Cheers to 4 Wonderful Years!!

waking up in her crib for the 1st time
YAY for sleeping 6 hours!

me & ellie @ our anniversary dinner

Dinner @ Carrabba's

4 month check-up

16 pounds & 26 3/4 inches

Chad & I have been married four years!! On July 8, 2006 I married my best friend & have only grown more in love with him! We have done a lot together & made a lot of changes during our marriage! We moved from our little apartmant in Memphis to our first home in Johnson City, where we quickly became pregnant with our first child. Now, we are the parents to Miss Ellie Marie!! She is our sweet little girl, we both just love her so much & could not picture our lives without her! She has brought us much joy already in her short four months of being here! Ellie turned 4 months old on our 4 year anniversary!
We had a nice day. Chad was post call but was able to meet us at the Drs office. Ellie had to get two shots :( When we got home they both had lunch & took a nap!! The non-traditional gifts for the fourth year are fruit & flowers. So, guess what?! Chad brought me flowers & I made chocolate covered fruit (since JC doesn't have Edible Arrangements, I had to make it myself!!) We went out to dinner with Ellie & really had a nice night as a family!
Thank you all for the anniversary good wishes!~

3 month photo shoot

Here are a few pictures from Ellie's photo shoot with our friend Brandi Elam! She did such a great job, so if you need a photographer in the area I have her #!!! She came to our house one evening & we took pictures for almost 3 hours~it was so much fun!! She caught all of Ellie's cute facial expressions & even a few smiles!

Enjoy~

July 4th Weekend

Wetlands
daddies & daughters

babies first fourth

swimming on the 4th

Last week Maggie was here with us! We had such a great week together~Marie stopped in for the night on her way home from Charleston & was going to take Maggie on home, but since we were having so much fun she decided to stay the rest of the week. We had plans to go home for the weekend anyway to spend the holiday with family & friends! So, Friday night we drove in & Chad found out he was off Monday so we got to stay an extra day!

Saturday, our good friends Bubba & Brittney had a 4th of July cookout/house warming party! It was a FUN afternoon with them & other friends. We always have a good time catching up. Their little girl Chloe & our Ellie will be such good friends, too! Courtney & Derreck came in town as well. We had dinner together & spent some time with the Moss family.

Sunday, we had a full day as well! We went to church with Chad's mom. We took some cute pictures in the back yard in our red white & blue!! Happy Independence Day~ About lunch time we headed to my Aunt Charlene's house to swim & spend time with my family! We watched the fire works (from the car) at Richland - Ellie was worn out & slept through them!!

Ellie update; she is great, so strong & wants to sit up! We got out the bumbo & she sits in it everyday. She also likes her play mat & can make the toys play music! This week she will be 4 months old & we go back to the Dr. for her check up & shots. She is such a happy baby - smiles all the time & we have even gotten a few laughs from her!! She does great in the car & is sleeping 5-6 hours most nights~YAY!! Chad is back on days & will be home most nights again. We have lots of things going on this month but just have to decide what we can make it into Nashville for ... it is hard being 4 hours away! My little sisiter, Ellen is moving to Knoxville this week. We hope to see her some this month before volleyball pre-season starts!

Well,my little sweet girl is waking up! She slept in her crib last night for the first time & did great!!

Myrtle Beach

Our family
The whole group

Hanging out on the beach!

heading to the beach for the 1st time!

We had to change our family vacatoin plans this year. We usually go to Perdido Key, Fl in June but this year the oil scared us away. At the last minute, we changed our trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. I had mixed emotions about the switch ... Happy because our driving time was being cut in half, Sad because I was not going to see my friends, Amanda & Emily, who were also vacationing in Fl. But we ended up having a great time, of course & so much enjoyed our week with family!

We left Saturday before Father's Day ... sad to leave Chad on his 1st, but he had to work 24 hours :(. So, we celebrated with a big, nice breakfast & hit the road. Ellie was a trooper the whole ride, even when it took us two extra hours due to road work & traffic. We only had to stop once for her to eat & kept on going! We got to the condo & unloaded before dinner time.

Sunday was our 1st official day on the beach. We all got ready & headed down! Ellie pretty much had a suit for every day (more then I even had), but the giraffe suit from Gymboree is my fav for sure! Unfortunatley, it was not Ellie's favorite at all! On day 1 she spit up on the suit, the second try she peepee'd in it before we even got out the door & on the 3rd try ... she pooped in the darn thing! Well, I guess I should have just stuck with the Target suits & swim shirts (she loves that place as much as her mommy i guess!) haha!

I put her feet in the ocean & the sand! She didn't really react at all, but glad she didn't hate it! We went in the pool a couple days & she was happy to cool off! She was such a good girl the whole trip~I was so proud! She continues to fit right in with all the girls!! YAY

We headed home after dinner Friday night. We were both so happy to see Chad! Ellie woke up & gave him the biggest smile!! She really missed her daddy. Maggie is spending the week with us! She is so sweet & has been very helpful! Tonight is Chad's last night, praise the Lord! On Friday, we are heading to Nashville for the weekend. Ellie is 16 weeks old~holy cow!! I had her 3 month pictures taken before we left for the beach by a friend here in JC - as soon as I get them I will post some more pictures!

Hope you all are having a great summer~

1st night out!

Well, Ellie is 3 months old & we left her for the first time! Date night~

Friday night was the Resident Chiefs graduation dinner. No children allowed ...

So, the decision was to leave Ellie for a few hours or not go. All the wives said last year was really fun & we should go, but I had so much anxiety about leaving my baby girl! My in-laws were coming Friday night anyway to spend the weekend with us ... so after much thought & worry & conversations, I asked my mother in law to come in town early so we could go.

Our feeding schedule could not have worked out more perfect. I fed Ellie @ 5:15 then got dressed & we left @ 6. I cried a little in the car, but once we got there (& I had a glass of wine) I was fine!! She ended up taking a nap, then a bottle of breast milk that I had pumped around 8, so when we got home @ 10:30 she was ready to nurse! Grandma & Grandaddy said she was a good girl~

We both really missed her & text to check on her a couple times! But, all in all, I am glad we went & we had a really nice evening with friends!

It is exciting to think that it will be Chad in 4 years, a chief & graduating~YAY!!

We had a nice, low key weekend. Saturday night we went out to dinner & Sunday Chad was back to work for 24 hours.

This week we are planning & packing for the beach!! I am so excited to see Ellie in the sand & water! I hope her suitcase is big enough for all these clothes ... We also have her 3 month pictures scheduled, a play date with Maddie McDonald & a quick visit with SaSa (Ellen has UTK orientation) Wednesday. And on Tuesday night, we are so excited to find out the sex of the Hall baby - they are having a party to reveal boy or girl with cake! How fun!

Lots of beach pictures to come!

visitors, new & old things!

loving her little ellie bracelet
she found the television

ooooooo!

lovin' time with aunt annie

this is her new thing! sucking the 2 middle fingers

Last Thursday, Ann came to Johnson City for a visit. We had such a good weekend! We made homemade pizza on Thursday night & went to see Sex in the City Friday afternoon. Saturday, Ellie & I rode to Knoxville with Ann - she dropped us off for Travis Coy's Baptism. Then we rode back with Mom, Marie & Maggie. They stayed with us until Sunday night. We exercised, went to the grocery & cooked meals for the week ~ YAY!!!

Chad finished the yard work & had to work 24 hours on Sunday ... the joy of night float! BOO! But, we had a nice time with my family!

Friday was June the 4th, 10 years since Chad & I first started dating! WOW how time has flown! We have been through so much together ... spent our senior year together, had 4 fun years of college, supported each other through the loss of grandparents & great grandparents, celebrated his acceptance into medical school, spent a oh so LONG semester apart before he proposed then had a fun filled 6 months planning our wedding day! Our wedding was wonderful, one of the BEST days of my life, it was just 'PERFECT'! Then I had to quit my most favorite job @ Baptist to move to Memphis, which turned out ok & three years later cried when we had to leave!! It was a fabulous 3 years & I ended up loving my job @ Methodist Germantown. We both met such good friends & had some good times. We were side by side on match day, house hunting & staring over in another new city, Johnson City. Chad starting his residency & me starting another new job in L&D! And believe it or not, the same week he started his intern year, we found out we were pregnant!! Now its June 2010, we have a 3 month old beautiful baby girl!!

So, that pretty much sums up our 10 years together!! Of course, we spent lots of time with family & friends - vacations & holidays! We have kept many friends from the beginning like Bubba&Brittney, Cara, Tisha, Michael ... picked up new friends like Stacey, Celeste, D-Gregg, Stephan&Aimee ... then in Memphis Ken, Chris, Aron, Amanda, Aundrea, Rachel, Emily ... and now these friends here; Mike&Mandy, Ryan&Lauren, Doug&Marianne, Thomas Chow, Robin, & Brandi.

So fun, all these memories! My heart is full of love for my husband, Chad, our daughter, Ellie & all of our family&friends! Thanks for the memories~

Memorial Day Weekend

We had such a nice weekend ~ with just the 3 of us! Chad had the whole weekend off & we were so happy to be able to spend it together!

Chad got home Friday night - we had planned to go out to dinner but it was storming so bad we decided to stay in. Saturday we got some things done around the house & then had a crawfish boil to attend.

Every year the chiefs have a get together on Memorial Day weekend. This year it was a crawfish boil @ Luther Ward's house. It turned out to be a beautiful day! We had a fun time visiting with all the residents & their families! Ellie will have lots of girl freinds in this group - out of all the children, only 1 is a boy (2 more boys on the way!) There is even another little girl named Ellie!

Sunday was a nice, relaxing day! Chad got some yard work done. Ellie & I went to the grocery after our jog. She loves to ride along in her car seat in the stroller. She loves to look around but Hates the sun in her eyes ... going to have to get that girl some sun glasses!! We grilled out hamburgers & went to bed early because Chad was on call Monday.

All in all we had a nice weekend but the best part was just being together - our little family!