A Little Bit of This & That

THE MONKEY HAS BEEN LIFTED

2009-04-03T11:00:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone. This is Jeremy and for today I have hijacked the blog.

After nearly 5 years of studying, the last two years of which I have been studying 8pm to Midnight and 4:00am to 6:00am EVERY DAY, I am finally a CPA. To say I'm relieved is a huge understatement.

I know it's been as hard on Kyllie as it was on me and I could never thank her enough for the understanding and patience she's shown in letting me studying those hours.

That's all I really had to say, just wanted to pass on the news.

Jeremy

My Little Valentine

2009-02-14T09:38:00.004-05:00

We were up before Jeremy left for work this morning, so we went ahead and let Sara open her Valentine's present from us so she could enjoy it today. So here are some sweet pictures of my little girl opening her Valentine's present:

We've just finished eating breakfast and are sitting here watching Sara's new Winnie the Pooh DVD, and it's not even nine o'clock yet! It's been a busy morning! And I'm just waiting for my breakfast to wear off so I can bust open the BIG box of assorted chocolates that Jeremy got me :)

I hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day!!

Sam in 4D

2009-02-03T21:07:00.006-05:00

We decided to get a 4D ultrasound done this time around, and I'm so glad we did! It was so fun to get to see our little guy again and get a glimpse of his sweet little face, and start making guesses at who he looks like. Here are a few of the best shots we got:

Here is his sweet face. This was the first shot we got, and it turned out to be the best ones, b/c after this I think he figured out what was going on and decided to move his hand/elbow over his face for the rest of the time.

We did get some really good shots of his feet and legs, of course he was kicking them all over the place too!

And here's a good shot of his arm, hand, and fingers(yes I counted them :)

I know it's been forever since I posted any new pictures or an update on Sara. She is doing great, growing and soaking up everything. I amazed everyday at something she says or does. We are slowly working on potty training and it's going. Ideally I'd like to have her trained before the baby gets here, but I've also heard of kids regressing after a big life change, like a new baby, so we're just kind of playing by ear right now.

We've also had a little progress in our bonus room, which I'll post pictures of soon, and all the new bedding is in, so now it's time to pick out paint.

Less than 100 days!

2009-01-26T13:25:00.006-05:00

Woohoo! I'm under the 100 day mark! I can't believe I'm almost in my last trimester, this pregnancy has really flown by, way faster than my first. I go in this Friday for my glucose test, and may possibly schedule an ultrasound. We didn't get a 4D ultrasound done with Sara, but I am seriously considering it this time. Also, let me just say, this kid moves ALL the time! Almost to the point where I find myself asking, is this normal?? I just take it as a good sign that everything is good and healthy, and he's just a happy baby :)

Also we have some progress on our house--our bonus room is getting sheet rock today!! I really can't believe it's finally getting finished! For those of you who don't know, we've been saying we were going to finish it since before Sara was born, but the timing was never right, or we just didn't have the money. But now we don't really have a choice. Our extra bedroom, has been a catch-all room for a while, and has turned into to Jeremy's music room(which will all be moved up to the bonus room),and we are planning on turning that room into Sara's new room and keep the nursery the same, with some new paint and furniture. I ordered both the kid's new bedding over the weekend.

Here is Sara's:

And here is Sam's:

I can't wait to get started painting and decorating their rooms!

Tagged!

2009-01-21T11:28:00.008-05:00

Ok, I've been tagged by Anna(Thanks Anna! :) to list five of my addictions and pass it on to five more people, so here we go:

1. Sweet Tea-I'm sure this is no big surprise for those who've been to dinner with me a few times, I LOVE sweet tea! It is good thing I was born in the South, b/c there is not one day that goes by that I don't have a BIG glass of sweet tea, or several glasses. I've been trying to cut back some during this pregnancy, b/c I know the caffeine & sugar aren't great for the baby, but the doctor says everything in moderation is ok. So let's just say I'm working really hard on moderating ;)

2. Chocolate-Ok, so my first two are about food, what can I say? Chocolate is another thing that I can never get enough of, candy, brownies, fudge, cake, pies, cookies, the list could go on. I have to have a chocolate fix of some kind everyday, along with a cold glass of milk.

3. Magazines-Ever since I was old enough to start reading magazines like, Teen Beat, and Tiger Beat, I have been addicted to them! I got my first subscription around 14 to Teen Magazine, and have been going non-stop since. I currently have 4-5 subscriptions right now, however I am letting a couple of them run out b/c I no longer have as much time as I used to, to read them. Also, my addiction seems to have moved over into catalogs too, I have no idea how many I get, but I know it's a lot, I can't tell you how many times a week Jeremy asks me where they are all coming from! (And yes, I do recycle :)

4. Blogs-I love reading about other people, hearing their stories, reading about their lives, etc., it's so addicting. And you also get to know some great people in the process, or get know others better than you normally would. And I have found great decorating ideas, recipes, book recommendations, and all sorts of other things from them. Honestly, I probably spend way more time than I should reading them, but when you start clicking around, it's so hard to stop!

5. My Family-Totally addicted. I love spending as much time as I can with them. I love having nights at home when it's just Jeremy, Sara and I, and we're just goofing off and playing around, or cuddling on the couch watching a movie. I soak up every minute with them, but somehow it never seems to be enough.

Ok, I tag Sunny, Dawn, Ashley T., Ashley B., and Alisha. Have Fun! :)

What's in a Name?

2009-01-19T20:12:00.006-05:00

Here is the ultrasound picture of our little guy, that I said I would post over a month ago. I know, poor thing, already suffering from being the second child. However, it did take us a lot longer to decide on a name this time around. With Sara, we had her name, along with a boy name picked out, way before we knew what we were having. This time around, we had no definite girl name picked out, and still had our old boy name, from the first time around. And when we found out it was a boy, I think we both assumed we would use the name we had picked out from 2 years ago, but we both started second guessing it, so we started throwing around other names, and finally narrowed it down to two that we both liked and would be happy with either way. So, I let Jeremy make the final decision, one because it was boy, and I liked the idea of him being named by his father, and two, I'm incredibly indecisive :) His name: Samuel Ray Carter. We really fell in love with the name Samuel, or Sam, as we plan to call him, for lots of reasons, but mainly b/c it's such a strong name. His middle name is after Jeremy, and it's also the middle name of both his, Grandaddy(my dad) and Papa(Jeremy's dad).

Also, we've started work on our bonus room, so I'm hoping it won't be too much longer till it's finished and I can get started on Sara's big girl room and Sam's nursery. We've already bought his furniture and the store is holding it b/c we don't have anywhere to put it right now, and I think I've almost got the bedding narrowed down, but again, I'm ridiculously indecisive, so I may let Jeremy make the call on that too :)

So there's my update, it only took me 19 days into the new year. I'm really going to try to be better :)

Farewell 2008

2008-12-31T18:15:00.005-05:00

I'm sitting here getting ready to leave to go out for New Year's Eve and thought I needed to post something to wrap up 2008. It's been a good year for us, we've watched our baby turn into a toddler, welcomed our first nephew, and learned we will be welcoming our second child in 2009(funny how all of my great memories of this year revolve around kids :) So with that we are definitely looking forward to what 2009 has in store for us!

Sorry I haven't gotten around to posting any Christmas pictures, and believe me, I have plenty! I've been kind of lazy on my days off and have been soaking up all the time I could with Sara, so here's one last picture for 2008, our family on Christmas Eve night:

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!!

It's a.....

2008-12-08T12:01:00.004-05:00

.....BOY!

We are absolutely thrilled! That was my gut feeling, and after the boy dream I had a couple of weeks ago, I was sure of it! Glad to know that I have some motherly instincts, b/c I was totally wrong with Sara. Jeremy was positive it was a girl, so I think out of the two of us, he was definitely the most shocked! So it's looks like that evens things up for us!

We have pictures, but the scan quality at work is not so great, so I'm hoping to get a better one tonight at home, and post it, so yall can have a glimpse of our baby boy!

They Say It's Your Birthday.....

2008-12-05T08:25:00.004-05:00

....It's his birthday too!

Sorry for the reuse of the picture, but it's the latest one of I have of them together, and plus what a better one to use than one with the kids :) These guys are great husbands and awesome fathers!

Happy Birthday Jeremy & Justin!!!

Also, tomorrow is mine and Jeremy's 5th Anniversary! We always like to celebrate with a nice, quiet, romantic evening out, and really, what could be more romantic than spending your anniversary with 70,000+ screaming fans at the SEC Championship game? I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be.....well that's not entirely true, but I am excited about it :)

Happy Anniversary Jer! I Love You!

16 weeks

2008-11-18T12:51:00.006-05:00

I had my 16 week appointment yesterday, and everything seems to be on track. It was a nice uneventful appointment, and I got to hear the heart beat again, which is always so nice, and it was still in the 160s. I also thought I might have felt some movement on Sunday, it felt like two bubbles popping, of course I haven't felt anything since, so who knows! I didn't feel Sara until around 18 weeks, so I'm hoping by then I will be having some definite movement.

My next appointment is in 3 weeks, and it's our Big U/S! I will be so glad to know what this little one is! I am really ready to give him/her a name and start planning the nursery, and Sara's new room. I am hoping the time will fly by between now and then, since have we Thankgiving and three full weekends! And that also means lots of blogging material too, to make up for the lack there of lately!

Halloween '08

2008-11-04T21:50:00.007-05:00

So I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from Halloween, which also happens to be my birthday! So here are a few pictures of our night:

My cute little witch!

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating.

Jeremy with Will the Frog and Justin with Sara the Witch. They were both too cute!

After trick-or-treating, we came back home, had some supper with my family and then it was time for birthday cake. Sara gets tickled every time someone, whether it's to her or someone else, gets sung Happy Birthday! She really thought it was funny when they said my name, hahaha!

And of course, she helped me blow out my candle!

Someone Hearts My Blog!

2008-11-04T13:14:00.003-05:00

Sunny hearted my blog (Thank you :) I heart your's too!), and tagged me to answer these questions, using only one word answers, so here we go:

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Teacher
5. Your father? Hard-working
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? Forgotten
8. Your dream/goal? Happiness
9. The room you're in? Office
10. Your hobby? Reading
11. Your fear? Unknown
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Traveling
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? Decisive
15. One of your wish-list items? Boots
16. Where you grew up? Crossville
17. The last thing you did? Lunch
18. What are you wearing? Cardigan
19. Your TV? Home
20. Your pet? Macy
21. Your computer? Silver
22. Your mood? Blah
23. Missing someone? Sara
24. Your car? Outside
25. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
26. Favorite store? Target
27. Your summer? Over
28. Love someone? Completely
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Sunday

Now I'm supposed to tag someone, so if you're reading this right now, tag you're it!

Our Pumpkin

2008-10-30T20:34:00.006-05:00

We're a little late, I know, but it's been a busy week and tonight is the first chance I've had to carve our pumpkin, and this is also the first year that Sara has helped. It's not anything spectacular, and really not all that neat and clean, but it looks good when it's lit up, so that's all that matters!

This the worst part to me. I hate cleaning out all the slimey stuff and seeds, the scoop does a good job scraping....

...but not scooping, so I usually just dig it out with my hands, yuck!

Sara's first time holding pumpkin guts! I'm hoping by next year she'll think it's fun and want to do all the cleaning out for me :)

Also most finished!

And the finished product! Like I said it's not the most neat, but when lit up....

...it looks pretty good! (sorry it's blurry, my camera does not take good night pictures, or at least I haven't figured out how to do it yet!)

Also, I want to say Thank You to all the well wishes for our new addition! We really appreciate them, and feel so lucky to have such great friends!

An Announcement....

2008-10-26T21:41:00.009-05:00

We're expecting baby #2!!! I feel like the word has spread through all our family and lots of our friends, but I haven't officially announced it on the blog yet, mainly just out of hesistaion. But things are going really well, and I've been feeling pretty good for the most part. Morning sickness kicked at about 5 weeks, and the exhaustion has been pretty bad, but now that I'm at the start of the second trimester I can tell I'm starting to get some of my energy back.

We had an ultrasound at 8 weeks(picture to come if I can get a good scan)and got to hear the heartbeat(174 bpm for those interested), and then I had my second appointment last week, and got to hear the heartbeat again(166 bpm), so all is going as it should. And I wasn't sure of my due date until I had the ultrasound, I was thinking maybe the second week of May, but it turned out to be a little earlier, according to the ultrasound it's May 2nd. I already have my BIG U/S scheduled for December, where we're hoping we'll get a peek to see if it's a boy or girl.

We are all thrilled and are looking forward to meeting him or her. And Sara is looking forward to being a big sister and has already been getting in some good practice with baby cousin Will.

We would appreciate any prayers you want to send our way for us and our new addition, and to help get us through the sleepless nights to come, and that we won't go crazy trying to figure out how to handle a toddler and a newborn :)

(Sorry for the bad quality of the picture, I took it with my camera phone the day we told our families.)

Success!

2008-10-19T22:03:00.006-04:00

We got lucky, we have a little girl who loves football! Or maybe one that is easily occupied! She was fantastic, I really don't think we could have asked for it to go any better. She cheered, clapped, and even did a little yelling all during the game(except the first quarter, which she slept through), and I must say it made me a little misty-eyed to see her enjoying something Jeremy and I both love so much! So here is our little Bama fan in action:

On the way to Tuscaloosa, she was so excited about going to the Alabama "feet" ball game!

With Grandaddy and Daddy in front of the stadium before the game. I felt bad b/c we left her sunglasses in the car, she could have definitely used them :(

Getting some practice with her shakers before the game started.

She would repeat all the cheers after us, it was too cute!

ROOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLL TIDE ROLL!

With Mommy and Daddy after the game, excited about the win!

Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers that were sent our way b/c they were definitely heard! We were both very proud of our girl!

Call us crazy...

2008-10-17T15:04:00.004-04:00

Because we have decided to take Sara to her first Alabama football game tomorrow! I've been going back and forth all week on whether or not we should, but now that I've declared it on the blog, I guess we'll have to go through with it ;)

All kidding aside, I am really looking forward to it. I am more than shocked that Jeremy even considered, let along agreed to it, but it probably had something to do with me agreeing(and I have no problem doing)to leave the game early if she got a little restless, and head back to his dad's motor home, which are thankful to have access to and probably wouldn't be taking her if we didn't!

Wish us luck!

Sara is TWO!

2008-10-08T20:35:00.007-04:00

Sara celebrated her 2nd birthday this past Saturday!! I just can't believe she's two, and how much she's grown up in the past year. We had her party on Saturday too, I don't think she knew what to think of having everyone here! And she definitely got spoiled by all the gifts, but LOVED every one of them!

Yummy cake!

Sara got a kick out of everyone singing Happy Birthday to her, she thought it was so funny. And Daddy helped her blow out her candles!

Sharing some cake with Uncle Jimmy.

She loves cake, can you tell?

Having fun opening presents!

Sara's first Cabbage Patch doll, and can you believe her name is Macie?!? Hahaha!!

Trying on her new shades.

Her new best friend(who she takes everywhere), Dora!!

Modeling her new Alabama sweatsuit!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!! I Love You!

Just because I'm so excited

2008-09-25T16:45:00.004-04:00

Long time no blog, but I couldn't not blog about The Office season premiere tonight! Can I just say I'm excited! Only 4 more hours for more great moments like this:

Wow.

2008-08-11T13:25:00.008-04:00

I am still speechless after watching the Men's 4 X 100 meter freestyle relay last night. It is definitely by far the most exciting moment of the Olympics so far. If you missed it, go check it out on the NBC Olympic website, it is a definite a MUST-SEE, or I'm sure you will see it being replayed more than a few times during the remainder of the Olympics.

That is, if you are even watching it. It has come to my attention today that not many people share my love for the Olympics, as in NO ONE, with the exception of one co-worker who did say she saw the replay this morning, I work with even watched the race last night, or watched the opening ceremonies Friday night. I was very disappointed this morning that I had no one to discuss the greatness of it all with. But hopefully my exciting recap has encourage some of them to check it out tonight, I mean really, what else is there on TV to watch right now?

So Behind

2008-07-25T09:44:00.006-04:00

Well I've gotten way behind on blogging, and everything else it seems like. And honestly I don't even know if I can tell you what I've been busy doing! I am so behind on my pictures too, I've tried to work on them a little this week, sorting through the good and deleting the bad, getting them downloaded and uploaded, and I'm still not finished, and that's why I have no pictures to post today :( But believe me, it's not b/c I don't have any!!

It's been an exciting month for us, the first week of July and over the 4th we went to the beach with my family and my cousin also got married while we were down there. It was a beautiful beach ceremony and Sara got the honor of being a flower girl for the first time, and I must say she did very well! And then we've been spending the rest of the month waiting for the arrival of our new niece or nephew, who decided to make HIS entrance this past Sunday!! Our sweet little nephew Will was born on July 20th at 2:27 p.m., weighing 9lbs(!!!) and was 19 1/2 inches in length. He is so precious, and already has some squeezeable cheeks! And we're lucky enough to live VERY close to them, so we've been able to go over and visit, and spend some time with the new family(and they are doing great, btw!)and let Sara get to know her new cousin, who she's been calling Baby Will. I can't wait to see these two in a few months, I have a feeling Christmas at Poppa & Babs' house is going to be quite a sight this year!

Wow, I can't believe it's almost August!

Blogs of People I Don't Know

2008-06-24T08:58:00.002-04:00

Yes, I blog stalk. But seriously, who doesn't? You start out at one blog, presumably of a person you know, and then you just start clicking away, hopping from blog to blog to blog, and before you know it you totally forget how you got to that blog in the first place. Anyway, I say all of that b/c that's exactly how I came across these blogs that I want to share. Now these may not be your cup of tea, or you may have came across them yourself, but they all are fantastic stories, happy, sad, & inspirational.

The first one I want to share is Kelly's Korner . I heart this blog. I've been following her story for a while now, she is total sweetheart and has incredible faith in God, and is such a genuine person. And she just posted some incredibly exciting news, so go check it out if you want to know what!

Next is Confessions of a CF Husband. This is an incredible story, and it's far from over, but to see how far they've come is just amazing. If you've never read this blog before, be sure to look on the right column and start there, it will get you up to speed.

And this is one that I've just recently came across, matt, liz, and madeline. I need to issue a couple of warnings with this one. First, you will need a Kleenex in hand. Second, there is some to a lot of bad language used, so if you get offended, then you probably don't want to click this one. And again, on the top right, there are some links to get you caught up.

Happy Clicking!

New Pictures

2008-06-23T08:56:00.003-04:00

We finally got around to getting some really good professional pictures of Sara made a few weeks ago. The photographer, Alyson, did an amazing job!!! I think she really captured Sara's emerging personality! Jeremy and I got in on some of the pictures too, and we had a great time! Alyson was fun to work with and she was great with Sara, so I must put out a plug for her : Eternal Reflections Photography by Alyson

She created an awesome slideshow for us, so here's the link if you want to check it out: http://www.erpbyalyson.com/CarterFamily/

And I have a little update on Sara, towards the end of last week and over the weekend we finally discovered the root of her problem, and it's not so much separation anxiety, but it's that she's teething! And I mean seriously teething! Up until now, she has never really had a problem with it, and we wouldn't even know new teeth were coming in until we saw them, but not with is set! It was so bad this weekend, I had to change her outfit multiple times b/c of all the drool and snot, and we had the hardest time getting her to nap. But I do think the worst is over, and she was her normal little self when I dropped her off this morning. I'm so ready to have my little girl back!

Sara and her Daddy

2008-06-20T10:52:00.006-04:00

In honor of Father's Day being this past Sunday, here are some recent pictures of Sara and Jeremy. And you will definitely be able to tell by the picures that he is definitely the fun parent!

First attempt at a Father's Day picture...

...and this is the best one we wound up with! Still pretty cute!

I ran out to Walmart for a minute and came home to this! I guess there's no better way to spend Father's Day :)

Hope you had a great day, Jer! You're a wonderful daddy, and Sara and I love you bunches!!! And I hope you enjoy your Father's Day gift(when it ever gets here :)

One of those days....

2008-06-17T16:04:00.003-04:00

Yep, it's one of those. Work is driving me crazy, on top of all the other things I have on my mind, and I'm just sitting here thinking of all the things I would rather be doing, or need to be doing other than what I'm doing here. And Sara seems to be having a hard time lately too, which has also been weighing on me. The past two mornings when I've dropped her off at daycare, she has cried, screamed and clung to me tighter than she ever has, totally breaking my heart. This is so out of character for her, I can count on one hand how many times she has ever cried when I've left her there. She LOVES her teachers, and I just can't figure out what has changed to make her not want to stay there. This morning when I got her out of the car, she wouldn't even walk to the building, so I had to carrying her, crying, inside. The only thing I can think of is separation anxiety, but I just would have thought she would have had some of that by now.

I am really hoping this is just a phase and that it will end very quickly! B/c it's been taking tons of strength for me to just hand her over, crying, and walk out of there and not take her with me. And I do know she's totally fine after I leave, and has a good rest of the day, but the last look I see on her when I leave is tears, and that just sticks with me the rest of the day.

On a lighter note, I have Father's Day pictures to post, but haven't downloaded them off my camera yet, along with others, so they'll definitely be pictures next time!!

May 2008

2008-05-28T22:24:00.022-04:00

So this should basically cover the whole month of May, and as you will see it was/has been a busy month!!

First up is Mother's Day! It was a beautiful day and we had a great time visiting all of our mothers and grandmothers. We started off the weekend by having dinner for Jeremy's Mammaw's birthday, then on Sunday, we had lunch with Jeremy's mom and her mom, and then it was off to my parent's house to go out to eat with my mom, it was a busy day, but very well worth it! And I need to brag on Jeremy for my great Mother's Day gift, which I will technically be getting exactly one month from today. He got me a gift card to Terrame for a massage, pedicure and manicure, and he also SCHEDULED it for me!! This is huge as I am notoriously bad at making time to schedule those types of things for myself, so I am so appreciative that he did that for me. And best of all, he scheduled it for the Saturday before we leave for our beach trip, so I will have pretty fingers and toes to show off :)

Me and my little girl on Mother's Day 2008

The following Sunday I hosted a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Alison, who is expecting their first baby (and my first neice or nephew :) at the end of July! We are all so excited and I know Sara can't wait to have a playmate to get in some trouble with ;)

Here's Sara trying to sneak a peek at some of her new cousin's loot.

The beautitul mommy-to-be!

Next up, my baby brother's graudation! Alex, my youngest brother, graduated last Thursday night, exactly 10 years after me. So weird. And even weirder, in the fall, he will enroll at the University of Alabama. I feel old now. I think regardless of his age, I'm still going see him as the little kid he was when I left for college.

The proud grad.

Wooohooo!!!

My little (Haha!) brothers and I.

Alex and his favorite niece(she really does love him! :)

And here's some new Little Gym pictures. This past Saturday we were able to invite all the grandparents to come along and the kids were going to show off all they've leave. Unfortunately none of the grandparents were able to come, but the great-grandparents were! Jeremy's Nanny and Pappaw were able to come out and watch, and Sara definitely showed off for them.

Shaking her bells for the welcome song.

Her new favorite group activity, the parachute!!

Miss Sarah showing Sara how to bear crawl on the bars.

Kicking the bubbles! She loves to do this, whenever they bring the bubbles out she immediately gets on her back and kicks her feet up.

This week they received gold medals for all their hard work. Here's Sara admiring hers :)

And finally, patting the mat for the goodbye song.

Ok, now we're almost caught up! We spent lots of time in the sun this past weekend for Memorial Day. On Saturday, after Little Gym, we went out to the lake house and spent the rest of the day there, just hanging on the pier, and getting some sun. On Sunday, we had decoration at my parent's church and then a house warming for my cousin. Jeremy and I both had Monday off, so we went out to the lake around lunch and spent some time with his family, and then we went to my aunt's house for a cookout, and Sara got to swim with her cousin Luke. We got in lots of family time this weekend, I got to see a lot my family that I don't get see that often. It was really nice!

Getting ready for our boat ride at the lake.

Sara was little nervous while we were in the boathouse(she was clawing my neck), but once we took off, she had a great time!

Loving the wind in her hair :)

I'll let these next pictures speak for themselves. I think we are going to have a little fish on our hands this summer, b/c she LOVES the water!!

Ok, I'm done. Whew! I think we're gonna take it easy this weekend!

Coming Soon...

2008-05-27T09:41:00.001-04:00

...a monster blog full of pictures, pictures, and more pictures!

Sara's First Haircut

2008-05-09T09:21:00.009-04:00

So, I finally did it :( It had to be done eventually, and now I guess was no better time than any. And now that I see how much thicker and healthier it looks, I kind of wish I would have done it sooner. I will say I am going to miss the long stringy mess it was just a little bit, but I am so happy with the way it looks. And now I can finally just let it grow and not worry about when I'm gonna have to get it cut and evened up (she had about 4 different layers of growth back there!).

So here is the event documented:

Getting started!!

I was surprised she sat in the chair all by herself, I thought I might have to hold her, but she didn't mind it at all. What did bother her was the cape, after a minute with it on she decided she wanted it off, so that's where the sucker came into play, once we gave her that, it was smooth sailing. :)

The first snips!

Bye Bye Hair!

TA-DA!

And of course we had to have a photo shoot when we got home :)

View of the back.

Doesn't she look so grown up!?! Definitely not a baby anymore, but a little girl! *tear*

My Little Birdie

2008-04-28T23:08:00.012-04:00

Sara goes to The Little Gym in South Huntsville on Saturday mornings, and she absolutely LOVES it! She is in the Birds class, which has kids ranging from 10-18 months, so this past Saturday was her last day as a little birdie, and she will be moving into the Beasts class this Saturday, (sigh)I can't believe she's getting so big! Anyways, I've been trying to remember to bring my camera forever, so I could take some pictures of her there, so it's taken me five months, but here they are, finally!

Class begins with us all sitting on the big red mat, ringing the bells, and singing the welcome song. Then we all stand up and start the warm-up, where we walk, run, jump, etc. around the mat. Sara gets really into the warm-up now, she knows exactly what she supposed to be doing. Watching your kids learn and pick up on things is one of the most amazing things about being a parent, and at this age, it's everyday! Ok, so after the warm-up, there's a group activity and this week it was the Air Trac, it's a big inflatable mat, and Sara's not a huge fan of it, but she'll sit on it if I sit with her, and maybe jump a little.(I have no pictures of any of this b/c I forgot my camera was in the car, oops!)

After the group activity, we have gym time, where all the kids get to explore the gym, and do whatever they want.

Sara crawling through a tunnel on the mat, she really likes to crawl through things.

Walking on the beam. She picked this up pretty quick and this is usually one of the first things we do during gym time.

During each class they have a skill of the week, this week it was doing the wheelbarrow on the beam, so here she is with Ms. Angel demonstrating the skill for the class.

Here she is on the uneven bars. Sara has never liked the bars until recently, and we still can't get her to hang on them, but she will walk across with her hands and feet.

It takes a lot of concentration! :)

After gym time, it's time to play with the balls. All the kids love the balls!!

And now it's time to put the balls away, Sara is a big helper when it comes to this, she will even try to take the balls away from other kids just so she can put them in the bin.

After balls, it's time for bubbles, another favorite among all the kids. This week, we had to lay on our backs and Ms. Angel would blow the bubbles on our feet. Sara had a good time kicking them!

And finally we all sit in our circle on the big red mat and sing our goodbye song.

We pat the mat during this song, and up until a few weeks ago, Sara would just sit with us or wander around the gym, but now she loves to sit and pat the mat as we sing, she has pretty good rhythm too!

We are definitely going to miss Ms. Angel and all the other birdies, but we're looking forward to seeing some of our old friends who have already moved up! And seeing all the new things she's going to learn, I'm sure being around the bigger kids will definitely have an influence on her.

A Day at the Zoo

2008-04-20T16:28:00.008-04:00

On Friday we took Sara on her first trip to the zoo! She LOVED it! Everytime we would tell her it was time to move on and go see more animals, she would say "no!" and wanted to stay and keep looking at that animal, so, we started a game of saying "bye bye" to each animal and that made it easier to move on.

So there's my short commentary, and now here are the pictures:

It was Nana's spring break last week too, so she joined us for our trip!

The Office

2008-04-11T13:49:00.003-04:00

Jim Halpert: Michael has asked Pam and me to dinner at least... nine times and every time we've been able to get out of it. But, I gotta give him credit. He got me. Because... I'm starting to suspect there was no assignment from corporate.

The Office premiered last night with it's first new episode since the writer's strike. And it was fantastic, I was seriously laughing out loud at every line, of course that might be b/c it's been five months since the last new episode so there was a lot of laughing to make up for. Nonetheless it was a great episode!

Michael Scott: "Whatever I want." It's never whatever I want. When I wanted to see Stomp and you wanted to see Wicked, what did we see?

Jan: We saw W-W--

Michael Scott: When I said that I wanted to have kids and you said that you wanted me to have a vasectomy, what did I do? And then, when you said that you might want to have kids and I wasn't so sure? Who had the vasectomy reversed? And then when you said you definitely didn't wanna have kids? Who had it reversed back! Snip snap snip snap snip snap! I did! You have no idea the physical toll that three vasectomies have on a person. And I bought the condo, to fill will children!

Jan: I am so sorry that I don't wanna bring kids into this screwed up world.

Michael Scott: I am sorry too.

Jan: But look if you wanna have kids then fine! You win! Let's have a [bleep] kid!

Michael Scott: Do you mean it? You wanna have a kid.

Jan: I hate my life.
[Jan walks away]

One and a half

2008-04-04T22:45:00.006-04:00

My baby is 18 months old today! I can't believe what a big girl she is now! Here are some things I want to remember:

She is saying new words everyday, and can pretty much do the entire roll call of our whole family.

She still LOVES to dance, and anything that makes music.

She is very into Dora the Explorer, I think the Backpack she got for Easter was evidence of that!

She really likes to take a bath, and will fill up a boat she has with water and stick her face down in it! I have a feeling we might have a little fish on our hands this summer!

She will give hugs and kisses to just about anybody.

She is very good at connecting people, you mention Justin, she will immediately call for Alison, or you mention Matt, and she will ask for Alex.

She still loves to read, we go through about 3 books every night before bed. Her favorites are flap books, or animal books.

She can jump extremely well for her age, or so we've been told.

She is bashful around strangers, but usually warms up pretty quickly.

She doesn't share very well at all. You would think with being around other kids all day, that wouldn't be the case, but she seems to be very selfish. I am hoping she grows out of this very soon!

I am sure there are more things I want to add, but my brain is tired. Enjoy the pictures!

Easter

2008-03-24T12:51:00.012-04:00

A visit from the Easter Bunny:

A photo shoot before church:

Hunting eggs at Nana's (and some sliding too!):

As you can tell, we had a pretty great day, even though it was a little on the chilly side...Burrr!

Sara's First Egg Hunt

2008-03-24T08:38:00.005-04:00

***Sorry the pictures aren't loading, I had to delete and repost this one (twice) b/c there was a comment posted that had links in it that cause some crazy pop-ups to come up, and I wasn't sure how to delete the comment at the time, and I didn't want anyone else to click the links, and that was the quickest way I knew to fix it. Now I have it set for the comments to be moderated for the time being, so I can prevent the weird ones. I will re-upload the pictures tonight, and post some new ones of Easter!***

Sara had an Easter Egg Hunt at her daycare on Tuesday, and actually, it was her first egg hunt ever, since last Easter she was only six months old. She had a blast and was laughing the whole time! I was really impressed with her egg hunting skills, even though the eggs weren't hidden, she did a great job of going and getting them and bringing them to her basket(it was a little too big for her to carry around, so she just left if in one spot and would run back and forth).

It was a really fun day for her, and as you can see by the pictures, she really racked up!

Sara in the Snow

2008-03-10T21:08:00.005-05:00

Sara got to have a little fun in the snow Saturday morning, and we're lucky we went out so early b/c it was all melted by noon. And even though we probably didn't even have half an inch, Sara was still excited to go out and play in the "noe".

All About Sara

2008-03-03T19:38:00.006-05:00

No, I haven't forgot about her, I've just been procrastinating in downloading the pictures off my camera. I have about a month's worth that I just downloaded tonight...so away we go!

This is how you'll catch her most of the time, thumb in mouth.

Sara on Valentine's Day.

Laughing at her Grandaddy. Him and her Nana came bearing Valentine's gifts!

Sara just chillin' in her chair watching Dora.

And again, with the thumb!

With the beautiful weather we had this weekend, Sara thought it would be nice to take a drive.

I think she had some car trouble?

Outta My Way! (We need to work on her road rage ;)

My happy little girl!

Happy Birthday to you...

2008-03-02T17:12:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday Alison...
Happy Birthday to you!!

Happy Birthday to a beautiful friend, sister-in-law, and aunt!!
We Love You!

Alma Mater

2008-02-28T15:38:00.005-05:00

***Update*** The Crossville Lady Lions are the 2008 3A Girls Basketball State Champs!!! Yay!!! My mom and I watched most of the game on the online, and it was a close one down to the very end, they beat Geneva, 55-52. Congrats girls!!!!!

Tonight, for the first time in school history, my alma mater, Crossville, will play in the girls 3A State Championship finals! Yay! I am so thrilled for them! I will admit I haven't seen them play a game all year and have only seen the boys team play once(in the county finals), b/c they were the ones everybody expected to go to state. But as a member of that same team, 10 long years ago, I feel so much excitement for those girls! Crossville teams don't make it to the state finals much in any sport, so this is a really big deal!

And I'm pretty sure nobody around there reads this, except for my mom, but I just really want to wish them GOOD LUCK tonight!!

(And yes I know it's been over a month since I've posted a Sara pic, I am definitely going to try to get some shots of her being cute tonight!)

#1 Song

2008-02-22T09:55:00.005-05:00

I saw this on another blog, and thought it would be a fun Friday post.

What was the number one song on the day you were born? Married? the day your child was born?

Go here to find out!

Here's our #1 songs:

For me it was "Pop Muzik" by M
Jeremy's was "Babe" by Styx
Sara's was "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake
And on the day we were married it was "Stand Up" by Ludacris featuring Shawnna"

Those are some random songs, or at least I think so. And maybe because I don't think I have even heard most of them. The only one I am remotely familiar with is Justin Timberlake, and if you know me, it's kind of fitting that he was number one on the day Sara was born ;)

Go check it out and let me hear what your number ones were!

A Pensacola Weekend

2008-02-19T09:39:00.004-05:00

We had a wonderful time in Pensacola this weekend, and the weather was beautiful. We got down there around 9:30 Friday night and Laura had us some yummy pizzas ready to eat. Saturday we went to the beach, just to put our toes in the sand, b/c really, how can you go to Pensacola and not visit the beach? The water was beautiful, but it was a little chilly, and very windy! We had some seafood for lunch, and spent some time at a place called the Boardwalk, where we just sat out on some benches in the sun and talked for a while. It was so nice just sitting there looking at the ocean. Saturday night we stayed in and had a pajama party and ate lasagna, yum, it was so good! It was a really relaxing trip and a great time with some great friends!

We got up Sunday and started getting ready to leave and checked the weather b/c we knew it was supposed to get stormy that day. It looked like we were going run into some rain and the worst of it would be ahead of us, so we would miss it. So we headed out. We got about 20+ miles from Pensacola and notice some flashing lights ahead of us, as we got closer, we saw houses on both sides of the road with roofs missing, holes in the walls, etc. and there was no doubt that a tornado had hit. We called Laura and she said one had hit that area at 12:04 pm, it was 12:12 pm. We missed it by 8 minutes. Needless to say we were all a little freaked out! We continued with our drive, and the weather ahead wasn't bad, it rained a little but it was nothing severe. We made a stop in Millbrook, right outside of Montgomery to see Jessica's mom, who lives there, and to have a bathroom break and snacks. We looked at the weather and thought it was ok to go on. As we were going up the ramp to get back on the interstate, I turn around and glace up, and I see debris swirling in the air behind us, it was above the overpass by the ramp we were going up. We all just stared at it and thought it would be good to turn on the radio. We got about a 5 miles down the road when reports of a tornado hitting started coming in. And sure enough it was confirmed by the weather service. So more than likely the swirling we saw, was the beginning of the tornado. And as we later heard that tornado did some pretty bad damage in the Millbrook/Prattville area. All I can say is God was definitely looking out for us that day.

Even though the ride home was more exciting than we would have liked, it was a great weekend, and definitely makes me want to visit Pensacola again when it's warmer!

Long Time No Blog

2008-02-14T13:44:00.003-05:00

2 Weeks! I guess I've been on a two week break from blogging! Not that there has been anything to blog about. And I really don't have that much to catch up on. We've just been in our everyday usual routine, getting up, going to work/daycare, coming home, and just hanging around the house. But this weekend we(I) finally have some plans!!

I am leaving out tomorrow with a group of friends for Pensacola! We're going to visit our long lost neighbor and friend, Laura, who moved to Pensacola last spring. We all miss her lots and can't wait to see her and her beautiful girls (and Scott too), and eat her fabulous cooking! Before Laura moved, she was our resident chef, always making us fabulous things to eat.

This is also the first time I have left Jeremy with Sara over night, so we shall see how that goes. I'm already planning on laying her out outfits for the days I'm gone, but as far as fixing her hair, he's on his own :) But he will have his fair share of help from the grandmothers though, so I think he might pass hair fixing duties to them.

Hopefully I will have some fun pics to share when I get back...and Happy Valentine's Day! I might have some cute pictures to post tomorrow of Sara celebrating VDay!

It's Back!

2008-02-01T09:09:00.000-05:00

Finally after 8 months, LOST is back! Last night's episode picked up right where the finale left off. In typical LOST fashion, they raised more questions than they answered, but really do we expect anything less.

Now the big questions:

Who is the Oceanic Six? Jack, Kate, Hurley,?,?,?.

What is the real reason Naomi and her crew wanted to find the island?

What did Jack want to make sure Hurley didn't tell?

Also did anyone notice who was hanging out in Jacob's cabin? Yep, very interesting.

I have zero theories. Hopefully we'll find out what's going on in the next 7 episodes, since it looks like that might be all we're getting this season thanks to the writer's strike!

But let me just say, I am so glad it's back!

Oops!

2008-01-30T13:59:00.000-05:00

Funny story: I locked Jeremy out of the bedroom last night!!

Let's start from the beginning. Jeremy snores, breathes loud, or whatever you want to call it, and it causes me major problems in falling asleep. I have trouble falling asleep at night anyway, b/c that's when all of my thoughts hit me, so it might take me 30 minutes or so after lying down to actually drift off to sleep, where as Jeremy falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow and immediately starts his snoring. So most nights begin with me telling him to roll over(he starts out on his back, knowing in 2 seconds I'll tell him to roll over), and then he quickly falls asleep and then I begin a series of loudly telling him he's snoring and the occasional pat, ok maybe more like a slap, on the back. I eventually fall asleep some hour or more later. We've tried nose strips, throat spray, and I even wear ear plugs on a occasion, nothing has seemed to help.

So, lately Jeremy has been staying up a little later than me studying for his exam, so I've been able to go to bed a good 30 minutes to an hour before him and fall asleep quietly and easily, and even on nights he's done studying he will sit up a little later just to give me time to fall asleep! Very sweet! So that brings me to last night, Jeremy was studying and I went to bed around 10:00, and that's the last that I remember. I woke up at 5:12 am, and noticed Jeremy's not in the bed, so I decide to get up and check to see where he is. As I open the bedroom door, I hear it click, and I immediately think, Oh crap! I find him in the study studying and asked if he had been to bed, and he said nope, I had locked him out!! He goes on to tell me that he knocked on the door a few times and Macy, our dog, who was in bed with me, even barked at him, and he that tried to pick the lock too. I never budged. Which is really unbelievable b/c I am a really really light sleeper, but last night I was very out of it, obviously! So he wound up on the couch for the night. I have been feeling so bad about it all day, b/c I don't remember locking the door at all, I always remember not to lock it for that reason.

So now I'm sure I won't hear the end of this for a while, and I'll be getting reminded by him for the next few nights to make sure not to lock the door!

First Snow

2008-01-20T21:20:00.001-05:00

Sara got to see her first snow last week, what little it was! The snow was coming down pretty hard for a couple of hours, so I took advantage of it and took Sara out to see what she thought about it. Her reaction? She LOVED it!! She giggled the whole(short) time we were out there. Here are a few pictures, but I don't think they fully capture her excitement!

And plus, I thought she looked super cute all bundled up in her coat and toboggan! :)

Sara at Play

2008-01-14T09:08:00.001-05:00

We had a pretty low-key weekend, spent most of it at home with a trip to the mall. Sara's Little Gym class started back on Saturday and I think this was probably the most fun she has had there so far, she really got into the warm-up this week, but wasn't too crazy about the group activity, so she spent most of it with me holding her. Also, Sara was in a great mood yesterday after her nap, so I was able to get some cute shots of her playing in her room w/smiles!!!

Sara got this for her birthday and I just recently moved it into her room (I had to do some rearranging to her room after Christmas to accommodate all the new toys, so our living room wasn't full of them!)and placed in corner, and I think she likes better in there b/c she actually feels like she going into somewhere, if that makes sense :)

Another one of her birthday presents that she's really starting to get into. She can get on it all by herself and can push herself backwards in it, and she can go forward, but she tries to walk instead of her pushing with her feet, it's pretty funny! And she LOVES to press the horn!!

Just a cute pic of her smiling and holding on to her dishes. While she was taking her nap, I picked up room, put all her books on her shelf, etc., but as you can tell that doesn't last long!

And here she is being a good little helper! She loves to take the spoons and forks in and out of the dishwasher.

Such a big girl helping mommy!

15 Months Old

2008-01-09T13:44:00.000-05:00

Okay, so she's technically 15 months and 5 days old today, but I waited till today to post so I would have her stats. Sara had her 15 month old check-up this morning and she weighs 22 1/2 lbs (30something percentile) and is 30 1/2 inches (40 percentile), so she is right on track. Other things to note, her tubes are both still in and according to her doctor, they look great, she has 2 left molars completely in(one on top and bottom)and 2 of her right molars have broken through. He said her eye teeth would be next and warned us that those are usually the ones they have the hardest time with. She also got 3 shots and was not happy about them at all, but the good news is she doesn't have to get anymore for a LONG time.

I spent a good part of last night updating her baby book, and remembered some things this morning that I forgot to put in there, so I am going to put them here so I don't forget!

Some new words/objects she has learned over the past couple months: Apple, Puppy, Dog, Clock, Ball, Shoes

She calls Macy what sounds like "Mamie" or sometimes it sounds like "Mace".

She definitely knows the full meaning of the word "No" and tells us that frequently, and sometimes it sounds like she saying "No Ma'am" (or "No Mamie" when talking to Macy, which she hears a lot too :)

She can point to her eyes, nose, mouth, hair, belly, and toes.

She can "moo" like a cow and "roar" (and claw)like a lion.

She can signal a "Touchdown".

She is learning to use a fork, and will sometimes refuse to eat without one.

She still LOVES to dance.

She LOVES bath time!

She likes to push the button to close and open our garage door.

She likes to try to hold a bunch of things at once and move them from one place to another, over and over.

She loves to rub different types of fabric: shirts, pant legs, blankets. At night, she falls asleep rubbing on her bumper.

And also at night before bed, after we get her in her pajamas, she will get her blanket(her sleep sack) and carry it around(like Linus from the Peanuts) until bedtime. (I don't think this is specific to that one blanket, b/c she likes to do the same thing with shirts, pants, and other blankets).

I am horrible b/c I don't have a picture to go along with this post, I haven't even got my camera out since Christmas. But she looks pretty much the same she did at Christmas, so if you want to see a recent picture look at the previous post! I will try to get some new pics of her tonight...or sometime this week ;)

Long Over Due: Christmas 2007

2008-01-06T23:01:00.000-05:00

I have gotten waaaaayyy behind on updating this blog, so here is a picture-filled recap of our Christmas :)

Ok, not Christmas related, but I just want yall to see her action. Sara has become very fascinated with Macy's food and water bowls.

She is very proud!

She likes to put it on the floor for Macy to eat. Macy's a little behind ;)

This is the best shot I could get of Sara in her Christmas dress.

Sara and Daddy all dressed up for church. They clean up pretty nice :)

Christmas Eve at Mammaw's, I think Sara is wondering what all the fuss is about!

Is this for me??

Giving her new puppy some lovin'. I hope Macy doesn't get jealous!

New books! (Thanks goodness, b/c mommy and daddy were starting to get a little tired of reading the same ones over and over (and over!:)

She finally started getting into opening her presents!

And yes, I think she had more fun playing with the boxes ;)

Here's Sara's loot! As you can tell she was a very good girl this year!

Daddy bringing Sara to see what Santa brought her.

Sara is in awe. I'm not sure she knew what to think about it all. She stood there for a minute trying to figure out what she was supposed to do.

She finally realized it was all for her!

Sara got her first ball from Santa!

This was Sara's big gift from Santa, it took a while for her to warm up to it, but we finally coaxed her into sitting down and now we can't keep her from standing in it!

Sara and her new sit and spin.

And she got some Tinkerbell bubble bath, she carried it around all morning!

Somebody is looking a little sleepy...

...yep, it looks like it's time for a nap!

That's our recap, and as you can tell we had a wonderful Christmas this year! And now it's late and I need to go to bed!

Our Christmas Card

2007-12-18T11:36:00.001-05:00

This is the picture we used on our Christmas card this year, wow, what a difference a year makes! She is a little girl now, and I was able to get a smile out of her!

Bad Blogger

2007-12-17T10:20:00.000-05:00

I was a really bad blogger last week, so here are my excuses: I was busier than normal at work(which isn't saying much I know), I had LOTS of Christmas shopping to do(and I'm still not finished) and had plans 3 nights of the week, so I was really only home one night with nothing to do, and I chose to spend it other ways than blogging. I have lots of cute pictures of Sara to post, so hopefully I'll have those tomorrow, if I get the downloaded off my camera tonight.

This past weekend was just as busy as the week! Friday night we went to one of neighbor's house for an open house and got to hang out with all of our other neighbors and had some great food and great conversation. Sara was pretty well-behaved, except for her constantly trying to go up and down the stairs! Thank goodness she hasn't discovered the stairs in our house yet, even though I know it's only a matter of time.

Saturday night Jeremy, me, Alison, and Justin went to the Little Big Town/Sugarland concert. The tickets were Jeremy and Justin's birthday presents, so I really hope they enjoyed it! We had great seats on the floor so that made it all the more fun! I was really impressed with all the bands, as I wasn't sure if I would know many of the songs they sang, but I knew a lot more than I thought I did.

Sunday morning we had to take Sara back to the doctor. We had taken her Friday after work b/c she had a pretty bad cough and we really wheezy, and RSV has been going around at her daycare, and we did not want to have to through that again like we did last year! But good news, she was negative for RSV, but had a viral infection, so her doctor sent us home with breathing treatments to do. So Sunday morning we had to bring in for a re-check and all was good, he said she sounds tons better than she did on Friday. We also went to Rob's(Megan's boyfriend) graduation later on Sunday, so I want to say a BIG congratulations to him!!

And I really hate to post without a picture, so here's a pic from Christmas last year of Sara, I think this is the one that was on our Christmas cards! Quite different from this year's(which I hopefully post soon!)

Our Anniversary

2007-12-06T09:24:00.000-05:00

Happy Anniversary Babe! Thanks for 4 wonderful years, I'm glad I've got you at the end of the day. I love you!

Happy Birthday Boys!!

2007-12-05T09:12:00.000-05:00

Today is Jeremy and Justin's birthday! The BIG 2-8! Feels a little old, doesn't it!?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the both of you, I hope yall have a fantastic day today, and are looking forward to yall's birthday present next weekend! I know Alison and I are ;)

Turkey Day Recap (Finally!)

2007-11-30T10:20:00.000-05:00

Our Thanksgiving started off Wednesday night at Jeremy's Nanny and Pappaw's house. We had a great supper and got see all of his family, most of whom we haven't seen since Sara's birthday party. On this side of Jeremy's family, it's somewhat tradition for everyone to hang around after we eat and listen to some music. Jeremy's Pappaw taught him and Justin to play the fiddle around the age of 2, so they have been playing with their Pappaw for a while.

The Band:

Jeremy on Guitar

Justin on Bass

Pappaw on Fiddle

Rob on Guitar

Jeremy's sister, cousin, and all of his aunts sing, but I only caught Jeremy's mom and younger brother, Matthew, at the mike

Sara wanted to get in on the music too, so Uncle Justin taught her the bass.

When she got tired of making the music, she decided she needed to dance, so she pulled her cousin Evan off the couch to be her dance partner.

On Thursday, we got up and went to Jeremy's Mammaw's to visit, but couldn't stay very long, since we had to drive to Crossville for lunch with my dad's family. We had lunch at my Aunt Patsy's, with most of my aunts and uncles, and Sara got to play with her cousin Luke again.

Sara and Uncle Matt having a good time!

Sara looking cute with a pouty face

Luke just hanging out

Luke and Sara deciding it is time for a nap

Cute picture of Jeremy and Sara, and my aunt's dog, Gyppy.

And finally a family picture with my parents and brothers, the last one we took was at Christmas last year.

That about sums up our Thanksgiving! We spent the rest of the weekend decorating for Christmas and just hanging out at home, very nice! Also one new thing we started was The Little Gym. The one in Huntsville just opened up a couple of weeks ago, so we took Sara last Saturday to try it out, and she really liked it, so we signed for the rest of this semester. I may try to take my camera tomorrow and get some pics!

Merry Elfin' Christmas

2007-11-29T13:36:00.000-05:00

Hahaha!! This was just too funny not to try! :)

Finale

2007-11-26T14:59:00.000-05:00

Tonight is the Dancing with the Stars finale! And I am pretty excited about it, can ya tell!?! It's down to three couples, Marie Osmond and partner, Jonathan Roberts, Mel B. and her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and Helio Castroneves and his partner, Julianne Hough. And I can say I have no clue who is going to win. Last season, my hands down favorite was Apolo and Julianne from the start and they went on to win, but this season I really don't have a favorite, which is kind of disappointing, but nonetheless I am still looking forward to tonight. I will say I strongly do not think that Marie should be in the finale, actually, she should have been voted off a few weeks ago. I really think it's going to be either Mel B. or Helio, and maybe I'll have a better idea which one after tonight's dances.

Also we had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Visited with family, decorated for Christmas, suffered through the Iron Bowl :( , and just relaxed at home. I have some pictures, but you guessed it, I don't have them with me to post, hopefully tomorrow!

Brush'em, Brush'em, Brush'em

2007-11-21T14:26:00.000-05:00

Under the Sea

2007-11-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

While we were in Gatlinburg, we visited Ripley's Aquarium. I think us adults enjoyed it more than the kids did! Below are some pictures of Sara at the aquarium. She was a little timid at first and wasn't sure what to think of the fish, I think they scared her initially but she finally warmed to the all.

Sara all bundled up outside the aquarium

Granddaddy showing Sara the fish

Sara's not afraid of those jellyfish!

Jeremy, Sara, Randy, and Luke checking out the tropical fish tank

Me and Sara trying to pet the stingrays (yeah right!)

Hahaha, this pic cracks me up, this was our first attempt at a family pic

And here is the only somewhat successful one!

This is a favorite of mine: Sara and her cousin, Luke

Disappointment

2007-11-19T13:09:00.000-05:00

The Tide lost this weekend, again, the third loss in a row, to......Louisiana-Monroe. :( A season that looked so promising has drastically gone down hill. We started out winning our opening game, a come-back last minute touchdown to beat Arkansas, back to back losses to Georgia and Florida State (games that could have gone either way) and a huge, convincing win over Tennessee. Then came LSU, our guys played hard, had a lot of mistakes, the fact that we weren't supposed to win, or even come close to playing with their far superior players, made this loss, at least to me, a little easier to handle. And I must admit it was one of the best times I've had a at game that we lost, the energy and excitement in the stadium were great!

But that is where this season started it's demise, with a loss to Mississippi State, for the second year in a row, the next weekend, and then the loss to ULM. The only chance at redemption would be a win over Auburn this weekend on the Plains. Auburn's the favorite, and most think it's likely that they'll extend their 5 year winning streak to 6, but every year it's always the same, throw out the stats and the records, because this game is anybody's.

This season has been a disappointment, everyone had high expectations for Saban's first year, but at least us Bama fans know, this is probably as bad as it's going to be for us for a while :)

The View

2007-11-15T15:18:00.000-05:00

This is the view from our cabin. Pretty Nice!

Teaser

2007-11-14T14:03:00.000-05:00

Not all of pictures made it onto my thumb drive, mostly the ones I wanted to post, so here is a teaser until I can get them all.

Slacker

2007-11-13T09:26:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I didn't quite update like I thought I would this weekend. We did have Internet, but it was in and out, and I never got the camera software loaded to our laptop either. But it was a nice trip, the weather was fantastic and we had a beautiful view of the mountains from our cabin. I will post pictures later.

Mountain Bound

2007-11-09T10:54:00.000-05:00

Only a few more hours and we'll be on our way to the Smokies! I am mentally ready to go, but not quite prepared to go, yet. I still haven't packed one thing! I am such a procrastinator. Instead of packing when I got home from the party last night, I sat on the couch and watched Grey's Anatomy and after it was over, Jeremy went to bed, but I sat up even longer to fold some clothes and watch The Office. I was very tempted to start watching Ugly Betty too, but decided that 10:35 was late enough and I went to bed. So I have some work to do when I get home, but we're only going to be gone 3 days, so it's not all that much to pack.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post some pictures from Gatlinburg, we're supposed to have Internet, but you never know how that will go. And I still have to load my camera software on our laptop too. So here are some more Sara pictures until next time:

First bath in the her tub.
Sara and Mom
Getting ready for another bath.

Not Much to Say

2007-11-08T14:10:00.000-05:00

I don't have much to blog about today, all that's on my mind is getting ready for our trip tomorrow. I still have some laundry to do, and all the packing. Luckily I am leaving work at lunch tomorrow, and will have an hour or two at home before we have to leave to go meet my parents, so I should be able to get everything that I don't get done tonight then, b/c tonight I am going to a jewelry party to buy myself some very cute jewelry and that will continue into a birthday celebration. Jewelry, wine, and cake, it's gonna be a fun night! Honestly, I could have got a lot of it done last night, but I didn't, I wound up plopped on the couch watching the CMA Awards, which I usually never watch, but since nothing else was on, I watched. And, it was really good! Of course I would have much rather been watching Private Practice.

And here are some more baby Sara pictures for your enjoyment:

My two girls: Sara and Macy. I really can't get over how much Macy loves(tolerates) Sara. I guess she figured out that she wasn't going anywhere.
The early days. Sara playing on her Baby Einstein Activity Mat.
She would lay here while I tried to keep in touch with outside world while I was on maternity leave. Email is a wonderful thing.

Blast from the Past

2007-11-07T14:38:00.000-05:00

We really don't lead a very exciting lives, so I am usually lacking in things to post about, but to keep good on my challenge to post every day for the remainder of November, there will be many posts (I'm sure) of stuff from the past that I never posted on here. I took a LONG hiatus from posting when Sara was born, so lots of posts this month will be reminiscing about her first few months.

I thought about starting with birth pictures, but I wrote by birth story back in April, so I am going to go back and edit that post and add some more pictures from her birth day. So this first batch of pictures will be her first few days/weeks after birth.

Sara's first bath at home, it was a sponge bath because her umbilical cord hadn't fallen off yet.
Granddaddy Junior's first time holding Sara.
Uncle Matt holding Sara. This was also Sara's first outing, other than to her doctor, it was Matt's 25th birthday!
The quality of this picture is not all that great, but this is where Sara spent the majority of her first few days, sleeping in a beautiful bassinet that our neighbors let us borrow.

OK, that's a start! There is still a lot of days left in November!

Time is Changing

2007-11-06T13:38:00.000-05:00

Is anybody else having trouble with the time change? I fall asleep in the middle of the evening and then find myself wide awake at 10:00 pm, and then of course I am waking up wide-eyed at 4:30 am. I know it's only been a couple of days, but you would think sleeping through to an extra hour would be no problem, I guess my internal clock is stronger than I thought! One good thing, Sara seems to be having no problem adjusting, it was a little hard to keep her up an extra hour that first night, but she's been sleeping the extra hour in the morning, so we haven't gotten thrown out of our morning routine, yet!

On to more randomness...Sunday was Sara's 13 month birthday. I completely forgot to take a 13 month picture, but I think my original plan was to take monthly pictures up to one year, so I at least accomplished that. And to get her to take a picture with a sign is a very difficult task now. But I wanted to document some things here on the blog, so I won't forget them. I have been horrible about writing in her baby book, so a lot of her milestones have been written on here.

So at 13 months:

Words/Phrases Sara can say: Dada, Momma, Nana, Bye-Bye, Hey, "What's that?", "Whose that?", and even though her vocabulary is very small, she understand A LOT of what we ask her and tell her to do, and knows the name of several things. She's not a big fan of repeating something you tell her(even though lately she has been doing it more), but then she'll all of sudden start saying it.

She can point to your eyes and toes.

Her favorite food is cheese ravioli.

She is drinking whole mile and only from a sippy cup.

She loves to go outside! It's going to be hard to keep her in when the weather gets really cold!

She loves our dog, Macy. She will lay her head on her, and rub her, while she is sucking her thumb.

She loves to dance. Anytime she hears music, she'll start dancing, regardless of what she is doing.

She loves to read/look at books. She has always liked doing this, but lately she has really gotten into them.

That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'm sure there are more.

And one last thing, by reading some of the random blogs I read, I have found out that this month is National Blog Posting Month, otherwise known as NaBloPoMo. The goal is to post everyday in the month of November. And even though I have missed several days already, I am still going to try to post everyday from this point. Yeah, this should be good! I'll face my first posting challenge this weekend, when we'll be in Gatlinburg with my parents. We're suppose to have Internet access, but who knows...

More Halloween

2007-11-05T10:31:00.000-05:00

I finally got to work on my pictures from Halloween last night! I don't think Sara was quite sure what to think about everything that was going on, it was hard to get some smiles from her, but I eventually got a few. We went trick or treating around our neighborhood, but only went to a few house of close family and friends. My parents came over to see Sara all dressed up and were so great to hang out at our house and pass out candy while we took Sara out.

Sara and her costume inspiration.
Our attempt at a family picture, Sara was so not into it!

Finally!! A Smile!!

And just to show what a difference a year makes, here is Sara last year on Halloween, she wasn't even a month old yet!

It's the Great Pumpkin!

2007-11-02T10:09:00.000-05:00

I want to post some pictures of Sara on Halloween, but I don't have my pictures with me, so here are a couple Aunt Ali sent me that were taken at her house(THANKS Alison!!). And I must admit Sara was the cutest pumpkin I have ever seen!

Sara trying on Aunt Ali's witch hat!

Sara and me having a laugh :)

28

2007-10-31T08:02:00.000-05:00

Today is my 28th birthday. How did that happen? It feels like it was yesterday that I was celebrating my 18th birthday. Has it really been 10 years already?? I guess so. But I am really not bitter about getting older, except for that one year, 26 was a rough birthday for me, not really sure why, other than I was closer to 30 than 20, but it was one I didn't enjoy at all. Anyways, this has been a great birthday, probably one of the best I have had! I've got to celebrate 3 times already! My parents had lunch on Sunday for me, my sweet husband took me out to dinner on Monday night(a BIG thanks to Alison & Justin for keeping Sara!!) , and last night we went out for Mexican with all of Jeremy's family. It's all been so great! So in honor of my 28th birthday, here are 28 things you may or may not know about me (these will be very random I'm sure!):

1. I was born on Halloween (shocker!).

2. I had my wisdom teeth cut out on my 18th birthday, and went to my high school’s football game that night (for some reason I am strangely proud of that).

3. I have one tattoo.

4. I got it because I wanted to see how bad it hurt.

5. I have to hold my nose when I go under water.

6. I can’t remember things like I used to, and have become extremely forgetful.

7. I turn the radio up really loud when I am the only one in the car (the louder the radio, the better I sound).

8. I really want to take ballroom dancing, b/c I am obsessed with Dancing with the Stars.

9. I wash my face every night before I go to bed no matter what time it is.

10. I am a very routine-oriented person.

11. I LOVE sweet tea

12. I got my belly button pierced at 19.

13. I took it out after I got home from my honeymoon, 5 years later.

14. My parents gave me a surprise birthday party for my 16th, and it was really a surprise, I had no clue!

15. I failed my driver's permit test.

16. I went back the next day and passed.

17. I love pedicures and would get one every week if I could.

18. I have always though it would be cool to live out west, like Colorado.

19. I think I would have a hard time leaving Alabama.

20. I get homesick.

21. I am very indecisive (again no shock there).

22. I want to get a nose job (very decisive about this).

23. I love celebrity gossip.

24. I would love to learn to snow ski...in Colorado.

25. I decided I was going to be a marine biologist after a trip to Sea World when I was 15.

26. I am not a marine biologist.

27. I love being a mom.

28. I am looking forward to 30 (WHAT? Did I really just say that! ;)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Sara on the Farm

2007-10-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

OK, so she's not really on a farm, but she's pretty close to one. Sara stayed with my parents while we were gone to the UA/UT game on Saturday (ROLL TIDE!!!), and my mom put her in the cute pair of overalls she bought her and went crazy taking pictures! She got some really cutes one, even though the setting on my camera was not on the right one b/c I had changed it the night before to take pictures at Alex's football game. So, I have a few more cute ones I want to post, BUT blogger is uncooperative and won't let me upload anymore, so this is all I've got for now.

Another reason why I love Fall

2007-10-18T14:53:00.001-04:00

Nothings

2007-10-17T15:03:00.000-04:00

That pretty much sums up what's been going on with us lately. Last weekend it was really nice not having to run around for a change, and it even felt somewhat weird. But we will make up for it this weekend! And I am looking forward to it! Friday night is my baby brother's last Homecoming :( So we'll be going to that and hoping for a win for him and his team(they've had a bit of a rough season.) And on Saturday(The Third Saturday in October) we'll be going to T-Town for the UA/TENN game! Even though it seems as though the rivialry is not as huge as it used to be, i.e, 11:30 game on Lincoln Financial, I am still really excited about going! To me this is still one of the greatest rivialries in the country and anytime I can go to this game I will. I don't think I missed a Tennessee games since Jeremy and I have been dating, so I have taken full advantage of being able to go! The SEC has been so flipped-flopped this season that there is not one game that you can predict with 100% certainty, you could pretty much so that for all the conferences this year. So cross your fingers for a Bama Win!

PJs

2007-10-09T13:52:00.000-04:00

Birthday Extravaganza

2007-10-08T13:07:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we had Sara's 1st birthday party with all of our family and friends. It was a great day and I think Sara had a good time, she definitely loved having everyone around. Here are some pictures from the day:

Sara & her cousin Luke riding in her new car!

Happy Birthday to Sara, Happy Birthday to you!

Not so sure about the cake?

Yum!

The happy Birthday Girl!

One Year

2007-10-04T08:56:00.001-04:00

Happy 1st Birthday Sara!!!

I Love You!!!

(I know it's cliche, but I really can't believe she's already one year old!)

And the Winner is....

2007-10-03T10:40:00.000-04:00

Hahaha! So the mystery is solved! People are always making comments on who Sara looks like, most everyone from Huntsville says Jeremy, while everyone from Crossville says me, so I thought this would be a fun way of finally getting an answer. Sometimes when I look at her, or see pictures of her with a certain expression, I think my gosh, she looks just like I did, but then she also has her moments where she looks just like her daddy, especially lately, when she smiles! So it's good to know that Jeremy and I both have equal claim on who our daughter looks like :)

Fore!

2007-09-27T10:41:00.000-04:00

My Guy

2007-09-26T10:07:00.000-04:00

The Game of Tag about your GUY:

1. Who is your guy? Jeremy
2. How long have you been together? almost 7 1/2 years, married 3 3/4--4 years in December :)
3. How long did you date? 3 1/2 years
4. How old is your guy? 27
5. Who eats more? We both like to eat, but I'll say Jeremy has the edge if we have any bread in the house!
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did – We were in my parent's driveway, I said it back after over an hour of standing there.
7. Who is taller? I think Jeremy is...barely!
8. Who sings better? Defintely Jeremy, he was in choral in high school.
9. Who is smarter? We are both equally smart ;)
10. Whose temper is worse? Totally me
11. Who does the laundry? Me most of the time, but if I go too long, Jeremy picks up the slack
12. Who takes out the garbage? Mostly Jeremy
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you are standing at the foot of our bed looking at the headboard I sleep on the left side, and Jeremy on the right, so Jeremy!
14. Who pays the bills? Always Jeremy, I haven't touched a bill since we've been married
15. Who is better with the computer? It depends on what we're dealing with, but for the most part we are equal
16. Who mows the lawn? Always Jeremy, even though growing up I mowed my parent's yard every Saturday on a riding lawnmower, I don't push mow!
17. Who cooks dinner? Me Always! (if we don't get take out)
18. Who drives when you are together? Jeremy
19. Who pays when you go out? Jeremy
20. Who is most stubborn? Yours truly
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? It’s 50/50 on this one
22. Whose parents do you see the most? We usually see both sets at least once on the weekend, but mine probably have the edge
23. Who kissed who first? Jeremy, he asked permission
24. Who asked who out? I think I did?
25. Who proposed? Jeremy
26. Who is more sensitive? Me
27. Who has more friends? We both have a good group of friends, so it's pretty equal
28. Who has more siblings? Jeremy, he has 3, I have 2
29. Who wears the pants in the family? I let Jeremy think he does, it’s just easier that way

It's Premiere WEEK!

2007-09-24T16:03:00.000-04:00

Finally after 3 1/2 months of nothing but reruns, it's Premiere WEEK! Can you tell I'm excited!?!?! Here are some shows whose return I am looking forward too:

How I Met Your Mother
Marshall and Lily are married, Ted and Robin broke up, and Barney, well is just Barney. I have heard rumors that this season we will meet the "mother", but whether or not we'll know it's her, I don't know? And I have also heard Barney will be in a relationship, so of course that will be nothing less than Legend.....Wait for it.....

Two and Half Men
Jeremy and I have picked up this show in the past few weeks, and I think we have decided to put it on our weekly viewing schedule. The kid in this show has the best lines!

Dancing with the Stars
This one applies to me only! I watched the first season and didn't watch again until this past season, and I really liked it. So I plan to watch the premiere, and see how many of this year's dancers I like. Last season's dancers were so entertaining, that's what definitely kept me hooked!

House
We started watching this back in March, and I'm not sure how? My dad has always raved about this show, so I think b/c there is nothing standing we watch on Tuesday nights I just decided to watch it, maybe? Anyways, once we watched a couple of episodes, I couldn't take anymore and ordered the first two seasons, and we caught what we missed of season 3 this summer. House fired (or they resigned) all his employees at the end of last season, so this season I think he starts out with 30 something new employees that he is going to narrow down to 3. I can't wait to see his process...

Private Practice
The Grey's Anatomy Spin-off. I hope this turns out to be a good show, I really liked Addison when she was on Grey's. And it has a great cast, with very well known actors, so it looks promising! I mean really, who gets tired of looking at Taye Diggs?

Grey's Anatomy
I hope this season is a little lighter than last, that season finale was just depressing! I hope the George/Izzie story goes away and is never heard from again, that was just wrong from the very beginning! And I'm sure this will be another are they together or not with Meredith and McDreamy, and adding Meredith's sister to the mix will make it very interesting.

Ugly Betty
My favorite returning show this season(House is a very very close second), even though I hated the way last season ended(car crash, Santos getting shot, Henry leaving with Charlie :( )! I have watched all the reruns this summer, just b/c I love it so much, and every character on the show cracks me up! America Ferrera was very deserving of her Emmy. This show just delights me every time I watch it!

Other mentionables:

Desperate Housewives
This show kind of lost me in the second season, but pulled me back in last season, I am looking forward to seeing what goes on this season, and I hear they are introducing a new face to Wisteria Lane, and that didn't seem to go well in the past, i.e the Applewhites, so let's hope it goes better this time!

LOST
This is another one of my "I can't wait for" premieres, but the sad part is, there is no premiere this week. :( We'll have to wait until 2008, but they are making up for it by giving us a new episode every week all the way to the finale!

Wow, I really watch too much TV.

I Love Fall

2007-09-21T14:26:00.000-04:00

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year! The weather starts to cool off from the extreme heat we have in the summers, football season starts, and it's my birthday season! And now another reason to love fall, it's Sara's birthday season too! I have always loved the time of year my birthday was in, the weather was just right(although it was sometimes a bummer b/c I could never have a swim party)and it was during the school year, so you were always around your friends, and having an October birthday meant you were one of the oldest in your class, so getting to be the first to claim being a teenager, the first to get your license, and the first to turn 18 was always fun, even though now that I am getting older, it's not always so fun to be the oldest ;) But I still love it! And I really hope Sara loves it as much as I do. I am glad she waited until October to come out, b/c she was really close to being a September baby, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with September and at the time I would have been happy with whenever she chose to come out, but I really did have my heart set on October. So in a little bit over a week my little pumpkin will celebrate her first fall birthday :)

Another reason mentioned about why I love fall: Football Season! I love football and have been going to football games for as long as I can remember. In high school I went to every game, and my Saturdays were usually spent with my dad watching Alabama play. And now, I still attend most of my high school's football games to watch my youngest brother play(he's senior this year, so weird). And my Saturdays are still spent cheering on the Tide, although now it's from the stands, luckily I married into an Alabama football lovin' family! Bama is off to a 3-0 start, after one of the most intense Bama games I have sat through, and so far this season looks promising, and it's definitely a step in the right direction for one of college football's top teams, who hasn't been at the top in quite a while.

Fog

2007-09-14T14:42:00.000-04:00

I've been in a little bit of a fog lately. I've been having writer's block, or maybe it's just that there hasn't been anything news worthy to blog about, but I hate going so long between post, so I thought I would try to come up with something.....I guess it would be easier if I had some pictures to post, and it's not that I haven't taken any, I have taken tons lately, and I have even downloaded them all to my computer. I just haven't put them on my thumb drive to put them on the computer I do most of my updates on, so therefore no new pics.

It's raining today thanks to Hurricane Humberto. I got an email this morning from a co-worker, who has an unbelievably great outlook on life. Here is what she said:

"What a wonderful peaceful rainy day, take some time to reflect and listen to the rain, it does your soul good to "chill" for just a moment. And remember there are beautiful sunsets even to a rainy day."

This woke me up from the half sleep I was in at my desk. It definitely made me apprecaite the day. I saw her in the hall and thanked her for sending it to me, b/c not all people can look at a rainy day and appreciate it in such a positive way. So maybe next time your having a gloomy, sleepy, rainy day, you'll think of this and just take a moment and "chill."

Happy Eleven Months, Little Bug!

2007-09-06T14:41:00.001-04:00

I know this isn't the best pic of her 11 month old sign, but I couldn't resist, it's just too cute! This is one of her new things, leaning back, she thinks it's so funny!

And here is our walker! Can you believe it?

Happy 11 Months Sara!

Los Cabos

2007-09-06T14:13:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures of our FABULOUS vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

This is a view of the pool, isn't gorgeous!?!?

Another view of the pool. This was the view that we had everyday as we walked to breakfast, it was a nice way to start a day :)

Jeremy and I before dinner one night.

The famous Arch

Jeremy, me, Alison, and Justin at the famous Arch after our day of snorkeling!

The beach we were at had some killer waves, at least compared to the ones we see in Flordia, not many people were brave enough to swim in these, but there were a few and when they did, it was highly entertaining!

Back to the Real World

2007-09-04T12:41:00.000-04:00

Cabo was AMAZING! We had perfect weather and came home with some great tans! I don't think we could have had a more stress-free vacation, everything from the hotel check-in to the flights went smoothly. Our resort was beautiful, we had a fantastic view from the beach of Land's End. The food was good too, the only disappointment there was we weren't able to make reservations for some of the restaurants b/c they were all booked up. We did venture off the resort one day and went snorkeling in an area called Santa Maria Bay and had a great time! And on the way back to the marina, they took us by The Arch and Lover's Beach so we could get pictures.

And speaking of pictures, no I don't have any to post today, I have them downloaded, but I don't have any with me right this minute to post, I was too lazy yesterday to get them together! I am planning on having some tomorrow, along with Sara's 11 month pictures, OMG 11 months! I can't believe it! She will be a year old one month from today. It seems like she has always been with us though, I can't remember a moment not having her! So I am going to be in party planning mode for the next month, should be fun!

We got back from Cabo on Thursday, actually we got home early Friday morning, about 1:30 am, and after a day of rest, we took off again, this time to Tuscaloosa for Alabama's season opener against Western Carolina. Bama won 52-6, which was a great start to the season.

Oh, and btw, Sara is walking!!! :) She started taking her first steps the week before we left and while we were gone she has turned into a full on walker!

Off to Cabo

2007-08-24T13:42:00.000-04:00

It's finally here...our trip to Cabo San Lucas!!! We are so excited, and looking forward to a relaxing getaway, doing nothing but laying on the beach and eating good food! The only downside is how much we are going to miss our little bug! I know she will be in good hands with the grandmothers, though!

I'll have lots of pictures to post when we get back!!! Until then....Adios!

Rub a dub dub....

2007-08-16T11:10:00.000-04:00

....Sara's in the tub!!

I love these pictures! Sara is such a happy little girl and a joy to be around. I can't wait to wake up every morning just to see her and my favorite part of the day is when I go pick her a daycare. I always get butterflies in my stomach when I walk through the door b/c I am so excited to see her. And as soon as she sees me, she gives me the biggest smile and starts waving her arms for me to get her. Oh, I wish it was that time right now! :)

And just out of curiosity, is there anybody out there who reads this blog at all? If so, maybe you could just drop a "Hi!" in the comments section. Just curious if I am the only one that ever reads it. (Really I just look at it for the pictures! ;)

The BIG 10

2007-08-06T14:26:00.000-04:00

Happy 10 months Sara!

Little Miss Sara turned 10 months old this weekend. At her 9 month checkup she was 29 1/4 inches and almost 20 lbs. She is right on track for babies her age! She is doing really well, and has been ear infection free since she got her tubes. We took her in a couple weeks ago for her follow-up and he said her ears looked great! Over the past month Sara has been getting closer and closer to walking. She loves to stand up, and she actually has really good balance, enough that she will occasionally let go of whatever she is holding on to. It should be much longer before we'll have a walker on our hands! Sara has also become a lot more vocal, and she is discovering new sounds everyday. Her newest sound is "DubbaDubbaDubba" and she can clearly say "Hi" and "Bye Bye" and she knows exactly what they mean, and to wave anytime they are said. I have also started trying to feed her more table foods, she loves gravy and biscuit, macaroni, and she is now eating "real" applesauce!

Here are a couple more pics from the past month:

Welcome Home Daddy!!

Our little "Pebbles"

Laundry Day

2007-08-06T14:24:00.001-04:00

Belated 9 Months Old Post

2007-07-11T09:07:00.000-04:00

Busy Busy Busy! I finally got a chance to download Sara's 9 month pictures. So here they are only a week late!

Also on Monday, Sara got tubes in her ears. She did really well and is doing fantastic now! Hopefully this will be the end of the ear infections for a while. Sara has her 9 month checkup tomorrow with her pediatrician, so if there is anything wrong with her ears, he'll catch it and she will also be getting another round of shots, fun!

Not much else going on with us, it's been a pretty low key summer! But I am however counting the days until August, the 26th to be exact. We'll be heading to Cabo San Lucas with Justin and Alison for a beach getaway!! I am so excited, it's going to be a great trip!

I have more pictures to post from snaps I have been taking of Sara the last couple of days, so keep a look out for those :)

Poor Ears

2007-06-27T12:34:00.000-04:00

As some of you know, Sara has been battling ear infections on and off for the past 4 months, and on Monday she was diagnosed with her 5th ear infection since March, so that warranted a trip to the ENT this morning. And no surprise there, she will be getting tubes! I am not sure when yet, they are suppose to call and let us know when she is scheduled for. The doctor told us it only takes about 10-15 minutes to do the procedure and she will be back to normal within a couple of hours. So we're hoping for the best and praying that this will "fix" her poor ears. I must say though, she has been a trooper through all of this, if it wasn't for her runny nose, you wouldn't know she is sick.

She's a tough little cookie, on top of her ear infection and teething, she got her first bump/bruise yesterday too! She was pulled up to the wall, yes just the wall, at daycare and lost her balance and did a nice face plant. So when I picked her up yesterday, she had a bruised knot on her head, the first of many I'm sure.

Mischief

2007-06-19T11:20:00.001-04:00

"This is fun! I wonder why mom always hides these in the basket?"

"Uh-oh, I'm caught!"

"Maybe if I smile she'll think it's cute?"

Father's Day

2007-06-18T09:08:00.000-04:00

If Sara is anything, she is a Daddy's girl. I think that's just the way it's suppose to be, I was always a Daddy's girl, and I expected Sara to be the same. There is something special about the relationship between a father and daughter and I am so thankful I get to witness it everyday. Jeremy just turns to mush with Sara, and I have heard him repeatedly tell her over and over that all she has to do is smile at him and he will give her anything she wants. And I have no doubt he'll do exactly that!

I think she definitely has him wrapped around her finger :)

We also got to celebrate Father's Day with my dad, we went to visit him and had lunch with him, my brother's and my uncle(my mom is in Europe). And Sara got to swim a little bit too in my parent's pool! And later that evening we went over to Jeremy's mom and dad's for supper and go to spend time with his dad and Pappaw.

Now it's back to work! I worked 2 days last week after we got back from vacation, and Jeremy is back at work today after having a full week off, he was not looking forward to it! But it will be nice to get back into our routine and get Sara back in her's.

Back from the Beach

2007-06-15T13:06:00.000-04:00

We're back from the beach :( I was so depressed the day we drove home, I could have definitely handled a couple more days there! Anyways, I have lots of pictures to share, so here we go:

First off let me start by saying, that if you are going to Panama City Beach, do not take Hwy. 231 the whole way there. We never go that way, when we get to Troy we always turn right and go through Enterprise, but for some crazy reason this year my dad and uncle decide to take Hwy. 231 and go through Dothan. Big Mistake!!! It probably took us an extra hour or more to get there than it usually does. And there were a million red lights! So don't let the signs fool you about taking 4-laned 231 all the way to the beach, and just stick with the 2-lane , Hwy. 167, I think?

So we left out about 8 am, stopped in Trussville for breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and stop 2 more times for gas and a bathroom break, and got to PCB about 4 pm. Our first night we made another mistake, trying to go to dinner at 7 pm at Montego Bay. It was not a good experience and we had tired babies to deal with too!

Sara before supper at Montego Bay

The next day was our first full day there. We took Sara to the beach for the first time and she didn't seem to be a big fan, so that was her last trip to the beach, except to make pictures on the last night. She did love the pool, though!

Sara playing in the big pool with Daddy

Sara trying a cracker at Angelo's

Luke "Stressin'"

Sara and Luke with the big bull at Angelo's

Sara and her Daddy

Babies in the sand!

Hillary with her nephew Luke and cousin Sara

The Carter's and The Latham's

Overall it was a great vacation, surprisingly relaxing for having an 8 month old along with us. I actaully got to read and finish a whole book while we were there, something I haven't done since Sara was born. And I got a nice tan and didn't burn, which is always a plus!!

Out of Town

2007-06-08T16:00:00.000-04:00

Vacation time is here! We are leaving tomorrow for a beach trip with my parents, aunt, uncles, and cousins. I am so ready! So the blog will be out of a commission for a few days, but when I get back there will be a huge update with lots and lots of pictures, b/c I will remember my camera, I have it on my list!!!

I am hoping we have a fun trip, and that Sara will stay well for it. The past 2 days I have noticed the beginnings of a runny nose, so I hope that is all it is and nothing more. We finished her antibiotic yesterday for her ear infection, and I hope it has cleared up, even though this morning I noticed her tugging on it while she was drinking her bottle. Not a good sign :( I am packing some tylenol and her teething tablets, she seems to be doing that too, and anything else we might need we can buy down there, but hopefully we won't have too!

My Girl

2007-06-06T09:57:00.000-04:00

Sara said mama for the first time yesterday. :)

Happy 8 Months Sara!

2007-06-05T11:14:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was Sara's 8 month birthday! She is growing up so fast, I can hardly believe we have had her for 8 months! In her 8th month, she hit another milestone--she learned to crawl. And man, is she ever crawling now! This morning Jeremy and I were getting ready, he was in the bathroom and I was in my closet, and in the mornings we usually sit Sara on the floor with her toys, but lately she has been exploring, so this morning I walk out of my closet into the bathroom, and there she sits, with a hand full of dog food, yuck! Some of you may have already heard the story of her getting into Macy's water bowl a couple of weeks ago, but this time she totally bypassed the water and went straight for the food! After I got the food out of her hand, I took her back in the bedroom and right as I turned to go back in the bathroom, I heard her on the move, right behind me, coming right back in to the bathroom. So we are definintely going to have to keep our eyes on her now! :)

Daddy's Little Golfer!

Oh yeah, she can pull up in her crib now too! Not that she sleeps in it right now, but still! When we get back from the beach we are planning on putting her in there, I promise this time!!!! (and lowering her mattress!)

Better Late than Never

2007-06-01T09:40:00.000-04:00

We were super busy last weekend, and I have the pictures to prove it! First up, Friday night, May 25th, Matthew's graduation. It didn't start until 7:30 pm, so we knew we were in for a long night, since they were graduating 450+ kids. Way too late for Sara to be out, so my dad was nice enough to come over and keep her, or basically just sit at our house while she slept! And since I once again forgot my camera, Alison was nice enough to let me get the pictures that she took(this will be a recurring theme throughout this post :)

The dashing graduate.

He did it! ;)

The next day, Saturday, May 26th, we went to the lake. It was Sara's first time ever to go to the lake, to wear her bathing suit, and to go out on the boat. She did really well and seemed to have a good time. Again thanks to Alison for all the pictures, as I again forgot my camera!

Sara in her itsy bitsy bikini.

Sara's first time on a boat! She didn't like her life jacket too much, but she loved riding on the boat!

Family Portriat.

Saturday night, my mom kept Sara, and Jeremy and I got to go to a movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. I thought it was really good, other than it was sooo long! I can't get enough of these movies, Captain Jack Sparrow is hilarious! Although the ending to this one was sad, and not knowing if they will ever make another one to follow-up, makes it even sadder!

Sunday, May 27th, we went to decoration at the church I grew up in, Concord Baptist. We got there around 10 am and visited with family, and then we went to my Aunt Patsy's to eat lunch. My cousin Heather and her little boy, Luke, were there. Luke is about 6 weeks older than Sara. We put them in a baby pool, Sara's first time swimming, and they had a blast, although Sara seemed more interested on what was outside the pool than inside. Luke loved it, he would be laying on his stomach and stick his face down in the water, come up choking, laugh, and stick it right back down! It was really cute to see them play together! And no pictures, I forgot my camera!!!! :(

Monday, May 28th, Memorial Day, we went out to the lake again. Since Jeremy's mom was there, she took care of Sara most of the day, so we got to play with the big kids! We went out tubing, which I haven't done in two years! Omg! It was so much fun! I rode with Alison, and Elizabeth, a friend of Jeremy's cousin Jason. I will say it was a rough ride, but we all survived it--almost!! I fell off. We had been on it for over 30 minutes, and we got slung out to my side and I just couldn't hold it. So I skidded for a bit and finally went under. It didn't hurt at all and the water felt great! The next day however, or should I say later that night, I was feeling it, BIG TIME! I can't ever remember being that sore, and now four days later, it is finally wearing off! And guess what? I remembered my camera! There are none of us tubing, but a couple of Sara.

Sara loves her Peeps!

Luckily we should have a relatively calm weekend this weekend, and then, a week from tomorrow we leave for the BEACH! I can't wait! We are going with my dad's family, so it should be a good time, and a new experience for us, having both Luke and Sara this time. I am hoping there will be some dads and grandads willing to hang out with them in the room, while the moms get some sun!

Class of 2007

2007-05-25T13:31:00.000-04:00

Tonight Jeremy's little baby brother graduates from high school. Seriously? Is he old enough to do that? It doesn't seem like it to me. I still remember the first time I met him, this short, chubby, incredibly sweet 11 year old. A lot has changed in seven years, now he's not so short and chubby anymore, and I dare say taller than his brothers. But one thing that hasn't change is he is still the same sweet kid, I mean don't get me wrong he has had his moments, the boy does have a temper, but he still has one of the best hearts of anybody I know.

Congratulations Matthew!!! We're all proud of you and can't wait to see you walk the stage tonight. This is a huge milestone in your life, and you will officially enter the real world as an adult, so try and act like one ;)

Love you!

(And this is a 2 year old picture, but it's the only one I have available to me right now, he still looks the same, sans the braces)

What did she just do?!?

2007-05-17T10:29:00.000-04:00

Well she did it. Sara made a huge step yesterday in her effort to crawl. Jeremy and Sara were at home and I just got in from work, and Sara was sitting on the rug in our living room playing. She saw me and acted like she wanted me to pick her up, but I was standing at our back door letting Macy out. So she gets on her hands and knees and starts rocking, and then she starts picking up her hands and moving FORWARD, scooting her legs behind her. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! Jeremy and I just looked at each other in disbelief. So I just wanted to document this on the blog, I haven't been doing a good job with keeping up with her baby book, so at least I have this where I can go back and look when I need to fill something in!

Also the pedi told Jeremy on Monday that her teeth are coming in lopsided, meaning, she has her two front bottom teeth, and her left top front, so logically you would think her right top front would be next, nope, not with Sara, her tooth next to her left front is coming in. Not sure what that means, if it means anything. I guess the order they are coming in is a little weird? Anybody heard of this happening before??

In TV Land last night, Melinda got the boot from Idol, and my prediction for a Blake vs. Jordin final came true. I am sure it seemed like a huge shock, and I must admit I was a little shock, because Melinda is good, really good, but I just didn't see her being the pop star that they want, but the other two definitely fit the mold, so for American Idol, I think the right ones are in the finals. LOST had another pretty good episode last night, it was a good setup for the finale, which I have high expections for, so it better not be a let down. What's up with the new hatch, The Looking Glass, with people in it?? That was a huge shock to me, I thought for sure Charlie was swimming to his death. Anybody notice that it was Sayid's Nadia that Charlie saved from the mugger? I didn't either, but read about it online this morning.

I have other shows that I could ramble on about, but I figure that reading about it is not that interesting, unless you watch the show. But I will mention one more, Dancing with the Stars, anybody watching this one? I watched the first season and haven't watched one since, but somehow I've gotten swept up in this season. I don't vote, but if I did, my votes would go to Apolo and Julianne. They are amazing and have the best chemistry. And Julianne just broke off her engagement with her fiance, mmmm what does that mean?? She says they aren't broken up, just postponing the wedding b/c she is so busy with the show. Yeah we'll see!

My Life in Pictures

2007-05-16T09:51:00.000-04:00

I stole this from some other blogs that I read. Basically all you do is put your answer to the question in Google Images and use the first picture that comes up. I used the first picture on most of them, but not all. It's kind of interesting!

Where I was born...Gadsden, AL.

Where I call home...Crossville, AL.

Where I live now...Huntsville, AL.

My Name...Kyllie Carter. Um, yeah I knew this would be an interesting one! Hola!! Me llamo Kyllie Carter.

Where I work...Colsa Corporation.

Where I'd like to visit...St. Lucia. Aaaahh...one day.... :)

Favorite Food...Chicken.

Favorite Drink...Sweet Tea. I wish I had a glass right now!

Favorite Smell...A clean baby. Not Sara, but still a cute baby! (and a clean one!)

Where I've lived...Tuscaloosa, AL. This is Garland Hall on the UA Campus, it is home of the Art Dept. I never had a class there.

Now wasn't that fun!?! Like I said, I used the first picture that came up on most of them, on the ones that I didn't, they didn't have a very interesting first picture, or it was a picture similar to one that I already had, so I used the second and third choice on some of them, just to make it a little more interesting!

Mother's Day

2007-05-14T09:35:00.000-04:00

I had a wonderful first Mother's Day yesterday, and I got a chance to see all the other mothers in my life. After church we went to see Jeremy's Mammaw for a minute and wished her a Happy Mother's Day, then we went to his Aunt Cheryl's to eat lunch with his mom and Nanny, and finally we went to my parent's house and took my mom out for dinner. So it was a busy, but great day. We were exhausted when we got home, so we put Sara to bed, Jeremy washed bottles and I straightened up around the house and we were in bed by 9:00.

Here are a couple more pictures I wanted to share:

My family on Mother's Day :)

Jeremy's Mammaw celebrated her 70th birthday last week, and I took this picture right before we left to go to her party. Isn't she cute!?!

And let me just say, I Love My Husband! He pulled a surprise on me this weekend. Saturday I woke up to 7 beautiful roses and a note saying to text him when I figured out what they were for(he was golfing). I knew immediately, especially after counting the number of roses. Saturday was out 7 year anniversary since we've been together. That's a freakin' long time. But it's hard to believe I have only known him for 7 years, it feels like I have always known him. And I honestly can't imagine my life without him.

# 7

2007-05-07T11:37:00.000-04:00

Sara turned a whopping 7 months old this past Friday. Wow it is all going by so fast!!! I remember thinking back when she was just a few weeks old, how I couldn't wait for her to be this age, and man am I so glad she is. Don't get me wrong, I loved my little newborn Sara, but I am really loving the being-able-to-hold-my-head-up-and-sit-up-on-my-own Sara. I love it that she is becoming her own little person, who just sits and laughs at herself. She is learning to vocalize more, and I could just sit and listen to jabber all day. I guess that's why I find it hard to get anything done around the house when I get home from work, b/c all I want to do is just sit with her in her room and watch her play and laugh.

She is just absorbing everything that is around her. Yesterday, my dad had her outside showing her the birds. He would point up to the sky at a bird and ask her if she sees the birds. So when we got home yesterday we took her for a walk and we starting pointing to the birds, and when we would ask her if she sees the birds, she would lift her hand up towards the sky! She's definitely going to be smart like her mom! ;)

In other news, we are finally getting around to finishing the bonus room above our garage. I guess this is the project we are taking on this year, since it seems like ever since we've been married we have had something going on, from moving to building a house to having a baby. Jeremy worked multiple nights(with his Pappaw and my dad) last week and on Saturday, and got the attic flooring down and all of the insulation put up. So once the sheetrock goes up, it will definitely start looking like a room. I am still not sure what we are going to use it for yet. Maybe another den/playroom? But I think Sara might have a hard time with the stairs!

Another First

2007-05-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

I have been dying to do this, and I finally did it--I put Sara's hair in a ponytail! I had been trying to figure out what kind of ponytail holders I would need to do this, and one of my neighbors told me about the ouchless kind. So while I was at Walmart yesterday I picked some up, and when we got home it was time to play hair. Sara wasn't very cooperative, but then again what do you expect from a almost 7 month old. She wouldn't keep her head still, and kept moving it around trying to look at what I was doing, finally after about 10 minutes this is what I got:

Pretty cute if I do say so! And while I was getting pictures of her ponytail, I thought I would get some of her getting up on her hands and knees. She is getting really good at it, and she thinks it's so funny when she does it. But I feel sorry for her poor knees, they get so red!!

In a followup to my post yesterday, we said goodbye to Phil and Chris last night on AI. It was no surprise to me, they are both good singers, but really don't compare to the final four that are left. I am pulling for Blake and Jordin for the final two. Melinda is by far the best singer on the show, but to me, she just doesn't fit the "Idol" image, would I be surprised if she won, not at all, but I think she will be another Ruben or Taylor, and not really sell like some of the other Idols have.

LOST. Last night's episode was a pretty good one. It didn't really reveal anything that I didn't already know, since I have read every spoiler out there that there is to read. But the previews for next week look incedible!! And I know nothing, or not much, about next weeks episode. Looks like we finally get to see what powers the island has and what the deal with DHARMA is.

And lastly I have a little request, I got an email from my mom this morning saying she recieved an email from one of my cousins that live in Mississippi. His wife just recently found out that her grandfather is dying of cancer and she is extremely heartbroken. So when you pray, please remember my cousin's wife and her family during this difficult time.

And one more pic, b/c she is so freaking cute!!