Tuscaloosa Getaway

This past weekend, we journeyed to the place where Eric and I met, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Eric took off Friday and we headed up Thursday evening to spend the weekend with friends and family. Our friends Jennifer and Jeremy opened up their home to us and we bunked with them over the weekend. We had a great time visiting and letting our girls get aquatinted. Sadly, I have no pictures of the girls together. I really need to just wrap my camera around my neck at all times to get quality shots.

Friday, we took Virginia to campus and got some great pictures. Too bad it was 100 degrees outside! Next time, we're going back when it's cooler!

Mommy's girl

Daddy's Princess

A very kind Penn State fan offered to take this family photo

She did not like touching the grass with her hands or feet. Wonder who she got that from? ;)

I believe we bought every Alabama shirt imaginable for Virginia while we were in town! She also lucked up and got her first Alabama cheerleading uniform. Isn't she just precious?

The red cheeks are a result of the HEAT!

While Eric and JimPa went to the game, Virginia and I got to shop with LiLi, Aunt Amy, and Uncle Jeff. What fun that was! Especially enjoying Yogurt Mountain for the first time! Yummy!

Sunday we stopped in Birmingham to have lunch with our sweet friends, Jason, Diana, and Miller. Sadly, no pictures from this meeting either. Maybe Diana took one that she could share, wink, wink! :)

We're glad to be home and in our own beds. Living on central time for a few days got my girl all messed up. Thankfully we're all back on schedule now.

Have a great Friday! Enjoy this video from Sunday night. Notice the new shirt...so cute! :)

I think her Daddy taught her to dance like this!

Hello My Friend, Hello

....Just wrote to let you know, I didn't abandon the blog! Our lives have been going at full speed this last month or so. On top of all the fun we've been having, I really haven't felt like blogging or even been inspired to. Sorry. I'm including a few pictures of Virginia that were made recently, not with my camera, but Iphone. Sorry for the low quality.

Busy Bee

As I was making dinner the other night, I spied this little muffin watching some TV. So sweet!

This was from last Monday on our way home from our first Mommy Matters meeting. Guess V played pretty hard in the nursery.

I'm hoping to have a guest blogger tell you about our recent Mommy/Daddy only getaway. He promised me he would do it. We'll see!

He's going to kill me for putting this on here! :)

Birthday Girl

Has it really been since the middle of June since I last posted? Wow! So sorry! Our lives have been such a whirlwind since then. Between going out of town, prepping for V's first birthday party, and tending to a sick baby, I've not had the time nor felt like blogging lately. But, we're home, Virginia is well, and life is slowly getting back to normal.

SO much has gone on since I last blogged, but I won't try to catch you up on ALL of it! Just the high points. First and foremost, my sweet angel is now one year old! I can't believe it's been a whole year since we first met her. Time does really fly when you're tending to a baby. These are some of my favorite memories from each month that Virginia has been alive. I was planning on printing these and putting them up at V's party, but I'll explain why later.

Right after Virginia was born, July 8, 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010

I look back at those pictures and can't believe we've been through a whole year. And oh, how she's changed! Although she looks so much bigger/chunkier, Virginia's still a peanut. I love my peanut just the same. She's built like her mama, and that's fine with me.

For about 2 months, I began getting ideas and prepping for Virginia's first birthday. I should've known all that planning was a little too much for what was to come. Little did I know.

Two days before Virginia's birthday, she got sick to her stomach. I thought it might have been something we ate (I'm still nursing) and that it would go away by morning. The next morning, Virginia was burning up with fever. We called the doctor and he told us to give her tylenol and luke warm baths throughout the day. We followed the doctors orders and the fever had still not gone away 24 hours later. So, we found ourselves in the doctors office on Virginia's birthday. Not for a year check-up, but to treat a sick baby. What a way to spend your first birthday. This was the first time she had EVER been sick in her life. I'm so thankful that this was the first time we've had to visit the doctor for a sickness related issue. After a complete check-up, the doctor diagnosed Virginia with a fever virus. He told us it could last 3 to 5 days. My mind began to race. 5 days! Oh no! Her party was in 2 days.

We took our girl home to get her well. Virginia was such a sweet patient. Lots of cuddling and snuggling with Mommy and Daddy during this sick time. She rallied and we thought she'd be better by party time on Saturday, but then the fever spiked once again. We called all the partygoers and cancelled the formal party. Some of our family had come into town for the weekend and was planning on staying, so we decided to have a very small, family only, at home party.

The day of the party, Virginia woke up feeling pretty good. She was so very sweet and playful that morning, but the nasty fever still lurked. After a good nap, she awoke to find all her immediate family around and ready to celebrate her birthday. Virginia was so calm and reserved while she (we) opened presents. (I can tell you that now, she is LOVING all those presents!) After present time, we attempted to have cake. I was looking forward to what Virginia would do with her cake. Once again, overestimated my expectations. Virginia wanted nothing to do with the cake. She was so tired and still feeling very crummy. As you can tell, this is what she thought of her cake. Poor thing.

Everyone crammed into our little rental home to have some yummy cake and ice cream!

The Birthday Girl in her new chair from JimPa and LiLi

Can you tell someone didn't feel too well?

Although, we did get a smile here and there while opening presents.

Taking a short ride in her birthday gift from Mommy and Daddy

Someone didn't feel good enough to even take a picture with Mommy and Daddy

So much for fun cake pictures. This is as close as she got to it all day.

Up from a long nap, and feeling much better

So much for all that planning and prepping for Virginia's first birthday. Goes to show, the little ones really do make the rules! :) Maybe we'll have a "pinkalicious" 2nd birthday as well! She'll probably enjoy it more anyway.

Sadly our little muffin didn't recover until the following week. 7 days of fever and a sick baby is no fun. Hopefully this will be all the sickness we will experience for a while. Since then, I've had a hard time getting myself, home, and life back in order. These are the days that I wish we still lived closer to family. A little help please! Hopefully where ever you are, everyone is happy and well in your family. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Take me out to the ball game

"Take me out with the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don't care if I never get back, Let me root, root, root for the home team, If they don't win it's a shame. For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out, At the old ball game."

Don't you just love the backdrop of the Atlanta downtown skyline

That tune was playing in my head last Monday evening as we stepped onto Georgia Tech's baseball field to watch the Crimson Tide take on the Yellow Jackets, in the regional baseball championship. It was a beautiful day/evening to be outside for a game. A tad bit warm, but once the sun went down, it felt like a wonderful fall evening.

The great thing about living in LaGrange is that we can be in Atlanta in an hour and fifteen minutes. Since Alabama was playing in the final game for the Atlanta regional, we decided to head up for the game. We weren't real sure what to expect with Virginia. This was her first sporting event/Alabama game, so I wasn't looking forward to what might to come. Thankfully, Virginia is an easy baby and she loves to watch people, so it turned out alright. I knew she would love seeing all the people, hearing the sounds of the game, but I didn't expect her to be fascinated by the guy behind us yelling at the top of his lungs. This young man (an Alabama fan I might add) was very vocal throughout the duration of the game. By vocal, I mean yelling about everything! If something bad happened, he let the ump know. If something good happened, he let the team know. In other words, he was the unofficial Alabama cheerleader. Virginia thought he was amazing! So weird! Here's what she would do when our friend (who was DIRECTLY behind me, IN my ear!) would give a yell.

He wasn't as bad as he sounds, but at least he kept V entertained. In between innings, the young man would talk to Virginia and try to be sweet to her, which she loved! She's such a ham.

Daddy and his sweet Crimson Tide girl

I love how she's leaning forward like all the rest of the men around us!

I was so proud of how well Virginia did during the game. We only had to get up twice to walk around with her, and both those times was just because we wanted to stretch our legs. Sadly, we had to leave around the 6th inning. That was just about all the baseball my little nugget could handle. It was way past her bedtime and she was starting to let us know. We were pulling out of the parking lot and I looked back to check on Virginia, and she was already asleep. Poor thing. We wore her out! She slept all the way to LaGrange. When we got home, I slipped her into her pajamas and she went right back to sleep.

Watching everyone as they walk by

It was a great little excursion for the three of us. I love that when we want to get away, a place like Atlanta is not so far. There are advantages to living in a small town after all!