Alaskiana

Summer 2011

2011-08-10T07:50:00.029-04:00

How is it that summer is almost over already? I don't know what I'm going to do when Emery starts school - it seems like their breaks just get shorter and shorter. Two months off is just not enough. In Alaska, we always got out end of May/early June, but didn't go back until after Labor Day, or at the very earliest the week before. I mean who wants to go stand in the bus line in August in Mississippi? That alone should be a deterrent to starting back so early!!

Ok I digress, moving on. First off, our trip to Hawaii was fantastic, even with a one year old in tow. Now that we're back, I can brag about what a world class traveler she was. I could have saved a lot of stress worrying about those LONG plane rides because she was amazing. Oh she had a moment here and there, don't get me wrong, but never more than a few seconds. And there were always other babies on the plane, so that took a lot of the pressure off. She slept a lot - much more than I thought she would. I gave her benadryl on our first long flight from Memphis to Phoenix, but didn't have to pull it out again after that. And I gave it to her as a precaution before we even left the airport, just to be safe. She probably would have been fine without it. That first overnight in Phoenix was a little rough, but that was my own fault. I didn't want to pay for a pack and play so kept Emery in bed with me, which has never happened before. So it took awhile for her to settle down in the bed (and stop trying to kiss me and lick my face). And even then I didn't sleep well because I was so worried she'd fall out of the bed. But we made it, and didn't miss our flight the next morning, thank goodness. We arrived in KONA around 3pm the next afternoon, an hour before my cousin. Thank goodness we didn't come in on an earlier flight. I love airports, and didn't think it would be a big deal to fly in early and hang out until my cousin arrived, but the Kona airport is tiny, minuscule really (they have one baggage belt). And it's all outside. So I'm very glad we didn't try to fly in earlier. The hour we had to wait was boring enough!

Hawaii itself was amazing - something out of a dream. Perfect weather (high 70s most days, even a little chilly at times), lush landscapes, great food. My cousin-in-law Creighton is Hawaiian, so we had the inside scoop on places to eat and visit. We stayed in an older but very spacious condo right on the ocean and woke up every morning to pounding waves. As mild as the weather was in Hawaii, the buildings do heat up during the day, and we had a mild freak out moment when we first got to the condo and didn't think it had AC (apparently a lot of houses there don't). But thankfully our unit had one, we just had to pay $15 a day to have it turned out, which we gladly did. Even though Emery was in our room, the closet was big enough to put her pack and play in and close the door, so we weren't waking each other up all night. We spent a lot of time touring the island - visiting beaches, waterfalls, the volcano, several markets, a luau etc. I rediscovered how much I love shaved ice (over there they put ice cream in the middle - yumm!) and beef teriyaki. I don't think I had a single vegetable the entire trip. Hawaiians eat lots of rice and meat, but very few veggies. I came home addicted to rice, and even invested in a rice maker so we can make perfect rice everytime! And like I said before, Emery was a champ. She slept all night every night, and took decent naps most days. She had a few drama moments, but considering we dragged her across four time zones and she cut two teeth in the process, I think she was amazing. We went swimming almost everyday, and although she was not crazy about the water because it was chilly, she tolerated it. She loved swimming in Arizona though, where the pool was at least 90 degrees. We came back a day earlier than my cousin, because I wanted the entire weekend to recoup. And this is where traveling across four time zones has some advantages - our first day home Emery slept until 11am, the next day 10am and the third day until 9am. It's been 630/7am ever since, but those three days of rest were heavenly! And in our overnight in Phoenix on the way home she slept from midnight to 10am. Needless to say, I felt almost completely recovered by the time I started back to work July 5th, which was a huge blessing. As wonderful as Hawaii was, to me the best part about the trip was getting to spend 11 days straight with my family. I've always enjoyed traveling with Jeff, and having Emery just adds to the fun. I love those guys!!

Emery turned one the weekend after we got back from Hawaii but I waited until the next weekend to have her little party. I used pictures and pink paper and fabric to decorate, which is great when you're decorating on a budget. Emery loved having all of her friends there, but did not enjoy her cupcake, much to my disappointment. My child loves water and is not crazy about sweets - how did that happen??? Anyways, it was a lovely afternoon with family and friends - just like I like it! And although the porch was not finished, Jeff's dad had come in for the weekend and helped us get the fans installed, so the big kids had fun playing out there.

Emery is now a big girl one year old, I can't even believe it. She started taking a few steps before her birthday, but has really been cruising the past several weeks. It took me a week to get her to wear shoes, but that hasn't been an issue lately. She says a few words - dada, dog, uh oh and all done. She still doesn't say mama, which is frustrating but not uncommon, or so I've heard. I think her comprehension level is pretty high - she seems to understand most commands (Stay on the carpet, sit down, etc) and can answer basic questions (where is your head, what does a cow say). She moved up to the one year old room at daycare last week, and seems to be enjoying it. They nap on mats on the floor, which I was worried about, but so far shes done okay with it. I think she really enjoys playing with other kids all day, and her teachers adore her. It's hard for me during the week because she goes to bed so early (between 6/630 most days), so I treasure my fridays off with her. Unless she is teething, or tired, she is a happy little girl who enjoys playing with her toys and reading books. I discovered about a month ago that she can't have real milk - it hurts her stomach, so we're on rice and almond milk for the time being.

We had her baby dedication at church last month, and she was the cutest one (of course:)! When the pastor said her name, she clapped her hands and said "yeah!" I promise I did not coach her to do that, but might next time around because it was super cute.

Random Thoughts

2011-06-09T08:27:00.002-04:00

My pet peeves this week (and pretty much all the time):

1. People talking on their phone in the bathroom. I have seriously considered buying some sort of machine that makes loud, obnoxious bathroom sounds so I can turn it on when I encounter these sorts. Drives me nuts!!

2. People who back in an out of a parking space (and hold up a line of traffic) when there is an entire empty row waiting for them 3 spaces down. We have a big parking lot - I mean a really big parking lot. So unless it's after 8am, and spaces are truly scarce, MOVE ON DOWN. I assure you walking an extra 100 feet is not going to kill you this or any other morning. '

Embarrassing moment

1. For the first time in my life I wore two different shoes to work last month. And they weren't similar looking shoes either - one was a mary jane and the other was a plain flat. The only common denominator was that they were both black. But you know what the really sad part is, I didn't even notice they were different shoes until I was trying on some new pants after work that day. Sad and a little scary.

Other thoughts

1. I paid someone to clean my house for the first time last week in preparation for the family reunion we hosted last weekend. IT. WAS. FANTASTIC. Why have I not had this done before? I don't care if I have to mow lawns to pay for it, I will figure out a way to work this into the budget at least once a month. On another note - it took her 4.5 hours to clean our house. Does that mean she's really good, or we're really dirty?

2. We are leaving for Hawaii in 15 days. I can't wait, although I'm a little nervous about traveling with a very busy one year old.

3. Emery took 2 steps at daycare earlier this week. I am still in denial. Where has my baby gone??? I am supposed to be planning her first birthday party too, and am in denial about that as well.

4. Did anyone else acquire insomnia during their pregnancy that just never went away? Will I have to take Tylenol PM for the rest of my life in order to sleep at night??

5. Today is Thursday, which is technically my Friday. I love a 4 day workweek. In fact, I don't even remember what it was like to work on Fridays anymore, and most weeks I forget that everyone else is still at work while I'm at home. Don't hate me - just being honest.

6. I was in bed by 7:45 and asleep by 8:30 last night. That has got to be a world record!

That's all for now - have a lovely weekend!!

The Past 2 Months

2011-05-18T16:08:00.014-04:00

I believe this is the longest I've gone without blogging since I started this thing. Several reasons for that, but the main one is that it takes FOREVER to load and format pictures on blogger now. I don't know what they did, but I dread posting pictures because of it. So for the two people that actually read this thing, I'm sorry. But I honestly don't know how much longer I'll keep it up regardless. Time is precious these days. (I typed this paragraph before I loaded my pictures, and I will have to say it was better this time. Maybe they fixed it...)

So what's been going on in our lives over the past three months you ask? Here's a summary.

1. We've been on two unsuccessful dates this year so far - the first ended with Jeff puking from the stomach flu (and me later that weekend) and the 2nd ended with him puking in the Emergency Room from a kidney stone. I have NEVER seen my husband in that much pain, nor do I want to again. I brought him to my hospital because I know people there, but was regretting that decision after he walked in cursing like a sailor and stumbling around like a drug addict. Thankfully they understood the situation:) Needless to say, we haven't been on a "real" date since (although we've had plenty of fun!)!

2. I finally got a smartphone, though only out of necessity. I lost my older phone in a hurricaine force toilet at the hospital. It fell out of my pocket as the toilet was flushing and dissapeared before I knew what had happened. I had no loyalty the the phone, but it had so many cute pictures of Emery on it that I hated losing. Plus getting all my numbers again - no fun. If you haven't heard from me in awhile, I probably still don't have your number re-entered, so send me a text if you have a chance.

3. We took a long weekend trip to Atlanta to visit our peeps in March. It was a great visit - just went by too fast. Emery was a trooper, especially considering her eyes were swollen shut most of the time from allergies.

4. We are tackling another screen porch project (I know, when will we learn??). We do have a deadline on this porch - three weeks to be exact. I'm trying to be optimistic, but we'll see. It's turned into a much bigger project than we anticipated (fancy that). Let's just say it took 100+ 80lb bags of concrete to pour the pad. Once again, our porch will be the safest room in the house in the event of a hurricaine. The picture above is when we were pouring the pad. And yes, I did help with the first 30 bags or so even though I could hardly pick them up. When we started, Jeff was telling me not to pick them up at all. But by bag 15, he changed his tune to "well do you think you can at least get it in the wheelbarrow?" He was BEAT. Thank goodness for my brother showing up, or I don't know what we would have done. CL was throwing those bags around like they were pillows!

5. We are going to Hawaii end of June with Shasta, Creighton and Baby Caleb. I am so excited, but absolutly dreading the plane ride with a one year old. Any airplane tips from fellow mommy's?

6. And finally, sweet Emery. LOVE her and cannot believe she is already 10.5 months old. She is crawling full force these days, and babbling up a storm. She goes to bed early and likes to get up early too (although I refuse to get her out of bed until 7am). She says a few words - dog, dada - no mama yet. She can wave, clap her hands and dance. She loves people, just like her daddy, and pretty much eats anything these days. She gets gassy easily though, so I still have to give her gas drops almost everyday. We went swimming for the first time last week. The water was FREEZING! She didn't cry, but had me in a vise grip the whole time. She still just has 4 teeth (although I think she's working on another one) and very little hair save her curl on the top of her head. But she is just perfect to us!

Okay that's all for now. Pictures above are from late April/Easter, the porch and our trip to Atlanta.

SICK

2011-02-23T08:39:00.002-05:00

Yes, that pretty much sums up 2011 for the Smiths to date. Jeff came down with a nasty bronchitis virus in January - it lasted 4 weeks. I caught said virus mid January - it lasted 5 weeks, and during 3 of those weeks I was unable to taste a single thing. How often we take for granted simple things like our ability to taste and smell. That was by far the WORST part of this whole ordeal. Forget sleepless, coughless nights, stuffy noses and endless boxes of kleenexes - not being able to taste food for almost an entire month - TORTURE. As they always say - how often we don't appreciate things until they're gone. And for those of you thinking why didn't you just go to the doctor - well Jeff did. Two times in fact, for 3 rounds of antibiotics. And what did they tell him - it was a virus, which means the drugs did him no good, they just kept him from getting any sicker. So when I started coming down with the same symptoms, I avoided the $150 doctor visit and had a ZPAC called in just to be safe. I did end up staying sick a week longer than Jeff, but I think that was more a result of being a rundown mom than anything. Babygirl decided to cut 2 teeth during this sickfest, which made for a week or two of very little sleep. But the story doesn't end here. After a month and a half of the bronchitis virus, the stomach bug hit our house this past weekend. Babygirl and daddy came down with it Friday night, and I thought I was free and clear (despite being puked on several times) until my stomach started rolling Monday night. Thankfully I still had some phenergan left from my early pregnancy issues, so after I had sufficiently emptied my stomach, I took my pill, threw up once more an hour later and was finished. I will have to say, however, that being pregnant and very sick for three months really puts a 24 hour stomach bug in perspective. This was even noted by my husband, who commented that I was oddly cheerful considering the nature of my illness. What can I say - when you throw up 3-6 times a day for 3 months, a 12 hour stint really isn't that bad. And since the stomach bug does appear to be going around these days, take it from the vomit veteran, don't drink water, drink sprite or gingerale (I go through about 2 liters everytime I get sick). I won't go into details, but trust me, it helps a lot. And get some phenergan if you can.

Much to my delight, my taste buds returned in full force on Valentine's Day, just in time to enjoy a lovely chilled glass of wine alongside my husband's fabulous gourmet meal. That is my standing request for all Valentine's and Anniversary holidays - a home cooked meal from hubby. He loves to watch cooking shows and always comes up with some really tasty dishes. This year it was a portabello mushroom appetizer, spinach, candied walnut and blue cheese salad with a homeade balsamic vinagrette dressing, penne pasta with chicken in a tomato sauce served with baked artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes, and ice cream for dessert. Just perfect! Although Jeff would love you to think he cooked every bit of that himself, in actuality he was running late and got several things premade (thus it only took 30 minutes to throw everything together). But as always, he doctored each of the dishes up with his signature flair.

We also enjoyed our first fine dining date since baby at my favorite restaurant, Bravos. I have been craving Bravos since before Emery was born - we actually went there the night of her due date, but they were closed. It a lovely meal (despite the fact that Jeff started getting sick there and couldn't touch his entree), but Brooke you will be very dissapointed to know they no longer have your shitake mushroom and chicken pasta dish. In fact, they really don't have any good chicken pasta dishes, which is what I really wanted. They had a beef and portabello mushroom dish, but I wasn't in the mood for beef. I ended up getting a cajun pasta dish, and it was just OK- did not have a whole lot of flavor in my opinion. I think my cajun jumbapasta dish is much tasiter. Thankfully our calamari, spincach salad and my all time favorite creme brulee definitely made up for the less than stellar entree. And thanks to my sweet sister who watched baby girl while we went out - and ended up getting puked on herself because I didn't know she was sick. I am just praying she doesn't get sick too!

Despite being sick for months, we've still managed to get out and enjoy the fabulous weather this past week. Hubby and I LOVE a good long spring stroll, and so does baby girl. And as for sweet baby girl - she is growing like a weed these days. Big news for this month - she is now on formula. Long story short - nursing had become a less than pleasant experience since about 6.5 months. I've always felt that my milk irritated her stomach no matter what I did or didn't eat, but it had gotten to the point where she would only drink an ounce or two at a time, and would not take any more without a huge fight. I felt like I was torturing her trying to get her to eat. After 3 weeks of this (really just on the weekends because Mon - Thurs she got bottles) I decided enough was enough, and started to tranisition to formula. She didn't like it at first, but after a week decided she liked it better than mom's milk. In fact, for the first time ever she is actually drinking all of her 5oz bottles at daycare. It was a hard decision to transition, especially since I still have plenty of milk and feasibly could have kept pumping for another several months, but since my milk seems to cause her distress, didn't see the point in that. So this is week 2 of the great dry up, and I will have to say things have not gone as quickly as I'd hoped. I was hoping the stomach bug would do a major number for me in that area, but no such luck. If anyone has any suggestions, please send them on! On a positive note, last week was the first time in 5.5 months I haven't had to drag my pump to the office. I thought I would be elated, but I was actually kind of sad about it. Kind of the end of an era I guess. But as much as I never thought I'd ever say this - I am looking forward to being able to start running again. Wow - those hormones must have really done a number on me! Ok back to baby girl - forget baby food the girls love the real thing. She does eat babyfood at daycare for convenience sake, but at home it's whatever mom can put together that seems healthy. She's had waffles, eggs, chicken, cheese, pizza crust, bananas, peaches, bread, pasta, rice, beans - and loves it all so far. I've pretty much thrown all of the rulebooks on introducing foods out the window and adopted more the anything goes approach. She is cutting 2 more teeth as we speak (for a total of 4), and although is not crawling or scooting yet, is rolling everywhere. She is also going through some major separation anxiety at the house - we can't step out of the room for a second without a meltdown. This could also be due to the fact that she is teething and doesn't feel good, but it makes it challenging to get things done at times. The funny thing is she doesn't cry when we leave her with other people, like at daycare or the nursery, just at home when we leave the room. Crazy girl! She is still such a joy though, and we love her to pieces even when she is screaming.

Kisses

2011-02-02T08:47:00.003-05:00

After 3 (almost 4) weeks of bronchitis and colds, the Smiths are finally on the mend. It started with Jeff and a nasty case of bronchitis - which took 2 rounds of antibiotics to beat. Then I got it and finally started feeling better this week after 2 weeks of misery . Baby girl just had a runny nose, thank goodness. But she also cut her first tooth in the middle of this sick fest, so between that and waking up all hours of the night because of one of us was coughing, Monday was the first full night of sleep I've had in over a month! Man that felt good!

Emery has been talking up a storm these days. She was kind of clingy over the weekend, and we're hoping it was just her first tooth coming in but could very well be the start of separation anxiety, as she's right at the age where it starts. She's been eating a lot the past couple of weeks. She still doesn't really get the whole feed herself thing yet (gets the food to her mouth then drops her hand like she's forgotten it's there), but she still loves to eat. I have to be very careful about what I feed her for dinner because of overnight stomach issues (see previous post). For the past week she's had mashed banana, avacado and cereal for dinner, which seem to work well. Monday night she seemed exceptionally hungry so I gave her some peas in addition to her main fare, and she woke up in the middle of the night again. So we were back to the usual last night. I hate to feed her the same thing every night, but until her stomach evens out I don't see that we have much of a choice. I haven't found anything she doesn't like yet, although I'm sure that's coming. I haven't really been good about introducing things slowly either, but aside from the rash on her face from oatmeal and a different type of cereal, shes tolerated everything else pretty well.

Emery loves it when we kiss her, and lately she's started putting her slobbery mouth on my cheek to give me a kiss. It is the cutest thing. I ask her to "Give mommy a kiss" and she slobbers all over my cheek, then I of course cover her cheeks with kisses in return. It's probably the cutest thing she's done so far, in my opinion. It's amazing to me how quickly they learn - I had no idea she would even know what a kiss meant at this age. They are little sponges, thats for sure. She also goes "mmmmm, mmmmm" the entire time she is eating. I realized this is because that is what I do when I feed her - I'm always saying "mmmmm, this is good." So she says it back to me now. It's so cute.

I mentioned earlier that she cut her first tooth over the weekend. We are still nursing, but I'm waiting to see if she starts biting or not before I decide if we're going to keep going for a few more months.

I have not been able to taste a single thing for the past 2 weeks, and as a result have finally dropped a few pounds for the first time in five months. I feel so sorry for anyone who has no sense of taste or smell - you don't realize how much those senses affect you until they are gone. I have no desire to eat anything I can't taste, so have essentially been eating just enough to keep my stomach from shriveling up.

That's all for now!

Holidays 2010

2011-01-13T15:24:00.006-05:00

My favorite time of year has come and gone yet again. As eager as I was to get the tree up this year, I was equally as eager to get it down the day after we returned from our holiday trip to LA.

We've had way too much going on the past few months to catch up with, so I'll try to hit the high points.

Emery attended her first NBA game in New Orleans in December, thanks to Uncle Creighton. Ironic that we now have the ultimate sports hook-up at our fingertips, and neither Jeff nor I care a lick about sports. However, I will have to say watching the game from the VIP suite was awesome. Admittedly I didn't watch much of the game, but I certainly enjoyed all of the free food. And Creighton moved Jeff and my grandfather courtside for the last half of the game, which was awesome for them.

Christmas was lovely. Everyone kept asking us if we were so excited about Emery's first Christmas. Well I love Christmas, but she had no idea what was going on. We enjoyed her on Christmas as much as we do every other day, and tried to keep her from eating too much wrapping paper. We kept it pretty low key for her present wise, since we knew she would get a lot from the families.

Christmas day night we drove to LA for a week with Jeff's family, and it was probably one of the best visits we've had there. Emery was a doll, aside from crying out several times a night and waking up mom. Thankfully we didn't continue the trend once we arrived back home.

During the month of December, my grandparents from Atlanta sold their house and bought a new one in MS. They've been in Atlanta thirty something years, and are now here with us. I know they miss their house and friends in Atlanta, but we are sure happy to have them here!!

Jeff hit the new year running with his new job, and I've been busy making up all the hours I took off for the holiday. I'm looking forward to vegging with my girl this weekend, after we get through hosting family night tonight. Baby girl is growing like a weed. We recently started solids, which I'm not too sure about because I swear she sleeps worse on nights she gets food. So far she's had cereal, squash, steamed carrots and a mashed banana. She loves everything so far, but I think the squash gave her a little rash on her cheeks. We went through a three or four night earlier this week where she had a hard time going down at night (which she never does) and woke up 2-3 times a night. She could be teething, but it seemed more like she was uncomfortable with her stomach. The child also pees like nothing I've ever seen, and since she is a stomach sleeper fills up her diaper by midnight. We're still trying to figure that one out, because I think that was one reason she was waking up. The good news is she has been taking longer naps - although I had to break down and swaddle her again to get her to do so. If I don't she just rolls around the crib and plays - I've watched her on the monitor for 45 minutes before. She's been sleeping between 12-13 hours a night, with a feed in there sometime between 5-6am. That works for me right now because I get to see her before I go to work. Right now daddy is in charge of morning duty - he gets her up, fed, dressed and to daycare. Emery LOVES her daddy - it is so cute to watch them together. She is still such a joy, and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives. What a gift!

I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas and happy new year!!

Just Pictures

2010-12-16T13:33:00.010-05:00

Ho Ho Ho

2010-12-02T08:36:00.007-05:00

I cannot believe the holidays are here already. We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house with my parents, sister and family, grandfather and cousin Shasta and her family. Shasta and I grew up down the street from each other in Alaska and spent most of our holidays together growing up, but this is the first time we've been together over the holidays in eight years. She and her family just moved from CA to New Orleans for a few years, so we are making the most of our time together while we can!

Dinner was fabulous with way too much food, as always. The table in the picture above was just appetizers and desserts. In true MS style, it was about 80 degrees on Thanksgiving Day, so we were all in tank tops and shorts. Miss Emery enjoyed her first Thanksgiving very much. She spent most of the meal in my lap gnawing on my napkin. She is defintitely starting to notice food, and will try to snag a spoon or fork when she can. I still plan to wait until 6 months to introduce solids a. Because she is not suffering AT ALL in the weight department and b. because I am in no hurry for my baby to grow up! I can't believe she will be six months old in January!! For those of you who have been through the baby food transition before - I am really wanting to try pureeing things we eat to give to her once we get past the initial introduction of solids. Has anyone done that, and if so when did you start?

Shasta and I braved the crowds the day after thanksgiving for our very first Black Friday venture. I'll have to say I was a little dissapointed. Of course neither of us were ready to get out at 5am, we waited until almost 7am. Shopping with my cousin was fun, but the sales were just not that great, although we did score some adorable hats for the kids. We also took the kids for their very first pictures with Santa. Emery was a champ, and even smiled for hers.

I have a confession to make - I've become a little obssessed with HSN and QVC. I believe if I had the $$ and stayed at home, I'd probably never venture out of my house to shop. I started out watching it when I was feeding her because it's low key and not loud, but they actually have some really neat stuff and good deals. Now if only they had a Home Shopping Outlet - then I'd really be in trouble. I have a hard time paying full price, even half price, for anything these days, since I know I can almost always find it at a better price at the outlets or Hudson's.

Life is very good right now - we both feel tremendously blessed this holiday season. Jeff has been busy busy with his new job. We finally caved and got internet at the house, so he's busy loading loan applications in the evenings after Emery does to bed. I'm loving this cooler weather and coming home to a house filled with christmas lights - this is my absolute favorite time of year!!

There was a little girl...

2010-11-15T09:17:00.003-05:00

There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.

Well Emery is certainly not horrid, but she has one lone curl on the top of her head that makes me think of this nursery rhyme every time I look at it. She looks just like the qewpie doll sometimes with her round little face and curl!

Cutest Cat in Town

2010-11-08T14:02:00.009-05:00

Emery was a lion for Halloween, thus the title of my blog post. Honestly I've never cared much for the Halloween holiday. I guess it's because I grew up in Alaska, and having to wear your snowsuit over your costume kind of takes the fun out of it all. But it was definitely more fun this year with a baby around.

Emery turned 4 months on Sunday, I can't even believe it. Where has the time gone?? You know I never thought I'd be one of "those" moms who had nothing to share but news about their baby, but here I am. Although really just on the blog - I promise if you talk to me in person I really don't say that much about her. I might stare at her the whole time, but I always remember my mom warning not to brag too much about your child because it will come back and bite you, so I try not to. Plus I get that unless you have kids yourself, most really just don't care about the intricacies of motherhood. I could listen all day to a mother share her stories and strategies for navigating infancy, but understand I am one of a rare few. I share on the blog because people have the option of not reading if they are not interested.

Oh how my life has changed in just a few short months!! Sometimes I wonder if I'm normal because I love her/motherhood/my new life so much. I've even had people say "You can be honest with me if it's been hard" and probably think I'm lying when I say I am being honest, I have honestly enjoyed every minute with her. Granted she is a great baby - something we can take NO credit for. And on the very rare occasion when she "really" cries because something is wrong, it absolutly breaks my heart and all I want to do is hold her close until she calms down and we both stop crying. We have only been on one date since she was born - not because we don't have people that will watch her, but because we just love being with her so much ourselves!! I guess since she's not talking or mobile yet, Jeff and I still feel like we get good quality time together even when she is around. We go walking together most evenings, and love staying in to watch a good movie. All in all we just feel tremendously blessed!! And I do let other people hold her..occasionally:) Seriously I will let anyone hold her if they ask, but don't expect me to offer because I love holding her myself!!

Here's an update on what's going on with our little princess, for anyone interested.

Save one bottle in the hospital, Emery has been on an exclusive diet of breastmilk up to this point. I think I'm still going to wait until 6 months to start solids unless my milk production slows down. She has definitely filled out - especially in the last month. We think she is around 14lbs right now, and close to 25 inches long. She goes in for her 4 month shots (which I am DREADING) in 2 weeks, so we will know for sure then. As far as personality goes - I hope she continues to be as laid back as she is now. For the most part she is pretty content wherever we set her unless she is tired or hungry. Yesterday we went on a 2 hour walk and she was happy as a clam in the sling up until the last 3 minutes because she was hungry. Hopefully she'll continue to love her walks and being outside, because that is something Jeff and I both enjoy.

She started moving to a 4 hour schedule last week, and is eating more at each feeding now (finally) after months of barely taking 2-3oz per feeding. Two nights ago she drank almost 8 ounces in her evening bottle! She typically goes to bed around 8/830 and is up between 5/6am for a feeding, then up between 630/700am for the day. She was sleeping until close to 8am, but with the time change she's been up at 630am the past 2 days, so we'll see if that sticks (I hope not!). She is probably old enough to cut out that 5am feeding, but most days I leave so early I would not get to see her if she didn't get up then, so I'm in no hurry to drop it.

She's been sleeping tightly swaddled up until the last week. I think we've successfully dropped the swaddle for all but our evening nap, but she still needs it at night. I left it off the other night, and she woke herself up several times flailing around in the middle of the night.

She is still doing great at daycare - aside from getting sick every other week the first month and a half. She is extremely social and loves to watch the other kids. She also does well with different people. She doesn't seem to mind strangers, or when my mom or sister pick her up from daycare.

Although she does smile a lot, she is also very serious and we have a hard time getting her smiles on camera. She started laughing about a month ago, but it's usually just one squeal at a time and not a consistent "giggle" yet. She also talks a lot - just like her daddy.

A month ago she started doing well with sleeping in my arms or in the sling when we're out and about. I don't know if it's because she is used to sleeping with a lot of noise at daycare, or is just a good sleeper in general, but I LOVE it. Not just the snuggling part, it also makes it so much easier going out if I know she can grab a catnap in the sling or in my arms. Although she normally takes 2 hour naps at home, if she can get 20-45 minutes on the go she is usually good as gold when she wakes up. They say around 4 months they start wanting to just sleep in their beds, so I am treasuring every second of this current phase. I wish she would nap more in her carseat when we are out and about, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

We are headed to New Orleans to meet our new baby cousin Caleb this weekend. All 4 of the grandgirls and five of their six babies will be united once again. I'm sure it's going to be a great albeit chaotic visit!!

I really hate whatever blogger has done with their photo upload, so there are just a few random pics at the top of the post. Hope everyone has a great week!

Just Pictures

2010-10-13T06:46:00.015-04:00

So Tempting....

2010-09-29T16:02:00.002-04:00

Lucky for Emery, green is not really her color.

Back to Reality

2010-09-15T14:30:00.017-04:00

Well it's back to reality for this mom. After ten weeks of pure joy and bliss, it's back to the daily grind. Thank goodness I love my job and the people I work with, or I don't think I could have made it through this transition. Leaving her for 9 hours a day is one of the hardest things I've ever done, even though I know she's being well cared for. Right now Jeff is taking her to daycare in the morning and I'm going in as early as possible (630 or 700am) so I can pick her up as early as possible. My boss is completely flexible, and doesn't care what hours I work so long as I get my work done. What a blessing that has been! As much as I would love to be a stay at home mom someday, working at this point in my life is probably best for all of us. I think I would be a lazy slob if I was at home all day. I had this long list of projects I wanted to accomplish during my leave and books I wanted to read and did I do any of it - nope. I laid around all day playing with my baby and watching reruns of Little House on the Prarie and Who's the Boss. How is that for productive:) I definitely function better with a little more structure in my life.

Did I cry my first day back at work though? Surprisingly no. I choked up a few times, but made it through without shedding any real tears. However, the same could not be said for the 4 days before the big day. I don't think I stopped crying from Thursday to Sunday. My new hormones are relentless when it comes to dealing with strong emotions. For example, when she had to get her 2 month shots - I started crying as soon as I got to the doctor's office and did not stop until we got back out to the car. I'm sure the people in the waiting room thought something was seriously wrong with my child. Emery, on the other hand, was a doll as usual, and only cried when they gave her the shots. I'm sure she was wondering what on earth was wrong with her mother. Oh yes, I am definitely turning into one of "those" moms.

So how is life with a baby you ask? I can't imagine it any other way at this point. I have truly loved and savored every minute of it. It certainly helps that she is such a good baby - we just love her to death! And athough we can't seem to figure out who she looks like just yet, she is starting to show personality traits of her daddy. She's been smiling since 4 weeks and talking up a storm since 8 weeks, much to my delight. She's a good sleeper and only cries when she is hungry, tired or gassy. And her cry is still so cute - if you even call it a cry. It's more like she's complaining.

When I wasn't catching up on reruns on leave, I was enjoying visiting with some of my favorite people. My mother-in-law came over for a week, my friend Courtney from Alaska came down for a week and my cousin Shasta stayed with us for a week on her way down to her new house in New Orleans. We took two trips over the break as well - a long weekend to DeRidder, LA to visit Jeff's family and a trip to New Orleans to visit my cousin. Emery did great both times, although she wasn't nearly as excited about eating beignets at the Cafe Du Monde as we were. In fact she was konked out on me the entire time!

Okay that's all for now, folks. Pictures below for anyone interested, ranging from week 6 - 10 of Emery's life.

Baby Love

2010-07-23T10:17:00.010-04:00

Jeff's mom has been here to help out this week, and she brought her computer with her, so I am squeezing in one more post before we are pcless once again.

Still loving being a mom. That's not to say we haven't had our challenges...learning to read and understand Emery Claire's cues and signals is a slow process. She really only cries when she is hungry, tired or gassy, but thus far the only cry I can distinguish for certain is her hungry cry. It's still a big guessing game with the others at this point, and as I'm sure most parents can relate, it is agonizing for me to sit and listen to her cry.

We took our little sailor on her inaugural boat ride this week. You can see in the pictures above that her lifevest was a tad bit too big, and I was laughing so hard at her I could hardly stand up. She was a good sport about it all though, hardly fussed at all, and ended up passing out in Mama Li's lap once we got underway.

Nursing is going okay, but it is still excruciating everytime she latches on. Her latch is not great, but she seems to be getting enough to eat, so we'll just keep working on it for now. I'm hoping once her little mouth gets a little bigger it will solve most of our problems.

We went on our first post baby date last night. I had a hard time finding something to wear - I'm afraid I'm going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe now! My stomach is still not back down yet, but it's my hips I am most worried about. I can't even get close to buttoning my pre-pregnancy pants. When I had a huge stomach, it wasn't as obvious that I'd grown in other areas. Now it's plain and clear. I told Jeff last night that I felt self conscious out without the baby. At least when she's with us, people see her and think oh she just had a baby. Without her I just look pudgy. I have not weighed myself since I had her, but I think my total pregnancy weight gain was 43lbs.

I think Jeff is enjoying this time as much as I am. It's so cute to watch him interact with her - he is such a good daddy already. It melts my heart to see them together!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Emery Claire Smith

2010-07-17T20:50:00.013-04:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. We don't have a computer at the house, and haven't exactly been out much this past week. I'm over at my neighbor's writing this update.

Emery Claire was born on 7.7.10 at 12:43am, and we are 100% head over heels in love with her already. I fully anticipated having to have an induction, when she didn't arrive on her due date despite our best efforts, but little miss had other plans. I woke up on Tuesday at 330am having contractions. They say you'll know when it's the real thing, but honestly I did not until about 5am. By the time Jeff rolled out of bed at 6am (we were both planning to go to work that day) I was pretty sure Emery was on her way.

We wanted to delay going to the hospital as long as possible, so waited until around noon when my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart before heading in. They were intense at that point, but not unbearable. However, my water broke as we were pulling into the hospital, and by the time I was admitted to the OBR things were starting to get very uncomfortable. I'd considered not getting an epidural depending on how far along I was, but when I found out I was only 2cm dialated said sign me up at around 230pm. However, because of staff shortages and the time it takes to get admitted, did not end up getting it until 530pm, and those last 3 hours were MISERABLE!! By that time my contractions were hitting every 1-2 minutes, and I was deathly afraid I wouldn't be able to sit still for the procedure. As scared as I was it ended up being fine, and I felt much better after the procedure.

We were so blessed to have Katie Rachel as our nurse for most of the afternoon/evening. She had worked the day before, and came in just to be our nurse. But at 9pm, despite the fact that I had been contracting regularly, I was only 4cm, so she had to hand us off thinking we wouldn't be delivering until 6am the next morning. My new nurse checked me at 10pm, and I was 6cm, so they were still thinking it would be awhile. Jeff and I had just settled down to get some rest when Emery's heart rate dropped to next to nothing. Before I could move the nurse was running in yelling for the doctor, and they had me rolled over onto my side with the oxygen on and were trying to reposition her to get her heart rate back up. I've never been so scared in my life...I seriously thought we were going to lose our baby right there. Both Jeff and I were crying, but after 5 or 6 minutes they were able to get her heart rate back up. Apparently in 30 minutes my labor had progressed so quickly that she wasn't able to tolerate it. At that point I was 8cm. They called my doctor (who had to arrange childcare and drive in from brandon to deliver me - LOVE her) and by the time she arrived at 11pm I was ready to go. We started pushing around 11:15pm, and out she popped at 12:45 am. And my infamous first words to my daughter - not anything sweet mind you. They were "She's HUGE!" And she was/is, at least for me, at 8.3lbs 21.5 inches. That would explain why she was stuck for 20 minutes. I won't lie - I do believe pushing her out was the hardest thing I've ever done. I had what is called a walking epidural - so I could feel all of the pressure and some pain. I could definitely feel that she was stuck. I thought I would never get her out, and I can't IMAGINE going through all of that without an epidural.

But as they always say, it was so worth it. She is such a little doll. We are both totally in love. She is sweet, sweet baby (except when she gets hungry!) and it already bringing us so much joy. We are just eating this sweet time up with her. Jeff is off this whole month, and we're spent the past week just bonding together as a family and watching lots of episodes of 24. Our SS class has hooked us up with meals, so we've been able to focus more on taking care of baby. It's been great! You know before I had her I'd heard people say they could sit and stare at their baby all day, and I always thought that sounded so ridiculous. But now I know what they mean - I really could stare at her all day long!!

Sorry if this is kind of running together - I'm trying to rush so we can get home for our next feeding. I'm not even going to try to label the pictures, but you can probably piece most of them together. The belly shot is the last one we took at 39 weeks and 5 days. As big as I thought my stomach was, now that she's out it's hard to believe she ever fit in there!!

That's all for now. Hope everyone is well! If I haven't returned your phone calls please forgive me - I haven't forgotten about you! Take care!

Waiting on Baby

2010-06-24T17:37:00.003-04:00

I can't believe that sometime in the next week or so, we're going to go to bed a couple and wake up as parents. Heaven help little Emery Claire!!

A friend of mine shot some maternity photos of us a few weeks ago - the first set of professional pictures we've had taken since our wedding. She put some of her favorites on her blog, which you can see below. And yes, my stomach is even bigger now:)

http://jennanassarphotography.blogspot.com/2010/06/courtney-jeff-baby-claire-maternity.html

I'm planning to work up until I deliver, so for now we're just waiting....

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

The Past 2 Months in Pictures

2010-06-03T09:08:00.013-04:00

And finally, 33 Week Belly Shots. I know you've been dying to see! Now I'm 35.5. weeks, and significantly bigger in my opinion.

Okay I have no idea what is up with Blogger and pictures. It's getting really annoying to try to post anything these days.

The top 2 pictures are from our Atlanta Shower on April 17, 2010.

Next one was our Supper Club Shower on April 24, 2010.

Next 2 were from my work shower on April 27, 2010.

Next 2 are from my Mississippi Shower on May 1, 2010.

Next 3 are from my birthday lunch on May 21, 2010.

And finally - she has a name - Emery Claire.

That's all for now!

Catch-Up

2010-05-12T16:40:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lag in posts. Between closing out my old job and learning the new, there has been little time for internet fun.

I am pleased to report that I LOVE my new job so far - everything about it. My coworkers, the work I'm doing and of course the Fridays off aren't bad either:)

We are 7.5 weeks and counting to Baby Claire's arrival - I can hardly believe it!! We've had 4 beautiful showers so far - one from our Atlanta friends, one from our Neighborhood Supper Club, one from my MS College girlfriends and one from my Performance Improvement coworkers. We have been absolutly blown away by the generosity of our friends and family - Baby Claire is spoiled already and she's not even here yet!! I will post pictures soon - no time today!!

We started childbirthing classes last week, and last night was our second session. Jeff has been extremely supportive and participative in this whole crazy process. Last night the instructor asked us what items we might want to have in hand in the car in case my water breaks at some inopportune moment. No one really said anything at first, until Jeff piped up with a very serious suggestion to bring "a compact mirror." I guess he thought if the water broke, the baby would be soon to follow, and the mirror would help guide the way!:) Needless to say we all had a good laugh about that. I also could not keep a straight face while we were doing the lamaze "he he he" breathing exercises. Leave it to me to be the one giggling on the front row while everyone else was trying to concentrate. Ha!

I had a little scare a few weeks ago after my last week in PI. I was up at the hospital at 8pm on a Friday night trying to wrap up some last minute details and happened to notice that my left foot was VERY swollen. I almost blew it off until I started reading on the internet that it could be a blood clot. I called the OBR unit (ER for preggo ladies) and they told me I needed to come down and get my leg dopplered to make sure there was nothing wrong. Jeff's parents were coming into town that night, and he was stuck at the house waiting on them, so my sweet friend Lauren insisted on coming to sit with me. I'm sure that's not how she'd planned to spend her Friday night, but she's an awesome friend like that. The OBR was not busy, but the tech was at home when I got there, so 2 hours later he finally showed up to look at my leg. Thankfully all was okay, but still scary nonetheless!

I guess those are the biggies for now. I'll try to update with pictures before too long!

Last Weekend

2010-04-15T14:54:00.003-04:00

Last weekend some of the girls hosted a baby shower for Marjo, our friend from Memphis, who is expecting Baby Joseph about 2 weeks before Baby Claire is due. It's always fun to talk to someone who is right there with you in this pregnancy whirlwind. Plus Marjo and I were suite-mates our Junior/Senior years of college - what fun we had back in the day! Good times and good memories!

I've had a few people comment that I look like I'm "glowing" this week, but those compliments were quickly dimished after another person commented that I looked like I was waddling. Seriously people, being pregnant is hard enough without all of these unhelpful "observations," even if they are true. But I honestly don't think I am waddling just yet - I just happened to be wearing one of my new pairs of shoes that day, and was trying not to get any blisters. You know some people look so glamorous when they are pregnant but me - not so much. I have these red veins (that look like pimples) all over my chest and arms and my veins in general are so dark on my chest, arms, stomach, etc that I look like some creature from the X Files in the right light. Not to mention all the craziness going on in my legs - which I don't believe will ever be the same. Let's just say spider veings galore, and I'm just hoping I can make it through all this with no varicose veins. Again, I know it's all worth it in the end, but if I could just go a week without some new patch of veins popping up, I'd be thrilled!!

Okay that's all for now. I should have lots of fun pictures to post next week after our visit to ATL this weekend.

Sincerely - Your freakishly veiny, waddling, glowing, very pregnant friend

Happy Easter and 27 Weeks

2010-04-05T10:03:00.003-04:00

Baby Claire is growing, growing, growing these days. I believe my stomach has tripled in size since my last belly shot at 20 weeks. It's a little scary to think I still have 13 weeks to go, but I know this is all part of baby and will be well worth it in the end.

Thankfully, despite my growing girth, I still feel good and haven't been too incapacitated by my size. I try to walk with my neighbor at least every other night, which surprisingly has gotten easier the past several weeks. I guess my body is finally getting used to all of the extra weight.

We had a lovely Easter with my family. Mom cooked a delicious ham, and we all enjoyed being together to celebrate. And to top it all off the weather was amazing - a perfectly beautiful day to celebrate Christ's victory over the grave.

I am loving the longer days and sunny weather. Being from Alaska, I always thought myself partial to cooler weather and snow. But in the south, everyone seems to hibernate from December - March, so I love seeing everyone out and about now that it's warmer. Plus, it's now light long enough to take the boat out in the evenings - which is one of our favorite summer activities. Baby Claire took her inaugural ride last night and I'm quite certain she enjoyed it just as much as her mom!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!!

In God We (Still) Trust

2010-03-31T13:04:00.012-04:00

We just returned from a long weekend in West Virginia visiting dear friends from Atlanta. We met Brian and Gina in 2003 through Sunday School, but grew close 3 years later when we unknowingly moved in right across the road from them in Marietta. We joke about the fact that we used to invite ourselves to dinner at their place on a regular basis but it's really no joke - we actually did:) We'd walk over to their house in the evenings, which was about a mile and a half from our house, and if they had dinner on the table, we were always welcome guests. Those were some fun times!

Anyways, Brian worked for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as a Handwriting Analyst up until last year, when he accepted a position with the FBI at Quantico. We were already in Mississippi when they packed up and moved to Fredericksburg, VA. They are renting an adorable little (literally) house in the heart of downtown Fredericksburg and absolutely loving it. I'll admit I was a little worried about being pregnant and only having one bathroom at the house, but we are all so laid back it was never an issue. Unfortunately I didn't think to take any pictures of their place, but it's probably close to 100 years old and super cute.

We flew in to Richmond late Thursday night, and were up bright and early Friday for a VIP tour of Quantico. Now if you know me at all, you know I'm slightly obsessed with all things forensic/FBI/etc, so touring Quantico was at the top of my list! Brian set us up with tours of the special projects lab, cryptology (crackings spy codes), and of course tour the lab where he works on footprints and tire tread impressions. Brian always trys to downplay the "coolness" of his job, but I'm not ashamed to brag about it myself. Quantico is a beautiful facility, and although it doesn't have all the CSI lighting effects, it does have some really cool stuff going on behind the scenes. I'm already prepping baby Claire for the possibility of a FBI or forensic profession down the road:)

Friday afternoon we bummed around downtown Fredericksburg - wandered in and out of toy and candy shops, and also toured the local historic Apothecary. Unfortunately the weather all weekend was less than desirable (freezing), and in true Smith form we did not bring the most appropriate attire. But we survived, I mean I am from Alaska, of all places.

Saturday was headed to DC to tour museums and catch the first day of the Cherry Blossom Festival. We started out with the Holocaust Museum and LOVED it. Very heavy material, but one of the best museums we've ever been to as far as lay out, displays and content. We spent nearly 3 hours touring the place. We then headed over to the Native American Museum, and did not enjoy that one so much. There was some good information there, but it was not very well laid out, which made it much harder to process. Plus they completely shortchanged the Upiks (Alaskan Eskimos) as far as exhibit size, so that really sealed the deal for me. We finished our museum tour at the Museum of Fine Arts. They had some great French Impressionist paintings, but was largely displaying very contemporary Modern Art, which I'm not crazy about. I don't care how you try to explain it to me, no one is every going to convince me that a piece of toast painted and mounted in a frame should be considered art. Sorry.

Sunday morning we enjoyed visiting Brian and Gina's church and spent the afternoon at the Marine Corps Museum - another must-see if you're in the area. It is a beautiful facility with plenty of great exhibits and materials to take in.

So you probably think we're total nerds for spending most of the weekend walking around museums - and you're right. I am an unashamed sucker for a good museum, and West Virginia has plenty to choose from. Thankfully our friends feel the same way:)

Travel time to and from Richmond was not bad at all either. We actually spent more time at the airports than in the air. And because Jackson and Richmond are both very small airports, we were able to print our boarding passes ahead of time and walk straight to the gates in less than 15 minutes. Crazy, right? We did have a layover in Atlanta both ways, and it's amazing how insanely busy that airport is! It stressed me out just passing through!

Here are some photos from the weekend.

Baby Claire's first glimpse of Quantico

Goofing off in Downtown Fredericksburg

The Apothecary Tour

On the metro

Baby Claire in DC

Baby Claire in front of the Capitol

Guess who is NOT winning at Domino's?

At the Marine Corps Museum

Thanks again Brian and Gina for a wonderfully fun and memorable weekend. We hope to see you guys back down here before too long!

Baby Update: We're calling her Baby Claire because her name is going to be "Something" Claire, we just haven't decided what yet. And at my 26 week appointment yesterday I've gained 22lbs. I'll be lucky to keep it under 60lbs by the end of 40 weeks! The crazy thing is I can still wear my old pants, with the rubber band trick of course, so most of the weight has to be in my belly. But I still feeling pretty big for 26 weeks. And last week I had my first experience with feet swelling/expanding. The shoes I wore to work Thursday tore up my feet, and when I got off the airplane Thursday night I had a huge indentation in my calves from my socks, and you could see the fluid build-up in my calves over that indentation. I should have taken a picture!!!

The biggest news of all is that I just accepted a new position here at the hospital - beginning in May I'll be a Sr. Marketing Specialist for the Office of Nursing Excellence. I know you all probably think I'm crazy for switching positions right before baby, but this was one of those opportunities I just couldn't pass up. Not only will I be able to tap into my creative juices once again and work with a great team of ladies, it's only 32 hours a week so I get every Friday off, have my own office AND will be making 7% more than I am in my current position working 40 hours a week. Almost sounds too good to be true, right! That's what I thought until I had the official "offer" in my hand, which is why most of you are just hearing about this for the first time. Bottom line - God is good and faithful as always!! I am thrilled and feel immensely blessed with this new position, and I'm sure you'll be hearing much more about it in coming months.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!!

Catch-Up

2010-03-18T13:35:00.006-04:00

No belly shots this week - sorry. Will hopefully get to that next week. But she/we are definitely growing. I was up to 16lbs at my 22wk doctor visit, and am certain will be well over 20lbs at my 26 week visit.

Nothing terribly exciting to report this week. We've been staying busy with friends and family on the weekends, and have been enjoying the longer evenings post daylight savings time this week.

Three weeks ago my old neighbor from Atlanta and her sister stayed the night with us on their way to Louisiana. We used to see each other all the time back in the day - her daughter had her own toys at our house and everything. Next month we're headed to Atlanta for a long weekend and look forward to getting some more time in with her then. Apparently I still have kind of a reputation with her daughter, though. Last time we went to Atlanta something happened, and Jenny threatened to "tell Courtney" about it. Her normally spunky daughter immediately started begging "Please don't tell Ms. Courtney!!" I laughed when she told me the story, although I'm not really sure what that says about me and kids:)

Two weeks a good friend stayed the night with us, and I also got to watch my nephew for most of the day Saturday. Isn't he a doll?

Last weekend my niece spent the night with us Saturday night. We've kept her before, but never overnight, and boy was she excited:) She came loaded down with a trunkfull of dolls, pillows and Twilight posters for her "room." It was really cute. My parents ended up coming over for some homeade bbque chicken pizza later that night, and I was SHOCKED when my mom stayed to watch Twilight with Paige and me. We all piled up in the bed, and Paige painted my toenails all sorts of crazy. It was definitely a fun girly night!

Fat Tuesday and 20 Weeks

2010-02-16T14:16:00.007-05:00

I am now officially halfway there, and baby girl is beginning to make herself more and more known these days. I really think my stomach has doubled in size since the last picture (thus making Fat Tuesday an appropriate description for way I feel today), and I felt her kick for the first time on Superbowl Sunday. She must be a Saints fan, right:)

Our sonogram appointment was amazing. I know everyone says this, but it's just so unbelievable to see glimpses of this little person growing inside of you. Seeing her for the first time really makes this whole thing seem real. Not that it wasn't real before, but now "it" is a "she," and "she" has a face, and really cute hands. Isn't life amazing??

It will be neat to tell our daughter one day that the great blizzard of Mississippi (and most of the south) blew in on the eve of her sonogram. Although this snow is nothing compared to Alaska, it's was still beautiful to behold. Although I did not get to fully appreciate it because of work. Yes, the city shut down, but alas a hospital never closes. It's one of the things I love (and sometimes hate) about my job.

Our House

The Backyard and Scout (who didn't care much for the cold snow)

Front of our neighborhood

We had a wonderful, relaxing Valentine's this year (at least I did). All I wanted from Jeff was one of his gourmet dinners, which he expertly prepared as always. But he also took the afternoon to finish up some lingering jobs around the house while I dozed and watched cheesy Valentine movies on the Hallmark Channel. I know these lazy afternoons will be few and far between post kids, so I'm soaking them up while I can!!

Several of you have asked for a Scout update, and we've had to make the hard decision to give him up. A coworker of mine is actually coming to get him for a test run today. I've gone back and forth with this decision over the past month or so, but everytime I start to feel really guilty about giving him up, he has a Peefest in his crate, or he and Allie get into it, or he poops in his crate 2 times like he did this past weekend. Bottom line he needs more attention than we can give him right now, and if now is not enough, I can't imagine what will happen once the baby comes. I feel really good about the girl who is adopting him - he will be an only dog and absolutly spoiled rotten it seems. I am just praying his crate issues will resolve once he's getting the attention he needs. And our other dog Allie - well I don't think she'll be crying one bit over his departure. She is such a good dog, and has been sorely neglected since her attention hog brother moved in.

I guess that's all for now! Happy Tuesday!

It's a .....

2010-02-12T10:07:00.002-05:00

GIRL!!

We are thrilled!

I've had a strong sense it was a girl since about week 12, but didn't want to publicly favor one over the other, in the off chance my intuition was wrong.

We're still working on a name, so stay tuned.

My stomach really popped out this week...I'll try to post pictures again next week. I'm still carrying her really low because of my long torso - which is why so many thought I was having a boy.

In other news - I drove to work in a blizzard this morning. They shut down the city, including the state offices, but a hospital never closes.

Happy Friday!!

Baby Bump - 18.5 Weeks

2010-02-05T12:10:00.005-05:00

Everyone has been asking whether or not I'm "showing" yet, so I figured I'd post a picture..albeit a really terrible one. I do have a little bump, but mainly just feel like I've put a few lbs here and there all over. That is unfortunately how my body distributes weight, and pregnancy doesn't seem to have altered that much. It looks like a cute little bump in this picture, but in my bare belly shot, which I opted not to post this week, it really looks more like a beer gut. Because I have such a long torso, I'm afraid it's going to take quite some time for my stomach to round out nicely under my ribcage.

I can pretty much guarantee that all of those extra 11lbs have come from all of the soda I've been drinking lately because eating is still uncomfortable for me at this point. I no longer have the nausea to contend with, now it's just an achiness that sets in right after I eat a meal. I was annoyed to find out yesterday that Barq's root beer, which has been my drink of choice the past several weeks, does in fact have caffeine in it. I realize some caffeine is okay during pregnancy, but I've had no cravings or desire for it since week 6, so figured I'd play it safe and avoid it completely. That being said, it bugs me to no end that I've been unknowingly consuming it daily for weeks now.

This is a gratuitous shot of the amaryllis my dad got me for christmas. Somehow I managed to coax it from a bulb into a beautiful flower.

I had to post this picture of our new bedroom digs. You see last weekend my wonderful husband went shopping with me for a new duvet set. The older I get the less I enjoy shopping, so these trips are few and far between. But I guess I'm going through the nesting phase right now and wanting our house completely put together in order, thus the trip out. Long story made short, after 5 hours visiting 5 different stores and making multiple trips back to the house to try out potentials, we ended up sticking with our current bedding set and just adding the grey quilt, grey pillows and curtains. I'm not one to spend extra $$ when I can make what we have work. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the new look to the room, even though it's kind of roughly thrown together in this picture. The curtains add the perfect flair to me, and also darken the room nicely in the mornings. Eventually we plan to sell our armoire, which is currently just serving as a tv holder/dust collector, and will use the extra space for a glider. I've always wanted a sitting area in the master bedroom, and although our room isn't big enough for much, with the armoire gone we can at least squeeze in a chair.

That's all for now, friends! Looking forward to the weekend and sleeping in a bit!

Demonstrated Faith

2010-01-28T14:09:00.006-05:00

This is something Jeff and I hope to really focus on in 2010.

Marriage, and now motherhood, have both challenged my faith in ways I never anticipated. Sure it’s easy to say I trust God is going to take care of us. That’s the correct Christian response, right? But I am ashamed to admit that more often than not, I am not really demonstrating that faith. For example, in regards to this whole baby thing, for years we’ve claimed to trust that God was going to take care of us when we had kids. BUT we were not going to have kids until this, this and this happened. Now what kind of faith is that? God I trust you to take care of me, but just in case you forget or something, this is what we’re doing on our end. After three years of this, we finally became convicted that we really weren’t living in faith, handed over the reins and voila, the countdown to baby has begun.

Now does this mean we’re going to sit back and let the dice fall as they may on everything…..of course not. As much as I want to be faithful, I have no desire to be foolish about things. But in this particular area of our lives, control was the one thing we needed to give up.

And guess what? Yes we got pregnant about 6 months sooner than we anticipated (not complaining, just stating the facts). But we’re also slated to get more back on our tax return than we’d figured, and Jeff made a nice commission check in January for the first time in 2 years, so at the end of the day we’re really not that far off from where we’d hoped to be before we even started trying for baby. Just another example of God's faithfulness to us, even though we can't always say the same about ours to Him.

So that’s my goal for 2010 – not just speaking to my faith, but demonstrating it in every area of my life. We have some big changes, and with it big decisions, coming up in 2010, and I don’t want to lose perspective on who’s really in control of it all.

In other news, I had my 3rd doctor’s appointment today – I’ll be 18 weeks on Sunday. For those of you who see me on a regular basis, can you believe I’ve gained 9lbs since my last appointment 6 weeks ago? I’m still trying to figure out where it all went, because my stomach is not THAT big yet. Although I am sure Jeff has some insight into this mystery that is not appropriate for discussion on a public blog:)

This puts me at 11lbs total for pregnancy weight gain so far, and since I didn’t gain much the first trimester, I’m about where I’m supposed to be at this point. It’s also hard to believe that I was about 5lbs heavier than what I am now (123lbs) when Jeff and I first met. Good thing he fell in love with me when there was a little more to love, because there’s no guarantee it will all come back off after baby!! I opted out of the Quad Blood test screening today, which tests for chromosomal abnormalities. If we’re blessed with a special baby we’re not planning on doing anything about it pre-delivery, so I don’t see a need to add that unnecessary stress to mix right now. Worst case scenario I’m 5 months behind reading up on a condition or something.

We find out the sex of the baby on 2/11 (can’t wait!!) and I promise I will post belly shots soon, since I am finally starting to look pregnant and not just chubby. I’ve been blessed with some very generous maternity clothes donations from friends and family, so I haven’t had to buy anything yet. I’m still wearing my old casual pants (unbuttoned of course), but will have to invest in some new work pants soon because I’m down to only 2 pairs that fit. Yes, I am the gross girl right that wears her dry clean only black pants multiple days in a row. But I do take them off as soon as I get home…

Last night, when I was out walking with a neighbor and dad was on doggie duty, Scout decided he was going to pee up the house. Although he has not had an “accident” in quite some time, he frequently pees in his crate, which is almost more annoying to me. Last night I don’t know what the heck happened. There was a river down the hallway, through the kitchen, down the middle of the carpet in the living room, and then later I discovered he’d peed all over his pillow in the bathroom too. And I’m not talking about little drips of pee people, imagine taking a squeeze water bottle and squirting it in a zig zag fashion down the hall - that’s we’re dealing with. The dog hardly drinks anything, as far as I can tell, but somehow generates more pee than a 9 month pregnant woman. Anyway, I was pretty upset last night. For weeks now I’ve been contemplating the thought of trying to find Scout another home before the baby comes (I know I know, I am a horrible mother), but now that I’ve calmed down am not feeling as strongly about that decision as I was last night. I’ve been cleaning his crate with ammonia/windex, and apparently that may be causing him to continue peeing in it because of the smell, so I’m going to stick with straight up bleach and see if that helps. If he continues peeing in the house, I will take him to the vet to see if he has a bladder infection, but he’s been peeing in his crate for months, so I know that’s not causing that. He is a sweet, sweet dog (loves to snuggle when he settles down), but I’m just not sure our home is the optimal environment for him. I can’t leave him outside for long periods of time because he chews (yard furniture, sprinkler heads, to name a few) which means he’s crated most of the day when we’re at work. I adopted him in the hopes that he and our other dog, Allie, would become friends, but so far that hasn’t really been the case. Allie has about 5 years on him, and she’s really not interested in playing much these days. I keep praying he’ll settle down now that he’s almost 2, but so far that really hasn’t happened either. He does much better energy-wise when he’s not crated all day, so I was going to wait until after the baby to make a final decision because I’d be home with him all day. But if he continues this peefest that may not be an option. I just can’t fathom myself 9 months pregnant rooting around in his crate for pee soaked blankets 3 times a week. Jeff helps when he can, but I’m usually home well over an hour before him and you know I can’t leave his pee-soaked stinky crate untouched that long. If anyone wants to weigh in on this situation, I am completely open to suggestions. Again, I feel like a horrible mother, but I just don’t know that I can handle the stress of Scout right now. Plus I feel like all he hears is “No,” “Get on your bed” and “Go potty” these days. At a time when I feel like I need to stay calm and really focus on my patience level, mine is tested every minute I’m with him. I’m praying for a miracle, but trying to be realistic about the situation as well. I want what’s best for both of us. I know some would say if you can’t handle a dog, how do you expect to handle a kid, but from my perspective, I don’t want my dog taking away from my kid when the time comes, if that makes sense.

Okay sorry for the super-long paragraph there…didn’t mean to ramble on so much there. If a little (or a lot) of pee is my biggest worry right now, I figure I’m faring pretty well, and hope the same can be said for you my friends (minus the pee).

Updated Hypothesis: Okay so I was thinking more about the peeing situation, and realized I recently started cleaning my hard floors with windex too. I'm wondering if the whole ammonia scent is causing him confusion. Although that doesn't explain the carpet and the pillow, except that maybe once he starts he can't stop. So I'm going to clean his crate soley with bleach, and go back to straight alcohol for the floors (it really works, and is much cheaper than all the other cleaning stuff) and see if that makes a difference. Cross your fingers!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-08T13:38:00.029-05:00

Annual Christmas Party with the Girls

Christmas with the Smiths 2009 - Our (all but one year) annual Christmas Party.

Brant the Waffle King

The Wrapping Game

December Supper Club

One Jolly Group

Santa loves Smores

Gingerbread House (failed) attempts

Christmas Day - My grandparents, Herman and Willene's, 60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

They didn't have a wedding cake the first time around...they got married in a house with only a few witnesses.

The family minus Dad (hunting) and Marshal (sleeping)

Christmas with the Louisiana Smiths- Double Trouble

Not sure all of those presents are for him, but he enjoyed opening them!

7 Kids + 8 adults = Lots of presents

Sister in law Sarah - Due 1 week before me

Freezing our butts off/enjoying the bonfire

Goodbye Party for the Looney's, our friends from Atlanta we reconnected with in MS.

The Girls from our Newlyweds Ridgecrest Baptist SS Class. Technically we are no longer newlyweds, but they let us hang around anyway:)

And finally, a little Marshal cuteness.

Hope everyone had as much fun this Christmas as we did!!

One for the Road

2009-12-31T13:45:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone's christmas holiday was as full and fun as ours. The nauseau, although not gone completely, has gotten progressively better as long as I don't "overdo" it. Despite all, we managed to host 2 holiday parties and a good-bye party, attend 2 other christmas parties and enjoy christmas celebrations with both our family here in MS and LA. Christmas day also marked my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary, which we celebrated with a feast fit for kings. They (my grandparents) are such an inspiration to me. They've been married twice as long as I've been alive! Quite an accomplishment in this day and age, I might add.

As wonderful as this holiday season was, it was still bittersweet as we remembered our loved ones we lost in 2009: Both of Jeff's grandparents on the Smith side, his great grandmother and my grandmother from Alaska. Thankfully we both have many wonderful christmas memories with our lost loved ones to keep us going.

I left my camera at home, so no pictures until next week. But I had to share with you a very funny thing that happened on the way home from Louisiana Tuesday night.

We stopped at a Popeye's in Leesville to pick up dinner around 5:30 PM. Jeff and I are at the counter waiting for our order, which was taking forever, so he hands me the keys and says he'll bring the food out if I want to wait in the car. Keep in mind that I am greasy from traveling, and all bundled up in my peacoat and scarf. Not cute at all.

I get about halfway to my car and hear someone calling "Excuse me maam" from behind. I turn around and realize it is the guy who had been standing behind us in line at the restaurant. I'll have to say the first thing that ran through my head was he was going to ask for $$, so I warily turned around to give him my attention. In hindsight I realize that might not have been the smartest move, but there were several cars in the drive through right next to me, so I figured if he tried to kidnap me or something, one of them would jump out to help.

So I'm standing there, slightly distracted by the moon reflecting off of his 15 gold teeth, and he says:

"I don't mean to be rude, but I happened to notice that you just left a good-looking man like myself standing in the lobby, and I was wondering if you'd like to get better aquainted."

At this point I realize am staring at him somewhat dumbfoundedly. Seriously, I mean SERIOUSLY. I just left my 6'5" husband standing in the lobby, and you're asking if I want to hook up with you?

But of course, of all the things I should have said, "No thanks" was all that popped out as I turned and scooted to the car and locked the door. No thanks, as in no thanks, I don't want an extra cookie. Or no thanks, I don't want to buy any candy from your charity. Should have been more like He@# no you DUMBA@#. And you better get away from me before my gladiator sized husband comes out here and knocks all of those gold teeth right out of your head. Ugghh, no thanks. What a waste of words.

So that, my friends, was my pick-up story for the books. Pregnant and hit on in Leesville, LA, right under my husband's nose. And I know you're all wondering Jeff's reaction. I actually waited until we were about 2 miles from the restaurant to say anything, because I was afraid he would go back and try to kill the guy. Fortunately he thought it was just as funny and ridiculous as I did, and we laughed about it all the way out of town.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!!

All Worth It

2009-12-07T15:39:00.012-05:00

For any of my pre-children/pregnant friends I might have scared with my previous post, here's one to show you that it's all worth it in the end.

My nephew, Marshal Jude Boatman, was born last night after 12 hours of labor, which included 2 hours of pushing. Apparently he heard the word C-Section and decided he'd save them the trouble, finally making his appearance around 10pm. He weighed in at 7lbs11oz and is as cute as a button, even with his little conehead (they really had to use the vaccuum/suction machine to get him out). We already know one thing about the little guy - he likes to take his time. Despite family history (my mom delivered all 3 of us 2 weeks early), he waited until his exact due date to arrive, then another 12 hours after mom's water broke to make his grand appearance.

Epidurals are GREAT Lana says!!

Proud pappa and his support

Beautiful, beautiful boy

Family shot - terrible picture of Paige, but the only one I had. Keep in mind it was close to 11pm by this time.

Proud Big Sister

My sister had a great attitude about everything...pregnancy, labor and delivery. I'm so proud of her!! She's leaving me some big shoes to fill in about 7 months.

Here are a few shots from earlier this month. This is a picture of all the Smith kids and grandkids at Jeff's grandfather's funeral. Amy and Eric are the couple to the left, and 6 of the 7 kids pictured belong to them- from oldest to youngest: David, Katherine, Deborah and Ellen (twins), Benjamin and Issac. Justin and Sarah are to our right, and they have the little girl in the hat, Cheyenne, and are expecting another one just 2 weeks before us. Fun times! We can't wait to see everyone again at christmas!

This is what we woke up to Saturday morning

Up the street

Our little "Circle"

Maybe we won't just be dreaming of a White Christmas this year!!

You Know You're Pregnant When

2009-12-03T17:23:00.002-05:00

**Warning this post is not for anyone with a queasy stomach!!

You eat almost a pack of saltine crackers a day.

You try not to drink anything past 7pm, yet still have to get up no less than 3 times a night to pee.

You can walk directly from the toilet in the bathroom where you lost most of your lunch back to the table where you were eating said lunch and immediately pick back up where you left off.

You realize at 9 weeks that you’re not “showing yet,” but can’t stand anything on your stomach, so as a result walk around with your pants unzipped and unbuttoned all day.

You have no appetite and nothing sounds good, but have to eat to keep from getting too hungry and puking.

You have to ask your friend carpooling with you if it’s okay to stop and puke in a parking lot on the way home, or if it’s okay to come in and puke in her bathroom before heading on down the road. (Love ya Lauren!)

You feel the need to announce in the public bathroom that you’re pregnant, not sick, when you’re forced to puke when there are other people around.

You have to eat breakfast 3 times some days because the first two wouldn’t stay down.

You can’t talk on the cellphone in the car without getting sick. Really, you can’t drive more than 15 minutes without getting sick.

You actually stop to think about whether or not something will taste too bad coming back up before you eat it.

You’ve puked so much that you’d rather puke outside, than in a toilet. Less messy.

Isn’t pregnancy grand:)

Truly, I don’t mean to complain. It is what it is, and women have been giving birth for thousands of years. I’m just hoping my second trimester will run a little more smoothly. Honestly though, before I got pregnant, I was terrified of being sick all the time. Turns out I had reason to be, because I have been sick a lot, but you know what? It’s not as bad as I’d imagined, or at least I’m better equipped to deal with it than I thought. I still hate throwing up, but now that it’s part of a means to an end, it’s a little easier to deal with.

For the first 2 weeks I obsessed about throwing up, and would get all worked up when I did. Now, I just kind of go with the flow. There’s really no rhyme or reason to it at this point, so when I feel it coming on, I just do it. If I’m not at a place where I can lay down until the nausea subsides, it’s better just to get it over with instead of waiting and getting all upset and worked up, then racing to the bathroom with my hand over my mouth.

However, although I have been nauseous A LOT, it does appear I might possibly have contracted the stomach flu 2 times this past month. I was highly susceptible to the virus before, and am apparently even moreso pregnant. For most people, myself included, puking 15 times in one evening is not a normal part of pregnancy. I just feel terrible because I’ve come to work both times thinking it was just the baby. That’s the hard part about pregnancy, it’s hard to tell if you’re really sick or just pregnant.

And the upside of all of this – if you would call it that, getting to veg on the couch and watch episodes of Bones every evening until bedtime. And having your husband be super sweet to you because he feels so bad that you feel so bad. And since this is my favorite time of year, I have had ample time already to FULLY appreciate our Charlie Brown Christmas tree and gas fireplace this season from my perch on the couch.

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Life's a Beach!

2009-11-24T11:33:00.038-05:00

I apologize it's taken me 3 weeks to post pictures from our vacation of a lifetime. Normally it would be due to pure laziness on my part, but this time I actually have a pretty good excuse. If you haven't already heard Jeff and I will be expanding our ranks this summer, on 7/5/09 to be exact. Yes, you heard right, we're pregnant...or I am at least. Surprised?? We were a little too, but now we're nothing short of excited. And if I can just get through the nauseau/vomiting/all day miserable feeling of the first trimester, I'll really be golden. For the past 2 weeks most of my focus has been on not puking. Here is the current routine: 1. Get to work without puking 2. Get situated at my desk without puking 3. Get as much work done as possible without puking 4. Get back home without puking 4. Eat dinner, walk and go to bed (without puking). Some days I am successful, but it's still a big guessing game as to what sets the peaunut off at this point. And yes I did get some medicine last week, thank goodness, but it only worked really well for about 3 days. It's definitely still helping some, but I spent a large part of my day yesterday green at my desk, so unfortunately it's not a sure fix.

Anyway, we found out our exciting news the very day we left for our dream vacation. I took a test that morning "just to be safe," and voila! There is nothing romantic or sweet to report about my delivery of the news to Jeff either. I essentially crawled back into bed (at 6:30am in the morning, mind you) and stuck the "pee stick," as he calls it, in his face. Sweet right:) Part of the shock factor is due to the fact that although we were planning to start "trying" on our vacation, neither of us ever imagined it would happen this quickly. Don't get me wrong, we are NOT complaining. But it did take a few days for the "I can't believe we're actually pregnant!" shock to wear off. And if you ever need proof that it only takes one time of not being "careful" to get pregnant, well here you go. Enough said!

Okay onto our dream vacation - which by the way it really was just that. Thankfully I was only 5 weeks pregnant during the trip, and the sickness did not set in until the day we got back (week 6).

The flight to Miami was quite uneventful. We met up with our friends Amy and Michael on the rental car shuttle at the airport. You'd think transporting 4 adults, 2 kids and all of the associated gear would have been a real hassle, but it really wasn't that bad once we met up. Aside from the 1.5 hour wait at the rental car shop, everything else was a breeze.

It took us much longer than the 3 hours we'd anticipated to get to Key West. I think it took almost an hour just to get out of Miami. I was a little dissapointed with the drive (and very glad I didn't insist we drive the entire way). The pictures I've always had in my head of the Keys is of white sandy beaches and palm trees billowing in the wind - a tropical paradise. The real Keys is nothing like that. Oh the turqoise water is beautiful, but there are virtually no beaches, and the towns we drove through were all pretty dumpy, for lack of a better word. But it was still fun, and I'm glad we did it the way that we did.

Unbeknownst to us, we scheduled our arrival to Key West during the culmination of Fantasy Fest, which is a week long party somewhere between Mardi Gras and the Gay Pride Parade. We saw some pretty racy costumes leaving the grocery store that evening, but by the time we made it downtown, were seeing things I never want to see again. To be blunt - NAKED.PEOPLE.EVERYWHERE. I guess in Key West body paint is considered a form of clothing. Anyway, it was 9:30pm at this point, and we had a carful of groceries and 2 kids needing to go to bed. Come to find out, they shut all of the streets down on the island for the parade until midnight, so despite our best efforts we could not get to the hotel where the ferry was waiting to take us to the island. Obviously we couldn't wait until midnight with the kids, so we quickly came up with plan B. The boys drove us as close as they could to the hotel, loaded the stroller down with as many of the perishable groceries as we could fit, and Amy, Dawson, Bryce and I braved the masses to walk the last 12 blocks to the hotel/ferry. We got lots of nasty stares from all of the naked people, but managed to make it to the ferry unscathed. The picture below is a very tame example of what we saw. And the straps on that lady...if you look closely you can see they were painted on. So that was the most exciting thing that happened on our trip. The day we were leaving Jeff had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic he'd been on, and had red welts all over his body for 3 days. We figured if anyone asked, we'd just tell them he'd has a reaction to the body paint:)

The rest of the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. We stuck close to the island all week because it was essentially empty, and truly it's own little tropical paradise. It looked like what I thought the rest of the Keys would. We enjoyed beautiful sunsets, lazy afternoons on the beach, and lots of good food and fun with our friends. It was truly a week to remember! We drove back to Miami the last night of the trip, and met up with one of my old friends from Alaska, and her husband. A great way to end a great week!

Next Week

2009-10-28T13:35:00.003-04:00

In approximately 2 days and 18 hours we will be on an airplane headed here for an entire week. Words cannot come even close to expressing how unbelievably excited I am about this trip, so we'll suffice it to say I am really, really excited.

If you need me next week, my apologies. I'll either be on the beach or at the pool eating popsicles, reading books, playing in the ocean and having an all-around fabulous time. I don't mean to rub it in but hey, these types of trips don't happen very often. In our case, never. And we wouldn't be going on this one were it not for the generosity of some of our very awesome friends, who we can't wait to hang out with next week. Like I always say - Good Friends + Good Food = Good Times!! It doesn't get any better than that.

So please pray for safe travels and lots of sunshine. We're all flying into Miami and driving to Key West. I tried to talk Mr. Big Jeff into driving, but he heard 18 hours one way and quickly vetoed that idea. So flying we are, which is ok with me. Flying = more skymiles, which = more trips later on.

We also have an awesome couple from our SS class house sitting for us while we're away. The only problem with this set-up is it means I really have to clean up before we leave. I always try to clean things up before a trip, but I find myself dragging my feet knowing that I have to clean this time. And do you think I've started packing yet - of course not. In fact I haven't even thought about it yet, except to think about the fact that I haven't thought about it, and then just to put it off another day. I did put together a menu and grocery list this morning, since we'll be cooking most of our meals in - and dining on the upper deck with a panoramic view of Key West I might add. Gotta hate that.

So Aloha for now friends (that means hello and goodbye in Hawaiian). Catch ya in a few!

Babycakes

2009-10-12T17:32:00.013-04:00

I thought I found my calling last week. I had the best time making these cute cupcakes for my sister's shower.

Here is a close-up so you can fully appreciate the cuteness of these things. Although I take full credit for the craftsmanship, I give full credit for the cuteness to my husband. Let's just suffice it to say my first round of babyfaces didn't really look like babyfaces.

This picture disturbs me just a little bit.

Anyway, back to my new calling. I had a blast making the cupcakes. But then I figured up that it took me about 5 hours, from start to finish (this includes making both the fondant and buttercream icing, desiging the faces, then baking and decorating the cupcakes) to complete this project. If I charged $30 for 24 super cute cupcakes, minus $5 in supplies, I'd be earning a whopping $6 an hour for these things. Now if I didn't have to make all of the icings, or could do several batches at once, it might be worth it as a side endeavor. But until I become more efficient, or grow another set of hands, I'm afraid cupcake decorating is not in my future.

The glowing mother-to-be demonstrating the art of slinging - thanks for the idea, Amy!

Sisters - isn't she absolutely glowing? Pregnancy really does become her. She's leaving me some big shoes to fill when my time comes...

I've had many people ask me if I find it weird/akward/strange that my baby sister got pregnant before me. To be honest about it - yes it was in the beginning, just a little bit. I mean she IS my BABY sister. How could she possibly get through this without me forging ahead of her to pave the way?? Never mind that millions of women have been through this before her and survived:) But I quickly got over my fears, and also my secret but brief dissapointment that we lost our last chance at having the first biological grandkid on either side. I was able to let go of my recovering type A personality have to be #1 at everything because none of that is important. It doesn't matter how far down the list you are, or who goes about it first. What matters is enjoying every step of the journey, no matter who goes ahead before you, and also the people you meet along the way. In 2 months I am going to be a doting aunt, and my sister is going to be a fantastic mother - again. So I am genuine when I say I am thrilled for her, and can't wait to be a part of this new chapter of her life. We are so blessed!

We had our monthly supper club Sunday night, a rockin cajun fest complete with boudan sausage and jazz music. What a fun group!

I hope that face means Hank is really enjoying the garlic cheese bread I made (A favorite Pioneer Woman Recipe).

This past weekend it was cool enough to pull out my hat. Scout was really excited about it too, can't you tell. And Saturday I slept until 10:30 AM and Jeff slept until 2:30PM, can you believe it? That only happens on days when it's raining and we have nothing to do, which is about once every 3 years. I probably could have slept until 2:30PM as well, but my recovering type A personality isn't there just yet. Instead I moved to the couch, sipped coffee, munched on crepes and read my book. A GREAT way to spend a rainy Saturday.

Hope everyone has a great week!

The Daily Trudge

2009-10-07T14:50:00.007-04:00

I've tried very hard to be positive about my work situation this year. Working for the state, is, well, working for the state. But there are many advantages to this position. For example, I get almost as many federal holidays as my husband, who works for a bank. My hours are 8:00am-4:30pm, although in my case it's more like 8:15am-5:00pm. But come 4:31pm I am typically the last person left in the office, so technically if I wasn't such a goodie-goodie I could leave at 4:30pm with everyone else. And I think I get paid relatively well, considering what I do, although some might beg to differ.

But no matter how positive I try to be about my current job situation, I CANNOT bring myself to find anything good to say about the daily trudge to my car and back. I've even included a photo below so you can see for yourself I am not exaggerating when I say it takes me at least 10 minutes to get from my car to my office. And that's only when the weather is good and I'm wearing an outfit that allows me to walk really really fast. When it's 150 degrees outside, or raining, you can add an extra 2-5 minutes to said commute. In the dead of the winter, there are some days I'm able to cut it to 9 minutes, but even on my fastest days that is as good as it gets. Anything below that would require an actual sprint, which is hard to do in high heels and dry clean only clothes.

View from the roof of my car to the FRONT of the hospital (Note my office is in the BACK of the hospital)

Now the hospital does offer a shuttle service, but honestly, by the time they pick you up, and then pick everyone else in the parking lot up, you'd have been better off walking. When I tear into the parking lot at 8:05am, I cannot afford to spend 13 minutes on the shuttle when I know I can hoof it in 10. My (recovering) Type A personality simply will not support that level of inefficiency:)

My point in saying all of this is to explain why, on days like today, I really have a hard time finding anything positive to say about work.

Because this means that today, I am going to wet, potentially really wet, before I even set foot in the building. And for someone who is always freezing, even on a normal day, that is almost enough to make me turn around and head straight for the house, and in turn my warm, comfortable bed.

Even this beautiful umbrella that I got from my sister-in-law last christmas doesn't cut it when the rain starts blowing sideways, and the water in the stadium gets deeper by the minute. And to top it all off, we park in a stadium, and tailgaiting is like a religion around here. So for weeks after a game, there is garbage, and tons and tons of chicken leg bones, floating around when it rains. It's like a freaking chicken cemetary. I can hardly stand the sight (or smell) of it now, I have no idea how I'll handle it when I'm pregnant. But that is another story for another day.

One day last month it rained so hard we were all drenched/soaked/completely saturated from the WAIST down by the time we got to the office. Not just our shoes and socks folks, but EVERYTHING from the waist down. And of course our office is always freezing, so on that particular day we all sat shivering at our cubicles until some kind soul brought us a hairdryer to help with the drying process. It was possibly my worst day of work to date. Joint Commission visit - no problem. Complete clothing saturation before 8:30am - it's all over. Since the "prime" parking spots are assigned based on your tenure, I can look forward to at least 10 more years of hoofing it (if I stay that long) before securing a place in the garage.

Now I know what you are all thinking, that the cold shouldn't bother me because I'm from Alaska. Well let me tell you about that - in AK, save the rare 80 degree days in the summer, it's almost always warmer inside than it is outside. That's why you can still wear your cute little outfits, even in the winter, because you know you'll be okay once you get inside. In the south, you go from 150 degrees outside to 50 degrees inside, so even if you want to dress for the season you, or at least I can't because there is a serious risk of contracting hypothermia everytime you step into a building. Also, AK is very dry, so unless it's below zero outside you can usually put on enough clothes to stay warm. In MS, the humidity makes 50 degrees feel like 15 degrees, and the cold just goes right through you no matter how many layers you have on. I'd take middle of Alaska winters to Missisippi cold snaps anytime!

Thankfully, even though it was drizzling when I got to work this morning, I did not get wet. We'll see what happens on the way home.

Okay, enough griping for now. I think I'm going to invest in one of these for future commutes. It's what I used to fish in in AK, and it kept me dry on the worst of days. Wouldn't that be a site to see:)

SUPER Easy, SUPER Yummy Pumpkin Muffins

2009-10-05T11:00:00.002-04:00

It’s embarrassing how easy these are, but they are so delicious I have to share.

(1) box dry yellow cake mix (just the dry mix, don’t prepare it)
(1) 15oz can of pumpkin pie mix
(1) tsp Cinnamon
(1/2) tsp nutmeg

Mix everything together, drop spoonfulls into a cupcake pan (batter is very thick) and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Not only are these muffins healthy (cake mix w/o the egg and oil is not bad for you) and delicious, they make your house smell heavenly for hours.

I LOVE this time of year.

Bring on the Rain!

2009-09-28T13:56:00.014-04:00

Despite Mother Nature's best efforts to thwart our plans, we had a wonderful trip to Atlanta last weekend.

It's been a bittersweet summer for both of us, so a chance to relax and unwind with dear friends was just what we needed.

Jeff's new girl - melt my heart!

The Keim Kids

Jeff and Doug, our amazing mentor/friend

My sweet, sweet grandparents (who let us invade their house and host a party at their place)

More bars in more places:) How's that for advertising.

Alyssa getting a lift through the muddy stormwaters

Even a little (lot of) rain couldn't deter these partygoers

End of the evening meltdown - "But mommy I want that chair!" Notice the wet behind, compliments of Mother Nature's fury all afternoon and the resulting dampness that evening.

Old neighbor and friend Meta, and new baby Ishma

Lunch with Lisa, Stacie, Hadley and Lindsey

(Former) Shepherd love - Courtney, Stacie and Josh

We don't miss the traffic.
We don't miss the inflation.
We don't miss the smog.
We don't miss all of the shopping, theaters and entertainment.
We don't even miss our old house.
But we REALLY miss our ATL friends.

A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway.
Fr. Jerome Cummings

There is nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.
Hillaire Belloc

Hello, Atlanta!

2009-09-24T13:36:00.010-04:00

We're headed to Atlanta tonight, our city home for 5 crazy/wonderful years. We're big homebodies, so our very low key plans for the weekend include visiting with friends and my grandparents. In a way this trip is our own little Tour-D'Atlanta, since some of our friends live 45 minutes away from each other on opposite ends of the city. It blows my mind that I can drive from Jackson to Vickburg in the same amount of time it takes to drive from our old house in Marietta to our friend's houses in Norcross. As they say, distance is very relative.

I think I can safely say that we won't be visiting Six Flags this trip. I wonder if you can make a water slide out of a roller coaster?

Seriously though, if you haven't had a chance to check out the flooding in Atlanta, take a minute to do so here . It is amazing and horrific what Atlantans have been through this week. When we left a year ago, the city was still in the midst of one of the worst droughts in history (going on 3 years I think), so this recent diluge was quite unexpected. Thankfully we only had one friend seriously affected (their basement flooded), but it could have been much worse. Please keep all of the families that lost so much this week in your prayers.

I am a little nervous about visiting our old house and subdivision. We had a creek in the backyard that had a tendency to jump its bank after the slightest rain. See the last pictures of this post. Fortunately, even though we didn't understand why at the time, the house was in a 100 year flood zone and required flood insurance. So hopefully if water did any damage to the house, it was covered. I'm just thankful we aren't the ones having to deal with it right now!

Happy weekend!

A Letter

2009-09-18T13:56:00.003-04:00

Dear Husband,

The next time you cook with jalapenos and scratch the seeds out with your bare fingers, please refrain from touching me or anything I might come into contact with (including our bedsheets) for at least 2 days. In fact, you might want to sleep in the guest bedroom and wear gloves around the house, just to be safe.

Love,
Your Wife

Sweet Summer

2009-09-09T14:48:00.042-04:00

Although we’ve weathered some devastating losses, overall our summer has been one to remember. A few highlights..warning lots of pictures.

My sister is pregnant with her first baby, Marshal, due in December. You can see pictures of her expanding waistline here: http://charlieslittleangel.blogspot.com/

Visits from our Atlanta friends

The Whitlarks

Suzanna, Julie, Mike, Madeline and Caroline

A visit from my cousin, albeit under sad circumstances

My good friend/fellow debate team member/roommate after college Lauren Lee married her high school sweetheart.

The maids

Beautiful, beautiful Bride

Many fun days/evenings on the boat

Amy and Eric welcomed their 6th child, Isaac. Here they are at Mawmaw's memorial, just a week before Amy delivered.

An unexpected, but nice, trip to DeRidder.

Casey, Landon and Carter

Heather and Tate

David, Casey and Landon

I can't post about LA without a gratuitous farm shot. Here's Pop trying to get the hay in the barn before it rained. He absolutely could not have done it without me snapping pictures from the sideline.

Jordan (my flower girl) and Fiona

Establishment of the Bridgepointe Supper Club

The Lighthouse Lane Ladies (minus Dana). And no, we did not coordinate our outfits. This is not the stepford wife club or desperate housewives of Mississippi, sorry. We just all have really good taste:)

The Gents (Minus Brad and Hank)

Getting a little crazy in here!

A lovely visit from Jeff's family

Finally talked Uncle Matt and Aunt Mary Sue into visiting

Heather and Jeff beating the heat

Mom and Pop (I love it when Dads flip their hats)

Enjoying a steak dinner "Smith" style

(Love you Heather!!)

Good times with Neighbor Friends

Jeff finished the dining room table AND the entertainment center, and they both look AWESOME!

Remember this?

Redneck no more!

I found curtains for the front windows AND a rug for the entry way. This would not be a big deal for most people, but for someone as picky as me, who has a hard time making up her mind, it’s monumental. Over the past 3 months I’ve purchased, tried out and returned no fewer than 25 rugs for the entryway and have been scouting out curtains online and at local stores for months. So, if anyone else out there is looking for curtains in the Jackson area, let me know. I can probably hook you up!

I found brand new bikes on Craigslist for $50 each. The husband of the lady we bought them from didn’t like the way they looked (they are vintage PINK and BLUE beach cruisers), thus the sale. I LOVE , LOVE, LOVE them, and for $50 Jeff says he’ll get over the embarrassment of riding a blue beach cruiser:)

And to end, the photo of the day.

What does it mean, you ask? Maybe it's a snapshot of my current mental state, or perhaps my frustrations with society, the government, and where it's all headed.

Or maybe it's just a picture of me crawling out of the back of Jeff's parent's car, broom in hand, ready to clean the world (or beat anyone that gets in my way).

Just keeping it real here, friends!

2009-09-03T12:37:00.004-04:00

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake

It’s been difficult for me absorb the finality of death - the whole “I’ll never see you again in this lifetime” piece. For me it’s kind of like trying to imagine eternity – I just can’t seem to get my head around it. Fortunately, until this summer, I hadn’t had to think about it (death) all that much. Unfortunately, this year to date, we’ve lost 6 loved ones: Both of Jeff’s great grandmothers, his paternal grandmother, his great aunt, my paternal grandmother and a good friend of mine from Alaska.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

My grandmother passed away in May after a 5 month battle with Congestive Heart Failure. She was cremated, and honored with 2 memorials – one in Alaska and the other here in Mississippi. Having only been to one other funeral, I had no idea what to expect at her service. It was heartwrenchingly sad, but there was no casket, or really even any flowers, because it was the 2nd service a month after her death. We sang her favorite songs and watched a beautiful slideshow of her life. I sat between my grandfather and father and bawled my eyes out. That was only the 2nd time I’d seen my father cry – the first was at my wedding (I cried then too). But even after all of that it still doesn’t feel like she’s “really” gone. She spent most of her time in Alaska, so there are still times that I call up there, halfway expecting to hear her soft voice on the other end of the phone - “Hey Darling,” she always used to say. And when I visit with my grandfather now, I still have to remind myself that she’s not just in the back room laying down. Crazy isn’t it?

Grandpa, Granny and Courtney Spring 2007

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Last weekend we buried Jeff’s grandmother, who also lost a battle with congestive heart failure. They unhooked the respirator on Tuesday, and with angels singing in the distance (her words) she drifted peacefully from this life into the next. We made it to LA Thursday evening in time to catch the final few minutes of the visitation. They had her in her best dress, in an open casket, looking better than she had in years. Friday morning was the funeral – Jeff and all of his cousins were the pallbearers. I held my nephew in my lap for most of the service - a welcome distraction. But then came the moment for the family to say goodbye. I wanted to be strong for Jeff, for his family, but with the pain of my loss still fresh, and watching my husband break down beside me, I lost it. My heart broke for his family, for his grandfather - slumped over in his wheelchair - sobbing as the love of his life was carried away from him and lowered into the ground. 56 years they were married, 56 YEARS. That’s almost twice as long as I’ve been alive. And after years of thinking he would go first, his Pawpaw is now left alone, confined to a hospital bed, just waiting until he can join her in heaven. They think he has alzheimer’s, and much of the time doesn’t remember that she’s gone. But he remembered each time he saw me – he says I look so much like her. When I leaned over to hug him goodbye, he held me as tight as his arthritis crippled joints would allow, and sobbed “56 years is a long time.” Yes Pawpaw, it is. Then Jeff prayed with him and we left, both knowing in our hearts, but not wanting to admit, that this might be our last time visit with him as well.

Courtney, Jeff, Pawpaw and MawMaw December 2007

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

I’ve heard before, that you lose a little bit of yourself when somebody you love dies, and really didn’t understand what that meant until that summer. I’ve had friends who have lost siblings, and parents – and even now I can’t begin to fathom the depth of their loss, and how profoundly it has affected those left behind. As a Christian, I know I will see my loved ones again. And I know in time that knowledge will bring much comfort. But right now, it still hurts. My Grandpa was also married for 57 (I think) years. That is a long time to be with someone...something this ADD, instant gratification, "I deserve to be happy" generation cannot comprehend. But even though pop culture and society may try their best to demean life, committment, marriage even...I rest soundly in the knowledge that we were designed by our Creator to love deeply, and in times like these, mourn deeply. And that, my friends, is very much okay.

Thanks to all of our dear friends for your prayers, love, support, cards, emails and calls during these sad times. In the midst of mourning, your love reminds us that we have much to be thankful for.

A Prayer

We give them back to you, O God, those whom you gave to us. You did not lose them when you gave them to us – and we do not lose them by their return to you. Your dear Son has taught us that life is eternal and that love cannot die, so death is only an horizon – and an horizon is only the limit of our sight. Open our eyes to see more clearly and draw us close to you – that we may know that we are nearer to our loved ones – who are with you.You have told us that you are preparing a place for us. Prepare us, that where you are we may be – always.

Heavenly Father, of all the changes we have to face as we journey through life, the hardest of all is the loss through death of someone we love. LORD, you know everything about each one of us and you see and feel our pain, our tears, our loneliness, our regrets and our despair. Comfort us in our sorrow and help us to move on. Change the, at times, overwhelming grief and sadness to peaceful acceptance and our weakness to strength. Help us to cope and to adjust to a different pattern of life, never for a moment forgetting those who have gone, but trusting You to keep them safe for us. Help us to remember that Spring always follows Winter.

6 Years Ago

2009-08-18T11:54:00.010-04:00

Six years ago last Sunday..

I married the love of my life.

It hasn't always been easy...

but so worth the effort.

And after 5 moves, 2 apartments, 2 houses, 2 dogs, 1 cat

5 cars, 5 jobs (between us), 2 states and 6 years.....

It just keeps getting better and better.

I love you!!

Last Night

2009-08-10T13:53:00.002-04:00

Last night I spent several hours at the marina trying to shampoo the white carpet on the boat...again. I’m not sure why I even bother, since it will be brown again in a week, but so far I've refused to give into the reservoir filth and have turned this carpet scouring into a bi-monthly ritual. It's quite an ordeal, you see, to lug the wet/dry vac all the way down to our slip at the end of the pier, scrub the entire 21'x8' expanse of carpet with a brush, spray it off with the hose then vacuum up all the excess water to prevent souring. On top of that, we usually take it out to “dry” after washing so the sun can soak up the moisture the wet-vac did not, but last night it was too late. So, as an alternative, dear husband decided to leave the cover off to aid with the drying process. Usually we are religious about keeping the boat covered, even in our covered slip. But I was tired last night after a weekend of fun wedding festivities (more on that later) and decided to let it slide.

At 1:30 am this morning I awakened to what sounded like thunder in the distance. I listened for several minutes, hoping it wasn’t so, and eventually made my way from the bed to the window to check the sky. I didn’t see any clouds or lighting, but was sure I’d just heard thunder. At this point Jeff was stirring, so I (ever so sweetly) laid it out for him. “I just heard thunder, I’m going to cover the boat.”

Groggy Jeff: “Do you want me to come with you…..I”ll come with you if you want me to.”

Really sweet Courtney: “Well obviously I would like for you to come with me, since you were the one that left the cover off, and I’d rather not visit the marina at 1:30 am by myself, but I’m going regardless whether you come or not.”

By this time I’d already thrown on my shorts and shoes and was headed outside. I stood in the driveway for several minutes waiting for Jeff, which was enough time to assess that there was not a cloud in the sky, nor a clap of thunder to be heard. Oh well, we were already dressed and up, might as well see it through. We trudget down to our slip and covered the boat in less than 10 minutes (thankfully no one called the cops on us), pulled back into the driveway under a very clear and storm free sky and fell back into bed. And this is what I fell asleep to:

“I’m sure glad we got the boat covered before that huge storm hit.”

“Do you think we need to go get the trailer too and pull it (the boat) in, just in case?”

“I can’t believe you let the dogs out in this rain, you’re so cruel.”

“I know you hate me crunching on ice like this when you’re trying to go to sleep, but I’m trying to stay awake so I can be ready for the storm.”

“Maybe we should sleep in the bathtub tonight..I think it’s going to be a bad one.”

And again this morning

Jeff: “How do you feel this morning?”

Courtney: “I’m pretty tired, I didn’t sleep well.”

Jeff “Me either. But at least we kept the boat from getting rained on.”

Isn’t my husband hilarious:)

I’m not complaining though, I realize a good ribbing was the least I deserved after rudely awakening him from his peaceful slumber to fortify the boat against an imaginary storm.

Do these lifevests make us look fat?

2009-07-23T12:50:00.005-04:00

I think we might need to invest in some bigger floatation devices.

Good Friends+Good Food = Good Fun

2009-07-21T16:46:00.041-04:00

That pretty much sums up our summer so far.

In June we welcomed Brooke home from her 8 month hiatus in Italy, only to lose her to Nashville this month.

We celebrated my birthday family style for the first time in 5 years (we've been in Atlanta every other year). Remember the big bash we threw for Jeff's birthday in April - not so much my style. I prefer a more quiet, intimate ordeal these days. And besides, the one and only time Jeff tried to throw me a big party in Atlanta - guess who ended up cooking and cleaning up afterwards?? Why who else but the birthday girl herself:) I don't mind running a party any other day of the year, but my birthday is the one day I just want to RELAX and have someone else take care of things.

Enjoying burgers at Pelican Cove Grill.

My mom has established this "tradition" of making us all wear birthday hats anytime we celebrate -she even recycles the hat so there is no chance of "forgetting" them the day of. I think she just enjoys laughing at the pictures afterwords.

The Coneheads

We've managed to take the boat out almost every weekend since we got it, and sometimes during the week. This was the virgin voyage for our neighbor's and their new baby, sailor Sophie.

Hello Handsome!

Sailor Sophie and Daddy Hank

Can you see the wall of rain behind us? We almost made it back to the slip in time. Almost...

We celebrated Katie Rachel's birthday in June - here she is with husband Chris and daughter Lily. We dined at Pelican Cove Grill and broke out some champagne on the water. Good thing Katie is patient, since it took them over 2 hours to bring out her birthday dinner. At least we got a 20% discount for the wait.

This is what you look like when your husband won't stop taking random pictures of you.

My mom's newest addition - Maybelle. Scout has finally met his match!

A lunch date with the family. Watch out - mom's pulling out the bunny ears! It's getting crazy on the Smith Barge!!

June also marked the ???? annual Moore family reunion. They only happen every other year, so we always try to make it. This year my Aunt Sue and Uncle James hosted in their beautiful Victorian house in Monticello, AR. Makes me feel a little bit like Scarlett O'Hara

Casa Cathey

The Moore Kids

My cousin Shasta came into town for my grandmother's memorial in June. I took a few days off of work, and we took advantage of some time on the boat. She lives in CA, and I'm trying to convince her to move South.

This is something my grandmother prayed for for years....the Everitt family reunited. Praise God for healing, I just hate it took her death to make it happen.

Me and my Cuz

An afternoon on the water

Sailor Sophie again. Look how much she's grown in just one month!

Me in my sailing attire, compliments of Daddy John. Yes, my dad still picks out clothes for me. And yes, I wear this dress all the time, which is why it is in so many pictures.

Good neighbors make good friends

Katie and Lily in her new lifevest. Doesn't she look like a bumblebee?

4th of July festivities. Unfortunately they canceled the big fireworks show at Trace Park this year. Fortunately we had so much fun it didn't matter.

The Rachels

The party gang

We've spent the past 2 weekends with our good friends from GA - Amy, Michael, Bryce and Dawson. The first weekend we lost track of time and ended up spending 4+ hours on the boat. The kids loved it - until Dawson realized he was overdue for a feeding on the way home.

Little peanut

My niece Paige

Sunning Mississippi Reservoir Style

Bryce the fish. He must have jumped off the stern of the boat AT LEAST 50 times.

A study in innertube finesse

Paige and Amy tubing under the rainbow

Where I spent most of the afternoon

That's all for now, folks. More pictures coming soon! Until then, you can check out more pictures from our adventures this month here and here.

Mississippi Musings and Not Me Thursday

2009-07-02T18:09:00.002-04:00

Goodness it really has been a month since my last post....I do apologize. Life has been crazy around here. For those of you who don’t already know, my sweet Grandmother lost her battle with Congestive Heart Failure and went to be with the Lord on May 31, 2009. It was excruciating knowing the end was near and being so far away, but she had my dad, her daughter and husband with her when she passed, and somehow I think that is exactly what she would have wanted. We had 2 memorial services - one in AK a week after her passing, and one here in MS on June 20. Although the service here was beautiful and I’m so glad we did it the way that we did, it really drew out the mourning process for the immediate family. I kind of feel like everything was on hold until we made it through the 2nd memorial. On a happier note I had a great time visiting with my cousin Shasta, who flew in and stayed with us for the weekend. Shasta and I are only 2 months apart in age, and grew up together in AK.

I guess it goes with the territory that I’ve been more emotional and kind of a crank (is that even a word?) these past several weeks. Although I’ll never be able to keep up with it on a regular basis, I decided to use this as an opportunity to participate in the whole “Not Me” confession to clear my conscience.

When we went to watch Transformers last weekend, I was not in a bad mood when we arrived at the theater because I did not think we were early enough to get a good seat (we did). And I most certainly did not pitch a fit when my husband spent 17.50 on a large popcorn and TWO LARGE REGULAR COKES because he never gets COKE for an evening show, always SPRITE. And then I really didn’t sit there ticked off with my arms crossed for the next 3 hours, only enjoying 4 handfuls of popcorn all night because it would make me thirsty, and then I’d have to drink the coke and be up all night. Wow – I really can’t believe I acted like that! You know, these days when I get upset, it’s always over something REALLY important. For example, Mom spills red kool-aid all over every article inside of my fridge 30 minutes before company arrives - no problem. Friend’s toddler poops in her underwear and gets it all over the spare bedroom carpet trying to hide the mess – no biggie. Husband buys Coke instead of Sprite at an evening show - it’s the end of the world!!!

I did not spend an hour trying to scrub the stains out of our white boat carpet (why they put white carpet on a boat is still a mystery to me), and end up losing it 30 minutes later when we took said boat out in water so rough (we didn’t know it was that windy when we started out) that the filthy reservoir waves come cresting over the bow, wiping out all of my hard work in less than one minute.

I did not drive all the way to Petsmart because I was completely out of Bailey’s prescription cat food. And I did not somehow manage to pick up, get a prescription for, and pay for prescription DOG food instead of his CAT food. (To my credit, the bags look exactly the same, save for the dog and/or cat on each bag, and I’ve always bought it at my vet before). And I did not take that DOG food home and try to feed it to my CAT, and get royally aggravated when he wouldn’t eat it (only later realizing my error). Thankfully Petsmart gave me a fully refund, even though I’d opened the food.

I did not try to deliver our boat trailer to the farm by myself the day after my grandmother passed away. And during that delivery I did not make it 30 miles unscathed, only to take the corner around the cabin too tight and rip the trim right off the side of the garage. Not me. I also did not get stuck in the mud during that same delivery, and end up spinning out over the water line next to the driveway – busting it in 2 places. And I did not stand there sobbing and blubbering in the driveway, frantically trying to call my mom as the water bubbled up around my ankles. Not me. Fortunately my Great Uncle John, who can fix anything, was available to help me with that mess.

I guess those are the biggies for now. All I can say is that my husband is a saint for putting up with me these past several weeks!

I’m optimistic that July will be a better month. We’re grilling out and watching fireworks on the water with friends this weekend, and have some good friends from Atlanta visiting the next 2 weekends (they are staying 2 nights on the way to Texas and one on the way back). The weekends are filling up fast..I can’t believe it’s already July. And can you believe that this time last year we had JUST put our house on the market. CRAZINESS.

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July Weekend! God Bless America!

The Past Month in Pictures

2009-05-20T10:04:00.029-04:00

Jeff's Birthday Bash

The Birthday Boy and his new toy ~saved $100 at Walmart by buying the floor model. Yes he did have to grill the meat at his party, but that is all he had to do for it.

Getting ready for a day on the water with our Atlanta friends.

Not so sure about this outfit dad...I think I look like a hotdog.

Feeding the ducks at Pelican Cove Grill

Jeff loves to take candid shots of people...I just had to post this one of Mike.

Getting ready to go back on the boat

Little Skipper - don't worry, we were still docked and mom was only an arm's length away.

My girls

Dad's boat goes FAST!

Doesn't his hair look like Wolverine's from XMen?

Dinner on the back porch

I am not known for my table decorating skills

Daily walk to the water

Too cute!

Happy girl!

Virgin voyage of the Smith Party Barge. Doesn't this look like a fake background? And this is my "Little" brother, for those of you who don't know or recognize.

Grandpa and Dad - The 2 fishing seats on the front have your name on them!

Captain Jeff

Skipper Scout

I can drive too...

Look closely..and alien among us...

She was not happy about having to wear a lifevest..

But perked right up when mom and Lana put theirs on because of choppy water.

Many Notes

2009-05-12T15:28:00.002-04:00

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few weeks. We’ve had a lot going on around here; I’ll try my best to update.

ON A SAD NOTE….

Jeff’s great grandmother (Mama Li) passed away last weekend. She was 101 years old and lived a long, full life, but I really don’t think that makes things any easier when you have to say goodbye. The wedding band I proudly wear belonged to her – she took it off her finger and gave it to Jeff to give to me several months before we married. It’s a treasured keepsake we hope to pass down to our own kids someday. Jeff made the trip to LA this past weekend for the funeral. I did not attend because my own grandmother in Alaska (Granny) is currently fighting for her life, and I did not want to burden his family with my turbulent emotions. This is the same grandmother I asked for prayers for back in January. My dad flew up to be with her Saturday, and my only consolation is knowing she has her family (Grandpa, Dad and Twila) by her side during this unbelievably sad time. My Grandfather asked the Grandgirls not to come this time, as they want us to remember her how she was in January, not how she is now. She is currently at home with hospice care, and they are keeping her medicated so she doesn’t get agitated or anxious, but she is still conscious and very aware of what’s going on. They were trying desperately last month to get her down here to MS, but her heart just wasn’t strong enough to make the trip. Please pray for peace and comfort for her and the rest of the family as the Lord prepares to take her home. Both Jeff and I are unbelievably lucky to have had both sets of grandparents with us this long, but that extra time is also making it very hard to let go right now.

ON A FUNNY NOTE....

Jeff volunteered to help a friend, Chris Rachel, do some plumbing in his house a few weeks ago. After sending Chris to the store for supplies, Jeff showed up one evening after work ready to knock out the job, sure it wouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes. 1 hour of talking and 4 hours of work later, they still couldn’t get the pipes to stop leaking enough to turn the water back on (keep in mind the Chris and Katie have a newborn daughter at home). In desperation, Jeff and Chris formed a wad of epoxy (looks like gray play dough, but is supposed to seal up as hard as steel) around the seal of the pipe, but even that didn’t work. At midnight they had to call it a night and Chris decided to call in the experts the next day. When the plumbers arrived, this is the conversation that resulted….

Plumber 1 – Upon seeing the baseball size wad of epoxy on the pipe, exclaimed “What the HELL is this? Hey Plumber 2, have you ever seen anything like this before??”

Plumber 2 – “I’d have to say this is a first.”

Plumber 1 – Turning to Chris, very seriously “Whoever did this to your pipes, don’t EVER let them work on anything in your house again.”

I was over at Chris and Katie’s without Jeff when they told me this story and laughed so hard I cried watching Chris reenact the plumber scene. I wanted to call Jeff immediately to have Chris tell him the story too, but sweet Katie, who is much more thoughtful than I, suggested we give it a few days so he’d actually think it was funny because he’d left pretty frustrated the night before. I gave it all of an hour before I caved and told him everything later that night. Thankfully he thought it was just as funny as the rest of us.

And he hasn’t completely shot his credibility with the Rachel’s – he’s headed back over sometime this week to help Chris put in the bathtub.
I brag on my husband all of the time, because I really think he can do/fix/build just about anything. This was truly just a freak encounter with a set of copper pipes he couldn’t beat.

ON A FRUSTRATING NOTE….

We get to replace the compressor on our air conditioner today (goodbye $1500). Add that to the refrigerator repairs last month ($250), the initial AC call last month ($185) and new tires and brakes for Jeff’s truck ($375), all in less than 30 days. Ouch.

ON A NOSTALIGIC NOTE….

We had some good friends in from Atlanta to visit last weekend…I’ll post pictures later. The weather was perfect every day but Sunday. We enjoyed a fun day out on the boat Saturday, fishing, a gourmet steak dinner on the back patio, picnics and even a trip down to Vicksburg for Sunday brunch in an Antebellum home. Fun times fun times. And with everything going on with our families right now, having good friends and fellowship for a few days did both of our hearts a whole lot of good.

ON AN EXCITING NOTE….

I’m going to be an Aunt again!! Lana is due in December and we are all so excited for her, especially her 9 year old daughter Paige. She can’t wait to be a big sister!

Did you know

2009-04-16T11:21:00.006-04:00

That this

plus this

equals this

and possibly this

Or so my husband figured out last night while I was out running errands. He decided to boil some eggs, but wasn't quite sure they were done, so figured he'd nuke them a minute just to make sure. After wandering from the kitchen to the tv, he heard what sounded like an explosion in the kitchen. He ran back to the microwave, where one egg had already exploded, and opened the door just in time to get popped by the second egg bomb, which after grazing him flew all the way across the kitchen (about 13 feet) and landed under the kitchen table, spraying egg mess EVERYWHERE.

So a kitchen full of egg shrapnel is what I came home to last night, since Jeff was kind enough to leave everything "as is" so I could fully appreciate the situation - and get a picture for the blog. As a sidenote - I'm sensing the blog could turn into something dangerous once we have kids. I can hear it now...Mom I'm sorry I blew up your favorite xyz...but don't you want to take a picture of it for the blog??

So then, after cleaning up egg mess for 45 minutes (Allie and Scout really enjoyed it - they NEVER get people food), what did my brilliant husband do? My brilliant, genius husband with 2 degrees, probably a 180 IQ who spends his days giving business owners and individuals advice and guidance on how to manage their money.........

Yep, you guessed it, he did it again. Because surely it won't blow up a second time, as long as we crack the shell before heating it up. And mind you this is all happening despite my VEHEMENT objections.

So first lesson learned - don't microwave eggs - cracked shell or not. And second lesson learned - listen to your wife. Because for the record, I would NEVER have done this myself. Call it a cook's 6th sense or something, it's just not something I would have tried. I'll continue to boil my eggs for 15 minutes to make sure they're completely done like a normal person - thank you.

And if you visit our house in the next month or so and get a faint whiff of what smells like rotten eggs - now you know why.

Country Days

2009-04-14T07:52:00.013-04:00

The last weekend in March we enjoyed a 3 days with Jeff's parent's and brothers and broods in Louisiana. Everyone was there this time, Eric and Amy +5, Justin +1, Me and Jeff and Mom and Pop = 13 people in his parent's 3BR 2BA house. Good thing I'm not one of those "high maintenance" women who requires 2 hours in the bathroom each morning:)

The plan for the weekend was to pick-up and pack-up meat from the 1200lb steer Jeff's dad raised and had slaughtered for the family. For my vegetarian friends out there I'm sorry, but that's all a part of country life. And now that we have a year's worth of free beef in our freezer, I've realized it is a part of country life I like very much!

So what do you do with 700lbs of beef and 13 people to feed for the weekend - grill out of course. Only the weather, and the equipment - or lack thereof I should say, made that a little more challenging than normal.

First off - it was 45 degrees all weekend, and the wind was blowing 25mph all day every day. Makes it kind of hard to keep the charcoal lit - especially when you don't have any lighter fluid. So what does a good cowboy do in the face of this adversity - call in reinforcements of course.

Maybe if we put enough sticks on the grill, the fire will stay lit. Sorry Uncle Jeff - didn't mean to poke you in the face.

Tough times call for tough measures. Maybe Cowboy Ellis can help out.

Now the funniest thing about this entire process, is that Jeff's mission was to grill 13-14 steaks that were EACH almost as big as the grill itself, on this tiny thing. And everyone who walked outside asked Jeff the same question - myself included - "How are you going to grill all those steaks on that thing?"

Although he laughs about it now, at the time, Jeff did not find this whole process nearly as funny as I, and did not appreciate my uncontrollable giggling from the sidelines. But 3 hours later, the man prevailed over the meat, and we sat down to a delicious dinner of perfectly flame grilled steaks - all cooked in the grill used to burn trash - we later discovered. Gotta love country life.

The best part about being at the farm is the cows. I love cows - and I wish they loved me back. Unfortunately they seem to have a very strong aversion to my Victoria's Secret Lovespell lotion - although I did get to pat a few of the babies on the head this time.

Anytime we're out in the yard, all of the cows run up to the fence closest to where we're gathered.

Bovine teenagers verses 4 year old Chey.

I wonder if this is one of the calves we worked with at christmas. He or she doesn't seem to mind my lotion.

If only the Smith's had horses - I'm still trying to talk Cowboy Ellis into buying a few. After all, you're technically not a cowboy unless you own a horse.

So what does a cowgirl do during her weekend at the farm - besides laugh at her husband trying to grill steaks? Cook of course - although the picture below is from our own farm. I'm not sure that's really a cowgirl responsibility, but when you have 13 mouths to feed, well you don't really have much choice. So when I wasn't out trying to play with the cows, I was in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. I guess my dreams of commandeering the countryside with my faithful steed will have to wait for another day.

I also experienced my first bull standoff that weekend. Lisa, Amy and I were visiting in the den around 9pm Saturday night when we heard the most awful noise - it sounded like one of the cows was dying. We all ran outside, and found the guys casually sitting on the swing, smoking cigars.

"Did you not hear that??" I said.

"Yeah, that's just the bull," Jeff casually remarked.

"Is he dying? I mean it sounds like something is wrong."

"No, he's just marking his territory, or so to speak. The neighbor's bull is trying to pick a fight."

"Well we need to get him away from the fence," Jeff's mom breaks in. "He'll walk through the barbwire in a heartbeat, and then we'll have a mess on our hands."

So my cowboy husband casually unfolds himself from the swing, grabs a flashlight, and starts walking toward the fence - like breaking up bullfights is something he does everyday.

"Be careful please!! He could come right through the fence at you (as if he wasn't already aware of this)" I croak, as he saunters over to the fence, where the bull is rooting around only feet away. And then my cowboy husband shines the light right in the bull's eyes and starts clapping, of all things. And after a brief minute of protest, the bull, and what sounds like the rest of the herd, takes off thundering down the pasture. Jeff then walks over to the neighbor's fence and repeats the same process with his bull, who picked the fight in the first place.

Evidently this happens every so often, and you have to address is immediately, because if the bulls ever figure out they can walk right through the fence, well then it's kind of like country Armageddon. Gotta love country life!

Where does he come up with this stuff??

2009-03-20T11:17:00.007-04:00

Okay my last post poked fun at how un-funny my husband can be sometimes. This post highlights one of his more successful attempts at comedic expression.....at my expense of course. But it's still funny. This is Jeff's response to a friend's invitiation to go sparring this weekend. The friend is learning some new type of karate.....which by the way since when did sparring become such a casual weekend activity??? Hey guys, let's get together and beat the crap out of each other. Must be a man thing. Anyway...

Jeff - via email - "Does it cost anything? I am very cost conscious you know. I might be able to help you out. If you want to come over I can let Courtney beat the crap out of you for free! I found these attack words and phrases (like trainers use with dogs) that have worked well in the past to get Courtney to attack me...although I have to say I try and avoid saying them if at all possible."

My response: You are an ass, but that was pretty freaking hilarious. I'm still laughing so hard I'm crying.

Where does he come up with this stuff?? Maybe this explains while when playing the game "Imagine If," my husband said if I were a dog I'd be a Rottweiller. For the record - even though I am a purple belt in karate, I do not attack my husband (even though I really want to sometimes). I admit there may have been some claw swipes early on in the first 3 years of marriage, when things were so wonderfully horrible, but not anytime recently.

Just for laughs...Jeff said I'd be a Rottweiler, but the rest of his family said I'd be a French Poodle. Now IMAGINE THAT...me a french poodle. Well they're all wrong, if I was a dog I'd be an Alaskan Husky. DUHHH!

The Joke

2009-03-11T13:07:00.006-04:00

For those of you who’ve spent any amount of time around Jeff, you know that he loves to talk, and tell stories...among other things. And that he has all of these random facts in his head, most of which you never know are true or not (For the record, Jeff is brilliant, he just likes to mess with people). He also loves to make-up jokes. Occasionally they are hilarious, with the emphasis being on occasionally. So for your reading pleasure this Wednesday morning, I present you with his latest.

Set-up: “Did you hear the news? Scientists just found life on Mars…2 alien embryos tucked away in some remote cavern.”

Punchline: “Wait, what am I thinking, I forgot embryos aren’t considered actual life forms.”

And hence our follow-up conversation last night.

Jeff “Soooo, what do you think.”

Courtney “Ummmm….okay……that was not the least bit funny. And it's way too complicated for a joke.”

Jeff “It was HILARIOUS!! You just have to be liberal minded.”

Courtney “Liberals don’t like jokes that make fun of them. And it’s still not funny.”

Jeff “I promise this is hysterical. Are you sure you got it? Do you want me to tell it again.”

Courtney “No, I’m pretty sure I got it. And it’s still not funny.”

Jeff “I know this is a funny one, you just don’t appreciate it. I need to tell some other people.”

Courtney “Be my guest, but I’m pretty sure they won’t think it’s funny either.”

At this point we're both in hysterics, and it's brought to my attention that I'm a mean wife for laughing at him and not his joke. So sorry dear.

Oh how I love my husband!!

Monday Musings

2009-03-09T17:14:00.002-04:00

What do you do when it’s 75 degrees outside and you have:

1. 11 loads of laundry to finish
2. Dirty bathrooms that need to be scrubbed
3. One master bathroom in dire need of wallpaper and glue stripping
4. An unfinished dining room table that was only supposed to take 2 months to build
5. A redneck plywood tv shelf installed 3 weeks ago that really needs to be trimmed out and painted
6. A refridgerator that hasn’t been cleaned out in weeks
7. Dog hair everywhere
8. Bird poop all over your boat slip

Play of course! That’s what weekends are for right? Well technically we did work some…I mowed the yard and pulled about 6 gallons of weeds out of the front yard, and Jeff did some ministry work downtown Saturday while I attended a “Tea Party” fundraiser – no joke, then steamed and glued some wood for our dining room table. Other than that we visited with friends and neighbors, took the dogs running and watched several episodes of X-Files – of course! Oh and we also took my brother to see the Watchmen on Friday night. Not a bad movie, but I never want to see another big…blue…man - if you’ve seen the movie you’ll know what I’m talking about. Although I think my husband was more bothered by it than I. A GREAT way to spend the weekend if you ask me - save the blue man part.

For those of you that know me well, you understand that for me to leave the list above alone over the weekend (and longer than that on some of the items) only serves to prove that I am truly a recovering Type A Personality. In fact I just bought a shower curtain for one of our bathrooms last month, and we’ve been in our house nearly 3 months. Shocked? I kind of was too when I realized how long I’d let the shower stand bare.

My new motto – “Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulet” – Let the good times roll! Monsieur Rees would be proud – it’s about all I remember from his french class. Don’t expect me to become a complete slacker though – I mean there is a limit to my dirty/chaos/unfinished meter. I confess that I did tell Jeff sometime last week that if I had to look at our redneck tv shelf for one more month I was going to throw it and the tv out the window…or something to that affect.

So will I be running straight home from work today to tackle the list? Ummmmm no. I will be running to the store to pick up supplies for the Gourmet Bread Pudding with Whiskey Cream Sauce I’m making for my grandparents tonight. And then I intend to eat a very large bowl of that gourmet bread pudding while sitting on my lazy arse at my parent’s house. How’s that for rehabilitation?! I just wish my nose and eyes would stop itching from all of this pollen. As a good friend once said regarding this time of year, “It feels like the plants and trees are all having sex in my nose.”

On that akward (but you have to admit funny) note….happy Monday!

Confession

2009-03-05T13:20:00.001-05:00

Okay if you’re wondering why I’ve all of a sudden starting writing on my blog more, here’s the big secret - I’m writing a book (don’t laugh). They say practice makes perfect, and I find that the more I write the easier it gets, so here you go. Plus I generally just have a lot to say, but rarely do, except to a few good friends that probably think I never shut up. Some of you might be surprised to learn that my husband is much more of a talker than I, so if one of us is talking, it is usually him. I can write all day long, but really have to be in the right “mood” to talk – much to some people’s (husband-sister-friends) frustration. What can I say – I’m a complicated woman. Plus my cousin totally pumped me up after my last post when she implied that I was funnier than Bridget Jones…..to be exact “Bridget Jones move over you are hilarious!” I can’t say that I agree with her, those are pretty big shoes to fill, but it’s nice to know someone out there appreciates my ramblings. Thanks Cuz! And now I know someone out there actually READS this blog, so watch out…

Here’s a teaser for those of you dying to know about the book…it’s about a girl…from Alaska….who’s a commercial fisherman. Novel idea, right. No it is not an autobiography. I’m trying to stay very true to the commercial fishing experience, but the characters are fictional. Obviously I can identify a great deal with the main character, but she is primarily a figment from my imagination, even in regards to her appearance. She’s lanky with long legs, beautiful long dark naturally curly hair and much more to work with in regards to her feminine attributes, if you know what I mean. For those who still don’t get it…she has boobs. Note I didn’t say she had huge boobs, just that she has boobs period. Enough said – sorry if I offended anyone talking about boobs. How I wished I looked you ask….perhaps….but you’ll never really know. Maybe I’d rather be a blonde….Regardless if I ever get published, I don’t want any of my friends or family members showing up on Oprah sobbing “that was me, that character was me.” Because it’s not/isn’t, so you can stop worrying about it now.

Most of you already know that for Christmas this year my husband bought me the best present ever – the X-Files DVD Collector’s Edition, which includes all 9 seasons of the show plus the first X-Files movie. We’ve been watching several episodes a week since Christmas, and so far are only through season three. Only 120 more episodes to go.

Two years ago for Christmas my husband bought me the complete “Everybody Loves Raymond” series for Christmas. I watched it on TBS in the evenings, so he thought I’d enjoy having the set. Although I sincerely appreciated the gift, the set has remained virtually unopened on our DVD bookshelf, because although I enjoyed the mindless bickering of Raymond and his wife as I was winding down in the evenings, I had no interest in really following the show. It’s kind of one of those things I would watch if it was on, but didn’t miss it when it wasn’t. Sorry dear husband! Good thing I’m a firm believer in “it’s the thought that counts!”

As an aside - this is really what a freak I am…for the previous 2 Christmases (06 and 07) my husband bought me vacuum cleaners/moppers of some sort. And guess what – I actually LOVED them. OK, admittedly I wasn’t very excited about the Scuba when I first opened it, but once I realized it was the ONLY thing that would mop my kitchen floor without leaving streaks, I was in love. Jeff loves to tell people I ran it 4 times that first day. And in 07 he bought me a refurbished Roomba, which I was obsessed with for the entire 8 months it worked. So yes, I’m a vacuum cleaner junkie, which probably makes my obsession with the X-Files seem a little more understandable. Robotics and little green men – makes perfect sense right? Even scarier – what woman in her right mind gets excited over getting a vacuum cleaner for Christmas..I mean really excited. Hmmmmm….

Now back to X-Files. I am such a nerd about this show, and am the first to admit it. In my opinion it is one of the best series ever made. Granted 12 years later the aliens do look pretty cheesy, and some of the special effects are….well….obviously 12 years old, but the script, acting and characters remain just as appealing and alluring to me as the day the show first aired. And even though I’ve seen many of the episodes, I still find myself glued to the screen every time.

It’s surprising that the show doesn’t get to me sometimes, because they really cover some pretty intense and dark topics, and for the most part I CANNOT handle any type of horror movies or psycho thrillers because I have nightmares about them for months. But for whatever reason I never get scared watching X-Files. Besides, although I enjoy all of their wild excursions, everyone knows the real reason so many fans, including me, stayed hooked on the show….Mulder and Scully. Chris Carter did an amazing job of developing their relationship without cluttering up the show with an office affair and all that comes with it. He kept everyone hanging for 8 years, and then no one really knew for SURE if they actually did get together until the 2nd X-Files Movie was released last summer. But from the beginning their chemistry and connection was very strong, and just became more and more intriguing and addicting as the series progressed. I love their quips back and forth, and those one or two innuendos Carter threw in every two or three episodes that sent fans into turmoil each week – myself included. I very distinctly remember sitting in orchestra with my stand partner and friend Kate Monday morning, rehashing every Mulder/Scully scene from the previous night. I also remember begging my mom to make sure my dad was not in front of the TV at 9PM on Sunday nights so I could watch the show – and miraculously most of the time she came through. Thanks for playing interference mom – ahem – moving on.

This week I’ve been browsing through the set, revisiting some of my favorite Mulder/Scully moments. At first Jeff got upset thinking I was watching ahead without him, but I really wasn’t. I had to remind him that I’d seen them all before, and would gladly watch them again. There’s just something about these two and their relationship that is extremely addicting. And what I love is there is no sex, drama or anything inappropriate for the most part (inappropriate is a fairly subjective term, and I realize some may consider the content of the show alone not suitable for viewing). Just lots of chemistry, and some really great lines, a few of which I’ll share below. Who knows, maybe I’ll make a believer out of some of you skeptics.

And you know what’s really creepy – there are several parallels between myself and Scully and my husband and Mulder. There is an extreme height difference between both pairs; my husband is a very passionate and unconventional person like Mulder and I am more of a realist and rule follower like Scully. I guess that’s really all that comes to mind right now, but enough to make you think. Although I am NOT one of those people who gets so caught up in shows and movies they start becoming like the characters. I was a realist and rule follower long before I ever started watching the show. And I was ~ still am ~ a nerd, a proud nerd at that. Just look at what I do for a living. I bet you Chris Carter originally had Scully set to be an Analyst, but decided to make her into a DR at the last minute so she could do all the alien autopsies.

So to all of my nerd lovers out there, I leave you with some of my favorite lines from my (still) favorite show. ENJOY! – The X-Fanatic

SCULLY: " How much you're like Ahab You're so consumed by your personal vengeance against life--whether it be its inherent cruelties or its mysteries--that everything takes on a warped significance to fit your meglo-maniacal cosmology."
MULDER: "Scully, are you coming on to me?"

MULDER: "Whatever tape you've found in that VCR, it isn't mine."
SCULLY: "Good. Because I put it back in that drawer with all those other videos that aren't yours."

SCULLY: It's not ice cream. It's a non-fat tofutti rice dreamsicle.
MULDER: Ugh. Bet the air in my mouth tastes better than that. You sure know how to live it up, Scully.
SCULLY: Oh, you're Mr. Live-it-up. Mulder, you're really Mr. Squeeze-every-last-drop-out-of-this-sweet-life, aren't you? On this precious Saturday you've got us grabbing life by the testes stealing reference books from the FBI library in order to go through New Mexico newspaper obituaries for the years 1940 to 1949 and for what joyful purpose?
MULDER: Looking for anomalies, Scully. Do you know how many so-called "flying disc" reports there were in New Mexico in the 1940s?
SCULLY: I don't care. Mulder, this is a needle in a haystack. These poor souls have been dead for 50 years. Let them rest in peace. Let sleeping dogs lie.
MULDER: No, I won't sit idly by as you hurl cliches at me. Preparation is the father of inspiration.
SCULLY: Necessity the mother of invention
MULDER: The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom
SCULLY: Ye drink or be merry for tomorrow we may die
MULDER: I scream, you scream, we all scream for non-fat tofuti rice cream, Scully.

MULDER (handing Scully flowers): I stole these from some guy with a broken leg down the hall. He won't be able to catch me.

MULDER: What are you doing.
SCULLY: Trying to open my magazine. If I can separate the shell from the casing maybe I can get the powder to ignite.
MULDER: Oh. And maybe it'll start raining weenies and marshmallows.
SCULLY: Do I detect a hint of negativity?
MULDER: No. Yes ... actually. Yeah.
SCULLY: Mulder, you need to keep warm. Your body's still in shock.
MULDER: I was told once that the best way to regenerate body heat was to crawl naked into a sleeping bag with somebody else who's already naked.
SCULLY: Well, maybe if it rains sleeping bags, you'll get lucky.

MULDER: They're out to put an end to the X-Files, Scully. I don't know why, but any excuse will do. Now, I don't really care about my record, but you'd be in trouble just for sitting in this car and I'd hate to see you to carry an official reprimand in your file because of me.
SCULLY: Fox...
MULDER: And I... I even made my parents call me Mulder. So... Mulder.
SCULLY: Mulder, I wouldn't put myself on the line for anybody but you.
MULDER: If there's an ice tea in that bag, could be love.
SCULLY: Must be fate, Mulder. Root beer.

Random Letters

2009-03-03T10:37:00.006-05:00

Dear Granger,

Can you please tell me the secret to your luscious locks? I don’t mean to sound gay, but it has been really cold outside lately, and mom keeps making me wear this stupid coat to stay warm. If I had locks like you I’d be set….…although it would take me much longer to dry when I pee in my crate and mom has to bathe me.

Plus don’t you think we kind of look alike – our coloring at least? I mean look at the beautiful brown eye patches we both have….do you know any other pooches with such exquisite markings? And you know what else?? Sometimes I get excited and pee on myself too. Oh my goodness, what if we were twins separated at birth!! I won’t have a moment’s peace until I know. Please call me as soon as your mom gets back to Jackson so I can come over and meet you.

Yours Truly - Scout

Dear Scout,

Please stop peeing on the carpet, and in your crate. We have plenty of room outside, all you have to do is ask. Truly, I really don’t understand where all of your pee comes from anyway. It’s not like you drink that much water – enough to create a small pond on the floor outside of your crate everyday.

Anyway, even though I bathe you often, you still stink. You don’t want to be known as the dog that smells like pee now, do you? What would Granger think when he meets you?

Dear Seagulls and Ducks,

Please stop using our boat slip as a toilet. I don’t understand why you can leave everyone around us untouched, but poop all over ours. This summer I’ll be investing in an owl mannequin, but if that doesn’t work I might have to take more drastic measures. Consider yourself warned…

Dear neighbors up the street trying to sell your house,

MOW YOUR WEEDS!

Dear Summer,

I never thought I’d ever say this, but please hurry up and get here. I’m tired of freezing my tail off every night during my run and having to put 3 layers on just to take the dogs out to the bathroom. Plus our neighbors are going to teach us how to kayak and sail this summer, and we really can’t get started until the reservoir warms up. I realize it’s still a bit early, but this is Mississippi. You don’t hesitate to let your heat waves linger through Christmas some years, why not get an early start in 2009? Just a thought.

Dear Diet Coke,

This is hard, because I really, really love you, but starting soon I’m going to have to start cutting back on our time together. I’ve started running again, and plain old water is really the best thing for me right now. Please don’t take this personally, this is totally about me and not you. I still love you just as much as ever……

Dear X-Files producer Chris Carter,

I don’t care what some people stay, I still love your show as much as I did back in high school. Although I will have to admit your recent X-Files Movie was really terrible and not in any way worth the $9.50 I paid to see it.

Dear Bailey the Cat,

I’m so glad you’ve stopped licking all of your fur off – you’re looking much better these days. But if you keep taunting the puppy he might take it all back off for you, or pee on you, so please beware.

Dear Readers,

If you think my random letters contain an unusually high number of references to pee – you are correct. But such is life with a new puppy.

And yes – I totally stole this idea from another blog. Enjoy!

Almost forgot....

Dear 16 year old airplane stalker/starer,

Get a life. You are not Ashton and I am certainly not Demi, and neither is my sister. And oh by the way we're both also married. So keep your eyes to yourself, your hormones in check and sit forward in your seat like a normal person, or I just might have to have my 6'5" husband kick your puny 16 year old a#$ when we get off this plane.

Ahh - I feel so much better now! If only I could have said that to his face.

Still Got It

2009-03-02T10:32:00.003-05:00

I forgot to share one funny story from my Alaska trip last month.

Lana and I were fortunate enough to sit together (with a seat in between us) on the flight home from Anchorage to Seattle. I noticed after we boarded there was a kid (16 or 17) in the window seat in front of us, and that he kept peeking through the seat during takeoff, but I was reading a good book so quickly forgot about him. Halfway through the flight, he stood up and stretched over the seat and asked me (never mind the 2 people sitting next to him) if I knew the time. Barely looking up from my book, I replied no, and that I was not wearing a watch. I read and dozed the rest of the flight, and did not really notice him again until we were getting ready to unload.

As soon as we were able to move around after landing, the kid stood up in his seat, turned completely around, leaned in and started staring at me and my sister for what must have been 10 minutes – as long as it takes to dock and for most of the plane to unboard. I’m talking direct, unabashed, leaning/staring over the seat (and if you’ve flown recently, you know how close the seats are together now. I could have easily spit on him). So in my 28 years of wisdom and maturity what did I do…..got hysterical of course. I couldn’t quit laughing and soon started crying. I didn’t want to egg the kid on, so put my head down and pinched my nose, and told Lana, who at this point was practically sitting on top of me to get away from him because he was leaning so far over the seat to STARE, to quite making me laugh because I had a headache. So for about 3 minutes I sat there laughing/crying with my head down, watching him continue to stare out of my peripheral vision. Didn’t say a word, just stared.

Finally the line started moving (we were in the back), so I decided to sit and wait to get our bags (we carried on) hoping he’d exit before us. I guess he figured out my plan, because as the people next to him moved into the aisle, he stretched over the seat again and said, “I think I’m going to wait for everyone to get off before I get my bags.” At this point I shot out of my seat, grabbed my suitcase from overhead and raced off the plane – leaving Lana to fend for herself. Needless to say she was not very happy with me, but what can I say? Sometimes you just have to run. Although we managed to get out of the terminal with no further incident, I’ll have to admit I spent the better part of our layover looking over my shoulder, expecting to see our stalker in close pursuit. And after how well I’d handled the staring, I’m not sure what I would have done if he’d actually said something to us.

My husband says I’m pretty clueless, and typically don’t notice if I’m being noticed unless he points it out to me, so it’s nice to know firsthand that I’ve still got it…even if just to a 16 year old stalker.

In other news, we're almost through season 3 of X-files - only 6 more to go! I know you are all jealous:)

Gluttons for Punishment

2009-02-19T12:52:00.007-05:00

As if moving to a new city, starting new jobs and trying to re-establish ourselves wasn't enough to manage at this point, we've now adopted a puppy. A 5.5 month Jack Russell/Whippet mix named Scout. Although I've been looking for awhile, I really wasn't planning to adopt that day when I stopped at the rescue place "just to look" at this puppy I found online. I barely made it to the shelter before closing time Friday, and the lady and the front desk slyly offered to let me "foster" Scout for the weekend to see how he did with our other pets. I was a little worried, since all anyone had to say about the puppy was "He's really...... hyper." I didn't think it would work out, but knew I'd always wonder if I didn't try. So after getting the OK from the husband we loaded up and headed home.

My dear sweet husband, who has always been supportive of my love for animals, was wondering why I was bringing home a JR/Whippet mix when he knew I wanted a sweet house dog/lapdog (for those of you not familiar with breeds, this has the potential to be the most hyper dog on the planet). But as soon as he saw Scout he knew why I couldn't leave him. He's skinny as a rail with huge ears, long legs and a face to die for. And amazingly enough, he is a really sweet and good puppy. Granted he is CRAZY when I get him out of his crate, but once he settles down (in about 5 minutes) he wants nothing more than to crawl in your lap and go to sleep. And even when he's crazy, he whines and grunts like a little pig and wants to kiss you as much as possible - I think it's the whole rescue dog grateful mentality. After he settles down he is very much a lover. He's not potty trained yet, but is learning quickly and already picking up basic commands like "Get on your bed, stay and sit." I'm convinced he has the brains of a JR and the temperament of a Whippet, who by nature are very affectionate dogs. The only bad thing about him is he's had stomach issues since we got him, but the shelter gave me several remedies to try, and that mixed with a little pepto has done wonders. Allie is adjusting...they played the first night, and I catch them running around when I'm not looking. Mostly she just sits and stares pitifully at him with his puppy bones, even though I've spent about $30 on new bones for her that she wants nothing to do with. She's coming around though, and I think they'll get along beautifully once he grows up a little bit. He, on the other hand, loves her, and follows her around outside like a shadow. In the house he sticks to me like glue, but outside it's all about Allie.

Part of me wonders if I really am a glutton for punishment. We had it so easy with Allie - she is the best dog and SO easy. But after the first night I knew Scout was ours, and when I spoke to the shelter on Monday the owner said she was so glad I came for him, because she didn't think anyone else would want him because he was so hyper when you tried to get him out of his crate. I thought he would turn our lives upside down for the next several months, but since he's learned to stay on his bed so quickly, we've actually been able to resume our breakfast in bed routine for the past 2 days.

Here are a few pictures. They really don't showcase his cuteness to the fullest degree, but you get the idea. I think the bottom picture looks the most like him...he's very long and lean. And in case you're wondering, the shelter doesn't know his history. Just like Allie, he was found loose and turned in a little over a month ago, so they aren't even sure exactly how old he is.

Meet Scout

His favorite spot - Mom's lap. He is 100% a mama's dog.

Busy Days

2009-01-31T20:42:00.047-05:00

The past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind, with a trip to Atlanta, a visit from Jeff's parents and an emergency trip to Alaska. This is the first weekend we've had with nothing big planned for months!

I'm sure you're all wondering about the emergency trip to Alaska, if you haven't already heard. Last Wednesday my grandmother in Alaska, AKA Granny, went to the ER after one of the spells she's been having for months. The Doctors weren't initially too concerned, but during her visit she experienced a near fatal bout of ventricular tachycardia, a fatal type of heart arrhythmia, and things just deteriorated from there. When we got word on Thursday that she might not make it out of the hospital, all 4 of the grandgirls decided to make the trip to AK to show our love and support. Lana, our Dad and I flew out of MS at 6:30am on Friday morning and arrived in AK at 3:30pm that afternoon (a 12 hour trip with the time difference). We made it just in time to sit with grandpa while Granny had her MRI, which showed that she had 100% blockages in almost all of her arteries. They were able to stabilize her over the weekend, and put her on some medication to manage her arrhythmia, but the doctor's are saying she is not a candidate for bypass or an angioplasty at this point. We're hoping they will seek a 2nd opinion here in MS. The good news is she was discharged home yesterday, and appears to be doing much better. She is slowly gaining back the weight she lost over the past several months, and is trying to build her strength to hopefully make the trip home to Mississippi in March. Granny and Poppa have a comfortable house here in MS, and we're hoping after this week will try to relocate as soon as Granny is strong enough. It's beyond difficult being so far away from them during this difficult time, and knowing that we are at minimum 12 hours away if something happens doesn't help. We just love them so much, and I hope they felt that in full force last weekend when we all made the trip North. Please continue to pray for strength for Granny, and for safe travels to MS when and if they do decide to come.

Unfortunately I accidentally deleted the pictures I took the first 2 days of the visit, but here are a few from Saturday and Sunday.

Me and my sweet Granny.

Sunday we were able to get her up and out of bed a little bit. She really perked up with her girls around her:)

I got to brush up on my ice skating skills - this is how every road looked under the snow.

My cousin Lindsey's baby Stone was the big hit of the weekend. Here he is with my dad.

Sweet Grandpa and Stone

Uncle Neil, who was a huge help before, during and after our visit.

The Grandgirls - (L-R) Lindsay, Lana, Shasta and me. The only other picture I have of all 4 grandgirls together we were so tired we looked like zombies. I'll have to wait for Shasta to send me our good group pictures to post.

We had some visitors at the hospital. You don't realize how big they are until you're standing right next to them, and I'd say this moose was on the smaller side. There were 3 total right outside the window.

Thought this was a cool pic. Only in AK.

Another cool picture, but would have been better if the moose had been in it.

Relaxing at the hospital. I'll have to say it was a very comfortable place to be stuck in for the weekend...for a hospital.

I got to visit with some old buddies over the weekend, which was a treat. Shawn camped out at the hospital with us for several hours Saturday, and also drove us to the airport Sunday. Shawn and I have been friends since 5th grade.

Jess and John stopped by my grandparents house Saturday evening. Jess and I have been friends since 7th grade, but she was in my dad's 4th grade class.

I really miss this view....

People in AK have planes like people in MS have boats.

My favorite moment of the weekend - Grandpa hiijacking the cart at the hospital. He just walked up to it and stuck each of his keys in till it cranked. Good thing it was Sunday and no one was around!!

Although the circumstances for the visit were terrible, we had a wonderful time seeing everyone. It's been 3 years since all of the grandgirls were together. It in many ways it was a healing visit for everyone on many different levels.

The previous weekend we enjoyed a visit from Jeff's parents, Lisa and Ellis. Here they after a delicious lunch at Cock of the Walk.

Jeff and Pop taunting the gulls.

The weekend before that we enjoyed a whirlwind visit to Atlanta for my good friend Stacie's baby shower. We were lucky and got to see most of our friends in the process.

Gina and Brian let us crash at their place Saturday night.

Our new favorite game - hide and seek with Madeline. Hmmm, I wonder where she is?

Still can't seem to find her...

I still get tickled looking at those pictures. She was sooo excited to play hide and seek with Jeff. The last time they played she started hiding under the table before he'd even closed his eyes. It was adorable! We had fun lunching with Madeline and her parents, our good friends Julie and Todd, below. I have a picture of Madeline further down.

We had a delicious dinner at Jenny's Saturday night with Rob, Danielle and the girls.

We spent Friday night with Caroline, Mike and Suzanna. She was really excited to see us:)

Saturday morning visit to IHOP in our PJ's (kind of). What a doll!

We spent Thursday night with Mimi and Pawpaw and enjoyed breakfast with them Friday morning.

Here's Madeline, the hide and seek queen. Too cute!

We got a visit in with our good friends and mentors, Doug and Martha. They have been such a blessing to us, and we miss them so much!!

Their kids, Mitchell, Teddy and Caroline. It's hard to believe Teddy and Caroline were barely 3 when we first met them.

We enjoyed breakfast with our fellow friends (and bloggers) Georgia Peach, Big Apple and Papple.

Gina kicking Jeff's butt at Wii bowling.

Friday I stopped by work to hang out with some of my friends and coworkers at Shepherd. Here is my friend Josh. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures with everyone...

I got to meet up with his wife and friend Lisa, and beautiful girls Natalie and Lindsey, at Stacie's shower. I was so excited Natalie remember who I was - that's what stinks the most about leaving ATL. Now all of our friend's kids are going to forget us...

Me and my buddy Lynz, who just got accepted to Med School. Way to go Lynz!!

The whole reason for our trip - the lovely and adorably pregnant Stacie, practicing with little Lindsay.

Fun times at Mike and Suzanna's. This picture was not staged, but looks like it was. That wine bottle must have been very interesting.....

Amy and Michael, Brian and Gina and Mike and Suzanna - some of our favorite couples all together! You better believe we laughed all evening!

Little Bryce - look at those beautiful eyes!

I miss my girls - Nancy and Lynz!

My old volunteer services coworkers - Pete and Midge.

We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone, and thanks to my grandparents, Mike and Suzanna and Gina and Brian for letting us crash at their places.

That's all for now!!

Update Part #1 (Long Post)

2009-01-12T12:55:00.038-05:00

So it's finally here, the update you've been waiting 3 months for! For those of you we weren't able to visit with over the holidays, here are some long awaited pictures of the new house.

This is the view driving up to the neighborhood. Gotta hate that right:)

Mi Casa

The kitchen

Great room - You can't see it in this picture, but there is a built in entertainment center with a 6 foot opening for the TV that we will be modifying very soon. The people we bought the house from actually had a rear projector screen tv stuffed in that opening. Weird...

The dining room before and after pictures. It is now blue, after painting it 4 times (it's a long story). This is also the DR table Jeff is building. I told him if he built the table I didn't wait to wait 6 months for it to be finished. I think we're going on month 3 ~ BTW - the people before us had very 90's taste. Maroon and hunter green.

The Man Cave aka Office

If you ever come and visit, this is where we'll put you up. Our main guest bedroom complete with its own private bath.

Backyard and patio

Master Bath - and yes the wallpaper is coming down.

So those are the highlights. The best part of the house is that directly under our obnoxiously high roof is 1500 of prime real estate waiting to be built out. We won't need the space for some time, but it's nice to know it's available nonetheless.

We had a wonderful but busy christmas split between MS and LA. We had christmas eve dinner at our house, dessert at Lana's house and Christmas morning brunch at mom's house. It was kind of odd not staying the night at my parent's house christmas eve like we have every other year, but we're just so glad to be here it didn't really matter.

Jeff and I exchanged gifts christmas eve. I gave him some tools he wanted, and he gave me the best and possibly my favorite christmas gift EVER. Drumroll please.......the complete collectors edition of the XFiles. All 9 seasons (170+ episodes) plus the first (and only one worth watching) movie. So guess what we've been doing every night since christmas:) For those of you who don't already know, I was a HUGE XFiles fan in high school...and am discovering my passion for the series really hasn't waned much (unlike some people's ahem Michael). Thank you wonderful husband for a wonderful christmas gift I will be enjoying for months to come.

Early Saturday morning we made our way over to DeRidder for Christmas with the Smiths. Some highlights of the visit were:

1. Visiting with our 5 nieces and nephews and learning another is on the way.
2. Earning myself the "Favorite Niece" title from my Uncle-in-Law Matt. To celebrate I cooked him a Chess pie - now known as Cuss Pie after a slight miscommunication.
3. Watched in shock and awe as my husband charged a charging mother cow. Ladies - there is not much sexier than seeing your husband in carharts charging a cow - especially when the cow turns around and hightails away. Little did I know that if a cow charges you (unless it's a bull), you're not supposed to run away. Good thing I was on the other side of the fence.

Here are some pictures...

My sexy cowboy

One of the 2 calves that was born while we were in. Both of them had to be "taught" how to suckle. Guess that doesn't happen very often, but it was neat watching my father-in-law working with the calves - until mama cow freaked out because she didn't like the way we smelled.

Cowgirl wannabe Courtney trying to coax the calf to return to her mama just around the corner. And no I did not intend to be playing with the cows when I dressed that morning, hence the fru fru vest (Jeff's description).

We spent a lot of time this visit playing games. Our new favorite is Quiddler - a mix between rummy and scrabble. Very fun for any gamers out there.

My beautiful nephew - look at those eyes

Jeff and his older (and taller) brother Eric, and me, my sister-in law, Ben and one of the twins.

Waiting for us when we drove back from LA on Wednesday were our good friends Brian and Gina in to ring in the New Year with us. What a treat having them in town was, and they were officially our first overnight guests in our new house.

New Year's night we went down to Vicksburg for an amazing meal at Rusty's on the river. We strolled around town while waiting for a table, and nearly froze our tails off.

Gina really liked these nightgowns. It took quite some effort on my part to convince her it wasn't worth driving back before they left (when the store was open) to purchase one when I was sure one of my grandmothers could hook her up:)

We hit the casinos for a little while before heading home for the evening, and were sorely disappointed with the lack of festivities for the new year. Jeff did win $18 in a slot machine, then promptly lost it all.

New Year's Day we took the McVicker's to one of my families farms to play on the heavy equipment. Dad was nice enough to crank up the backhoe and our little red tractor. I think Brian really enjoyed himself...

Me and dad. He eventually wants to build a house at the farm in the spot directly behind us in the picture. What a view!

My parents and adorable niece Paige.

Me and my cowboy.

Before Gina and Brian headed back to town, we stopped for lunch at the Cock-of the Walk for the best fried catfish in town. Here were are freezing (again) and taking pictures on the dock. We'd been hiking earlier that morning - thus the casual attire.

Happy 2009 to all of our friends and family! I'll post more pictures later of our recent visit to Atlanta.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T16:16:00.002-05:00

And a Happy New Year. I promise I will update with PICTURES (Lisa and Suzanna:) after the holidays. We cannot find our camera battery, so we haven't taken any since Thanksgiving because our camera is DEAD.

We have a busy month ahead of us. We're spending Christmas Day with my family here in MS, then heading to LA the 27th for Christmas with the Smiths. Our good friends Brian and Gina are scheduled to come over for New Year's, so we're hoping that works out! January 10th we're headed to Atlanta (if I haven't talked to you about this yet, I will...we just solidified our plans a few days ago) and then the following weekend Jeff's parent's are coming to visit.

A very Merry Christmas to everyone!

Update

2008-11-24T12:47:00.004-05:00

In the past three months...
- We packed up 5 years of marriage in Atlanta in one weekend (thanks to our amazing ATL friends) and moved to Mississippi
- Closed on our house in Atlanta (after listing for just over a month)
- Jeff was offered (and accepted) a transfer position with Wachovia
- I started my new job with UMMC
- We survived 2.5 months living in the bonus room over my parent's garage (I say this jokingly, but in all honestly can't imagine how it could have gone better than it did)
- I helped partially clean my first wild turkey
- Bailey licked even more of his fur off
- Allie has become an escape artist, along with her partner's in crime Maggie and McKinley (my mom's dogs)
- We looked at almost 60 houses in Rankin County
- Jeff now enjoys hunting (most of the time)

In the past three weeks....
- We closed on our new house in Mississippi
- Painted the 2 story dining room in the house 2x, along with most of the other rooms in the house
- Jeff decided to build our dining room table
- Have been lucky to get 6 hours of sleep each night

In the past three days....
- Painted the dining room for the 3rd (and final) time
- Moved 15 full truckloads of stuff out of storage and into the new house (thanks to the help our awesome new Sunday school class)
- Moved 2 full truckloads from my parent's house to the new house (don't ask me where we had everything stored - I have no idea)
- Have gotten much less than 6 hours of sleep each night

In the next three days
- We'll be on our way to LA to spend most of the Thanksgiving holiday with Jeff's family, and will be staying at his parent's 3BR/2BA house with a total of 20 other people. Yep, you heard me right, 20 people, 10 of which are under the age of 5. I don't think I can even imagine having that many people in my house for more than a few hours, and we'll be there for 3 days.
- Probably won't be getting much sleep again

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but we still don't have a computer of our own. Plus we've been so busy the past three weeks I'm not sure I'd have had time to write anyway - although I try to get on and check everyone else's blogs at least once a week.

Although we're physically exhausted right now, we love our new house and neighborhood and feel tremendously blessed to have had the love and support of many old and new friends and our families during this crazy transition. We couldn't have done it without you guys!

I'll post pictures as soon as I can.