At Whitten's End

We were hanging out in the family room last night when Kayla opened the powder room door and asked for a paper towel. Her mouth was bleeding and we realized she'd gotten brave and was working on one of her three loose teeth. We immediately got in on the action and she (surprisingly) let me pull her front tooth without any prompting. She cheesed it up and we got lots of pictures of her missing her right front tooth. She was adamant that the other tooth stay for another night until we started telling her about the special deal the Tooth Fairy has for those front teeth... $2 for one tooth or $6 for the both of them. She still decided against it but let me wiggle the left front tooth to see how wiggly it was. I wiggled it with two fingers and VOILA, it came right out with a quick twist! So now, Kayla is $6 richer and 2 teeth poorer! It's interesting to be seeing one losing teeth and dealing with the other gaining them at the same time.

We have been loving spring this year and spending as much time as possible outside with the girls. Kayla enjoys playing with neighborhood kids at the park next door, drawing with chalk on the concrete, playing bubbles, riding her bike, and digging dirt at the lot beside us. Emma justs enjoys the sun and the fresh air. She also loves the baby swings at the park and can sit in the swing for long periods with a smile on her face the whole time! In addition to beautiful weather, we've been blessed with alot of rain. Last summer we were at a point where they were counting down the days before the towns around us would run out of water, so we'll take whatever rain we can get now without complaint!

We finally got to have our long-time anticipated Fondue Party with some of our closest friends: Jolene & Terry, Shana & Jurgen, and Leah & Jake. All three have babies born within 4 months (give or take) of Emma, and two have daughters born within 7 months of Kayla... so fun was had by all! We had a cheese and chocolate fondue with a table full of fixin's followed by a couples corn hole tourneyment. It was a beautiful evening and we were blessed to spend it surrounded by some amazing friends and their families!

Emma's first two teeth came in very spread apart. I didn't think much about it until I looked at them on the morning of April 21st and realized that a third tooth had grown in between the first two. Talk about freaky. I think she may be working on the 4th bottom tooth now, too. Hopefully these teeth will give an explanation to the many sleepless nights and 104 degree temps she's been having.

Emma had her 9 month appt on Monday, April 14th. Fortunately, she didn't have to get any shots, but she did finally break the 20 lb barrier, weighing in at 20 lbs, 1 oz and 28.75 inches!! Remembering that this is the point when we started Kayla on table food, I have started to incorporate our meals into Emma's diet. For starters, she had a tray with salmon and potatoes- yum! In spite of having 2 barely-visable teeth, she ate it right up and wore half of it in her lap where Winnie gladly shared in the momentous meal!

So it wasn't quite as funny as "16 Candles" (nor as high budget!), but I had a fabulous 31st birthday. It began on the day before (14th) my birthday when me and some girlfriends got together with our babies and had lunch. They presented me with cards, cake, ice cream, and- most importantly- their love and friendship. It was so refreshing! On my actual birthday, Brad brought me home a "$5 footlong" ;) from Subway along with a GORGEOUS azalea with more blooms on it than I've ever seen on another plant. The weather is to get warmer as the week goes on, so I will be planting it in my front garden this week and purchasing a hydrangea with some of my gift money to plant in the other open spot in my garden. I'm excited to see what color hydrangeas turn in this soil... life's small pleasures! That evening we went out to Olive Garden as a family, then to Barnes and Noble to hang out. Before we ended the night, we headed over for a "late for a schoolnight...

Kayla had hat day this week on Thursday. She was to bring in $1 to help offset the cost of surgery for a schoolmate of hers and got to in-return wear a hat. I knew very little about it other than what a paper she brought home said. Out of the blue on Tuesday, she told me that she wanted to "use [her] own money" for hat day and that she wanted to take $11 instead of just $1. She then proceeded to tell me about Alex and how he was "handicap" and needed surgery to help straighten his legs and that she wanted to help. She spoke of how he had a really cute voice when he talked and was a real "handsome little boy". He had apparently come and spoken to her class in the last couple of weeks. Her desire to give of her own money and the way she spoke of this almost-stranger warmed my heart and made me a bit more than teary-eyed. This is one of those moments where- as a parent- you realize that you've done something right in the way you've raised your ...

BABY ON THE LOOSE! As of a week ago Thursday, Emma is now crawling AND pulling up. Though she's been crawling for a month or so now, she's also pulling up on everything now! She actually pulled her whole body up on a platform at Kayla's dance class the other day, so invading the stairs is not far off. So in addition to having to keep the floor child-proofed, we are also having to child proof the couch's, chairs, cabinets, electrical outlets, ... you name it, she gets into it! And you add teething to that mix and EVERYTHING goes into her mouth, pine straw and rocks included (don't ask!)

April 6th, 2008... Sunday afternoon after church, we loaded up the van with the girls and Winnie and headed to Boone, NC (home of the Appalachian State Mountaineers!) to go camping as a family with our friends, Jake & Leah and their 5 month old son, Sam. We "insulated" our tent with blankets on top and got our space heater going inside to combat the 40 degree temps and spent the evening enjoying the campfire, the company, smores, hotdogs, and Catch Phrase! The tent was quite cozy at between 69 and 74 degrees- actually too hot at times. We woke up Monday and headed up to Grandfather Mountain where we had a fabulous view, went over the Mile High suspension bridge, visited the animal exhibit they have there, enjoyed a picnic lunch, then headed home to prepare for work and school the next day. It was amazing to see clouds that were actually below us and to see & feel those clouds roll past us when we were at lower altitudes. It was like wet smoke rolling past you except i...

Kayla had to receive novacaine for some dental work on April 1st, so she came home with a numb mouth. Having a wiggly, overly-loose tooth in the numb area, I persuaded her to let me pull it- pain free! On April 5th and 10th, Emma followed by getting her first two teeth to finally break the surface just days shy of 9 months.

I'm sitting here going through Adobe looking at the previous weeks and the pictures that I've taken and am absolutely perplexed as to where I should begin. So much has happened and so much has been missed along the way. I hope to not cover too much, but to allow you to catch a glimpse of what our lives here in NC are like and to help you to "know" our girls and us better! 2/14/08 Valentine's Day snow I don't exaggerate when I say that Burlington, NC (and the who le state for that matter) closes down when it snows. Early the morning of Valentine's Day it snowed maybe 1-3 inches overnight. The snow was moist and PERFECT for making a snowman, but it also melted the instant it hit the pavement. Irregardless, school was cancelled, so we ended up having some of our friends over for an afternoon playdate! By the time the playdate started, the snowman had fallen over and had no resemblance to having been a snowman. Notice, too, how the side walks are clear in the ...

Being new at this, I must apologize as I have neglected to tell people that I got this up and running and a couple of unanonymous sisters (er, um, people) were hurt!! It's not a secret that it's now up but to say that it's something I'm proud of is yet to be seen. Hence why it's not been made known publicly. I hope to change that today.