A Weekend with Family

For my birthday I wanted nothing more then to spend an entire day with my family. It seems like we are constantly traveling or attending some event; we never get to have time doing family things, just the three of us. So today we made time to spend the whole day together.

The day started off with a morning walk/stroller ride to Kroger for a fresh banana for breakfast. We met Jason and Otto at the bagel store, and sat down to eat with them. Then it was off to my favorite part of town, The Virgina Highlands. It was the perfect spring day outside, so we walked around and looked at the seriously overpriced stores. We had a great fish lunch outside, and Vera was perfect the entire time. She loves being outside with so much to look at.

Then it was off to The High Museum of Art to check out the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition. You would recognize his work if you saw it; weird looking black cat and can-can dancers. Anywho, Vera was good as gold in the museum too. She loved looking at all the bright paintings. That's us above checking out a few of mom's favorites. I really think she was looking at the art. I heard that it is a sign of a future art genius, but we'll see. Vera needed a snack at this point, so we went outside and fed her under the trees. Here she is with her favorite person, daddy. She is just loving life at this point. Matthew is so good with her. When he got up to change her after she ate, the museum art director, who happened to be sitting next to us, told me how lucky I was. She said her husband never changed diapers and didn't really help out at all with the kids. That's the opposite of Matthew; he helps out in all areas! Just another reason why we love him.

All tuckered out after a long day gallivanting around town; she passed out in the stroller. It was just a super day, and a fabulous birthday.

Easter Eggstravaganza!

This Easter weekend we had family over for Easter dinner and an egg hunt. Here we all are before dinner. It was so nice of them to make the drive from South Carolina to spend the day with us; we love you guys! We decided to snap a few while Vera was still clean.







Vera is all smiles whenever Mama Lucy has hold of her!
The have the same baby blue eyes.





Daddy and his favorite little bunny. Vera, once again, seems to be giving the camera the stink eye. It is as if she is saying "why are you interrupting my daddy time to take a picture?" She is also wearing a sweet little Easter bracelet from Bunny Guga; thank you! The bracelet and its cute factor seem to neutralize the stink eye effect.







Vera snuggling up to the Easter Bunny. I just love those cheeks!








For the second consecutive year I decided to put on the sweat suit, I mean bunny costume, and hop around the yard. I love the idea of my nephews and Vera believing in the Easter Bunny and watching him hide their eggs. All to soon they will be grown up and past this, so hopping around in eighty degree weather in the world's warmest bunny suit once a year is totally worth it for my awesome family.




The Easter Bunny shaking her bum to make Jackson giggle.








Luke and Vera just relaxing on the porch in their Easter finest. They both were unimpressed with the rabbit suit.






Mrs. EB tickling Reece as he reaches for some eggs. Yes, the Easter Bunny wears a watch.








The bunny and some of the cutest guys in town.







This is my attempt to recreate the Easters of my childhood. My grandma always made us a bunny cake. Hers always looked perfect and I have no idea how she did it. Although mine doesn't look like the cover of Martha Stewart Living, I will continue this tradition next year with Vera as my assistant, and hopefully it will turn out a little better. Please note that someone ate one of his paws by the time we snapped this photo.













Uncle Jim, Matthew, and Vera just posing for a quick family shot. Nice ears Uncle Jim.




It was a wonderful way to celebrate Easter and a great day with family. How blessed we are to not only have Christ in our lives, but to get to celebrate it with loved ones.

Carrots in Honor of the Easter Bunny

Today Vera got her first taste of real food. Not that nasty, cold oatmeal isn't food, but lets be real. We started her taste buds off with carrots in honor of the upcoming Easter Bunny! Here she is, still relatively clean, enjoying those first few bites.

Half a container later...

All finished and I have the messy bib to prove it! Vera is a great eater and is just packing on the lbs.

Besties

This week I decided to leave the camera with Mrs. Kris and Vera. I asked her to snap a few pictures of Vera and Luke and how they spend their afternoons. They insist on being next to each other all day. They can relax each other or start a riot; God bless Mrs. Kris. I think Luke looks adorable in this one; he has one arm around V and one up in the air as if to say "what?"




Vera appears to be giving Mrs. Kris and the camera the stink eye, while Luke is all smiles and dimples.








Besties just enjoying the afternoon on the quilt. Life is certainly good.

Preemie Reunion

Today the family headed back over to the hospital for the annual "Parents for Preemies" reunion. Every year, babies who have graduated from the NICU get together and thank the nurses, meet new parents, and generally have a great time. Vera is going to love this next year because they had some serious face painting, multiple jumpy things, train rides, and a cotton candy maker. There was loud music and preemie success stories running around everywhere! We got to record a thank you message for the nurses that couldn't be there, and it made me tear up. How blessed we were to have such great care for Vera when we were unable to care for her ourselves. Here she is with her "preemie power" t-shirt. It is still way too big, but she'll grow into it. It says, 'I might have started out small, but look at me now"! Love it! They also had an Easter egg hunt. Here Vera is with her egg. She got three jellybeans, which I ate, a star sillyband, also know as a chocking hazard, and a green egg. She was left with nothing but the empty green egg. Maybe next year. It was a fabulous afternoon.

Vera, would you like some oatmeal for dinner?

Vera hit the 5 month mark last Thursday, April 7th. She is growing very fast and so is her appetite. We decided to attempt her first meal Sunday night with Gerber Oatmeal. Based on what we read and heard, the first attempt is more about getting use to the process and that we shouldn't expect to get much food into Vera. Well, things went pretty well. She has always been a good eater . . . . . . well, unless you consider that she gets a little impatient at times.

Here is our big girl with her first big bite.

The next two are videos.

Spring Break '11

This week was filled with lots of around the house chores in preparation to sell our house (keep your fingers crossed) After what seemed to be hundreds of mini projects we packed up the car and headed to South Carolina to visit with family and friends and to go to the Zac Brown Band concert. Here Aunt Kimberly is giving Vera a good snuggle. She loved leaning on her tummy and on her future cousin. I am convinced that she could feel the baby moving and it calmed her down. Anywho, here I am bouncing V in her super cute cherry outfit, complete with matching bow, from Ruthie. Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jim popped in to visit too. Vera just loves all the attention.

Here we have the difficult to catch on film Uncle Jim.

Mama Lucy has got to be one of Vera's most favorite people. She just smiles the entire time we visit with her. Joyce and Drenda came by to visit as well. They spent the day watching her for Matthew and I as we headed off to Clemson. I only made Matthew call once to check on her; they were nice enough to send picture text messages to keep me updated. I know Vera had a good time because she was pooped out and slept well that night.

What happens when you go to a concert with good friends and listen to good music...fun happens. See picture to the left. Here we are tailgating in the beautiful weather beforehand.

Matthew and I enjoying the show. Zac Brown Band put on a fabulous show and I had a blast! I would totally see them in concert again.

One Word...Monica!

This past weekend one of my closest friends and partners in crime, Monica, came to visit us from New York. Just the thought of her arrival carried me through the rough week that is a high school before Spring Break. I picked her up on Friday night, and the fun began. We stayed up late just talking and catching up. Saturday we woke up and got bagels at the little place by our house, and then headed into the city for a little shopping, but more so to enjoy the seventy degree weather. Vera was so good as we pushed her around. Here are my girls just relaxing on the couch before we took off for the afternoon. Vera wanted to get all dressed up for her big day with Monica. Sunday we decided to take it easy again. We went out for a nice brunch, Vera was perfect again, and then took a stroll in the park near our house. I can't wait to take Vera there when she gets bigger; the park has millions of things to climb and play on. Here we are taking a break with our shades on. We headed home and made some cookies, and decided to play dress up. We put Vera in her Indiana gear and she couldn't stop smiling when we sang the Indiana song. Look how happy the future little Hoosier looks! With all that behind us, it was time to take Monica to the airport. Sadness. I think it is easy to forget how amazing a friend is when you don't see them every day. I am truly lucky to have Monica in my life; she is a friend who makes me feel like we live in the same city, even though we are miles apart. I wish there was a way to get her down here. It was a wonderful weekend with an amazing friend.