Weekend Recap

This past weekend was so great!  We didn't have any set plans, so we could just have fun!

On Friday, Emmalyn and I met with my college friend, Kala.  She is also a nurse and just got a new Canon DSLR!  We went shooting together at the park and Emmy was our subject for some of the pictures.  Emmalyn warmed up to Kala right away!

On Saturday we had a family day.  First, we took our time getting ready in the morning then headed to the library to find some books to read.  After the library we went to a new park in our hometown and walked around.  It was just a beautiful day.  At the end of one the trails was a manmade waterfall.  We tried to get Emmy to watch it, but this is what she did if Caleb tired to pull her off his shoulder.  

And back to this...

(Look at that thumb digging into his neck!)

Emmalyn does not like any loud noises.  She hates the sound the blender makes, and apparently waterfalls.

Here is the big bad waterfall.

We finally caught on and walked away to calmer water and she was much happier!

After our trip to the park we went to have dinner with Caleb's parents and this is what Emmy did on the way.

On Sunday, I cooked homemade blueberry pancakes and oven omelet for breakfast and my parents and brother joined us.  The rest of the day was spent being lazy.  

A new thing that Emmalyn has been doing is sitting up in her swing.  She won't lie back which means we have to sit right beside her while it is swinging so she does fall.  She thinks the mobile on her head is just the best thing!

We have a lot to do this coming week and a lot of people to be praying for.  I'm so thankful for the time I  got to spend with my family this weekend!

What I Need....NOW!

Lately we've had a few rain days and every day that it rains I think "rain boots would be really helpful" mostly because the days that I plan to run a ton of errands are inevitably the days that it ends up raining... Go figure!  The only thing is, I usually don't think about getting a pair until it actually rains.  I found these on Target.com and love them!  Not only is yellow my favorite color, but on a dreary, cloudy day, we all need a little "sunshine."

Also, big on my list lately is a new SLR camera.  I just can't decided between the Canon 60d and the Canon 7d.  The difference is about $400-$500 more for the 7D, but I don't know if the upgrades on it are worth that much.  I'm not going to go into a bunch of photography mumbo jumbo, but I'd be happy with either one and drool over their capabilities daily.  Any advice from photographers is greatly appreciated!

Next on the list was to find a sippy cup that Emmalyn could use well.  After going through four different kinds, we finally found this one:

The Playtex little gripper.  She loves it and can use it all by herself so well!  I almost cried the other day when she picked it up by herself, held it with both hands and sucked.  It is so crazy how fast she is growing and all of the things she is learning.  

That's all for today.  I'll be spending a fantastic weekend with my little family, so I'll get back to blogging on Monday!  Happy weekend everyone!

On January 16, 2010, the day before our little family moved from Alabama to South Carolina we had Emmalyn's dedication at our church, Grace Place Church.  Since being married this is the only church we have been members of and we loved being a part of such a great body of believers.  Our pastor, Donny, is and ex chaplain and actually funny.  Pator Donny was so gracious to allow Caleb's dad, Terry, to head the dedication.  He has done all of his grandchildren's dedications and it was so special to have him do Emmalyn's.

After church we had a party to celebrate at the Skelly's house (since ours was packed full of boxes).  All of the friends that became so dear to us in the past two years were there.  It was such a perfect bittersweet day.  Everyone knew we would be leaving the next day, so our time together was so special.

This is Emmalyn and me with my very first Fort Rucker friend, Emily.  She is an amazing artist and has such a sweet heart that makes her beautiful inside and out.

And here is our yoga crew.  Erica (far right) is our instructor and has made me love yoga!

And here is the beautiful Liz Bain with Emmy.  I did her engagement photos with Thomas the day before.  You can view them here.

Emmy with Sarah, we are praying God blesses her and her husband with a child somehow, soon.

The Wilkes Clan

I LOVE that happy face!!!

And with her Godmother!

Bible study girls!

Emmy and our awesome Pastor, Donny.

I love being home.  I'm a hometown girl, but God has chosen a different life for me than I would have and I know that it has made me grow a trust him more.  On the way home from Emmalyn's party we were all quiet in the car (well, Emmy was asleep : ).  But after a while Caleb mentioned how scared I was to leave SC and start new in a place I really didn't want to go.  I was concerned that we would make no friends, that my depression would resurface, but God knew better.  I'm so happy that we became so close with the people we did in Alabama and am very glad to know so many around our country.  

So much changed for my little family while we were at Fort Rucker and as we start a new year in SC I know I'm a better person and we are a closer family that trusts God more.

Funny Life Realizations

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. 


I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.


There is great need for a sarcasm font.


Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.


I think the freezer deserves a light as well.


How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

7 Things About Growing up - in the 90's :)

So, there is a tag party going on in blogville.  My bestie, Ashley from run with me participated and tagged her readers.

So here's my top 7 most memorable things about growing up

1. I was a total Lisa Frank junkie!

2. Making stupid movies with my friend's parent's video camera.  We did game shows and talk shows and fashion shows - Oh to watch those videos now :)

3. Going to dance class after school almost every single day.  I loved it!

4. When I spent the night with friends in middle school we would talk to boys on the phone - which I wasn't allowed to do at my house

5. I hate to admit it, but I had a ton of barbies!  I loved making up stories of them being whatever career choice I had in mind at the time - teacher, veterinarian, nurse, mom;  sometimes I would even make my brother play and be the husband or the kids

6. DISNEY movies!  I could sit and watch disney movies all the day long as a child.  My brother and I would quote them constantly and now it is so much fun to watch one every now and then and remember how much fun we had

7. On Saturdays my mom had to work so my dad would let my brother and I take every pillow and blanket in the house and make a fort in the living room.  We made some mack daddy forts!  We would read with flashlights in there, play games and even have picnics!

I know you guys thought this was so interesting, but I am excited about having my own child now and watching Disney movies with her and making forts.  We will try to hold her off on calling boys for awhile though : )

There is FINALLY a new post on my photography blog!

http://kaylawilkesphotography.blogspot.com/2011/01/liz-thomas.html

If you haven't already figured out why I've been MIA for a week, it's because we moved 400 miles back to our home state.  If feels very good to be home, close to our family and friends, but we are still missing all of our friends from Ft. Rucker.

This post is not about our move though.  

A ton happened in our last week at Ft. Rucker.  My husband got his wings and Emmalyn was dedicated.  It was a tiring week to say the least with those two things alone, but pair it with packing up a house and it gets much more fun!  Let's just say I'm very glad to be in our new home and back on some sort of schedule.

On January 13, Caleb officially became an aviator.  A lot of our family came to participate in the events associated with the graduation.  On Wednesday, we went to the apache heliport to see for ourselves where Caleb "works" everyday and get inside an apache!  Emmalyn even joined in!

Thursday we attended the graduation.  Emmalyn was so excited the whole morning that by the time came to pin Caleb's wings on she was out cold snuggled on my dad and didn't really participate in the pinning.  I woke her up anyway to get a picture of the three of us...Can you tell how mad she looks because she was woken up?

After the graduation, there was a banquet held for the families.  We had a good meal equipped with good ole southern sweet tea :)  At the banquet they honored the families and spouses of the aviators.  I got a "diploma" for sticking it out during flight school.  It's kind of a running joke with the guy avaitors that they wouldn't have made it without their wives doing their laundry and cooking for them, and quizzing them on their 5 and 9s, and washing their uniforms, the list just goes on and on!  All of the female aviators I know did it with no help : )  Therefore, the wives get a diploma and our own set of wings!!!!  I have been looking forward to proudly wearing these wings for 18 months and now I have them! 

After the banquet we got some family pictures and went back home to continue packing.  

By the way, I'm proud to say that the $400-$600 officer uniform that my husband had to wear, we put together for a mere $100!!!  Talk about frugal! 

7 Months

  

Emmalyn's Seven Month Stats

Weight - 14lbs (9th percentile)

Height - 26in (49th percentile)

Head - 16 3/4in (45th percentile)

Size of clothes - Her clothes range from 3-6 month, 6 month, and 6-9 month.  

Eye color - brown (like mother like daughter)

Sleep -Sleep has gotten better this month.  Over Christmas she didn't give us very much sleep, but before our trip to visit family for Christmas she was sleeping 8-10 hours a night - sometimes she would wake up around 10 or 11pm for a "dream feeding" but then she would go right back to sleep.  Since our visit to SC she has slept so well.  8-14 hours a night!  Usually on the nights we are with friends or at bible study she won't sleep as much, but we don't want to hinder our social life just because we are parents and we might as well do it now while we only have one child to carry around.

I love to watch her go to sleep.  As soon as her sound machine is turned on, we give her a pacifier and her blanket.  She grabs the blanket and rubs in on her face and then covers her face and falls right to sleep.  It is precious.  I have to go in after she falls asleep to take the blanket away from her face because I'm paranoid that she will get stuck in it, but sometimes she eventually ends up kicking it off anyway.  She is so sweet when she wakes up too.  Every morning I walk into her room, cut off the sound machine and say "good morning beautiful!" and she flashes me the biggest smile and kicks her feet in excitement! It is one of the best parts of my day.

Food - She still loves food.  We have started having to feed her while we have our own plates because she is so interested in what we are eating.  In the past month I've noticed that she loves blueberries, and my homemade applesauce.  I gave her a little bit of chicken that I cooked and purred, but she wasn't grabbing for more like she usually does.  I don't know if it was the texture or the way I cooked it, so we will try it again later. 

Milestones -  Sitting up like a champ.  Stands up while holding on to something.  Rolls to get where she wants to go instead of using her arms and legs.  Maybe she will figure it out soon.

Favorite activities -  One morning while I was getting ready, Emmalyn was sitting beside me looking at her books while I put my makeup on.  She started to grab things out of my makeup case and now, everyday that I wear makeup, I put her beside me and she will rummage through it all and play.  Caleb does not know how he feels about me exposing her to makeup so early, but she loves it so he can't really argue.  She watches me very carefully as I put it on so I'm thinking we have a girly girl on our hands.  Aunt Ashley will be so proud!

Wisdom from mom and dad - Emmalyn is turing into a little me.  Caleb started pointing similarities out in us and it is so crazy how much alike we are.  From our looks (she looks just like me when I was little) to the same idiosyncrasies.  Hopefully there won't be much guess work with her! 

We have also noticed that she is noticing more.  She knows when the dogs are waiting for her to finish eating so I can feed them.  She knows when I'm going to fix dinner and she'll be getting food soon.  So we are narrating our day more to her.  Describing things like a "red ball" or "daddy's helicopter" and hoping that this will help in development.  We are still working on the sign language, but I don't know if it is "sticking" or not.  

Pictures from this month:

Award for me and my favorite blogs!

My best friend, Ashley's blog was nominated for the Stylish Blogger Award.  In order to be nominated you have to write seven interesting facts about yourself, add a link to the person who nominated you, and then link fifteen other blogs that you think deserve the award.

Well, in my case, my blog is not exactly about fashion or the excited getaways I go on (because, let's face it, I don't), or the hottest hollywood gossip.  But more about my day to day being an army wife and mother.  My struggles, insecurities, and funny mishaps.  This is more a journal for me (and whoever else cares to read it) and a way to get out what's on my mind.  Needless to say, I don't have many "blog friends" that I keep up with (which is good with the increasingly less time I have to spend reading them these days) so I don't think I'll be able to give fifteen links, but I will, however, choose the blogs that (1) I think will be just as honored to receive this award and (2) will carry on acknowledging other well deserving blogs.

With that said, I'm very flattered that Ashley chose my blog for this award!

Seven Facts:
1. I love to organize and clean.  And I'm not afraid to throw things away.  
2. Since 2005 I've moved six times and in two weeks I'll make my 7th move.
3. When I was a child, I loved doing "boy" stuff like fishing, hiking, and hunting, but I would make sure I had on a dress and looked my best - so what would you call that?  Girly-tom boy?
4. When I was in middle/high school my dream was to make movies.  Not be in them, but direct them.  Like Steven Speilberg.  
5. I love to dance!  I often dance in my home and now that I have a daughter I dance with her.  Sometimes I wish my life was musical and I could just break out in song and dance anywhere.
6. I've had a smorgasbord of  jobs in my life: salon receptionist (at my mom's salon and got paid $8 a day, does this count?), gun club puller (you say "pull", I say "dead" or "alive"), dance teacher (ballet for middles schoolers and younger), physical therapist's aide, document organizer for a law firm (very prestigious job : ), bariatric patient assistant (I bathed and fed hospitalized people), NICU nurse, photographer (amateur).
7. I have naturally curly hair that I straighten almost every day.

The blogs I'm nominating for this award:

Websters defines "stylish" as having style, smart.  These are definitely smart and have their very own distinct styles!

http://crowleyparty.blogspot.com/

http://thefutureneals.blogspot.com/

http://mommy2charli.blogspot.com/

http://carolinakate1231.blogspot.com/

http://findingjoyinthedaytoday.blogspot.com/

http://littlemissmomma.blogspot.com/

http://alaskalovestory.blogspot.com/

http://cogdillcrew.blogspot.com/

What I'm Loving

With a new year, new home and new goals, there are a lot of things changing!  

While packing, which pretty much happens only during Emmalyn's nap times because I love to play with her when she is awake, I've been watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother.  This show has got me hooked.  I have actually laughed out loud a lot while watching it and I can only remember doing that during reruns of Friends.

Since we are moving, I've become obsessed with organizing all of our stuff from important documents to our closets.

note: this closet is not mine, but I plan on doing something like this in our new closet along with a lot of purging because our closet space will be cut in half form what we have now.  Time to use some creativity!

Also, I'm planning on redoing our master bedroom this year.  I'm looking for (or may create) a headboard and nightstands.  

I've got my eye on this nightstand from Ikea...

but I'm also keeping my eyes open on craigslist to see if I can find an understated gem to give new life to like a fellow blogger did to this one.

Another change that I'm thinking about is a new haircut.  MAJOR cut!  However, I don't think I will look nearly as chic with this do as JS does!

Just a few things on my mind, other than the pile of boxes surrounding me at the moment.