The Holcomb Family

Matthew's 1st Birthday

2010-06-15T21:44:00.000-04:00

So I'm more than a little late on this... sorry! We celebrated our little guy's first birthday on May 8th with a little get together in the backyard. Most of his favorite people were there, though we were missing a few crucial folks! All for good reason though. All in all it was a fun night, I'm pretty sure Ella had more fun than B because it was mostly her friends who were there. Always the hostest, she made sure to introduce everyone because not all the kids knew each other. What a doll!

Sweet Matthew didn't even get to stay up for the whole thing but he did enjoy being carried around and fussed over while he was awake!

This is Neala, hopefully Matthew's future girlfriend. Cutest ever!!

We had to pull out the roller coaster for the kiddoes to play on. It was a hit!! And we were so happy that the Best family could come up from Charlotte and celebrate with us.

Just a sip before the cake?

Matthew's personal, dairy-free, cake. For some reason he and Ella have serious issues with things on their hands. Just like Mommy!

Baity, Riley, and Ella tearing into the favor buckets. Loving the bubbles!

Yay for presents! This is one of B's faves, thanks Uncle Nate!

Sweet sister reading birthday books to her brother.

Happy Birthday, Big Guy! We love you and can't wait to watch you grow into a young man.

Only a two year old...

2010-04-11T20:15:00.002-04:00

While trying to brush my teeth the other morning I had to ask Ella several time to leave poor Matthew alone. For some reason she had picked up a washcloth and kept wrapping it around his neck. For the life of me I could not figure out why she was trying to strangle the little brother that she adores. Yesterday I made sure every washcloth and towel was out of her reach when I got into the shower. As soon as I got out she started asking me where the washcloth was and I explained to her that I had put it away. What was her response to that? Not what you might think... unless you're thinking, "Oh no! Now B can't be a super hero!" It hit me like a ton of bricks, she was trying to tie the cloth around his neck to make a cape. I swear, that girl is too smart for me sometimes.

Farewell, Deacon

2010-04-11T20:15:00.000-04:00

Sadly on Wednesday morning my parents had to part with our family dog. Sweet, sweet Deacon was the center of the Philpott household for over 15 years and loved every second of it. Always happy to see any one of us and willing to stop for a belly rub at the drop of a hat he will truly be missed. Even as my children slowly began to invade his territory in the house, he'd just look at them and roll his eyes as if to say, "oh geez, not you again!" Never once did he get angry with Ella as she followed him from room to room, annoyed? Sure. But he never barked or snapped at her wihtout good reason- like her pulling on his tail. I'm sorry to lose him, I'm sorry that Mom won't have a valid excuse to stop at McDonalds for a cheeseburger now, but most of all I'm sorry that Ella and Matthew won't grow to know him and love him as the rest of us had the pleasure of doing.

Love you much, Deacon. I'm certain that even if not all dogs go to Heaven you're watching up from up there now.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T21:03:00.002-04:00

Wow, what an Easter weekend the Holcomb family had. Ella and Matthew started the egg hunting at Mimi and Teddy's house Thursday afternoon. Poor kids, the pollen is in full effect here so both of them were sniffling and sneezing but Ella put up with it for the candy. She just kept yelling, "uh-oh... My need tissue!" she'd wipe her nose and get right back to the hunting.

After a long day of hunting eggs and eating candy what does everyone need? Why, a beverage on the back deck of course! Ella loves to "cheers!" things now... her juice boxes, her pizza, anything. Daddy was happy to oblige! He was so proud... after stating that she needed a "yellow juice box" she went to the fridge in the garage to get it herself and proceeded to yell into the house, "Daddy, you want a beer?" So glad we're teaching her the important things in life.

Friday Ella woke up begging to go to Nana and Pops' house. They were here for Easter and Nana's spring break. So, since Ella really runs things around her, we all piled into the car and headed to Sophia. What was in store? More egg hunting of course. And a little golf for Matthew.

Ella has totally caught onto the fact that there should be candy in the eggs. If at any time she picked one up that was empty she'd promptly say, "This one B's" and take it to him. After a while they all were empty and we had to explain to her that she could nat have anymore candy till after she ate her dinner. This was the reaction we got...

Love the drama this girl brings into our lives!

Saturday brough more time at Nana and Pops, to celebrate Uncle Aaron's birthday. It was a day for work around the Holcomb place so the boys were more than happy to bring out the tractor. Ella, however, was not exactly thrilled by the idea.

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny finally made it to our house...

(Basket liners sewn by Nana, embroidered by Mommy)

We had yet another egg hunt for Ella in the backyard.

And the Easter Bunny hid her basket too... didn't take her long to find it!

Though the only thing she wanted out of it was her plastic Princess Tiana tiara and wand.

But we did have to watch her new "Tinkerbell" and "Princess and the Frog" movies that night.

Matthew was pretty excited about the edible easter grass in his basket!

We had a nice brunch at the Cardinal, along with yet another egg hunt. By this point Ella was a seasoned pro but this one threw her for a loop... for some reason they didn't use eggs?? What is that about? They pretty much just threw candy on the ground. All the little kids were running past it, looking for the colored eggs. Well, duh! Several of us parents had to explain to just pick up the candy off the ground.

And what Easter weekend would be complete without and Easter Bunny siting? As you can tell from this pic the Holcomb kids are not fans of the larger than life animals...

worst blogger EVER!!

2010-03-22T19:32:00.000-04:00

That would be me. Yes, I am aware that it has been almost 2 years since I've put anything worth reading on here (other than the picture of sweet B) and you have my apologies! (Especially you, Rebecca! Hopefully you'll see this and know that all is not lost on me)

Slowly but surely we're getting into a routine here and after about 9 months of Matthew not sleeping and crying every second of everyday we seem to have turned a corner... discovering a milk allergy and making him scream himself to sleep 3 times a day for a week changed our world drastically! So now, all is well in the Holcomb household.

Ella is a wonderful big sister, she loves Matthew (whom she still calls B- in fact, we all do most of the time) to pieces and is a great helper. She is a little chatter box, just like her mommy. She has to narrate everything she does during the day and everything Matthew does too.

Matthew, almost 11 months old now, started crawling a few weeks ago and graduated out of his physical therapy routine. Yea B! Ella's having a few issues with the fact that he can now get to her toys but she's getting used to it. Lately though I hear a lot of, "Mommy, take B somewhere else."

We managed to get out of the house sans Matthew last night to take Ella to Raleigh for a Carolina Hurricanes hockey game. She loved it! Every goal they missed (which, unfortunately was a lot) she yell, "oh man! missed it!" and shake her head. Hysterical!

Earlier this year, in January, Bryan had some work to do in Orlando so Ella and I tagged along. While Matthew got some QT with Mimi & Teddy for a weekend in Winston. Ella was flabbergasted to see that Cinderella's castle actually is a real place. We were not allowed to get close to any of the characters because Miss Personality is petrified of them, but she was in awe of Disney World as a whole and I am so excited to take Matthew in a few years. Pretty sure it will be a completely different experience but equally as fantastic!

Now, with promises (for real this time!) to return soon I'll leave you with 2 picture of Matthew to show you just how far our sweet 4lb baby boy has come in the last 11 months...

We're still here... and now there are 4 of us!

2009-05-28T18:43:00.000-04:00

Matthew Whittenton Holcomb was born on May 5 at 1:46PM. A whopping 4 lbs and 17 inches he was almost 4 weeks early. Many reasons I haven't blogged in so long... a lot because Ella won't leave me alone long enough to get on a computer and be productive, but mostly because we had a bit of a crazy pregnancy and I wasn't really into blogging because of it. I won't get into details now as most of you reading this have been kept up to date. But it's all good now that Matthew is here with us, and perhaps in a later post I'll get into it. But for now just enjoy this little guys precious face!

You can see more at Alisha's blog... www.alishaschwanke.blogspot.com

Ella is excited about her little brother, whom she calls "bee," her word for baby. Soon I'll be back ehre regularly and will update with photos and stories about all her latest antics.

Happy Birthday, Ella!

2008-11-30T20:02:00.001-05:00

It is so crazy to think about Ella being a year old! The past 12 months have absolutely flown by and watching her grow and figure out the world around her has been a wonderful experience for Bryan and I.

Day to day with Ella is a blast. She LOVES "Jack's Big Music Show" on Noggin, I think it's her favorite. And Bryan discovered that the movie Hairspray will stop her in her tracks. I think it's all the music and the movement... she's also a bit obsessed with Beyonce's video for "Single Ladies." We have lots playdates with our friends and Ella's such a social butterfly. She has never met a stranger and has no problem waving and talking to people she's never seen before, in the grocery store, at the ball games, wherever we happen to be. She now says "hi" when she waves but I don't think she knows what it means, just thatwe say it to her when we see her. So she's just a little copycat. She's really good at waving good bye. Every night when Bryan gets home from work he'll pick her up to say hello and she immediately starts waving bye to me. Pretty much like, "see ya later lady, the fun guy's here now." And she'll get really upset if Bryan doesn't take her with him to change. I think at the end of the day she's had enough of my face and is ready for a change of scenery.

I'm always amazed at how her mind works, these days if you ask her where her hat is she'll pat her head and always points up when asked where the light is. You can say, "where's your blankie?" and she will go find it (provided it's a reasonable task) and bring it to you, also we can say "take it to Daddy/Mommy" and whatever she's holding will be given to the appropriate person. She's a genius right? Ha!

Her party today was a smashing succes, with a speedbump in the middle. We had a good showing of all her little girlfriends and our families with a cake from Dewey's, of course. She didn't do too much damage to her cake though. Ella is really weird about textures, she really doesn't like to pick anything up and put it in her mouth unless it's hard, like a cookie or a cracker. So the mushy icing was not really a big hit for her. Once she tasted it, she liked it, but she was just pinching off tiny bits with her thumb and forefinger. So dainty! We were kind of hoping for the big messy display of most first birthdays but our little princess had a different plan for the day. I have lots of pictures from the day and will post them later this week for you to enjoy.

Happy birthday pretty girl, mommy and daddy love you!

On the move... with teeth!

2008-11-23T20:05:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am aware at how long it has been since I've posted anything about Ella and you have my apologies! I have no idea where this month has gone but it certainly has flown by. I can't believe Thanksgiving is this Thursday and in exactly one week Miss Ella will be one year old. Whoa!

In the world of Ella things have been happening so fast it's scary. She is officially walking. She was getting a lot better at it before we left for Jamaica but since we've gotten back it's taken over her life. No more cruising or crawling for this chick! She's hilarious to watch, basically the definition of a "toddler" as she rocks her weight back and forth from leg to leg. She looks like a teeny tiny weeble wobble. We've been putting soft soled leather shoes on her, like Robeez and Bobux because she uses her toes so much for balance. Sweet Baity Barksdale was nice enough to lend us some precious hot pink Puma tennis shoes and we tried them on the other day, knowing that eventually the ground will be too cold for the soft leather bottom shoes. I have never laughed so hard in my life! Ella totally could not figure it out, she'd pick her feet up so high to take a step. Bryan, Aaron and I were cracking up watching her. Of course, it helped that I just had her in a t-shirt and diaper so we could see those cute chubby legs too. We had to put them on her yesterday for the football game because it was freezing out and it was kind of mean of us. She really can't walk in them very well since she can't feel the ground through the soles, so I'm not sure what we'll do from here now that it's so cold out. And for the game, we lasted one whole quarter. Apparently NC is finished with fall and it's eerily similar to a frozen tundra in my opinion. Way too cold to have a baby out, even in 3 layers of clothing, watching the pigskin.

In other Ella news... her bottom two teeth have FINALLY broken through. I swear this poor child has been teething since she was three mmonths old. Really the only difference I noticed in her during the last week of cutting these two was her waking up cranky occassionally. She's usually perfectly content to entertain herself in her crib for a while, talking to herself and her stuffed sheep, for about 15 minutes before I have to go in and get her. Not so much last week. I'm guessing it's because of the teeth. And she's wanted to be held, a lot. Which is fine, except I've got things to do around the house that aren't as easy when lugging around 18 pounds of cute.

On the health front, Ella got to take a trip to the doctor 2 weeks ago because of a rash on her tummy. How on earth could my sweet, precious little girl have a rash? Blame her daddy. Yes, Bryan was kind enough to pass on his dry skin. Not only does my daughter look exactly like her daddy she also has eczema like him too. Awesome. We have to cut back on her baths, change her soap and lube her up with Eucerine twice a day, supplemented with prescription hydrocortizone cream when it gets bad. Bless her heart! I don't think it's bothering her yet, she's not scratching like it itches or anything, but it looks awfully painful. She does like to help rub in her lotion on her tummy while laughing at me, which is pretty comical. I can definitely tell the cold, dry weather is not helping either. It's not so red since we've been using the prescription cream but she looks like an alligator in some spots. So we'll just have to beat it into her head that lotion is going to take ten minutes out of everyday of her life from here on.

Because I can't post on the blog without any pictures, here are some random ones from the last couple of weeks, including one from our short but sweet visit with Aunt Lytch... (and before any of you who know how cold it was here this weekend jump all over me, niether of the football pictures are from yesterday. Believe me, she had on waaaayyy more articles of clothing to keep warm and toasty for the 45 minutes we stayed)...

Jamaica me married....

2008-11-05T15:09:00.000-05:00

Bryan and I were fortunate enough to join our friends Ron and Jennifer in Negril, Jamaica for their wedding last week. What a time we had! It rained quite a bit, but not Saturday night, when it counted. It was so nice to get away for a while and hang out with friends we don't see very often. The ceremony was beautiful, I'll tell you... if you ever want something done right have Jennifer plan it. We watched about 4 other couples get married Saturday and everyone of them now probably thinks their wedding was lame after seeing this one. It could not have been more perfect! Thanks, Jennifer and Ron for including us in your special celebration!!

Halloween

2008-11-05T14:57:00.000-05:00

Bryan and I had to miss Ella's first halloween due some friends wedding in Jamaica. However, my mom was more than willing to get our little one all dressed up to be shown off around the neighborhood. I came up with the stellar idea for her to be a flower... our little girl, who has never given us on second of frustration with hats was not gonna have it. (sound familiar, christina?) As soon as the costume arrived in the mail I ripped into it to try it on her. Could she possibly be more pissed at me for putting this thing on her head? I think not.

I warned my mom that it would be no small task for her to get Miss Ella to cooperate on Halloween. Apparently she likes my mom more than me because not only was mom able to get it on her without a fight, she left the freaking thing on for 3 hours! Even ate her dinner in it. I'm sorry I missed that! Here are some of the photos that were waiting for me when I checked e-mail Saturday morning.

Fun with Granddaddy (and Deacon too!)

2008-10-25T17:20:00.000-04:00

Since I was working furniture market my mom was nice enough to watch Ella everyday for us. Bryan actually went out of town for work Wednesday through Friday so both Ella and I spent Wednesday and Thursday night at my folks place, to save mom the drive back and forth from Greensboro. Wednesday night Miss Ella had a ball playing with her Granddaddy and my old toy phone. They kept passing the phone back and forth, each taking a turn talking on it. So cute! And, like always, Ella was following Deacon everywhere he went. We're working on "gentle" with her because when she pets him it's more like beating him. She loves him though, and I think he's getting used to her being in his face all the time! Notice she's rocking the precious halloween dress her Nana made for her.

Getting ready for Halloween

2008-10-25T16:41:00.000-04:00

I know it's been so long since I've posted... I was working the furniture market last week and by the time the days were over all I wanted to do was crash. We finaly took Ella to the pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin. She was a bit confused by the whole thing, surrounded by huge orange circles almost as tall as she is!

And of course we had to check out the little pumpkins too, including the obligatory taste test.

Ella recieved the cutest shirt in the mail not too long ago, and she certainly has taken to being "the ghotess with the mostest" this holiday season.

(October 15, 2008)

Just a little practice...

2008-10-15T16:32:00.000-04:00

I just came across these pictures the other day and thought they were so cute I had to post them. This was at my family's beach trip last summer, I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Ella and we had just found out she was a girl about a week before the trip. Bryan got a lesson in dealing with little girls from my cousins, Catherine and Claire. Not only did he fix their hair for them, he let them fix his hair too. So cute!! I know we'll be seeing repeats of this when (if) Ella gets hair.

Bath time

2008-10-15T16:27:00.000-04:00

These photos aren't anything special but I figured it's bee a while since I've put any pictures of Ella's second favorite activity (second only to eating) up here so here are some fun ones from her bath the other night...

Weekend Fun

2008-10-08T13:13:00.000-04:00

Somehow, between parties the last couple of weekends we've still had time for some family stuff too. Most of you know Little Miss Ella is a wiggle worm, always moving. It's a struggle to get her to sit still long enough to drink a bottle. Because of this we've not spent a lot of time reading to her. Lately thought she's started picking up her books and taking them to Bryan to read to her. Why is this? Bryan has never read an entire book in his life! I'm the resident book worm yet Ella would prefer to have her daddy read to her... I guess when she's stuck with me all day she'll do anything to spend some quiet time with him during the evenings. It so sweet to see her sitting there looking at all the pictures while he reads to her. I'm trying to get her to sit with me too, but I'm not holding my breath that will happen anytime soon.

Also Nana and Grandpa were in town working on their house in Sophia so Ella got lots of time outside to explore the new place.

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays

2008-10-08T11:59:00.000-04:00

Our last 2 weekends have been chock full of birthday bashes for Ella's friends. For some reason we're surrounded by fall babies!

On September 27 we headed to the Burch household for Addie's 1st birthday. Cupcakes for all! Stacy had set up a pumpkin painting station for the kiddoes, Ella is too young to enjoy it but she sure did like watching the bigger kids participate! She mostly pushed Addie's toy around the yard and danced when Baity would push the lion's nose to make it sing. My girl loves to shake her booty!

Ella dancing with the lion She's waving at somebody here.

Sweet Ellison Soto painting her pumpkin

Addie in all her birthday glory

Caroline Perez enjoying her cupcake

Precious Baity Barksdale. Those eyes kill me, they are so freaking blue!

Ella actually let us put a party hat on her and she kept it on forever. I can't believe it didn't drive her crazy.

Ellison wanted to share her cupcake with Bryan.
Cutie pie, Ella James Schwanke.
The cool cupcake pinata. I had never seen one of these before but the kids pull off the ribbons one by one to make the candy fall out-- a bit safer than having a bunch of toddlers swinging a bat around! [September 27, 2008]

The following weekend it was off to Caroline Perez's 2nd birthday party. What else but a "Backyardigans" theme for this precious little one! Complete with a mini bounce house and balls! This thing was the perfect size for little ones, in fact I told Bryan we should get one and put it up in the house since we can't get Ella to play in the pack 'n' play but we couldn't get her out of this one!

The birthday girl in the ball pit, and of course she's sporting a pink tutu!
Ella's first birthday party casualty... she sliced her finger open on Bryan's beer can. Don't get me started on how it happened, sometimes I wonder what dad's are thinking. Anyway, once she realized she had to sit still so we could keep a paper towel on it to stop the bleeding (I swear it was like Old Faithful) she was pretty cool about it.
Ella James and Ellison took their turn in the bouncy house/ball pit
Caroline about to blow out the candles on her giant cupcake. Ella and Addie enjoying the view from their daddy's shoulders
Ella James trying to figure out how the bubbles come out of the wand. Bryan was incredibly patient with her but she never got it. I tend to agree with her, it's much more fun to have someone else do it for you!
Caroline and Allie going after the pinata. For those of you who no nothing of the world of Noggin, this is Uniqua, a main character on the Backyardigans. I have no idea what kind of animal she's supposed to be and no idea where the writers came up with the name "Uniqua"
The girls were having some trouble so Caroline's daddy, Tony, came to the rescue to get the trap door open
Addie and Ellison wanted to make sure there was no candy left on the ground! [October 5, 2008]

The last party of the weekend was to celebrate Riley Brundage's 3rd birthday. What a sweet girl! We arrived a little late due to Ella taking an extra long morning nap Sunday. What a sight we arrived to. The entire backyard was taken up by a huge bouncy Princess castle. And kids running around everywhere. Ella was in hog heaven with so much activity to watch. Riley is so good to Ella and such a good big friend. When we got there it was like the bouncy castle and all her friends disappeared, Riley was so intent on playing with Ella! I swear, she is the sweetest! I will say however, never in my life have I wanted to discipline someone else's child so badly. Not Riley, of course. This other little girl, who had to be at least 6 or 7 kept opening Riley's gifts. Carrie, Riley's mom, was trying to read all the cards as Riely was opening, so her mom could write down who gave what, and I was picking up the discarded wrapping paper so they woulnd't have trash all over the back yard. But it was impossible to keep up because there were like 4 kids opening presents. After about 5 minutes most of the parents had pulled the kids out of the circle, except this one little girl. Who just kept tearing into all of the presents. not only did Riley miss out on opening a lot (which is super fun and important when you're three!) but Carrie's mom had a hard time keeping up with who brough which present because I kept finding cards in bags the other little girl had opened and we had no clue what went with what. I'm warning you all now... if any of your kids show up to Ella's 3rd birthday and start opening her presents (especially if they're old enough to know better) I will hurt you. Not your child, but you. Don't say I didn't warn you ;)
Riley talking to Ella

Ella enjoying some pizza crust.
The Birthday Girl about to blow out her candles
Little Miss Logan Brundage
Riley's super cool Butterfly Wings that light up and play music.

Okay, this conludes the longest post in Holcomb family history. With all the parties behind us it's time to start planning Ella's for the end of November. I cannot believe she's almost 1!!!

Ella's First Steps!!

2008-10-07T10:31:00.000-04:00

Hooray for Ella, she took 8 steps yesterday all by herself. Last week we noticed she would let go of whatever she was holding on to and stand by herself, occassionally taking a step... but that step was more to balance herself than to get anywhere. Yesterday she threw that out the window and was "walking" to me, my mom, and, when he got home, Bryan. As long as she can't reach us she'll keep taking steps and reaching her arms at us. The most she took at one time yesterday was 8! I have no pictures yet but will definitely take some today to post later. We have some serious baby proofing to do to this house if she's going to be even more mobile than she is right now!

Play time with Keller

2008-09-22T10:35:00.000-04:00

This past Friday Ella got a little play time with her cousin Keller. While it was great to see the Best family and have some time to hang out, it was due to a funeral, and that's never a good thing. However, Ella made the most of it and showed off for everyone there, clapping, waving, and babbling up a storm. Keller is 11 weeks younger than Ella and is lucky he made it out alive. Our little monkey kept trying to use him as a climbing toy, bless his heart! But he was trooper and put up with all her shenanigans.

I promise, Ella did not push Keller over here! He just can't quite sit up by himself and I couldn't snap the picture quickly enough.

Go Buckeyes?

2008-09-22T10:22:00.000-04:00

I've been getting a lot of slack for having a million pictures of Ella in WFU gear and none in her OSU stuff... okay, okay, I give up. I tried to get some shots of her in my Ohio State hat last week, it didn't go so well. My baby, who has never complained about having a hat on her head, kept trying to pull it off. And when she wasn't pulling it off she was making an awful face and some weird snorting thing with her nose. I have NO IDEA where she picked that up but we need to put a stop to it because it is not cute. Here are the memories from the attempt to get Ella to cheer for the Buckeyes.

Play date

2008-09-12T23:35:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, Ella and I had the Barksdale girls over for some fun. Poor Baity had KinderMusic and her cousin at her house for the morning and missed her nap so she was a bit sleepy through the whole event but we had fun anyway. Because both Ella and Baity are so into everything it was a bit difficult getting a picture of the two of them together. Oh well, you'll have to settle for a couple of individual ones. I think it's fun to get these two together because they have almost the exact same age difference as me and my BFF (shout out to Lanie!!). Lane is 3 months 14 days older than me, Baity is 3 months 21 days older than Ella. Now that I've typed that out it sounds a bit "stalkery"... I totally don't expect Ella and Baity to be BFF, it's just interesting to me to think about Ella's playdates vs. mine 30 years ago. Yikes, I am 30 years old. Ouch! Okay, back to the subject... here are the beautiful little girls.

Baity enjoying her sippy cup

Ella decided that the sippy cup should be hers...

...so Baity took her favorite teething toy, the Tylenol bottle. Served her right!
You know I have to be honest here, I get way more out of these playdates than Ella. The time with my girlfriends is irreplaceable and I appreciate everyone of them and every second of the time they share with me more than they will ever know.

Fall is on the way...

2008-09-12T23:04:00.000-04:00

I know, we're two weeks into football season, I should have realized that fall was right around the corner. But for some reason it didn't occur to me till Ella and I headed to the grocery store yesterday. The temp was a bustling 65*. I know, I know, so many of you who are looking at this right now (yes, that's you people from Ohio & Michigan) are laughing at me right now but please remember... I was born and raised here in NC and 65* is downright chilly in my books, get over it. Anyway- I realized I have no clothes for Miss Ella for fall. This could be a problem. Digging through her closet and drawers I came across a precious outfit that her Great Aunt Sue and cousin Jessie sent her when she was born, brown corderoy pants and an adorable collared shirt with matching sweater. So cute and so fabulous that Ella is still wearing 3-6 month clothes! I couldn't resist taking some pics of her in what I like to call her "fall fabulousness."

She is actually standing up by herself here but shaking her rattle with her right hand super hard. By the time I grabbed the camera and was able to snap her picture she was in the process of sitting down. For the record, she was balancing by herself for a good 15 seconds. Lord help me, she'll be walking before I know it.
Just taking a break with her blankie..., which I've started to referring to as her "little one" just like the one I had when I was tiny.

Okay, I'll say it. I've never been a fan of blue jeans on babies. I don't know why, it's just never been my thing. Insert appropriate snob comment here. Fine. Well, since it was chilly again today when we left the house (and Ella's diaper decided to leak yesterday in her courderoy so they were in the washing machine) I pulled out the only other pair of warm pants I could find... jeans. Oh my gosh, SO FREAKING CUTE ON HER! Thank you Stacy and Addie for giving us these at the shower because the whole outfit is precious on her! Again, hooray for my child for fitting into 3-6 months clothes at 9 months. I swear I took 300 pictures of her today in this outfit. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Lastly, sadly I have no pictures from this excursion, thank to Alisha and sweet little Ella James for having us over this morning! Your new house is fantastic and both Ella and I hope to have many more fun play dates with you. Bryan and I cannot wait for our photo session in November! For those of you unaware of Alisha's talent you can see her photos in her blog, linked the left of the screen in the "My Friends Blogs" section. Trust me, she's AMAZING and we feel so fortunate to have her take Ella's pictures this fall. And her daughter (Ella James) is too cute for words. And so tiny! She makes our Ella look ginormous and that's really saying something. So thanks, Alisha and Ella James, for the hospitality. Oh- and the turnovers, so yummy. I had scarfed both of them down before I was at the end of your street! (Rebecca, because I know you're reading this, it was wonderful to see you too but I'm still a little mad I didn't get any of Allie's apple butter- haha!)

9 month check-up

2008-09-09T10:48:00.000-04:00

This morning started with a trip to Northwest Pediatrics for Ella's nine month check-up. How happy was I when the nurse told me there were no shots this appointment?!?! Big relief... with Ella's teeth giving her a fit this week the last thing I needed was to add shots to the equation. Everything checked out great, she's weighing in at 17lbs 3oz and is 27 inches long (tall). Still a bit on the small side, in the 25 percentile on both counts, but right on track for where she should be. We 're giong to start tabe foods this week, I was skeptical since she doesn't have any teeth yet but Dr. Vapne assured me that as long as the food was soft or mushy she'd be fine. So we'll see how that goes. We don't have another check-up till 12 months but Dr. Vapne wants me to bring her in October to get a flu shot. And just to brag on my daughter for a second-- I always get a kick out of going to the dr's office because all the nurses always come in to say hi to Ella and ooh and ahhh over her. Kind of nice when people who see babies all day still think mine is precious :)

Fun with Daddy

2008-09-08T11:03:00.001-04:00

To cap off a fantastic weekend of sports the Holcomb fam headed to Bryan Park yesterday to watch the Greensboro College soccer game. Again, it started right about Ella's nap time (I'm starting to notice a theme here) so we went early to try to catch a bit of the first game of the day. We missed it but it gave Ella a chance to get tossed around a bit. So funny! She laughs and laughs when she's in the air! I won't comment on her gut hanging out of her shirt ;) As for GC, they were losing 0-1 when we left at the end of the first half. Oh well, at least Ella got to see some of her daddy's football this weekend too.

New toy for Ella

2008-09-08T10:53:00.000-04:00

Since Ella has started walking around while holding on to things she has been on the go constantly. I knew she'd not be happy very long at tailgates if she had to be held the whole time and crawling on hot asphalt isn't really an option, not to mention who wants to hold her the whole time? And everyone knows bending over to hold her hands while she walks starts to hurt after a while so I stopped by Target to get her a walking toy. What a good call! She LOVES it. All last night she walked from one end of the bonus room to the other, back and forth between Bryan and I. It converts to a riding toy as well, and she liked sitting on it but can't quite figure out how to move it that way. I can't wait to pull it out at the next tailgate and watch her go.

WFU vs Ole Miss

2008-09-08T10:38:00.000-04:00

Ella attended her first WFU football game this weekend and what a blast she had! Our tailgate was pretty full and she loved being able to talk to everyone and check out all the sights and sounds from the parking lot. We also happened to be parked next to a family with a 14 month old who was kind enough to share her Elmo doll with Ella. I was worried about what she was going to wear (yes, I know that comes as no surprise to anyone) as the one manufacturer who's items I like (Sara Lynn Togs) has lost her WFU licensing and everything in the Deacon Shop for girls is pink. Why? Is pink one of Wake's new school colors? I don't get it. Anyway... lucky for me the dress we got her for basketball season (sized for 3 months) still fits her, whew!

Kickoff was scheduled right at her nap time so Bryan and I were unsure as to how long she would last. She danced when she could hear the music, clapped when everyone else did and even yelled at the refs a couple of times through the entire first half. She probably could have made it through the 3rd quarter but we didn't want to chance it so we headed out at half time. All in all I'd say it was a great experience and I'm glad to know our girl has the chops to hang with the big kids at Groves Stadium. Looks like it's gonna be a great season, Go Deacs!

Are you ready for some football?

2008-09-04T11:17:00.001-04:00

Ella Anne Holcomb is!!!!

Baby clothes confuse me

2008-09-04T11:11:00.000-04:00

This is totally random... last night I went out with some girlfriends to grab a couple drinks and dinner. Great time, we should totally do it more often! Anyway--- Bryan stayed home with Miss Ella and was in charge of putting her to bed. This morning when she woke up and I went in her room I find her standing in her crib in a Baby Gap sleep sack, that appears to fit her perfectly. Hmmmm, I wonder to myself, where did this one come from? It looks like one we used when she was a newborn, I don't remember buying anymore in larger sizes. So I check the label... my nine month old daughter still fits in 0-3 month pj's from Baby Gap. How can this be? I thougt it was strange that she's still in 3-6 month things from Gymboree but seriously... 0-3 month clothes at this age? Who in the world comes up with these sizes? They make absolutely no sense to me.

Mommy & Me at the park

2008-09-02T10:37:00.001-04:00

On Saturday Ella and I headed to Fourth of July park in Kenersville to hang out with some of our old Mommy and Me buddies. We hadn't seen them in a while and it was great to catch up. It was here I discovered Ella's love for swings. Bryan and I took her to Country Park in Greensboro yesterday so she could swing some more. Because I'm a terrible parent I forgot the camera yesterday... but I did have it on Saturday so here are some memories from the Mommy & Me outing. The stroller brigade... from L to R: Irelyn, Camryn, Kira, Caleb, Ella, and Emery
Ella and Emery
Irelyn & Camryn
Ella swinging
Happy as a clam!
Irelyn is the first in the bunch to walk by herself

Nine months old today

2008-08-30T22:09:00.000-04:00

Wow, that is a scary thought. Ella's nine months old! She's into everything, crawling, pulling up, walking around the sofa, grabbing everything she can reach, climbing the stairs... she is in perpetual motion. She has finally realized that she can't yet walk by herself, and is very cautious when she lets go of whatever piece of furniture she's using to hold herself up. She now crawls on her hands and kness all the time, no more army crawling. She wants to play with anything and everything that is not a toy- her favorites are phones and remote controls. She has an old remote that we don't use, and old cell phone that we don't use and an old phone that are hers to play with-- well, she's no dummy. It's very obvious to her that Mommy and Daddy don't use them so she has no use for them either. She will pass by all of them to get to the real remote or one of our cell phones.

We went to the park today and found out that Ella loves to swing. We 've been with her on porch swings before and she enjoys that, but put her in the swing at the park by herself and she's in hog heaven. She's getting used to the umbrella stroller but I think she's not very happy with it because it's not high enough for her to see everything that is going on. But it sure is easier on me than lugging the big one in and out of the car. I think if she could spend all day in a grocery cart she'd be perfectly content. Or in the bathtub. That is still her favorite place to be. If i take her into any bathroom and put her on the floor she will crawl to the tub, pull herself up and try to climb in. Lifting her little leg trying to find something to give her a boost. When we put her in she splashes and chews on her toys and blabs away, loving every second of it.

She's still a little chatterbox. No "real" words yet but she's starting to understand the concept of conversation. She'll say something then wait for someone to respond before continuing on with her story. We've been watching a Baby Signs video with her pretty much everyday that she loves. It's the only way to get her to sit still for ten minutes. The first sign they go over is for the word "book" and about the time they move onto the next one she's over it and is ready to move on to something else, but I think she's getting it. Now when we turn the video on and she hears the intro song she'll put her hands together and say "ook" over and over. She's not quite got the sign down yet but I think it's encouraging that she puts her hands together like she's trying. The biggest problem is we can't get her to sit still long enough to read any books to her. We have to time it just right, usually right after she wakes up, so sadly, even though she may know the word she really has no frame of reference other than the books shown on the video. But we're working on it! As for other videos or shows she's not all that interested. Occassionally she'll stop what she's doing for a minute or two if the channel happens to land on Noggin but she's really not that into the TV at all. Which is fine by us. But boy, you turn on the Baby Signs video and she drops everything to watch it.

Just to celebrate the occasion here are a couple of funny pictures from lunch yesterday, where she decided that the food would be better on her head than in her tummy. Of course, she had already had her bath at this point in the day so I think she did it on purpose knowing I'd have to put her back in there. She's a genius you know ;)

More fun with the Brundage family

2008-08-30T22:00:00.000-04:00

Last weekend the Brundage gang came over to cook out. I cannot believe how big Logan has gotten, she's 6 months now, and Riley will be three in October. Ella absolutely loves playing with these girls. Funny story, Riley is in the final stages of potty training but they still are really careful with her, asking her a lot if she has to go, just to avoid any accidents. At one point she says she needs to go and wants "Ella's mommy" to go with her. There are no words to express how sweet I think it is that she's known Bryan and I since she was about 3 weeks old and she's never once said our names... now we're Ella's mommy and Ella's daddy. So cute! Anyway, we head into our downstairs half bath, where Bryan has just hung some pictures of Ella. In one she's sitting in a white whicker chair, wich Riley is quick to notice. She looks at me and says, "Ella's sitting in your chair, Ella's mommy." So I respond with, "yes, Riley she is sitting in a chair!" her sweet, angelic face looks up at me, cracks a huge grin and, shaking her head, says, "That silly ol' Ella!" I about lost it, it was so funny and cute and precious and I adore that litte girl!

Look out LPGA

2008-08-24T20:24:00.001-04:00

It's been a year since The Cardinal opened the new and improved golf course... and I just saw it for the first time yesterday. Pretty sad, huh? I'll blame it on being pregnant all last summer and lazines this summer. But yesterday Bryan and I decided, since Ella attended her first PGA Tournament last weekend, we should give her a chance to swing the sticks this weekend. She was so great! We only played the front nine but she was awesome the whole time, she crawled all over the place to get to the balls, drove the cart, and had an all around good time. It was a perfect day to be on the course weather-wise and there wasn't anyone behind us so we got to take our time and just enjoy the family outing. No surprise to anyone, I'm sure, Ella was sporting her new shirt from the Wyndham Tournament last weekend...

The new Mr. & Mrs. Gunter

2008-08-21T17:44:00.001-04:00

Two weekends ago we had the pleasure of attending the Ellison-Gunter wedding in Greenville, SC. Daniel, the groom, is pretty much responsible for Bryan and I meeting and I've been friends with his family forever. The weekend was fantastic... good food, good drinks, good friends, GREAT music. Daniel is a bit of a music snob... if it's not The Breakfast Club he's not interested. So, of course, they had to play at his reception. Which is the reason for all the aviator sunglasses. Everyone had a blast! Above are some great shots I wanted to share.

Better late than never?

2008-08-21T12:32:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, it's been forever since I've posted anything and that is totally my fault. Since I last was one here it seems like we've travelling non-stop! Here's a quick recap- we went to Ocean Isle Beach with (almost) the whole Bingham clan and had a blast, as always. It's nice to have a whole week to visit with the family and catch up. Downside, Bryan got me sick. Then I got Ella sick. Then Ella got everyone in Bryan's family sick, and my mom sick. After disinfecting our entire house I think all the germs are gone and we're back to normal.

We headed back to Sunset Beach for an ASHRAE conference for Bryan... lot of work for him, lot of pool time for me, Ella, and Nate. I think we got the best end of the deal! However, all Bryan's hard work paid off because he was awarded the Rudy Ferguson award, the highest award in his region... way to go B!

Here's a quick slide show of the highlights of our family time over the last month...

Ella's latest trick

2008-07-17T14:03:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning I heard Ella talking to herself in her crib around 7:30. This is not unusual, she wakes up pretty happy most of the time and is content to entertain herself for a while so I can muster the energy to get out of bed and make her a bottle. On an average day I just go in and pick her up, no big deal. Yesterday was a bit different. I opened the door and instead of seeing her smiling face laying down in the crib she was jumping up and down holding on to the crib railing laughing her head off. What?! Thank the lord we had lowered the mattress the night before because we knew it was just a matter of time, neither of us had any idea it would so soon though! Of course, I turned to get the camera and as soon as I was out of her sight she went into meldown mode. So I just took the camera in there with me when I got her up from her morning nap. Here is our baby, so proud of her new skills!

Has it been three years already?

2008-07-17T13:55:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Bryan and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary.... hard to believe it was three years ago all our friends were sweating profusely and praying it wouldn't rain at our outside ceremony. Just for the occasion here are some pictures from the wedding.

Big girl bath

2008-07-13T20:07:00.000-04:00

Ella has outgrown her baby bathtub... well, she's not too big for it but she hates it because she can't sit up and splash around in it. So we've moved up in the world to the real tub... if I thought she loved bath time before I was wrong. She's such a a little water bug, she could spend all day in the bath or pool. Each time we put her in the tub she just splashes, chatters, and laughs up a storm, having a ball. It's quite amusing to watch her.

Her personality is coming out more and more each day but I think it's most apparent when she's in the water. This is a great age and we are loving every second of watching her figure out the world.

Happy Birthday Rebecca!

2008-07-11T10:07:00.000-04:00

Wednesday night the book club girls got together to celebrate Rebecca's upcoming b-day... and all the other summer birthday gals too. We ate dinner in High Point, enjoyed a few bottle of wine and some great conversation. It was fun ladies. We definitely need to do this more often- I know it's been ages since we've actually discussed a book at book club but it sure was nice to not feel guilty for not having read the book! And from this day forward I promise to be better about reading the books- even if no one else does.

From L to R: Morgan, Megan, Nicole, Christina, Mollie, Rebecca, Stacy, and me

Thanks, Morgan for inviting me to be a part of the group and to all you other girls for making me feel so welcome immediately! I've really enjoyed getting to know you all over the last year or so... and I know Bryan has welcomed the evenings alone when I'm out with y'all ;) I'm really looking forward to our night in August.

She's pulling up... look out world!

2008-07-08T18:35:00.000-04:00

Mark down another milestone for Ella... this morning when I went into her room to get her up she was on her knees holding onto the crib railing. I called Bryan to tell him he needed to put the crib mattress down a notch tonight because I knew she'd be going all the way up in the near future. I did not realize that would be today! One of her favorties pastimes is crawling over the DVD player in the bonus room to get to the wires behind it. This afternoon I attempted to keep her from doing this by putting a sleeping bag (which just happened to be in the room- my organizational skills leave much to be desired) on top of the DVD player. My hopes were sort of an "out of sight out of mind" reaction from her- if she can't see the wires she won't want to play with them. Not so much. She crawled on over there, used the DVD player to get to her knees and the sleeping bag to get to her feet. Because I'm a bit psycho about documenting her life I always have the camera near by so I was able to get picstures when she did it again about 10 minutes later. Now you can see it too!

What a big girl!

Farfalle with Chicken, Tomoatoes, Carmelized onions, and Goat Cheese

2008-07-08T15:41:00.000-04:00

Okay I was flipping through one of my mom's Bon Appetite magazines the other day and saw a picture of something that look delicious. So I stole the page and made it for dinner the other night. Lord was it tasty, and super easy to make! So I've decided to share it... please make it and give it a try, it's so yummy.

2 tbs olive oil
2 large red onions, thinly sliced
2 tbs sherry wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
8 oz farfalle pasta (the bowties)
1 C dry white wine
1 C chicken broth
6 heirloom tomatoes, cored and chopped
2 C shredded cooked chicken
1/2 C fresh thyme
3 C baby spinach
3 oz soft goat cheese, crumbled

Heat oil over med-high heat, add onions and a pinch of salt till beginning to brown (about 8 minutes). Reduce heat to med-low, stir in vinegar and sugar and sautee till onions are brown (about 15 minutes). Transfer onions to bowl. Cook pasta according to package directions. Add wine to skillet, reduce to 1/2 C. Add pasta, onions, broth, and next 3 ingredients, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to heat through. Put baby spinach in serving bowl, spoon pasta mixture over spinach and top with crumbled goat cheese.

4th of July Family Fun

2008-07-05T17:03:00.000-04:00

We headed to Morgan and Bill's house to celebrate America's birthday with BBQ, a parade, and lots of friends. As usual we had a great time and all the little ones did an excellent job decorating their bikes, scooters, and wagons. One girl even did the whole parade on a pogo stick, I got tired just watching her! The little ones enjoyed playing in the yard and watching the big kids go by.

Chilly nap time

2008-06-30T14:29:00.000-04:00

I guess the room Ella's pack'n'play was set up was a bit cold Friday afternoon... I put her down for her nap and when I went back in to check on her about an hour later she had somehow managed to wrap herself up like a little burrito in her blankets. Silly girl!

I love cucumbers... and so does my baby!

2008-06-30T14:14:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me well knows that, as a child, the only "green" food that ever went into my body was cucumbers. I absolutely loved (and still love) them... I guess Ella has taken a liking to them as well. This past week at the beach when her gums were bothering her my mom had the bright idea to giver a cold cucumber to chew on. It worked like a charm! She didn't want to put it down! I guess she comes by it honestly.

Sunset Beach

2008-06-30T13:51:00.000-04:00

Last week Ella and I were lucky enough to be invited to the beach with my parents. Hooray, I love the beach! Well, beach vacations are very different with a baby. I usually just grab my chair and book and hit the sand as soon as I wake up in the morning and just sit out there all day long. Not so much when you have a baby with you. I waited till after Ella's morning nap everyday to get her all greased up with the sunscreen (I used SPF 70- probably going a bit overboard) and into her swim diaper and bathing suit. Then load up the beach bag with the necessecities and head out. This trip was even different from when we went a couple of months ago because now Ella will not go to sleep out there- she wants to make sure she doesn't miss anything. So I could only stay out there as long as she wasn't having a meltdown from exhaustion. Anyway, we put her in the ocean for the first time and she LOVED it!! Which really comes as no surprise as much as she like to splash in the bathtub. But even the salt didn't bother her. She couldn't quite figure out the sand, tried to eat it and realized maybe she shouldn't put it in her mouth, but enjoyed digging around in it all the same.
We also figured out that Ella enjoys cold water to drink. I have tried to give it to her before and she wanted nothing to do with it out of a sippy cup... but straight out of the water bottle she was all about it. It probably helped that it was getting the taste of the seawater out of her mouth. When we got back inside the empty bottle rolled out of my bag and she scooted right over to it, and I think was a bit irritated that there was no water in it for her to drink. But she did enjoy playing with it for a while.

Cat's dress

2008-06-21T12:11:00.000-04:00

Ok, so Fox did post some pictures on line from the results show. Unfortunately there is not a close up of Cat's dress so you'll have to settle for a group shot. Love it!!

Why bother with crawling?

2008-06-20T13:40:00.000-04:00

Ella's not so new favorite activity is standing up. She's always been a fan of it but lately it's all she wants to do. Obviously, she can't do it by herself. But if she's laying down and you hold her hands she will stiffen her body like a board and pull as hard as she can to get herself vertical. She's got some serious muscles in those legs of hers! Now she's also figured out that if she puts one foot in front of the other we pretty much have to go wherever she wants to. Here she is leading Bryan around the bonus room.

But don't be decieved... her legs are not all muscle. There is plenty of meat there too. Seriously, the girl's got some chunk! Chekc these puppies out.

Cute Shots

2008-06-20T13:32:00.000-04:00

Here are just some cute photos of Ella I've taken over the last few days. Enjoy!
Teething is awesome.
I kind of think she's looking at me like, "I'm going over there Mommy, and you can't stop me!"
A new fave toy... pull the tail and it vibrates plus the wings are filled that crinkly paper. She loves it!

Hamming it up for the camera.

So You Think You Can Dance week 2

2008-06-20T13:21:00.000-04:00

First and foremost... THANK YOU Shane Sparks for not completely bailing on SYTYCD. The group piece last night was fantastic and I hope to see much more this season!

Thank God we finally got rid of the "club rat" (so aptly named by my sister) Susie. What a joke of a dancer she was... I think it was self-evident when she drew the salsa out of the hat, her supposed strength. She biffed it big time. In fact, Alex Da Silva, the choreographer, even said she was a street salsa dancer, not a real one. Peace out, Susie, you won't be missed by me.

Oh Marquis, I think you got robbed last night. Are you the strongest of the bottom 3 boys? Perhaps not, but you did, however, kick everyone's butt in the "Dance for your life" section and I'm sorry that the judges thought you were all tricks. To me that was way better than Chris just running around the stage and contracting every now and then. Alas, I am not the decision maker.

And oh Cat Deeley, once again you did not dissapoint. I'm so sad that there are no pictures yet of the fabulous dress she wore last night! What I would give to have it hanging in my closet along with an excuse to wear it. Hopefully Fox will update the website soon and I can post a picture so all of you to feast your eyes on it.

Ella's friends

2008-06-17T15:14:00.001-04:00

Ella and I have been going to Kernersville every Tuesday for the last 4 months to a Mommy & Me group that has been most fun. It's getting harder for me now that Ella's on the move but we've (I've) learned so much there from the other moms and the guest speakers. A few of Ella's buddies have "aged out" so we took some pictures this morning. We've got plans to keep getting together every couple of weeks since the girls are so close in age... hopefully we'll get that going soon!

Kira and Ella... Kira is 9 days older than Ella.Kira, Ella, and Camryn all very interested in the Baby Signs flash cards. Camryn's 5 weeks older than Ella and twice as big but such a cutie!!A better picture of Camryn... that's Irelyn in the back about to snatch the card out of Ella's mouth.Ella was not too happy about Irelyn taking her flash card and was in a big hurry to get it back.
One last picture of the girls... Kira, Ella, Camryn, and Irelyn.

More from the beach...

2008-06-16T18:08:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I finally took the other disposable camera from our "girl's weekend" at the beach with the Brundage girls... again, let me curse the fact that I left the digital camera battery at home b/c disposable cameras are the worst. For some reason I don't ever remember pics being this bad when I used them in the past, but whatever, they're all I have so I guess I'll just get over it and embrace them, fuzzinness and all. Just to make myself fell better I'll call them "vintage" rather than "fuzzy"... maybe that will help.

Here's Ella chewing on her toes... I know this was a while ago but at the time it was pretty amusing to watch. She's not doing it so much these days.

Riley, Logan and Ella (starting at top) lounging around in their diapers after a long day on the beach. What a life!

Riley entertaining the little ones.... I'd bet $1000 she was keeping them busy so Carrie and I could pour another glass of wine.

Ella and Logan ready to hit the beach.

My apologies for posting such old pictures! They're just such cute girls I couldn't resist.

So You Think You Can Dance

2008-06-13T14:30:00.001-04:00

All right, I admit it. I have a not so secret obsession with the show "So You Think You Can Dance." Usually by the end of the first show I already have decided who's going to win, and so far have been pretty close, if not right on the money, with my guesses. However, the talent this year is scary good and I honestly have no clue who it's going to be. I hate to think I might not get to see any Shane Sparks hip-hop choreography this year- bad move on his part if he's jumped to America's Best Dance Crew (on MTV) permanently. Nappytab's routines have been solid so far, but not as great as Shane's so that will make me very sad.

Sadly, I think I am as obsessed with Cat Deeley's wardrobe on the show as I am the dance pieces. Seriously, how much do I want this dress???

I can't wait to see what the rest of the season has to offer!!

S'Mores Brownies

2008-06-10T16:18:00.000-04:00

We had some people over this weekend for some BBQ and beer... sadly I have no pictures to post. That's really pathetic on my part, I know. Anyway, everyone raved about the s'mores brownies I made so I figured I'd post the recipe for those interested. Also, if any of you are ever in the mood for a glass of Pinot Grigio please feel free to stop by anytime... I bought a case and I swear we only went through 4 bottles. With 50 people I have no idea how that happened.

10 HONEY MAID Honey Grahams, broken in half (20 squares), divided
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
4 squares BAKER'S Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
2-1/2 cups JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows
1 cup BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks

HEAT oven to 350°F. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with foil; grease foil. Place 15 grahams in pan, overlapping slightly. Break remaining grahams into pieces; set aside.

MICROWAVE butter and chocolate in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min.; stir until melted. Add sugar, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in flour. Pour over grahams in pan.

BAKE 30 to 32 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake.) Sprinkle with marshmallows and chocolate chunks. Bake 3 to 5 min. or until marshmallows begin to puff. Press reserved graham pieces gently into marshmallows. Cool. Use foil to remove brownies from pan before cutting to serve.

Six month check up

2008-06-09T13:01:00.001-04:00

This morning Ella and I were off to Northwest Pediatrics for her 6 month check-up. I cannot believe she's already half a year old! Everything was great... she's weighing in at 14lb, 12oz and is 24 5/8 inches long (tall). Right on track for where she should be. She's a bit on the small side of average, but based on her progress since birth no one seems very worried about it. Basically she's perfect... not that I needed a doctor to tell me that!

Hooray for Sweet Potatoes!

2008-06-09T12:47:00.000-04:00

We ended up delaying real food for Ella a bit... at her 4 month check up the Dr. Vapne said we could start her on rice cereal so we tried and it was a disaster. She just wasn't ready for it yet. Well, now I'm starting to think she was ready for food- just not that nasty rice cereal. I made an executive decision to delay the food, partly because I didn't think she was ready and partly because of all the travelling we were doing there was no way we would be able to get her into any sort of routine. So when we returned from Orlando I tried the rice cereal again. Major trainwreck! It was all over the place because she just kept spitting it out she'd get her hands away from me and smear it all over her face and bib, anything to keep from swallowing it. But she was opening her mouth for the spoon so I knew she'd figured it out, it must just taste awful. Monday night we tried sweet potatoes... jackpot! We had figured out that she has a bit of a sweet tooth because she loves to suck the juice off of our fingers if we've been eating fruits. Boy did she go to town on those sweet potatoes! And hooray for her Daddy, who's so good at feeding her! She's a very neat eater, and he's so good about scraping the excess off of her face. And it's a great bonding time for them each night.

Since the realization that she likes "real people food" better than the rice goop we've given her applesauce and green beans too... both were sucessful! I think tonight we'll try a little butternut squash and see how that goes over.

I'm still putting the vitamins in her bottle once a day so the Dr. says she doesn't really need the rice cereal since she's geting iron from that, the only benefit it has is to fill her little tummy. I'm gonna try oatmeal I think and see if she likes that better.

Fun time in Orlando

2008-06-04T14:18:00.001-04:00

Yes, we put Ella on yet another plane this past weekend. She's such a great little traveller! We left Thursday afternoon on Southwest headed to sunny Florida, again. Only this time it was just for fun and relaxation. The point of the trip was to visit our friends the Parks. We hadn't seen them since last March, when we went skiing in Breckenridge together. It was so wonderful to catch up with them! Thursday night we went to dinner at a cool place called City Fish, right next door to Michael's office. Angel and Michael are expecting a baby boy, their first, in October so we decided to break Michael in... here he is carrying Ella's seat and Angel's purse. That's my kind of man! And don't worry- we've already talked about an arranged marriage for Baby Parks and Ella.

Friday the girls hung out by the pool in the backyard while the boys went to play golf. Friday was my birthday (the big 30) and Ella's 1/2 birthday. Angel and Michael were so sweet and got me a cake! We went to dinner at Houston's, which is on a gorgeous lake in Winter Park and the food, atmosphere, and company were perfect for the celebration!!
We spent the rest of the evening in thier hot tub watching the basketball game and drinking. I'll let you choose which drink was mine and which was Ella's.

Saturday we were able to see the shuttle launch from their backyard, which was pretty cool. The PIcs don't do it justice but I'll post some anyway. Angel and I went to get pedicures and do some shopping while the boys were on baby duty. Saturday night was more good food and conversation. As I'm going through these pictures I've realized I don't have one of the four of us, darn it! Oh well, we're hoping they'll head up our way late summer and I'll be sure to get some then. Here's a cute one of Angel and Ella. They are going to be such great parents!!!

Steel City

2008-06-04T13:38:00.000-04:00

Another trip to add to the books of Ella's short life... a drive to the Steel City, Pittsburgh, PA. Bryan's Aunt Becky got married the weekend of May 23rd. Thanks to Skybus closing their doors we decided to make the drive in the Yukon. We let around 5PM Thursday night, just in time for Ella's nap. Good call. She slept for a good hour and half. The next hour and half I sat in the back seat an entertained her. We stopped in Summersville, WV to spend the night and got back on the road Early Friday morning. Made it to Pittsburgh in another 3 hours or so. Checked into the hotel and we were set for the weekend. All the cousins came in from all over the country (GA, TX, MI, and CA) so it was great to see them all. Friday we just hung out and went to dinner with everyone. Here's a pic of Ella and her 2nd cousin, Chloe.

Saturday we did a lot of sightseeing during the day. We went down town to Pointe State Park. Ella enjoyed the time in the Baby Bjorn, taking in all that the city had to offer. Here a a few shots from downtown.

Ella fell alseep on the way to lunch.

For lunch we went to Primanti Brothers. Great place, total dive. Looking at the menu we noticed that the Philly Cheese Steak was the #2 best seller but no one could find what was #1. So we asked. The number one seller at Primanti Brothers? The beer, of course! The concept of the place is simple, no overhead and no utensils. So they just go ahead and put the cole slaw and french fries on your sandwhich, and serve it to you on wax paper. It was so tasty. Ella really wanted to tryBryan's Cheese Steak.

Saturday night we went to the wedding. Here's Mike, Jessie and Nathan waiting to be seated. And a family photo of us in our Sunday best.

And perhaps my fave picture from the whole weekend.... Ella and her Holcomb men. I love this photo!!!

Sitting up and on the move.... sort of

2008-06-04T13:28:00.000-04:00

Ella has just recently started to balance by herself while sitting up. As long as we're close by to keeo her from banging her head on the ground... She's also figured out how to "army crawl" for lack of a better term, she can get her right leg up under her. She pushes with her leg and pulls with her arms, like she's crawling under barbed wire in boot camp or something. Pretty funny to watch. But you've got to watch her, she's quick and will be playing with the electrical outlets in no time if you let her get on her way.

Bienvenidos a Miami

2008-05-22T12:51:00.000-04:00

Yes, Ella had her first trip to South Beach last week. She's just so trendy, ya know?!? My cousin Brooke got married in Coconut Grove on Saturday so we used the extra time in the Miami area to so some sight seeing. We arrived THursday afternoon.... please don't get me started on why it is cheaper to fly 20 minutes to Charlotte, sit in the airport for 2 hours and then leave for Ft Lauderdale rather than just driving 2 hours to Charlotte and saving bunches of time.... and airline fuel! Quite annoying. But Ella was kept occupied during our layover by her granddaddy playing around on the floor with her. Notice the similar hairstyles ;)

Once again she was a dream on the planes. We were really worried because of her ear infection but it didn't seem to bother her at all. Once we arrived it was straight to the hotel... kudos to whatever brand of minivan we rented, we managed to get myself, Bryan, my parents, McNair, Ruthie, Ella and car seat, and ALL of our luggage in without being too cramped. Of course, once we got to the hotel and started unloading I'm sure we looked a bit like a clown car at the circus. Oh well! Ella was very anxious to begin doing her research on what the area had to offer. We just went to dinner that night down the street from the hotel at a yummy French restaurant. When we were in Miami last January for the Orange Bowl we made sure to try out Joe's Stone Crab in South Beach... there was NO WAY we were going to miss out on another opportunity to feast there. Joe's is actually the oldest restaurant in South Beach and here's how it works, they give you a menu to look at, you ignore it, the server tells you what you're going to eat. I'm sure everything on the menu is delicious but if you ever go you have to eat they're "signature" meal. Stone crab, grilled tomatoes, hash browns, and skinny sweets. The tomatoes are huge slices, covered in creamed spinach, topped with cheese, and grilled to perfection. The hash browns are divine and the skinny sweets are double fried sweet potatoe fries. I cannot even begin to describe the delisciousness that is the stone crab. YUMMY!! The wait staff is also very knowledgeable about how many orders of what to get based on the number in your party, as it is all served family style. We got 2 orders of jumbo and 1 order of large stone crab claws. Please, promise me if you're ever there you will go- warning it is super expensive but worth every penny for the experience, the service, and the quality of food. But go early, there is always a wait.

Playing with Uncle McNair while waiting for our table at Joe's.Being tossed around by Daddy.

Ella checking out the stone crab... you can see how huge they are, they're as big as her head! And we all know she's got quite a noggin on her.

Friday night the rehearsal dinner was at a place down the street from out hotel called Cafe TuTuTango. How cute is that? The food was fantastic and everyone had a great time I think. Ella liked the party so much we could not get her to go to sleep. This picture was taken around 10:30 and she was still wide awake and showing off for everyone there.

After the dinner was over we sent Ella home with my parents and Bryan, McNair, and myself spent some time hanging out with OD, a friend of McNair's from high school who lives in Miami. It was a good chance for he and McNair to catch up since they don't ever get to see each other. He's a teacher and lacrosse coach in Miami.

That's RC (he works with OD), Bryan, OD, me, amd McNair. And yes, we're at Hooters. Awesome.

Somehow on Saturday when Ella was taking a nap in the crib (so nicely furnished by the hotel) and decided that her bumper pad would make a great pillow and she managed to pull it down and rest her ehad on it. I don't know which was funnier, the fact that she did that or the lines and creases it left on her face when she woke up.

Saturday was also Ella's first time in a swimming pool. She absolutely loved it! I got her all dressed up in the new swimsuit her grammy Debi got her (it has a matching hat that is too precious but I couldn't get her to keep it on long enough to get a picture) and loaded her with 70SPF and we were good to go. Unfortunately the rest of the family was still eating lunch while we were in the pool so I only got some photos snapped at the end, when she was starting her "I'm so tired please put me to bed" meltdown. You can't tell from the pictures but she really did enjoy it!

The wedding was Saturday night and it was beautiful. We had a sitter for Ella and I'm afraid she got the wrong end of Ella not napping at all Friday... she was so cranky and crying the whole time. I felt really bad for April (the sitter) because Ella just could not be comforted. Ugh- I had been bragging about what a good baby she is and how she never cries, boy did she prove me wrong! At one point when I went up to check on her I could hear before the elevator doors even opened! Around 10:30 Bryan just went up to the room to stay with her and sent April down to the party. Oh well, we made it through anyway. Here's one last photo- Bryan and I at the wedding.
I can't believe we're leaving in 4 hours to drive to Pittsburgh...

QT with Aunt Lytch

2008-05-22T12:40:00.001-04:00

Although Ella is lucky enough to have lots of family close by to hang out, with her Aunt Lytch is far far away in Houston. The first time she met Ella was right around Christmas and we finally were able to see her again last week! Needless to say she was amazed by how big Ella has gotten-- 4 months is a lifetime in growth for a baby! Lytch has just finished her first year of law school and once her exams were over Wednesday she headed to NC to visit family and to VA to visit friends at her old stomping grounds, Hollins University. The vist for us was short and sweet as the Holcomb family was off to Miami Thursday morning. Ella and I picked Lytch up at the airport and she spent the night with us. It was great getting to catch up with her and give her some time with Ella, I wish it could have been longer! We're hoping she'll be able to get back up here before summer's over and we're planning a trip to the great state of Texas sometime in the fall to see her school and her apartment and such. Anyway- here a few pictures from her visit.

Hooray for a crafty Nana!

2008-05-13T13:05:00.000-04:00

Most of you already know this, but Bryan's mom is so talented when it comes to crafts it's not even funny. She crocheted the prettiest blankets for Ella and helped Grandma make a gorgeous quilt too. How fantastic that she's also a master seamstress!! She has made Ella some of the cutest dresses. So far they're all still just a tad too big for her but now that the weather's finally warming up I'm putting them on her anyway. This is one of the latest ones and it is so precious!

Happy Girl

2008-05-13T12:50:00.000-04:00

I hate to look at all the pictues of Ella and see that she's not smiling in many of them... I swear she is the happiest baby alive, she's also the most inquisitive baby alive. She can be smiling and laughing like crazy but as soon as she sees the red light on the camera, indicating that flash is about to go off, her smile disappears as she studies it, trying to figure out what's going on. It's great that she's so curious, but frustrating as all get out that it's next to impossible to get a picture of her smiling face with the camer we have. Alas, last night I was sucessful!! She has been so congested the last day or 2, in her head and her chest that I put her in a Vick's Vapor bath to try to loosen some of the crud up. I can't tell if she was just excited about the warm water or excited because her daddy was there to help bathe her for the first time since she was about 3 weeks old. Whatever it was, she was loving it, splashing around and kicking up a storm.
As for the congestion, we went to the pediatrician today. Even though she hasn't had a fever or anything I wanted to make sure all was well before we head to Miami on Thursday. Sure enough, she's got an ear infection. Nothing major, but she's started taking an antibiotic today so hopefully it will clear up quickly.

Ella's first plane ride....

2008-05-13T12:09:00.000-04:00

Ok I'm very late on this.... we went to New Mexico to visit Uncle Richard and Aunt Janine almost two weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to posting pictures. Sorry! We had a great time, Richard and Janine were wonderful hosts and made sure we saw all that the Albuquerque area has to offer!

Ella was great on the plane... we fed her during take-off and she had no issues with her ears and slept most of the time. Once we got to New Mexico it was non-stop action. We went to Taos and saw some amazing art and the pueblo up there. That was actually the only time Ella had a problem with pressure in her ears, heading up the mountain, but then Richard hit a pothole and shook everything loose. Here are some picture from the pueblo at Taos.

That's the Rio Grande River.

We also went to Acoma for a day, the oldest continuous dwelling place in America. Very cool! But also very cold and windy, since it's on top of a mesa. Ella was less than excited about the weather conditions up there.

The last day of our trip, Richard and Janine took us to an Albuquerque Isotopes game. They're a farm team for the Marlins, just like the Grasshoppers. Funny that they're actaully named after a team from an episode of The Simpsons! Ella got to meet Orbit, the mascot. We also shared the day with the kids from El Ranchito de los Ninos, a home for children that Richard and Janine's company sponsors. What a great group of kids!! Once a month the gang from Cliffdwellers (Richard and Janine's company) get together with them and celebrate the birthdays for that month. There were two celebrated that afternoon at the ball game, Avery turned 3 and earl turned 12. For more info on the home you can visit http://www.losninosnm.org/

The only complaint we have from the trip is that our hot air balloon ride was cancelled, but that was because of the wind... not a darn thing anyone could have done about it. And now, we have to go back just to do that! Thanks, Janine and Richard for showing us such a fabulous time!!

Election Day

2008-05-06T19:46:00.001-04:00

It was a big day for Ella... her first election day. It started like any other Tuesday, driving to Kernersville for Mommy & Me. A quick trip to Target was in the plans, as we were pulling in I noticed a bunch of State Trooper cars, I thought there might have been a wreck till I turned down the parking lot aisle and saw a huge looming tour bus parked in front of the Starbucks next door... John McCain's tour bus to be exact. Wow! Apparently even presidential candidates need their Starbucks fix. Knowing how much of campaigning is pressing flesh and kissing babies we jumped out of the car to see if we could get close enough for a photo op. There really was no one around, other than Secret Service people so I thought we had a pretty good chance. Sadly, as we got about half way across the parking lot they started to all load up the caravan. Bummer! We just missed him. Oh well. I thought it was kind of cool to know we were in the same place. After a trip to High Point to celebrate her grand-daddy's 60th birthday with some delicious Lexington BBQ, we headed to Calvary Church to vote. Ella was very helpful at the electronic voting machine, she kept reaching out trying to touch it. Luckily I was able to wrangle her in enough so she couldn't get to it. All in all it was a pretty exciting day in politics for the little one!

What is that face?

2008-05-05T13:23:00.000-04:00

So, I've decided that Ella is teething. Is this actually true? I have no idea, but the with amount of drooling and chewing she's doing, plus waking up screaming in the middle of the night, it's the only explanation I can come up with. So there you have it. For some reason she's decided that if she can't get to a toy or her pacifier to chew on, her bottom lip with do just fine. And this is the face we get a few hundred times a day now as she attempts to suck her bottom lip in far enough to chew it.
The picture truly doesn't do it justice.... it's a classic face, exactly like the funny greeting cards you see with the picture of old people with no teeth.

Ella and her buddy, Deacon

2008-05-05T13:18:00.000-04:00

After we got back from the beach Ella and I went to Winston to spend the day with my mom.... rather so Ella could spend the day with my mom and I could get an uninterrupted nap! While there, she got some QT with Deacon.

Beach Weekend

2008-05-05T13:01:00.001-04:00

Finally I have some photos from the beach trip with the Brundage girls... This is pretty much how Ella and Logan spent the time at the beach, napping in the shade listening to the sound of the waves. Carrie and I had to laugh at the fact we took all this time getting the little ones into their bathing suits, sunscreen, and cover-ups... then they spent a total of about 5 minutes in the sun the whole time we were there! Oh well. Riley, however loved the sand and the surf and had a great time digging holes and jumping over waves. Sorry the quality of these photos is horrible- that's the problem you run into using a disposable camera.

Here's a cute one of Riley and Ella... Riley was a huge help in entertaining the babies!I have more on anther camera that I haven't taken to be devloped yet, I'll post them as soon as I do.

Girls Weekend

2008-04-28T21:23:00.000-04:00

Okay, okay... I know it's been forever since I've added any pictures and I'm sorry... I'm still trying to get back into "regular" life after market. And I was lucky enough to get to the beach for af ew days last week. Yay for vacations! It was a girls weekend for me and Ella with our friend Carrie and her two precious girls, Riley and Logan. Pictures will be coming soon.... after making sure I charged the battery for our camera and triple checked the suitcase to make super sure I had packed the camera when I got there I couldnt find it in the suitcase. Darn it! So I called Bryan to see if I had acidentally left it on the bed when trying to make room in the suitcase for the monitor... he couldn't find it. After unpacking my whole bag I found it, it had slipped to the bottom. How happy was I!? Well, Bryan called back about 10 minutes later to tell me that he still could not find the camera, however the camera BATTERY was still in the charger. Great, Cameron, good job. Ugh! I had to make do with a disposable one from the gas station. Hopefully I'll get to Target tomorrow to get them all put on a disk and post them. Please keep your fingers crossed that they turn out okay, it's been so long since I haven't used a digital with the screen I'd almost forgotten how to use a view finder! Guess I'll find out tomorrow...

Standing Ovation

2008-04-11T08:46:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to let all the working moms out there know that you deserve an all-expense paid vacation... I'm sure it gets easier but this week has been such a struggle for me. I think the fact that Ella is not sure if she wants to sleep through the night is not helping either. The whole go to bed at midnight, get up at 2AM to deal with her for 45 minutes, go back to bed, get up at 5AM to deal with her, go back to bed, and have the alarm go off at 6:30AM then work till 6:30PM only to come home to be a mom till midnight and start all over again is so freaking hard! I feel fortunate that tomorrow is my last day for a while so I can get back to getting more than 4 hours of sleep. So to all you working moms, my hat's off to you. Give yourself a huge pat on the back and tell your husbands you deserve a spa treatment this weekend, lord knows you've earned it!!

Ella's 4 month check-up

2008-04-09T14:45:00.000-04:00

Is it totally pathetic that I was glad to miss Ella's 4 month appointment with the pediatrician yesterday? I'm such a wuss I just can't handle the shots... I know, I know, it's worse for me than it is for her. Since I'm working this week Bryan had the pleasure of taking her and I'm so happy she was looking at his face when the pain hit and not mine.

On a brighter note, everything looks good. She's growing right on target, weighing in at a hefty 12lbs 3 oz and strong as an ox. Dr. Vapne was very impressed watching her roll all over the exam table, she's such a little show-off. We've been cleared to start feeding her rice cereal, which we tried (unsucessfully) last night. I mixed it with formula, which she has not tasted since she was 4 days old, and she did not like the taste or smell one bit... but the face she made was hilarious. Today my mom mixed it with water and I think that went over a little better with her. I have to admit the formula smelled straight up nasty so I can't blame her for not wanting it. I also realized last night as I was preparing to give her the cereal that this child only has silver spoons. Ha! How appropriate for my little princess!

One last home-cooked meal for Bryan

2008-04-06T17:20:00.000-04:00

Market's a crazy time and since I don't get home till 7 usually cooking dinner is out of the question. Unusual for me because I love to cook and make dinner at least 4 or 5 times a week. Anway, to prepare Bryan for a week of take out, frozen pizza, and turkey sandwiches I made him a "last supper" so to speak, of course it was his favorite- flank steak. I got the recipe from Rachael Ray (I love her recipes but she bugs me to no end) and it was easy, the hardest part was grating the ginger and juicing the limes... and thanks to my super cool christmas gift from Bryan juicing the limes was simple.

Ginger Flank Steak and Wasabi Smashed Potatoes
2 inches fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
1/4 cup tamari aged soy sauce
2 limes, zested and juiced
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, eyeball it
2 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)
2 pounds flank steak
2 1/2 to 3 pounds Idaho potatoes, 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
Salt
1/4 to 1/3 cup cream
1 to 2 tablespoons wasabi paste - how hot do ya like it?
4 scallions, root end trimmed Handful cilantro leaves

Preheat a grill pan or indoor/outdoor grill to high.

Combine ginger, tamari, lime juice, oil and grill seasoning in a large sealable plastic bag. Add meat to marinade and coat evenly. Let stand 10 minutes then grill meat 6 to 7 minutes on each side.

Place potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, salt the potatoes and cook until tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and add them back to the hot pot. Smash the potatoes with a masher to desired consistency with the cream and wasabi. Adjust salt, to taste.
While potatoes and meat cook, finely chop the scallions together with cilantro and lime zest.
Let meat rest 5 minutes then thinly slice on an angle against the grain. Serve meat on mash potato mounds with a garnish with a generous sprinkling of the chopped scallion-cilantro-lime zest.

Working Woman

2008-04-06T15:41:00.000-04:00

Ahhhhh, back to the grindstone that is employment. Market is upon us again so I find myself immersed in the grand old world of the furniture industry yet again. Here I am sitting at the front desk of Fine Furniture Design & Marketing for the next seven days. How sad to leave Ella for 10 hours a day, how nice to have adult conversations while the sun is still up. But the best part is I get a paycheck at the end of the week!! Yippee!

The showroom looks fantastic, as usual and it seems that the buyers are very excited about the new product, so that's good. It's very cool to see and hear their first impressions of the front setting. So far so good. However, I do have some downtime between shooting people with my laser gun (well, it's not a laser exactly, but a scanner so all the information on the buyer's company is recorded into the computer) so I thought I'd share a funny story... Furniture is a bit of a "boys club" and I'm surrounded by men here. Okay, I can handle that. One problem, I'm still nursing Ella so I need to sneak away every three hours or so and "take care of some things" so that she will have food for the next day. As luck would have it there is one room in here that actually has a door on it. The wall doesn't go all the way up to the ceiling but there is a door... with a lock. So I've been sneaking up there and turning on the machine to take care of business, I don't know how many of you have experience with Medela pumps, but they are loud and it's a weird sound.

This afternoon I discovered that the lock on the door doesn't so much lock the door. Actually, the FFDM sales rep from TN found that out for himself. Like I said, the wall doesn't go all the way to the celing so you can hear the machine in the showroom and he wanted to check it out and make sure there wasn't something wrong. What did he find but me, hooked up the breast pump! I wish I had a picture of his face, boy he backed out of that room quickly, apologizing the whole way. hahahaha! I was covered so it was no big deal, but I don't think he stuck around long enough to realize that. Too funny. Later he came by my desk and apologized again, saying he heard the noise and never in a million years would have guessed that's what it was. I don't know anyone who would have, so I can't fault him for it. Thank goodness he has kids so I guess it made it easier for him and a little less awkward.

And no, before you ask I do not have pictures of this to post. :)

Cute Pictures

2008-03-28T17:39:00.000-04:00

No real "reason" for this posting except to share a few more cute pictures of Ella from the last few days.

She's getting really good with the whole thumb sucking thing. And when she can't figure it out Daddy's finger will do just fine.

She's still taking lots of naps in the swing. Because she's gettig so big we can strap her in and have it in more of a sitting position than the cradle.... except when she falls asleep she tends to keel over. That can't be comfortable. The funny thing is, if you try to straighten her back up she fights you like she wants to stay this way. Oh well.

It was so nice this week we did get to spend lots of time outside in the fresh air. The wind was a bit chilly though so Ella decided to rock her hoodie to keep warm.

Easter Weekend Fun

2008-03-24T11:11:00.001-04:00

We had a full house again this weekend as Bryan's folks came back into town to help Ella celebrate her first Easter. She even got to meet her great-grandma for the first time! It was pretty laid back, the girls hung out while the guys worked in the yard and hung cieling fans... sounds like a fair deal to me. Easter Sunday we went to eat lunch at the Cardinal and visit with the Easter Bunny for a little bit. Ella didn't seem to be scared by him (unlike the child in line behind her her was petrified!) but I don't think she even bothered to look at him really. She was very interested in her Easter basket... filled with goodies like Baby Einstein DVD's, cute ballet flats, and toys. There are so many cute pictures it was hard to narrow these down!

Disco Fever

2008-03-17T12:33:00.000-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRIPP & BILL! This weekend we went back in time to the '70's to celebrate Tripp & Bill's birthdays. The party was complete with outifts, hair, fondue and a disco ball. At one point, when I was chowing on the chocolate fondue, Megan looked at me and said, "What if this was really how it was? Seriously, what if we dressed like this and really had fondue parties?" It is a funny concept to grasp! We had a great time at the party and everyone was all decked out. Bryan and I made a quick trip to the Goodwill Store to find his brown ployester suit and I raided my mom's attic for the authentic '70's cheerleading uniform.
I'm just sorry you can't truly see in the pictures just how wide the lapels actually are. I so wish I had a better picture of Morgan's hair, it was priceless, the outfit really was her mother's. Tripp's lambchops and moustache were awesome!
Morgan, Megan, and Mollie all represented the decade well.

And of course, Ella wanted in on the action so we let her wear her daddy's wig for a bit.

Full Circle

2008-03-16T11:32:00.000-04:00

Can it really be five years since Bryan and I met? Another ACC Tournament has come and gone so it must be true. It's hard to believe just five years ago we met in the concourse of the Greensboro Coliseum (thanks Daniel and Ron!) between games and this year we took our baby to see all the basketball action! Talk about the growing up!

My family has been fortunate enough to attend the ACC Basketball Tournament for years along with several of our family friends. Most of whom went to WFU with my parents and have children around the ages of myself and my brothers. I'm not sure when it started but, once us kids were old enough it became tradition to go out after the Saturday games. My brother, Cabell, and Kimberly started it when they were in college and, of course, once Daniel and I got old enough we were included in the action. Oh the stories I could tell of these infamous evenings. But, to protect the innocent, I won't. Suffice it to say we had fun, lots of fun. Until the next day... how we managed to sit through the championship games on the following Sundays is still a mystery to me. Lucky for me (and for Bryan) Daniel had an extra ticket back in '03 and the tourney was in Greensboro so Ron and Bryan were included in the action. The night is a blur, as most of those Saturday's are, but I remember it ended with Bryan asking for my number. Fast forward five years and he's sitting downstairs watching golf with our child. Wow.

He and I have continued to attend the tourney, only skipping out last year since it was in Florida and we had already taken time off work to go to the Orange Bowl and BCS Championship game. We were back in action this year, heading to Charlotte with Ella in tow. Sadly the Deacons were out in the first round but it was so amazing to think "this is where it all started, and now we're bringing a baby.... OUR baby." Our ACC Saturday night festivities were put on hold. But I'm counting on Ella and Adeline starting all over again when they're old enough.

Lucky for us Bill and Shawna let us crash with them so Ella also got some QT with her younger cousin, Keller... younger by 11 weeks. You can tell by the picstures neither were too interested in the other. I have a feeling that won't last long, soon enough these two will be nothing but trouble!

More tummy time

2008-03-16T10:44:00.000-04:00

Ella has been rolling over like crazy the past few days. Wednesday we were in Winston and she wanted to show off for her grandmom... Her neck muscles are getting much stronger so now she's really holding her head up when she's on her stomach. I saw this toy at Baby's 'R' Us and had to get it for her.... it plays music and actually vibrates enough to scoot across the floor. It's supposed to encourage babies to crawl after it. I just figured she'd like the colors and the music now. I was right about that, she could stare at it for hours if I let her!

Rewind!

2008-03-10T18:11:00.000-04:00

Apparently Ella was not satisfied with only being able to go from her tummy to her back and has spent the last half hour rolling from her back to her front. I was going through some e-mails and she was just hanging out on the floor next to me, watching Paula Deen as usual, when she started fussing. I turned around to see what was wrong and lo and behold she was on her tummy!! I turned her back over and she proceeded to just flip right back onto her stomach. We played this little game for quite a while and this time I was fortunate enough to get it all on the video camera. At the rate she's going I figure she'll be crawling by the end of next week... hahahaha.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'....

2008-03-10T11:15:00.000-04:00

It seems that "tummy time" has finally gotten the best of Ella and she's had enough of it. She now has figured out that if she tries hard enough she can, in fact, flip over to her back. What a happy realization for her! Last night she did this about 4 times, and everytime she'd just laugh and laugh. She's also decided that she's going to be a NASCAR fan. I think it has something to do with the constant motion of the cars and the bright colors, but whatever it is she's transfixed by it. Yesterday was two Sundays in a row she was glued to the TV when she could see it.

I was able to get a couple shots of her sucking her thumb during a nap. She's still working on the concept of bringing her thumb to her mouth rather than her mouth to her thumb, she will turn her head almost 180* to the left trying to find it. I'm guessing because that's how she sometimes gets to her pacifier if she spits it out. Oddly enough, she has an easier time getting it into position while sleeping than when awake. I never would have thought something as silly as sucking a thumb or rolling over would be such a big deal to me... my what a difference a baby can make! People say all the time, "it's the little things that matter most" and I now realize I never truly understood that till Ella came along. Every sigh, coo, and smile is like the first. Watching her watch the world is amazing, if it's this great at 3 months I can't imagaine what wonders the future will bring!

Last home game

2008-03-08T18:31:00.000-05:00

Today was the last home game for the Deacons and Ella got all dressed up for the occasion. It was so cold and windy we had to bring out the hat, and the dress is still too big, but we made it work. Of course, as usual, she was out during the 2nd half, so she missed the win. I don't think her grand-daddy minded one bit that he was the one she fell asleep on! But she did get to spend a little time with her Uncle Cabell at half-time, before she crashed. Ella was in the middle of her "I'm starving someone please feed me" routine at this point, usually she's much happier around him!

And we got to see another of Ella's friends... Adeline made her first WFU appearance today with her folks. Kimberly, her mom has been a life-long family friend of mine, in fact her brother is pretty much resposible for Bryan and I meeting. What are friends for, right? Adeline decided to come into the world a little bit earlier than Kimberly and Jason had planned on but she's just perfect and precious. We hadn't seen them since they left the hospital (they live in Durham) and Adeline was a teeny-tiny thing, weighing in just over 5lbs. I think, Like Ella, she's not skipping any meals! Kimberly and I had to laugh about how all these little girls look like their daddies... what's that about? Although she's only a few weeks older, Ella looks monstrous next to her!! With family members pulling for both WFU and NCSU she was wearing a Wake Forest skirt and some NCSU leg warmers. Jason said he thought she looked like she was dressed by a "blind homeless person," I think she's just ahead of the fashion curve!

Just like Mommy

2008-03-07T15:51:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me well are very aware that I love the Food Network. It's on in our house pretty much all day. Paula Deen is definitely one of my favorites and apparently one of Ella's too. This morning I was catching up on e-mails and had her playing on the floor next to me... suddenly she got really quiet so I checked to see if she was asleep. Nope. She was enthralled by the chicken fried steak Paula was making on the TV. A girl after my own heart!!

We have a thumb-sucker...

2008-03-07T15:18:00.000-05:00

After weeks of Ella trying to cram her entire fist into her mouth she has finally realized that she can, in fact, unclench her fingers and actually get something to suck on. Yesterday I watched her suck on her fist and fuss for a good five minutes (we're trying to keep her from "depending" on the pacifier) and saw her eyes light up when she managed to suck her thumb away from the other fingers and into her mouth. About 30 seconds later she was fast asleep. Wow! When she started to get squirmy mid-nap that thumb went straight back into position and she was fine. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, seeing as we could take a pacifier away from her at a certain age and we're surely not going to be able to take her thumb away from her without being sent to child services. I'm just glad now I won't have to get up in the middle of the night to stick a pacifier back in her mouth.

Weekend Family Fun

2008-03-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

So it was a big weekend in our house... It actually started Thursday night with a trip to Winston to watch the Deacs lose to Maryland. I think Ella really enjoys going to the games, she could stare at the big scoreboard all day if we had one in our house and she just gets passed up and down our row of family members to keep her occupied. However, the rides home are not always so pleasant. I think the noise and lights are a bit of sensory overload for her so when we get back in the dark, quiet car it's too big of an adjustment for her to wrap her pretty little head around and she's usually pretty fussy till we get about half way home. Her daddy got her this bib for Christmas and since the game intruded on one of her feedings she got to show her Deacon spirit for everyone.

Bryan's parents came to town Friday night from Ohio to take another look at a house here in NC and Nathan came up from Charlotte to hang out too. Ella's uncles, Aaron and Nathan just can't get enough of her. The fights over who's been holding her or playing with her longer are hilarious to me. She's very lucky to have so many people who want to spend so much time with her. I hope both boys can hang out with her as much as they want, until she starts talking because we're a little worried about what kind of phrases they might decide to teach her. With those two you can never be too careful...The house hunting for the 'rents was successful, and offer was made and accepted. So I guess we're looking at two more eager babysitters in the very near future. Very exciting!!

Sunday night Ella helped her Daddy drink some beer and do some work on the computer, though from the looks on her face I think she's about as confused by what he does as I am. And we finished off the weekend with some "tummy time," Ella's least favorite activity of all. But the pediatrician says we have to do it so we do. Her neck muscles are very strong and I'm not worried about her holding her head up as much as pushing up with her arms. Even when we sort of "perch" her on her elbows she just chews on her hands. Oh well, she'll get the hang of it eventually... I hope.

A new friend for Ella

2008-02-23T14:21:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday our friends Chris and Carrie added a 4th to their familly. This is Ella and Logan when Logan was 2 days old. Logan is almost exactly the same size Ella was when she was born... hard to believe what a difference 11 weeks can make!

We took dinner to them last night just to help out. It was so cold Ella got to wear her hat that Uncle Aaron got her for Christmas. It's still just a bit too big, but she rocks it anyway.

Riley is Chris and Carrie's oldest, she's 2 1/2 and was very ready to play with Ella and ham for the camera. It's amazing to watch her with the babies, she wants to help all the time, hug them, give them kisses and make sure they're covered up and warm enough. She's so sweet to them!

We made them Taco Soup and it was a huge success, as always. I'm so glad I found the recipe, it's great to have on cold days and one batch is enough for leftovers for a few days. Also, it's super easy to make and is great for tailgates too because you can keep it warm in the crockpot. Not to mention I haven't come across one person yet who doesn't like it. Here's the recipe for anyone who might want to try it...

TACO SOUP
2 pounds ground beef
2 cups diced onions
2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans pinto beans
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can pink kidney beans
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can tomatoes with chiles
2 (4 1/2-ounce) cans diced green chiles
1 (4.6-ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced, optional
1/2 cup green olives, sliced, optional
1 (1 1/4-ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (1-ounce) package ranch salad dressing mix
Corn chips, for serving
Sour cream, for garnish
Grated cheese, for garnish
Chopped green onions, for garnish
Pickled jalapenos, for garnish

Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker or a stockpot. Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, black olives, green olives, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing mix, and cook in a slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a pot on the stove. To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, green onions and jalapenos.

It's more of a chili consitency than soup, and very filling. Sometimes I'll make it with ground turkey to make it a little healthier. And I'll add different things to it, last night I threw in a can of drained White Hominy, I've also tried drained and rinsed black beans which was delicious as well. I always cook it for an hour on the stovetop because I'm not nearly organized enough to put it in the crockpot in the morning :) Enjoy!

A litte history....

2008-02-22T14:00:00.000-05:00

Bryan and I were married July 16, 2005 in Winston-Salem at Old Town Club. We live in Greensboro and love it. It's the perfect size for us, feels like a small town but there is a ton of stuff to do... lots of restaurants and bars, even some cultural places too!

Ella Anne was born November 30, 2007 at 2:41AM and boy has she changed our lives! We've adapted pretty well, I think. She's a really easy baby, only cries when she's really tired or really irritated... kind of like me!

Because I'm a little late getting to this (she's already almost 3 months old) I'll go ahead and jump to pictures of her today. She's starting to "talk" a lot now and smiles during our "conversations." She's constantly kicking her legs and waving her arms, she's got energy to burn and can't sit still. But when she sleeps she's very serious about it... nap time and at night she's a heavy sleeper. Which is great because I can vacuum during her naps and she has no problem sleeping through WFU basketball games so we don't have to schedule around her too much. And the best part is she sleeps till 9 or10 in the morning so I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn!

Finally...

2008-02-21T14:59:00.000-05:00

So it took me three months to get this up and running. Actually it took me three months to figure out how to do everything I have to do, plus some things I want to do, during Ella's naps. Hopefully this will be a great way for friends and family all over the place to watch Ella grow and change, and to share all the funny stories of her day to day silliness.