Back to the blogging world.

Obviously, the past few weeks have been crazy busy for me and my little family.

*My mom and Mrs. Kay came to New Orleans for the re-taping of Beth Moore's Breaking Free Bible study. We had an amazing week full of eating, site seeing, and getting a Word from the Lord (through Beth Moore). God did a work in me and challenged me in new ways to stop being so selfish and just get in His Word.

My mom and I in front of the Breaking Free set.

*I turned 25 on November 15th. It's hard to believe that I'm 25, have been married 3 1/2 years and have a child. I am blessed.

*Emma and I rode back to SC with my mom, and Mrs. Kay so we could visit friends/family and go to Erin's wedding. The week seemed to fly by and I feel like I didn't get to spend as much time with everyone as I wanted, but that's how it goes when you have lots of people to see. Erin's wedding was beautiful and it was fun to see all my old college friends.

Emma taking a bath in Mrs. Carmen's kitchen sink.

Emma and her cousin Will. This is the best picture I could get of them--it's hard getting a good picture of a 1 year old and 6 month old!

College friends--Tara, Shelly, me (and Emma), and Kelly

Paul, Emma, and her "Beat South Carolina" sticker.
We were a divided family because I wore a "Beat Clemson" sticker.

Emma even participated in the bouquet toss!

Jocelyn and Emma

*We got back to New Orleans last Sunday night at 9:30 and I started work the next morning! I had a fun week and work and know that I'm going to love this job. The kids are great and so cute. And of course, it is so wonderful to be with Emma. It will definitely take some time for Emma to transition into this new environment, but I think she will be fine. She had a fussy week (because she's sick), so I had to hold her a lot, which was a kind of a hassle when I was trying to do stuff with the other kids. But, she loves the other kids and they love her.

*Emma has had a cold for a couple weeks now, and it has gotten progressively worse. She has been extremely fussy the past couple days and had a low-grade fever. We took her to the doctor this morning, and she has a sinus infection. She is now on amoxicillan, aka "the pink stuff". Hopefully it will help.

*We went over to the Friendship House for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. We had a wonderful time of food and fellowship. We ate lots and lots for dinner and continued to eat more throughout the day! We also had fun playing Apples to Apples and Imaginiff. Fun times with fun people.

*This morning when Emma woke up at 5am, we decided to get up and head out and brave the crowd at Toys R Us. When we got there, the parking lot was packed and we actually had to park on the sidewalk beside the store. Our goal was to get this toy for Emma for Christmas. There weren't any left at the display where they were supposed to be, so Matt asked a sales associate and they brought one out of the back for us! We saved about $15, so we think it was worth it.

*As of today, Emma weighs 15 lbs, 13 oz. She is almost double her birth weight! She's getting so big!

*I have been wanting a Keurig coffee maker for a while, ever since Kelly introduced me to hers. I hit up the close out sale at Linens and Things today and got the Special Edition Brewing System for $104.99. I'm pretty excited about it and know that it will get tons of use!

*Emma turned 6 months last Saturday and I need to write her letter. I will do that very soon.

Phew! It took me over an hour to write this post! Lots of catching up to do!

Glad to be home

Emma and I just got back to NOLA and I'm SO glad to be back home. I had a wonderful time visiting friends and family, but am completely exhausted and ready to get back into my "normal" routine. Well, my new normal routine, since I start work tomorrow! I do have lots to blog about and some pictures, but I desperately need sleep. So, for now, check this out.

Big News!

Here it is...

I am now a Nanny for Earth Search. Yeah, that's the place Matt works. One of the Nannies is leaving and I got offered the position and it was made final today. So, I will get paid to spend all day with Emma and 6 other cutie pie kiddos (and Karla, the other Nanny). I will start on Monday, the 24th. It's pretty exciting! God is so good to us. We could have never planned or asked for any better of a situation. It's such a perfect fit.

Busy couple weeks!

Posting will be slow around here for the next two weeks. This week, my mom and Mrs. Kay are in town and we are having fun being tourists, loving on Emma, and going to the Breaking Free taping with Beth Moore.

Next week, Emma and I will be back in SC to visit family and for Erin's wedding.

But, I will most likely have some really exciting news to share later on this week.

Praying for your child

I truly believe that praying for your child is important. The moment we found out about our sweet Emma's life inside of me, we began praying for her. Angie, at Bring the Rain wrote about how she prays over her children with seven specific prayers each day. She prays Scripture over her children when they wake, when they are getting dressed, while they are eating, when they go out of the house, while they are taking a bath, when they are going to bed, and while they are sleeping. What a great thing to do! Prayer is powerful and praying Scripture is even more powerful! You can click on the button below to see her post and the specific Scriptures that she prays. I am about to write these Scriptures on note cards and post them in my house.

Just for fun!

Kingdom Coming

Check this song out. It's powerful.

Thoughts on this Election Day

This is quite random, but here's what's floating around in my head right now...

*I am glad that I voted this morning (at 6:30am). I, along with the rest of the country, feel this is a very important election. I know that whatever the outcome, God is in control. I am also glad that I didn't have to wait in line to vote--in and out within 10 minutes.

*Do not place your reflux baby by the laptop when you burp her. She WILL spit up!

*Prune colored spit up is not pretty.

*I love my new jogging stroller I got off craigslist. It's a cheapo, but we're saving up for a Phil & Teds.

*I can't believe that my Mom and Kay are going to be here in THREE days!!! Emma will be so thrilled to see her Grammy & Aunt Kay!

*I hope we are able to get rid of a lot of junk at our garage sale on Saturday. I'm tired of living in a cluttered house. And we need to get rid of the clutter because Emma will be all over the place soon!

*This crazy hot/cold weather is making my sinuses go haywire!

Pictures

*I just added a TON of pictures here!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few days. And big news...Emma learned how to roll from her back to belly on Friday. Putting her down for bed is MUCH more difficult now, as she automatically rolls over, but doesn't like to be on her tummy, so I have to keep rolling her back over onto her back. Wonder how long this stage is going to last?

Emma and her friend, Liam, on Halloween.
Emma's pea pod swallowed her!
And Liam was sleeping!

Wearing Daddy's Indiana Jones hat

Life is good...sleep is good!

I can sit up like a big girl AND eat my hand at the same time!

All bundled up!

Babylegs!

Not Me! Monday

Here's for another Not Me! Monday with MckMama, who had her precious baby Stellan last week!

*I did NOT eat potato chips, french onion dip, and cheesecake for lunch yesterday. My eating habits would NOT be the reason I am not losing weight.

*I did NOT take Emma to the mall today, just so I could eat Chick-Fil-A and my daughter definitely did NOT keep smacking her lips and trying to grab my food while I was eating.

*I did NOT go trick or treating on Friday with some friends even though our babies definitely don't eat candy.

*I did NOT go to a Fall Festival thrown by a neighborhood association for a neighborhood I don't live in and enjoy their free food.

*I did NOT order an entire case of prunes from www.diapers.com b/c I don't feel like making my own plums/prunes for Emma.

Blessings

The past couple weeks have been highly emotional for our little family. I think Matt & I were just both burnt out. We have been SO incredibly blessed by God in the past couple weeks though. It is amazing how He continues to care and provide for His children. I wanted to share some of the blessings that have been given to us lately, mainly so I can look back at them and remember just how good God is.

• A family at church that we don't even know gave us a gift card to Babies R Us, just as we were needing a high chair for Emma.
  
• A friend from church, knowing that we were stressed out, brought us a delicious meal & a Wal-Mart gift card from our church.
• A friend from church invited me over to hang out while Matt was working at the Pita Pit. This same friend also let us borrow some clothes for Emma (they have two girls) and gave us a gift certificate to www.diapers.com
• When I visited the doctor this week, to get a new prescription, he didn't charge me for the visit and gave me 2 1/2 months worth of samples of the medicine!
• The same doctor did not charge Matt for his visit today when he went to get his knee x-rayed. Extra blessing--Matt's knee is not broken or dislocated!!!
• The weather has been so wonderful that Emma & I have been able to go on lots of walks lately.
• A spot has opened up so that Emma can go to work with Matt (they have a nursery there), which leaves more opportunities for me to work wherever I need to!
  

"The LORD is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him."
[Nahum 1:7]

diapers.com

For you moms out there,

If you don't know about diapers.com, you should check it out! This website has been a fabulous resource for our family and many other moms I know. Order your diapers, get them at a cheap price, and have them delivered to your door in 2 days (with free shipping if your order is over $49)! They also have tons of other baby items: clothes, bottles, pacifiers, babyfood, toys, formula, etc. Oh, and they have cloth diapers!

If you want to try it out, you can enter the code: SARA8338 and get $10 off your first order.

That's my shameless plug for the day. :)

Prunes!

Not Me! Monday

This might be my best ever Not Me! Monday. Head on over to MckMama's blog to check out all the other Not Me! Monday posts.

Okay, here goes. I have to take a deep breath before writing this.

Emma most certainly did NOT leak poop on her pants this morning, which did NOT cause me to do a load of her laundry. I did NOT step outside to get her laundry going (our washing machine/dryer are on the back porch) and when I am finished getting the laundry in the washer find that the wind had NOT blown the back door closed and of course our back door does NOT lock when it closes. I was NOT stuck outside in my bath robe while my sweet Emma was hanging out on our bed in her boppy. I definitely did NOT freak out and contemplate breaking the window in the door to get back in. I then did NOT walk around front and pray that our downstairs neighbor was home so I could use his phone to call Matt. I did NOT call Matt and have him convince me not to break the window, but to have him rush home from work (which is NOT on the other side of town) to let me in. I did NOT sit down in my neighbors place playing with his dogs while NOT freaking out about Emma being upstairs. Matt did NOT make it home in record time--20 minutes flat. Matt did NOT open the front door and then find that the door between the living room/Emma's room was locked from the other side to keep it closed. Matt did NOT proceed to run around the back of the house (with a bum knee) when he heard Emma screaming. Matt did NOT kick in the back door when the key wouldn't work. And most definitely, we did NOT love love love on Emma when we finally got to her.

Oh my gosh--I really hope that this is the last Not Me! Monday that entails a story of this sort.

And just so you know, Emma is fine. She was still laying on the bed, just upset b/c she didn't know where everyone was. We are definitely going to make spare keys now and hide them somewhere!

Be sure to check out Matt's account of the excitment

Yummy

I think I will be trying this recipe this week. Sounds yummy. Anything with cheese & grits is yummy!

5 months

Dear Emma,

I cannot believe that you are 5 months old today! That means that in one more month, you will be half a year old! You continue to be such a happy baby and bring us so much joy. You smile ALL the time! You love to play with your toy duck and whooz-it...well, really you just like to eat them! If you do not have a toy in your mouth, you have your hands in your mouth! We keep waiting on that first tooth to come through! You are now successfully eating rice cereal. It took a little while for you to understand the concept of opening your mouth, but now you are doing great at opening right up! You have tried sweet potatoes once as well as apple sauce and loved them both, but both made your tummy upset. So, we're just sticking to the cereal for now. You have discovered a new game that entails you grabbing Mommy's nose and shoving your hand in her mouth! You think it is so much fun! You have been making lots of friends at the different playgroups that we go to. You love to look around at other babies and even hold their hands! You have a sweet little boy friend named Liam and he was born the day after you. You and Liam enjoy tummy time together and sitting in the grass at the park. You also enjoy swinging at the park and today I let you slide down the slide while I was holding you and you thought it was the greatest thing ever! You love to go on walks and look all around. You are such a content baby and we are so blessed by you.

Love,
Mommy

Baked Ziti

I have been cooking a lot lately. Once I got going, it became fun! And it makes me feel like a good housewife (because I sure stink at the cleaning/laundry part of that job). Last night I made Baked Ziti and it was so easy to make and delicious! Here's the recipe (from www.allrecipes.com):

INGREDIENTS:

1 (16 ounce) package dry ziti pasta 1 pound lean ground beef 1 onion, chopped 2 (28 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce 6 ounces sliced provolone

cheese 6 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese 1 1/2 cups sour cream 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2.	In a large skillet, brown beef over medium heat. Add onions; saute until tender. Drain off fat and add spaghetti sauce; simmer for about 15 minutes.
3.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4.	In a lightly greased 2 quart baking dish, place about half of the pasta; top with a layer of provolone and mozzarella cheese slices. Spread on a layer of half the spaghetti sauce mixture and sour cream.
5.	Cover with remaining pasta, cheese and sauce; sprinkle a layer of Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.
6.	Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until cheese and sauce are bubbly; serve.

*NOTE: I actually tossed the ziti with the sour cream in order to keep the noodles moist. I also put some of the spaghetti sauce mix on top of the ziti (before I put the cheese on) to keep the noodles moist. I don't like hard noodles! This is great with a salad and some french bread!

One more...

NOT Me! Monday

It's time for another Not Me! Monday!

*I did NOT walk into Emma's room one morning to find this in the middle of the floor!
Guess the cats had a party the night before!

*I did NOT give Emma a teething toy to chew on and then see that it had bite marks all over it...from one of the cats!

*I did NOT let the laundry pile up so much that my husband had to wear a dirty shirt to work.

*I did NOT cook 5 out of 7 nights this week and I am definitely NOT proud of it!

*I did NOT eat a sausage biscuit that cost $8! At least it had eggs and pesto on it too!

*I did NOT go out of the house multiple times this week thinking "I really hope I don't run into someone I know" because I looked so rough.

That's it for this week.

Pumpkin Patch