10 Month Update

Happy 10 months, little love!

Is this what you wanted, Mom? 

You can't contain this

No dolls for me, lady 

Hey, what's going on in there? 

 Okay, I'm done.

But first let me take a selfie

Height/Weight: Not sure about exact height and weight measurements, but I'm going to guess around 20 lbs.

Clothes: We're all in with the 12 month clothes. No going back now!

Likes: She loves keys and shoelaces! If I need a few minutes or to entertain her while I'm trying to accomplish something (a foreign concept as a mama of a little!) I just throw some keys her way or point her in the direction of my running shoes. 

Dislikes: The car seat. She's getting a smidgen better (she only screams for part of the car ride and not the entire time), but is still not a fan. We have tried everything and have just resorted to letting her fuss. We're hoping she gets over this soon because those trips back and forth to Raleigh are going to be rough!

Milestones: She officially has two little teeth on the bottom that she loves to show off by cheesin'. She is also on the move! There is no hiding now;-) She has also started "sharing", but she doesn't actually want you to keep it-haha! She is pulling up on everything and with her lack of depth perception is earning her first few scrapes and bruises!

Memorial Day Memories

Memorial Day weekend has always been one of my favorite times of the year. My  love may have started young when we would spend three solid days at the pool followed by evening cookouts. Or maybe it was as I got older and I began to head south to Charleston for the weekend with my bestie, Kelley, and her parents. Maybe my true love of it came when I became a teacher and it meant one last day off before the true craziness of the end of the year began?! Or, perhaps it was when I truly recognized the sacrifices that were made for me to enjoy those days in the sun and the start of a long, hot summer of rest and rejuvenation. Who knows where my love began, but that's where my heart is now.

This weekend was like most of the past filled with time spent at the pool and gorging ourselves on lots of yummy food and a few too many "pool beers". What is is about drinks at the pool that just seem to go down quicker?! ;-) It was a little different this year as we adjusted our days to a little princess we know, but it was different in the best way possible.

We kicked off the weekend with a quick visit to the pool just the three of us. . .

 

Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle John came up on Saturday! 

Pop Pop, Gigi, Auntie Abby, and Mark joined us on Sunday!

 

 

I think it's safe to say our little Yankee Doodle had a fabulous first Memorial Day weekend!

Baby's First Swim

When we started house hunting four years ago I knew I wanted to live in a neighborhood with a pool. I grew up at the pool. From early morning swim practices to lazy afternoons floating around-the pool was the place to be. One of the things we will miss most about leaving is the stellar pool and the friendships that have grown there. We knew we had to introduce baby girl to it all before we set off!

All smiles with Daddy

Ooooo it's so cold

Wheeeeee!

Who is that flat-haired baby? We don't know her ;-)

It was a great first introduction and she only tried to drink the pool water a handful of times. We were able to go back the next day and she seemed to love it just as much. Hooray for having a water baby!

Health Update-May 18, 2015

It's been a long while since I've filled y'all in on my health adventures so I figured I'd go ahead and fill y'all in!

I haven't had another stomach bout since the last one in March-praise! Hopefully that means that whatever was going on inside with my liver and/or gallbladder is done. 

I also received GREAT news from my nephrologist this week that my kidneys look good and I can stop taking the chemo drug-whooooooo! AND I can continue to wean off the prednisone-WAHOOO!!

As you can probably tell, we were very excited for all of this news. The past few months have been a roller coaster with my health, but it is such a relief that we can continue on our next adventure with clear health reports. Sadly, I will have to leave my beloved doctors behind :-( The good news is UNC-Chapel Hill has a superb nephrology program and my doctor is already getting the referral going there!

We thank y'all for all the prayers and support and ask that they continue as the final prednisone taper happens!

Tiger World

We've been fortunate that as David leaves his current company he has the flexibility to take some time off to tie up odds and ends. After a weekend living as nomads traveling around the state of North Carolina in an attempt to desert our house for showings, we wanted to do something different. Enter, Tiger World. 

This little gem is tucked back in the middle of nowhere and if it weren't for the high praises I'd heard about it, we would have probably turned around as we traveled down the dirt road to get there. David loves big cats and routinely begs for one to add to our family. While I'm not going to give into that request, I knew we could go visit some. We grabbed my little buddy, Logan, from preschool and we were off!

I was impressed from the moment we got there. The goal is to get you as close to the animals as they can safely, and they definitely did that! While most of the animals were enjoying nap time it was still awesome to see them lounging about. Our favorite was their newest attraction, Michael. Well, I should say everyone but Amelia Grace. 

When we first sat her down next to the very thick glass enclosure (before everyone goes and thinks we're horrible parents) she wasn't the least bit fazed. Michael on the other hand was very intrigued and moved toward the glass. That scared David a bit so he picked her up before she even knew what was going on. We tried again and it was the same story. So when Michael was turned in the other direction we sat Amelia Grace down next to him for a photo opp. That would be the first picture below. The second picture is when both she and Michael noticed each other and she started screaming bloody murder! I'm not sure what it was but the poor girl lost it so we swooped in to save her. Every subsequent time we sat her down next to an enclosure of any of the animals she lost it. Guess she doesn't have her daddy's love for big cats, haha.

All in all it was a great day and I would love to go back before we move. We saw that they have special feeding showings on Thursday evenings too!

Mother's Day Love

This was not my first Mother's Day, but this Mother's Day was the first one I had a little love to hold in my arms, and boy did she make it special! 

This past weekend Amelia Grace decided after weeks of propping herself up and rocking back and forth that she would finally crawl a few "steps"! It was so exciting to see her do it after trying to piece together the process for so long. She still seems to prefer to roll about, but she's getting used to doing it more and more!

She (i.e. David) also surprised me with the sweetest journal with her little hand and foot print. So, now, instead of years of cards piling up I will have one place for all of them AND I get to see her grow and change throughout the years. LOVE IT! She also decided to gift me with the fancy hair cut and color I so desperately need. That baby girl knows the way to her mama's heart ;-)

We started the day at church and ended it relaxing on Lake Wylie with a stellar nap and some shopping in between. All-in-all it was a fabulous day!

9 Month Update

Happy 9 months, little love!

Kick, kick, kick!

 Hey, girl, hey

Here, let me get that out of your eye.

Practicing my yoga

Does that really say 9 months??

Height/Weight: She weighed in at 19 lbs and 6 oz which puts her in the 69th percentile. She is around 28 inches long which puts her in the 68th percentile. I think it's safe to say our kid is pretty even!

Clothes: Still hanging out in the 9 month clothes with a few 12 month items for length.

Likes: She still loves being outside as much as possible. She also loves to stand up, play with my phone, and eat grass. She's a pretty cool kid.

Dislikes: She went through a nasty "don't leave me in a room alone" phase that wore on us in a big way, but has  mostly come through that meanness. She also does not enjoy being up past her bedtime. As soon as we start getting close she slowly starts to lose her mind and all hell breaks lose. 

Milestones: She is so close to crawling it's ridiculous! She gets up on her knees and rocks back and forth, but then just flops down. She also shouts "da-da" but not at David. . . she's talking to the dog! She tries to say Daisy! She also got her first tooth and is working on her second!

Movin' On Out

No, we're not sending Amelia Grace to Raleigh on her own though I'm sure she would love the adventure. It is with excitement that we announce our family is moving to Raleigh to start a new chapter in our lives!

As most of you know, David and I met and fell in love in our great capital city, so it has always held a special place in our hearts. When David was offered a job here in Charlotte before he even graduated college we leapt at the chance to start our adult lives and didn't even think twice about leaving Raleigh behind. It didn't take us long to realize how much we missed the city and our church there. 

Fast forward a few years and our hearts were feeling restless. We knew something wasn't right so David began applying to jobs. Through God's infinite grace he was awarded an interview with Duke Energy for a coveted position. Over 800 people applied, 72 were interviewed, and 36 were offered jobs. David happened to be one of the lucky few! To sweeten the deal even more they offered him a promotion along with the job and a relocation package to help us with the process. Say what???? 

We began to notice God's favor through the whole process and felt ridiculously blessed. We decided to go to Raleigh that coming weekend to really get a feel for the city as potential residents and pray for our future there. If you know my husband you know that his brilliant engineer brain is always working in overdrive which often leads him to stress as he is usually thinking ten steps ahead of the rest of us. While we were there we both felt immense peace about the whole situation despite the fact that the housing market there is crazy stressful! And when we attended our old church (Vintage) on Sunday morning it was like we had never left despite being gone five years. 

 We've been praying for months about our future and what that could look like and we are over the moon to see God working in big ways! We are sad to leave behind our friends, family, and home here but couldn't be more excited about the new adventure God has laid out before us. Please continue to join us in prayer as we know this won't come without its challenges.