Happy New Year Everyone!

Hi all. Long time, huh? I'm feeling less and less committed to this blog and I am starting to simultaneously feel guilty about it. There's always so much to tell about but until I find a few extra uninterrupted hours in my day I'll resort to guilt and move on.

So... what's new...hmmm.... Did we have a Christmas not too long ago? It sure doesn't seem like it! :) As I recall it was good times all around. We went to Michigan for a week, which was a much needed break from the rigmarole of day to day life here in VA. Emma and I flew direct from DCA and Dave met us there the following day after a 13 hour drive. Normally it takes 9.5. You can ask him why he wanted to drive, I still am baffled by it. :)

The first night Emma and I joined Lynn's family and went out to dinner for grandpas K's brithday. Grandpa loves his free bithday dinner at Finley's and goes every year. I was mostly excited since it has been years since I've been able to attend. My neice Kaitlin and cousin Molly had a blast with the sting cheese while Emma nibbled on some shredded cheese of her own.



We spent Christmas Eve with my mom at my brother's house and all had our pictures taken by Nicole Cottom of Art & Soul Photography. Nicole is amazing and I'm really looking forward to seeing the photos. Here's a sneak peek:

We hung out at Mike and Jen's after pictures and my dad, Lynn, sister Jenni and brother Andy came over to exchange gifts with Mike's family.

Nicholas and Emma packed in some quality time playing with cars....

And we played a little wii (I was sore for days!)

Christmas morning was spent at my family's house. Emma opened some presents and made quite the mess - she loved tearing the paper into tiny pieces.

She even got to do some pull-up on mommy and daddy's new toy...


She spent quality time with uncle Andy while mom made Beignets, a family tradition for Christmas morning.



Later that afternoon Lynn's family came over for dinner and more presents.

Emma was great with all the commotion and looked adorable in her Christmas dress.

SHe even got her first sip of beer...

The day after Christmas we had dinner with dad's side of the family. Aunt T tried for some Emma time but Emma wasn't having much of it.

On Saturday we went to my aunt Doreen's house for Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We had a nice dinner, opened presents and let the kids run around as we caught up.

We made the trek home on the following Monday only to turn around again and head down to Fredericksburg for yet another family Christmas, this time with Dave's fanily. The whole family gathered, opened presents and played Blokus for hours on end.

We spent New Years Eve trying not to fall asleep as we waited for the clock to strike 12. The kids had a blast though.

Now for the not so fun part of this post. Not only did I fall down our stairs just before Thanksgiving with Emma in tow, but that fall caused a little tear in my hubby's rotator cuff when he carried me to the couch. (I'm really not that heavy, he had injured it a few years ago, the "carry" just did him in). We met with Dr. Branch, Dave's orthopedic surgeon, a few weeks ago and confirmed that Dave will have to have surgery. Our next home purchase is likely to be a runner for our overly-slippery stairs.

To make matters worse, we met with Dr. Brehm at SouthPaws and learned that Cooper needs surgery too. His fall down the stairs a few months ago caused a tear in his cruciate, or ACL. We're opting for a procedure called a TPLO where they essentially splice his bone and rebuild his knee so that the ACL is no longer needed. It's pretty intrusive, but after long thought and contemplation we've determined it's the best thing to do. Coop goes in for surgery tomorrow morning at 7am. I've been emotional about it all day. Our poor dog has been through so much this year and it saddens me to think what he's going to have to go through. We're expecting nearly 8 weeks of isolation and recovery. We're now trying to figure out how we're going to get him up the stiars, especailly since Dave's surgery will likely be in a matter of weeks from now. I'm trying to stay upbeat, but it seems like whenever we get ahead we're faced with trying times like these. Please pray for our family, that we make it through these next few very tough weeks with our heads up.

Well, I can't end on a sad note so let me leave you with this... amidst all that's going on here Emma decided it's time to start walking. She took three steps last night and before we know it will be running circles around us. I am so proud of my little girl - she's so independent and the sweetest little muffin you'll ever meet.

wow!

I cant believe it's been a month since I posted! Man, sorry!


Things are great here. Emma is now the proud owner of 4 teeth - two on the top and two on the bottom. Her grin is just about the cutest thing ever. And, those new teethies make it easy to chew things like steak, chicken, strawberries, and much much more! Her all time favorite is cheese!


Em is also standing on her own now. She's very proud of herself and likes to practice whenever possible. She's mastered army crawling, and boy is she speedy, but still working on the hands and knees part. I think it has a lot to do with our slippery hard wood floors.


Coop is doing better, well, sort of. Now he's limping and has one of three problems. He's either torn his ACL, has displasia or a tear in his ACL. Good times. We've been told to keep him still and not allow his to climb stairs. If you know Coop you know that it's like holding down a 500 lb gorilla with your pinky. IMPOSSIBLE!!!! We're resting him by not playing catch and running so hopefully that'll do the trick.


A few weeks ago we applied to be on TLC's Home Made Simple. We had three interviews including one here in our home, but found out yesterday that our stinkin' house is too small to hold a crew. Apparently it's more disfunctional that we thought. Oh well, after watching a few episodes we are okay with the decision :)
Speaking of tv shows... remember about two years ago Dave and I were filmed to be on HGTV's I Want That? The show was cancelled one episode before ours was to air. Well, a week ago I got a call from a client that said "I saw you on TV Saturday!". Darnit if Fine Living didn't pick up the show and air our episode!!!! Good news is, it's going to air again on Monday December 15th at 5:30 pm on Fine Living. Catch it if you can - and pray with me that we don't look and act like bafoons!!! Here's a link to the network info: here

Last week, as we were getting ready to leave for the long weekend I had a little mishap. I was carrying Emma in my right arm and luggage in my left and fell down the stairs. Fortunately Emma is okay, but my right hip isn't so hot. I have a bruise the size of Texas on my butt and boy does it hurt. I now know that socks, baby and stairs to NOT mix.


Over Thanksgiving Barbara, Katie, BethAnne, Emma and I went to the Festival of Trees in Frederickburg. It was Emma's first tree experience... she was awe struck! I cannot wait until she sees a real tree in person - and can't wait for wrapping paper!!!


ta ta for now! Love to all!

Halloween Fun

Emma's first Halloween was spent tagging along with the neighborhood kids up and down Bellefonte and staying up WAY TOO LATE at Miss Becky and Mr. John's house. Three hours past her bedtime she was still a peach though. Mom and dad didn't dress up this year, but Emma went as a penguin, a costume Aunt Su made. A little big, but adorable nonetheless. Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

I like hay

We took Emma to the pumpkin patch today. It seems that hay is much more entertaining than mom and dad or any big round orange thing. What's a little protein in our diet, huh?

Oh, and check out the jeans, I'd wear them if they came in my size!

More pictures

on the Duck Boat tour...

playing with Daddy...

long awaited update

Did you miss me? Awe, come on admit it, you did, right? Well, I'm back and with so much to share it's likely to take me days to finish. For the record, I'm starting this post on Thursday night, October 9 at 6:01 pm. Let's see how long it takes me.

On Sept 21 Emma was baptized at Fredericksburg United Methodist Church. My family including my mom, dad, step-mom and grandma T came to visit for ling weekend to celebrate. Mom and grandma came in Thursday night. We took a nighttime tour of DC, chit chatted a bit and called it a night. Friday Emma and I joined them on a Duck Boat tour of DC and Emma even got to drive!

Friday afternoon we headed down to Dave's parents house to meet up with grandma and grandpa Harley (my dad and step mom) who were driving in from Michigan. Fun time... we ate a lot, played Farkle and prepared for the early rising for the baptism on Sunday. Emma was a little angel and aside from trying to steal the microphone she was a peach. She wore the gown that my mom, uncle Dennis, my brother and I wore - it's over 50 years old! It still fit and looked gorgeous on her.

here's the gang teaching grandma how to play Farkle...


She got lots of nice things including a 100% girl outfit from Aunt Jenni...


Since the baptism we've been up to our usual work, sleep and eat routine with a few fun times thrown in between. Emma decided it was time to learn to crawl and is now army crawling her way around the house, collecting dog hair and everything she's not supposed to have on her way. She finds Coopers bowls very enticing, but surprisingly she listens when told it's not okay. Cooper's doing well with her crawling and from time to time lets her grab him and pay with his paws. She's hysterical to watch when she wiggles from room to room, and even though she's still on her belly that girl can move!


I've started to wean Emma from nursing and we've recently learned that she may be allergic to milk proteins. We switched to soy formula and so far so good. She was getting a rash on her face and back. We've got it pretty much under control now and the rash is going away, finally. The transistion has been harder on me than her and she seems to really like the soy formula. Three more months, after she reaches big girl status we can start to give her whole milk.

Her favorite foods are Rice Krispies, apples, bananas and pretty much any other fruit. She also loves avacado slices and has perfected smushing them into every crevice of her seat and all over herself.


Here's her and daddy taking a breather...


Well, muchkin is due to get up any minute so I gotta run. Love to all.