XLIV

GO COLTS!

We're all ready to watch the Super Bowl tonight.

Hoping for a blue victory!

A few videos

The Moonwalk. Talking on the phone. Dancing the night away. Singing "Happy Durpy Bapes".

A little piece of the last 3 months

Baby Bump

20 weeks

28 weeks

29 weeks

Friends

Ainsley took this picture of "Cha Cha" when he was visiting her kitchen.

On top of Stone Mountain.

We have said goodbye to a few close friends in the last few months. Sara "Chucha", our neighbor, moved to Chicago in November and we were SO sad to see her go. Then in December Charlie moved away. Although we were glad to see him go because that meant he was going to get some help to get off the streets. Also, just last week Ainsley's best buddy Jasper (and his mom Jana and baby sister Scarlett) moved to Washington. We already miss them but will see them in June when we go there to visit. These pictures are just a few we took of our friends (plus a few that Ainsley took on her own-you should be able to figure out which ones those are).

Long Overdue Update

So once again I've been neglectful of this blog. Where does the time go? Three months have passed and we've been very busy (of course, how can you NOT be busy with a 2 1/2 year old?). Last time I left a post was before Thanksgiving so let me update you from that point on...
My parents were supposed to come visit for Thanksgiving but the day before they were to get on the plane my dad had a heart attack. For obvious reasons they could no longer make it out our way. We were disappointed but are extremely thankful that he survived and now seems to be doing well. So, despite having bought all of the fixings for Thanksgiving dinner we decided to make a last minute drive up to Indiana to be with Andy's family instead. Then 3 weeks later we turned around and drove right back up there to spend Christmas with them as well. Both were great trips but we were glad to be done driving for awhile once we got back to Atlanta just before the new year. Since we've been back the time has been filled with work, doctor's appointments, potty training, building houses (some would call them forts), going to the zoo and children's museum, swimming at a couple different hotel pools, cooking, cleaning, talking on skype, playing in Ainsley's awesome kitchen she got for Christmas, teaching abc's and counting, giving and getting lots of hugs and kisses, trying to come up with a name for the new baby (we found out it's another girl!!) and just being plain silly.
AINSLEY: She continues to grow like a weed and she makes us laugh constantly. She has her little routine in the morning where she likes to watch "Monkey George", Dinosaur Train, Sid the Science Kid or whatever PBS cartoon is on when she wakes up. She speaks in full sentences now and although still sometimes a little bit difficult to decipher everything she's saying it is so awesome to be able to have a conversation with her. She is very artistic (by way of drawing, photography, singing and dancing) and has a great imagination. She loves to help me bake and cook leaving a nice little mess when we're finished. She has the sweetest little laugh and I love almost nothing more than hearing her and daddy play and giggle together every night. She always wants to call Gaga and Papa and Gig and Bapes on skype (LOVES her grandparents!). She is so caring, sensitive, nurturing, etc. She's always making sure mommy, daddy and baby are all okay. If I say that I'm sore or in pain she says, "oh, I know mommy, heating pad make you feel better". If she bumps into Andy's head or something when they're playing she says, " oh sorry daddy, band aid?". She often waves, says hello and gives hugs and kisses to my belly saying, "hi baby". We've definitely got a big sweetie in the family. Ainsley is almost completely potty trained! For exactly one month now she's been in big girl panties all day right up until bed time and stays dry while we're out in public and through her naps. It's only night time now that we're working on. She's determined to do it too. She always says, "big girl panties tonight, wake up dry?". We're hoping by the time that her baby sister comes she'll have conquered that too but either way she's doing a great job!
BABY GIRL: This pregnancy has been 100% different and much more difficult than when I was pregnant with Ainsley. So naturally we thought it must be a boy but on December 15th we went to our ultrasound appointment and were amazed to find out we'd be welcoming another little girl into the family around April 25th. We have yet to name her but time is fast approaching so hopefully soon we'll have it figured out. I'm about 30 weeks now and often in pain from my sciatic nerve pinching, my back hurting and leg cramps in my calves and shins. I'm also not sleeping well at night and am tired during the day. But all the negative is fairly quickly removed when I feel her kick or hear her heartbeat. What an amazing gift this is!! I'm not quite ready for her to join us yet but I am ready to not be pregnant and I am ready to meet her and see what she looks like. April will be here soon. Of course we'll keep you posted.
ANDY: He recently got an office so moved all of the bookshelves and books out of our bedroom
over there. Our room seems huge now! Also, he started "Saturdays on the Streets" which is a consistent outreach every Saturday for churches, individuals and people from the local community to come volunteer and serve with Church on the Street. It's been going well but unfortunately the weather has not cooperated and been freezing and/or rainy every Saturday since it's started.

Recently we've had a couple visits from Andy's parents on their way to and from Florida for vacation. That has been great. We always enjoy the company and look forward to the excitement Ainsley has when she sees Gig and Bapes. One of the visits was just a couple days ago when they were on their way back down to Florida to go to the Super Bowl. Tomorrow we will watch to root on our Indianapolis Colts and look for them in the stands of course. Go Blue!! In about a week and a half my parents are coming to visit so we're also looking forward to that. Ainsley is also very excited about Gaga and Papa coming and can't wait to show them her kitchen, take them out to eat, wake them up in the mornings and play all day with them. I think we might make a Thanksgiving dinner while they're here to make up for the one we missed in November too. On another note, my brother was in a snowboarding accident last week and is in bad condition. He'll have a total of 3 surgeries, one of which was yesterday to repair his knee at the bottom of his left femur and another of which will probably be next week to repair his right heel. Then once the one from yesterday is healed they'll go in and do the third surgery on his torn left acl. He's doing all right but is bed/wheel chair ridden for about 6-8 weeks and will probably have about a year's worth of rehab and recovery. Ugh! It's tough to be far away when these kind of things happen. I wish I could be there to help in some way. Speaking of being far away, Andy's Grandma was put into a dementia care community and it's also been difficult not being in Indiana to help out with the details of that and to be there for his Grandpa. So, life has thrown at us some tough situations to take in but overall we're doing great and are very thankful.

Baby Shower

Jana and Ron are expecting baby girl Scarlett to join us any time now so we went to their baby shower last weekend. Ainsley and Jasper are best of buddies and they play so well together. It was a beautiful day so they had fun playing outside in the yard most of the time we were there. They ate "happy cake" at the table, slid down the slide, played in the water and pushed around the little mower on the grass.

The Atlanta Zoo

Ainsley and I had a day at the zoo and it was so much fun! We rode on the train (or "choo choo Thomas" as Ainsley calls it) and the carousel (or "up and down"). We saw monkeys, giraffes, zebras, elephants and pet the goats. What a great day.

Good News

I'M PREGNANT!!!! :)

(more to come)

The Beautiful Bride

One of my good friends from high school, Tama Leach, got married on October 24th in Destin, Florida. We happened to be in Panama City Beach (which is only a 40 minute drive) at that same time so we were able to make it there for her special day. It was so great to see her, her parents and a few other people I hadn't seen since we graduated (12 years ago!). It was my own little mini reunion, seeing that I missed the actual high school reunion a couple years ago. The setting was gorgeous, right on the beach and of course Tama looked beautiful. Congratulations Mrs. Curlee! :)

Florida 2009

All Ainsley Shots

Homecoming

The weekend after my 30th birthday (that's right, I'm a real adult now!) we drove up to Indiana. Andy did a radio interview for Church on the Street and it also just happened to be Anderson University's homecoming so that was great. Andy got to see some

people he hadn't seen in years and

we got to hang out with some friends.
Although a very quick weekend it was
a good one.

Uncle Li Li Comes to America

Liam came to visit us! We had so much fun showing him around the city and just hanging out like the good 'ol times. ;) It only took Ainsley about 2 minutes at the airport until she was holding Liam's hand and wanting him to sit in the back seat with her and be everywhere she was all the time. Needless to say, Ainsley loved having him here. Of course we did too. :) Besides, he looked so cute carrying her little pink backpack everywhere! Liam went to his first baseball game. Until then it was only what he'd seen in the movies so I think he had a good time. He even ate a huge hot dog (of course a must at the ballpark). We went to the CNN center, Martin Luther King, Jr. center, Emory University, took a horse and carriage ride through the city, ate at The Varsity, etc. There was a slight change in normalcy when Andy ended up in the hospital one of the nights Liam was here. Liam ended up playing babysitter for a day while Andy was still there and I had to work. I'm sure that was not quite his idea of a vacation but it was very much appreciated and, of course, Ainsley had a blast with him when they went to play at the park and eat lunch together. On the Andy note...... the story is: he woke up in the middle of the night with pain and pressure in his chest and wasn't sure if he was having a heart attack or what was happening. Eventually, after a long while he was able to get back to sleep and it wasn't until the next afternoon when I got off work that I knew about it. Around 4:3o pm we were off to the emergency room because he still had some chest pain. After an EKG, chest x-ray, urine sample, blood draw and 5 hours in the ER they decided to keep him overnight for constant observation. He was hooked up to a monitor and had an IV which, in the end, gave him 3 liters of fluids when all was said and done. Then, the next morning he had to take the PET test where they pumped radioactive material into his blood stream, took some MRI's and then waited for a reaction. Once he had a reaction they took more MRI's then gave him some kind of antedote to return him back to "normal". He then spent a few hours waiting for results and was released. So what happened was he did not have a heart attack. Thank God! He did have an increased level of creatine in his body which normally flushes itself out of your body if you are drinking enough fluids but is a toxin if not flushed from your body. Well, he was extremely dehydrated causing this toxin to effect his body in the way that I described above. While having all these tests done they noticed that his cholesterol was too high as well. Although all the test results seemed to not be cardiac related he needs to watch his diet and drink plenty of water in order to regulate the cholesterol which over time could build up plaque in the arteries and cause a heart attack. So, the bad thing is that Andy had to go through all of this but the good thing is that we found out some things we wouldn't have known otherwise. It has caused us to be much more healthy already so it turned out to be, although a scary and expensive experience, a good one. Thank you so much to Liam for all of his help with Ainsley during the fiasco! We were sad to see Liam go. Now when we see airplanes Ainsley says, "Lum airplane bye bye?", "where Lum go?".

September in Indiana

All clicked in and ready to go!

Andy had a couple of speaking engagements this summer and one of them was in Tennessee for a couple of days. Since I have to be off work to be with Ainsley when he's away anyway I decided to just take Ainsley on up to Indiana to visit Gig and Bapes for a few days. We had a great time. These are some of the pictures from our trip there.

Her buddies, Ian and Soren.

Cha Cha, KK and Brady. What great cousins!!

A few more summer pics

These are a few random pictures from the summer. We made it to a few Braves games. Now every time we drive by the stadium Ainsley starts saying, " baseball, go Braves go!". Also, here's Ainsley with her little buddy Jasper (or Jasso/Jappa is more what it sounds like when she says it) and a picture of me with my friend Jana (Jasper's mommy). One more picture I had to throw in was my "nakey baby". Whenever Ainsley gets undressed she runs around saying, "nakey baby, nakey baby!". It's pretty cute. :)

Pictures galore

With Daddy on the couch (had to wear the boots)

At the Atlanta Dream WNBA game

Holding baby Malakai (Ki as she calls him)

Pretty shoes

Pushing her "groceries" at the Children's Museum

Driving the tractor

Ready to go. Boots (again) and all!

Daddy painting some toenails.
She didn't want me to do it!

Fishing at the Children's Museum

With Isaiah at the Atlanta Dream game

Playing with Konnor

Cool fire engine chair Ainsley could've sat in for her 1st haircut.
She sat in it afterwards, of course!!

First haircut. A little bit scared (hence sitting in my lap and not in the cool chair)

At Stone Mountain

The big cheese

Beautiful girl

Martha and Kelsey McFadden spent the night with us on their way down to Florida.

Gig and Bapes

We had a lovely visit from Jack and Rebecca (aka: Gran and Gramps, aka: Gig and Bapes) at the beginning of the month. Our time together was spent playing in the pool, going for walks and out to eat, going shopping, to the aquarium, Stone Mountain and Coke museum and just playing in the apartment. Rebecca and I even got away one day to get pedicures. She knows how I LOVE that!! Also, Andy and I went on a date. It was so much fun (and great to get out)! Besides, I think Gig and Bapes really enjoyed staying with Ainsley and doing the whole nighttime routine with her. Boy, would it be nice to live near family......

Since I mentioned our date, I must mention that it was in celebration of 6 years of marriage! My how time flies! We've done a lot in 6 years...... lived in Indiana together, then Georgia, then back in Indiana, Andy completed his Master's degree, we moved to Scotland, travelled all over Britain and some of Europe, travelled to Florida, Washington, California and Hawaii, had a baby, Andy completed his Ph.D., we moved to (and now live in) Georgia, travelled back to Washington and Indiana a few times, etc. We've celebrated joyous moments with each other, family and friends and we've also suffered great heartache in losing those dear to us. Through it all Andy has been an amazing partner, supporter, friend and husband. My hope is that I have been and can continue to be the same for him (except insert wife at the end...haha). I am so thankful for the last 6 years and look forward to MANY more to come.