)* I don't really know if I'm allowed to tell the rest of this story....Let me back-track to tell you about a radio show I listen to on Friday mornings. It's relevant, promise. Friday mornings there is a movie review on 107.9 that I always listen to. One of the things the guy does is tell you what size drink you should/can get at the movie. You know, if it's a great movie that you don't want to have to leave to go to the bathroom for, you maybe shouldn't get a drink at all; but if it's an okay movie that you can miss parts of, go ahead and get refills on that large Coke. (But never look up the amount of calories or sugar you just took in). Well...let's just say that Terry's love of and dedication to movies started this day and he might have gotten that large Coke with refills...but he never left the theatre to go to the bathroom. Somehow, this makes me adore him even more - and hey, at least I know he is committed - but I may have to regulate how many drinks he brings to bed with him tonight as we get ready to watch Back to the Future III...

* Correction from the hubs: "I was seven and I didn't have blonde hair anymore. Just want to get the facts straight."

Sneak Peek

2009-09-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneak peek of what is going to be on my dear friend Amy's blog later today!!!
I know these pictures are supposed to be about my belly, but I cannot stop looking at that CUTE boy in his cowboy boots and that twinkle of love in his eyes!

Moved In!

2009-09-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

Not much to share yet inside this door because mostly all you are going to see is a whole lot of boxes!

Our bedroom is set up and I have spent a lot of time there in the bed since the move - like all day yesterday minus a walk to get a movie and of course several trips to the bathroom because that's just the way my bladder works these days! Terry has been an amazing mover and builder and has spent some good invested hours learning how to put together Sweedish furniture in our bedroom - thank you IKEA for your no-words, all photos, 36 step instruction manual. SERIOUSLY?!

The move went well, it was nice to have movers and just get to sit and direct and not worry about anyone banging walls or scratching paint etc. We'll do plenty of that on our own! But somehow unpacking seems just as exhausting even though the majority of our house has yet to be unpacked! I can't wait to get our new living room furniture in a week or two along with all the nursery furniture and think it will start feeling more settled once we have those things and can settle in around them.

Our neighbors are probably enjoying watching movies through our windows right now until our blinds come. The second night we slept at the house it was so bright we ended up sleeping upstairs in the guest room. (It was great, you will love to sleep there - dark as a cave!) And for move-in day, we had the essentials:

Ben & Jerry's (his & hers style)

This was the only thing in our fridge for the first 2 days. When it was gone, we figured we should go to the store.

Here is one little corner of boxes and the temporary set-up of our living room - where we haven't spent any time because it's covered in boxes and we are currently secretly (or not so secretly) LOVING stashing our TV in our bedroom until we get around to mounting it above the fireplace. You have to know I love you to show you pictures of my house like this.

And here is where I sat directing moving traffic. I thought during this part of the move that I loved the role of a pregnant woman during moves, but the next day I realized I was just as tired as if I had moved it all myself when in fact all I did was some unpacking. Growing a baby is TOUGH work folks!

So that's all for now, hopefully progress will be progress, but we are doing great about not rushing through it and making sure we find the real legitimate home for things in our home so that in 5 years we don't wonder why we kept the things we kept or where we put the things we need. Should have thought about that when we were packing up bath towels so we didn't have to dry off with hand towels after showers for the first two days. Luckily, I just called Molly and asked where she would have put them, assuming I would have put them in the same place, and wouldn't you know - she knew, and was right! God bless people that know you better than you know yourself!

Thanks for the pictures Kat!!!

Let there be light!

2009-09-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

A quick update on things here - we have our walk through of the house tomorrow afternoon, close on Thursday and after Terry hits the road Friday & Saturday for the ASU/ECU game. Then...Sunday is THE big day. As in moving day. WOO HOO. But at the rate of my emotions these days, WAH WAH all in the same breath! Feeling so excited and so overwhelmed! But we went by tonight for a quick photo update to be able to show you stained floors and a good old thing we like to call e-lectricity. Thank you Mr. Edison. It's amazing how warm and cozy the house already feels with lights and dark floors! More to come next week!

Abundance

2009-08-25T05:14:00.000-07:00

We continue to be amazed by the abundance of love in our lives and how many sweet people love us so well. When we moved to Charlotte from Durham, we did so with a main driving factor away from Durham being that we just didn't have a community there. We will continue to tell our friends who are getting married that we believe community is one of the most important things you need (especially) in your first year of marriage. And we can say that because of the over-abundance of blessing that was poured out on us when we moved here and found such an amazing community of dear friends. We had no idea what awaited us here, but we are so thankful that we followed the Lord's call here! Already living lives both full of supportive families and dear friends living near and far, 'our cups runneth over' with our friends here in Charlotte.

Several amazing people in the "App Family" and beyond traveled to be with us this weekend while we got to be loved on by all of these wonderful people while we celebrated this sweet baby girl coming into our family in a short 11 weeks!

We think these pictures pretty adequately show a whole lot of love going around -
for us, for the Pea, and from us.
Flemuce Love

Kat isn't just pointing at her wine, which she loves,
but her cup reads 'Aunt Kat,' she thinks it's great!

With the hostesses with the mostest in their hostess aprons - I heart these girls.

A whole lot of love

You might notice seeing a lot of Kat in these photos - it's because she deserves to be highlighted because she made an amazing gift for the Pea's room. She rocks. Aren't these great??? It was a total surprise! There are 3 of them, but I don't have enough hands to hold them all, sorry.

And in the midst of this, we know that another sign of the abundance of blessings in our lives right now is this new home that we are soon (September 6th!!!) to move into. I may or may not be having break downs every few days or so right now being overwhelmed by all of this going on at the same time, and all that is left to do to be ready for 'all of these things' (read: baby and house) - but we are nonetheless so stinkin' excited. And you will be so stinkin' excited to know that we finally have pictures to share with you!

We have house numbers and (some) grass!
Staining of the porch and under happens this weekend.We are both sort-of obsessed with our porch.
Love the view. Love the stain on the ceiling. Love the fan.
Love the sconce lights.
Love the pricing of special orders from Lowes!We also kind of love our kitchen.
The electrician comes today to hang 2 more pendants over the island like the one over the sink. They match the one over the kitchen table that looks like this:And this is what is hiding under the covering on the island.
What can I say, we also kind of love this!And there is carpet in the nursery and Guest room, and we can't walk in the house for the next 4 days because the floors are being stained as I type and as you read -
we cannot WAIT to see them finished!

And if you aren't exhausted yet by the abundance of this post, the final pictures are of the family-mobile - this time, our car in front of our house!

Playing House

2009-08-20T07:59:00.001-07:00

Let's pretend that this is our new house and this is our new car in front of our new house. Well, it isn't our new house (although we do have one of those!) and this isn't our new car. Because the one we bought last night is black! Family car, here we come/here we are!

Terry has been researching and researching cars for us like crazy and we started the official dreaded go-to-the-dealerships-hunt this past weekend. We realized last night that in the span of the short 2.5 years that we have been married, we have had FIVE cars. Granted, some of them were held together by bungee cords and got broken into and we only had for 3 months and others we bought with cash and are laps of luxury. And maybe we could say 6 modes of transportation since some of us took the bus to most days for several months (I like that about myself, is that okay?) :)

We hunted Saturday and found some pretty good options, but ick, the best one we found was a gold car. I'm not talking like champagne gold, I mean like bling bling GOLD. We considered painting it. Seriously. It would have made for great before and after photos. But then last night we landed right smack in the middle of the Lord's favor and a great haggling phase of my pregnancy and while we started looking at a much older car with way more miles on it, we ended up in a much newer car with very few miles on it, a warranty, it doesn't need to be painted, and is only slightly more than we were paying to lease our little two-door totally impractical but very fun while it lasted car!

November is fast approaching and with all of the things I have read about the hassle of installing car seat bases, this should give us just enough time to figure out how to install ours and let someone tell us we've done it wrong and fix it for us! Also fast approaching is the move-in for the house! Floors start getting stained on Friday, and we close on the 4th and move in on the SIXTH - SO SOON!!!! Sorry for the lack of pictures, really got to get the flash fixed on my camera - one more thing to check off the list of things to do before baby Bruce comes (put together crib, get nursery ready, move into and settle* into house, new car - check, name baby Bruce...) you know, small things.