Life with a newborn, an unexpected gift, and Independence Day

I have to say that I'm pretty sure I have the best friends ever!  Okay, I might be a little biased.  However, since having Emmalyn it has gotten so much harder to keep up with everyone - I must say that this one little precious child really does exhaust me.  I wouldn't trade my time with her for anything but caring for her takes time and energy so responding to text messages, e-mails, thank you notes, thank yous in general and phone calls definitely takes the back burner to Emmalyn.  

But even with as bad as I have gotten with follow-ups we have friends that understand and don't take it against us.  I love you guys for being so supportive and for caring for us and Emmalyn so much!  

With that said, we have a couple that we met through our church bible study that have been an amazing to us since the day we met them.  They are so understanding about having a newborn but also don't leave us out of the fun young couples events just because of Emmalyn, which is very important for those of you who have not experienced life with a three week old.  I hate saying no, but am getting better at it because I have to think about my child but it is nice to know that our friends don't think we are cursed because we have a child.  

Well, for the past few weeks I have been looking for a swing for Emmalyn.  One that was not full price. I've looked on craigslist, ebay, thrift stores, and garage sales but found nothing that was at a reasonable price and not about to fall apart.  After spending almost 4 hours looking for a swing on Saturday with no luck the Willeys show up at our door with a big surprise... A brand new infant swing!!!  I could not have picked out a better one for Emmalyn and they even stayed and helped put it together.  Emmalyn LOVES it!  She doesn't really like lying down on her while she is awake but the elevated swing allows her to look around and see everything.  She is even eye level with the dogs and seems really interested in what they are doing.  I can almost see the gears turning in her head as she explores her surroundings and it makes me so happy and so thankful for our amazing friends.  

This was her first time in the swing.  As you can see, it worked magic!  We were also dog sitting Ruger for the weekend and he was very interested in the new contraption taking over the living room floor.  

Later that day we took a trip to the Freedom Fest at Fort Rucker.  We had so much fun last year but didn't know that this year we would be lugging a stroller and diaper bag with us.  How life changes so quickly and unexpectedly.  Of course I had to dress Emmalyn up in a patriotic outfit and show her off.  She slept most of the time we were there but once the fireworks started she was wide awake and enjoying all of the colors in the night sky.  Don't worry, we were far enough away that the booms were not loud and I don't know how well she could see them, but she sure was looking hard!  

Here is a family picture of us with Daddy's big bird... the APACHE!!!

Kayla : )