Update

The first video is now up! Sorry for the delay... technical difficulties. Thanks for the help, Dad!

Also, our little one had a stellar checkup at the pediatrician's this week. She is still in the 75th-90th percentile for weight at 12lbs 12oz, and she's officially grown off the charts for height at 24 1/2 inches long! She had four immunizations, which did not thrill her, but she did better than last time!

We took it slow after that for a few days, but we had a good homegroup on Wednesday--we're going through an evangelism series that seems like it's going to be really good. And, of course, last night we went to watch the Gators game--go Gators! That was a lot of fun, and not only because we won! It's always fun to hang out with our friends.

Book selling is going well. Getting tons of orders, so I've been trying to help out. It's amazing--everybody's doing it now! First Dad, then us, now Andy and Kelly, Julie, the Riccios! Crazy.

Hope you have a good weekend!

Videos!

We got a Flip video camera from my mom and dad for Christmas, so now baby can be the star of the show in video, not just pictures! Here are a couple videos of her playing in her activity gym.

This first one is the cute one where she's enjoying herself:



This one is crazy--she is scooching across the mat! She starts in the middle and ends up cockeyed on the side. You can see she's trying to catch the edge of the mat with her foot so it will do something. She's amazing. ;)

Baby's First Christmas

It was a crazy trip, but what fun we had! We started out on Saturday with the 8 hour trip to Anderson with a lovely break in Atlanta to see April and Jared. Baby did well on the trip--she slept almost the entire time!

We spent 5 days in Anderson with Andrew's family, which was great! On Sunday we went to Christ Church, and our little one was baptized by her Grandad. It was such a special time. Here are a few pictures taken by Andrew's brother, Billy.


In Anderson we really enjoyed the amazing meals made by Andrew's mom and Aunt Kim, and Andrew and I got to go out by ourselves a couple of times to shop. It was nice to feel free to do that! We were so romantic--we bought each other shoes for Christmas. :)

Andrew had to get his car fixed, but thankfully that only took one day! Our time in Anderson was just a great time with the family. And I, especially, enjoyed having Billy take pictures of us! Here are a few of my favorites. :)






On Christmas Eve we went up to Charlotte to my grandparents' house. My parents were staying at Aunt Steph's, so after an amazing lamb dinner we met up with my family. Christmas we spent at Aunt Steph's, opening gifts, eating "special foods" and watching lots of tv and movies on Uncle Dwayne's 52 inch LCD and Blu Ray player. Andrew enjoyed veging out for a couple of days, and I really enjoyed having my family hold the baby ALL the time, haha. I had to convince them to let me take her when she was crying to be fed! One day we went to a big outlet mall and spent our Christmas money, which is always fun. And my big event of the vacation--I got seven inches cut off my hair! I decided it was time for the "mom" haircut. :) Julie and Abby took lots of pictures, but I don't have them yet. I'll post some later, hopefully. :)

Then, the last leg of the journey we went to Charleston to see Nanny and Pappy. Mom was with us for Sunday and half of Monday but had to fly home so she could work the rest of the week. Andy and Kelly got there late Sunday, and the family was all together for the first time since Andy's wedding! We had a great time eating the massive amounts of food that Nan made and having an adventure on Monday. We went to downtown Charleston to the market, ate some good pizza, went to the waterfront park and Rainbow Row. Later we went to a movie (The Tale of Despereux--baby E's first theater movie!) and made s'mores over the fireplace. We packed a lot of fun into one day! Early Tuesday we headed for home. Here are some pictures from Charleston. :)



What a great Christmas! It was such a blessing to be able to see all of E bear's grandparents and great grandparents in one trip! And my sisters were so happy to finally be able to meet her. I'd say they were taken. :) It was a little crazy switching houses and meeting so many people--a couple of times she just wanted to be by herself for awhile! And it was quite an adjustment when we got home, since she had gotten used to being held all the time! But overall it was an amazing trip, and being with family is always so wonderful. I wish we could see them more often!

Update Coming

We are back from our whirlwind Christmas tour of all of the relatives! It was amazing that we got to see so many people, but boy are we tired! I will post the pictures of baby's first Christmas in Anderson, Charlotte and Charleston soon.

Happy New Year!

Christmas is coming!

We are so excited for Christmas! We leave on Saturday early--we'll stop in Atlanta to see April and Jared and land at Andrew's parents' house for dinner. We'll be there until Christmas Eve.

We've had quite a busy week leading up to our trip. Andy and Kelly came over with Mark E on Tuesday night. We had dinner and watched a movie. We'll see Andy and Kelly at Nan and Pap's, after Christmas, so it will be a little while. Here we are--Andrew's head was cut off, but they didn't want to give me any more chances. haha


Here's a shot to woo the ladies:


On Wednesday we went by Loaves and Fishes to show off the baby before they shut down for Christmas. All the ladies loved her! And of course we came away with presents. :) This is a picture of Andrew with his two former bosses, Karen and Melanie.


We saw Kristin, too. She is our lactation consultant, whom Andrew met at Loaves and Fishes. She's been so helpful, and she's always happy to see us.


We had our homegroup Christmas party last night. That was lots of fun! Good potluck food and really yummy deserts, including pumpkin pie, made with Mom's recipe. So good! E bear slept through most of the party wrapped onto me, so it was a little warm, but it was nice that I got to participate. :) The white elephant gift exchange was another bust for us--an ornament and an old record. I actually left the record there accidentally! I hope the host doesn't give it back! haha

In baby news, little E is hitting some big milestones! She is smiling now, which is absolutely adorable! I can't get her to do it on command, but she will often smile at people or toys. Like this little bee toy on the bouncy seat from some friends--while I take a shower I put her in there, and a few times I've checked on her and she's been looking at the bee and smiling! It's so cute. Andrew is really enjoying how much more expressive she is as well--it's a little easier to connect!

She's also playing by herself for a little longer at a time. We got her an activity gym (thank you Nanny and Pappy and Gran and Bob-bob!), and she'll sit in there listening to the music and swatting and kicking at the toys hanging over her. What a big girl she is! It's very nice for Mommy--it gives me a little time to do things.

Today she took a really good nap, and I took some pictures of her sleeping. I wanted to capture her little sleepy poses. What a sweetie. :) (Notice the beautiful blanket Nanny made in the first picture, and some cute socks from Aunt Steph in the second.)


A little sleep smile :)

Visit to Strang

Today we took a trip to my former place of employment for everybody to see the baby. :) DeWayne was kind enough to take me around--as a non-employee, I couldn't be trusted to go around by myself. ;) The Strang crew loved her--they oohed and ahhed appropriately. And I kept telling her, "These are your friends--they knew you before you were out!" She was very good for them, showing off, of course.

Here we are with the CR team. She was snoozing most of time we were visiting them. It was great to see them and catch up. And see the last mag I edited before I left. It's always fun to see it finalized.

Some of her admirers.

I don't know what this face is. But it's funny. :)

Here she's checking everybody out. Who are all these people? And why do I recognize their voices? :)

Here we were visiting the production pals. They were a very appreciative bunch. Wendy, the third from the left, said something very sweet--"she's your best project ever." :)

In other news, we all went down to Ft. Pierce on Sunday to check out a church that was looking at Andrew for their pastor position. It was our longest trip ever with the baby--2 hours each way. She did great, though. She slept almost the entire way. I learned a trick--roll all the windows down and she thinks she's outside, which she loves. The only drawback was the 65 degree temps, but she was all covered up, and it worked out.

But about the visit--we pretty much decided that it's not the place for us to go, although if God makes it clear that we should take a call there we'd be willing. It's certainly not ideal, but one thing we are coming to realize is that no job in ministry is going to be ideal! We'd really like to at least have a starting job in a place with people we relate to--maybe a suburb of a city or something, with strong men in leadership as well as families. This church drew from a more rural crowd, and there was no one in their twenties attending the church at all. Also, there was a gap in men between thirties and seventies. That could be changed of course, but being a solo pastor there would be very difficult. So, Andrew's applying for some other jobs. This has turned out to be a lot harder than we thought it would be!!

In the meantime, Andrew is busy with his Amazon biz. He got a whole bunch of product on black Friday, so he's hoping to sell a whole bunch before Christmas. It's all going very well, which of course means our office/nursery is getting pretty crowded!

It seems like Christmas is really sneaking up on us this year. Before we know it, it will be time to go on our trip! I can't wait to see everybody, but I have to admit I'm a little nervous about how E bear will do. But worrying won't change anything. And I'll have lots of the best help I could ask for!

One Month Old!

Baby is one month old! Time sure flies by... it still feels like just yesterday we were bringing her home. She is so much more alert now, opening her eyes wider and making more expressions. Still no smiles, but she is definitely showing surprise, curiosity, and of course pain and dismay. She is already so much more fun.

I think in this one she's saying, "Mom, the camera again?"

She had her pediatrician visit today. She's all healthy and still 75-90 percentile for height and weight. The doctor commented on how long she is, and said he thinks she'll be tall like her daddy. She's up to ten pounds now, and I'm feeling every ounce! She's one big girl.

Poor baby got her first shot today. Very traumatic for us both, although I was proud of myself that I didn't cry. The nurse said that a lot of moms cry at the first one... I can totally understand. She was so upset. But it's for the best!

Here she is with her band-aid. She was less than happy when I took it off. I've never seen her look so outraged. (And doesn't she look like a cheerleader in this picture? She was totally posing, too, not moving around. Silly baby.)


This picture is to show off her cool socks. If you can't see them too well, they are knee socks. She looks very preppy in them. I thought Abby and Julie would appreciate seeing the cute knee-sock action. :) (And even though that looks like a smile, it's not. Just an "I would like to eat please" face. But it's cute anyway. :) )

She is getting a lot fussier these days. She's so much more alert, but she's having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Her gas wakes her up, and a lot of times her poop wakes her up. I hear that they get a lot less fussy after the six-week mark, so I'm counting down the days! She's so sweet most of the time, but when she gets overtired or gassy... oh man. She gets so mad and sad, and it kills me that it's so hard to make her feel better. It wears me out! Walking and bouncing and nursing and sucking the finger and rocking, and then you think she's asleep so you put her down, but her eyes pop right open and you have to do it all again. Boy will I be glad when this stretch is over!

In contrast, here's a picture of her when she's full and happy. So sweet. It's so easy to love her!