The Day After

We woke up the day after Christmas and as we were eating breakfast, we decided today was the day. The day we would get rid of Hannah Cate's beloved paci. We had been to see the pediatric dentist a few weeks before and he suggested that it was time. He said that if we would just go cold turkey and throw them all away, that it would take 48 hours and Hannah Cate would be "done". The thought of taking them away was just heart breaking for me. They are just such a source of comfort for her and such a source of sanity for us!

We decided that our best bet would be to keep her on the go as much as possible that day. So we headed out after breakfast to run some errands and then we took her to a place in Spanish Fort that I had been eyeing for awhile, Kangarooz. If you live in the area, I highly recommend it. It took Hannah Cate a little while to warm up to the jumpers, but once she did she had the absolute best time. Her very pregnant Mama may or may not have even gotten in a few with her for some fun! It was the perfect thing for us to do in an effort to keep her distracted and wear her out.

By the time we finished jumping, it was time for lunch and for us to head to Orange Beach for dinner with Matt's family. It was also quickly approaching Hannah Cate's nap time. In my mind, this would be the true test.....could she go to sleep without the paci? We decided to head home for lunch and time it so we would be in the car about the time she normally goes to sleep. She's always sure to fall asleep in the car if it's her nap time, so this seemed like a sneaky way for us to get around having to put her down without the paci. Good plan, except it didn't work. By the time we got to about Foley (been in the car for about 30 minutes) she was still awake but getting really sleepy. Instead of falling asleep she cried and cried and cried. A pitiful, heart breaking, "I want my paci so I can go to sleep" cry. I wanted to give it to her so badly. Matt was the strong one and held me off. We stopped at Lowes to divert her attention and it worked. Needless to say she ended up skipping her nap that first day. We got to Nini and Deeda's and she was great for the rest of the evening. She stayed and played with Nini while the rest of us caught an afternoon movie. When we got back from the movie we all ate dinner together and then it was time for us to head back to Fairhope.

Again, we thought we had been so sneaky and that surely since she had skipped her nap (and had such a full day of playing) that she would fall asleep in the car and we could easily transfer her (like we had a million other times) from her car seat to her crib without the paci. Again, good plan, but it didn't work. About half way home we experienced the same excruciating crying from the oh-so-sleepy girl. I sat in the back with her, trying to console her and trying not to bust out crying myself. About five minutes from home she finally gave it up and fell asleep. Victory! I managed to get her out of her car seat while she was still sleeping, but as soon as I laid her down she woke up and resumed her I NEED my paci cry.

We tried to remain strong and left her to cry for 15 minutes. No such luck. Hannah Cate has never had to "cry it out" and so I just knew that strategy was not going to work for her now at 18 months, especially since by this point she was so upset that she could hardly breathe. I went in to get her and rocked with her for awhile. It was the first time in her life that I can remember her crying uncontrollably while I was consoling her. I cried right along with her for a few minutes before I caved and gave her the paci. Even then it took her awhile to get a hold of herself before she crashed.

So, from that point forward, we've been paci free during the day and it stays in her crib for nap and bedtime. A bit of a compromise from where we started, but I think we've done remarkably well.

Christmas Eve and Day

So I mentioned at the beginning of my Christmas recap that this was the first year that we stayed home and were not traveling on Christmas. It was so nice to be home, but it also made me realize that I've had it easy all these other years! One of the great things about not being at your own home is that you are not nearly as responsible for the details! My one regret is that I was so enthralled with the details that I did a terrible job with the camera. I'll do better next year!

Granddaddy came to spend Christmas Eve with us. I cooked a big pot of Chicken and Vegetable soup and while it was simmering we went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church. It's really the first time we've been able to actually go to a Chrismas Eve service at our own church and we really enjoyed it. No pictures of Hannah Cate in her sweet nativity scene dress. We came home and ate dinner together. Just about as soon as dinner was over and cleaned up, I started working on our Christmas Day brunch. But not before we let Hannah Cate open a Christmas Eve present from Mary Rose and Jack.

How fitting that Jack got her a jack-in-the-box! It's really a sheep and Hannah Cate loves it! I will love it even more when she figures out how to make it pop out on her own....for now one of us have to do it for her and one time is never enough!

I stayed up entirely too late for a pregnant person, finishing up preparations for brunch and making sure everything was prepared for Santa's arrival. He did come and Hannah Cate was excited to see what he brought when she woke up the next morning! Lots of her gifts revolved around her new baby doll......a diaper bag for her baby, a stroller, a car seat.....as we get her ready for the "real" baby doll that will be making her appearance at our house very soon. She does love the baby doll and knows how to feed her a bottle and put her in her stroller. That is when Hannah Cate is not trying to drink the bottle herself or go for a ride in the stroller!

A dual screen DVD player for the car from Granddaddy.....what a life saver!

Books continue to remain a favorite for this sweet girl!

Matt's parents, Grandmother and Uncle Ross/Aunt Sian came over and joined us for brunch. I loved having everyone in our home and Hannah Cate certainly loved all the attention!

The only picture we took of Hannah Cate with our family on Christmas Day....pitiful considering we had three out of the four sets of grandparents present that day! Again, I'm resolving to do better next year....I've learned my lesson!

Getting ready to crash from all the excitement!

She wasn't the only one who crashed after everyone left.....I took a nap right along with her. I waddled around all morning and was just about certain we were heading to the hospital to have a baby! I felt much better after a nap and just realized that I had a case of 8 months pregnant Christmas over-exertion. I did it to myself when I insisted that no one help me.....another lesson learned......let people help!

That night we headed over to the Nebrig's for leftover soup and fellowship. I hope this is a tradition we'll continue with all of our Fairhope friends that also choose to stay home for Christmas. We had a great time visiting with them and rehashing our Christmas adventures!

The Weekend Before

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated with our friends and with Matt's Dad's side of the family.

We had our annual Fairhope Friends Dirty Santa party, hosted by the Steed's, on Friday night. I have absolutely zero pictures, but we had a great time and it's always great to be in the presence of good friends. It's super special when there are no kids around and you are actually able to finish a conversation! Somehow Matt and I managed to leave with the only two alcoholic gifts that were given. Pretty funny considering I'm pregnant and Matt doesn't really drink. Oh well, I guess that's just the nature of Dirty Santa!

Bright and early on Saturday morning we met up with the Nebrigs, Carrigans and Steeds at The Grand for breakfast with Santa. What a fun new tradition! I will say that the food at The Grand is not my favorite (especially considering the bill that comes at the end of the meal) but the atmosphere more than makes up for it! They do go all out for Christmas and that makes it extra special!

Hannah Cate was not such a fan of Santa this year, in fact, I wasn't even able to get a picture of her with him by herself because as soon as I sat her down in his lap she was screaming and there was no way I could back up to take a picture. Shands pretty much felt the same way and I can use his picture to show you just about how Hannah Cate felt.

We did manage to get a group picture of all the kids with Santa. I think it is hilarious that not a one of them is actually looking at the camera. Such is life with young ones!

Matt had to leave Breakfast with Santa early to head to work (another reason we ended up with no HC solo picture), so Hannah Cate and I hung out with the girls for the rest of the morning.

We went to visit The Chappells and new Baby Porter in the hospital and then we headed out for a little shopping.

After a nap for Hannah Cate, we headed down to Orange Beach for Christmas with Matt's Dad's family. We picked Matt up from work and he was showing some visitors around the resort so Hannah Cate and I played around for awhile outside. She loves to run around Heritage!

"Where's Da-Da?"

We had a nice dinner and then opened a few presents. Hannah Cate absolutely loved the Radio Flyer from B and Pops. They pulled her around in it for the rest of the evening and now every time we go in the garage she wants to go for a ride! These things have come a long way from what I remember......they even come complete with seat belts and sippy-cup holders! I can just see both little girls riding around in it this summer......what fun!

I think Hannah Cate is thinking that she could really get used to all these presents at every stop we make! All she has to do is put on a red or green outfit and she's sure to get a present!

More to come on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, plus the day after!

Leading up to Christmas

It was such a different Christmas for us this year, but one that I will probably always remember. It was our first Christmas to actually spend in our own home since Matt and I have been married. I love the traditions that we have in Birmingham, but it was nice to start to establish some of our own traditions as a family. And I'll have to say that I didn't miss all the running around, living out of our car for a week and the packing/unpacking that goes with traveling during the holidays!

We did make a trip up to Birmingham a few weeks before Christmas for a multi-purpose weekend where we had a White Plume baby shower for Madelyn, celebrated my Dad's Birthday and had Christmas with my Dad's side of the family.

White Plume (where I work) is always so gracious to throw a baby shower no matter what child you are expecting (1st or 4th). We opted for a diaper shower for baby Madelyn since we really are pretty covered in the clothes and baby necessities department. We received over 1,000 diapers, plus lots of wipes and a few fun monogrammed things for her! What a blessing it is to work with such wonderful people that truly care about each other. Hannah Cate had such a great time at the shower and I suspect part of her probably thought the "party" was for her. Fine by me, we'll let it be all about her for a little bit longer!

The next night Emily and I cooked a traditional Barnes family meal of spaghetti casserole, French bread and salad for Dad's Birthday dinner. I suspect it's probably hard having a Birthday so close to Christmas, so I was glad we got the chance to celebrate just him for a night! It's hard for me to express just how much I love him and what a special man he is to all of us. I don't think I know anyone that is more self-less and giving than my Dad. You certainly won't find anyone that laughs more than him or anyone that is able to find the good in any situation like he does. I'm so thankful that he is my Dad and thankful for the relationship that we have!

After the Birthday dinner, we had planned to make a trip to see the Zoolight Safari, however the weather did not cooperate with our plans. So instead, we headed to the Galleria to see Santa and ride the carousel. Well, an hour long wait coupled with two 1-year olds getting close to their bed time made us decide to skip Santa all together and skip straight to the carousel. Granddaddy and Mary Rose took the kiddos for their first carousel ride while the rest of us watched and played Papparazi. Cousin A.J. was a trooper, Hannah Cate was not such a fan! Maybe next year!

A pretty good start.....

Went downhill pretty quickly......

And ended like this!

At least somebody was relaxed and had fun!

A sweet memory regardless and hopefully a new tradition!

We ended the weekend with lunch with the entire Barnes family at my Grandmother's house. This was always a Christmas Day tradition in our family, but given the fact that all of our own families have now grown we try to get together at some point before Christmas.

Playing the piano at Grandmother's house was something all the grandchildren did, now the great-grandchildren are taking up the hobby!

We always love to spend time with Aunt Janet. She gave Hannah Cate one of our favorite gifts this year. Hannah Cate especially loves the Baby Jesus and gives him a kiss every time she picks him up. What a great way to start teaching her early about the true meaning of Christmas!

Of course no get together would be complete without some eating....even if it is Goldfish! I am really so thankful this year that Emily and Mick have moved back to the state of Alabama. Hannah Cate and A.J. have had such a great time playing together and it makes our time together that much sweeter!

My Grandmother looked so healthy and pretty. Her mind is pretty much gone, but I know that she loves getting to see the babies (and children) running around and that she loves being surrounded by people that love her!

More to come on the weekend before Christmas and Christmas Eve/Day!

Future Photographer

The video below requires a little explanation.

One day we were at Matt's parents house and Hannah Cate discovered a little tape measure that they had tucked away in a drawer. It became her toy of choice for the day. After her playing with it for awhile, I noticed that she was walking around holding it up to her eye. After watching her a little longer, I finally realized what she was doing......she was taking pictures with the tape measure. She thought it was a camera. In her defense, it does kind of resemble a little point and shoot camera.....small, black and has a little strap that hangs off of one end. To confirm my thoughts, I asked her to take a picture of me and sure enough she held her "camera" up to one eye and took my picture. So cute! It's now become one of her favorite tricks that is sure to get a good laugh out of the crowd!

Here she is demostrating for Aunt Emily and Grandaddy (while Aunt Emily videos).

You might have also caught her other favorite trick of the moment at the very end when she blew Mama a kiss. She was demostrating that one in full force yesterday at the grocery store....every single person that we passed got a "bye-bye" and a "kiss" from Hannah Cate. One man told me that she deserved the Miss Congeniality award!

18 months is a really fun age!

18 Months or 18 Years?

It is 11:30 am and this little thing

is still sleeping.

Not from a morning nap, but from going to sleep last night at 7:30 pm.

I'm left wondering....am I dealing with a toddler or a teenager? Did she "sneak out" last night and go visit her friends? Did she crawl out of her crib, play with her books and toys for awhile and crawl back in her crib and now she's just catching up on the sleep she missed?

I thought sleeping until the middle of the day didn't come until much later!

*in case you are wondering, I have gone in to check on her multiple times and she is still breathing!

No Time!

I really just can't find the time to blog these days. I have lots that I would like to say and record so that I can look back and remember the things we did when Hannah Cate was one and right before we had our second baby....but I just can't find the time.

I want to talk about our family trip to the beach, our many trips to Birmingham to visit, our trips to Auburn and to Lake Martin for a weekend with friends.

I want to talk about how much fun I had spending the day with my best friends from Auburn and our celebration of baby girl #2 with our family and friends in Birmingham.

I want to talk about how proud I am of Matt for seeing Heritage through to fruition and for all the hard work he has put in for three and half years and what a success the Grand Opening party was.

I want to talk about Thanksgiving and the fact that my sister, brother-in-law and precious nephew now live in Alabama again and we've had the best time getting to hang out with them on a more consistent basis.

I want to talk about all the little things that Hannah Cate is doing....how she says "outside" so sweetly because it is her favorite place to be, how she "takes our picture" with a tape measure, how she would tell us she wants a cracker and eat them all day if we would let her, how when I ask her where the baby is she points to herself.

I want to remember that before she was 18 months old she started saying "I love you" back to us when we say it to her.

I want to talk more about the preparations for baby girl #2, what her nursery will look like and I want to find time to actually mention that she does have a name and it's Madelyn Virginia.

Well there, I found some time to at least say a few things.

They say the darndest things

You may be thinking that I don't have a child old enough for a post with this title. You would be right, but I do have a husband and they can say some pretty crazy things too! Just yesterday for example, here's two things that came out of my dearest one's mouth.

I'm standing at the stove cooking dinner, Matt is sitting at the kitchen table, so he has a good side view of me in all my pregnant glory. Upon taking me in, he says, "I think you are as big now as you were right before you had Hannah Cate". Ouch! I'm not even 30 weeks yet!

Later in the evening (same evening, mind you), we were cleaning up the kitchen from the spaghetti casserole I had just made for a lady that has been sick at our church. He takes in a big whiff and says, "This smells just like a McDonald's cheeseburger!" Hmmm, not exactly the smell I shoot for when I spend an hour cooking a meal!

It's a good thing I love him!

Here, There and Everywhere

I'm sorry for my lack of pictures and words lately. The truth is that we are soaking up every last minute as a family of three before little sister arrives. We are so excited for her to get here, but we also realize that we'll never go back to being "the three muskateers"! We have been hitting the road for long weekends and loving our time together. I think this picture sums up our quality time the best.
Hopefully I can come back soon and tell you more about where we've been and what we've been up to, but our travels are not over yet so it may take me a little while to catch up!

The Little Zoo That Could

That's the name of the zoo in Gulf Shores.....The Little Zoo That Could. It's a self-funded zoo that relies completely on donations and sponsorship from local businesses and individuals. I wasn't expecting much, but we thought Hannah Cate was getting to the age where she could start to appreciate the animals so we gave it a try on Saturday. We all three left quite impressed and promised we would go back! Hannah Cate really did have a great time and was very interested in the animals, especially the ones that she could get close to.

We got lots of "oohs" and "aahs" out of the little one!

This is what it looks like to be 23 weeks pregnant and take your 15 month old to the zoo....in case you were wondering!

Lots of pointing

And hilarious faces!

She was trying to share her goldfish with this goat.

Little did we know he just might take her up on it! We laughed and laughed at that goat sticking it's head through the fence to try to get to those goldfish!

The Little Zoo That Could even has a white bengal tiger and a cub too!

Daddy was behind the camera for most of the trip....but we had to document that he was there too!

Auburn v. West Virginia

We made it to our first Auburn game of the season to see the Tigers play West Virginia. Matt's Mom's side of the family was having a family reunion of sorts. Her two brothers and their kids all came too, so it was good to catch up with all the family. Everyone lives in different cities now so it's rare that the whole group is in the same place. Just about everyone shares a love for Auburn, so it's the perfect place to get together!

So far, there are only three kids among all cousins....all girls, getting ready to add a fourth girl to the mix. Hannah Cate had the best time playing with Katie (5) and we had just as much fun watching them interact. Katie was so good with her and about ran circles around her but Hannah Cate just loved watching her and tagging along with her. Katie even let her snuggle up next to her in one of the chairs to watch a DVD towards the end of the day.

It really was such a great day and we are looking forward to taking her back for the Ole Miss game.

As for the actual game, Nini and Deeda were so kind to take Hannah Cate to Wetumpka (to stay with some friends) before kick off so Matt and I were actually able to go to the game. It looked like our night alone was going to be a disaster when the bottom absolutely fell out right before kick off, but we somehow managed to be in the right place at the right time and didn't even get a single drop of rain on us. We hung out in the new Foy until they announced on ESPN that they were going to kick off in 20 minutes. We sauntered into the stadium and enjoyed a glorious Auburn victory.....what a great game it turned out to be. I was reminded of how much I love to be in the stadium for the games....there's just nothing quite like it!

These Shoes are Made for Walking

Now that we have a full blown walker on our hands (for about a month now) we rarely go without shoes. In fact, I feel like she looks naked now without them.

I've laughed at how many members of our combined family have commented on the fact that Hannah Cate is FINALLY wearing shoes! Mind you, it's mostly the older generation that I've noticed have had the most to say on the subject. I just never really thought she needed any shoes when she wasn't walking. I have enough to keep up with as it is!

So, this post is for all you dear family members out there that are breathing a huge sigh of relief that our baby girl will not be going shoe-less for the rest of her life!

Such a Great Weekend!

We've had the best weekend! The kind that I just didn't want to end. We spent the vast majority of it in Orange Beach. It's just hard to beat a weekend at the beach with family, friends, great food and football!

We spent Friday night with John, Christy and Isabella at Bahama Bobs. It's always great to spend time with them and let the girls "play". It's been fun to have friends at the exact same stage (Isabella and Hannah Cate are just about three weeks apart in age).

Saturday we spent the day with friends at The Burton's house on the bay....It's always such a fun time.

We spent lots of time on the porch. Do you see the huge slide in the background? How fun for the kids!

Even Hannah Cate took a turn with Daddy!

Don't think she loved it, two times was plenty for her. Maybe next year!
Hmmmm, was this really for the kids?

The "big" kids had just as much fun!

Saturday night we left Hannah Cate with Nini and Deeda for the night and we headed back up to Fairhope to watch the game at the Steed's house.

Sunday morning it was back to Orange Beach for Ma's 90th Birthday party. When I think about Ma's 90 years on this earth, I think of a woman of such strength. She has buried three children, all under the age of one. Something no parent should ever have to do. I would consider Matt's Dad to be a miracle child and the love that he shares with his Mom is like no other. It was a special time and I hear that there are already plans in the works for her 100th party!

Sunday night we had a nice dinner at home with Nini and Deeda and we all curled up to watch the latest Netflix, State of Play. Good suspense thriller with an all star cast!

Monday it was more fun in the sun with a boat ride and trip to the island....but really, I'm not sure how much fun was actually had. The Steed's boat almost sank and Michael came down with some kind of throw up virus/food poisoning/something or other. We had to cut our outing short, but we would all agree it was an adventure!

And now here we are, home sweet home. Trying to catch up on laundry and all the things that fall behind when you are gone all weekend. The truth is, we wouldn't have it any other way and we love our weekends away!