A good day for a run

I got home from work yesterday and decided that it was a good day to go running. No, that's not a typo.

Seriously, pick your jaw up off the floor...I've been known to run on occasion! Mostly when being chased but that's so not the point here.

It was a little damp but a perfect cool fall day. So, I loaded up Alaina and away we went. Thirty seconds later, I remembered why I don't take my child running with me. Strollers are HEAVY. Seeing as my neighborhood has crazy steep hills, I spent the entire hour either being dragged down and trying not to fall, or moving at a snails pace trying to push it back up the hill. Every time I stopped to breath for a second, my child would look at me and laugh. Apparently, mommy about to pass out is the most hilarious thing in the world.

Whatever.

After our run we had a great impromptu photo shoot that resulted in exactly 3 acceptable pictures. I won't tell you how many I took to get those 3. It was so much easier when she was less active!

She loves her jumparoo! She cracks me up because stares at the little animals for the first couple of minutes in awe every time we put her in. It never gets old for her and I love it.

She is the happiest baby all the time! The only exception is if you are jet-lagged and have gotten zero sleep. Then she's a rat and will do nothing but cry and refuse to let you put her down. Mostly, just smiles and giggles.

Scotlon makes fun of me because I have an obsession with her feet. There's just something so sweet about tiny little baby feet!

Happy Halloween & Game Day

Since I know several of you are Georgia fans, I'll get the game day portion out of the way first. Being the always fair person that I am, Alaina was house divided on Saturday. She wore a black shirt & Georgia socks with her Gators bib. Which she drooled ALL over.

I think she took it to heart when her daddy told her that, "Dawgs rule & Gators drool."

Her first Halloween was wonderful. We spent the evening over at the Emerson's and had such a great time. We took the girls trick-or-treating until it started to get cold and windy. Scotlon and I headed back to the house with Alaina while Hannah braved the elements in search of more candy. She was NOT going to let a little wind get in her way! I don't blame her a bit, by the way. I would have done the same during my trick-or-treating years.

I know that I am a wee bit biased but Alaina was the cutest thing ever. Don't you agree?

I hope that you all had a wonderful and very happy Halloween!

4 Months

My sweet baby girl is 4 months old today! It's hard to believe that the time has gone by so quickly. She is doing new things every day and getting bigger by the minute. I swear I pick her up after work and she's heavier than she was when I held her that morning. Hailey swears that she's not feeding her miracle gro but I'm not so sure... We tried to take some 4 month pictures but our photo shoot was not entirely successful.

After several minutes of this, we changed locations and finally got a good one!

My sweet Alaina,

You are such a joy! Your daddy and I are ridiculously in love with you baby girl. You have really found your voice over the last few weeks and you are not afraid to use it! You usually wait until we are trying to talk on the phone and then you chime in nice and loud. After not getting to hear you make any noise for so long, we are always tickled when you talk to us though. You absolutely love your jumparoo and squeal with delight when we put you in it. We love that you are happy and we have free hands to eat dinner with:) While it is a little sad that you are getting SO big, we look forward to seeing what the coming months hold. We are incredibly honored to be your parents and thank God daily for giving you to us.

I love you,

Mommy

Pumpkin Patch

One of my favorite things to do each fall is go to the pumpkin patch. Last year, I found out I was pregnant right before our annual trip and I remember thinking about how great it was going to be to come back with our sweet baby. We usually go to Burt's and we tried to again this year but it was just miserable. Since Burt's is so far away from our house we decided to try a new place near Athens.

It was awesome.

Instead of having all the pumpkins together, they're still sitting on the vines.

Alaina thought the vines were really cool. And then she tried to eat them.

She wasn't so sure about the pumpkins themselves. She kept touching them and then pulling her hand away and looking at us.

We took a million pictures and tried to get her to smile but she only looked at us like we were crazy. As soon as I lowered the camera she would smile and giggle again!

Finally on our way out to the car I caught a couple of her smiling at us.

Overall it was a wonderful trip and I can't wait to go back again next year!

Happy Monday

One of my favorite times of the day is when I'm getting Alaina up and ready to go. She's such a happy baby in the morning! I love peering over the edge of her crib to see her smiling back at me. This morning she was especially friendly and was smiling in her sleep.



Then we get up and change out of our pj's and into a super cute outfit. The hardest part is picking which one to wear for the day!

We spend the majority of our morning eating breakfast...no pictures needed of that though! After breakfast it's off to the swing to hang out for a few minutes while mommy packs the diaper bag. It should have been packed last night but football was on!



Here we are all buckled up and ready to go to Aunt Hailey's! She's still not so fond of the carseat unless it's moving...

I hope that you are having a wonderful Monday morning!

Love,

Stephanie & Alaina

Two Months

I can hardly believe that my baby girl is already two months old! Has it really been two whole months since we took this picture? My belly was so big! Scotlon took this picture at 2:07a.m. when we were leaving to go to the hospital. I was definitely between contractions since I was smiling!


A lot has changed since her one month pictures...praise Jesus! I remember being so sad that her one month birthday was being celebrated at the hospital. The nurses were so sweet and decorated her sign after I left for the day.

My sweet girl today! She's hanging out with her daddy and loving every second of it!

Alaina, my love, there are no words to describe how happy you make me. You are getting so big now and I so enjoy watching all the new things that you're doing. You are such a happy baby and you smile all the time now. Last Friday you rolled over for the first time and your daddy and I were so excited! You are so strong and it's hard to believe that you are only two months old sometimes. You are the best thing that God has ever blessed us with and we can't imagine life without you! I love you baby girl,

Mommy

Sweet Little Bunny

Yesterday, we went to the doctor's for our 3-D ultrasound pictures and it was incredible. I know that there is a real person in my belly, but seeing her sweet face for the first time was a moment that I will never forget. She was so cooperative and gave us a great picture with her eyes open. We can tell already that she's going to be a thumb sucker as she had it there almost the whole time!


You can't see it here but after a few minutes of blinking at us, she decided that we weren't so interesting and tried to take a nap. The picture below is one of my favorites because you can see her sweet little face so clearly. Bless her heart though, she got my fat cheeks!

Overall it was a great day for us! We can't wait to meet our sweet little bunny!

Jeremiah 1:5-"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart."

Cure for the Monday Blues

I hate Mondays. I struggle to get out of bed and then try to ward off feelings of mild depression as I realize that I have 4 more days before I can sleep in again. It didn't use to be quite as bad, but I am finding myself moving a wee bit slower these days! Yesterday was particularly challenging because there were two of us trying to get ready. For the first time since we've been married, we don't each have the bathroom to ourselves in the morning. We discovered quickly that we both missed the day in kindergarten where you learn to share things! Adjustments were made on both sides and we managed to make it out of the house without strangling each other.

The end of the day, however, was much better than the beginning! We spent the evening at the Emerson household where we were treated like royalty. Hailey not only made her famous lasagna but surprised Scotlon with his favorite dessert...cupcakes with homemade buttercream icing. Nothing cures the Monday blues like licking fresh icing off of the beaters! In the midst of the mixer going, pots and pans banging, the boys yelling at the xbox (because that will keep their players from dying), I look over and see this:

Girlfriend is passed out. I have no idea how she is still sleeping with all of the noise around her, but I hope and pray with every fiber of my being that Alaina sleeps just like her cousin!

After she finally woke up we put her new t-shirt on her and tried to get a picture of her in it. Ha! She did NOT want her picture taken, which she told us very clearly over and over again. Being the persistant people that we are, Hailey was finally able to get a good one (note the saying):

That's right! Hannah is going to be a big sister on or around November 20th! She already loves her "baby" and will kiss & pat mommy's belly. She got a little confused when we tried to explain that Aunt Stephie had a baby too, but we'll work on that:) Of course, Hailey & I are thrilled to be having our babies together! After all, we do everything else together so why not this???

Here's hoping that your Tuesday goes by quickly and smoothly. If not...only three more days to go!

Love,

Stephanie

Pumpkin Patch

I just had to post these super cute pictures of Hannah at the pumpkin patch this weekend. I can't believe how big she's getting!