The Floppy Seat Rocks

After having Michelle, Blair and Megan visit last weekend and seeing how great and convenient the Floppy Seat is to have for an infant, it provided me with the motivation I needed to go out and get one for Emma. We bought it Friday night from Babies R Us while were out doing other errands and used it a ton over the weekend both when we went out to eat and made a quick run to the grocery store. Emma loves it and does really well sitting in a highchair. Mom says it looks like she's sitting in a pink and green cloud! Here are some pictures of her from Sunday when the three of us had a girls day out complete with lunch from Atlanta Bread Company and shopping!

Have a great week!

Mount Mitchell & Emma Updates

We decided to visit Mount Mitchell on Saturday. It's about an hour and half drive from the house. Mount Mitchell is the highest peak East of the Mississippi. We went through several curvy turns to finally reach the top, but once we got there the view was certainly worth it. They say that you can see as far as 85 miles from the top on a clear day - unfortunately we couldn't see that far, but nonetheless the view was beautiful. Once you park at the summit parking lot, its just a short walk up to the summit lookout tower. We stayed for a few minutes to enjoy the view and take a few pictures and then headed back down to where there is a picnic area right off the parking lot and ate our picnic lunch.

It was about 15 degrees cooler up there (approx. 70-72 degrees) which made it very comfortable to do the walk and sit outside to enjoy lunch. Emma did very well in the Wallaby carrier on the walk and was in a great mood during lunch. We have added another meal at lunchtime now for her so she is now eating a meal three times a day in addition to her bottles (eating much less ounces in formula per feeding). We've also started her on apple juice in a sippy cup (thanks to Auntie Michelle for getting them for us) and she is doing really well with it. She has no problems grabbing the handles of the cup, but is still getting the hang of leaning back to get the juice. Per the advice of many others we are trying to be really good at limiting her time with the pacifier - she really only needs/wants it when she's upset and at bedtime. As a result she is babbling up a storm, she's even starting to say "dadadadada" - Allen loves that! She is also right on the verge of crawling, she's not quite there yet, but makes a lot of movement when she's sitting up and trying to reach for her toys and when she's on her tummy - I'm not giving it too much longer before we see some real movement from her, which of course means now I have to start baby-proofing! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

views from the summit

lunchtime

don't ask - being silly!

lots of kisses

Video clips from last weekend!

These are meant to go with the pictures from last weekend's visit to the Nature Center and Martha's Park... sorry for the delay!



Emma loves that funny feeling when you swing...




Funny bear... kept us amused for quite a while!

Thomas update

We've received two letters from Thomas in the last two weeks and he is doing really well at boot camp - he's a little over halfway through. They took his wisdom teeth out, which if you know the military, they only use local anesthetic meaning he was awake for it the entire time - YUCK! But he made it through and only had to spend two days in sick-call heavily medicated with Vicodin, which allowed him to catch up on some much needed sleep! After many discussions between the family, we finally decided that I will be the only one to go up and see Thomas' graduation. We found out recently that his division is labeled as a "grad & go" class, which means that after the graduation ceremony he will literally only have 1 hour to spend with family before he will be in route to the airport and need leave for A-School in Pensacola, FL. The original plan was for all of us to meet mom and dad up there and make a vacation out of it, but now with this news it would just be too much of an ordeal for all of us to trapse up there, so it will just be me and I'll meet my mom and dad up there in Great Lakes, IL.
Anyways, I've included a link to a video that will give everyone a good idea of what Thomas' future career will be in the Navy - Air Ordinance - IYAOYAS ("If You Ain't Ordinance You Ain't Shit") More updates to come later...Enjoy!

Thomas's Future Career

A Friendly Visit

We had a great weekend all because of a very friendly visit from Michelle, Blair and Megan. It was so nice of them to come down and see us, it was their first time meeting Emma. We stayed pretty busy all weekend starting with an evening of catching up on Friday after their arrival, going to the Western North Carolina Nature Center in Asheville on Saturday and then wrapped it up by visiting one of the local parks in Morganton on Sunday before they headed back home. We were fortunate to have beautiful weather - not too hot and very sunny all weekend. Here are some of the pictures from the weekend. This is a collection of the photos from all of our cameras. I'll be posting a couple of the video clips that I took in my next blog entry soon.

Blair

The girls together

At the coyote exhibit

This bear was very entertaining to watch!

Emma wasn't too sure about the petting zoo.

Tuckered out!

Mom and Emma

So cool in those shades!

cutie pies

I want that Elmo!

Not too sure about the water

Miss Megan

Giggles

Hanging out on the blanket

Swing Set

Group Picture

Tub Time!

FYI...

I joined Facebook - yep, that's right, no more going in under Allen's account! I don't know why, but I did - just so you all know!

July 4th Weekend in VA

So we decided to venture up to Northern VA for the 4th. We left after work on Thursday and returned Monday. We didn't get home until about 3:30AM Friday morning so needless to say the picture above is one of our many cat naps we took throughout the day on Friday. We stayed with my parents through Saturday and then planned to go out to the Rolland's on Sunday to celebrate Sherry's birthday and spend some time with them before returning back to NC. Luckily we had beautiful weather most of the weekend - Friday evening we went over to Lake Accotink to have a picnic dinner and enjoy some big band music that was playing in the pavilion. We met the Beck's there and had a great visit with them. Saturday morning we went into downtown Fairfax to see their 4th of July parade - we were excited for Emma to experience her first parade, she did very well. The day was wrapped up with a BBQ at the house and the company of good friends. It was nice to come home again - we don't get to do it very often, the only thing missing was my brother Thomas, it was definitely a little strange not having him there, but after receiving a recent letter from him he seems to be doing well at boot camp.

On Sunday, for Sherry's birthday we had a seafood feast - lobster, steamers and shrimp - YUM! We spent the evening just relaxing and being with the family; I love curling up under a blanket on their couch and watching movies. Sherry and Jenn are here with us until Sunday because Emma's daycare is off this week so they both are able to get some quality time with Miss Emma - more pictures to come soon!

Attempt at a family photo

Ms. Suzanne and Emma

Dad and Mom

Mr. Beck and Dad

View of Lake Accotink from the Pavilion

Pavilion and band

Watching the geese with daddy

Pretty girl!

Sunset at Lake Accotink

Happy 4th of July!

Watching the parade from way up high!

Baby's 1st Fourth!

All smiles

Sitting with Grandma

View of University in Fairfax

Redskins Marching Band

Mom and Emma

Front of Diana's parents' house

Getting ready for a BBQ!