buy our condo please!

Stop!

Our condo is on the market. Do you want to buy it?

valentine's day 2009

This year we had the best Valentine's Day ever!  Adam, Dave, and Tyler arranged to have a chef that Tyler knows from Johnson and Wales cook a meal for us.  It was such a fun night!  Adam and Tyler rearranged our furniture to maximize our space and it was decked out with balloons, candles, and roses for the ladies.

Adam, Jonathan (our chef), and Tyler... Mary, me, and Dave the Dyers... Jonathan at work... Mary, me, and Carrie We sat down at the table with our wine (1 glass for me) and we were served several fancy (and surprisingly delicious) courses.  I was a little afraid that I would hate all the food as I am the world's pickiest eater but it was so good!  Here is what we ate:

• *Blistered Sweet Corn Soup with Rendered Bacon
• *Mesculin Salad with Toasted Almonds, Red Wine Vinaigrette, and Roquefort
• *Prosciutto, Mozzarella, and Basil Chicken Roulades with a Rutabaga-Potato puree, and Asparagus au beurre
• *Flourless chocolate cakes

Can't wait to do it again next year!

a girl and her dog

Caleigh's new favorite spot is on Bailey's bed by the window.  She loves to 'play' with her doggie (dog-dog).  Her version of playing with Bailey includes:

• -putting her feet on Bailey (as seen below)
• -picking up lint balls off the ground and putting them on Bailey's nose (yes there are lint balls in our house - mostly dog hair, and Bailey usually ends up licking these off her nose which is a helpful way to clean the floor, and let me say that I have only observed this once so don't go turning me in the child protective services for letting Caleigh pick up dust)
• -grabbing Bailey's tail or trying to climb over the top of Bailey while she is laying down
• -sticking her finger in Bailey's butt-hole (I freaked out of course)
• -letting Bailey lick her food and then eating it (this I do not approve of)

Bailey doesn't usually mind the attention - she is very sweet with Cals and often gives her too many kisses (so that Caleigh has to block her face with her hands or say ahhh-duhhh which is all done); although she didn't really like when Caleigh put her finger in her bottom - can't say that I blame her.

at the mall

Last week Caleigh and I went to the mall to Stride Rite to get her sized for some walking shoes since now she is outside walking at the park, in the stores, etc.  At Stride Rite she did ok getting her feet measured but clearly she gets her shoe size from my side of the family.  Her foot is a size 3 wide which is really small in the realm of walkers.  Basically all of the shoes for walkers start at size 4.  The only shoes they had for a size 3 or size 3.5 wide walker were these white orthopedic looking shoes which would not fit onto her foot because her instep is so high (the same reason I can't fit into any ski boots!).  So basically she has tiny fat square feet and no shoes will fit her.  After that we headed to Nordstrom to see if they had any other brands she could try on.  While we were walking I decided I would partake in a blow-pop.  Of course Caleigh's sense of hearing is about 100x magnified, especially when it comes to food, so she heard me unwrap the lollipop and started furiously banging her chest (which is how she signs please) and whining.  In general I am not so quick to give in but we were at the mall and I thought it would be kind of funny to see what she did with the sucker.  She put it right in her mouth and went to town on it.  I was thinking this is a fun snack - it is contained... it is pretty cute...

Well, we didn't find anything at Nordstrom so we left and by this time I wanted the rest of the blow pop and Caleigh was getting to the gum part so as we were walking out the door I said, "Caleigh give that to Mama."  Of course she wasn't giving up so easily and turned her head and arched her back but I just took it out of her hand.  Whoever started the phrase "like taking candy from a baby" had clearly never tried taking a blow pop from a 14 month old.  Caleigh went berserk - she was screaming as if I had slapped her or something as I am attempting to casually exit Nordstrom and the rest of the mall.  She was certainly drawing attention.  She was also a huge sticky mess - her lips and around it was all red and sticky, her hands were SO sticky and gross.  It was an experience to say the least.  Is it obvious I am a first time mom? 

spanking

Sunday morning was a sad day because I had to spank Caleigh for the first time.  We have been popping her on the hand, but we had to escalate it on Sunday.  Here is the story:  Caleigh was playing in the living room while I was getting ready for church.  When I came in to see what she was doing she had the remote control.  She is not allowed to play with the remote so I said, "Caleigh, give that to Mama."  Caleigh shook her head no and turned around to walk away.  So I popped her hand (we only have been popping hand/ spanking for direct disobedience) and she just looked at her hand and tried to go about her business.  She was totally unfazed - in the past popping her hand has generally been working.  Once again I said, "Caleigh, give the remote to Mama."  And once again she shook her head no, so I popped her hand again - which she totally didn't care about.   So one more time I said, "Caleigh, give the remote to Mama" and she shook her head no and turned around to walk away.  She was only wearing a shirt and a diaper so I said, "Now Mama is going to pop your leg because you disobeyed."  So I popped her leg and she totally lost it - she went beserk crying.  I honestly didn't hit her hard at all but I think she was shocked that I would actually pop her.  After that I told her how much I love her and that I forgive her for disobeying and I held her until she stopped crying.  I honestly felt SO bad about spanking her but I know it was the right thing to do.  I love the book "Don't Make Me Count To Three!" by Ginger Plowman.  It is a great book about biblical training and discipline.  I believe that if I wouldn't have spanked her, then I would have been being disobedient to God.  This except was really helpful, "It is worldly thinking that says, "I just love him too much to spank him."  Ask yourself this question: Who benefits from your decision to not spank your child?  Certainly not the child.  Proverbs 23 makes it clear that failure to discipline with the rod places the child at risk. (Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.  Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death. Prov 23:13-14)  So who benefits from not using the rod?  You do.  You are delivered from the discomfort of spanking your child.  You are delivered from inflicting pain on one who is so precious to you.  You are delivered from the inconvenience of taking the time to discipline the right way.  But God says, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." (Prov. 13.24)

snow day!

Last Wednesday it 'snowed' in Charlotte and we had a snow day.  The only time I think a snow day is definitely fun is if there are blizzard conditions outside and Adam is stuck home from work - but that never happens.  We got maybe 0.25 inches of snow.  By the time we played outside in the 'snow' we had to go to the shade to actually find any snow but it was cold.  This is the sunny part of the yard.

And here we are in the shade in the same yard 'playing' in the snow.  Caleigh is not a big fan of snow, or being bundled up so this was just not a good combo for her.  Doesn't she look thrilled to be outside playing? She discovered it was slightly more fun after she took off her mittens. But she was not thrilled. We did have a great time hanging out with the Kulps, Hunts, and Garrisons, but I hated to miss my Wednesday morning bible study.  All in all it was a pretty fun day!

5 months!

I haven't been doing as good of a job taking month to month pictures as I did the first time around, but I am starting now.  Here I am at 5 months pregnant...

It was actually encouraging for me to take this picture of myself because I feel so huge and super pregnant already and have no idea how I will make it to 40 weeks.  But once seeing this picture I feel so much better about myself - I am not as big as I feel.

super bowl party!

1 year ago: super bowl 2008

and a year later, super bowl 2009 (take 1) super bowl 2009 (take 2 - much better) We had a great time with our lifegroup and other friends at the Krugers for Super Bowl 2009.  If only the Cardinals could have pulled out the victory.  Oh well.  Maybe the Panthers will be there next year - better start dreaming now.

funny story

This is a crazy story and I am basically copying this post from Katie's blog.  Here's the background: I went on a Summer Project with Campus Crusade in 2002 in Branson, Missouri.  One of my roommates was Katie Wentzell (now Carrington) and we became great friends while we were there.  She and her husband live in Raleigh, NC.  Katie sent out a mass email right after her daughter Brooklynn was born announcing her birth and I responded to her email telling her that I had just had a little girl too.  Her daughter, Brooklynn Grace (same middle name as Caleigh) was born 12 hours after Caleigh!  I hadn't even known she was pregnant and it turned out we gave birth within hours of each other, both had girls, and gave them both the same middle name.  

So, fast forward about a year.  I find out on Katie's blog that they are expecting again!  Funny, because so are we!  This time it turns out that Katie is due on June 23rd, 1 day after our due date of June 22nd.  We also had our level 2 ultrasounds on the same day (January 22nd) and both found out the sexes of our babies.  Katie is having another girl and we are having a little boy!  Isn't this so crazy?  It is so fun how God makes lives intersect on this side of Heaven.  Katie - we are so thrilled for you and feel like we are basically living our lives next door to you even though we are in different cities.  Congrats and I am in agreement - let's have our babies on the same day this time!

"i love jesus, but i drink a little"

This is hilarious.