Miami Trip for Rory's Wedding!

We just returned from Miami and it was so much fun!

Isabelle did quite well for her first plane ride.  Thanks to wonderful advice from other mama's I fed her on the the take off and decent.  She fussed a little and had a few outbursts but she didn't cry the whole flight.  You could see she was a bit uncomfortable and I saw her tugging at her ears.  Plus she just LOVES to wiggle around these days.  I can totally tell she's ready to be crawling and walking and then RUNNING!  But we had lots of toys to keep her occupied.
Jimmy was freaking out and kept saying "this is so embarrassing" but really compared to what I've witnessed on other flights she was a good girl!
She dropped a load while we were in the air and Jimmy said "Ugh - get that out of here!"  LOL- like she can help it!  So I changed her in the lavatory without a changing table and with some turbulence.  I was pretty proud of myself.
Trying to get her to stay happy I gave her a biscoff biscuit.  I'm not sure if she's supposed to have something like that yet but it made her happy and a mess!  But as I told Jimmy "I'd rather have a messy baby than a screaming baby"

YUMMMMMMMMMMMM BISCUITS!!

On the first day we arrived we went down to the pool- Isabelle had her first pool experience!

It didn't last long as it was a bit windy and I think the pool was a little too cold for her but she seemed to like it for a little while!
Then while playing around with her I found something that I had been anticipating but never guessed it would arrive on this trip- her first tooth.  I had my finger in her mouth and felt something sharp on the bottom.  Such a cute lil tooth popping through!
Later in the night I was off to go to a shower for Drew and Isabelle and mama got all dressed up! While I was away she got to hang with so many cousins/Aunts/Uncles!

Friday morning I found something that might also explain the fussiness- her second tooth!  There it was popping up on her bottom jaw!  It was so exciting to see!  She got two front bottom teeth on this trip and chewed on her finger for most of the trip!  I tried to help her out by pushing on the teeth to help them break through.
Later we tried the pool again but it didn't last long! There was some napping in her tent but soon it became apparent it was all too much for her so we headed to the room for some relaxation.
Friday night we got ready for the rehearsal dinner- it was at the Chart House on the water- very nice!  Isabelle made friends with an 18 month old at another dinner party- it was so cute to hear her squeal with delight at the little girl!

Saturday was a rush to get ready for the wedding.  I sadly held up the first bus as I was running late.  Isabelle drooled all over my dress before we even got there but I guess that just comes with motherhood!  It was GORGEOUS but REALLY windy.  Any attempt at my hair too look nice was futile.  So I had messed up hair and a wrinkled drooled on dress- but I tried!
The wedding itself was held close to the water and then we walked back up towards the main house for the dinner reception.  It was such a fun night- we danced and partied the night away!

How cute are these two!?

My own LIL family!

I thought this was cool.  As we walked down to the wedding a flock of birds took off!

This was where the reception took place- everything was so lovely!

The Bride heading to the alter!

Cute fan/program- notice the influence from the Princess Bride

It really makes me mad that my computer is flipping these pictures and the blog won't let me correct it!  But this is the cutest lil nugget so I had to share!

It was such a wonderful wedding and I am so happy for the bride and groom!!

On Sunday we pretty much just slept.  7am came earlier than normal since I was having a WONDERFUL time at the wedding and enjoyed several adult beverages.  I was in bed by midnight but the damage was done and I soon remembered why I don't drink that much.  Isabelle is not hungover in the morning and she requires a mom that's at 100%!  So we napped and just hung out around the hotel followed by a chill dinner with Bridget, Matt, Carolyn and Nick.  Rory and Drew were taking more pictures and flew over Miami and then hung out with her family.

Monday was a great day!  Mom kept saying it over and over again.  "I just love today!  This day is so great!" ;)

We went to the beach, so all of her little pumpkin heads were with her including her 2 newest punkin heads- Drew and Isabelle.  Isabelle got to experience the beach and ocean for the first time.  She seemed to enjoy the sights, sounds and feel of the sand and water.  She even took a little nap in her tent.

After the beach we headed back to the hotel and then had dinner together.  It was nice to have everyone together- might be awhile before that happens again!  Even Isabelle made it for a bit before passing out in her carrier!

Now we're back home.  Wishing we were still in Miami.  I have a few more days before I return to work and the thought of it is killing me.  I dropped some diapers and a couple weeks payment off at her day care today and it became very real for me!  

I'm kissing her about every other minute and trying not to think about how sad I'm going to be.  My anxiety has crept into my subconsciousness and I'm already having weird dreams about it.  I always know when I'm stressed about something if I start dreaming about it.  

I can't even imagine how tired I'm going to be since I won't get to nap with her!  I know that sitting in the office all day will be MUCH easier than being at home with her but I'd rather have her crying in my ear than sitting at my desk!  Sure I can rarely get anything done when I'm home with her and yes some days I countdown for her naptime and there are times when I think my head is going to explode and I can't wait for Jimmy to come home to help me out but again- I'd much rather be there with her than away from her!  

Stay at home mom's have probably the hardest job there is and I give them mad props for it.  If I could stay at home and still make the money I make now I totally would.  If only Moms got paid for the work they do!    I guess we do with kisses, smiles and I love you's!

So now I'm just trying to enjoy every minute and not think about her being in daycare.  I really hope that at least daycare helps with her not taking the bottle.  Our pediatrician has told me that he's never heard of a baby starving to death from not taking a bottle and eventually she will get it.  I just hate to think about what next week is going to be like for both of us.  Me being sad and her being pissed off that mom isn't around to feed her!  Pray for us!

I mean how stinkin cute is she?!?!?!

MY LITTLE BROTHER IS GETTING MARRIED!

I can't believe it!  It seems like just yesterday we were little kids teasing each other and living just a hallway apart, but yes indeed- Rory Welsh is getting married!!!!!!!!!

Rory and I were each others first buddy.  I got to be the big sister and show him all kinds of cool stuff
We were two cutie pies as you can see

But soon enough Rory learned he had a wonderful ability- he was an excellent teaser.  He was perfect at doing the whole "I'm not touching you", he knew exactly what to say to fire me up.  On our yearly drives to Illinois he was all too quick to point out my sign according to him.... "Hey Mel- look there's your sign behind that big rig... WIDE LOAD"
When I started to go through puberty Rory was kind enough to ask me what the dots were all over my face
:)
I remember one time we had come back from the pool and we both called getting to shower in mom and dad's shower.  Why you ask?  Ummm because it was way cooler than the other shower!  ANYWAY we ran up the stairs and were fighting over who got to go first so loudly that the neighbor came over to see if everything was ok.  Of course we both almost simultaneously said "SEE WHAT YOU DID!"
:/
Ever hold hands during the Our Father at church?  How about make it a competition of who could squeeze the other persons hand the hardest.  Our poor dad was so embarrassed!

I remember that whenever I would retaliate and Rory would run to our Dad he would look at Rory and ask him if he was really surprised "You should know she was going to snap!"

But to the rest of the world Rory was such a sweet kid.  I remember tagging along while my mom went to a parent/teacher conference for Rory and his teacher just went on and on, gushing about how wonderful Rory was.  I remember cocking my head and thinking "Rory?  Rory Welsh?  My brother?  Is there another Rory in the class?  What are the chances?"
But it's true, all his teachers just LOVED Rory.  They all talked about how kind he was, how thoughtful he was.  Each time my dad would look at Rory and say "why can't you be this way to your sisters"
To this day my dad has a will in his office that I wrote in about 3rd grade and in it I assign my various positions to each member of the family but to Rory I wrote "RORY GETS NOTHING"
My bedtime prayers consisted of line like this
"and God I don't want him to die or anything but maybe someone could discover that there was a mistake at the hospital and he's in fact NOT my brother- I mean something like that would work"
Needless to say Rory was a GREAT TEASER!

In the end though, he was in fact a Great kid.  I didn't really see this or appreciate this until I was in high school but when my eyes opened to it, boy was I proud he was my little brother.

I remember when he got to high school and my friends were hanging out with him because he joined the football team.  They all talked about how they liked him and what a great guy he was.  I saw the kindness and thoughtfulness when I watched him protect our little sisters.  And even though he tied Nick up several times and locked him in the closest, to the basketball goal and to a kitchen chair- he always was ok with having his little brother tag along with him and his friends.  There aren't many 15 year old boys that will let their 8 year old brother tag along.
I saw the way he was with his friends, with the girls he dated and with our mom.  When I would talk to him I saw how his mind worked and how he was always thinking about others.  I remember being so proud of him when he joined the high school swim team and smoked all the kids in the pool.  All the sports he did just seemed so effortless to him where to me it took work.  I was proud and envious of my little brother.  I remember thinking I wanted to be more like him.  My how things had changed!  From wishing him away to wishing I was more like him

To this day I'm so proud of my little brother and so proud of the man he has grown into.  I'm so proud of the work he did to get into the University of Georgia and the work he did there.  I'm so proud that he was brave enough to pack up his life and move to Miami to follow his work and his passion for science.  I never could have done something like that.  I've watched him move from one end of the country to the other and listened to him tell me stories about his adventures in far off lands.  I nodded like knew what he was talking about when he explained what he did.  I think he's so cool- the soon to be DR Rory!

The best thing about Rory moving to Miami besides always having a place to stay when I came to visit :) was that Rory met Drew.
Drew is one of the coolest, sweetest, kindest most AWESOME girls I've ever met.  She is PERFECT for Rory.  I don't get to see the two of them a lot - obviously since we live in two different states.  But Jimmy and I LOVE to visit Miami and when Rory and Drew visit they like to stay with us.  During these trips I've been able to watch the two of them together and I have to say it's a match made in heaven.  Rory takes his time to do pretty much anything and Drew is patient with him but also has a similar go with the flow attitude.  I've watched them dance together which I think is a MUST!  There is nothing more beautiful to me than watching two people in love dance.  It's the sweetest thing.  They love each other and have an embrace each others strengths and weaknesses.  I watch them playfully tease each other and if there is one thing I've learned from Rory- he really teases the people he loves ;)
When Rory talks about Drew you can tell he thinks the world of her

I'm so excited for this wedding!  Of course I'm happy to watch Rory take this step in his life but I'm also REALLY excited to get Drew as a new sister.  Our family is wonderful but we are different- some might say odd or crazy and there are a TON of us.  Drew has always fit in perfectly and effortlessly.  She's ok with our corny jokes and goofy laughs and she even joins in on the playful banter.  She's a GREAT Aunt to Isabelle and has saved my butt several times watching her for me!
I wish Rory and Drew nothing but happiness.  I know this wedding will be awesome and it's the first of many memories to come.
I'm sad that soon after the wedding they will be moving to Oregon and I'll be counting down the days until they move back to the east coast.  We will definitely have to take Isabelle out to see them sometime in the near future.
It should be noted what a wonderful trooper Drew has been about this move.  She is so supportive of Rory and as much as she jokes about not looking forward to the move you know she would do anything for Rory and truly shows how selfless she is and how much she loves him.  I know Rory would do the same for Drew but in this instance she's the one doing this and I have to give her mad props for it.
Rory owes her big for this move!  LOL

 Rory and Drew-

I wish you happiness for a lifetime.  I wish you laughter so hard and so much that you get a tummy ache.  I hope that the move out to Oregon goes well and yall find a great place to live.

Rory,
I hope the job is everything you hoped for and you finish up the school faster than you thought you would!  Be good to Drew, tell her you love her every chance you can get.  Ask her about her day and be her biggest fan.  Continue to be the sweet guy all your teachers saw before I did.  You were my first best friend and I love you more than you will ever know!
Don't forget 10:10- I'll make you look at the clock!

Also be on the lookout for a payback from my wedding and our run-in at the airport - when you least expect it- BAM!!!

6 months!

Baby Girl is 6 months old- can you believe it?  It's so hard to get a picture of her sitting in the chair now because she loves to wiggle around!  She is constantly kicking those legs, arching that back and she loves to roll over!  Roll front to back, back to front, over and over again!

Here's a picture of her waking up from a nap.  Of course to do that she had to roll over!  I think her wake up face is so cute

Her doctor's appointment had her weighing in at 16.1 pounds and 26 inches long.  Slightly above average for both but she was REALLY above average for head size- oh lord she might have mama's big head!
She's doing a little better with big girl food but it's still a work in progress.

We took her to Verde (a Mexican restaurant) and let her try sitting in the restaurant high chair.  I don't think she's quite ready for it.  It's not padded and high behind her head like the one we have at home.  But we tried it and it didn't last long, she was squirming and banging back and forth and eventually hit her head. But we got a shot of it!

Isabelle got to go to her first concert yesterday!  We went and saw our friend Chad play at the Tucker Chili Cook-off!  Main street in Tucker was packed with friends I hadn't seen in a long time!  It was a great time and Isabelle loved the music, she even got a shout out from Chad on stage!

Recently I tried putting her in the stroller like a big girl- without the carrier!  Of course I have to strap her in or she'd slip right out but she seemed to love being able to sit up and see what was going on all around her during our walk

In a few days we leave for Miami!  We're headed down there for Rory's wedding and we can't wait to enjoy the sun, family and wedding festivities!  I got her a tent for the beach and the pool and we tried it out the other day in the living room.  I love that lil bootie!

It feels like just yesterday I was giving birth to her.  I can't believe how fast she's growing up.  I am NOT happy to be going back to work in 2 weeks!  If I could I'd spend every day with my pumpkin head!
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Big Things Poppin!

So much has been going on these days!
Isabelle is sitting up but not quite on her own yet. If she reaches forward for a toy she tends to topple over and if she leans one way or the other she topples over.  I have to keep an eye on her but she does pretty well and it's nice because she can entertain herself longer
Here are some shots of her sitting up

We also climbed to the top of Stone Mountain with Aunt Bridget and Aunt Carolyn. I strapped her on me, huffed and puffed a bit but we finally made it to the top!  Here's proof!  All the way to the top!

Some of my girlfriends, who have little girls, are trying to put their hair in ponytails so I attempted the same thing. Isabelle isn't quite ready for it but I got some hair in a little itty-bitty pony tail holder! I think she looks like a little mini sumo wrestler!

Isabelle is also starting to eat rice cereal. Most of it is ending up on her face, her bib, the high chair and my face when she sneezes! I know it's going to take some time for her to get used to it and if there is one thing this mama has- it's patience!

The newest thing she does (and I mean she did it for the first time last night or early this morning) is rolling over from back to belly. I've seen her roll over from belly to back but back to belly is a new thing! She woke me up this morning about 530 and I went to look at her monitor only to see her on her tummy in the corner of the crib! I TOTALLY wasn't expecting that so I rushed to her room. I changed her and fed her but she was wide awake (which was weird because normally she falls asleep while I'm feeding her). So I put her on her back in the crib and by the time I got back to my room and looked at her monitor she had rolled back over onto her tummy. Check out my picture from her monitor

I sat and watched the monitor trying to see her breathe. I saw her back go up and down but it wasn't good enough for me- so I went back to her room to feel her back. Of course she was fine but I just had to check! I even woke Jimmy up! I said "LOOK-LOOK! She rolled over!"

He took one look and rolled back over to sleep. It must me nice to be a man! Eventually I drifted back to sleep for about an hour and then she woke me up again when it was really time to wake up. She was happy as can be- this is how I found her.  Not only had she rolled over from back to belly she also turned directions- when I put her to bed her head was where her feet are in this picture!  Look at that cute lil bottom!

I LOVE BEING A MOM AND I LOVE THIS GIRL!!