Night Bath

Ok, I finally get it. I never understood why everyone with kids had the same nigh schedule.... dinner, then baths, then bed. But tonight, I finally understood. Normally, we are morning bath takers. With all of that curly hair, we needed a good wash in order to control the crazy. I thought it was a great start to the day.

That was before Charlotte Anne could move hear arms, army twirl around the room and destroy a diaper. How can something that gross and vile come from someone so cute and sweet??? I miss the days of "asking" if she had a stinky. Now, it is asking if she had 2 or 3. Usually you don't even have to ask because you can smell it everywhere. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

So, thanks for all of the warnings that I ignored... I get it now. My cute little kid is going to get completely dirty and disgusting every day and it is my job to scrub it off each night. Today it was apple sauce and carrots in the hair, crusty something on her feet and dog slobber all over her hands. So, here's to night time sanitizing!

Go Rebels!

After 10 years, I finally went back to VHHS - Go Rebels!! I have no idea why I waited so long to go back... I think I never really had a reason. But, with my niece in the 11th grade, I was determined to get to a pep rally to watch her dance. When I pulled into the parking lot, I realized that almost nothing looked and felt the same. I got confused in the parking lot and then almost ran into a student. Thank goodness I found my sister in the lot because the "new" gym where the pep rallies didn't exist 10 years ago. I mean... the newest "old" gym was build when I was a junior. So, my new gym is now the old gym. Anyway, you get the point. I was getting a little bit overwhelmed by all of the changes, then about 1 minute into the pep rally, I realized that the important things hadn't changed a bit. The teachers still had the same speeches, each class was still dressed in this week's theme (though Harry Potter Homewood and P90X the Patriots were new!), and the small town fell was still there!

Charlotte Anne seemed to love every second of it. She did have a diaper explosion 5 minutes into the visit... Nothing like changing a very stinky and messy diaper on the floor of a high school bathroom. Thank goodness I packed a cute spare outfit - something I almost never do! Charlotte Anne even got her picture with the Rebel man! So cute! Maybe now is a bad time to say that all of the houses we are currently looking at are in Mountain Brook!

Cousins Woodson, Mac and Charlotte Anne with the Rebel Man

P90X the Patriots - Juniors Theme

My beautiful niece, Hannah!! What a fun excuse to go to a pep rally!! Charlotte Anne was in love with the pom pom! Luke's in store for a a lot of dance recitals or cheer leading contests!

Aunt Ashley with CA. How does my sister have an 11th grader?

Bham Perks

Best perk to living in Bham - grandparents who babysit. Today and tomorrow, Charlotte Anne's 2 grandmothers are keeping her. They are perfect baby keepers, especially when it is their own granddaughter.

We picked Charlotte Anne up from Mimi today and she was...

1. smiling

2. wearing new baby slippers and matching owl hat

3. had new bows in her bag

4. saying mama. YES!!!

Her 1st words!! Not sure if it 100% counts if she doesn't associate me with those words. And, I am going to believe my mom when she says that she worked on "mama" and it wasn't a "mimi" gone wrong. :) Anyway we look at it, she will not stop saying mama and it makes me feel great. Luke likes to distract when she gets in a groove - someone a bit jealous??!! I think yes!! :)

In just a few short days we have already realized what a huge blessing it is to have family around!! Thanks Mimi and Dan-Momma!!!

All of these new bows!!! Yea for a baby with lots of hair that can wear all of the cute bows!

Running in Bham is tough. After 6 years in Memphis, I have totally written hill out of my vocabulary and you can't escape them here. Good thing Charlotte Anne loves the Bob!

1st day with Mimi, wearing my new halloween slippers and hat. Where does she find this stuff??

Punch List

I think I mentioned before, but we had 2 offers in the same day on our house in Memphis... 1 good offer and 1 great offer. In fact, the great offer didn't even ask for the stuff we had planned on leaving in the house... a few TVs, a gun safe, and a few other things. Most people would have probably taken the stuff with them since it wasn't in the contract. However, it was a little more complicated than that... The 2 year old gun safe was literally built into the room. Meaning, we put the safe in and then build the room around it. So, the new home owners had no choice... they had to take it. Then it came to the TVs. Honestly, we thought for about 10 seconds about taking them. Then, we realized that we would have to patch each wall where they were hanging.... we aren't sure if it was laziness or the fact that we had a lot to do

in a little time, but we decided to leave the TVs. What a blessing in disguise because we were finishing the items on the punch list until the very last minute. Luke finished painting this wall at 11am... 1 hour before we gave the new owners the keys. What if we had tried to take the TVs??!!?? We would still be painting the walls!!

We thought this would be the easiest item on the inspection punch list. It simply said, fix nail holes and patch paint. Simple, right?? Not if you have no idea what color you painted the walls. We had 4 can of paint in the garage - all beige, all wrong. Poor Luke had to paint the wall 3 times in 12 hours. I guess there are some very small perks to traveling so much!! :)

Our wall looks like it has a disease. Way off.

Color # 2 - Not even close!

Finally, the right color with 1 hour to spare! Whew! Go Luke!

Prunes

We thought there was no way she would do it. I think I cringed as we fed them. This child likes anything. Luke calls this picture her first fu-manchu!

Last Night

Whatever sad feelings we might have had in leaving our home for the past 5 1/2 years is completely gone. I don't think we could be more ready to end this chapter (just the house chapter) and start something new. I think I am use to living out of a suitcase, but poor Luke, Charlotte Anne and the doggies... looks what they have been reduced to....

No Couch. No Chairs. Dogs for a Pillow. Nothing will stop him from watching football.

Colombia

Jeeessss.... I'm in Colombia! Or, for my non-Modern Family friends... Yes, I'm in Colombia!!

Though work travel is so much harder when I have to leave Luke, Charlotte Anne and the doggies... I can't complain about being in Colombia. This place is just so beautiful and the people are incredible. I had to tell a customer today that they didn't get a discount and that he were going to have to live with the defect in my product and they just said, "well, ok". Jeeeesssss!

I flew into Bogota, but this is more like base camp because every day I am flying to a new city. Today, I had a flight to Medellin, Colombia, for a few meetings and now I am back in Bogota. Tomorrow, I have to get up at 5:15 am to catch a flight to Cali.

I am officially staying at the wierdest hotel I've ever been to - called Celebrities Suites. Each room is dedicated to a celebrity. Not just a mild theme either. I am in the Penelope Cruz suite and I can't walk 3 feet without seeing another huge picture of her. It is kinda creepy. Check out the picture with an gigantic Penelope over my bed. The other strange thing is my hotel room is probably 1000 sq feet - aka, huge. Who normally stays in this kind of place??!!?? I have one more intensive day of working, then one long day of traveling to get back to the states. This is my first time to fly into Bham as my new home! I can't believe it!

Luke has been such a handy man - he finished the inspector's punch list. This included hanging and painting a new front door, fixing the electrical system in the house and a bunch of other things. Praise the Lord for a handy and willing partner!!

7 months!

Seriously, I have to do this every month??!!??

Somebody better get me a bigger bear!

Next month I'm out of here.

Sweet Home Alabama

It's Official. There is no turning back. We are moving to Birmingham.

After 10 amazing years... 4 at Auburn, 1 in Mexico and 5 in Memphis... we are returning to our roots. It is definitely bitter sweet. We love our Memphis friends who have been our extended family for the past 5 years. The thought of leaving these people almost kept us from moving at all. However, the Lord has been preparing us for this next step for a while and we know that He has a new direction for our life and the first step is moving to the Ham.

A few highlights of the past few months.... We had a feeling that our season in Memphis was coming to an end, so we started exploring opportunities to move. Then, out of nowhere, everything starting picking up speed. In 5 weeks... L got an amazing new job - both challenging and full of opportunities, L quit his old job, I thought I was quitting my job, I got rehired and allowed to work from Bham in the same role, we put our house on the market and it sold in 5 days, we got a rental in Bham because we couldn't pull the trigger on a new house that fast, and we moved everything we own 3 1/2 hours away. Whew. It has been a huge mix of emotions. L is super excited about this new stage of life and he can't wait to fix up another house. If anyone remembers the "fixer upper" (not even sure it fits in that category) we bought in Memphis... you know what we are about to get ourselves into... help! I think we learned our lesson and will not bite off so much this time. You can't camp out on the floor for 6 months with a 7 month old! :)

So, this is our last week in Memphis. We close Wednesday and move Friday. I am definitely still in disbelief - probably still in denial that this is really happening. I love my life in Memphis, but in time, I know I will learn to love Birmingham.

I am looking around at the 4 boxes left to pack, a mattress on the floor, and (no surprise) the huge TV that we couldn't pack until the last minute because we would both freak out if our shows weren't recorded... It is time. It is amazing how the Lord prepares you for moments like this. I cried for the first week - thanks Alicia for letting me be a little nutty - because I just didn't want to go. I think I was scared for lost opportunities and lost friendships. Then, I realized that this was a huge opportunity and that our wonderful, inspiring, fun Memphis friends would be friends for life. Btw, I need somewhere to stay a few days a month, so you have to still pretend to like us.

We need your prayers - sanity over the next 3-4 weeks as we settle in, an easy transition for our sweet little girl and 3 dogs, peace of mind over this huge life change, and joy as we discover a new life in a familiar city.

Birmingham, you are about to be Newellized...

War Eagle, anyway!

Well.... WAR EAGLE anyway! That was a tough lost after 17ish wins in a row. And to Clemson of all places. I kinda thought that was the 2nd Auburn. Our defense looked horrid - simply terrible. "As an Auburn fan that was simply pathetic" ~ Luke. Ok, so he can be a bit dramatic, but it was pretty hard to watch.

Charlotte Anne isn't going to let any loses keep her down. She has been surviving football season, even with her daddy screaming at the TV when she is trying to nap! We love Auburn and can't wait to get to some games!!

Peru & Chile

I am on the road again. In fact, I have only spent 4 of the past 22 days at home. Whew! I know better than to complain because I have a truly awesome job... full of challenges, amazing people and excitement. BUT... the travel is exhausting. I just left Lima, Peru, after an 8.5 hour meeting and arrived in Santiago, Chile. I was trying to work on the plane, but I couldn't even keep my eyes open. I woke up to the incredible Andes mountains outside the window of the plane. Wow, God is soooo good. He has created a masterpiece beyond my imagination and dreams. I was feeling all sorry for myself and then I looked out the window and saw this amazing few. I realized that I was only gone for 4 days... not the end of the world.

I am grateful for a job I love. I am more grateful for a husband that supports and encourages my work. He is dad, worker and houseman while I am gone and he does a fantastic job. I have the biggest meeting of my life tomorrow and I can't wait. Then, I will be hugging my sweet Charlotte Anne and L in just 24 hours! Yippee!!!

I have the picture below as my desktop background on my work laptop. It is the best icebreaker and a perfect reminder of my sweet little girl at home!!

Dedication

What a beautiful and glorious day to dedicate our sweet little girl to the Lord. Charlotte Anne, mommy and daddy promise to do our best to live as an example of Christ's love and to raise you to know Him. We love you and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for your life!!!

avocados, green beans and bananas!

We didn't even know that you could feed a baby avocados, but Charlotte Anne loves them. We tried them cold and warm and she loves them both the same. I hate that her entire face turns green... but I guess I can get over it! :) Green beans were ok... I had a hard time getting the consistency right. They were a little lumpy with a few stems mixed in here and there. She was a trooper and ate them anyway. And bananas... yes, she loved them. Actually, I loved them too. This is the first thing I have tried of hers that was in any way good. She hasn't rejected the veggies now that we introduced fruit, but we are still a little scare to add any more fruit to her diet!