Fall has arrived

Who doesn't love fall. The brisk, cool air. College football. Changing of leaves. Halloween. Thanksgiving. I love this time of year. So in honor of Emmie's first Halloween we had to get the house ready. So, this is our ghost. Spooky I know. Actually this site has a link for a really cute tutorial on how to make a ghost. I was lazy, so I made a makeshift one. But, I think he turned out OK and I believe Brent likes him too! I can't wait to post pics of Emmie in her costume!

I also had to cheese out and gather the crew for a family photo. Hard to believe we are doing this now. Emmie behaved OK. She was tired. I think Champ did better than she did. We had a hard time keeping her hands out of her mouth. I don't have to tell you that Brent was telling my how much he hates doing these kind of things under his breath! I remind him 'its all for Emmie!'

It was time to take some more pictures of Emmie. I haven't taken any good ones since 6 she was months old. So these would classify as 9 months. She was so good during these. A true gem to photograph. She is a ham for the camera.

Check out the cute shoes too.

Playing with the pumpkins

How precious is this one?

Like I said... a ham for the camera!

These smiles make us love her more and more each day

Grady-licious!

Andrea and Allison have been 2 of my bestest friends since we were in the first grade and Trish has been one of my bestest friends since we were 3.

Andrea, Trish, Allison and me

Trish lives just down the street. Andrea still lives here in Atlanta, but Allison lives in Wilmington, NC. They are twins (Trish is actually a twin too). So I don't get to see Allison as much as I would like. She had a baby boy in April, which makes him 4 months younger than Emmie. We have been dying to get these too squirts together and tonight we finally did. It was limited time as bed time was approaching, but nontheless Emmie met her future husband... John Grady Luckadoo. Emmie was a bit sleepy coming straight from daycare.

The happy couple

Grady loved her brown and pink shoes. Hmmm.... haha

He also loved Mr. Giraffe

Emmie wasn't ready to share quite yet. Looks like we have something to work on.

Aunt Alli

Aunt Trish got in there for some love too!

Gotta love daycare

So, if you have followed this journey from the begining you would know how I tend to blame everything on daycare, especially when Emmie gets sick. Well, as you know she had an ear infection last week. She got better, or atleast we thought she did. We got a call yesterday that she spiked a fever of 102.5 at "school". WE picked her up early and had a rough night! I took her to the doctor again today and what do you know, the ear infection is worse. So... I had successfully given her 8 full days of one antibiotic and now I have to continue on for 10 more days with a new one. Giving antibiotics... not an easy task. She loves taking Motrin and Tylenol, but HATES and let me repeat HATES taking antibiotics. They claim they taste like bubble gum, but there is no way. Wish us luck!

Sleepover at Mimi and Papa's

Well, Brent was off to Knoxville to celebrate our friend, Jordon's engagement and watch the Dawgs (we all know how that ended... not a good weekend for a Dawg fan) for the weekend. Emmie, Champ and I packed up and headed to Mimi and Papa's. We hit the cousins football games on Saturday. Emmie had a blast watching and cheering for her big cousins. She loved all the music from the announcer. She played with Noelle and cheered for the boys. All the kids headed back to Mimi and Papa's for the night. Emmie can't make it to the marshmallow roast yet, but had so much fun playing with her big cousins (Connor, McCay, and Noelle).

So excited to watch the game

Papa talking to his girls

How cute are these two munchkins

They are posing on the "tackle dummies". Girls can be so creative!

Wrestling with McCay and Noelle

Look at this bunch. This picture reminds me of one of those pictures you look back on in 20 plus years and say "oh my gosh, can you believe..." (Noelle, Emmarie, McCay and Connor).

9 months? Seriously?

Unreal! Life is going so fast. This has been a HUGE week for my little squirt.

We started the week with fever, cough runny nose and ear infection.

This was our sick little girl

Emmie went back to school Wednesday and is making the transition to the her new classroom. She will no longer be a Baby Bird. She is turning into a Busy Bee! She will have new teachers too. She has and will eat table food (apparently she hates red beans and rice- duh!), drink from a sippy cup and take one nap on a cot. Emmie "No Nap" Nichols took almost a 2 hour nap at school today. This is unheard of, atleast when she is at school. So, tonight she was exhausted. Proves to be a tough job being a baby and playing so hard all day long.

9 months...

-6 teeth total. 4 on top and 2 on bottom. We brush them every night before bed and in the morning before school. Her smile is getting even cuter.

This is a favorite picture. I somehow caught her belly laughing!

-Becoming a Busy Bee. She will be the youngest in the class again.

-Not walking... YET! She is getting so good with her balance and stands alone for awhile- probably like 30 seconds. I am just waiting for the first steps...

-She likes diced up peas and carrots. I just discovered she likes cheese. I had been trying to give her yellow cheese and she kept spitting it out. I mean who doesn't like cheese? Well, I gave her a bite of some white cheese and she grabbed a handful of pieces and tried shoving them in her mouth. Apparently, she loves cheese but only the white kind. She likes squash and still loves her favs- apples and pears.

Sweet peas smeared all over her face. I had to capture and a bath definitely followed.

-She loves books! I find her emptying her bookcase constantly. Unfortunately half the time I find her eating her cardboard books. I am going to try her with some fabric books. Hopefully she will like them just as much.

Caught in the act!

-Biting has become an issue. WE are not sure how to deal with this yet. We try to be stern, put her down and tell her no. Her teeth are like razors and it HURTS when she bites you. Her nails grow like weeds. I cut them one day and they grow back the next.

She looks like she is ready to bite something...

-We are gearing up for the holidays. Next up... Halloween. I can't wait for you all to see her in her super cute costume! And don't worry we got our appointment with Santa at Phipps already. December 12th, Emmie meets Santa- I can't wait!

Where does the time go? We are having a blast and fall more in love with her on a daily basis. Champ is finally falling for her too!

Poor Baby

Well, I was freaking out that Emmie may have the flu after she spiked a fever yesterday along with cough, congestion, and a touch of diarrhea (gross, I know...). I took her to the doctor today and it looked like she had ear infections. It is so sad and I feel helpless. All she wants is for me to hold her. Well, we will begin her antibiotics tomorrow. Lets hope she starts feeling better real soon.

A day in the life (weekday atleast...)

Many may know and some may wonder, but life as a full time working mom is a tough job. Full time work as a nurse practitioner. Full time mom and wife. I sometimes, well pretty much all the time, think to myself there is not enough time in the day. For those of you who stay at home- props, it is a hard job raising little ones all day. But, I am here to vent about my craziness.

Typical day: I wake up about 1-2 hours before anyone, so I can have me time, shower and get ready for the day. Sometimes this entails doing some laundry or picking up the house. Then I attempt to make Emmie's bottles and food for that day of school. Next, can't forget about Champ.

By this time, the little one is up, full force. Hopefully Brent is entertaining her. (Of course when he travels this routine is 10 times crazier.) Next feed Emmie breakfast, her bottle waits until school. Next, get her dressed and ready. Oh, and I am sure I have changed atleast 2 diapers in the interim. Again, hopefully Brent is here and helping. Pack Emmie's things, buckle her up and we are off.

Drop off at school, hugs, kisses and instructions for the teachers. (Interlude... For the first time last week, when I dropped her off and was leaving the room while waving good bye, she chased after me. I had to close the door because I just couldn't stand the look or the cry. It was awful. Another terrible day care moment. I can't tell you how sad I was. I left with tears.)

Get to work at 830am. Work, work, work. Ugh!!! 5pm leave the office and pick up the squirt. (I feel like the Flinstones when 5 o'clock hits, I am out of there like a flash. I can't leave that office fast enough. And heaven forbid we have a doctor's meeting or something. That usually means not home until 730pm. This can only happen if Brent is in town. He did a pretty good job the last time this happened.)

Depending on traffic dictates what we do when we get home. It is a great time to go for a walk, but sometimes she is napping and sometimes I simply just want to hang out with her or play. This gets us to dinner, then bath time. Daddy gets home and play for a bit. Before you know it, time for bottle and then bed time. It's tough because this is her fussy time of day too. Another terrible day care aspect. My daughter's new name is Emmarie "No Nap" Nichols. She hates to take naps at school so she is basically begging to go to sleep at night. Typically she is down by 730pm. Finally, some mommy-daddy time.

Don't judge me. I think she was watching E! news. And yes, her pants are too big.

In a nut shell... life is hectic as a full time working mom. I pray that someday I am able to spend more time with my precious little one. I cherish the weekend time. But they just go by too fast. I think working is great for women and moms, but there must be a happy medium. I have not found that yet. A lot of the time I feel very stressed, but all the while happy and blessed. And don't let me bash day care so much. They teach her new things, play all day long, she is becoming self sufficient and can play alone with out any problems. As a matter of fact, they also have music class (Emmie plays the tamborine) and language class (either spanish or french and they do some signing too).

But then again who can complain when you come home to this...

I am blessed with a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, an awesome dog, and 2 sets of family that help us out tremendously. We have great friends- I just hope they don't think we haven fallen off the face of the Earth.

Wow! Longest blog ever, but man... that felt good!

This is just a side note. Emmie decided Champ was going to become her best friend. Actually, I think he likes it!

And, another milestone... She is standing on her own. It lasts about 20 seconds and then she falls. But one more step and she will be on the run. Yikes!