5 Year Anniversary

Dane and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on April 21st.  We went to Chattanooga that weekend to celebrate.  We took Elise with us since we're not quite ready to leave her with someone for 2 nights in a row.

A run down of events: Aquarium, IMAX, walk in the north shore area with ice cream at Clumpy's, hang out time at Coolidge Park, Lupi's Pizza, downtown market, and Crabtree Farms.

It was a fun celebration.  I am so thankful for Dane.  He is a wonderful husband to me.  It has been 5 very good years.  He is my best friend.  He encourages and challenges me and loves me.  I can't say enough about how much I love him.

Getting ready to go to the Aquarium

Elise loved all of the lights and colors and action

A little smile

Daddy and his girl at Coolidge Park

3 Months! (plus 2 days)

This past Thursday at her appointment for vaccines. She weighed 14 lbs and 15 oz and was 25 inches long!

Two of her favorite things: eating her fist and pulling up her dress

We get to enjoy her smiles and laughs all the time now!

Glimpses of Life

I'm going to inundate you with pictures on this post.

Dane was off work for Spring break last week and we had a great week. We got LOTS of stuff done around the house. We're hoping to get chickens and bees sometime in the next week and we have their abodes prepared to receive them. Dane worked like a crazy man on their coop. It looks good enough for our family to live in! I got all of our hive boxes painted and the frames ready to go in the boxes.

We had some fun too. We enjoy our neighborhood so much and spent time with neighbors and walking the streets. Dane took us on a hike to celebrate my birthday. We had "sushi night" with some friends and while there got to meet our friends' 4 week old baby for the first time. She is precious and so tiny. I don't remember Elise being so small! We spent time with family here in Nashville and at Miriam, Adam, and Joe's house out in the boondocks. It was a GOOD week.

Now for some pictures and Elise updates.

I call this "the throne". I'll set her up in the kitchen floor while I'm cooking or doing dishes and she just watches all of the activity from her throne. She's looking over at the back door as Dane is coming inside in this picture. She also sucks on her fingers and fists all the time. This past week she has also started sucking in her bottom lip which makes her slobber all over her chin, but it's cute!


Elise's first swim with our neighbor's twin girls. She didn't seem too sure about it. It may have been because the water was a bit cool. She's used to the warm bathtub. We'll see how the swimming progresses throughout the summer.




Our hike. Elise slept the whole time on Dane's back for 1 1/2 hours. It was a great overcast day to hike. We finished our hike and got home just before the rain started pouring down.


Elise loves her bouncy seat! I'm not sure that babies are supposed to start in the bouncy seat at 2 1/2 months! But she pushes herself around and holds her head up well and it always makes her laugh. She loves seeing the activities going on around her, and this provides a good way for her to do that.

In the jogging stroller and ready for a walk

She sleeps really well. She goes down for bed between 8-9pm. She sleeps 4-7 hours. (last night it was 8) wakes up to eat and then sleeps about 3-4 more hours. She usually takes a short morning nap for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Then she takes a mega nap in the afternoon from about 2-5pm.

Someone is waking up from her morning nap right now. Got to go!

2 Months!

Here's our little Chunky Monkey

She weighed 12 pounds and 14 ounces at her doctor's visit today

Are babies supposed to gain almost a pound a week?:)

Isn't she sweet?

Tonight we're going to try sleeping her in her own room for the first time. I may have a more difficult time with that than Elise!

Elise is such a joy to Dane and me. She is a really sweet baby. Yesterday and today I had to wake her up out of a deep sleep to go somewhere and as soon as she opens her eyes she is all smiles and coos!

We're not without our difficult times. She had trouble getting to sleep last night. One of her eyes was red and swollen and we think that may have been bothering her. I walked her for 25 minutes and thought she was asleep, but she woke up and started wailing as soon as I laid her down. Dane took over and worked his magic and she finally really fell asleep. Her eye was better this morning.

Well, we're off to get supplies to build our chicken coop!

Is It Spring Yet?

Baby Swiss chard

I love spring! I love all of the new life. That fresh green color is everywhere. People are emerging from their homes to enjoy the warm sunshine after hibernating all winter. Seeds are being planted and starting to grow. The daffodils have come and the tulips are coming. The Season of Lent is upon us as we look forward to Easter and celebrating the resurrected Jesus. Babies are growing. Trees are blooming and budding. I just love it!


This is the seed starting area of our house that Dane rigged up for me. Screw some hooks into the window sill, set a little wire rack in the window and secure it with a bungee cord, and wire up a florescent light and voila! There you have it!

Tomato seedlings under the florescent light


Brand spankin' new pepper seedlings

Just in case you're bored of all the dirt pictures, here is Dane showing off his new bee suit and Hyssop plant that he won at our local Beekeepers Association meeting. I think it's very flattering for his figure. We'll hopefully have the bees to go along with the suit soon.


And of course we can't have a post without a little Elise in it. This is one of my favorite ways to carry Elise. She falls asleep without fail every time I put her in this wrap. She loves it!

Content at Daddy's Side

Smiling and Grunting

All babies do basically the same stuff, but when I look at Elise and watch her developing and growing it is somehow more amazing and interesting to me. That being said, here she is....



Isn't she amazing?