July

Our family shot on the 4th of July!!

 just a few cute pictures of ellie this month

 zach, maddie, caitlyn & ellie watching the roger day show at funfest 2011

We have been home ALL month! I don't know if I can say that about any other month since I moved away in 2006. It has been great even though I miss my parents so much.
Chad was off July 4th weekend. We spent the weekend with friends, brian&taryn, the hall's & Scott (his fam was oot). We also saw some of my old work friends at the mobley's!
7/8 was our 5 year wedding anniversary! Wow, in 5 years!?! I love him so much, maybe even more than on 7/8/06. I feel blessed to call him my husband. I am proud of him & where we are at this point in our lives! We are parents now & he is making it possible for me to stay home with Ellie ~what a huge blessing! To celebrate, we enjoyed dinner with friends friday night. On Saturday, my in laws came to town. They stayed with Ellie for our first over night away! Chad & I had a night alone... nice dinner, drinks & a hotel! It was so nice, but we were ready to get home to our girl Sunday after brunch.
The following week, my sweet nephew came for a visit! Ryan is so cute & cuddly! Michael, Marie & Ryan came for 3 nights! We had such a good time & Ellen came to hang out Friday night! We did a little shopping & cooking! The next week, Ryan went for his 2 month check up... The boy weighs 15 pounds! I hated seeing them leave.
And the weekend after that, ann & maggie came for a visit! Yes... I saw all of my sisters in 1 week! Whoohoo!! Chad was off Saturday, so we had a fun girl afternoon & saw a movie. Chad grilled us dinner & we just enjoyed being together! I a, so glad we will see my whole family Friday & Chad's family Sunday! It makes saying goodbye easier when you have another visit soon! Ellie has changed so much since last month! She is talking so much more, climbing & having a general opinion! She is almost 17 months old! Since her 15 month check up, I bet her vocal has tripled! She is so funny! She is generally a really good girl. She eats well & sleeps through the night (we did have a week after vacation when she was waking up in the middle of the night, but now back to normal!!), and normally down to 1 goooood nap.
We have had a summer full of fun, playdates, friends & sun ... Hope you have too!

(we had the rule of 3 at the beginning of the month :( not such a fun week, but we made it through together!!)

2 fun nights in JUNE!

We had 2 fun nights in June! They happened on the same weekend.

Here are Chad & I at the resident chief's graduation dinner. It is such a nice evening~get all dress up, have a glass or two of wine & dinner with friends. It is also a nice reminder that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Chad has two more years before he is a chief!!

 The girls in black!! Allyson, Marianne, Lauren & I at graduation! We are all mom's & have husbands going through the same residency. It is so nice to have someone who knows exactly what I am going through. These ladies are my very good friends & I am so very blessed to have them!

Ellie had her very first sleep over! Maddie is one of Ellie's besties! They play at least once a week!! Maddie's mommie's water broke Saturday afternoon at home (she was 39 weeks) & dropped her off on the way to the hospital. Marianne & I had discussed this plan just in case she went into labor & her family could not get to JC quick enough ... good thing we did because she delivered with 15 minutes of arriving at the hospital!

Here are Ellie & Maddie in the bath tub after dinner. We ate pizza & Maddie even brought some popcorn!! Both girls slept well in their own beds!

 Maddie is officially a BIG sister, Jonathan Michael arrived tonight!

 The morning after, having some breakfast, watching cartoons

Ellie 15 months

Madelyn 22 months

 Aren't they just so cute! Maddie's dad came to pick her up shortly after this. We got her all cute in her big sis outfit & she went to meet baby Jon Michael for the first time!

We are so blessed to have met such good friends here in Johnson City!

Ellie is 15 months

Wow that happened FAST! My girl is growing up!! We went to the dr before the beach & she is right on or ahead of the game! Dr. Farmer said she is 'medicaly boring' & could not find a thing wrong with her...  So, as i already knew, Miss Ellie is Perfect!!

These were the pictures from our morning in the Drs office! She weighs 24 pounds & is 33 inches ~ she is eating 3 meals a day & most of the time 2 snacks. She sleeps through the night (usually 8-8) & normally/needs 2 naps still (although on vacation 1 long nap) She loves singing & books & bath time. Ellie loves babies & acting like she is bigger than she really is. She is such a sweet girl, but has learned how to say 'no' (it is so cute!!) Just a little ellie bellie update :) ~love her!!

Perdido Key

My family went on vacation the week of Father's Day. We love Perdido Key, FL & had such a great week together! Ellie loved the pool & liked the ocean. We shared a room with Ann. Our good friends, The Travis' came with their daughter Kat & her son Travis. Also, my mom's friend Lisa came!! I was sad Chad wasn't able to get off to come with us :( we celebrated Father's Day before we left!) & as you will see Michael was able to come, too!

Ellie at the pool the first day

 Just one night before dinner, in her cute Polo dress

 Yaya & her babies! Ellie Loves Ryan so much, he got lots of hugs& kisses!

 Ellie got more brave every day~ she is climbing up the ladder! little water bug~

 Travis, Ellie & Ryan in their SO CUTE matching crab outfits

 Me & my girl on the beach

 The family shot (one of MANY!!!)

 Michael, Marie & Ryan

 Just us GIRLS

What a FUN week, had by all!! We are already talking about next year ... trying to go for 10 days in May!!

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer! It is HOT here, but we play outside anyway! Happy July 4th weekend to y'all~

Ryan Patrick

Baby Boy Blanchard was born on Sunday, May 22, 2011 @ 12:29 pm. Weighing in @ 9 pounds 0 ounces & 20.5 inches long!!
Marie was in labor for 24 hours & did absolutley wonderful! She started contracting around lunch time Saturday afternoon. By 2 they were pretty consistantly 10 minutes apart. Ellie & I decided to drive on to Nashville, she was already 3cm & 80% effaced. We arived @ 6 pm & her contractions were every 7-8 minutes. She was still home at this point sitting & talking with us. The contractions were getting closer & stronger but she was hanging in. Her dr told her to stay home until they were 5 min apart or she could not stand the pain or by 10pm... so at 10 pm we headed to Baptist. We got her checked into triage & they were coming every 3-6 minutes, but she had not made any change from the drs office. Long story short, they decided to admit her @ 3 am... long night! She got into her room, got an IV, still no pain meds & was 4cm. We took a little nap, Michael was by her side the whole time! During her nap she got to 6cm & the dr came to break water @ 8am. She was finally ready for her epidural! She quickly went from 7 to 8 to complete by 11 am & started pushing @ 11:40. Ryan was born within 50 minutes!!
 

We are so proud of Marie & Michael! They are all doing great! Ryan is a good baby & nursing well.

The Mullins group of RYAN fans!

Ryan after his bath in the nursery

Me, Ellie, Ryan & Marie on day 1!

I had some fun taking pictures of him @ home!

& Marie wanted me to give him his first sponge bath! What a cute nephew I have!!!



Photo Card

Seersucker Blue Baby Announcements

Find hundreds of cute baby birth announcements at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Santa Rosa Beach

We had a wonderful second half of vacation!!! We spent it with the Moss' on Santa Rosa Beach in Florida. We flew in on Wednesday morning. They rented a beach house & we enjoyed spending time together by the pool! We ate out & relaxed. Ellie was great & loved the water. Chad's sister, Courtney, got married on the beach Saturday evening! Here is our family picture after the wedding~

The wedding was nice. She is a simple girl & that is the kind of wedding she wanted. She looked beautiful!! We got a mani/pedi that morning. Then in the afternoon, I took her to get hair & makeup done! Her new husband, Derreck, wore linen kakhis & a white buton down. All the guests went barefoot! The reception was catered in the back yard, poolside! We had a great day!!

CONGRATULATIONS COURTNEY & DERRECK WORLEY!!