A weekend with Mamaw and Pawpaw

Mamaw and PawPaw (Bert's grandparents) live in FL and they came up to visit us last weekend!  We are SO glad they got to come!!!  We had such a great time! 

Bert gave them a tour of Southeastern's campus while Emily enjoyed running around for a bit!  

They absolutely spoiled us rotten by paying for every meal for us (and Alison and Stephen) the entire weekend.  They took us out to dinner at the Olive Garden on Friday night....definitely one of my favorites!  Emily was slightly obsessed with drinking my water.  She probably asked for a "sip" about 100 times during the meal.  As soon as I would set the cup down she would ask for another sip.  Ha!

At the end of dinner Bert started playing with her and taught her how to blow bubbles with the straw.:) 

On Saturday afternoon we went down to Raleigh to visit the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.  When we arrived there were soooo many people standing outside.  Then we saw firemen standing just outside the doors with axes in their hands.  Bert went to investigate and found out that the fire alarm had gone off in the cafe.  It didn't look like we were going to get to go in, but just a few minutes later they opened the museum back up! 

It turns out Emily is SO scared of escalators.  I have no idea why.  About 6 months ago I had taken her on the escalator at the mall and she cried and screamed the entire way up and back down.  I had her in the umbrella stroller (which I'm not even supposed to have on the escalator)....talk about drawing attention to us!  Well I had forgotten about her fear of escalators until Saturday at the museum.  She FREAKED OUT as we got on the escalator, and then every time we passed by one for the rest of the time we were there (not even getting on) she would started whimpering as if to say "I'll scream if you put me back on that thing."  Poor girl.:) 

She may not have liked the escalators, but she LOVED the fish!

Group shot! 

As we were walking back to the car she was holding Bert's hand and turned around to see Mamaw and Pawpaw walking behind us, so she ran to grab their hands.  So sweet. 

We had such a fun weekend!  If you haven't ever met our Mamaw and Pawpaw you are missing out.  They are so good at making each of us feel so loved and they are hilarious....they definitely kept us laughing the entire weekend!  They really are just so fun to be around!:)

Some of my favorite times of the entire weekend were in the evenings...the six of us would just sit around and talk for hours.  Lots of laughing went on! 

Mamaw and Pawpaw, we enjoyed having y'all come up SO much!  Thank you so much for making the long drive up from FL!  We're very thankful for y'all and love y'all very much!  

Growing Up

Emily loves to play with our phones.  She'll walk around the apartment for quite a while just "talking" on the phone. 
Sunday afternoon, after Em woke up from her nap, she picked up Bert's phone off the table, put it to her ear, and started walking around the living room talking on it. 

I was in the kitchen talking to Bert and we didn't think much about it, but then I heard who she was talking to.:)  She was saying "Hey Gavin, yeah, no Gavin, Gavin", etc!

Gavin is a sweet little boy in her Sunday school class at church.  Her teachers told me one Sunday that Emily and Gavin were good friends.  I guess they were right.:) 

When I filled Bert in on who Gavin was his mouth just fell open.  Haha!  I don't think he's quite ready for his 22 month old baby girl to be talking to boys on the phone.:)

Full Term

As of today I am officially considered full term!  37 weeks....3 weeks until my due date.  Woohoo!!  Can't wait to meet my little Hannah!  I am so thankful for such an easy pregnancy.  It's actually been much easier than my first pregnancy.  I haven't had trouble with carpel tunnel (I had trouble with this for the last 3 months of my pregnancy with Em), haven't had trouble with pain in my knees, or had as much swelling as last time.  I think a lot of this is due to not working 40+ hours a week at a desk job until close to delivery, but either way I'm thankful that it's been a little easier.

I had a check-up yesterday and we (Hannah and I) both got great reports.  Her heart rate was 146bpm, my blood pressure was 100/62, she is head down, and I'm 1 cm dilated.  I'm not sleeping very well these days.  The past few nights I have literally had to get up 6 times a night to go to the bathroom.  I know....it's hard to believe, but believe it.  I'm not sure that this will get better before I deliver, but we'll see.:)

For some weird reason I've never really liked the term "nesting."  I'm not sure exactly why, but something about the word gives me a weird mental image and I just haven't ever wanted to "nest.":)  I really didn't feel like I did much "nesting" with Emily, but this pregnancy  has definitely been different.  As much as I hate to admit it I have definitely been "nesting."  I have been cleaning and organizing things that I haven't given a second thought to in weeks, months or even years.  Every day I've been telling Bert my next project and he just laughs. I've become slightly obsessive over these projects.  I want to get them done and I want to get them done now.  Bert's been sweet and I actually think he's enjoying some of the organization that's taking place around the apartment.:)

Hannah's bag is packed and ready to go.  I've started packing my bag, but I can only do so much when I have to wear my clothes that I need to pack.  Bert is taking a class next weekend (Feb 3rd and 4th).  It would be so helpful if Hannah could wait to arrive until after that weekend class, but we definitely trust in God's timing.  We're so so excited about meeting our baby girl!  Emily still doesn't totally understand, but she's going to be really excited once she figures everything out.:)

Please pray for a safe delivery and a healthy baby Hannah!  Thanks!:)

A baby shower for Hannah!

A few girls from my church offered to have a baby shower for me.  It really was such a blessing as we were showered with diapers, wipes, cute new clothes, a diaper champ, etc. for Hannah.  So thankful!  Here are a few pictures...



Look at this cute wreath Claire made.  I was certainly impressed! 

Doesn't all the food look amazing?  It was!  They out-did themselves!

My Mom and sister were able to come to the shower.  Mom was in town b/c they had brought Emily back up to us on Friday night.  Katherine just lives 20 minutes away, but I was still glad she could make it!:)

They had us play this fun game.  We split up into pairs and we were each given a bag with a spoon and a jar of baby food.  We had to decide who would eat the baby food and who would feed the other person.  We both had to wear blindfolds.  Ha! 

Here are Katherine and Alison getting ready to go. 

Katherine was feeding Alison squash and kept missing her mouth.  Poor Alison.:)  

My mom and I were partners and we couldn't decide who would do the feeding and who would do the eating....so we played rock, paper, scissors.  I lost. 

Whoever finished their jar first, won.  Sunni and Elizabeth were the winners! 

It really was a fun game.  There was sooo much laughing going on the entire game.:) 

Jen and Kelly....two girls in our small group.  Love them. 

Group shot.  SO thankful for each of these ladies!

My sweet hostesses.....Claire, Sunni and Whitney.

I can't thank y'all enough for such a fun, sweet shower.  It was SUCH a blessing and now I'm am even more excited about Hannah's arrival (if that's even possible).  Love you girls!  

A Week with Mimi and Papa Stan

This semester is Bert's last semester of seminary...whoohoo!!  As he was trying to figure out his class schedule back in December he was having a little trouble since he works full time (limited availability) and has already had many of the classes that were being offered.  One day as I was meeting with one of the girls in our small group she asked me if we had checked into J-term classes.  I responded saying that wasn't really an option b/c we couldn't afford for him to take off an entire week of work (especially with baby #2 just weeks away), but in the back of my mind I started trying to figure out if it could possibly work....if I could work for Bert that week, who would keep Emily, etc., etc.  Ummm??

Side note....Bert and I share a job.  We are the office managers at Archwood Building Company in Raleigh.  I started working at Archwood as the office manager in June of 2008 shortly after we moved to Wake Forest.  When I was pregnant with Emily we decided that if it was possible we would really like for me to only have to work part time, and for Bert to have a more full time position.  So, after talking this through with my boss he agreed to let me start working one day a week and Bert would work the other four.  The one day that Bert wasn't working he would go to class in the morning and we would have a girl from our small group keep Emily for us and during the afternoon he would keep her.  We started this schedule in March 2010 (before I had Em the first week of April) and it has been amazing.  We are so thankful for the flexibility that it provides. 

So, back to this semester.  If I were going to possibly work for Bert that week we would need to first check with our boss to see if it is a possibility and then find someone to keep Emily for us all day on Mon - Fri.  Our boss, Michael, thought it sounded like a good plan, as I have lots of tax documents to prepare during the month of January.  I was needing to prepare all the W-2's, 1099's, etc. sooner rather than later as we're not sure when Hannah's going to make her arrival.  So, now on to my child care conundrum.  I had the idea to check with my parents to see if they might like to keep Emily for us that week.  Emily was already going to be down in GA b/c we were down there for Kristi's wedding (see previous post).  My parents were excited about the idea and said they would LOVE to.  Although I could hardly stand the thought of being away from her for an entire week I completely trusted my parents and I was very thankful for the opportunity for Bert to knock out a class and for me to work all week. 

So, that's what we did.  On Sunday afternoon Bert and I loaded up the car and headed back to Wake Forest without our little Emily.  Many, many tears were shed by me as we were leaving (up to this point the most I had ever been away from her was for 2 days), but thankfully (for Bert) I did calm down.  I knew she was going to have a great week!  

She did have a great week.  She is quite the picky eater, but she really put on a show for them by eating great, sleeping great, and being a joy to be around.  I was thankful.  We got to skype with her every day but one.  They did such a good job taking care of her!  Mama was patient with my list of notes (written and verbal) that I left her, and was really sweet to e-mail us updates through out the day telling us how she was doing. 

We could not have been more excited to see Emily when my parents pulled into Wake Forest with her on Friday night.  I literally jumped up and down.:) 

I don't have many pictures from that week (b/c I wasn't there), but here are a few that my mom took. 

My dad (aka Papa Stan) is the official hair dryer.  My sister and I remember him drying our hair every night when we were still too little to dry our own.   Now he loves drying Emily's hair for us.  I'm thankful for memories like this!  

Playing in Mimi's Tupperware cabinet.  She looks like she's been caught.:) 

Mom and Dad, thank you so so much for keeping Emily for us last week!  She loves her Mimi and Papa Stan so much and I know it was so sweet for her to be able to spend this time with y'all.  

Kristi's Wedding

My cousin, Kristi, got married on January 7, 2012.  We were excited that we were able to be there for all the festivities.  Kristi and Jay got married in Atlanta, so we decided it would be best for Emily and I to stay in Toccoa for the week between New Years and the wedding so that this pregnant Mama didn't have to do so much traveling up and down 85. 

We started out the weekend with the bridesmaids' lunch on Friday morning.  It was a beautiful restaurant with great food.  Pictured below....me, Kristi, Jackie, Angela, and Allison holding Emily. 

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner.  Emily had plenty of room to run around...almost too much room.  She was a bit of a wild woman at first, but settled down as the night went on.:) 

Bert had to work in Raleigh all day on Friday, so he made it to the rehearsal dinner just as it was ending.  Emily and I could not have been more excited to see him!! 

The day of the wedding flew by.  The wedding was at 2 and we were supposed to be at the church at 12:45 for pictures.  Emily usually naps from about 1 to 3 so I wasn't totally sure how the afternoon/evening was going to go.  Mom, Bert and I ran out to do a little last minute shoe shopping during the morning.  We left Emily with Daddy and Stanley.  I didn't even think to mention that it would be really helpful if she would take a morning nap b/c she never takes morning naps.  She gave those up quite awhile ago.  Well we got back to the hotel this is where we found Papa Stan and Emily.  Emily was out.  She ended up sleeping for almost 2 hours.  A-mazing!!  I don't know when I've been so excited about her taking a good nap.  We didn't get her back to the hotel until after 10 the night before so I guess we had just worn the poor girl out.:) 

 Kristi and Jay at the wedding...

Our table during the reception....minus Bert and Emily.  Emily fell asleep about 30 seconds before we pulled into the reception site.  Bert sat in the car with her to let her finish out her nap. 

Emily and her Daddy doing a little dancing on the dance floor. 

Kristi and Emily.:)  Kristi was so sweet to let Emily be included in everything during the entire weekend. 

Family picture...

Emily had SO much fun at this reception!  She was out on the dance floor for 90% of the time.  She loves music and dancing and running around, so this was the pefect place for her.  She made several friends out there and they really were too cute!! 

My Uncle Bud (pictured below) is a retired two star general.  He started the tradition of buck dancing at each of the cousin's weddings back in 2007.  He has danced to the Rocky Top at every wedding except one and everyone loves it!!  The one wedding that he didn't dance to Rocky Top just happened to be mine.  My die-hard-UGA-fan-husband just couldn't stand the thought of having Rocky Top played at our wedding (even though I graduated from UT with my Masters).  Uncle Bud agreed to buck dance to Cotton Eyed Joe at our wedding and all was well.  It's not so surprising to the family to see our fun, loving, uncle buck dance, but all our friends are always surprised saying "I've never seen a general buck dance." Haha.:) 

We had such a great time during the entire wedding weekend.  Congrats to Jay and Kristi!! 

Outside

Emily loves loves loves to play outside.  She's not so sure about getting her hands dirty, but she doesn't usually let it slow her down too much.  Here are a few pictures that Linda took of her during their fun afternoon outside. 

I love this sweet girl so much!  I can't wait until we have a yard for her to run around in any time she wants!!