If you are a blog reader, then you have probably heard that Google Reader is shutting down. I'm trying out both Bloglovin' and Feedly, but since I haven't been able to get Feedly to work on my computer, it looks like Bloglovin' is going to win out. If you would like to follow my blog using Bloglovin', use the link above.
« March 2013 | Main | May 2013 »
April 2013
April 15, 2013
April 14, 2013
Georgia Cate- Seven months old
Georgia is seven months old today! I love this age!! Her little personality is really starting to come out. Here's what she's up to at seven months:
- She is so close to crawling! On her hands and knees rocking back and forth all the time!
- Teething teething teething. Still nothing has broken through, but her hands are always in her mouth and she can be quite a fuss bucket. Remarkably little drooling though...
- Starting to imitate simple movements like banging on a drum, shaking her head, and just starting to wave.
- Girlfriend loves to eat! So far hasn't met a puree she hasn't liked. Not a fan of anything chunky yet, like mashed up banana or puffs.
- Despite a month of so-called "sleep training", she is no closer to sleeping through the night. SO frustrating. In fact this past week it even seemed to be getting worse. So we decided that until we get through this teething and stuffy/runny nose she's got, I'm going to go back to nursing her when she wakes up. I may regret it in the long run, but hopefully not since whatever we were trying wasn't working anyway!
- Has a lot to say, but it's mostly vowel sounds. No reduplicated babbling yet.
- She is definitely starting to express her opinions. And her opinion is typically that she should be holding whatever is within reach.
- Has starting sleeping more and more on her stomach, so she's finally growing hair on the back of her head! The bald spot is almost gone!
- Loves to look at and play with Cooper, Momma, and Daddy.
- The absolute WORST thing you can do to her is wipe her nose. And we have been doing lots of that lately.
Sweet girl, Miss Priss, Baby Girl, Girlfriend, Georgia girl....we love you to pieces!
April 13, 2013
April 04, 2013
Our love story
A group of bloggers is hosting a series of link-ups on love and marriage, and the current topic is "In the Beginning". You can read some of the other posts here and here. A lot of you that read my blog were part of the early days of our relationship. But there are also some more recent friends who might not know our story, so I have decided to go ahead and post it here!
In 2000 I was starting my third year of undergrad at University of Florida. I had gotten really involved in my church and spent a lot of time with friends from the church/student center. In the fall Stewart started attending and joined the choir. He is from the same small town as several of my friends, so he just naturally started hanging out with us. I thought he was cute and nice, but he was also really quiet and didn't really seem to be interested in me so I didn't think much of it. Plus I knew that there were a few other girls that liked him, and I was never the one to get the guy. So we just spent the fall getting to know each other as friends.
One funny story when I look back on those few months....my mom came up to visit for homecoming, and she came to Gator Growl (the big homecoming pep rally) with me and my friends. Well apparently Stewart made some sort of impression on her, because she definitely made a few comments about this sweet boy with the "charming" southern accent. And perhaps she could recognize something I hadn't even realized yet, because after Growl she decided that she wanted a picture of us. I still remember being embarrassed but also secretly thrilled (he put his arm around me, after all!) Here it is, the first picture ever taken of us. :-) Isn't he so cute??
Towards the end of that semester, I started to admit to myself that I might like him as a bit more than a friend. I remember going home over Christmas break and really missing him! When we came back from break, we slowly started hanging out a little bit more on our own. We would go out with a group of friends, and then end up talking in the parking lot for an hour after everyone had gone home. We were in that "whatever" phase....we were clearly interested in each other but were officially still just friends (and he wouldn't make a move!)
In February two of my best friends were having a 21st birthday party in Tallahassee. I wasn't about to miss it, but I also had to be at church early the next morning because we were having a pancake breakfast fundraiser for Dance Marathon. I knew I'd have to drive back basically in the middle of the night, so I asked Stewart to go with me so I wouldn't "have to drive back alone." Dang, I was bold! And I can't believe he agreed to come! We did indeed leave the party somewhere around 1am I think, he drove and I promptly fell asleep. When I woke up, I just decided to throw caution to the wind and ask him how he felt about me. Basically he admitted that he liked me but was hesitant to start a relationship since he was going to be leaving at the end of that semester to do a teaching internship in his hometown. So we kind of left things unresolved, but we did hold hands in the car. :-)
For the next few weeks we basically were dating without calling it dating. I had already planned to spend my spring break in various places in the Panhandle (Destin, Panama City, etc.) including a stop in Stewart's hometown. Hmmm, how convenient. I saw him several times over the break, and when we got back we finally had the official "we are together" talk. Unfortunately summer was fast approaching which meant he would be leaving Gainesville. And thus began the long period of long-distance dating. He returned home and did his teaching internship while I finished up my last semester of classes. We both graduated in December, but I stayed and worked through the spring. I was determined to get my full four years of college life! Stewart was substitute teaching at home and eventually would accept a teaching position. In the meantime, I made the (tough) decision to attend grad school in Nashville. So our 2 1/2 hour distance became a 7 hour distance. Man, we put some miles on our cars. I hated not being with Stewart, but I was also loving Nashville. So when I graduated in 2004, I decided to stay and work at Vanderbilt where I had gotten my degree. At that point Stewart wasn't sure about teaching anymore, so he decided to come up to Nashville and look into his options for a different career path. The problem was that he wasn't really sure what he was looking for, which led to a lot of frustration and doubt on both of our parts. After a couple months, he made the decision that he wanted to go back to school to become a pharmacist. This also would involve getting some prerequisites, and it made most sense for him to take the classes at the community college he had attended right after high school. So we were back to long distance. Again. It was a hard time, because we wanted to be together but our lives were just not lining up. One of my colleagues was from Panama City and told me that she thought the job market for speech pathologists was really good there. I decided to look into it and before long I had a job offer. It was a hard decision because I really loved my job and life in Nashville, and there are still times when I really miss living there. But if we were going to be together, we were going to have to live in the same place! So I moved down to Stewart's little hometown in the summer of 2005. And since there weren't apartments or anything there, I moved in with his grandmother. Talk about a hard transition! I love Granda SO much and now I can look back and be thankful for the time we spent together that year. But in the beginning it was rough. I cried a lot. By this point we knew we were going to get married, so I was just kind of waiting for a ring! Right at the end of the summer, Stewart surprised me with a beautiful and personal proposal and of course I said yes. We spent the next year planning the wedding, with him taking classes and me commuting an hour each way to work in Panama City.
I honestly loved planning our wedding. It was stressful, but I would totally do it all over again! The day was glorious....I had the time of my life. I married my best friend and partied with all my loved ones. Seriously, I wish we could do it once a year!
We had a busy start to our marriage, as do most couples. Stewart attended and graduated pharmacy school; I had three different jobs (four if you count my current job as mom); we moved three times (four if you count the move within the same apartment complex); had Cooper; bought a house; had Georgia. In June we will celebrate our seven year anniversary....it really is amazing how it has flown by! I am so thankful that God blessed me with Stewart as my partner in this crazy and wonderful life!
April 01, 2013
Easter 2013
Easter festivities started with Cooper's Easter Chapel program at school, followed by his egg hunt and class party. I have been so happy with his school and teacher this year!
This is my favorite picture from the Easter program. He looks like a little song and dance man!
Then we had a fun Easter crafting afternoon with Liz and Kaitlan. (We go love our holiday crafts!) We made these shaving cream Easter eggs (thanks, Pinterest) and I think it was one of my favorite crafts ever!
Of course we dyed some eggs (prompting an interesting discussion about the difference between "die" and "dye".)
Easter morning was low key and fun. Cooper loved everything in his easter basket, but he says that the big boy toothpaste is his favorite.
Georgia with her first Easter basket. She got baby versions of Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice, some puffs, pajamas, two headbands, new bibs, baby food, and a high chair toy.
Time to hunt eggs!
Once we started to get ready for church, the low key-ness of the morning quickly vanished. I set a goal for everyone to be ready by 10, to give me time to nurse Georgia and take some pictures before leaving for the 11:00 service. At 10:05 I announced that the new goal was 10:20. Which quickly became 10:30. And we finally rolled out of the driveway at 10:41 (with no pictures taken.) It's a good thing that we hadn't tried to make it to the early service! After church the skies were about to open up, so we didn't have time to get a good family picture. But we did get a good one of the girls and a good one of the guys!
Then we headed over to Stewart's parents house and again tried to get a decent family picture before it started pouring there! This was the best one.
Had to move pictures in to the porch due to the downpour.
I made Cooper's tie at 10pm on Saturday using this tutorial. I am so happy with how it turned out! Now Stewart wants me to make him some ties.
Georgia had a post-nap wardrobe change, so of course we had to have some more pictures. Stewart's cousin found this adorable bunny bubble for her, and I absolutely love it. But when I put her in it earlier in the week she had a huge blow-out before we even reached our destination. So it made another appearance on Easter. :-)
It was a great Easter! The sky cleared up so Cooper was able to play outside in the afternoon. We finally got smart and took Cooper's toothbrush and the kids' pajamas, so we were able to get them all ready for bed before we left Stewart's parents house. Then when we got home all we had to do was put the sleeping kiddos straight into bed! Well, I did have to nurse Georgia but other than that, the bedtime routine was done.
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter