Happy 7th Anniversary!

Hello everyone! Well, Grant and I celebrated our 7th anniversary this Monday and we took our first vacation together since having Olivia! We went to Leatherwood Mountain (near Boone, NC). It is a beautiful area that has a horse farm/ranch with about 5000 acres, 125 cabins (some homes and some rentals), some fishing ponds and TONS of trails. We had a great time and really enjoyed the time away (Thanks mom and dad for watching Olivia for us!). But we missed Olivia and we swear she grew some while we were gone!

We stopped at the Raffaldini Vineyard on our way up there and had lunch. It was a really pretty winery where they actually have their vineyard on site! Very cool! Here's a picture of the winery:


Here are some pictures from our trip. Our cabin was called "Creekside" because it was next to a creek. Here's Grant *trying* to fish out of the creek:


He had no luck in the creek, but went to the ponds on site a couple times and had some better luck! On Saturday (our trip was from Friday-Monday) we went on an hour-long horseback riding trail. It was a lot of fun and our horses (especially mine) had quite the personalities! The trail rides are usually about 8 people, but we were the only two that signed up that day so it was just us and the lady who took us, Cindy. Our two horses usually were the last 2 in the line on the rides so Cindy wasn't usually able to see them much on the rides. Well, as it turns out - they were the class clowns of the group. My horse refused to stay on the trail and kept trying to wander off with another group of people riding horses. His name was Ringo! (ha ha!), Grant's horse was Joey and Cindy's was Pork Chop! How funny!

On Sunday we decided to take a short 1 to 1 1/2 hour hike on some of the trails. We had picked out a nice little loop of trails. Well . . . let's just say we must have taken a wrong turn because after about 4 hours and VERY sore knees, we FINALLY got back to the car. We were on the same trail (that looked VERY short on the map) for several hours! and we kept passing trails that weren't even on our map! When we got back to the cabin, we found another map (that meets up to the one we had) and realized what we had done, we wound up doing a loop about 5 times the size of the one we meant to do! We estimated that it had to be 8-10 miles long! Holy Cow! We were exhausted! We both wound up passing out in the family room when we got back! I am still sore from it!

pretty view on our hike

Here are some pictures from around our cabin. It was such a nice location. Here's the creek right behind our cabin:

You can see the hot tub in this picture (off on the right):

Here's the front of the cabin:

Here's a short video so you can see the whole front of the area:

and check out this bathroom! It was really cool! There's a jacuzzi and a rain shower with no walls around it! It was just open to the room with all windows surrounding the bathroom! It was so deep into the woods that it was private - but you were definitely *one with nature* when you were showering!

That's about it for now. I would HIGHLY recommend this as a trip for a get-away! The cabin was beautiful (the other one these people own is at the top of the mountain, Viewpoint , and had a beautiful view! We went and checked it out, too! It was definitely and good trip and we had a good time (except maybe for the last hour or two of our hike! ha ha).

Baby Emma is Here!

Ok, so this past weekend we headed to the Charlotte area for a couple reasons. 1) Grant had a work conference all day on Saturday down there and 2) (most importantly!) Baby Emma arrived! Becca had a planned C-Section on Friday (April 16th). All went well and pretty quick (MUCH better than Beccas' delivery of Drew).

Emma Claire arrived at 7:55am on April 16, 2010. She was 7 lb 12 oz and 20 " long. She looks a LOT like Drew, but with a head full of dark hair. She is so sweet and little!

CONGRATULATIONS CHAD, BECCA AND DREW!!!

Here are some pictures that Becca sent us from her arrival:

The Happy new family of FOUR!

We drove down on Friday after Olivia's swim class and after Grant got home from work. Olivia is really having fun with her swim classes again this year. But what a difference a year can make. Now I really have to watch her. She can climb out of the pool all by herself (as long as she can get to the edge) then she LOVES to *jump* (more like run into) into the pool immediately! I wish I had a video to show you guys! She climbs out, stands up, raises both arms so her hands are above her head then either walks or runs straight back into the pool without even looking down! She caught me by surprise a couple times.

I'm glad she's so comfortable with the water and even going under water, but we have to make sure that she doesn't do that when no one is there to catch her. The instructor had me work on counting to 3 and not letting her jump in until I say "three" - by the end of class, she was actually waiting for me! We'll see if she remembers at our next class in 2 weeks (we skip next weekend).

Anyway, we didn't get to Huntersville until about 10:30 at night. We stayed at Chad and Becca's house to watch Drew overnight (though he was asleep when we got there and Chad came back in the morning before he woke up). That way, Chad could stay overnight at the hospital with Becca and Emma. (Susan was going to stay on Saturday night so we could head back home that evening).

Here are the kids hanging out in the morning (yes, I know Olivia's jammies don't match - she wound up with some wet pants when we got there the night before from her diaper leaking - didn't want to do a full wardrobe change)

On Saturday, my mom picked Olivia and I up after everyone else had left and we hung out for the day. Then when Grant got done with his class/conference, we stopped back by Chad's for him to change - then we were FINALLY able to see the new little baby!

Here's Olivia with Emma:

We even managed to get a picture of all 3 cousins hanging out:

We had some dinner before we left town then headed home. We got home and put Olivia right to bed as it was past her bedtime and she'd been passed out in the car. Then my dad, brother and his girlfriend, Cori got home from dinner. They were staying at our house Saturday night because they were in the state bowling tournament this weekend in Raleigh. So, we hung out with them on Sunday.

What a weekend - filled with lots of Family! It was great to see everyone and also very tiring! Next weekend is our 7th anniversary and we are going to a nice little cabin for a long weekend. My mom is coming up Friday morning to watch Olivia for us and my dad is joining her sometime on Saturday. We are both looking forward to getting away from work for a bit and take a break.

While the Mommies are Away, the Daddies will Play

Hello everyone! It has been another hectic week! We have had a busy couple of weekends. Last weekend we hung out with Randy, Sara and Gracie on Saturday evening and grilled out. The girls were running around like little crazy people and provided some great entertainment. Especially Gracie! At one point she only had on Olivia's tu-tu and her diaper and was running around the house screaming and dancing (for about 10 minutes straight!). It was pretty funny to see.

Here are the girls with their matching shades:

Then on Sunday we threw our friend Diane a baby shower! It went really well and we had a good time. I don't have any pictures for you guys because while we were doing our girlie thing (Sara and I), the boys (Randy and Grant) took the little girls to Hillridge Farm (with my camera)! From the pictures, it looks like they had a great time.

Here the girls are going through the corn maize (get it! ha ha!):

Then playing on the slide and swings:

I'm not sure who this little kid is, but apparently he shared his wagon with our little girls:


Then they got to ride the train!

They have a big moonwalk there, too. Looks like the girls had fun running around in there. Grant said it was pretty empty the day they went so the girls had the run of the place (last time it was really crowded).

They stayed so long, we were able to go get some pedicures before they got back. Then they gave us the ok to go have dinner by ourselves while they stayed behind and watched the Masters (and the girls - probably in that order! ha ha!).

It was a good day and a busy weekend, but we got to hang out with our friends and have a good time. I'll post again soon to catch you up on this past weekend.

First Zoo Trip and Big Girl Bed - Take 2!

Hello again! So let me catch you up on the events of this past weekend. Saturday afternoon Olivia decided she didn't want to take a nap and climbed out of her crib again. No big deal right!?! Well that night she didn't want to go to sleep either and it was getting late with a big day planned for the next day so we really needed her to get a good nights sleep. Anyway, we had put her to bed and were downstairs with the monitor on and we started to hear her calling to us - only not through the monitor! We heard her coming from the stairwell! We peeked around into our stairwell and saw her a couple steps down the stairs walking out way! She had crawled out of her crib and over the gate at her door and was attempting to walk down the stairs! NOT good! So, we brought her back up and put her back to bed, slid the gate about 6 inches higher on the door so she couldn't climb over it and put a second gate in the hall *just in case!*

We went back downstairs and heard her yelling for us. We went up to check on her and she had crawled out again and was stuck at the gate to her doorway calling for us! Needless to say, we decided it was time for the toddler bed again right that very minute!

So we converted it back to a toddler bed AGAIN (remember the first attempt didn't go so well!). Anyway, she still didn't want to sleep in the toddler bed - she'd get in it but if we tried to leave the room or make her lay down - she got REALLY upset and wanted nothing to do with it! I wound up having to give her a bottle of milk - in bed - (I know, I know, the mommy police are going to come lock me up!) - but she settled down and fell asleep. She actually did really well overnight until about 6am and woke up scared and upset. After giving her another bottle of milk, she was back to sleep for another hour or so.

one night down - many more to go!

Then on Sunday we went to the NC Zoo! We met my parents AND Grant's parents there and made a nice family day of it (it was Easter, after all!) Olivia had fun seeing all the animals in person since she'd only seen cartoons, stuffed animals and them on TV before. She learned some new animals (i.e. oss-rich - ostrich) and was pretty good most of the time. Here are some pictures from our day:

Elephants:

Flamingos:

Tree Frogs:

She passed out halfway through the zoo and got a nice little nap in. She woke up just in time to see the seals and polar bears!


I got some cute pictures of her, too. To show off all her hair and how big she is getting! Her hair is really starting to get wavy - almost curly - especially when it is hot and humid out (like it was).

Mountain Lions:

Riding the "train" (shuttle) from one end of the park to the other:

Giraffes:

It was a good day and it was nice to spend it with the grandparents at the zoo for her first times. We actually got a family pass for the next 2 years so we can go anytime we want to!

Ok, so now we had another night in the toddler bed facing us! It took another bottle of milk to get her to go to sleep, but she slept really well - and even slept in a bit! Now Monday night was a different story! I was trying to get her to go to sleep without milk! It took about 20 minutes of me rocking her in the glider, then 5 minutes swaying her over her bed, then me carefully putting her into her bed - from which she woke up screaming to be rocked or get her milk! I then rubber her belly for a while and she settled down. I had to slowly creep toward the door while comforting her until she FINALLY fell asleep and I snuck out! But she went to sleep without milk!

Then I left town on Tuesday morning - so I have NO IDEA how it went last night with her and daddy. I will be headed home this afternoon and we'll see how it goes tonight!

So that is how it's been going in our home lately.

Other than that, we are VERY EXCITED because baby Emma (Olivia's cousin) is scheduled to arrive next Friday and we'll get to see her! We cannot wait (as I'm sure Becca and Chad can't either!) This weekend I am helping to throw a baby shower for my good friend, Diane. So we continue to stay busy - we just hope for some downtime every now and then to enjoy our beautiful little girl!

Park Trip

Hello everyone! Ok, so it has been a while since I've blogged - so sorry! Things have been their usual crazy self lately around our home! We've been going to the little gym twice a week and taking walks in the neighborhood when it's nice out and going to the park when we can. Here are some pictures of Olivia and Gracie enjoying the nice weather at a nearby park:

Here are some more pictures of Olivia walking around in my shoes. She LOVES trying to walk/run around in my shoes (and sometimes Grant's Shoes) lately! She is such a ham!

So, let me tell you how Olivia has been doing lately. She's really into repeating everything she hears lately. She's trying so hard to learn as many words as she can lately - she really is like a little sponge! For Easter she got a little Strawberry Shortcake doll and she has been trying sooo hard to say "Strawberry" - but it comes out in about 5-6 syllables! It is really funny! we'll just be talking to each other and then we'll hear Olivia in the back seat or across the room repeat something we just said in her little "Livi dialect" - how funny!

Her favorite foods lately are peanut butter sandwiches - this is her all-time favorite right now! She also loves grapes, mashed potatoes and angel hair pasta from TGI-Fridays. She has been a pretty good eater lately so we think she might be hitting another growth spurt!

She got her first chocolate bunny from the Easter Bunny and has had some of it already - yep, she is a fan! She has worked really hard at saying "Happy Easter" and it comes out as "Happister" - here's a video I took on my phone of her saying it:

Here's a picture of her with her bunny ears that they gave her at daycare, too.

Aside from all of that, we also had a bit of a scare with Olivia this past week. I was supposed to be in the Charlotte area for a project from Wed-Thurs last week and I was scheduled to leave early Wednesday morning. Well . . . about 1:15am on Wednesday morning (Tuesday night) we heard Olivia start a croupy cough REALLY bad and she was wheezing really hard trying to breathe. It went from her being completely fine to barely breathing in a matter of a minute! We rushed her into the bathroom to get her to breathe in some steam from the shower (that is supposed to help with the swelling of the throat). But after about 10-15 minutes, it was just getting worse. She was getting pretty scared and upset, and that was just making it worse, so we packed a bag really quickly and headed out to the ER. (the same ER we went to last time for the same thing). Well, they looked at her and she had full strider (where you can hear a wheezing sound meaning the throat is closing up). So they gave her an oral steroid and an epinephrine breathing treatment. They wanted us to stay 3 hours after the treatment to make sure she didn't rebound, but at about 2 1/2 hours she was really hyper running around the hospital room climbing on everything and acting like someone gave her too much sugar! So, we asked if we could go ahead and go home since Grant had a 7am patient and it was already after 4am. Well, by the time the doctor came to check on her and we got the paperwork it was 5am before we got home. Grant got 1 hour of sleep then had to go to work! I had to cancel my trip and stay home with her - we got a whopping 2 1/2 hours of sleep! (Olivia still woke up at 7:30am!!!) It was a LONG night and a LONG next day, but at least she wasn't admitted to the hospital this time and she was ok the following day (other than being VERY cranky from lack of sleep!)