So busy!

So work is going pretty well! It's been a big adjustment for all three of us, but we've managed to make it through.

I like my job & the people I work with. There's a lot to learn, but hopefully I can do it! :) I think I'll like my job once I get the hang of it.

Emma has done great at daycare. She cried when we dropped her off the first week, but settled down quickly & was always happily playing when we picked her up. Last week she didn't even fuss when we put her down. She really likes it & they said she really made herself at home last week - going all around the room, playing with the other kids, etc.

Tomorrow we leave for our trip to Colorado. We've been busily packing, doing laundry, & cleaning! Packing & laundry are now mostly done & I just need to dust & finish vacuuming downstairs - upstairs is totally done! So progress is being made & now I'm starting to get excited about the trip! It's hard work packing for a baby, let me tell you!

Anyway, I'll try to update some this week (we have wifi at our rental house), but if not, I'm sure there will be bunches of pictures when we get back!

Oooooh, I forgot to mention - in Frisco, CO (where we are staying), the highs all week are in the 20s and there is snow in the forecast EVERY DAY. If we go on this trip & I don't see snow falling, I will NOT be a happy camper! :)

Getting ready

It's official, I start my new job & Emma starts her new daycare TOMORROW. I honestly can't believe it's all happened so fast! Seriously, it has taken less than a week, start to finish. It is definitely a God thing, it wouldn't have worked out this well any other way!

I'm busily trying to get everything set out for tomorrow. All of Emma's stuff that can be is set out (diapers, wipes, bibs, change of clothes, spoons, sippy cup, puffs, cheerios). I've already written out the labels for her bottles, so in the morning I just have to make the bottles, stick the label on & put the bottles & her baby food jars in a cooler with a cold pack. Her clothes for the morning are already laid out too.

I know what I'm wearing, but my pants are in the washer, so that will be last minute. I guess I could go ahead & lay out the rest of my clothes...

As you can tell, I'm trying to physically prepare for tomorrow, but honestly, I'm a nervous wreck. I'm not so nervous about the job itself - I already know all the people I will be working with & I know it will take awhile for me to get trained, so work-wise, tomorrow should be totally fine. Plus, I've already told David I've decided he's taking me out to lunch tomorrow, so that's good ;)

I'm really just nervous about leaving Emma for so long. She's never been away from both of us for that long (going on 10 hours, although probably a little less). She stays in the nursery at church for about 3 hours every Sunday & she always does great. Mostly, I just worried about naps. Emma is a horrible napper & there are only a few ways I can get her to sleep: driving her around in the car, holding her & rocking her quickly while patting her back, occasionally by feeding her a bottle, & by letting her cry it out in her crib :(. I know they are busy & have other things they have to take care of rather than hold Emma while she sleeps, so I'm not sure what they'll work out. I'm sure it will take them time to get her on a good napping schedule. I just feel bad for Emma & her teachers - it's going to be hard for awhile. And it's not like not napping is an option. She gets so grouchy when she's overtired. They did say we could come visit her whenever we want, but I think we'll try to stay away tomorrow because I'm afraid as soon as she sees us, she'll want to go with us & it will be way worse. I guess if she needs us, they will call.

I know it will go fine & we'll all work through the changes. I know God is in control. We can just use all the extra prayers we can get this week. I guess I'm just ready for this week to be over already.

Lots of changes

This week has been a whirlwind - no, really.

I guess I should start with what happened last week. Monday I got a call that I didn't get the job at Lockheed. I was discouraged, but I tried to focus on God's plan is bigger than our's. Tuesday, David's car broke down on the way to work. It overheated & he had to be picked up by a co-worker & have his car towed to a friend from church's auto shop. We were afraid his car was toast. Friday, our next door neighbor's house was flooded & we didn't know why. Then our kitchen floor started having a little water come up through the cracks. We were worried that the water problem was our fault (like a pipe burst or something).

By the end of the week, we found out that David's car could be fixed & fairly cheaply (yay!). Also, our neighbor's water heater was messed up which caused his house to flood (I still feel bad for him, but better that it wasn't our fault). Our floor should be covered by his insurance, but if not, it should be fairly cheap to replace.

Then this week happened.

Monday is normal, David was home. No big deal. Tuesday night (seriously, 8pm), I get an email from his boss offering me a job & saying they wanted me to start as soon a possible. Monday, preferably! Excitement, panic. I accept the job & Wednesday we decide I will start on Monday. David calls a daycare we had initially thought about in Conyers (where we will work). They get us in for a tour Thursday (today!) Daycare tour is great, it is wonderful & we love it. Emma even seems to like her class. Although the class is full, they can go ahead & move one kid up to the next class (14 mos & up) & Emma can start MONDAY.

So basically I start work on Monday & Emma starts daycare on Monday. Next week is going to be hard on us (I've already started crying about it), but I can see God's hand all over it. Please remember us in your prayers next week (& now too, please!), we're going to need it!

10 months old!

As of Monday, Emma is 10 months old! This has honestly been the fastest 10 months of my life - WAY too fast!

She crawls very fast away from us - I say that she's "running." When she knows she shouldn't be going some place, she just goes faster! She makes a run for it & we have to chase her down the hallway before she gets into something she shouldn't. It is fun that she can go so far now though. This morning, I followed her to the kitchen & she played with her barn animal magnets while I made her bottle & fixed my cereal. It saves my back a little, as she is now over 20 pounds. I keep telling her she needs to learn to walk because Mommy can't hold her forever (although, I sometimes wish I could!)



She has stood up completely on her own a couple times, but she is still mostly pulling up on things. She can "let go" for longer & longer now. I honestly believe if she wasn't so easily distracted, she would be able to stand on her own for a lot longer, but she always wants to get a toy or crawl somewhere. She definitely doesn't really understand walking yet, so hasn't really tried on her own - crawling is just so much faster!



She still chews on everything; in fact, she just took her shoe off & it's in her mouth (yuck!) I think she's working on another tooth (she has 4 so far - 2 bottom, 2 top) because she's been fussy the past couple days & has been drooling a lot more. Let's hope it comes through soon, I want my happy, smiley baby back!



She is being so cute. She's liking books more (thank goodness!) so she'll actually sit nicely long enough for me to read a couple board books at a time to her. She does keep trying to close the books though. Slow progress. What she loves right now is she has a big plastic spoon (in one of the pictures) from her kitchen that she loves to chew on. One day, I put the spoon up to my mouth & made sipping noises & she just smiled. She kept putting the spoon back to my mouth & I'd make the sounds for her again. We also play this with her bottle once she's done eating. She loves it & likes to share her "food" with Mommy.



She LOVES eating her solids. I could seriously feed her cheerios & puffs constantly throughout the day & she'd keep eating them. She loves yogurt & cheese. I've given her white rice. Last night, for the first time, she had ice cream! We got oreo McFlurries from McDonald's last night (I know, bad for my diet), & she just really wanted to get mine. So I gave her little bits of just the ice cream part (although, there were probably a few crumbs mixed in - bad mom). So not only did I break my no chocolate until 1 year rule (well, Oreos), I gave the kid ice cream. And she LOVED it. She tapped my arm, wanting more & more. She is definitely our child :)



She has been the biggest blessing & I'm so thankful God gave her to us. I guess I'm going to have to start thinking about a 1st birthday party pretty soon! :)

Baby, It's cold outside!

My cutie

The other evening, I was feeding Emma dinner. For dinner I usually do 2 half jars of baby food (usually a fruit & a veggie and/or meat). Then I give her fingerfoods: cheerios, puffs, yogurt melts, the occasional shredded cheese, etc.

I was in the middle of giving her some puffs & she was feeding them to herself. After she had eaten a few, I put one down for her & pointed to it, her hand, & my own mouth, trying to tell her to feed me. She tried once, close. She tried again, even closer. Third time, she got that puff in my mouth! I was shocked she could do it!

I tried to get her to do it again, but no such luck. But seriously, it was the sweetest thing ever & Emma thought she was so cool for feeding Mommy! I just LOVE her!

Visiting with David's family!

The weekend following Christmas, David had some family come in from out of town.




From Indiana, David's Uncle John, Aunt Debbie, along with cousins Jenny, Steve, Anna, Anthony, Elizabeth, & Andrew, his cousin Mark, Mark's wife Erin, & kids Hannah & Sam. Mike & Shelly were also there (although they just came from Roswell!)





From Valdosta (I *think* that's right) came David's Uncle Don, Aunt Anna, & cousin Hadley.



Also there were us (duh!), David's parents & sisters Sharon & Susan, & David's brother Brent, sister-in-law Leslie, & our two sweet nephews William & Thompson.




We ate lots of yummy food, played games, watched the babies play (3 under a year - Thompson 10 months, Emma 9 months, Sam 5 months), watched movies, & did lots of catching up!




We really enjoyed getting to spend time with them & were very sad they had to all leave so soon, but unfortunately everyone had to get back to work.

Nice day!

It's so nice today, at least compared to the rainy yucky days we've
seen this week. Emma & I played around the house for awhile & I tried
to vacuum & mop.

She started getting a little fussy (bored, maybe), so we took
advantage of the beautiful weather & went for a walk around our
neighbor. We walked around once, passing the playground & noticing
they have a couple baby swings. So next time we went by, we stopped &
Emma got in the swing for awhile. She liked it! Before we left, I
helped her down the slide a few times, but she's not too sure about
that just yet. We walked around the neighborhood once more & Emma took
a power nap. It ended up being a fun afternoon.

Now if I can just finish my cleaning, I'll be a happy girl!

Christmas Day - Afternoon/Evening

Ok, this is the last installment of Christmas. At least official Christmas. I promise.

Uncle Perry, Aunt Barbara, Kristin, Clint, Maddy, Derek, & David all headed over to my parents' on Christmas afternoon. We enjoyed a delicious lunch of lasagna, salad, & bread.




Then it was gift time! We drew names this year, so that made it easier on all of us. David got a new skillet with lid for spaghetti sauce, etc (we needed it!) & I got a cute button up shirt that I can wear to work/church & cute socks.





Emma got LOTS of stuff! Clothes, toys, books, etc. Then she got really tired again & took another nap on Mommy (that's why there aren't more pictures!) About the time Emma went to sleep, Maddy woke up, so I didn't get any pictures of Maddy :(

After everyone went home, we headed over to my Uncle Eric's house to visit with the Hughes for awhile. I was pooped, so I forgot to take any pictures :( We had a really nice time getting to see my aunts, uncles, & cousins & we enjoyed lots of yummy food! Emma got some fun gifts too! :)

Then we came home & crashed! We went to Blockbuster (they are open on Christmas - who knew!) & watched a movie (unfortunately, I forget which one). We started laundry & sorting piles of stuff. Then I unboxed all of Emma's new toys & put a few things together. Unfortunately the wiping down of all her new things didn't end until about a week later, ugh!

Christmas Day - Morning at Hughes'

After we opened presents from Santa, we headed over to Nanny & Papa's for breakfast & to open gifts with them & Uncle Cory. Nene & Amber both joined us.





After our delicious breakfast of biscuits, eggs, hashbrowns, & bacon, we dug into the gifts.




Emma got lots of toys, clothes, & books. She's one spoiled chick.





David got clothes & a fancy hair trimmer set, as well as money & an AMC giftcard. I got clothes (my fav), money, Target giftcard, etc. Ok, so really we are all spoiled. :)




Nanny, Papa, Uncle Cory, Amber, & Nene didn't do too bad themselves! Emma finally had it & took a nap. We then waited on the Ganns (& Owens, to be fair) to arrive for more Christmas.