More Thanksgiving

After we got home from Hendersonville, Sandra, Brad, Melanie, Anna, Ashlyn & Ethan all came over for Thanksgiving dinner at our house. We had way too much food and really enjoyed just being together as a family.

Thanksgiving continued...We are Family (think the song)

This is a shot of all my cousins (minus 1 - missed you Michelle!), and my cousin's kids, and my sister and Granny's great niece & nephew ( I have no idea what that makes us - some kind of cousins I guess) - anyway - we had a crowd and it has been a long time since we were all together.

What a catch!

Everyone plays if they want to - no one is too small. The smaller you are, the better for the sneak attack!!

Thanksgiving

Important Note: My camera is broken. I have NO NEW PHOTOS of my own, but plan to remedy this siutuation within a few days.

We had a great day on Thanksgiving. First, we got up and made a mad dash to Hendersonville to visit with my dad's side of the family. We only got to stay a few hours, but it was awesome to get to be there with everybody. Plus, everyone wanted to see James - I'm not living under any illusions - I know they don't really want to see me - it's Emma & James they are interested in!!

Dad & Granny

The family!

Jennifer & Emma

Emma with her Papa (who was not supposed to be lifting more than 5 pounds - you can see how well that went).

Granny & James - she claimed him right off the bat and didn't seem to be even slightly worried that she might be covered in spit!!

Emma & James

Emma - holding "her baby" - so sweet!

Me & James - I'm usually the one taking the pictures so these are rare!

Sandra's Birthday

We went to Mimi's Japanese Steakhouse for Sandra's birthday. It started out tough - we were 20 minutes late for our reservation because of horrible traffic (big wreck). But, we got settled in & had a great meal. Our server left a lot to be desired, but our chef was great. In attendance...Mike, Cindy, Holly & Kyle Perry...Jennifer Huggins...Brad, Anna, Ashlyn, Ethan, Brian, Lynn, Emma, James & Sandra Blackburn. They made Sandra get up and had the whole restaurant sing to her!! It was great!! Then, we went back to our house for cake & presents.

Ashlyn really wanted to use her chopsticks - and she did GREAT!!!

First we get the shrimp with the chopsticks...

Then, we carefully bring it to our mouth...

Success!!!

Best Buds

Emma & James "watching" Barney - here's hoping they are still best buds 20 years from now!!

The Many Faces...

All these were taken within just a few minutes of each other!

Video of James

Saturday morning at our house

OK - you'll have to look closely, but if you do, you'll see that this is a picture of Emma - in our bed - SIDEWAYS!

The story - Emma decided that it was a grand idea to get up BEFORE the crack of dawn. Brian and I were opposed to this idea. So, she crawled in to bed with us and miraculously, fell back asleep (she usually "jabbers" - LOUDLY - until we give up and take her in the bonus room to watch JoJo's Circus or Signing Time!) and was sleeping soundly when I got up to feed James.

When I returned from feeding James, looking forward to crawling back into bed, this is what I found. She left about 1 foot on Brian's side of the bed for me to squeeze in to - I had to try to go back to sleep with her feet in my face. I know Dad is going to get a kick out of this because I apparently did this as a child, except I actually slept ON the pillows with my feet in his face. I guess what goes around comes around!!

James

Isn't he adorable!!!

Emma's Field Trip

I didn't get a lot of great pictures of our field trip. We went to Steven's farm with Emma's class. First we went through a corn maze, which I think would be a lot of fun in the dark - we were totally turned around in broad daylight with a bunch of 5 & 6 year olds! Then we had lunch and some free play time and then it was off to the pumpkin patch. The lady who met us there did an awesome job of explaining how the pumpkins grow. Then, it was time to pick our pumpkin. Truthfully, I don't think Emma really cared. She liked the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and I think she had fun playing duck-duck-goose with her classmates, but she was pretty much in her own little world the whole time.

Each field trip brings its own set of challenges. This was our best one yet. Overall, she did fine and that, in and of itself, is an improvement. Past field trips have been completely exhausting because I spend the entire time chasing her and trying to keep her from having a total meltdown. Our next field trip is to the Peace Center in January - now, that will be interesting.

Special thanks to Aunt Brenda who watched James so I could spend the day with Emma!!

Sky Top

James did NOT really want to have his picture taken!

We attempted our first "outing" with 2 kids. We drove up to Hendersonville and went to Sky Top. Now, it should be noted that in our original plan, we were going to go to Sky Top and then maybe run by Granny's house. This did not happen. First, it took us WAY longer to actually get away because, well, it takes WAY longer to do anything now! Then, when we got there, James was not particularly cooperative and we had to make a couple of trips back to the van to change clothes and diapers. So, by the time we were actually done at Sky Top it was time to go back home and pat ourselves on the back for surviving the day!!

Emma got to see the goats and the sheep, she played on the playground and she went on a "hay" ride (there is no hay - it's really a big wagon pulled by a tractor, but she loves it). I got an apple cider slushy, which I HIGHLY recommend if you like apple cider - it was delicious and refreshing. And, we actually remembered our money (one time we got up there with no cash) and got a bag of pink lady apples, which are our favorites!

My favorite thing of all was the mountains - I miss the mountains - and they were spectacular. Talk about a show - orange, red, yellow, gold, amber - every imaginable hue. Absolutely stunning. I love fall!

A pretty little flower

Emma was a flower for Halloween. She definitely has figured out that Halloween means candy. We didn't really do the trick or treat thing. Brian just took her to a few neighbor's houses so they could see her in her costume. James had decided it was time for him to eat, so he & I stayed home.

Shannon & Christopher come to visit

My cousins Shannon & Christopher are fantastic! They wanted to meet James and came by on Saturday afternoon. James was so good - he smiled and was quite charming for his cousins!! And didn't spit up all over them! He must REALLY like them! :-)

7 weeks old!!

Can you believe it!! We've made it 7 weeks - astonishing! James gets cuter EVERY DAY! He is smiling and cooing and generally being adorable. We won't discuss the amount of spit that can come out of him at any moment. He's growing and getting longer and chubbier and outgrowing clothes - it's fabulous!

He also slept from 11 - 6:30 last night, which is why I'm able to take a moment to post to the blog!!

I had to add these pictures too - he was mad, but he's so cute when he curls out his bottom lip.

A boo-boo?

Emma has NEVER tolerated band-aids - NEVER. Out of the blue, she started requesting a band-aid. Well, we didn't have any, so Brian improvised. She wanted one on each of her big toes. She came walking out of the bathroom with toes all bandaged - she was quite proud of them!! Side note - they only stayed on about 10 minutes before she took them off. But, she requested them again the next night...go figure!

Hi James...What's Up?

Background...

On Sunday morning, Brian & Emma returned from church. Emma walked straight to the bouncy seat, squatted down and said "Hi James...What's Up?" After we got done laughing, we had her do it again for video purposes!!

Three Weeks Old!

Note: I started this post on Wednesday...it has taken 2 days to finish...it's crazy around here!





We can hardly believe it! James is 3 weeks old! And what a 3 weeks it has been. We are still exhausted, still trying to figure out how to do life with this little bundle of joy, still waiting for a few more hours of consecutive sleep!!



A few updates...Emma has begun to get adjusted to James. After some behavior issues at school & at home in the week after he was born, she seems to be getting back to "her" normal - which is, of course, unlike anyone else's normal! She is getting protective of James and she seems to actually be happy to see him when I pick her up from school. So far, she's played well in the afternoons and has been pretty patient with the fact that I can't always respond to her immediately and sometimes she has to wait for help. She now has a sinus infection and stayed home from school, so today was really the first day that I've had both kids home with me all day. Surprisingly enough, I have survived! :-)


We've got some great pictures of Brian's family - Brad, Melanie, Anna, Ashlyn & Ethan were here on Saturday and we've got some photos of Sandra with all 5 of her grandchildren. She was in her element to have all 5 with her at once! And, check out how big Ethan is!! We can't believe it. He is 7 months old and too cute for words!!








This photoshoot was bittersweet to me. For some reason, when we are all together, it seems to highlight the ones who are missing. I missed Gary a lot on Saturday, and couldn't help but think that Grandpa & Grandpa would totally have been here if they could. We were remembering how Grandma had the touch with Emma - she could pick her up and Emma would just fall sound asleep on her chest. It makes me sad to think that the kids won't get to know them personally, but I've already started planning some scrapbook pages where I am going to try to capture some of the things that made them so unique to be sure that Emma & James know how much they were loved and wanted by their Grandpa and their GGPa & GGMa.

Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers, phone calls, meals, emails, etc.
More updates as I have time...right now, I have a hungry little boy to feed!!

Emma & James

Check out this video...Emma is singing a lullaby to James.

8 Pounds, 2 Ounces!

Well...it has been a very challenging couple of weeks! We got home from the hospital on Friday afternoon and had a very long night with James. By Saturday, we were pretty sure he wasn't getting enough to eat and was getting dehydrated. A quick phone call to our wonderful pediatrician (thanks, Roy!) and we started supplementing - I would nurse, and then we'd give him an ounce of formula. What a difference! James was soooo much happier - which makes sense - the poor kid wasn't hungry anymore!!!

The downside to this plan is that it makes each feeding take an hour or more - I nurse, give him a bottle, and then go pump - this has been seriously cutting in to my sleep!!!

We did this all last week and it was a huge help to us that Mom was here - we couldn't have done it without her. Between the severe sleep deprivation and Emma still needing all the usual things she needs - you know, like food, baths, etc! - we really would have been up the creek without Mom!

I am feeling much better and am pretty much recovered from labor & delivery. But, I have managed to get some tendonitis in my left shoulder. The pain in my shoulder, which radiates up into my neck at times and at other times just throbs, has actually been worse than labor. I'm not kidding. But, I've had some therapy on it, I'm icing it frequently and taking lots of anti-inflammatory medication and pain medication and I think, I hope, it is slowly getting better.

We went to the pediatrician this morning. Our little peanut weighed 7 lbs., 6 ounces a week ago. This morning, he weighs 8lb. 2 oz. He's huge! Actually, the best part of this is that we can start to taper off the supplemental feedings which hopefully will get us to the point where most of the time I just nurse him and the feeding will be over!

That's the latest...we do feel like we are slowly getting our act together...key word here - slowly!!