Summer is HERE!

Summer is here and I am going to soak up every moment this year!  I probably say this every year, but I really mean it this time!  What a fantastically, busy year this has been, but summer has been long-awaited!! :) I would say that my blog posting has taken a back burner so my mom could highlight her own blog (I wouldn't want to take any readers from her...), but truthfully, blogging has been the last thing on my mind!  That does not mean we have not had a great year since I last posted though, SO here is a catch up of our happenings here in Chattanooga:

We had a great spring, weather was great!  We have had lots and lots of rain, but the temperature has been wonderful!  Not too hot, but just warm enough to go sleeveless at dismissal and recess time so I could get a head start on my summer glow! We spend many nights eating dinner on our patio under the umbrella which led to daddy-daughter (and furry daughter) soccer games and bubbles in the backyard.  What a great way to end a long day at work! 

 Eric and his girls

Eloise has had a great year at school this year.  At the beginning of last summer she had moved up to the OT (older toddler) room which was a great transition for her.  Miss Annette and Miss Amy took such great care of her and we could see so much growth in Weeze over the year.  Her language really took off (blessing and a curse ;) and she has been potty trained!!! Yay!!  Those two ladies may have helped me through that more than Weeze, but we made it!  We have had a few setbacks here and there with potty training but overall it has been successful!  Bye-bye diapers!  Hello undies and pull-ups (at bed time)!

At the beginning of May, she graduated from OT and moved up to the Preschool room which has been another great move!  We have been so lucky to have had such wonderful teachers for Eloise and are looking forward to another great year ahead!  Watch out Ms Jean and Ms Hilda, here comes Weezy Baker!!! :)

Those of you who know us, know that we have fought tooth and nail to keep "princess" out of our house for Eloise.  Not that there is anything wrong with that...we just didn't want Eloise to be surrounded by it from day one.  Anywho, about a month ago she was invited to a birthday party that asked the kiddos to dress up, girls as princesses and boys as knights.  I can't lie, I was breathing a sigh of relief that I did not have to make a knight costume! Phew!! However, I did ask Eloise what princess she would like to be for Wells' birthday, which she said Cinderella (how can you not love Cinderella?) so we went to Target and picked us up a Cinderella dress!  Eloise wore that dress every afternoon for probably two weeks!! She looked great at the party too and loved every minute of it!  

 Eloise preparing a tea party for Eric, Izzy, and I on Mother's Day

Eloise with Anna Catherine (left) and Townes (right) at Wells' Birthday

In other news, I am within reach of being done with my National Board Certification process.  Who knows if I am going to get it, but I am almost done with it!  I have an assessment next Thursday and then I will be finished!  I will just have to wait for the results! :) I am keeping my fingers crossed. 

Eric has been on a couple of different trips this spring, his biggest one being to Germany in April.  He was gone for about a week and a half which wasn't too bad considering my mom came down to help out with Eloise while he was gone.  Thank goodness she was here, I may have gone insane  otherwise!!  Plus, it was just nice to have her around!  Not only do I enjoy her company but Eloise and Izzy can't get enough of their grandma.  :) Thanks again Mom! Upon his return, he brought Eloise a fun little German hat and scarf from a soccer team in Germany.  Check out our snazzy little girl in her goodies...

Isn't she adorable?

That's all I have for now, but hopefully in all my relaxation that this summer is supposed to bring, I will be able to post more often.  We'll see... ;) 

It SNOWED in Tennessee!!!

I know, I know... for you Iowan's, a little snow is no big deal, but you have to understand..this NEVER happens here! (Well, hardly ever!)  The way our morning started, I would have never guessed it would end so well!  Little Miss Eloise decided that she needed to be awake at 5:30 this morning, so we were eating breakfast at one of our favorite hole-in-the-wall breakfast joint when it opened at 6:30!  We got home, did a little picking up around the house, sorted some clothes for Goodwill, played with the Weeze-meister, and what do you know... I look outside and it is snowing!  At first, not too much, but after about 5 minutes, we had some hardcore snow coming from the sky and it was STICKING!!!!  I would say by the time it was all said and done (about an hour) we had a good 2 inches on the ground.  Pretty exciting! So exciting that while it was snowing, Eloise stood at the back door with it open saying over and over again, ITS SNOWING!!! It's so pretty!! :)  Of course, we do not turn down a chance to play in the snow, so we bundled up Eloise and headed outside.  Eric brushed, yes brushed, the snow off the driveway and sidewalk while Weeze, Izzy, and I played in the fluffy white stuff. I learned a few things about my daughter today...
1. She remembers how to make a snow angel (taught her that over Christmas break)
2. She likes loves to EAT snow (we had a little lesson about not picking up and eating the yellow snow, or any snow that has any bit of color!)
3. She could spend all day in the snow, her snow pants  and snow boots.
Below are a few pictures from our morning in the snow :)

Ready to go outside! 

Look Mom, I can make a snow angel! 

Yum...Its tasty!

I will call him Squishy and he will be mine!

In other news (since I haven't posted since October...) we have made two trips to Iowa (Thanksgiving and Christmas), I have decided to try to become National Board Certified (this could be a bad idea), Eric has gotten a little promotion (and a new office!) at work, and Eloise is continuing to LOVE her class at school. 

For Thanksgiving, Eric and Izzy drove up on Tuesday and Weeze and I flew after school on Tuesday.  We did this last year, but Weeze was little enough that she doesn't remember this adventure at all, but THIS year was another story!  First of all, you have to know that she is fascinated with airplanes and helicopters (really anything that flies in the air), so she was very excited that she was going to get to fly!  She was great, seriously, GREAT on our trek.  Especially considering during our layover in Atlanta, our flight to the Quad Cities was cancelled...yes, CANCELLED!  I panicked at first, but we got it worked out.  We got the last two seats on a flight to Peoria which worked out wonderfully because Eric and Izzy had not yet passed Peoria, so they were able to pick us up on the way home! Phew!!  At Christmas, we drove home and it was a doozy drive!  Weeze got the stomach bug on Friday night before we were to leave on Saturday, so we waited until Sunday.  Well, she hurled...all.over. about 3 hours into our drive...YUCK! Needless to say, Ruby (my car) got a good shampoo and overall cleaning once we got to Iowa.  It was a stressful drive, but all was well, and the flight home at Thanksgiving was memorable enough that the bad drive was easily forgotten! 

Mommy and Weeze on the airplane!

    

The girls on our way for Christmas! 

Weeze found some reading material on Christmas Eve

I hope everyone is having a great 2013!  We have had a great start so far and are looking forward to a great year ahead!  

Our First Trip to the ER

Well, we have made it two years and 3 months....it was bound to happen!!  First of all, let me say that Weeze is okay, a little worse for wear, but okay! :)  I got a call around 3:40 yesterday afternoon from Eloise's teacher, Miss Amy, saying that Eloise had fallen and hit her head, and they think she may need stitches. (Insert noise from Christmas Vacation here..) She tripped on a rug in the classroom and fell on the back door that had a little metal ledge on the bottom.  She managed to hit that ledge in just the right spot and it sliced her little forehead. :(

So, I ran to her classroom, calling Eric on the way, because those of you who know me, KNOW that I DON'T DO BLOOD!!  When I got there, I saw my bubbly little Weeze, sitting on Miss Annette's lap on the rocking chair, and Miss Annette was holding a paper towel to her head. I chose not to see the wound, but I have a wonderful friend Trinace who took a look at it to let me know how bad the cut was so I wouldn't have to faint in front of Eloise's whole class.  After a little wait for Eric to get to school, we climbed in the car, Weeze and Daddy in the back, mommy in the front, and Auntie Trinace driving (because I just about passed out once I got into the car).

We got to T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital shortly after 4:00 and got in to see the doctor right away.  The doctor told us that they would have to put stitches in because the wound was fairly deep, so we waited for the nurses to put on this snazzy gel-like numbing cream on her wound, slap a band-aid over it and let it work its magic.

Weeze and Daddy

Playing with toys while we waited.  We had a little tea party! :) 

It only took about 20 minutes for the cream to work, and the doctor came in with "Child Life Specialist" who played the iPad for Weeze while they cleaned her cut and stitched her up.  Eric was the brave parent (I sat in the chair behind him) and held her while they took care of her.  She was a CHAMP!  She was so brave.  She cried a little bit, but the Child Life Specialist and Eric were able to soothe her quickly.  On the lighter note, when they asked her if she wanted a red, purple, or orange popsicle, her response was, "I want BOTH!" So she walked out of the ER with a purple popsicle in one hand and an orange one in the other...

All stitched up!

She had a hard time sleeping last night, but slept in this morning and stayed home with Eric today.  They had a great day of bonding before Eric heads off to Australia tomorrow afternoon.  By the time I got home from work, she was back to her old self, happy and ornery as can be!  Gotta love her! 

It's football time in Tennessee!!

Hello everyone!!  It's September now (also, football season), and I know I haven't posted since January...I do the best I can, I promise!  Time just gets away from me!!  We continue to be busy busy busy here in Chattanooga, but I think the last 6 months or so may have been some of the busiest of late!  So many things have been going on here and I can't wait to catch you all up!  

First of all, Eloise has continued growing like a weed and it just such a joy in our lives.  She has quite the personality and spunk!!  She turned 2 on June 5th and had family and friends over for a little get together filled with bubbles and swimming. Her 2 year old self is starting to show with a few fits which include the back-arching, arms flailing...you get the picture! ;) Other than that, she is her giggling, laughing, loving, smiling self and we love her to pieces (even Izzy).  Here is a sneak peek of her in all of her glory...

At the beginning of June, she moved up to her next classroom at school into the "Older Toddlers" room and has just flourished!  She is counting, singing songs, talking like crazy, and continues to love coloring and DANCING!  The picture is of her after she got a new pair of shoes..she.loves.shoes.  Of course, so does her Uncle AJ and Aunt Kelli, so there is no surprise there! ;) 

I don't know if you all can tell from the picture, but we are in a different house now too!!  Shortly after my last post, we started talking with our realtor about selling our house in Ooltewah.  We had been talking about trying to move around summer time and had no real idea about how slow or how quick we could possibly sell our house.  We didn't have to do much to prepare for selling, just a new coat of paint in all the rooms except for Eloise's and a little rearranging of furniture.  We did put some of our belongings up in our attic so it wasn't to cluttered, but we were definitely counting our blessings for not having to do much.  Especially since we were selling at a bad time for the housing market and we bought in the peak of the market.  Needless to say, we did not ask for as much as we paid for the house, which was a bummer, but we knew we needed a change for our family.  

So, by March we were ready to put the little house in Ooltewah on the market.  Paula (our realtor) came out on a beautiful Monday afternoon and took some great pictures of our first home and had them loaded and the house listed the next day.  We anticipated some visitors, but were fairly certain we would be waiting for a while for offers...not so much... Paula called me around lunch time on Tuesday for our first showing and the couple came out in the early afternoon.  Tuesday night Paula called us to let us know the couple LOVED the house and was very interested.  They had a few questions and were going to take a second look the next day.  They came back Wednesday as well as another couple. By Wednesday evening (maybe Thursday) we had not one, but TWO offers on our house.  By Saturday we had sold our first home.  HOLY CRAP...WE HAVEN'T FOUND A NEW HOUSE YET!!!!  :)  

We had been looking around at different neighborhoods around Chattanooga for a couple months and had favorite, but were not getting serious about anything because we didn't want to get ahead of ourselves in case our house didn't sell.  Since that was not a problem, we went out on the Sunday after we sold our house to search high and low for a new house!  Luckily, the one I had my eye on for a while was still for sale and we LOVED it!  A week later, we were under contract to buy our next house.  Whew!!!  It was a pretty crazy two-week experience, but it was well worth it.  We closed on both houses May 18th, and moved into our new house the next day.

I can honestly say that I will always love our first home.  We brought Izzy and Weezy both home to that house, we have many great memories there and it was our first home.  BUT, we LOVE the house we are in now!  We have room to grow; it is close to work, school, shopping, and outdoor adventures; the yard is big, but not too big; we have room for visitors...the list goes on and on...

Of course, the move would not have been complete without a little drama and excitement.  First of all, AJ came down with his pickup truck to help us move some of the boxes while the movers moved the furniture and big stuff.  We are very thankful that he was here, he was a big help, and his company was much needed.  So while we in the midst of moving, AJ and I had gotten some sad news about our Grandpa Harry and in the moment of who-knows-what, I managed to bend down quickly and smack my mouth against our patio chairs.  Mind you, these are not our plastic chairs...they are our rod iron chairs...stacked up 4 high....they won the battle between me and them, and I had a tooth that was pushed backwards in my mouth. Not. good. Long story short, I ended up taking a break from moving and went to an emergency dentist and getting my tooth pulled back into place, having a retainer made, and couldn't eat solid food for a couple of days.  A couple of weeks later, I had to have a root canal because my root was damaged from the hit, they bleached my tooth (from the inside, pretty cool) and now I am as good as new.  It still feels a little funny, but looks normal!! 

Moving day was anything but event-less, thats for sure.  We were very fortunate to have friends help out, whether they were here helping move or watching Weeze for the day, they were a God-send.  AJ being here was priceless to all of us.  Not only did we get to hang with him for a couple of days, but he was a big help, and we were able to help each other through the difficulty of our grandpa passing away Saturday afternoon.  I hate that he wasn't able to be at home with my mom, but selfishly was glad to be together.  

The rest of the summer has been fairly un-eventful (thank goodness)!! I did decide to change grade-levels this year, so I started the school year as a first grade teacher for the first time since my first year of teaching! It took alot of moving, but I am able to be teaching with a very dear friend of mine, and am right across the hall from Eloise's day care!  It hasn't been the easiest move and I miss my second grade teammies very much, but I think it will good once I get used to it.

Eric hasn't been traveling too much this year, he was in Paris around my spring break last year and has been on a few trips here and there this summer.  In October he will be venturing over to Australia for a week which should be exciting!  

Oh, and I can't forget! Izzy has been loving the new house too.  We have a fairly large pond in front of our house that she recently discovered and enjoys swimming in it.  We also found her a new daycare that has great hours, is close to work, and most importantly, they love Izzy and Izzy loves it!

Until next time!!!  Go Cyclones :) 

  

Happy New Year!!!!

So, I know we are about a month late on the New Year celebrations, and I am about 7 months overdue for blogging. Whoops!!  Sorry about that!  I really will try to do better from now on, but for today, I will catch you all up on the happenings around here!  Here goes...

Eloise has been growing like crazy since my last post! She will be 20 months old on Feb. 5th, and is doing SO much!  She is not just walking anymore, she is running and even galloping sometimes.  She is talking more and more everyday!  She can say: Izzy, momma, dada, grandma, AJ, papa (grandpa), Elmo, water, up, dog, no, milk, banana, cookie monster "cookie", coat, shoes, frog, boots,etc...she is able to point at many things too that she can't get the words out for.  She loves to dance, facetime with my mom, dad, and AJ; snuggle and play with Izzy, read, get a bath, go on walks with my friends and their babies, and draw/color. 

Shortly after Christmas, I had my hairdresser trim up the back of her hair because it was getting so long and she may need to get the front trimmed soon.  Yesterday I had to pull her hair out of her boogies....not a good sign!  With the exception of a few fits here and there that she may throw, she is such a joy to us.  She is funny and so smart, she is loving and sweet.  She is inquisitive and spunky!!  We have enjoyed each stage that she has gone through as she has grown and are excited to learn more about her each day.

I don't mean to brag, because it is just the truth, BUT, Izzy very well could be, the BEST dog ever with babies!  She has never ending patience for Eloise, she lets her poke, prod, kiss, hug, squeeze, and lay on her ALL the time.  Not only does she not get mad, but she kisses her!  The old Izzy, would hide when it stormed, or hide when visitors would come to our house because she's a chicken.  The new Izzy (the one with a baby in the house) is a protector.  She sits by Eloise when its storming outside and lays in her room when Eloise is sleeping during the storm.  She stays right next to Eloise when we have visitors and doesn't leave her side until she knows the visitors are safe people.

I was never worried about Izzy and how she would be with Eloise because Izzy has always been kind natured and very loving, however, I could have never imagined how great she is.  Izzy has exceeded my expectations and I am so proud of her (and so grateful)!!

Eric and I have had lots going on too over the last 6 months! Since my last post, I have started a new school year and have taken on the task of being grade-level chair (team leader) and our school's Primary Literacy Support Teacher...addition to teaching all day, everyday! ;) I have always wanted to be grade level chair for my 2nd grade team, partially because I am a control freak and like to know everything (is anyone surprised?) but also because its good practice for me to be in a leadership role and is always an additional challenge to take on.  My role as the Literacy Support teacher involves supporting the K-2 teachers at my school with literacy challenges, helping them meet deadlines given by our district, and providing professional development focusing on literacy.  So, I have had to present PD's on guided reading, assessments, and questioning during and after read alouds to push student's thinking about the text.  That role has definately pushed me out of my comfort zone as far as presenting goes! Even though I am in front of 17 kiddo's everyday, I do not like to present in front of a room full of adults!!

Eric has been busy this year too!  He has recently gotten to hire an assistant to help him with some of his tasks at work which have been the jobs of 2-3 men before now.  His company has recently opened up a location in Germany which will require him to do more traveling overseas.  He has already been to Germany once since my last post for about a week to train the people over there on their product.  He is hoping this summer I will come with him to Germany for a week...we'll see about that!  Right after my last post, Eric turned the big 3-0!!!  We were able to have a little get together at my parent's house this summer to help him celebate this big birthday, so that was fun!   He just got back from his annual trip to Washington DC and will be off again in a couple of weeks for another trip.  The spring can be a very busy time for him and he tends to travel quite a bit.

As far as our little family goes, we are looking to sell our house that we have been in for almost 6 years now.  It is getting hard for us to make the 40 min. drive to and from work everyday, even though we love our house!  We have been spending too much time in the car and not enough time with each other at home over this last year and decided it was time for a change.  We are hoping to have realtor help us list our house in the next couple of weeks and are thinking about possibly building a house closer to downtown Chattanooga.  We will be buying or building a house a bit bigger than ours is now so we can fit visitors and any more kiddos that may join our family later on.

Sorry this is such a full and boring post!  If I can keep posting regularly, I can make them a little more exciting!! :)  Here are some pictures from the last 6 months for you to enjoy...

SOOOO Big!!! @ Baby Jake's birthday party

At the Children's Museum - Bettendorf (Oct 2011)

At the pumpkin patch!!

Picking out a pumpkin!

Halloween @ the Henderson's in Mommy's old clown costume

Trip to Cedar Falls - First taste of Gelato

Caught reading on Thanksgiving

Izzy, thankful the baby isn't around her right now... ;)

 

Is it already mid-July?

Holy cow, summer has flown by!  I know I say this every summer, but really...

Unfortunately, I can't say we have done a whole lot around this household since Eloise's big birthday weekend!  Eric has been out of town a couple of times, and I had a couple of days that I either had a training or grade-level planning to do.  We did take Eloise and Izzy to the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball game one Sunday afternoon!  Once a month, the local shelter hosts a "Dogs on the Diamond" day that allows people to bring their pooches to the park for $5 (which is donated to the shelter) and Izzy gets to enjoy the baseball game!  They even give the dogs a little goody bag with a tennis ball and dog treat, plus they fill up a bunch of dog bowls for all the pups!  We have taken Izzy a couple of times and she always enjoys it, but Eloise REALLY had a blast!  She loves dogs so much, and wanted to pet all of them.  She saw a bulldog that she squealed at and got to pet a little bit.  The bulldog's mommy was very nice :)!  Eloise's teacher, Hannah, brought her doggie too who could do tricks!  Eloise laughed hysterically!!!

We also FINALLY got some family pictures taken!!  I have only gotten a few pictures from our photographer as a "sneak peek" so far, but they look FANTASTIC!!  I have been wanting to get pictures taken of the four of us for a while, but it kept getting put off.  First, I wanted to wait until Eloise could sit up on her own, and then I wanted to wait until we had a bit of a tan....I know, I know...but I didn't want to spend all that money and be pale as paper!!  Anywho, my dear friend Trinace knew of a photographer in the area, (actually, he was her husband's roommate in college) so we used him and are very excited to see all that he did!  He even came out to our house and took pictures of us in our natural setting, so the pictures are very much "us"!

We had to miss fireworks for the 4th of July, but I did manage to find a parade in the area that we were able to go to and let Weeze wave her little American Flag at!  The holiday was pretty uneventful for us, but it was nice to have Eric home for the three day weekend!!

The most exciting thing we had happen since Eloise's birthday is that my friend and Eloise's "Auntie" Trinace had her baby!!  His name is Townes Edward Henderson, and he was born on July 5 around 4:30 in the afternoon!  He was 7 lbs 12 oz and 21 inches long!  He is beautiful and even has some hair!!!  Eloise and I even got to Skype with him and his mommy and daddy tonight! :)

The rest of the summer is actually fairly booked up for us!  We are headed on a beach vacation from Sat-Tues.  We are going to Amelia Island, GA which is very dog-friendly so we get to take Iz with us!  Then we have a week and weekend off (although I will probably go to school and finish up a few things).  Then we are headed back to the QC for a couple of days!!  We are coming home for Bix and my 10 year class reunion!!! And that is the end of summer....I have to be back on Monday, Aug. 1st!! :)

Eloise and Eric swimming during her first boat ride on the lake!! She LOVED it!!

Eloise giving her Izzy a hug.  She does this everyday, about 20 times a day.  She loves her dog.

We read books and sing a song every night before we go to bed.  Eric caught us in our ritual :)

Happy Birthday to ME!!

In honor of MY birthday, I thought I would post about ELOISE and HER birthday!!  Alot has been happening around here at the Baker Household - Chattanooga :)  Since I posted last, Eloise has turned 11 months old AND 1 year old!  I can hardly believe she is the big ONE now!!! :)  She is doing so much and is growing so fast!  She started standing by herself around mid-May and has been walking with assistance since then.  She still isn't walking independently yet, but it shouldn't be much longer. 

Right after her 11 month birthday, we (Eloise, Izzy, and I) went up to Nashville for a day/night to visit Ryan and Sarah which was SO much fun!  We really enjoyed our visit and were so glad to see our friends.  While we were up there, Eric was in Kansas City with some of the boys helping his friend Adam Jessen celebrate his wedding!  Eric had just finished kind of a whirlwind travel week with his trip to KC, so we were happy to have him back on Sunday which was Mother's Day!  I am so lucky to have spent my first Mother's Day with my two girls and then with Eric once we all met up!  Luckily for me, I have an incredible mom in my life that has taught me all about how to be a great mom! 

Right after that weekend, we started weaning Weezie!!  We had already had one bottle feeding in place with her being at daycare each day, so we started by trading in our bottle for a sippy cup which she did FABULOUSLY!  Since that transition was so easy, later that week, we dropped her 11:00 feeding and gave her breastmilk in a sippy cup instead.  Once again, she rocked it!  We finished up the school year with two sippy cup feedings a day because I knew that dropping our morning feeding would be a bit more challenging.  Once school was out for a couple days, we dropped our morning feeding and eventhough she was a bit more fussy and clingy, she really did a great job and was going with the flow after a few days. In the next day we will be dropping her night time feeding which I am a little worried about.  I know she will do great after a couple days because she has done so well up to this point, but it has been such a part of our bedtime routine for so long, I don't want it to impede her great sleep time! I will let you all know how this goes in my next post! 

Other than the process of weaning, we have been closing out the school year, getting into a running routine with the jogging stroller, relaxing and enjoying our time together, throwing a baby shower, and hosting friends and family for Eloise's birthday!!  Eloise's honorary Auntie Trinace will be having baby Townes around the beginning of July, so we (myself and my friends Melanie and Erica) threw her a baby shower at the end of May.  Of course Eloise came and helped Trinace open all of her goodies which served as good practice for opening up her own presents for her birthday ;)

The big birthday weekend came so quick and Eric and I spent the entire week before cleaning the house from top to bottom, putting in a little garden, and Eric sanded and stained the deck!  Whew!  My mom, dad, grandpa, and AJ got into Chattanooga around 4 on Thursday and then Jenny and Cheri's flight came in a little before 11 Thursday night.  We started off the weekend with a bang by going whitewater rafting on the Ocoee river on Friday.  While mom and Grandpa stayed home with Eloise and Izzy, the rest of us risked our lives on the river!  We had such a great time and no one got hurt too bad! ;)  On Saturday, we checked out some of the tourist attractions around Chattanooga and went through Ruby Falls.  Saturday night and Sunday morning was party prep time and the Sunday afternoon was the PARTAY!!!  We had so many visitors come to help little Eloise celebrate her special day!  Aunties Erica and Trinace came with Melanie and her little girl, Anna Catherine; my friend Courtney came with her husband Dave and their little boy Jake; Eric's boss John came as well as my teammate Wendy!  Little Eloise has so many people that love her and we were so honored by all of those friends and family that were able to come and help us celebrate our little girl! 

By noon on Monday, everyone had headed back home and it was time to take a breath and relax!  Eloise took some great naps this week!  I think all the excitement wore her out!  I know it wore us out!  Check out some pictures from our weekend!

Our little family

me, Jenny, Cheri, and Eloise

Grandpa and Weezie

lovin the cupcake

Rafting (AJ is "riding the bull")

We just want to thank everyone who was able to help us celebrate Eloise's birthday.  We know how hard it is to take time from work and travel the distance to Chattanooga.  We are so honored that you all could make it and be such an integral part of her special day!  Love you guys!!

Happy Birthday Eloise!!

Pictures and updates to come soon! Stay tuned! :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!!  We have been enjoying the holiday in our house this weekend for sure!  Eloise got her first Easter basket this morning filled with books, a watering can, a little flower pot that we will be planting this afternoon, and BUBBLES!!  She also got a movie and some awesome books, including The Golden Egg Book (one of my personal faves) from her Grandma Claire and Grandpa Tim!  Izzy even got a little Easter bone to gnaw on today!  :)   The girls are happy in this household!

In tradition, I made us some monkey bread for Easter morning and Eloise had her first little taste for breakfast.  She tried to eat a whole chunk before I could tear it up (needless to say, she liked it)!  After breakfast, we got all dressed up in our Easter best and headed off to church with my friend Erica and her husband.  Eloise liked the first half of church and took a little snooze for the 2nd half.  So far it has been a beautiful day to celebrate Easter Sunday and we hope the rest of the day continues to be beautiful.  Here are a few pictures of our little sweetheart on her first Easter Sunday.  God is certainly great!  We are so grateful for the blessings we have been granted. 

Checkin out her Easter Basket

Izzy is sharing her favorite toy with her sissy

The whole Easter get-up :)  Like the flips?

10 Months

Yes, ladies and gentlemen....our little one is 10 MONTHS old!!! Can you believe it? I know we can't!!

10 month picture!!

Watching her doggie "da-da"

We have all been enjoying the beautiful weather in Chattanooga over the last week, but Eloise has especially been enjoying it!  At daycare this week, they got to go on "Buggy Rides" around the school a couple of different days, and one day, they went out TWICE!  She got to see the flowers blooming, she touched the grass, and even got to see a baby bird in a nest near the sidewalk.  From what Miss Hannah said, Eloise couldn't take her eyes off the baby bird!  I saw her once in the "Bye-Bye Buggy" hanging out with her sunhat on and relaxing!  She even has a new friend named Mia and Miss Hannah said that Eloise and Mia held hands on their buggy ride the other day....how sweet is that?!  Also at school, Eloise is learning about "Birds in Spring" and got to paint and create a "birds nest" yesterday with a cup, brown paint, and little sticks!!  Her teachers give her such great experiences and we are so thankful for them!!  Eloise also has two guest readers come to her classroom everyday from my classroom.  Everyday 2 of my second graders get to go down to Eloise's room and they read to the infants!!  My kids LOVE it, and Eloise soaks up every minute of it! These are just a couple of pictures from their first experience!

L to R: Eloise, Taylor, and Lily

Maya and Lily read to the babies

Hello April!!

Happy April Fools Day everybody!!  I am finally getting a minute to post a little!!  Not that I don't have plenty of other things to do mind you, but the harrassment that I have endured (wink wink) for my lack of posting has finally broken me down!  HA!!  Anywho, I don't even remember when I posted last, or what was happening in our household at that point, so I am typing blind tonight!!  I know this is nothing new to any of you, but we have been.....BUSY!!!  Surprised?!  Hehe... I just finished my week back at work after Spring Break which I got to spend with my two girls, friends, and family!! Yay!!  Eric headed out to Las Vegas for their semi-annual ConExpo extravaganzaa the Sunday afternoon before my Spring Break started, and got back the next Sunday, so I was solo-parenting for my break. 
Of course, I can't ever pull myself away from my school, so I went in to work Monday for a couple hours and let Eloise go to daycare.  She didn't seem to mind one bit, and her teachers were very pleased to have her hang out for a bit!  We did get lots of stuff done over break: we got to spend lots of time with my friends, got some school work done, RELAXED, and had visitors!!  Mom, AJ, and Grandma Ann were able to make an surprise visit for the last couple days of my break to see Eloise, Iz, and me!  I was so glad they all could come!!  Missed my dad though!!  After they all headed back, Eloise and I went down to Atlanta with my two dear friends, Trinace and Erica for a day and night of shopping and relaxing!!  Eloise had her first official girls trip to a hotel AND swim!!!  Our hotel was actually connected to one of the big malls in Buckhead, so we were able to walk to the mall from our room!  We shopped til we dropped and then went swimming at the indoor pool at the hotel.  Eloise LOVED it!!!  She could have splashed and played all night and would have perfectly content! :) 
It has been so fantastic to see our little girl grow and learn everyday!  She has gotten so big and curious ovr the last couple of months.  She is 9 months old right now, but will be 10 months old in just a few days!!  She is crawling EVERYWHERE and is pulling up every chance she gets!  She has gotten 2 teeth this month and is working on at least one more that I think will be popping through any day!  She is talking like crazy, saying Ma-ma, Da-da, ba-ba (bottle), and she says da-da for doggie too!  Eric and Izzy share the same name as far as Eloise is concerned! :)  Anytime Eloise sees her doggie, she gets very excited!  Izzy loves Eloise too, but she starts to get a little leery when Eloise gets that crazy look in her eye!  Ha!
Well, enough of my chatter...here are some pictures for your enjoyment! We'll be taking lots more and posting them when we can!

Best friends

She likes Izzy's toys more than her own!

A face only a mother could love.... :)

Such a happy girl!  9 months!!

What a month!

Boy oh boy!  I would say that the last month has been busy, but I am not so sure I can honestly say that.  There has been alot going on, but I have had alot of resting time too.  Have I rested?  No, not really, BUT I have had alot of time in my schedule to relax!  Let me begin with my 2 week winter break....AHHHHHHH!  Now, the first part of winter break was very busy I must say!  We got into Bettendorf late Friday night (but made great time, considering I worked for half a day), went to bed, and got up Saturday morning only to get on the road again!  We got into Ames around 1:30 Saturday afternoon for Kelli's graduation from Iowa State.  We were headed BACK to Bettendorf around 7:30 Saturday night and got in around 11...Whew!  Before you all criticize us for not staying in Ames, you need to know that a 6 month old that was in the car for 12 hours on Friday, and then 6 more hours on Saturday NEEDED to get back on schedule ASAP!  If we would have stayed in Ames, we wouldn't have been back on schedule until sometime Monday or Tuesday.  As is, we got her all settled on Sunday!  Ahhhhh...... :) Needless to say, Sunday, we didn't get out of our jammies all day and slept/laid around all day.  We were exhausted! 
The week after our whirlwind weekend of driving, we got to relax and spend some quality family time at home.  Izzy was happy to have all sorts of attention from Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle AJ, and they were all happy to have their two grandbabies/neices with them.  I would say they were happy to have Eric and I there too, but they may have been tired of us by day #2! :)  Just kidding!  Eloise and I got to visit my mom's work and meet all of my mom's co-workers that have heard so much about our little girl. We were even able to visit Eric's parents and Kelli once we got all settled in AND got to visit with Jenny and Cheri one night!  My mom and AJ babysat so Eric and I had our 2nd night away from our girls since Eloise was born in June.  Yes, only our 2nd time away together!  We enjoyed our time away, as we did the first time.  It helps to have great family and friends that offer to do that for us.  We are very lucky! 
Then the weekend came and we were busy, busy, busy again!  We had Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day festivities with my Aunt and Uncle from St. Louis, and then Eloise's baptism on Sunday!  I won't go into all of the details, but it was awesome!  We are always so happy to have the family together and are so glad that Eloise has had the chance to spend time with not only all of her Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunt and Uncle, but even Great-Grandparents, and Great Aunts and Uncles!  Her baptism was a great time to have everyone together and are so thankful to my parents who opened their home to celebrate Eloise's special day, for family that traveled from their homes to help us celebrate, AND last but not least, to my brother who so graciously took on the responsibility of being Eloise's godfather.  We feel so blessed that he would take on such an important role in Eloise's life. 
The week after that big weekend, we were able to recoup again for a week :)  Gotta love having 2 weeks off... :)  After a wild night of Farkle and Apples to Apples with my family for New Years and my mom's FAMOUS Baked Potato Soup on New Years Day, we headed back to Chattanooga on Sunday....Our trip was coming to a close. Eric and I had to be back to work on Monday, and my kiddos came back to school on Wednesday.  We had three great days of school and then...the SNOW came...and we had an ENTIRE WEEK off school!!!  We had around 8 inches of snow in Chattanooga and the city shut down!!  Schools, buisnesses, restaurants, everything closed (except for Roadtec)! 
So, after almost a month off of school at this point, I am heading back tomorrow!  Hopefully we won't have many more days off because we have LOTS to do before TCAP testing in April!  I will close with some pictures from the last month and see you again soon (well, soon is a relative term....) ;)

Eloise's first time in the snow!! 

Eloise checking out the tree with Uncle AJ on Christmas

Izzy striking a pose for a holiday photo-op!

Eloise and Aunt Kelli

Eloise at church for her baptism

Eloise and Grandma on Christmas