English at heart.

I think I'm English at heart. I've always had a love for the great English classics: Austen, Dickens, and even J.K. Rowling. Ok, I know she's not exactly a classic, but you get the idea. I have an inordinate passion for a good cup of Earl Grey, and I also have a vast appreciation for formalities like black tie affairs, good manners, and a traditional hymn.

So, when I checked in with Brent at our home for the last week, the Firehouse Inn Bed and Breakfast, I was delighted to meet our host for the week, Mr. David Robinson, a retired English/Australian butler. Actually, he's pretty much the butler of all butlers, as he's the current Vice President of the International Institute of Modern Butlers. Well, all that aside, he was a "delightful chap" and made me feel right at home. Brent was away much of the day during our visit, and so I spent many afternoons upstairs in the lovely dining room/parlor. The hospitality at this particular B&B was really impeccable. In addition to our small efficiency apartment on the ground floor, we were treated to a delicious breakfast (I really loved the little melon balls every morning!), Italian linens, and our own Keurig coffeemaker. I love those things. I tried every kind of decaf available, and then moved on to all the teas. Anne-Kelly and Mr. Robinson really hit it off as well. He called her "Chatty Cathy" all week long because of her friendly, babbling nature, and she loved his sing-song accent.

Anyway, after staying at the Firehouse Inn, I have realized that I should have been English. I was really born in the wrong country....and perhaps the wrong century. :)

Aside from that epiphany, Anne-Kelly and I had a delightful week. I am going to post some precious photos I took of her in the lovely parlor. Hope you enjoy them.

After getting home on Thursday, we unpacked (well, almost.) and relaxed for a few hours. Then we went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday - we had a buy one get one free entree coupon! Then today Anne-Kelly and I went to a friend down the street's second birthday party. It was train themed and his mom, Jennifer, did an awesome job making a train cake all by herself! I hope I can be that cool when the time comes for my kids' parties. Also, our friend Cameron who is a few months younger than Anne-Kelly but a few pounds heavier (he's a precious little chunk!) was in attendance. :) I took some amazingly adorable photos of Cam and Annie-K!

My Snowy Valentine

This last weekend was so much fun! Not only were we blessed with nearly four gorgeous inches of snow, but it was Valentine's Day and, as I wrote in an earlier blog post, Brent and I had plans to go to the Melting Pot. It's pretty much been my favorite restaurant since I don't know when, but since I've been trying to lose those last few pounds of baby weight, I was worried about splurging too much while at the restaurant. Long story short, we ordered their Big Night Out, which includes appetizer cheese, fabulous salads, an entree of various meats, and my favorite part: chocolate fondue dessert!!! I didn't do the worst ever, but I didn't do the best either. So, when I went to weigh in at WW on Monday, I thought for sure I wouldn't have lost any weight. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I'd lost another pound! Amazing. I was so excited.

Anyway, back to the weekend. My parents came into town on Friday night to visit and watch Anne-Kelly while we went out. Actually, they weren't going to get here til later because of the bad snow, so we ended up calling Brent's grandparents, Tom and Charlotte (Or Papa and Gan-Gan, as Anne-Kelly will refer to them), to come over and watch the little munchkin until my parents arrived. They graciously obliged, and we were thankful. So after my parents arrived, amid huge amounts of snowfall, they got Anne-Kelly into bed. And when we woke up, there was SO MUCH SNOW ON THE GROUND!!! IN SOUTH CAROLINA! THIS ALMOST NEVER HAPPENS! Can you tell I was excited?

Unfortunately, it was bitterly cold, so I couldn't get Anne-Kelly out in it too much. It was a stellar photo opp, though:

The Perfect LBD

Today I went shopping for the perfect little black dress. Tomorrow night, Brent is taking me out to the Melting Pot, our favorite, to celebrate Valentine's Day. Yay! My parents are coming into town, so they will be watching Anne-Kelly. Well, actually, Brent's grandparents Tom and Charlotte DeZurik are watching her until my parents arrive. In any case, we're going out, and I am pumped!

So today Anne-Kelly and I went to Williamston (the small town that Brent works in about 30 minutes away) to eat lunch with Brent. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Fiesta. I'm pretty sure Fiesta was responsible for 3/4 of my pregnancy weight gain, actually, but that's beside the point. Anyway, after we ate with Daddy, Anne-Kelly and I went to Aunt Elizabeth's house to see about Stewie, their cat. Seth and Elizabeth are good friends of ours. Seth is in his second year of residency for pediatrics, but he's hoping to do a fellowship in pediatric emergency room medicine, which is why they're away and I'm taking care of Stewie. They're in Birmingham, AL for a few weeks while he test-drives the fellowship program there.

So after we saw about Stewie-boy, we stopped by the house. I started thinking about what I am going to wear for my Valentine's date tomorrow night, and I realized that I don't have any dresses that fit me! I have fat, post-preggo dresses, but I don't have any of my skinny dresses here. They're at my mom's house from the last time I was home and let Chelsea (my bff) borrow one for a date-night with her man. At this point, I naturally said, "Anne-Kelly, we have to go shopping." She, of course, agreed because, after all, she is my daughter.

And if you're wondering where the money came from, that's also a neat part of the story: I found a refund we got back from Greenville Memorial Hospital that I'd never cashed!! Yeah, free money! So we set off for Greenridge, which is an outdoor upscale sort of shopping mall. It has all sort of different stores and is very outdoor walking friendly, so I love it! My favorite stores there are Anne Taylor LOFT and White House Black Market. We went to WHBM first. I tried on nearly every dress in the place. It was glorious. I hadn't gotten to shop like this in what felt like years, but shopping, I found out, is much like riding a bike. You never forget how to do it well. I found one dress that I was in love with. Too bad it was entirely too expensive. Well, not entirely, but I just hadn't spent that much on myself in quite some time. So I told them to put it on hold for me, and we set off for LOFT, thinking that I would not come back for the perfect LBD.

Once at LOFT, I was SO excited to see that vast quantities of stuff in their store were marked down. However, I was disappointed to find that there weren't any dresses that I was really crazy about. So, I bought a super-cute jacket and an adorable top. Oh, and a wonderful sparkly blue bracelet to match the top. It was on sale!

So we go back to WHBM. I try on the, like, three dresses that I didn't try on earlier. I find one that suits me, but I don't love it like that first one. The ladies in there, including the saleswoman who looks just like Paula Abdul, tell me how much they like the second dress. I am almost convinced, but then I try on love it dress again. Oh....I forgot how wonderful it felt. And then I remembered what the lady at Weight Watchers said this week: "Pamper yourself sometimes. It's not a bad thing. You've lost the weight, and you deserve to feel good about your body." Ok, so that's not what she said verbatim, but that's the jist of it. And the saleswoman told me that if I spend a certain amount, I get 50 dollars off. So I broke down and bought the dress, along with two gorgeous lacy camisoles to wear under almost anything. I couldn't resist. It was at the point that I was checking out that I remembered that my phone had been dead all day. Oops. Hope Brent hadn't tried calling me, I thought. It couldn't be that late. Ask saleswoman what time it is: 5:20. Oh jeez. So I drive home, and right when I pull into our neighborhood, I see Brent pulling out. I roll down my window, and he yells, "WHERE WERE YOU? I THOUGHT SOMEONE HAD KIDNAPPED YOU!" Oh, cell phones. Remind me to write a post about why I hate cell phones and what they've done to our addicted society.

Anyway, after reassuring my worried husband that I had not, in fact, been abducted, I proceeded to tell him that anytime I'm MIA, I'm probably shopping somewhere. It's really the only time I ever "disappear." Haha. Well that's about it for the day. Look for more on how the evening goes tomorrow. And, with that, I leave you with this photo of the perfect LBD.

Mom and Baby Yoga: Day 1

I was so excited when I received an email this Monday announcing that a local yoga studio would begin their mom and baby yoga class this week. I've been looking for an exercise class that Anne-Kelly and I can attend together since last fall, and I was even more delighted that it was yoga, mostly because yoga is so calming and centering for me. It's like a workout and a spa session in one. I did some yoga in college, but it had been quite some time since I'd attended a class. Also, I wondered how Anne-Kelly would do or if she would be disruptive to the meditative environment I'd come to expect in yoga studios. However, upon arrival, I was glad to see three other moms and babies already there, and the instructor, Jessica (a moam of two and one more on the way, by the way) was there to greet me as well. She very nicely informed us that even though this was a yoga class, our babies were our first priority and that we were to see to their needs first, even if that means stopping our workout to nurse, comfort, play, change, etc. I thought that was very nice of her to put out there first thing. It definitely calmed my worries about disruptions.

So class began. We began stretching and going through the usual poses, including downward dog...the only one I could actually remember the name of. We put the babies on pallets of blankets in front of each of our mats, that way they could watch mommy. Anne-Kelly found it very amusing watching me contort myself into various positions. Her favorite was anytime I was in a hands-and-knees pose because my nose was practically touching hers. She would giggle and interrupt the semi-silence of the room (I say semi- because other babies interrupted periodically as well.). Anyway, the whole thing went really well, and now, a day later, I am very sore. More sore than I can actually remember being in a very long time. Which, I think, is a good thing!

On a separate note, I weighed in this Monday and had lost another pound! Woo hoo! And with that pound brought a new triumph: getting back into some pre-baby jeans. They don't fit as nicely as they did before, but I have a feeling they will after five to ten more pounds come off. Thank you Weight Watchers, yoga, and breastfeeding.

That's all I have for now, as it is now bedtime and six o'clock will come quite early. Wishing you blessings for a good night and a good day tomorrow :)

Party time!

Today we had the pleasure of going to our friend Matthew Bessom's birthday party. Matthew and his wife Bethany are close friends from our Sunday school class at church, and they very graciously brought us dinner after Anne-Kelly's birth. At that time, Bethany said Matthew wasn't much of a "baby person." That is, until he held Anne-Kelly. That day, he held her and talked to her for quite some time, and I started joking that it would be their turn to be mommy and daddy before long. And to our delight, we just found out that they are indeed expecting this August! So, you can imagine how excited we were to celebrate this new dad-to-be's big 3-0. Bethany orchestrated a big surprise with all Matthew's friends around, and the party was held at our other friends' home, Ryan and Erin Gambrell. Their home is bee-yoo-tiful by the way!

So, to our excitement, Matthew had no idea that we were all gathered in his honor. He was all smiles, though, when we jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!" Even Anne-Kelly attended and bought him a gift: a bib for the baby that says, "If you think I'm cute, you should see my dad!" Below are photos from the fun night:


They gave me the piece of cake with the UT "T" on it! Ick!

Also, here are some cute photos of Anne-Kelly that I took earlier today.

Jumping, sunshine, and green bean tricks.

Yay! The sun was out today! For the first time in several days, it hasn't been dreary, cold, wet, etc. I was so thankful. Yesterday, I dropped by Whole Foods to pick up a few things, and I bought a lovely bunch of flowers just because I needed a shot of spring! Those of you that know me well know that I am really not a fan of hot weather. I would actually much prefer cold temperatures to warm ones, but I get in a serious funk without sunshine. Most likely due to the fact that I was raised on a big ol' farm, I have to have a good dose of yummy, sunny fresh air in my lungs to keep my body functioning properly. And I got it today :) Thanks, Lord.

Also new on the agenda today was the discovery of a baby jumper that our neighbor gave to us. I initially thought jumpers were a bad idea (in case you don't know what they are, they're those things that hang from a doorway that a kid sits in and bounces around), but Brent, my wonderful engineering husband, did numerous safety tests on the thing and then reassured me that it was safe and sound. I still don't like the idea of putting her in it without watching her closely, but since she's been so fussy in her Exersaucer (see earlier post) I thought I would give it a try.

Well, hallelujah! When we put her in it, she went crazy. You would have thought we'd let the kid drink a mountain dew or something. She started spinning and bouncing and just going reasonably insane. It was all pretty wonderful and cute to watch. I'm hoping to post the video once I have a chance to upload what's on our camera.

On a separate note, I decided to give Anne-Kelly green beans for the second time ever tonight. I haven't really mentioned it here yet, but Anne-Kelly is not a fan of the green veggies. She hates peas so much that she projectile vomits them out if I try and feed them to her. I'd say it more nicely, but there's really no other accurate description, ha. Green beans, however, are just sort of a "I really don't like these so I think I'll grimace until you give me pears" abhorrence. Therefore, being the genius supermom that I am, I decided to give her some pears and cereal with a side of green beans tonight. And here's how it went: two bites of pears, one bite of green beans, two bites of pears, one bite of green beans, two bites of pears, one bite of green beans. And it continued. Believe it or not, it worked! I thought she'd be too smart for me and see through my sly tricks, but she didn't. So now I'm giving myself a pat on the back. That's today's big accomplishment for me. Is that sad? I don't think so.

Anyway, the blog stops here because I have to head for bed. It's nearly ten-thirty, and I'm trying to get up with Brent every morning at 5:45 to start the day now. It's hard, but I get so much more accomplished when I get up early. It also allows Brent and me to spend some time together in the Word before he leaves for work at 6:30. And we find that time invaluable. I can't imagine a better way to start my day.