Monday, January 23, 2012

Aunt Jessi Gets Married!

The severe weather moved through last night and left a beautiful day in its wake. The weather today was just perfect! The sun was shining and the temperatures were very mild for a late January day (I believe it reached 60 degrees, or close to it). We got to enjoy the weather while walking from the parking garage in downtown Nashville to the Birch Building where Keith's sister, Jessica, and her boyfriend Mike, were married in a sweet, private ceremony behind the closed doors of Courtroom 1B.

There was some initial confusion about where we were supposed to go, but we just rolled with it. Etta LOVED getting to ride the elevator so many times! The judge's court officer finally led us in the right direction and the judge met our posse in the empty courtroom. Momma Mel got to sign as a witness and the ceremony began.

Mike's brother, Henry had to be sure to introduce himself to the judge. :) 

Exchanging rings

Jessica made this cute shrug when the jugde was pronouncing them husband and wife

Congratulations to Mike and Jessica Kunkel!

After Jessica and Mike were hitched, we all went to lunch at TGI Fridays on West End. It was a nice opportunity to visit with Mike's family, including his sweet brother Henry who has that extra special chromosome!

After we got home I made us take a family picture since we were kinda dressed up. :)

Saturday, January 21, 2012

January Catch-Up

So, here we are. Nearly three weeks into the new year and I haven't blogged in all that time. As I said in my last post, my netbook has been acting up lately. I think it may be on its last leg and the cost of simply diagnosing the problem probably won't be worth it.

What's happened?

Well, Keith left us for four days early in the month to hike and be one with nature. His uncle KJ went with him to Savage Gulf/Stone Door Trails in east Tennessee to freeze their asses off for three nights. I didn't hear from him the whole time they were gone as they didn't get cellular reception, but I thought about him each night as I crawled into my warm bed, thankful that I wasn't out there in the 19 degree weather.

We (I) survived by basically living in the play room. One day Suzy and her kids and Erin and her kids came over to hang out with me and the next day Shalissa and Bella came over. It was good to hang out and helped the days go more quickly.
It also helped that right around that time, Daniel chose a bed time for himself (about 6:30pm) so I was able to get him down in the evenings and then feed Etta and hang out with just her before getting her into bed.
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Daniel had his two month check-up. He had to get a few injections. Poor guy! He weighed 12lbs and some change and was 24 inches long. Growing well! We discussed his reflux. It's not AWFUL (I only have Etta's severe reflux to compare it to) and he's gaining weight well, so we are trying a few things before moving to medication.

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Etta went back to school on the 5th. She was excited to return! :D
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The night of the 10th, Etta had ANOTHER sleep study! If you lost count, that's number three. I'm a pro now. I know how to pack minimally and get there a little late (and make her skip her nap) so she'll pass out as soon as they hook her up. She woke several times, but went back to sleep without much fuss. They came in at 5:30am to unhook her and I took an hour to give her a bath to wash the gunk out of her hair before we vacated.  We go back to the ENT in early March to get the results. Fingers crossed that her T&A surgery did the trick!
poor thing was crying because she was really tired and didn't like the hook-up process

The next morning after being unhooked: 
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Last Sunday, Shalissa and Bella hung out with us again while Keith and Ryan went for a little hike. When they got home, we had daiquiris and burgers. Well, Shalissa and I had the daiquiris and I think the boys had beer.
Waving goodbye to the daddies

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On Wednesday, Jillian and Molly came over for a play date and to visit. I'm so glad they've moved out here. I feel like I completely missed (most of) Molly's first year! She's so stinkin' cute!

High-Five, Molly!

The rest of the week has been fairly uneventful. Well, except Daniel and I went up to Primrose to see Lauren and co. while Etta was in school. I haven't seen her in a while and she had our bumbo and Daniel's ready to start using it now. We ran by Panera on the way and got a box of bagels to take with us and share. It was great to see little Liam. He's getting to be such a big boy! I didn't get the camera out. boo! But I did get some cute pictures of D in his bumbo when we got home.

A certain tiny human seems to be teething already.
Poor E. She seems to have come down with a cold. She came home from school snotty and has been coughing all afternoon and some tonight. Hope she gets over this quickly.