Birthday buddies

A little more than a year ago, my friend was scheduled to be induced on April 15. She had practically been in labor for weeks. Two days before, I bragged that I would have my baby first. I was feeling fine. No signs of labor. It was 2 weeks before my due date. I taunted her, poor thing. I do feel a little guilty.

Sure enough, Monday afternoon, April 14th came along and I was sent to the hospital to be induced. Adeline was born in the morning, several hours before my friends baby. I was right! But I do feel a little guilty.

We had prime rooms across the hall from one another (we had an "in" with one of the nurses). I will always have fun memories of holding our babies up at our doors to show them off to each other, because the nurses would not let us take them out of the room. Of comparing birth stories, hot off the presses. Memories of our husbands going out for meals together while we, again, could not leave our rooms. Of enjoying the relative peace and quiet of my room, a military family displaced from family, while a party gathered across the hall, a crowd of aunts, uncles, cousins.

I have enjoyed seeing our babies growing up together in the nursery. Comparing their sizes has always been funny, since mine is so unusually small, and hers is, well, a hefty boy.

So here are the birthday buddies a few days after their first birthday. Hope you had a fun one, JG!

A Date. And all that led up to it.

Today Jess and I went on a great date. I can't even remember how long it's been since we've been out, just the two of us. Maybe a year. Now I must tell you I DO NOT recommend this. This blog is full of things I wouldn't recommend. Just look here or here. We've decided it needs to be a priority for us, even if it means shelling out big bucks for either one older babysitter or two younger ones to handle our 4 hooligans.

Luckily, we've sat for our friends 2 older, well behaved kids like a zillion times to add up to a day with our brood. To top it off, I've never left Adeline for more than a couple of hours. Today we left her for nine. Nine hours without me OR my you-know-whats. She did absolutely fine. We are blessed to have friends like the Barretts.

So you want to know where we went for nine hours? The Verizon Heritage PGA tournament on Hilton Head. We went to watch Tommy "Two-Gloves" Gainey. He gave us the tickets. Yeah. That's right. More about that later. Now, I must confess: I don't enjoy watching golf, talking about golf, or hearing about golf. It just bores me. But I had such a nice time today and wasn't once bored. I enjoyed the perfect 70 degree weather, the beautiful lowcoutry scenery, the sound of the ball on those long drives, the pleasant company of my husband and Tommy's sweet fiance and friends, and most of all, the quiet. I LOVED being in a place where everyone had to speak just above a whisper. It was almost heaven.

Now, rewind to this weekend. Here is what Jess has been doing (after he got back from his work trip to Puerto Rico :-) See, my brother-in-law works in marketing for a big water heater company. The company sponsors the Hootie and the Blowfish Monday after the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am in Myrtle Beach. They also sponsor Tommy Gainey. The tournament teams 4 players up with a pro and a celebrity. Brother-in-law was playing one spot with a few of his customers. The celebrity was wrestling legend Ric Flair who was a little injured so guess who they got to fill that spot? My lucky husband. You can read more about the tournament here. So he spent the weekend with Ric, Tommy, and a host of celebrities and athletes. AND played a round of golf in front of a gallery of fans (ok, they weren't his fans but they were watching) AND managed not to hit anyone of those fans on his long drive, AND was interviewed by the golf channel, AND came home with amazing SWAG. He really liked Tommy and his brother/caddy, Allen, so when we got the opportunity to go see them today, we were excited. O should also let you know that we LOVE our brother-in-law because he's nice and fun to be around. It just happens that he shares a few perks and we're grateful for that too. AND we have a total of 5 brothers/brother-in-laws and we LOVE them all!

That's been our exciting life. Now it's back to real life. But both of us have decided that we like our real life WAY better.

Happy Birthday, Adeline Louise!

One year ago today, at 7:24am, you were born, a teeny but healthy 6lb, 1 oz baby girl. After weeks of ultrasounds and guesses about your size and the amount of amniotic fluid around you (or lack there0f) the doctors decided it was time for us to meet. And you were extremely compliant. In fact, while barely in hard labor, only at 4cm, the doctor broke my water at 6:30am. 45 minutes later I tried to convince the nurses you were not waiting any longer, and the Dr. Tucker barely got there in time! In fact, Dad arrived from walking the dog at a little after 7, just in time for the show! You were a perfect little doll. You're still a little doll and we love it! You are definately growing, but have only gained 10 pounds this year. You sure have been learning a lot though! You're standing, cruising, signing, and immitating. We've always called you our little bird, or our little chick, because you flap your arms and wrists when you want to be picked up. You are a delight to all of us! Happy birthday, Addie Lou! Momma, Daddy, Sam, Ella Rose, and Josiah love you much!!!

Just Josiah

Saturday Si demonstrated some of his funny faces. Somewhere in there is sad, angry, surprised, happy, scared, and "say cheese."

Catching up. . .

I hate these catch up posts--I don't have time or energy to be witty or inspiring. We've been so busy, but have SO MUCH to tell you about. I'll just dive in. . .

Jess found a black widow right outside our backdoor. She was HUGE and scary. Don't worry, she's dead now.

I found a stack of Christmas cards that never got mailed. If you didn't get one, just know that I still love you and meant to send one, especially if you're my college roommate or sister-in-law (love you Becka and Alyse)

Now don't hate me: I got Ella's hair cut. She's been asking for months and months and I finally gave in. I LOVE it. She looks absolutely adorable. She loves it too because she says she looks like Kit Kitteridge from American Girl.

My family came in town for the spring break week but Jess left town-- an army trip to Puerto Rico. We both had a fun week. I'll have more pictures on that soon. . . .

Jess got in town Friday night (and left again for another trip with my brother-in-law Saturday morning). We had a big dinner and quick birthday celebration for Adeline. I know it's hard to believe, but her birthday is the 15th! Here are some pictures from our party.

Addie really loved dinner, as you can tell by the potatoes in her hair.

She wasn't sure about the cake, mostly because she had swarms of siblings hovering for a bite.

Most years I make a really cute cake that may or may not taste very good. I decided to go a different direction this year. It was a little wonky and simple but the lemon cake with cream cheese icing was delicious!

Picky Adeline didn't like the texture and ended up not really eating more than a bite or two. However, the kids zoomed to the rescue.

A quick family shot.

Cousin Liam demonstrates Addie's newest present.




That's all for now!

Happy Easter!

and

Hugs from Savannah!

She's tough when she wants to be

I'm back to feeling myself again! And even made a super quick skirt and shirt combo for Ella Rose to get me out of my post-strep sewing slump. It was soooooo easy and I think skirts like this will be a summer staple around here.

But that's not what I really wanted to tell you. I really wanted to tell you just a little bit about why this girl is awesome. Our Rosie doesn't worry. She trusts. And that makes her brave. This week we saw that at the doctor's office during her four year old appointment. In contrast with our first born's doctor appointments which involve weeks of worry, crying and praying, Ella had no problem with anticipating the appointment, EVEN knowing there would be shots involved.

although a bit shy, she was never afraid, and mostly just interested what was going on. I guess this is a little more remarkable to me because I don't think she has been to see a doctor in two years.

Then came the time for shots. I gulped as the nurse laid out 7 pink bandaids for Ella and Addie. I sat behind her and put my arms around her, waiting for her fear to kick in.

Ok, no fear. Then I waited for the screams of pain or shock or something. But all Ella Rose did was suck in her breath. Four times. Four shots in her legs.
And that's what's cool about Rosie. She might sob uncontrollably for an hour with absolutely no apparent reason, but when it comes to the serious stuff, this girl is as tough as nails.

PS. Wanna know where Addie fell in her growth chart? A whoppin' 1%. That's our teeny tiny almost one year old baby!

Two Special Birthdays!

We just want to wish two of our most favorite people a very happy birthday!!!!

We LOVE you, Papa and Aunt Esther!!!!