Christmas

We had a wonderful first Christmas with Anne and Santa definitely thought she was a good girl this year. 

The three of us traveled to Alabama for a few days to spend some time with my family.  We had a great time with everyone and loved seeing the kids. 

We made it home the evening of December 23rd with only one minor meltdown on the return flight.  Anne was completely exhausted and there was nothing we could do to make her happy, except get off the plane.  As soon as we stepped into the Austin airport she was happy as a bird.  We, of course, were ready to get home. 

On Christmas Eve, Mrs. Gladys and Mr. Norman joined us for the Candlelight service at church.  Afterwards, we had barbecue and put Anne to bed. 

Could they look anymore alike?

Saying goodbye to her elf, Addison

Santa's cookies

This morning, we went downstairs to see what Santa brought.  Anne opened gifts and spent the day in her pajamas playing with her new toys and enjoying time with her grandparents.

It was a wonderful day and we are certainly grateful for a wonderful year!

10 Months!

Our baby girl is one month older and has changed a lot in such a short period of time.

At 10 months, Anne is:

- crawling
- pulling up
- waving
- eating most things that we eat for dinner
- taking slightly longer naps
- cruising a bit

Her top left tooth broke through this weekend as well.  Each day I realize I love her more than I did the day before.  She's our world and we can't imagine our lives without her sweet little smile.

Here are a few photos from our quick monthly photo shoot:

And She's Off...

Today was a big day.

It started with me waking up to this sweet face.

 And after a new diaper and morning bottle, this happened...

And then she made her way to this...

After a busy morning of working up an appetite, this baby ate an entire waffle and piece of bacon. 

She's a busy bee and quickly finding her way to anything she sees.

Watch out Aunt Shea, we're coming for your stuff!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

We are taking advantage of the cooler temps with a lovely fire. A fire brings back many fond memories of my childhood and I love the sound of wood popping and cracking. While I love our house, gas logs don't provide the same experience and I miss the sounds of a real fire. It is convenient and nice that we don't have to grab wood frequently and "juug" the fire. (That's what my dad called poking the fire).

Sadly, I think it will be 70 again this weekend.

Happy Nine Months!

Anne is nine months!  It's happened, I've officially had a baby the same amount of time I was pregnant.  Like every post before this, I can't believe how quickly the past nine months have gone by and how much she has changed and it seems like every week she is learning something new.  It's been an incredible journey and she lights up our world. 

At nine months, Anne is:

• babbling - saying da da, ga ga. It's the sweetest noise I have ever heard
• eating pieces of fruit and still loving cheerios and puffs
• moving from sitting and into the crawling position but has yet to start crawling
• turning in circles while lying on her stomach
• pulling up into the sitting position
• moving around in her walker
• making noise with her music instruments
• clasping her hands together

Friday, we head back to the pediatrician for her 9-month check up.  I can't wait to see how much she has grown.

Here are my favorite photos from the 9 month shoot:

A Special Thank You!

During one of my recent posts, I failed to say a special thank you to my dear friend, Tina.  Tina is an amazing lady who I'm fortunate enough to call a friend and co-worker.  She's an incredible person, a wonderful judge of character and someone I have a tremendous amount of respect for.  She's also an Aggie, which makes Matt like her even more.

As Matt and I were pulling together final versions of our legal documents, Tina was gracious enough to notarize each of them.  She took time out of her work day to help us and I can't thank her enough.

Tina, you're the best and thanks for helping us!!

Preparing for the unexpected

One of my New Years resolutions was to get all of our legal documents in order. While I don't like to think about something happening to one of us, life has unfortunately taught me that things can change in a moment. It's important that we plan for the unexpected and it's comforting to know that Anne will be taken care of should something happen.

I realize I'm pretty sensitive, but since Anne was born I fall apart during commercials about parents and kids and now know that watching things about parents passing away will quickly send me into fits of hysteria. So it's no surprise that I just avoid those things. Avoidance is my default way of coping with things.

But I'm not avoiding this and called Shea and started sobbing when I asked her if she would care for Anne if something should happen to us. I have no doubt that she would raise her to be the wonderful, young lady that she will inevitably become.

I did tell her that under no circumstances is Anne allowed to go to the university of Florida or LSU because those places are not our standards.

I'm proud of us for thinking ahead and grateful for friends and family who are willing to love our girl and pup as if they were their own.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy belated Thanksgiving!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I appreciate a day that is centered around family, friends and food.  What's not to love?  This year, we hosted Thanksgiving in our new house and were joined by family and friends. 

Luckily, I had planned to take the week off from work and had ample time to prepare for the day.  I did most of the cooking on Wednesday so that I could participate in the Turkey Trot, a 5-mile walk (or run) around downtown Austin.  I joined Kelsey, Devon, Nicole and Melissa and it was great to catch up with everyone while squeezing in some exercise before the big meal. 

Melissa, Kelsey and me before the Turkey Trot

I've learned that preparing for Thanksgiving takes days, but sadly, the meal ends in 30 minutes or less.  It's always a sad moment when it's over and I am always tempted to become a potato pusher and force people to eat more than they do.  Cooking takes a lot of time and I believe eating should take a while as well. 

We spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening enjoying our time together and Ami, Kristin, Mrs. Gladys and I attempted to go to Target when it opened at 9 pm.  TVs or toys weren't enough to make me stand in that line.  I don't need a $4 DVD that bad. 

However, I had plans to head out for a larger shopping trip with Devon, Kelsey and Melissa.  We've made Black Friday shopping a tradition and headed to Macy's at midnight to see what we could find.  Similar to Target, I decided that both my patience and my sleep were more important than bargains and succumbed to my need for sleep.

While I was out, a little magic was happening at our house.  Matt was getting a lesson on how to smoke a brisket from his brother, Mitch. Turns out, brisket smoking is an a 12+ hour event and they were up every few hours to check the temperature and things. 

I met Mrs. Gladys for more shopping and spent the remainder of the day with Anne and Matt. Overall, it was a lovely day and this year, I have more to be thankful for than ever before.

Breakfast with Santa

Meeting Santa for the first time is a big deal and what better way to introduce Anne to the big guy than at the Junior League's Breakfast with Santa. 

Matt, Anne and I met Jennifer and her adorable girls, Larkin and Layne, at Palmer Events Center for the festivities. The event was part of the Junior League of Austin's A Christmas Affair and it was my first time to participate in the kids activities without working a shift for Junior League credit.  The first time I attended was before Matt and I were married and it's strange to think about how much my life has changed since then.

Any who...

Not only did the kids get to meet Santa, but they decorated gingerbread houses and watched members for a local dance company perform.  It was a lot of fun and I think it's safe to say that all of the girls and even Matt enjoyed the event.

I'm looking forward to all of the holiday events and can't wait to celebrate Christmas Matt, Anne and Murphy.

More on Alabama

Our trip to Alabama was a lot of fun.  When I arrived on Friday evening, Shea, Mackenzie and Anne picked me up and we ran a few errands.  It was so great to see each of them and give my sweet girl hugs and kisses.  Throughout the course of the week, Shea texted/emailed me pictures of their adventures with Anne and I was starting to worry that they never put clothes on her after most of the pictures I received were of Anne sans clothes.

Both Shea and Bubba were quick to tell me that their time with Anne confirmed that they are not having any more children.  It seems that having a baby around changes things.

Mary Alise stopped by on Saturday morning for a quick visit and we were able to catch up a bit in person before she hit the road to see her baby girl, Lily.  Afterwards, I agreed to go to the Auburn tailgate for the Auburn/Georgia game.  Mom and Jim watched Anne while we were there.  Unfortunately, the Alabama/Texas A&M game was at the time and I have to admit I would have much rather watched the game with my Aggie-loving husband rather than with a bunch of Bama-hating Auburn fans.  Sigh...

I didn't even have to be near a television to know that the game was not going well.  The chants and cheers from my family and Matt were constant, but I instead wanted to focus on what was important, Auburn's inevitable loss to Georgia.

Shea and I didn't go to the game and went home to pick up Anne and tuck her in bed.  We tried to be good Samaritans and help out Shea's neighbor, but after jumping over a fence and getting stuck on my attempt to crawl back over, we found out that their house did not need our help.  The broken pool pump, or what Shea thought to be broken, was fine and as soon as we were inside Shea's house, the neighbors made it home.  I can only imagine what they would have thought if they drove up and I was stuck on their privacy fence.

Sunday, Mom and Jim drove Anne and I to the airport and helped me check all of the luggage.  I am incredibly grateful for their help because I have no idea how I would have managed otherwise.  Overall, I would like to admit that I am becoming quite the pro when traveling with Anne and can efficiently break down a stroller and hold a baby.  When we arrived at the gate, I learned that our flight was delayed an hour so Anne and I watched the planes and she flirted with the man sitting next to me.

After getting on the plane, the nicest thing happened to us.  A woman gave us her first class seat.  It was incredibly generous and the extra room was just what we needed.  I can only wish that I would have thought to do the same when I received those few upgrades, but if I am upgraded again, I hope to repay the favor.

We made it home with out any major problems and found the house decorated in Aggie swag.  Ugh.  Life with an Aggie is hard right now.

Here are a few pictures from Anne's trip to Alabama

Bama Bound

I'm Atlanta for work this week and when I'm this close to home, I try to add a few days to my trip to visit the family.  Now that Anne's in the picture, I asked Shea if she would want to keep Anne while I'm working this week.

We've had this trip planned for a while and after weeks of stressing about how I was going to travel with two suitcases, a car seat, diaper bag, tote bag, stroller and Anne, we finally got it all worked out.  (Traveling with an infant is exhausting!)

Today, Matt helped with getting everything checked in and sent us on our way.  As soon as we got in the security line, Anne started screaming.  She wanted to be held which was incredibly challenging while trying to get everything on the conveyor belt and take my shoes off.  After having my diaper bag searched multiple times, we made it through the line and were on our way to the gate.  We had a little over an hour before our flight left, so I grabbed an ice coffee and we settled on the floor to watch the planes and play. 

Anne playing in the gate area

Thankfully, Delta let us board with first class so we were able to get settled in our seat without being rushed. We were lucky enough to have an open middle seat, which gave us extra room.  Anne was pretty tired from not napping this morning and fell asleep right after take off.  She slept for around 45 minutes and probably would have slept longer if I hadn't moved because my arm was asleep.

Adorable grin after we landed

Anne handing out before we get off the plane

After she woke up, we read books, played with toys and ate some puffs.  We landed without any major melt downs and made our way off the plane and to baggage claim where we found Aunt Shea and her friend, Martha.

Now Anne's in Alabama for the remainder of the week where I hope she'll behave and we'll have an easy flight back to Austin on Sunday.

Until then, we'll miss everyone back in Austin, but excited about spending some time with family in Alabama.

 

Happy Halloween!

One of my favorite things about being a new mom is the many firsts that we have as a family.  This week was Anne's first Halloween and she took part in all of the festivities.  Over the past couple of months, Mrs. Gladys has been making Anne's first costume as a tiny bumble bee.  It turned out super cute!  While I was out of town, Mrs. Gladys and Mr. Norman took Anne to the LIVESTRONG Foundation so that she could trick or treat with the other kids.  She was a bit fussy, but to no one's surprise, she fell in love with Devon.  I received a lot of sweet emails and texts from co-workers telling me how cute she was and I'm glad that she was able to participate. 

Wednesday was Halloween.  I left work early to head home and get ready.  Growing up in Sardis, Alabama, we didn't have trick or treaters, so I don't really know the protocol.  Matt picked on me because I was ready to hit the neighborhood at 5:30.  Apparently, you don't actually leave until dusk; however, Anne goes to bed at 6:30 so we compromised and left at 6. 

We also stopped by Jon and Mindy's house to see Travis, but had to return home since Anne was exhausted and screaming.

After getting Anne ready for bed, we came downstairs to help Matt hand out candy to all of the adorable kids.  (Side note: kids like to over share at Halloween as well.  I laughed at a lot of random things the kids said to us.)

It was a fun evening and I can't wait until next year when we can walk around the neighborhood with Anne. 

Trick or treating at the Foundation

Tiny bumble bee

Ready to hit the neighborhood

Handing out candy to the kids

Eight Months!

Today, we celebrated 8 months!  After a hectic week/weekend with work, our office was closed to let everyone recover from all of the events.  I was glad to have the day off and get to take Anne to story time at the Westbank Library.  She usually goes with Mrs. Gladys and it was fun to see what they do each week and meet the friends that she has made. 

We sang songs, enjoyed the bubble machines, listened to the librarian read books and then checked out some new books for the week.  I wish I had more opportunities to do things like this with Anne, but I'm glad that her sweet grandmother takes her.

Matt lowered her baby bed today as well.  We've been talking about lowering it for a while and after Sarah mentioned having to lower Caroline's in the middle of the night, we decided we should take care of it now.  



At eight months, Anne is:

• happy when you help her stand so that she can walk or hold onto things
• banging things together to make noises
• squealing and blowing raspberries
• eating more foods including cheerios, puffs and food that isn't strictly pureed
• smiling and laughing more
• noticing more details in objects
• able to pick up tiny objects
• chewing on everything
• holding steady with two bottom teeth
• not napping as much as we would like her to, but still sleeping 12+ hours a night
• loving the water and bath time
• not crawling, but putting weight on her hands and bouncing on her knees

Her next check-up isn't until the first of December, but we did take her to the doctor a week ago and know that she weighs around 18 pounds. 

Matt and I tried to take some photos of Anne for her 8 month photo shoot.  We never really got a great shot of her, but we did get a few funny ones.

Pumpkin Patch

Today, Sarah and I took the girls to the pumpkin patch at Tarrytown United Methodist Church.  We had a great time taking photos of the girls surrounded by pumpkins.  In the process, I learned that it is also hip for sorority girls to take photos while sitting on pumpkins. 

Near the end of the photos, Anne got sick and we had to head home sans pumpkin, but we'll pick one up at the grocery store this week.

We look forward to taking them to Sweet Berry Farms next year so that they can enjoy the hay ride, petting zoo and other fun things there.  This year, it didn't seem worthwhile to make the drive to Marble Falls since they'd likely start screaming as soon as we go there. 

Here are a few photos from our trip:

Photos with Natalie

I'm pretty lucky to have such talented friends and family.  It helps to ease the process of finding florists, photographer and decorators when you know exactly who to call.

When it comes to photographers, I have two incredibly talented friends, Mary Margaret Rogoff and Natalie Seeboth. 

Living in Austin, I rely on Natalie to capture images of Anne as she grows.  Natalie took photos of Anne a week after she was born and now that Anne has passed the six month mark, I asked her to come back and take more pictures of our sweet girl.

Natalie came to the house last Sunday and spent an hour with us.  We also asked Matt's parents to join us as well because I wanted to get some photographs of Anne with her grandparents.

We woke up to a chilly morning and a fussy baby, but Natalie and Anne prevailed.  I know that she got some beautiful shots and I can't wait to see them very soon.

Until then, please enjoy this sneak peak that she shared with me.  Natalie, if you read this, my apologies for using this version!

Anne - October 7, 2012

A Tiny Democrat in the Making

Contrary to what my family thinks, I'm hoping that this sweet baby shares my political views one day.

Anne is posing with our new yard sign. She's a cute mini-Democrat.

Somebody loves her lovie

We had to capture a photo of this sweet, snuggly pose.