Wednesday, March 25, 2009

One step closer...

to being back home!
Our offer was accepted on our new house!

Here it is...more to come!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

2 month photos...

I love that Chris likes to take photos, especially when I know that in the long run he is saving us a ton of money and everything is very personal. Here are some pictures from Eli's 2 month photo-shoot with daddy...


















Thursday, March 19, 2009

Spring Break!

Hooray for spring break! It couldn't have come at a better time! We can't believe that this is our last spring break!
We decided that it would be best to begin our house hunt in Amarillo- super exciting!
We found a great house, and we are debating on making an offer on it or waiting it out to see what else will be on the market in May. We can't wait to be back home.

Here is Mr. E in a cute little onezie from his cousin, Brooks! Thanks Jacey and Derek for the clothes!


He really loves that mobile...


Last Friday, before we left to come home, Chris's office threw him and his boss, Nick a surprise baby shower. Here are the two of them with their little men; Chris holding Eli and Nick holding Aaron...


Look at Aaron's cute little mohawk! What a little cutie!








Here is Evie with Aaron and Debbie with Eli... they are the secretaries in the office.





Here we all are- Marianne, Nick and Aaron, Chris, Eli and Tif...
Funny story- Tif and Marianne met before Chris started working with Nick. Marianne was one of Tif's nurses at her OBGYN. It wasn't for months that we figured out that we all knew each other.

We didn't take very many pictures over spring break, but we did get Mr. E with two of his cousins...adorable!




Thursday, March 12, 2009

Our joy comes with the morning...

Happy two month birthday, Eli!

We can't believe that our baby boy has been with us for two whole months already!
He has really started smiling and cooing at us...it makes us completely forget about those late night feedings and dirty diapers. What a joy...

Here is a little video from our morning ritual. Most days, daddy wakes up and leaves for class by 7:00a.m. Usually mommy is feeding or has just finished the first feeding of the day. When daddy leaves, we put the Mr. on daddy's pillow- He loves to lay on it. Mommy tries to get a few things done around the house and get ready for work while the little guy sleeps a little while longer.

Around 8:30, I go into the bedroom to put him in his car seat to go pick up Chris from class... this is what I see every morning...



There are no words to describe the warmth and love felt by the smile of your child. Just knowing that he can recognize us and is happy means everything.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Busy times...

I just wanted to post a huge update on what has been going on the last couple of weeks here in our lives...


New Mom Hair Cut:

It happened; I decided to get my hair chopped off and sport the proverbial “new-mom haircut”. It seemed to me that it was time, and almost a ritual among all of my friends that became new moms. I have to say that it is a relief to be able to blow-dry and style in 10 short minutes!


Lent:

I am not Catholic, but I have always been intrigued by the idea of giving something up for Lent. Usually, I am vowing to give up chocolate or sugar to show my devotion to God and to also prepare for summer…probably not the idea that God was going for through the whole Lent concept. This year, however, I am giving up 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes of my crazy, crazy days. I know that it doesn’t sound like a lot, but I really have trouble setting aside time in my day- between work, school and the little guy, we don't even turn on the TV except while we eat our rushed dinner.
The fifteen minutes will be used for my own completely uninterrupted study. Sometimes I feel like Chris and I have tried so hard to ensure that he is the spiritual head of our family that most of the time he says every prayer during the day- from every meal to our nightly prayer. So, being that I know that even with him being the spiritual head, that doesn’t complete my personal relationship with God…my vow is 15 minutes.


Birthweek:

Let me take a moment to mention the awesome birthweek that Chris planned for me this past week. Birthweek is a tradition in Chris’s family that was passed to me when we were married. This year, Chris was amazing and made me feel so special and loved. I can’t believe that he went through so much trouble and planning. Here was his week outlined.


Monday- Sparklin’ Jerry Cherry Laffy Taffy in Eli’s car seat for me to find. (Sparklin’ Jerry Cherry is my absolute favorite, and we can never find it- I was so excited!)

Tuesday- Surprise birthday lunch. (So, apparently Chris had contacted my boss, Kathy to make sure that it was okay for him to come steal me away for lunch. When he walked into our office with Eli, I panicked and thought that someone had died or that Eli needed to go to the hospital. I was stunned when Chris said that he had talked to Kathy and that we were going out to lunch.)


Wednesday- favorite flowers and Eli’s picture on my desk when I got to work with my iPod playing our song. (All of this was waiting for me on my desk when I got to work on Wednesday morning. I still can’t figure out how he got all of these things organized and pulled off…this day he was in cahoots with Kathy again.)



Thursday- (my actual birthday) Breakfast in bed, new CD in the car when I was driving to work playing the song Chris and I had dedicated to Mr. E., dinner at BJ’s and then a surprise birthday party! (My awesome husband had contacted my closest GA friends here at OU and they had conspired a surprise party for me Thursday after Chris and I came home from dinner. This included a crown, cookies and ice-cream and a piƱata!)



Friday- Manicure and Pedicure


Saturday- favorite candy and new OU key chain

Sunday- Thai food!

I can honestly say that I was completely blown away every day. Thank you so much Chris for making my birthday so special. I love you more than you know. Everyone else out there reading this blog, I hope that you can steal some of these ideas to make the one that you love feel special.

Graduation:

We still can’t believe that our time here at OU is almost over! We love everything about Norman- except that our family is not here. We are excited to start planning our big move home. We will be starting our house hunt in two weeks over spring break in Amarillo.
Here is our save the date for our graduation! Mark your calendars! We have lots of fun weekend events planned! (Save the Date coming soon!)


First smile:

I was feeling a little bummed that my little man hadn’t smiled at me yet…and it seemed like he was happy to smile at everyone else! Sure, I had gotten the occasional half smile or the “gas smile”. I am excited to say that he finally did it! Sunday while we were driving back to Norman, Chris and I were changing places and he saw me and gave me the biggest, toothless smile…so of course I started talking to him and squealing and he gave me three more smiles! I was so thrilled that he knew me that I started crying…(my hormones are still suppose to be going crazy, right?)
Speaking of going home last weekend, here are more pictures from our time with the family!


Memaw with Eli...



Richard's new office!



Ruby's...



Me and Miss Emmaelynn...



Mamaw, Grandy and Eli...



Brad holding Emmaelynn...



Teresa and Emmaelynn and Gloria and Eli...



Grandy, Chris, Eli, Gloria, Mamaw and Richard...



We finally convinced Papaw Britten to hold Eli- he thought that he would drop him...



Aunt Robin!




Aunt Lori and Eli in his cute "Irish" onezie! Thank you, Aunt Lori!



Dr. Kaci with her diploma...

Here are two random pictures from this week...

This is how Mr. E insisted on napping a couple of mornings ago...I had already moved him from this position 3 times...