Christmas From Katie's Camera

Baby's First Christmas

Playing with Santa's presents.

Emory and Payton being so good for their photoshoot.

Emory surrounded by all her gifts at Nita and Papa's

Emory definitely had a great first Christmas. I joke by saying for every one present Chase and I got, she got 5! However, it isn't far from the truth. The child truely racked up. Santa was practical this year and only brought Emory a few things. He knew that her Grandparents and everyone else were going to spoil her rotten...and they did!! We spent Christmas Eve driving to Birmingham after I got home from work and spent Christmas Day with my family. We had a great time. Katie took a lot of really cute pictures of both Payton and Emory but those are yet to be loaded onto the computer. I will make that a completely different post. Friday afternoon, we drove to Jacksonville, AL and had Christmas with Chase's family. We spent the remainder of the weekend with the Martin's and drove home on Sunday night. For once we actually got home at a decent hour. Chase is currently putting together Emory's new exesaucer, there are a million little plastic pieces all over the living right now!

Mandy, Payton, and Cole

Emory, Bennett, and Blue. Bennett wasn't too excited about taking his picture!

I leave you with a slideshow of all my pictures.

Patrick and Meghan got Married!!

This past weekend was Patrick and Meghan's wedding in New Orleans, LA, where it was 75 degrees and sunny. We had so much fun with all of our friends. My parents came down with my sister, which was wonderful because they kept Emory while we went out!!

OK to start things off...We drove to Birmingham late Wednesday night to fly out Thursday morning. Yes we flew with an 8 month old! She did wonderful. When I thought my ears were going to explode, she was laughing and playing. As soon as we landed in NOLA, I said "we have a little traveler!" Great news! We knew she did well in the car, for the most part, but now with planes in the mix, it opens up many more opportunities for travel! Thursday afternoon, the day we arrived, we met up with Patrick and walk around the French Quarter. We were going to bring the stroller to lessen the load of Emory but Patrick wanted to carry her. To quote Meghan, I think he has a little crush! :) After walking we went back to the hotel to sit and talk. Emory started to get restless so I left the boys to catch up and took Emory up to the room for a nap.






Later that night we went out to dinner with Patrick and Meghan and their families. Then it was early to bed for us since we didn't have a babysitter for that night. Emory slept like crap that night so that means I did too! She has never done well the first night in a new place and Thursday night was no different!

Friday morning we got up and went to breakfast at Brennen's. Apparently it is a New Orleans staple...for the rich! It was good food but not so much after the bill came. For 3 couples it was $300!! the next time we go, someone else will be paying. Chase and I kept telling ourselves..."we are on vacation, we are on vacation!" Then came nap time! I love having a kid for SO many reasons but one is because I actually have an excuse to take a nap now!! After nap we ventured out to find something for a late lunch, just the three of us. Emory got to go down Bourbon Street for the first time, only a block, and I forgot to take a picture!! I don't think Chase would have let me anyway! We ate lunch at a hole in the wall, Felix's, and enjoyed our time together as a family. My parents and sister arrived early evening and we all went out to dinner. After much debate and walking around the streets we finally decided to eat at Ralph and Kacoos (sp?), very touristy, but still good!

Emory LOVES water. There's a video of this too, I will post that later!

Friday we went out with all of our friends after Emory was down for the night. We met at Pat O's and ended up eating pizza at 2am on Bourbon Street! Enough said...

Saturday was tourist day. Here are a few pics from the day.

Saturday night was the wedding. It was much more emotional than I thought it would be. I guess it has something to do with the fact that Patrick is going to be deployed in three weeks for 12 months and for most of us, this was the last time we will get to see him until he returns. And talking to him about it, didn't ease my fears for him. Enough of the sad stuff. We had a great time and Emory was a trooper. She didn't get a nap in that afternoon so I wasn't optimistic about her behavior, but she proved me wrong. She stayed up until 10:30pm and then crashed while my sister was holding her...it was so cute! She tried to stay up until the bride and groom left but she just couldn't last!

And I leave you with the last picture of the trip...our flight home! Emory slept the WHOLE time. She is such a great baby!!

8 Months

Isn't she just the cutest thing ever!! I can't believe she's 8 months old (last Saturday). This month has been filled with "firsts."

She experienced her first snow.

Her first Thanksgiving.

She learned to feed herself. She absolutely LOVES the Gerber puffs. I think she would eat the whole container if I let her. She prefers to feed herself now so I think we will be moving to a lot more finger foods this next month!She can now get in the "all fours" position and rock back and forth. I don't think I am ready for her to crawl, but I know it won't be long!She raises her arms up for us to pick her up now. I LOVE IT!!

She learned to wave "Hi" and "bye-bye." She of course is not an expert at this at all, but when Harley walked into the room this morning she waved at him...too cute!

We are trying to teach sign language but I am not doing a great job! Oh well! maybe she will catch onto a few signs!

She has started to notice the dogs a lot more. She laughs at them when they are around and tries to pull their hair. It should be interesting to see how things go when she is mobile!!

Happy 8 months!!!

(new post below)

Not So Silent Night

Last weekend was the 2nd Annual Not So Silent Night Christmas Party. The first annual was two years ago but since we were ALL pregnant, at least 4 of us including Katie, the hostess, she opted to not have it last year! Thanks to my wonderful sister we were able to go baby free and stay out late...1 am! I know we're old! The party did start at 5pm though, so by 10 we were had!! We had so much fun non the less. It was hosted by some good friends of ours Tony and Katie Caesar. This year they decided that we should all wear our tackiest Christmas sweater. As you can see we all looked pretty tacky. I have to admit though, mine came from my mom's closet! :) I think her feelings were a little hurt when I told her I was wearing it to a tacky sweater party. Sorry mom! The thing is, it might be tacky to us now but when we are older, much older, it won't be!! I guess! ;) Most of these people are sorority sisters and fraternity brothers. I love these people and we always have a great time with them. In fact, this past weekend was just a little preview of what this weekend is going to be like in New Orleans!! I leave you with tacky pictures!

The whole group.

The girls.

Me, Katie, Jennifer

Dancing. This is how the night ended for most...dancing in the living room. But those of you that know me, know that I don't dance. So I took pictures. I can do that much better!

Karla and me

The finalist for the tackiest sweater.


More finalist.

And the winner is...Lindsey! She looked like she was going to play a game of golf with Santa on the North Pole!