Lots of catching up...

I have lots of catching up to do and lots of recaps that need to be made on this blog. Weddings, holidays, many firsts for E like fairs and Boo at the Zoo and waving bye-bye. Time just doesn't permit. I feel like I am constantly playing catch up in this season of my life. No fun. I am however enjoying every moment I spend with my growing baby girl and super fantabulous and ever so helpful hubby! I will however miss them both tremendously this weekend as I travel to Nashville, TN for one of my best friend's wedding. It is going to be amazing beautiful, although I am a little disappointed I'm not there tonight to see someone famous. I would so be doing some major country music star stalking outside of the Grand Old Opray! LOL! Who knows maybe I will spot Carrie or Miranda on my way in to the big music city tomorrow! That would totally make my visit complete! I will be back to report pictures and celeb spottings (fingers crossed)!

Had to share...E enjoying her first pizza crust at Mellow Mushroom in Cola :)

Happy Halloween

From the sweetest and cutest strawberry there ever was!

1st time at the Park

It was such a beautiful fall Saturday and I had been itching to take E to the park for the first time. So Ad and I did and she loved it! E love love loved the swing! I thought she might be a little afraid at first, but the during the first big push her Daddy gave she smiled the biggest smile! She wasn't that impressed with the slide, though. So you can find us on the swings :)

Oh happy day!

Praise Jesus for national holidays! Enjoying this Columbus Day off from work with my Boo Boo! We are going to spend the day at lunch with Mama, a doctor visit and enjoying time with our fam from RI!!

Having a day...

I am having one of those days. One those days where I want to be at home with Boo restling with her to get her to eat with her head up, chasing her around while she crawls, pulls up to stand and climbs on anything and everything that is high (including me), making her laugh at all my silly faces and animal noises, holding her while I give her a bottle and as she is falling asleep she is pulling tightly on my hair, giving eachother kisses all day long (her wet kisses/licks are the best! ha!). I want to be at home on this beautiful day taking her for a walk (not in her stoller, of course-that is out of the question these days) with her pulling leaves off all the trees. Life just isn't fair. I know it could be worse, really worse. I am truly thankful for all our blessings, really! We are super blessed and I am grateful, but I want more time with her. Quality time. Not just the 2.5 hrs I spend with her everyday just feeding, bathing and driving her. I am forever trying to come up with things to sell on Etsy so I can have that time. Any suggestions? Ha! Maybe one day I will come up with something. Until then I will just be thankful that we have our health and love (lots of it)!

Honestly, though, how do people do it? And stay sane? The getting ready (all of us), commuting, working a LONG day, cooking dinner, cleaning up dinner, baths, bedtime...and then the other daily things that require attention...it tuckers me out!! No wonder my bedtime is 9 pm, sometimes earlier! If anyone has a magic solution to being a working mother, PLEASE let me know! I need all the help I can get!

Now I will continue to mope around until I am reuntied with my Boo at 7 pm tonight just as she is getting ready for sleep. Most people love Fridays, but Fridays are my long days. At work til 6:15 then a 40 min drive home :( But I do love weekends and I am looking forward to mine so much. Ad is going on a camping trip for his brother's bachelor weekend. We have family coming in today for Megan and Nicholas' wedding next weekend. So me and my Boo Boo will be real busy and making up for the time we lose during the week!!

Our weekend

Friday, I went for a much needed GNO! I got to spend some quality time with my sistacuz, Tiff! Don't know what I would do without that girl!

Saturday, Addie had to work so E and I were on our own for a while. She and I went to the Chocolate Festival (by ourselves). It was somewhat of a task because she didn't want to be in her stroller. So I held her, pushed the stroller and tried to look around, only buying a caramel apple for Ad. Needless to say, we were only there about 20min but it was fun while it lasted ha! Then she and I went to 'What's Cookin'' to grab some lunch (my fav) then took some lunch to a friend of mine who recently had a little baby. Then we went back home for a nap. After Addie got home and we rested up, we all went to Megan and Nicholas' couple's shower. It was a lot of fun and they fed us yummy BBQ! Not to mention, the party was at a beautiful home that was to die for! I kept saying that I was born to live that kind of lifestyle ha! Maybe one day lol! It was perfect weather, too. We sat outside all afternoon by a jacuzzi that overflowed into a pool and a lit fire! It really felt like fall :) Loved it!

Sunday, I went to Church solo because E was sleeping and Adam hadn't showered yet so he stayed behind with her. When I got home mama and papa had stopped by for a quick visit which was nice :) Then we went to pick up some Wifesaver then went to mom and dad's. Us girls (minus a sleeping E) went to TJ Maxx! I am such a Maxxonista :) We all got some cute little things for fall :) Then the whole fam went to Rick's Produce ( a cute little place that has seasonal flowers and veggies). They have pumpkins and mums each fall :) I always dreamed of taking my baby there and this year that dream came true!! It was so fun taking E and she was just in awe of all the orange! Then we went to Marble Slab to have icecream for supper! Even though E didn't have icecream, I think it will be fun to once in a while let her have icecream for supper. Come on, you have to live a little!!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

6 month pictures

We had E's 6 month pictures taken last month and I think they turned out so good! I am just in love with them. Crissy Callan, who is a good family friend, has taken all of E's pictures and she does such a nice job! Ella Jae loves her and she is so accomodating and sweet! Aren't they just precious? We love love love this pretty princess :)

Double ear infection

Sorry for the lack of posts, our life has been nothing short of eventful lately. E has had a double ear infection since last Monday. We first tried Amoxicillin then some ear drops to help with pain. When that didn't work, we tried Cefdinir which isn't working so we are back to the doctor tomorrow for another antibiotic that will hopefully work this time. Poor little E! She sleeps well at night (only if I get to sleep while holding her upright) and is starting to nap better throughout the day, but she just isn't herself. She doesn't stay content long and pulls at her little ears and makes them red :( She doesn't really cry, just kind of complains. Bless her little heart, she still laughs and smiles and plays! I pray we can find the right medication to heal her little ears quickly.

Happiness!

Little miss Ella Jae has had a 3rd day of happiness while in her carseat! Typically after 2.5 seconds of being in the carseat while in the car she gets angry and screams and cries. I had to plan going any place around her eating schedule almost just so I could give her a bottle in the car so she wouldn't scream and cry. Fortunately, the past few days she has somewhat entertained herself with various toys. I make sure I have a stash in the front seat so if she throws or drops something I can toss her something else to keep her occupied. And then there is always the animal noises that I make that she thinks are pretty funny and keeps her entertained ha! She is truly a joy and I am so thankful for her! So is growing too fast for my liking! She is just getting to be such a big girl with her crawling and most recently, pulling up. She completely pull herself to standing on Tuesday. She has here and there pull herself to her knees in her crib by pulling on the bumper, but she finally did it on Tuesday. She can stand on her own and hold something...too cute!

Happy September!

Ahhh...it is September! Fall is my favorite time of year! I am always so ready for Fall to get here after we have a summer in South Carolina! I am looking forward to so many things this Fall and many of those things are happening in September. I am looking forward to:

• My best friend's wedding on September 17.


• Another wedding on September 18 in Dallas, GA.


• Going to the Georgia Aquarium.


• Going to the Aiken's Makin', a local arts and crafts show in my hometown...so fun! Can't wait to take Ella Jae and buy her something super and handmade :)


• A nice long Labor Day weekend with my beautiful family!


• Our anniversary cruise to the Bahamas and Co Co Cay with friends!


• Gamecock Football!!!! (Born and raised a Carolina girl!)


• Sunday NFL Patriots Football (Married into that one lol)!


• Ella Jae's 6th month...she growing up and getting so big! She is so smart for her age...can't wait to see what she does next :)


• Possibly sneaking our my boots and sweaters :) Maybe Mother Nature will be good to us her in SC and give more than just cool mornings and nights.


• Making my house smell like a big ole fresh bakes apple pie!

Happy September!

Our Weekend

It seems that we have had something planned every weekend for months and the plans just keep coming ha! We have something to every weekend until the end of October! I like plans and we have fun plans made, but it makes the weekend go by much faster and I am just not a fan of the weekend ending so quickly! But this weekend, Adam's grandparents we still in town from Ella Jae's Baby Dedication so we spent time with them Friday night.

Then Saturday, I went for my best friends bachelorette day in Columbia. We had so much fun! We started the day off with a lingerie shower and brunch then headed to Cola to paint pottery, go to dinner at Za's pizza then ended the night with Eat, Pray, Love. It was such a nice day to be with the girls and just have good ole quality "girl-time!" I did miss my boo-boo, but mommy-me-time is needed every once in a while!! I have the best friends a girl could ask for! All of us are finally at a point where we are getting married and having babies so it is funny to see how our conversations and "girl talk" has evolved over the past few years from dating and break ups and sorority chats to marriage, babies, house decor...haha! I love it!

Sunday, we didn't go to Church because Ella Jae took a 2.5 hr nap and I hated to wake her because she has been recovering from a sinus infection. Adam and I were all ready but just let her sleep. So Ad picked us up some Dunkin and he watched sports while I surfed the net for E some cute Halloween outfits :) It was really nice and relaxing. Sundays seemed kind of rushed sometimes because it's like...get up, get breakfast, get E fed and washed and dressed, get us dressed, and off to Church we go-usually running behind. So this Sunday morning was relaxing compared to most! After E got up about 11:40, we went to Grandma's to eat lunch! Then we cam back to the house to get ready and let E nap before her 6 month photo shoot with Crissy Callan :) Crissy is really great and takes the cutest pics of our family. She has become like family and we really appreciate her! E did so good during the photo shoot!! I was really surprised. Fortunately, it wasn't 900 degrees outside, maybe 80's so it was some what of a relief! I cannot wait to see the pictures that Crissy captured! I know I will be pleasantly surprised, as always!!

Now it is back to the weekly grind...

Baby Dedication

We dedicated Ella Jae this morning at Church! It was so special! All of our closest family and friends came to share this special day with us. There was slide slow before the dedication featuring each family and it was the sweetest thing! Afterwards, we had everyone at our house for chicken salad sandwiches, pasta salad, chip and dip and cake :) Everyone was so thoughtful and bought E the sweetest little gifts. We are so blessed!

Ella Jae,

What a precious gift from God you are! We love you so much that we wanted to declare in from of our closest family and friends that we will raise you in a God honoring home and teach you all the ways to live out a Godly life. We pray that God will lead us to be the parents for you that He created us to be and He will help us lead by example. We love you more than anything and want to be the best possible parents we can be for you in every way. This is our prayer for your sweet life: "I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God." -Philipians 1:9-11

Love Always,

Momma and Daddy

Last Weekend at HHI in pictures