Emily is often told that she looks like one of her aunts. I think that means she is going to be beautiful!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Out & about
Since getting our car back from the shop, Emily & I have been able to be out of the house a bit more. A few of our ventures out lately....
A lunch date with my friend Cindy from work at my favorite sandwich place.
The grocery store (it was getting desperate... you can only eat carrots & peanut butter for so many meals...)
Emily saw her friend Madda twice this week. Here they are sharing Emily's exersaucer.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Updated Stats
Have I mentioned that I really don't like doctor's offices? Or more specifically, that I don't like waiting in doctor's offices... ok, I just don't like waiting! We had to wait a long time this morning for Emily's pediatrician. She was literally climbing the walls by the time we were seen. And eating the walls. And the chairs. And the paper on the examining table...
The good news is that she's still healthy! And big! The biggest surprise of the visit was that she has not actually hit the 20 pound mark yet. She feels so heavy to me lately, I was sure she had.
As of today, Emily is...19lbs 13oz and 27.5".
And then we waited some more for a nurse to come give Emily her shots. 4 today - the standard three plus the seasonal flu vaccine. Emily was all smiles with the nurse first came in.. little did she know what was coming. Poor thing. She was already tired & hungry, to get stabbed in the leg four times was really not what she was looking for. On the bright side, no more shots until she's a year old. Hurray!
And then we waited some more for a nurse to come give Emily her shots. 4 today - the standard three plus the seasonal flu vaccine. Emily was all smiles with the nurse first came in.. little did she know what was coming. Poor thing. She was already tired & hungry, to get stabbed in the leg four times was really not what she was looking for. On the bright side, no more shots until she's a year old. Hurray!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Belated New Years Pictures
I never posted any pictures from our New Years college reunion in Georgia, but better late than never!
Aunt Juanita is lots of fun to play with:
Emily "holding" Hannah
The whole group:
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Grammy & Grampy Ware
We didn't see my parents at Christmas, so they came to visit for the long weekend. By that of course I mean that my parents didn't get to see Emily at Christmas, so they came down to visit her. :) And it was wonderful. I love coming downstairs after she wakes up and dropping her off to the waiting arms of her grandparents. I think they both got their fill of snuggles, playing with toys, being gnawed on, having baby fingers stuck in their mouths (I really think we might have a budding dentist on our hands...), attempting to get baby food into Emily's mouth around her waving arms, and changing diapers (ok, I don't think my dad changed any diapers!). I was in class all day on Saturday, so they all came to pick me up for lunch. Emily was very happy sitting on Grampy's lap and trying to drink out of his cup. She also discovered cantaloupe, a thin slice of which turns out to be a great teething snack. My Grampy T - the fruit expert - would be proud. Oh, and on Monday when Alasdair was at work, they babysat so that I could do a couple hours of errands baby-free! After Emily was in bed, we enjoyed yummy Indian food, grown up conversation, and the season premiere of 24. We miss them already!!!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Jogging Stroller
The night Emily was born, my mom was out scoring a great Craigslist deal on a jogging stroller for me. I've been waiting anxiously for Emily to be sturdy enough to ride in it, and then for a warm enough day to take her out. Today was in the mid 40's, so we took her out for a family jog. Hooray!Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Happy Birthday Granny!
We celebrated my wonderful mother-in-law's birthday last weekend with Chinese take-out at our house. Maybe not the fanciest dinner ever, but I did break out the table cloth! Oh, and we did fondue in the crock pot. We had a great time all together before Eowyn headed back to college the next day. We love you Mom Groves!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Rolling over
Emily (who is almost 7 months, yikes!) has been sitting up on her own for a couple months now, but she never really mastered rolling over. I've seen her move from front to back once or twice over the last maybe 3-4 months, and never back to front. I'm guessing this is partly because we don't do as much tummy time as we should, or maybe that once she learned to sit up she never wanted to be laying down on either side. She's also always been a pretty still sleeper - I generally find her in the morning exactly where I put her down at night. This week she has started scooting around on her back a lot more and I'll find her perpendicular or 180 degrees to where I put her down, or sometimes with her head pushed up against the side of the crib because she can't scoot the other direction.
She has been down for her afternoon "nap" for about half an hour now, and each time I check in her on the video monitor, I find her in a different position and still quite awake. First she did almost a 360 on her back. Then she'd been quiet for awhile so I turned on the video screen to see if she was asleep, and she was on her belly! She shows no signs of falling asleep, but at least she finally rolled over back to front! For about the last 10 minutes she's been propped up on her arms studying the pattern on her sheet, and scooting around about 90 degrees. I think this newfound mobility might hinder naps, but it is fun to watch.
She has been down for her afternoon "nap" for about half an hour now, and each time I check in her on the video monitor, I find her in a different position and still quite awake. First she did almost a 360 on her back. Then she'd been quiet for awhile so I turned on the video screen to see if she was asleep, and she was on her belly! She shows no signs of falling asleep, but at least she finally rolled over back to front! For about the last 10 minutes she's been propped up on her arms studying the pattern on her sheet, and scooting around about 90 degrees. I think this newfound mobility might hinder naps, but it is fun to watch.
Monday, January 4, 2010
2010
I noticed today that most bloggers (I don't really consider myself a "blogger" but I guess I sort of am?) are posting their resolutions for 2010. Honestly, I've hardly thought about the fact that a new year is starting. I don't have any real lifestyle resolutions (well, there are a number of books I want to re-read this year... not sure I've committed to making that a resolution or not), but we sure do have a lot on our plate for the coming year. If things even remotely according to plan, our lives will look very different come 2011!
I won't call these resolutions, but here are the things Alasdair & I are hoping to do this year....
1) Start a Christian counseling center in the Upper Valley area of NH/VT. Having never started a company before, we are working hard learning about setting up LLCs, 501(c)3's, etc. We are setting up meetings with some key players to sort out what this is really going to look like.
2) Move to the Upper Valley. Find a place to live.
3) Sell our house in Philadelphia, or rent it out.
Do all this while Alasdair is working until 10pm many nights, I am working part time and taking care of Emily, and we both have extra responsibilities this month: A is leading a class as well as giving a couple of other lectures and I am taking taking a class (to finish up my counseling certificate program) that meets all day every Saturday. Oh, and I'm trying to finish up our estate planning (life insurance, wills, etc.)
To say that I am feeling overwhelmed would be a bit of an understatement!
We are grateful to be following a God who promises to go before us & level mountains. If those are his plans for our 2010, we know he will bring them to pass. If they are not, then we don't want them either!
I won't call these resolutions, but here are the things Alasdair & I are hoping to do this year....
1) Start a Christian counseling center in the Upper Valley area of NH/VT. Having never started a company before, we are working hard learning about setting up LLCs, 501(c)3's, etc. We are setting up meetings with some key players to sort out what this is really going to look like.
2) Move to the Upper Valley. Find a place to live.
3) Sell our house in Philadelphia, or rent it out.
Do all this while Alasdair is working until 10pm many nights, I am working part time and taking care of Emily, and we both have extra responsibilities this month: A is leading a class as well as giving a couple of other lectures and I am taking taking a class (to finish up my counseling certificate program) that meets all day every Saturday. Oh, and I'm trying to finish up our estate planning (life insurance, wills, etc.)
To say that I am feeling overwhelmed would be a bit of an understatement!
We are grateful to be following a God who promises to go before us & level mountains. If those are his plans for our 2010, we know he will bring them to pass. If they are not, then we don't want them either!
Happy New Year
Well, it did turn out to be an adventure! Here's a recap of our most recent crazy trip. (Warning: this is a long post, and there are no pictures yet.)
Tuesday.... The night before we were planning to drive to GA for our annual New Years college reunion, Alasdair & I took advantage of his last day of vacation to go out to dinner! For only the second time in six months, we left Emily behind (with Granny Groves) and headed into the city. The evening started out as smoothly as it could have - Emily went to bed on time, we found a parking spot directly in front of the front door of the restaurant (anyone who has looked to for parking in Center City Philadelphia can appreciate this miracle!), and enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Melting Pot. Lovely. Then... on our way home, we came around a corner on Lincoln Drive to find a sheet of ice (the rest of the road was clear but a culvert had overflowed) and a stopped car (don't get me started on Philadelphia... someone had left traffic cones in a very unsafe place!). Crash. Thankfully, no one was hurt, our interactions with the other drivers were very civil, and despite a number of close calls, no one rear ended us. (I think it could very easily have become a multi-car pile up.) It was, however, immediately apparent that we would not be driving our trusty Civic to Georgia the next day!
Wednesday... spent the morning getting the car to a mechanic, reporting the claim (Geico was once again really easy to work with!), packing, and trying to locate a rental car that would be available that afternoon. During this time we found out that yet another set of friends had cancelled on the reunion, and we thought hard about just calling the whole thing off, wondering if it just wasn't meant to be this year! But, knowing that plane tickets had been purchased & not wanting to let the tradition die, we decided to go ahead. We were finally able to get a car, deal with a LOT of hassle at the airport car-rental location (including a call to my sister in law to make sure we were installing Emily's new car seat -- which we had yet to actually try out! -- properly), and we were finally on our way, quite harried but less than three hours behind schedule. Oh, and I should mention that our friend Katie was driving with us, and that she had arrived home from visiting family on the west coast late the night before, so you can add jet lag to all the other chaos involved in this trip. :) We spent the night in a motel near Roanoke, VA. Note that I said "spent the night" and not "slept" -- Emily was apparently not a fan of the overly hot, dry room.
Thursday... Emily was excited to get on the road to see Hannah, and she had the three grown ups awake & dragged out of bed by 6am. On the road again, the fun of a road trip finally started to kick in. Coffee in hand, I drove through the beautiful snow-covered mountains of SE Virginia as the sun rose and three of my favorite people slept in the car. Ahhh. :) I really do love road trips. We arrived at our destination (a friend's parent's lake house near Atlanta) by 4pm.
We spend the next 2.5 days catching up, laughing, playing with babies, running around outside in the cold, playing games, cooking, eating and just generally enjoying each other's company. We spent the end of the last evening singing and praying together about the coming year. I have been realizing how overwhelmed I am by all that we have coming this year, and it was nourishing to my soul to be lifted up by these friends. While it was definitely a very different New Year's -- sports were squeezed in around babies naps and late night games & talking were usually done by 10 (I was asleep by 11 on New Years Eve!), by the end of the weekend I was so glad that we hadn't called it off. Even though we've been out of college more than five years, these people are still our closest community, and it's worth just about anything to spend time all together every year. Now that many of us are married and some have children, it's getting harder to make it work, and we may have to find a different time of year... I hope we don't give up on this. (I'll post some pictures once I gather them.)
Sunday... Up before 6 to change sheets, clean bathrooms, pack the car and get on the road for the long journey home. I'd been dreading this part of the trip for awhile, and wondering why I'd thought it was a good idea to plan to drive from Atlanta to Philadelphia in one day with a 6 month old. Luckily for us, this particular 6 month old just happens to be an absolute angel! We left at 730am & were back in our house at 10pm. We stopped often to let Emily eat & wiggle, and although she let us know that she wasn't real happy to be strapped into her carseat all day long, we made it the whole way home with no serious screaming! The new car seat was definitely a success. [We got the EvenFlo Symphony in brown] and I love it so far!] She didn't sleep as much (maybe because she was more upright?), but she seemed generally happier. And, I was glad to have Katie along with us, to share the work of driving & entertaining Emily but also because she's great company!
Today.... Phew. Today I am home with Emily (who is currently taking her second long nap of the day!) while Alasdair works a very full day, and just trying to get life sorted out a little. Grateful that the ankle that I rolled pretty hard (while scoring an epic goal in 2 on 2 soccer:) is feeling much better!
2010... I think I'll start a new post for that.
Tuesday.... The night before we were planning to drive to GA for our annual New Years college reunion, Alasdair & I took advantage of his last day of vacation to go out to dinner! For only the second time in six months, we left Emily behind (with Granny Groves) and headed into the city. The evening started out as smoothly as it could have - Emily went to bed on time, we found a parking spot directly in front of the front door of the restaurant (anyone who has looked to for parking in Center City Philadelphia can appreciate this miracle!), and enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Melting Pot. Lovely. Then... on our way home, we came around a corner on Lincoln Drive to find a sheet of ice (the rest of the road was clear but a culvert had overflowed) and a stopped car (don't get me started on Philadelphia... someone had left traffic cones in a very unsafe place!). Crash. Thankfully, no one was hurt, our interactions with the other drivers were very civil, and despite a number of close calls, no one rear ended us. (I think it could very easily have become a multi-car pile up.) It was, however, immediately apparent that we would not be driving our trusty Civic to Georgia the next day!
Wednesday... spent the morning getting the car to a mechanic, reporting the claim (Geico was once again really easy to work with!), packing, and trying to locate a rental car that would be available that afternoon. During this time we found out that yet another set of friends had cancelled on the reunion, and we thought hard about just calling the whole thing off, wondering if it just wasn't meant to be this year! But, knowing that plane tickets had been purchased & not wanting to let the tradition die, we decided to go ahead. We were finally able to get a car, deal with a LOT of hassle at the airport car-rental location (including a call to my sister in law to make sure we were installing Emily's new car seat -- which we had yet to actually try out! -- properly), and we were finally on our way, quite harried but less than three hours behind schedule. Oh, and I should mention that our friend Katie was driving with us, and that she had arrived home from visiting family on the west coast late the night before, so you can add jet lag to all the other chaos involved in this trip. :) We spent the night in a motel near Roanoke, VA. Note that I said "spent the night" and not "slept" -- Emily was apparently not a fan of the overly hot, dry room.
Thursday... Emily was excited to get on the road to see Hannah, and she had the three grown ups awake & dragged out of bed by 6am. On the road again, the fun of a road trip finally started to kick in. Coffee in hand, I drove through the beautiful snow-covered mountains of SE Virginia as the sun rose and three of my favorite people slept in the car. Ahhh. :) I really do love road trips. We arrived at our destination (a friend's parent's lake house near Atlanta) by 4pm.
We spend the next 2.5 days catching up, laughing, playing with babies, running around outside in the cold, playing games, cooking, eating and just generally enjoying each other's company. We spent the end of the last evening singing and praying together about the coming year. I have been realizing how overwhelmed I am by all that we have coming this year, and it was nourishing to my soul to be lifted up by these friends. While it was definitely a very different New Year's -- sports were squeezed in around babies naps and late night games & talking were usually done by 10 (I was asleep by 11 on New Years Eve!), by the end of the weekend I was so glad that we hadn't called it off. Even though we've been out of college more than five years, these people are still our closest community, and it's worth just about anything to spend time all together every year. Now that many of us are married and some have children, it's getting harder to make it work, and we may have to find a different time of year... I hope we don't give up on this. (I'll post some pictures once I gather them.)
Sunday... Up before 6 to change sheets, clean bathrooms, pack the car and get on the road for the long journey home. I'd been dreading this part of the trip for awhile, and wondering why I'd thought it was a good idea to plan to drive from Atlanta to Philadelphia in one day with a 6 month old. Luckily for us, this particular 6 month old just happens to be an absolute angel! We left at 730am & were back in our house at 10pm. We stopped often to let Emily eat & wiggle, and although she let us know that she wasn't real happy to be strapped into her carseat all day long, we made it the whole way home with no serious screaming! The new car seat was definitely a success. [We got the EvenFlo Symphony in brown] and I love it so far!] She didn't sleep as much (maybe because she was more upright?), but she seemed generally happier. And, I was glad to have Katie along with us, to share the work of driving & entertaining Emily but also because she's great company!
Today.... Phew. Today I am home with Emily (who is currently taking her second long nap of the day!) while Alasdair works a very full day, and just trying to get life sorted out a little. Grateful that the ankle that I rolled pretty hard (while scoring an epic goal in 2 on 2 soccer:) is feeling much better!
2010... I think I'll start a new post for that.
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