quick....

Everyone is asleep, so I thought I would take advantage and post. I better go fast though... I think this is the most pictures I've ever posted at once!


We had our church easter egg hunt today. I wasn't sure what Emery would do.... I thought that maybe she had some pre race jitters...But she took off...

Showing off all of our eggs with Luke

Hanging out with our buddy Patrick

Emery and Mommy

We celebrated Jim's birthday for a whole week! Amy made him this cake. Guess what I have eaten for breakfast all week? (for some strange reason I can justify having a big hunk of cake in the a.m. as opposed to the p.m.) Happy 31st Jim!

We had a family shower at Puffy Muffin for Kristen! We can't wait to meet baby boy Spencer! (I stole this from your blog Kristen!!) Missed you Laura!

Happy Birthday!!!

We went bowling last week for Jim's birthday with my family and his parents came up from Atlanta for the weekend. Emery skipped her nap- can you tell?

Opening presents with Daddy!

Poppy after his strike! (I think....)

Nana and Emery bowling...

Visting the bunnies at Philips toy mart....

Merrill on her 3 month birthday! She woke up right after I laid her down in the pack and play. I realized that I had forgotten to take her pictures so I grabbed my camera. I will not do this again!!!! I had lots of trouble getting her back asleep.

Okay, so should I be worried? Emery loves painting her toenails with her watercolors. I'm not sure why I keep letting her do this. Should I be worried about her color choices? Always dark green, purple, or black!

Hanging out before nap!

a bunch of firsts

Okay, so I have been the worst about keeping the blog updated. I could dedicate a whole post with things I have been busying myself with while the girls nap- but couldn't we all! I want to do better because I have "blurbed" all of my 2007 entries. So warning- this post could get really boring to some. I want to document things here since I will most likely never be a scrapbooker. I also want to comment on Emery's snowman pajamas. I'm really hoping that some of these pictures were taken on the same day. She does have more that just that pair!!!

great picture huh? I just needed one of the girls in their overpriced shirts. I just had to have them when I went out to CA. Jim was not too thrilled with my purschase! Ha, I do realize I could make these with a bedazzler and a white onsie.

Cousin Nolan turned 3!!!! This is the first time that Emery wore a party hat!

Making daddy proud with a remote control bulldozer.

Our first pinata

We all have our talents. Cake making is definetely Amy's!!! I was so impressed with this!!

I can no longer get mad when Emery sneaks cookies. I keep putting them on the same shelf in our doorless pantry! Why, I'm not sure!

I realize that I look quite ridiculous in this picture. And if you are wondering- no I did not look in the mirror before I went outside. We got a wonderful snow!! So much fun!! Jim woke up at 6:00 a.m. and wanted me to come out and play with him. He was quite disappointed when I said no. He got his 4wheeler out. By the time we got dressed and outside and took this picture- the battery died!!! We went sledding with our little neighbor too. We then hung around the house and drank hot chocolate! One of my childhood memories of snow days!

What are we missing in this pic?

Our sassy outfit from our cousins in Boston. (once again check out the background!)

we are smiling up a storm

Is that a bow? No, wait.... It stickers thanks to Emery. And yes, they left a nice red mark on her head!

My three favorite people!


Posts to come- pictures of the girls rooms (where I prove I do clean and straighten my house), Jim' parents' visit and Jim's birthday and all the fun things coming up this week!!

What's her name?

This is the view from my nursing chair. I know... that does not spell Merrill. I hoped to get the remaining letters needed to spell Merrill, but Pottery Barn doesn't make them anymore. Now to the point.... Jim and the girls were laying on our bed one night. From my view it looked like Emery intentionally kicked Merrill. I marched, and I mean that mommy's mad march, over to Emery and said, "You look at Mary and tell her you're sorry!" There were no apologies after that. Just laughter from both Jim, Emery and even myself! I finally did something about spelling in the nursery.

some random pictures

We are 100% around here now! We're keeping Emery in until this weekend in hopes that maybe we won't get sick again. I'm not sure why in my head that March 1st equates to warmer weather, but it does! So hopefully no more sickness around here or in your families either!!!



Okay, so random I know! But, those of you that are idol fans- isn't he so adorable? I could just eat him up!!! I really want him to win!

As promised- the pants I made for E&M. Of course this is how it happens- I'm pretty sure that Emery's pair could make it up to my mid thighs and Merrill's are hip huggers. I have had the fabric for years, so no big loss. I was really just practicing. I have several outfits planned, so I'll post pictures of those too.

Merrill at 10 weeks old! So hard to believe. (Not sure why this is in black and white!)

Mom and I drove the girls to Knoxville to eat lunch with my brother and shop a little. I convinced them to eat a Mr. Gattis. I know, I know... how gross! I have always liked their pizza though and there are not any near here! It take Emery a few HOURS to warm up to anyone other than Jim, Kiki, Nana, or myself. All it took this time was candy. This was the day before she got sick.

This picture is just funny to me! Emery wanted my mom to ride this ride at Mr. Gatti's! She will die if she sees this!

on second thought....

I thought february was going to be a slow month... ha! I want to start off and say thank you to all of those that have prayed for us over the last few days. We are now home from the hospital and Emery is doing much better. We are completely overwhelmed by how many of you have prayed for us, called, brought tons of food, and even spoiled our little girl over the last couple of days with gifts. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends!!

I had posted about Emery's high fever a few weeks ago. Well on day 8 of fever, Emery begins crying and saying that her back hurt. I didn't take emery to the doctor because her fever was going down every day. I thought she was getting better. We looked at it and saw that her lower back was swollen. When we touched the area she crumbled. So, we headed to the doctor on sat. morning. The doctor looked and didn't say anything. He calmly said that we would do some bloodwork to get some more info.

He came back in the room after the results and said that her white blood cells were high. Those of you in the medical field can see where my thoughts were going. He then said we were headed to vandy to admit emery overnight. Several thing were thrown out such as a bone infection and also luekemia. I won't write anymore before saying that thank God, Emery does not have leukemia. After x-rays, bloodwork, and an MRI, the diagnosis was an infection in her muscle. We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights and got home on Monday.

Needless to say, we are so thankful that Emery is on the mend. We are taking a strong antibiotic and our little girl is being herself again. She snuck some thin mints behind the curtains the other day so we know she's getting better.I have to give a shout out to my parents too. They took Merrill without hesitation and knowing that she wasn't "bottle trained." I would pump in the hospital, but she actually peferred formula. Let's just say that we are hugging our little girl a little tighter these days. Well, really both of our little girls!

The pictures are fuzzy because I took them with my phone AFTER we knew that Emery had something that she would totally recover from!

a lazy start to february

I want to apologize for the new blog template if it makes you dizzy! I've enjoyed switching the colors around in the past and found on amy's website where you can download templates. I thought this one was cute, but now I think it is yelling at you when you first click on here. I will give it a few more days to grow on me! I didn't realize that if I changed the template, all of my links would be erased. I just spent about an hour putting them back on!



We had a pretty good week around here. My sweet husband let me do something 3 nights this week. I had Merrill with me two of the times, but that much easier than taking 2 out at night and with the whole nursing thing.... Also, Jim decided to get his contractor's license. He passed the test this week!!! Yeah, Jim! (he'll die if he sees this!) But, we are very proud!



Of course though, we end the week with Emery getting sick. I learned something new..... that a fever of 104 is pretty much child's play! I called our pediatrician and he said that a fever of 108 was considered dangerous! Did you know that? I am still shocked. That seems so high!



Another highlight from this week was Emery's haircut- she really likes going to see Martha Lynn. Her hair was growing fast, but still not that thick up front. (I think I just described a mullet!) So we trimmed it up some.



What used to be blogging time has turned into sewing time. I'm trying to make some pants for the girls and it is taking me forever. I was going to make them all by myself and surprise my mom. But, easier said than done. I think they will turn out cute, but I keep getting frustrated. Practice makes perfect right!









Emery is always wanting to hold merrill's hand. Most of the time, merrill is not a willing participant, but this time she actually just laid there. pre-trim

after trim- but still with a pony tail

emery really likes her haircut. I'll try to get a picture of it when it has not been slept on! it does look much better! Thanks ML.

What my kitchen table looks like with all the sewing stuff!

I feel like my blog has been really boring lately! It seems that all my posts are about kids and that we do nothing else besides staying at home and being sick! Maybe soon I'll have more exciting things to post about!

Oh yeah... Emery and I were sitting at wendy's yesterday. A little girl walks in with a dora coat on, pink cowboy boots, and holding a mickey mouse stuffed animal. She was probably 4 or 5. I could tell Emery noticed her. After a minute Emery looked at me grinning and said, "Isn't she cute!!"

more pictures

We have our baby sunday tomorrow at church and they needed a picture of all four of us! I realized the only one we had was from the hospital. I was not about to let that go up on screen!

Natalie and Tori came over with lunch and to play this week. Emery was a bit bossy, but I think that Tori still had fun. Merrill snoozed the whole time while Tori and Emery played!

Hanging out on Emery's "ju-ju" bed. (we're not sure why she calls it that!) We're almost done with her room. I'll post pictures once its done.

Tori waiting to have a tea party!

Sweet cousins. (Check out my house in the background.)

Merrill at 7 weeks old! She has stared smiling and cooing some. We can't wait to see what personalitly she'll have!

Okay... I'm very open to suggestions. Emery is wanting to sit in anything we say is for baby Merrill. She is putting a passy in her mouth, talking baby talk and announcing that "she's a baby!" I'm sure some of this is normal, but for how long? She's wearing her new favorite thing- a hand-me-down pink elmo fleece! She loves it....