fun with flour at gigi and pop-pops

Caleigh had fun playing with flour last Friday at her Gigi and Pop-pops while we went to a doctor's appointment...

Pretty impressive from the girl who doesn't like to be dirty.  Thanks Gigi and Pop-pop for a great day!

church retreat 2009

We packed up last weekend for the second weekend in a row and headed to Black Mountain, NC for our church retreat.  We had a great time learning about archaeology and how it illumines the Bible from Dr. John Currid.  We also enjoyed some great times of fellowship with friends.

A pre-retreat visit to a dine-in Pizza Hut... 

Caleigh enjoying a meal in a big girl chair in our room... On Saturday we had a hoe down - here is a shot of Adam and I in action... 2 matching preggo's... On Saturday afternoon we braved the rain (only for a few minutes) for some outside playtime... We all came back from the retreat with colds but had a good time overall.

classic fairhaven trip!

Last weekend we packed up and headed for the hills... the hills of Roan Mountain, TN to be exact.  We had a fabulous time at Fairhaven with the Dirks!  It was mostly uneventful (except for some feisty games of Settlers) and super relaxing (think books and 1000 piece puzzles).  We loved hanging out with our friends - what a blessing from the Lord.  We only took a few token pictures on this trip...

Here we have the classic "I took it myself" picture of Adam

A classic picture of the girls playing on the 'Funhaven' in a little pint sized tire swing. 2 classic daddy-daughter pictures. And the most beloved... a classic self-time picture... Note the branch obstructing Adam's face, Caleigh looking appropriately squashed, Maggie focusing on the mud pile she had to leave behind, and a surprised-looking Dirks couple. We tried to get the waterfall in the background of this pic but as you can see it is just nature.  Can't wait for next time!

funny bone

Caleigh has been getting her funny bone tickled lately... she is so cute when she is laughing!

6 months!

My belly at 26.5 weeks!  Sometimes it is hard to believe I am only 26ish weeks, but when I think about that meaning that I have only 13 weeks left, I can't believe it.  13 weeks doesn't sound like very long at all before Andrew arrives. 

We had a check-up on Thursday and everything looked great.  His heart rate was about 130 which is so much slower than Caleigh's was (170).  The doctor said all he could hear when he was trying to find the heartbeat was how much Andrew was moving around.  That boy is so active!  I am feeling enormous but these monthly pictures always reassure me.  When I see myself in the photograph I don't think I look that big.  I feel like there is no way I can possibly get any bigger - but I will... 

In about 2 weeks I will have my glucose test and another ultrasound to make sure my placenta is not as low as it was during the 18 week ultrasound.  Please pray with us for a continued healthy pregnancy and that Andrew will continue to grow and thrive in my womb.

happy birthday maggie!

Last weekend Maggie turned 2!  I had to work, but Adam took Caleigh to Maggie's birthday party at Chick-Fil-A and he captured this adorable picture of them. 

Happy Birthday Mags - we can't believe you are 2!

tired

Caleigh would be so cranky on the days that we were trying to drop her nap, so most days at 5 pm looked like this...

She looks so big sitting in her own chair watching Baby Einstein (I think those are some type of jellyfish?) and so small at the same time (thumb in mouth, silky in hand).

trying to drop the first nap

Well we have been having quite the time with Caleigh's first nap.  Two Sundays ago Caleigh missed her first nap because of church (like usual).  On Monday we went to a consignment sale (lots of cute things for Andrew this summer!) in the morning and she missed her nap.  On Tuesday I put her down in the morning for her nap and she talked/played in her crib from 9:30-10:45 so she didn't sleep.  On Wednesday mornings I go to a women's bible study at our church and so I let Caleigh play at childcare (instead of napping) and she did fine.  On Sunday and Monday our afternoon naps were fine - 2.5 hours or so.  Then we started to hit some trouble on Tuesday and Wednesday as they started decreasing to 2 hours.  She didn't take a morning nap all last week and her afternoon nap got progressively shorter until the final straw - on Sunday after missing her morning nap she only slept for 1 hour!!!  So in the span of a week she went from sleeping 3.5-4 hours a day to only sleeping 1 hour a day.  That was not cutting it.  Her afternoon naps were never affected by her taking a morning nap - provided I woke her up by 10:45 and so I guess she just wasn't ready to drop it.  The only thing is she is 16 months - I am wondering how much longer she will nap in the AM.  I will definitely drop it by 18 months at the latest, before Andrew gets here... Live and learn.

funny noise

Caleigh has been making a really random noise lately - I guess you could call it smacking her lips.  The only funny thing about calling it that is that her lips actually disappear when she is making the noise.  I typically don't encourage it while she is at the dinner table (ie her high chair) but Adam is taking this video.

I love how she shakes her head no at the end of the video because she is done with making the noise.

off her rocker...

First off, this is Caleigh's outfit that she wore to church last Sunday.  She must have been a good luck charm for her Heels because they pulled off the victory against Dook that afternoon by 8 points.  Cutest cheerleader I have ever seen...

Second - thanks so much to Gammy and Grandpa who got Caleigh this fabulous rocking chair last weekend.  Caleigh is obsessed with climbing and especially with climbing in and out of chairs.  This rocker is no exception.  She mastered it the 2nd day (the first day I had dressed her in jeans that were a little restrictive - don't all you girls know how that is - she needed to do some deep knee bends...).  Chillin' in the rocker... Impossible to get a still image of her smiling so this is as good as it gets. As she looks at herself in the mirror (behind camera) she must have realized she had the bow in her hair - better get that out of there... The climbing machine in action... "I did it"

what's in a name

We have decided on a name for our little guy!  He will be Andrew Curtis Dyer.  We will call him Andrew although we don't mind Andy or Drew as nicknames if he ever chooses to go by one of those.  We may call him 'A' for short.  We love Andrew for so many reasons.  In Greek it means "manly, warrior, courageous, strong."  Andrew the disciple of Jesus was one of the first disciples called by Jesus.  John 1: 40-42a says, "Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.  The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, 'We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus."  We love that Andrew the disciple was outgoing and personable.  We love that he trusted in Christ with a childlike faith and that the first thing he did when he heard about Jesus was to go and tell his brother about him and bring him to Jesus.  Our prayer is that Andrew Curtis will also be quick to tell others about Christ.  Adam's outgoing personality is one of my favorite things about him - and I love that we will be naming our son after a disciple whose qualities embody my favorite things about my husband.  We are naming him Curtis after Adam's maternal grandfather, Curtis Carroll Jack Kemmer.  He is a strong and hard-working man who loves the Lord and loves his family - he just celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary!  We pray that Andrew would also be like his great grandfather, strong and hard-working - that he would persevere through adversity and not give up.  We are so excited to have a name for our little guy.  Please join us in praying that God would continue to knit Andrew together in my womb, that he would grow strong (it feels like he is by the way he kicks so hard and all the time) and would be healthy, and for his little heart - that he would know Jesus and trust in Him at a young age.

visiting with the caleigh's great grandparents

On Thursday night Adam's grandparents arrived into town.  We had the pleasure of visiting with them at dinner (before supper club) on Friday night and also Saturday afternoon/evening.  It was such a joy to see them.  They haven't seen Caleigh since she was a week or 2 old so they were in for a treat.  We were curious about how Caleigh would do with all the attention - sometimes she will be really shy and clam up but this weekend she was super outgoing and giving her cheesy smile all over the place.  

We spent some time hanging out with Adam's brother, Jon and his girlfriend Kayla. I am so sad that all my pictures of Caleigh and her great grandparents came out so blurry.  Here is one of the best ones I had. We had a cake to celebrate Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Kemmer's 60th wedding anniversary.  Caleigh partook of some of the chocolate cake and was a big fan.

We had a great time visiting with everyone! (Great Grandma and Grandpa Kemmer, Gammy - Adam's mom, Grandpa - Adam's dad, Jon, Kayla, Adam's aunt and uncle Becky and Ray, Adam's cousin Nathan, and Adam's other uncle Denny).  It was neat at dinner on Friday night because we were saying how there were four generations around the table.  What a blessing to spend time with family.

welcome the newest McNamee!

Welcome to the world Riley Elizabeth McNamee!  Riley is seriously one of the cutest babies I have ever seen (besides Caleigh of course).  She arrived a week early on Sunday, March 8th at 3:25 am and was 6 lb. 12 oz.  We are so excited to share in Daniel & Virginia's joy!

Caleigh was also pretty excited (love that she is sticking her tongue out in this pic) and she seemed so old there compared to a tiny baby.  When Adam was holding Riley, Caleigh kept saying 'da-da' and looking up at him and waving to the baby.  It will be so neat to see her as a big sister this summer!

15 month update

Caleigh is 15 months!  I just wrote her 14 month update but it seems like even in the last month she has changed so much.  

• - Just now Adam sneezed in the other room and Caleigh said (from her bedroom), "ahh-coo."  It is amazing how much she has learned and comprehended over the month.  She has also started saying 'uhh-ohh' when she drops something or after we say it.
• - She is turning into such a little helper (which will be good when her little brother arrives in June!).  We will say, "Caleigh, go get your jacket" and she will go get it and bring it to us and then hold out her arm for us to put it on her.  Other ways she loves to help out: we say, "Caleigh, close the door" and she will go and close it or when we are leaving we say let's go get in the car and she will walk to the door and wait for us to open it.  
• - Caleigh is really learning where things go - when we say "Caleigh, can you put on your socks?" she will get her socks and sit down and hold the sock open and try to put her feet in them - it is the cutest thing ever!
• - She can point out my nose, mouth, eyes, and hair.  She gets a little confused on the ears because every time she reaches for my ear (and earring) I say "Caleigh, gentle" so I think she may think ears are called gentle.
• - She has started doing this really cheesy smile when she knows you are talking about her or when she realizes she is the center of attention - she scrunches up her nose and eyes and looks up high and smiles really big.
• - She has been working on saying ma-ma.  Mostly now she just babbles it but it is so sweet to hear her say it!
• - She is obsessed with climbing!  She climbs up the slide at the park (not all the way), tries to climb up onto all of her toys.  Her grandparents (thanks Gammy and Grandpa!) just got her a rocking chair which she loves to climb on and off of.  She will also create obstacles for herself - like climbing over the top of toys, etc.  Probably because of the climbing she also really loves the park - we were there today and she started wailing when we left.
• - She loves books again - and will come and sit in our laps often for us to read them to her.
• - She has started saying what sounds like, "I did it" all mushed together.  She says it after she has done something so we think that really is what she is saying. It is so cute!
• - Also in the bath tub she will take the cups we use to rise her off and try to drink out of them - often she gets a very large mouthful and chokes a little but it is neat to see her try to drink out of real cups.
• - Still taking 2 naps a day - 1 hour in the am and 2.5 hours in the afternoon.
• - She has started drinking out of a cup with a straw.
• - Discipline really isn't that difficult right now.  I think it may be a first child syndrome but she seems to desire to be obedient.  Most times when we ask her something she will obey right away - we have started having to pop her hand when we can tell that she hears us but doesn't do what we ask right away.  (Just look at Jonah in the OT to see the consequences of delayed obedience.)  And she is very sensitive to discipline - she will often cry at the loud 'no' or when we pop her hand - I think that is another way that she desires to please.

She is such a joy at this age!  She has been an absolute blessing to us and we are so thankful for her!

Putting on big girl shoes (ie mine).

empanadas and a mexican supper club

On Friday I made empanadas (EM-panadas) for our mexican-themed supper club.  They were super hard work - I made the dough beforehand (butter, flour, cream cheese) and refrigerated that overnight.  On Friday after I got home from work my parents (who were at our place watching Caleigh) chipped in on the hard work and we rolled, cut, filled (with apple pie filling), sealed, sprinkled (with cinnamon sugar), and baked about 30 empanadas.  It took forever!  I am sure I couldn't have done it alone and although they were good, I am sure I won't be making them again.  We ate them with vanilla ice cream.  Here are a few of the leftovers...

I realized I have never done a blog about our supper club but I LOVE it!  We get together with 7 other couples the first Friday evening of every month at 7:30 to enjoy a meal together.  We started last December and it has been a fun time of fellowship and getting to know several godly couples so much better.  (and we have had some great food!) 

winter blast 2009 and ben folds

Last Sunday we surprised Mary Kulp with (free - thanks to one of Adam's friends from high school being married to the percussionist) tickets to see Ben Folds in concert at the Ovens Arena.  This surprise required major scheming between me, Adam, Dave Kulp, and our entire lifegroup (seeing as we usually have lifegroup on Sunday night at the Kulps house).  Sunday arrived and so did Winter Blast 2009.  Charlotte's first predicted snow in March in 10 years.  We arrived at the Kulps around 5:45 in the rain and left around 6 pm for Ben Folds in the fast-falling snow.  After a quick dinner at Chipotle we knew we were in for an adventure because the parking lot was covered with almost an inch of snow (in less than an hour!). 

We made it to the concert and enjoyed a great show - Miniature Tigers opened the show, followed by a college acapella group, and then Ben Folds. I had only ever heard the Ben Folds song Brick from the 90s but who was I to pass up a free concert.  Plus Ben Folds is Mary and Dave's favorite singer of all time so I had to see for myself. (Adam - we may need to work on your posing angles.)

By the time we left the concert there were several inches of snow on the ground but the roads were mostly slush.  Look at the picture below - does anyone see Mary's gloves? After like 5 minutes of searching Mary gave up on her gloves but once inside realized they were in her hat - hilarious.  All in all, winter blast 2009 resulted in about 4 or more inches of snow which was pretty fun and the concert was a great adventure.

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?