Road Trip South: The Atlanta Zoo

Sunday was our last full day of the trip and we spent it at The Atlanta Zoo with my aunt, my cousin and her two children (one of them is newly adopted!) 

We had such a great time, I think Chloe's favorites were the giraffes and the tigers. 

We rode a carousel, Chloe seemed to enjoy it. It was her first ride ever.

I can't wait to bring her back to a zoo when she is a little older, she really had a great time now, I can't wait for when she can really interact and enjoy the animals even more!

 It was really a great day with family, I didn't want it to end! 

After the zoo we drove about 2 hours north and spend the night in Greenville. We wanted to break up the driving some for Chloe so she wouldn't have to be in the car too long at once. The next day we packed up the car again, and headed home. We did stop at the outlets though, which is always fun. Overall it was such a great time and it makes me so thankful for good family. 

Road Trip South: Part 1

This past Thursday I left with my mom and Chloe for a road trip. We went to Winston-Salem, Georgia for my cousin's high school graduation and spent a night in Greenville. We really packed a lot into this trip, and I must say Chloe did a great job with traveling!

Our first stop was in our future home, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. My mom had never been so I got to show her around some. I also had to look at rentals, which was not fun at all but I found a cute house for us to rent for 6 months so it was a success. Chloe loved spending so much time with her grandma, here they are at a cute shopping center we stopped at.

Friday afternoon we left North Carolina for Georgia. I downloaded some apps for Chloe on my mom's iPad and she absolutely loved playing with it on the ride down. It was a great way for her to pass the time in the car, we may need to invest in one!

We woke up early Saturday morning for my cousin's high school graduation. I must say I feel so old because I remember when he was Chloe's age and now he is graduating! The ceremony was really nice and it was so good to see all my extended family.

They live in western Georgia which is really pretty. Got to see some mountains too!

I'm glad we got this picture, 4 generations!

I love that so many of my family members got to meet Chloe for the first time. We just spent all day Saturday catching up and visiting.

Chloe loved my aunt and uncles black lab named Oreo. She would smile and laugh whenever she saw him. Later on in the day my uncle was throwing the ball with Oreo and Chloe thought it was the funniest thing. Ever. She literally laughed hysterically every time this dog would fetch the ball. This went on for about 25 minutes. We all were laughing along because it was so funny. It was the best sound ever, hearing her laugh like that!

Up next: Part 2 of our trip, the Atlanta Zoo! 

Weekend Wrap-Up

I had such a great weekend, it was really just what I needed. A date, good times with friends and family and of course my sweet baby girl. 

I had my last MOPS meeting on Friday morning. It was sad because these women have really been an encouragement to me these past few months. It was hard to say goodbye. The lady who did our devotional for the morning talked about Proverbs 3:5-6, which says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own insight, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." I really needed to hear that. We are still waiting to sell our house and there are so many unknowns about this move still. I needed to be reminded to just trust God with all my heart, not just part of it, and he will guide us. 

Then I found out I get to be a bridesmaid!!

Here we are at my wedding. In March the roles will reverse and I'm so excited!!

Saturday Clarke and I went on a date to the Cinnebistro at Stony Point. I had been wanting to go for awhile and it was on our "bucket list" of things to do in Richmond before we move. We left Chloe with my mom and it was so nice to have alone time.

We saw The Great Gatsby which we both really liked, and I also must add the seats in this movie theatre were really comfy and the food was pretty good too. 

And because no post is complete without a picture of my baby girl, here is one from this past weekend.

Mother's Day and Baby Dedication

I am finally getting around to posting about my first Mother's Day, but it was really special. We had baby dedications at church, and Chloe got dedicated.

Chloe wore the same gown that my mom and her brother and sister wore,  all my cousins, my brothers and myself wore as well. She was the third generation to wear this! I am happy to say no spit up or anything got on it!

After church we went to Aunt Melanie's for a celebration. Chloe was over being in that dress, and she missed her morning nap so I didn't get that many good pictures. Oh well.

As you can see in this picture she is done! 

I definitely felt so loved on my first Mother's Day. I got so many sweet cards from friends and family, and it just made me so thankful that I get to be Chloe's mommy. I remember last year on Mother's Day I was anticipating becoming a mom, and now I am! It's such a great feeling and I am thankful I got to spend it with so many wonderful friends and family. 

Rice Cereal, Peanut Butter and Bananas

Recently Chloe has started eating solids! At first she had no interest, which I was fine with because she is still nursing 5 times a day and once at night. But recently she has started actually eating some and it's pretty exciting, and adorable if I might add.

We started with rice cereal, I mixed it with some grape juice because recently I had to give her some infant advil which was grape flavored and she loved it. But the rice cereal not so much. We tried peanut butter and that was a big hit. 

I mushed up some bananas and she seemed to like those. We have given her some mashed potatoes as well and she really liked them too. 

Sometimes she just has fun playing with it too!

The high chair is still too big so I put a pillow behind her, that seemed to work well. I'll also add I think I got the right consistency of juice and rice cereal because she seemed to really enjoy it tonight for the first time! Empty bowl! 

I am loving watching her experience real food, and the pediatrician said it might help her sleep better at night, I hope so!!

6 months!

Dear  Chloe,
Yesterday you turned 6 months old! You are now closer to being a full year old than you are a newborn, how did this happen so quickly? You have changed so much this month. You really interact with us so much more than before. If you see something you want you grab for it. Yesterday morning you saw me eating my Kashi bar, I guess you wanted it because you grabbed it and shoved it in your mouth. In fact, lots of things go into your mouth these days. We have started offering you a sippy cup with water and you have gotten pretty good at drinking out of it. You love to play in your exersaucer now. You love to hear the music and interact with all the different toys. You are so verbal. You make all kinds of sounds, sometimes it sounds like you are saying dada. You are really good at rolling over when you want, and getting better at sitting up.

Nighttime is still not the best. Still not sleeping through the night, but last night was better, so I remain hopeful. You nurse once at night still.

Your hair has gotten so much longer. That bald spot in the back is starting to go away, and in some spots there are little curls. Your eyes are still a pretty blue. You weigh 11 pounds 7.5 ounces and are 24 inches tall. You wear size 0-3 months and some 3-6 months finally! Still no teeth, sometimes I think they are coming in but no sign of them yet. You are starting to get some chunk on your thighs and arms and it's so cute!

You are such a happy baby. Whenever someone comes up to you and says hello you smile so big. Most of the time you are pretty go with the flow. We've been traveling to North Carolina a lot recently and you do really well in the hotel rooms and on the drive down.

You still eat every 3 hours during the day. You are so curious about other foods, it makes me excited to start solids with you. I never can tell if you will nap good or not.  Sometimes you take nice naps in the crib and other days not so much. I will also add you love looking at yourself in the mirror, you laugh and think it's the best thing ever.

These past 6 months with you have been wonderful. It's hard to remember life before you came, because it's so much sweeter now. I love being your mom and I love you so much sweet girl.
Love always,
 Mommy

2 houses and a chair

Since we are moving to North Carolina we put our house on the market to sell about 2 weeks ago.

This has been such a great home for us over the past 3 years and it was really a hard thing to do. We knew this would never be our "forever" house as it only has one full bath, but we never thought we would be selling it so soon.

We had our house professionally photographed and I love how all the pictures turned out.

Our house has been on the market for 2 weeks now, and we've had 10 showings so far. We are just waiting for that offer to come in now, although it really is going to be bittersweet saying goodbye.


Onto house 2, my mom officially sold our childhood home a little over a week ago. This was also hard saying goodbye.

This house has 20 years worth of memories in it. From birthday parties to my bridal and baby shower, so many holidays, both good and bad and everything in between. I remember reading my acceptance letter to JMU at the mailbox,  planting flowers in the backyard with friends, playing on our swing set, countless sleepovers, practicing gymnastics routines in the huge room above the garage, getting ready for my wedding, family dinners and most recently playing with Chloe there. This house will always be where so many wonderful things happened for me as I was growing up.

I love this house, but it was definitely time for my mom to sell it. A 5 bedroom house is way too much for one person. Thankful for the time I got to spend there.


And now the chair. This was Clarke's highchair when he was a baby, I thought it was really cute but wanted to add some color to it.

I was inspired by young house love's yellow high chair, so I went to Lowe's and got some yellow spray paint and started spraying away. I love how it turned out!

It's hard to believe that Chloe will actually be using this soon.


So there you have it: 2 houses and a chair. :)