Forever and Ever, Amen

Little debbie zebra cakes, take-out sushi, and cheesey Randy Travis was how we celebrated this anniversary. Not exactly as planned... but still memorable.

Van accompanied me to NCSU to hear some fellow graduate students present their thesis projects. Although I was extremely jealous they are finished with this milestone... It was a pleasant way to spend the morning until Van decided to test his vocal chords. My professors enjoyed meeting this guy who distracted most of their classes last year as he grew and grew in my belly.

Our yard is in bloom and so is Van's crawling instinct! He is scooting around backwards on the hardwood floors...I've heard this is normal but yet to confirm...

I am looking forward to Mother's Day weekend = starbucks, pedis., and brunch with Rhombus and some QT with my boys.

Have a great morning!

A sister is the best medicine!

I know we are lucky to have each other. But I don't think either one of us realized how much we had missed our silly inside jokes and bad taste in music and dance moves.

Before I get to the main course of the weekend, I need to tell an airport delay story {with a good ending}.

After our California trip, I was so pumped that this was going to be 2 quick flights of less than one hour, and then I'd be with my sister! So easy. But as soon as I landed in Baltimore, we got news of a flight delay from 8:55 p.m. until TWO O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING! Luckily I was out of there by midnight. But the point of my story is, had our flight not been delayed, I would not have met Vincent. {Sarah Turnbull--at this point, I can hear you saying "Em, you are so random..."}

The flight attendant announced over the loud speaker that 37 WWII vets were about to de-board from the plane that just arrived at our gate. She asked us to stand up and clap for them. It was such a special moment!

Vincent is a WWII veteran who was flying from his hometown to D.C. (courtesy of Southwest Airlines) for free, along with 36 other WWII veterans, so he could go visit the WWII memorial for the first time.

I made eye contact with Vincent, smiled at him, and he came over to me and said "You have the most beautiful smile! It is very special to have a good smile." Then he handed me 2 bags of potato chips and introduced himself.  He explained how happy he was to have this opportunity to see the memorial and told me to enjoy the chips.

Sorry for the long intro, but southwest definitely made up for their inconvenience with the effort to honor WWII vets who fought so hard for our country.

Now for the main course.  

Get excited!

CUE CONFETTI FROM THE LEFT!

I stole your line, Snags!

Here is my Fray monster: 

Who slept so soundly, unaware her mom and auntie em were up to crazy shenanigans such as:

Words just cannot explain, and even if they could, I think I must hold onto these memories for myself and not for the blog world. :) I'll end with some vermontography:

{BETSY AT THE BOTTOM}

{Captain Nemo!}

{Sweet-n-salty Jack}

{My cozy bedmate kitteh, Beamer}

I think I have only missed Pippa, Greta, Whispy, Moses, and fish. Most other animals are pictured in the backgrounds above.

{I must humbly confess, our wild 4-wheelin trip has been documented via video. If I can find time to uplaod, and swallow any pride I have ever possessed,  I will eventually post on the blog.}

I had such a fabulous trip, and am so excited to return this summer with my two guys and sweet soph. I am still going through Snags-withdrawal this morning but Soph just rolled in poo, and Van is needing more food, new diapers, and back into mommy-hood reality I go! {But this week I get to see my fellow grad school students present their thesis projects and celebrate Evans & my 3rd year wedding anniversary!!}

Here's to a happy happy week!!

Love and miss my Vermonters!!!!!

VERMONT VISIT!

Bet you wish you were coming here with me this weekend:

To visit these sweet gals {and dogs}:

{Photo credits--Bo}

I will miss these turtles:

{Apparently they are sad I'm leaving}

But excited to spend all weekend with daddy!

Peace out!

NICU Nurses

told us this day would come. The day we couldn't possibly imagine filling up our little boy. He is a BOTTOMLESS PIT!! AND ALWAYS HUNGRY!!! So hard to believe behind teary eyes and lots of prayer, we watched Van struggle to eat 1/2 an ounce of breastmilk in the NICU.

Thank the Lord, now he squeals like a teradactyl if you don't get the spoon in his mouth quickly enough. I just have to remind myself constantly that its a good thing to have a super hungry baby because it means his plump little body is getting plumpier. Love to little hungry Van. {Snags, when you saw this title, I bet you thought this post was about something else...grrr}

 Van likes his new-found independence in his silly sounds tigger jump-around.

Today is a big day. I am attempting a DH Hill visit with Van and then if he's good, we are heading down to the grand opening of the downtown Raleigh farmer's market. Wish us luck!

Hold your own

Like Van and his spoon! After a busy, fun beach weekend we are now in visit--Vermont mode full blast. So excited about seeing my  northern fam this weekend!!

Here is a sneak peak at my giggle box:

FRAY TURNS 1

My sweet little niece is 1 year old today. I cannot wait to go visit her next weekend and squeeze her little dumpling cheeks to pieces. (I have a problem spelling "niece" and "piece" correctly...typically I would spellcheck but since they both occurred in the same sentence, to heck with it...and yes I am in English Grad School).

I will never forget walking down the hall at Rex Hospital and hearing my sweet sweet little Fray crying when she was first born!! It was the best sound and made me cry.

Look how beautiful she and her mommy are!

She is the most beautiful little lady ever. {But there is something a little saucey behind those beautiful blue eyes! This gal is gonna be something else}

Van's 6 mo check up went well. He is up-to-speed developmentally and behaviorally. He is 17 lbs! Which puts him right in the middle of the growth charts. Hard to believe he started here at 5.5 lbs:

We are so proud of this little fella. What a growing machine. 

Today we are getting ready for our beach trip this weekend, hence the crabs, and super excited about showering my baby mama Bex and showering the engagement of Routhie and Matt! What a fun weekend :)

Foot. In. Mouth.

Van has a new thing. He lays on his back and puts everything in sight in his mouth. Including toes. Yesterday evening Evans was eating a banana while holding Van {and we KNOW Van loves banana baby food} lo and behold if Van does not yank a huge handful of Evans's banana and cram it into his mouth. Luckily we were able to pull most of it out, but it happened so casually it almost seemed normal. Sneaky Van. He has a 6-mo Dr. visit this a.m.!