Pics ....

Catching Up!

Wow! Life has been crazy busy lately!!! We have been going non-stop since mid October. Here's what we've been up to in a nutshell....

I was a bridesmaid in Mary & Matt's wedding the weeked before Thanksgiving. It was crazy, fun!!!

Lee went back to West Virgina that same weekend and was away for what seemed like an eternity. Absence really does make the heart fonder. We've known each other for almost 6 years and haven't really been apart much. It was an interesting week for Autumn and myself. :) Lee spent Thanksgiving day in the hospital with his Mam Maw. And, he killed his first buck that weekend on his dad's farm. :) He was super proud of his icky meat!

As for Autumn, she took her first unassisted steps the Thursday before Thanksgiving. Lee and I were so excited! She was so cute and shaky trying to get her balance. She had lots of practice staying home with mommy for a week.

I attended a wedding with Gen the week after Thanksgiving. It was beautiful, but icy cold that evening!!! Gen and Ella almost took a tumble down some steps and I almost had a heart attack. Long story! There's always drama when you get us girls together.

Jeff helped me get my tree and all my decorations down since Lee was away. What an awesome brother! :) Lee put up an awesome train set when he got back. We adore it!!! More about it later though.

Since then, we have busy getting ready for Santa and Autumn's upcoming birthday!!! I'll post pics and more updates on our little angel tomorrow.

Somone Special

My life has changed so much over the past 7 years that I have been teaching. Being a teacher is so incredibly challenging, yet so rewarding. I didn't set out to be a pre-k teacher, much less a special education teacher. I thought I was meant to be a 2nd grade teacher. I planned and actively pursued jobs in multiple counties for a postion teaching older children. I even had a couple of offers. But it didn't seem right. On the day I was supposed to drive out of town for a follow-up interview I took a job teaching pre-k at a community daycare center. The pay was awful and I had no insurance. I kept thinking I didn't go to school 5 years to do this. Little did I know, the Lord had bigger plans for me. That daycare opened my eyes to things I didn't know existed in Valdosta, GA. I was saddened by many of the things that I saw and encountered. When an opportunity arose a few years later to teach preschool education I thought I just don't know if I can do this. After much prayer and one day observing what would become my future class and I knew my life would forever be changed. God humbled me that day. We often take so much for granted in our lives. We take for granted that we can talk, walk, see, and even eat. Now, that I have a child of my own I realize how blessed I am that she is happy and healthy. I love all of my students, even the really difficult ones. I think I learn more from them than they'll ever learn from me. However, this year in particular, I have really been touched by one of my students. He will forever hold a special place in my heart. I hope that wherever he is tonight he is safe, happy, and loved! Here are some pics of my special little guy with my parapros.

Happy Halloween....

I don't know where time is going, but it's already November. October was an incredibly busy month for us. We have been to bridal parties, company picnics, a wedding, trick-or-treating, and more bridal party fun. Whoa!!! Autumn has been such a trooper. We had a blast dressing up her as a ladybug for Halloween. We took some treats to Aunt Gigi, Uncle Jeff, Grandma, Grandpa, and Pop. Autumn decided to help herself to a Hershey bar while at Aunt Gigi's house. But, Aunt Gigi got her to trade for some Laffy Taffy. Then, she was off to help herself to some of Uncle Aaron's movies. Uh Oh!!! Here are some of our fun pics from Halloween.

More Fall Break Pics

10 Months!!!

Our sweet angel will be 10 months old tomorrow!!! Time is flying by so quickly. Some days I feel like if I blink I am going to miss something. Autumn is standing all by herself now. I know walking is right around the corner. Her top four teeth are almost all the way through now. She loves following me around the house in the evenings. She also loves the telephone!!! She has to babble to everyone that calls. She also loves animals. Hmmm, wonder who she gets that from??? She gets so excited when she sees the two strays that have taken up residence at our house. One of them is friendly and lets Autumn pull on her fur. Poor kitty!!! She also loves making this clicking noise with her mouth. (Something else her daddy taught her) She loves to eat. She has taken a fancy to Zaxby's chicken fingers lately. She is turing out to be a little stinker! We love her so much and are so thankful that God gave us a beautiful, healthy little girl like her!!!! Below are some pics from our Fall break together.

Being Silly!!!

Life has been incredibly busy for us lately. I haven't really had the opportunity to blog lately. Autumn is getting four or five of her top teeth in at the same time. She is so wonderful!!! She never cries, even though, I know her mouth hurts. She has had horrible tummy problems, diaper rash, and a runny nose thanks to those little teeth. Poor baby! She was so pitful the other day that she didn't even want to play. When her mouth isn't hurting she is quite the silly girl. She loves to play in the bathtub. She likes to pat at the bubbles in the tub and thinks it's funny to play with the stopper. She has also discovered how to push things around the house. She loves empty shoes boxes, her diaper bag, and plastic lids. ( You would think she didn't have toys.) Here are a few pictures of her getting into mischief!!!

9 months

Wow! So much has been going on that I haven't had time to blog lately. I celebrated my 30th birthday a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it. It was awesome though! Lee bought me a really nifty blue mountain bike. We ordered a kangaroo seat for Autumn. I can't wait to take her for a ride on it. I'll have to post some pics of that later. My mother-in-law came into town this past weekend for a visit with Autumn. I think Autumn enjoyed visiting with her, although she doesn't know her very well. Today, we went for her 9 month checkup. Autumn weighs 15 lbs and is 26 inches long. They checked her iron levels and poor baby got a flu shot. The nurse had to get a blood sample from her tiny, little finger because she couldn't enough from her toe. Autumn was such a trooper. She smiled and waved bye-bye to the nurse every time she came in and out of the room. She was so good, mommy bought her a baby doll when we went ot Wal-Mart. She has been dragging it around behind her all evening.

Things Autumn is doing at 9mths: waving bye- bye with both hands, saying dada & mama, cruising around furniture, eating some table foods ( she loves ice cream & mashed potatoes) and of course growling at anyone that will growl back! She is such a sweet girl. We love her so much.

My New Nightgown!

We have been looking everywhere for Autumn a little nightgown. They just don't make them in her size. Thanks to her Grandma, she now has one though!!! Mom bought this cute, soft pink fabric and made her the nightgown in the pictures above. We love it!!!!! As you can see, Autumn loves it too. She fell asleep on the table as soon as I put it on her. Thank you Grandma. WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

8 months old!

Our baby girl will be 8 months old this week. It's so hard to believe!!! She is growing up too fast. I put this one outfit on her last, and I promise she looked like she was 8 months going on 8. .... She is at such a fun stage right now. She is crawling all over the place now. She is trying to pull up on everything. Before we know it, she is going to be walking. She is so happy and laughs at yand everybody. People are constantly stopping me in the mall or Wal-Mart and telling me how cute she is. We love her so much!!! Saturday afternoon Lee and I took Autumn for her 8 month photos. I hope I can figure how to post some of them. We went ahead and had a few shots done in her Halloween costume. She is going to be a ladybug!!! Autumn also started her 3rd foods today. She ate some cottage cheese, yogurt, and some oatmeal today. She didn't care for the textured Gerber foods in the jar. I guess, we will have to keep trying those.

Caught Red Handed!

Autumn has been rubbing her eyes for the past two and half hours. That is a sure sign that she getting sleepy. I put her in her bed about 35 minutes ago. I sang her a few songs and I thought for sure she would be out. I came back in the office only to hear her giggling 15 minutes later. I went into her room and caught her climbing up the side of her crib again. Busted!!! Little stinker just smiled and laughed. Of course, I had to get the camera. I love her so much. She is such a little mess! I am going to miss her terribly tomorrow. It's that dreaded time of year again... Back to School.

Beach Trip!!!

Last weekend Mom, Gena, Autumn, & I loaded up and headed to Jacksonville Beach for our girls trip. I couldn't wait to see how Autumn would react to the beach. We had an awesome time. We spent the morning shopping in the St. John's towncenter and eating at the Cheesecake Factory. Autumn enjoyed some yucky guacomole dip and the whipped topping on my cheesecake. Afterwards we checked into our hotel and hit the beach. Autumn sat down and instantly started trying to eat the sand. We had our work cut out for us. She loved that stuff!!! The waves tickeled the bottom of her feet, but she loved splashing. She also loved the pool!!! She floated around,splashed, and kicked. She is such a sweet heart. We all had a wonderful time and Autumn was so well behaved. We really can take her just about anywhere.

Autumn turned 7 months this week. Her top two teeth are trying to come in. They are killing her. She had figured out that she can try to bite at us with the bottom two. She is so funny. She loves to sit up in the floor and can get into just about anything. She has just about gotten the hang of crawling. I think she really wants to pull up on stuff though. She keeps trying, she just isn't tall enough yet. Thank goodness. I am already having to watch her like a hawk. We love her so much and I know I am going to miss her tremendously next week. The joys of going back to work. :(

Random pics from the past week....

Happy Birthday Da Da ....

Yesterday was Lee's 27th birthday. We had an awesome time helping him celebrate. Autumn didn't know what was going on, but she was really excited. She helped her daddy open his presents. One of the bows got caught on her hair, so we decided to add one more and take a few pics. She was cracking us up!!! We had dinner at the Ravine and a band was playing. Autumn thought it would be great to "sing" along. Very loudly!!! Thank goodness the other people around us thought she was funny. After we got home, we put her to bed. Well, I kept hearing her play with her rattle. She looked up and gave me the craziest face when I caught her. She just giggled. Forty-five minutes later she finally crashed. Little stinker!!!