Fun In Memphis

Nina in her cute ballerina dress - appropriate Wednesday night church attire, right?

Today we decided to spend the day in Memphis...we took Ethan (and Nina) to The Peabody to see the ducks march in to the lobby. He loved it! We went up on the roof of the hotel to see the duck palace (where the ducks live from 5pm - 11am) and enjoyed beautiful views of Memphis and the Mississippi River. Then we went over to Amy's house on Mud Island and ended up going out to the airport with her. There is a big airshow in Memphis this weekend and Amy and Dave are taking one of their airplanes (a Sea Fury...a World War II British fighter) to the airshow for display, so Dave was at the airport washing the plane and getting it ready to fly to the airshow tomorrow. Mark and I thoroughly enjoyed being around all the neat airplanes and hope one day to have our own out there! The news helicopter is based there and was in the hangar - Ethan and Mark got to play around in it. The Red Barons are performing at the airshow this weekend and they were out at the airport - Amy actually got to go up for a ride and the pilots were so nice to Ethan and gave him an autographed picture. Ethan had so much fun and loves Amy! We all enjoyed our day and thank Amy and Dave for letting us hang out with them. Mark has to work this Saturday but I am taking Ethan to the airshow - the Blue Angels will be there!! Hopefully Ethan will enjoy the show - at least Amy will be there to help entertain him!

Nina is 4 months old!

9/11 was Mark's 1 year anniversary at FedEx - 1 down, 34 to go! It's amazing how this past year has flown by. We also took Nina for her 4 month check up that day. She is perfect - 16. 4 lbs and 27 1/2 inches long. Dr. Welch said she looks like a 6 month old baby and is pleased with her growth. Ethan also accompanied us to visit Dr. Welch. For those of you that know Ethan well, you know that wasn't easy for him. But he did fine and actually liked Dr. Welch (not sure if he likes her enough to go back in February for his 3 year checkup). He had the nurses eating out of his hands - suckers and stickers galore! I know this post said "Nina"...but she doesn't do anything but eat, sleep, pee and poop - well, she's laughing now and that's so sweet! Her eyes just light up when she sees us. Ok, back to Ethan. This week he really wanted to figure out how to hold 2 and 3 fingers up - he just hadn't mastered that. He kept coming up to me and saying, "Tell me 3, Mommy." After an afternoon of over and over and over having to fix his fingers...he can now do it himself. This is a MAJOR accomplishment for him because it aides in his song leading ability. Now he can hold his fingers up to tell you what verse is coming. It also helps him to sing louder...holding 2 fingers up or 3 fingers up. He's too funny! I'll try to get this on the video card and post it - it's rather hilarious. It's so much fun to see both these precious children doing important things for the first time - first laughs, first time to hold 2 fingers up, etc.. Here are a few pictures of Nina and Ethan together - the one of Ethan with his 2 fingers and Nina looking at him like she doesn't really care....is funny. It's amazing how many pictures you take trying to get "the 1" - I don't think I got it, but here are some cute ones.

This is some serious song leading

ENOUGH singing, Ethan!! Seriously, Ethan - ENOUGH!

Poppa and Nona visit Memphis

Hope everyone had a nice weekend! We had a visit from Poppa and Nona and had so much fun! Ethan was so excited to see them and Nina loved being held all weekend long. Saturday we enjoyed eating. After a morning of Mark's pancakes, but before an evening of Memphis BBQ...there was an afternoon of horrible football - so we won't discuss that. Ethan and Poppa put sand in his turtle sandbox and Ethan enjoyed playing in that. Poppa bought him a John Deere t-shirt because Ethan loves Poppa's tractor so much. (I actually had to break it to Poppa that I've been using the tractor to get Ethan to poopie in the potty...I've been telling Ethan that if he poops in the potty that Poppa will bring his tractor on the trailer to Memphis. Ethan gets all excited about the tractor being in his garage, etc....don't worry, Poppa, it hasn't happened....YET!) It was a short weekend, but we enjoyed having them here....hope they aren't too tired starting their week! Ethan was disappointed when we got home from church and lunch and he realized that they really did leave - but we'll see them next week!

Football is here!

Labor Day weekend marked the first weekend of college football...a season that Mark and I thoroughly enjoy and now Ethan enjoys it too! Friday evening we met several couples from church at Harding Academy and watched their football game. The kids had a great time and all was well until the last play of the game...Ethan ate the bleachers in front of us. I was imagining bloody lip, nose, etc...but he just had a nice bump on his head. He actually gets mad when he falls, so after that he was fine. He got a Frosty out of it! So this past week we've really been trying to work with him and his "cool boo boo" as Mark called it. Sunday at church he kept asking people to come with him to see his cool boo boo. It was funny! Saturday evening we went to Mud Island and to a friend's house from Auburn. Their house was amazing and we really enjoyed seeing that part of town and visiting with Amy. Let me put it to you this way...we walked in their house and I told Mark that I would stay in Memphis if I could live on Mud Island! Yeah, it was that nice. Thankfully, Auburn won - but we had a nice time regardless of the football games.The only reason I posted this picture is because it's the only picture of me....if you look closely, you can see the reflection of my orange pants in the truck!

Nina is almost 4 months old and is officially sleeping upstairs. I'm having a hard time with it - it's kind of strange being downstairs with both our babies upstairs. She seems to enjoy her crib - especially when she's on her back (which isn't a lot of the time since I have allowed her to sleep on her belly since she was only a couple of weeks old....Mom of the year, right here!) and she can see her Auburn Tigers. Ethan still likes his big boy bed. He has now learned that he can get in and out whenever he feels like it and that is so much fun! The other day I had put him down (can't remember if it was naptime or nighttime) and I had Nina on our floor changing her diaper. I went into the bathroom and came out like 20 seconds later and there he sat right by Nina. Kind of freaky! We've had to get out the wooden spoon a time or two to get him back upstairs, but for the most part he's really good. We've only had a couple of times where I thought I would lower the crib mattress and put his little behind back in there. Thankfully I can still threaten that!

I'm having playgroup here tomorrow morning (actually in 9 hours)....so why am I still up and on the computer? I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend - kind of sad in some ways because my kids really had cute summer clothes that I'm just not ready to put away! Guess that's a license to shop (hopefully Mark won't read this). But I'm ready for Fall, that's for sure (and the new Fall TV lineup)! Hope everyone has a nice weekend and enjoy the football - we will! War Eagle!

Nina's Belly Kisses

Here is a video of Nina having her belly kissed...just wanted to test uploading video! Yes, Ethan is out of control in the background! Enjoy!

Big Boy Bed

Since we have gotten back from the beach, Ethan has slept in his crib once (and that was only because it was 2:30am when we got home so he was asleep and we just laid him in there). We put his toddler bed together and put it in his big boy room and he sleeps in there now. He loves it and has done really well. I was afraid that I would have to lay down with him and struggle with him to stay in the bed and that he would get up many times, etc....so far so good! He is really doing well with the transition. Here are a few pictures from his new room.

Today, I was in the office working and Mark had just gotten home. Ethan was playing and Nina was asleep upstairs in the nursery. Since we moved Ethan, I wanted to raise the crib mattress to the highest point again and put all her bedding in there. One of the screws was messed up, so we haven't put the mattress back in there. So Nina was asleep and I just laid her (on her belly) in the middle of the mattress on the floor. Mark heard her waking up and crying a little so he went upstairs and I followed....this is what we found....

Oops! At least it was just a small fall - and I'm not sure if she rolled off or just scooted off.
Obviously she is fine and I went to get the camera! But this is the kicker...I said to Mark, "at least it wasn't off our bed...like when I let Ethan fall off our bed." And then he admitted to me that he had let Ethan roll off the changing table! Don't you wonder sometimes what our husbands don't tell us until months and possibly years later?!?!

Vacation 2007

Before our vacation is too far behind us...I wanted to post some more pictures. We had a wonderful week in Hilton Head with Pa, Ro Ro, Carl and Jaime. The weather was awesome - it was actually cooler at the beach than it was in Memphis! Not one drop of rain and we enjoyed every day. We had great food this year (like past year's as well). Mark and Mr. Noble played golf twice and had fun. We shopped a little, but not much because we all wanted to be on the beach! Ethan LOVED the water and playing in the sand and had no fear of the water at all. By the middle of the week he didn't even want his vest on in the pool and was doing quite well. Ethan and Nina both enjoyed having many arms to hold them all week. Ethan tried to move in on Jaime...but Carl wouldn't let him! We had many discussions about the upcoming wedding and we are all looking forward the big day. They have decided on a destination wedding - so now they are in the process of figuring out where - we're excited to have that vacation to look forward to in Spring/early Summer 2008!

Vacation is always such a nice time...coming home and unloading and getting back on schedules...well, that's a different story! We went back to Georgia on Saturday for Allie's 4th birthday party. That night we went to Papsitto's for my party with all our Georgia friends and had so much fun! We started our drive back to Memphis Monday night about 8:30 - and rolled into town around 2:30 (Central time) am....what a long night! We're going to try and go to Maryland in September with a stop in Newnan for the Fair. But for now, we're glad to be home!


So this picture might need a little explaining....this shovel (or "killer" as we all called it) was a purchase from a yard sale by Ro Ro...the sand is SO hard in Hilton Head so she thought this might make it easier to dig holes for our umbrellas, etc...she was even unsure of what Pa would say about hauling this "killer" to and from the beach, so she took it to Carl and Jaime's and had them bring it with them - although I'm not sure if they really knew it was in their car. The "killer" was the joke of the week for sure! It did dig a nice hole though! I think it was a prop from The Sopranos...I'm convinced it's killed a time or two! (Picture courtesy of Jaime)

Ethan in his hole that Daddy and Uncle Carl dug with "killer" (Picture courtesy of Jaime)

Nina taking her nap on the beach inside her tent

Ed and Randi talking to Nina at Papasitto's

I drove from Papasitto's back to Nona and Poppa's house....so we stopped at The Varsity!

Ethan LOVES to ride Poppa's tractor - and this trip has learned to start it all by himself!

These are pictures leaving GA heading back to Memphis! I don't think we could have put anything else in the truck with us....yes, that is a turtle sandbox in there!