LIVE

A few videos...not so great of Emma, but you can see how our little one is growing and progressing. The first several are from a couple of weeks ago, the last one is from today.

Happy Anniversary!

No pictures, but we celebrated our 6th anniversary Saturday night. Ben's parents kept the kids, and we had a wonderful dinner at Firebirds in Charlotte and a little shopping/browsing. It was just nice to get out several hours and reflect on the past 6 years. We talked about how strange it was that we celebrated last year and weren't even pregnant. Now we have a 2 month old...a lot can change in one year!! We are so grateful to have a wonderful marriage built on the Lord.

Siblings

Emma and Bryson love being together! I did joke that he used to cry at the smell of her though; she was so rough! She's learning to be gentle and definitely experimenting at his expense some, but she's just trying to make sense of it all and understand a real baby. She's been a huge help, and it is fun to hear her talk to him and repeat things we say to him. When I hear a really sad cry, I sometimes say, "Bryson, you're breakin' my heart!"...it was too cute last week when we heard that come out of Em's mouth as she was making her way to the co-sleeper to console her brother. I often hear, "I'm coming Bryson"...it is so sweet to watch her be so tuned into his cry too. She will be so involved in something, and call that out to him as she finishes. Too cute! We are looking forward to watching them grow together!

Strawberry Farm

On May 21, we met our Refresh Group in Fort Mill at the Spring Strawberry Farm where we picked a TON of strawberries, went on a wagon ride around the farm, ate Strawberry ice cream and got coloring books. It was so much fun, but I was whipped!! Bryson was in the sling, so my back was about to break by the time we were finished picking! The ride was nice and refreshing even though I lost my keys!! The men were so gracious and jumped right in their truck to ride back around and find them for me; they fell out of my pocket on the ride...apparently as we went up a steep hill. Ugh, I was a little stressed for a bit! There was only a porta-pot, so I just had Emma strip down and tee tee in the field by our van before heading home. I was afraid she'd have an accident if she didn't go bf we left, and I was too worn out to get both kids back in the van, drive down the road, unload to pee, and then reload...a few of my other friends were doing the same thing as we brought up the rear leaving the farm. : ) She thought it was great once she saw a friend doing it and was finally able to go!

Bryson's First Couple of Months

Bryson's been an amazing addition to our family, and we already could not imagine life without him! He loves to sleep and is very easy going. It took several weeks for him to sleep more at night; he was very wakeful with lots of grunts and noises during the early hours. He does pretty well now and usually only wakes to nurse and then goes right back to sleep. He's getting much more active and wakeful in the daytime too. His first outing was the Tuesday after he was born. Mom drove me, Emma and Bryson over to the church to watch Ben's basketball game; Emma's first outing was also a basketball game. Think we hope our children have a passion for sports and the beach?? : ) Ben actually only had to miss one game...the one they played while we were delivering Bryson. We made it to most of the games, but a couple were just too late. Bryson has smiled a lot in his short life, but his first one with eye contact was May 8. I had him on the bed at the hotel after being out on the beach; I was talking to him and playing with him, and he looked right at me and broke into a huge grin...what a perfect Mother's Day gift!! : ) He smiles a ton now and loves to "talk". He's getting very strong and loves his Tummy time. He almost rolled onto his back a couple of days ago. At his two month check-up, Bryson weighed in at 13 lbs. 2 oz and measured 24 inches. He's getting big fast!! Emma was a big baby the first four months too, though, so we'll see if he keeps up the trend. Hopefully he won't be petite like Mommy and Emma, but he's sure perfect however he grows!

Potty Trained Princess

The week after Mother's Day, Emma woke one morning and had herself potty trained!! We haven't really been working on it because I figured we'd deal with regression with a baby, and then when he came, we had the sickness and all...anyway, she said, "I need to go tee tee!"...I gave her a treat for her success, and she did it all day...I don't think I even asked her to go all day. I let her start wearing panties right away which was a little nerve racking going out in public 2 days later, but she did great!! Of course we used the potty numerous times at Target and Chick-fil-a, but at least we didn't have any accidents! She's been doing great with it and had not had any accidents until this week. I hope all of our children follow suit, but I'm not holding my breath! This is definitely her personality-strong willed and independent! I knew she wouldn't do it until she wanted to from the few times I had tried.

Daddy Time

Just some pictures of time with Daddy. We tried Bryson's first bottle right at 6 weeks; Emma didn't let Ben have too much time doing the feeding, but they were excited to feed our little man. Unlike Emma, Bryson took the bottle with no arguments! He's had several since and has had no complaints...ah, the second child.

Mother's Day

Ben surprised me with a trip to the beach for Mother's Day!! He and Emma gave me a card after her nap that Thursday to share the news. He was going to wait until Friday morning, but we had a dr. appt for Bryson, so thankfully, he went ahead so I'd have a little more time to get everything ready. I got busy packing, finishing up some cleaning, and making some food to take...Friday morning, we got ready and went for Bryson's check up and then packed up and headed out! We stopped in at the Tanger Outlets on the way to get some much needed clothes for Ben and Emma. The rest of our week-end was spent at the hotel and beach. Emma loved the hotel and the beach...she wasn't so sure about the ocean part. The waves were a little overwhelming, and the water was still pretty cold. We're guessing she'll be following Will right in when we go back in a couple of weeks, but we'll see. Anyway, it was a much coveted trip, and I was incredibly grateful to get to have a week-end away with just my little family, especially after the stress of childbirth followed by weeks of passing around a virus! The beach has now been the first road trip for both of our children. : ) We are eager to return in 11 days!!! Plus, we'll have a house instead of hotel, which means no lugging beach stuff back and forth during the day and extra hands with the kids!!!

Turkey

Here are the pics from the turkey I killed on the last day of the '09 season. He weighed around twenty pounds, had a ten inch beard, and inch and a quarter spurs. In other words, he was a beast of a bird, second largest I've killed. I was not able to hunt as much this year with Bryson being born on the second day of the season, although Elizabeth was very gracious and let me hunt a good bit toward the end of the season. I had hunted this bird several mornings with a buddy of mine, and we just could not close the deal. So the last day he was not able to go and I went by myself. I'm glad I did; I couldn't have asked for a better bird.

Family Time

These pictures are from our first family picnic at the park. Can you tell we love going to the park and feeding ducks and geese?? Definitely a favorite pasttime for our family. Hopefully Bryson will love it as much as Emma. We actually waded in the water some that day too, and Emma was loving it!

Come See Me 2009

Ben and I took the kids over to Cherry Park for the Come See Me festival April 18 for the inflatables and Gourmet Gardens. Emma had a blast running, jumping, sliding and bouncing all over the place, and then we enjoyed dinner together by some great live music. Emma and Ben went running around one of the softball fields, and then we let her get some pink cotton candy on the way out. The next week, I met up with several friends and their kids at Glencairn Gardens for some more great live music. We picniced on blankets, and the kids had a great time running around, checking out the water fountain, blowing bubbles, and playing together. One of the last songs the group played was for the kids...Old MacDonald had a Farm. They let the kids join them on the stage to sing and dance. Emma loved it but would not let me hold the bag of dried fruit she had just acquired!