Quarantine time

Well this is proof of when a good stomach bug meets 30+ hours awake and mothering will do to a beautiful nursery!!! Monday morning I got home after working delivering babies all night to a green husband and a wild daughter ready to play. Bri had the dreaded stomach flu taking our city by storm and I was now on duty for the day. My precious hubby attempted several times to get up and relieve me so I could go to bed....only to stumble back to the toilet with his woobie around him like a little Indian man. So.. after sending chief puking face back to bed the Bit and I survived the day, well most of it in the nursery. Can I just say I have the best kid, she never once cried at the door to leave the room or pull a tantrum to make her boring mommy play with her. She just played quietly and made the obvious mess above while I dozzed and prayed on the floor in and out. Randomly waking to a book and a "ooh whoo" to read to her as she cozied up to me in the covers. God was such an awesome God that day to be my babysitter when I just didn't have the strength to watch her every second. The sweet pea made it from 10 until 4 in this mess until I finally made it back down stairs to make us some food. Brian is better now, the nastiness didn't hit me as hard although at 4 am the next day it said hello to me as well. We are recovering now and my beautiful lime nursery looks back to being spotless again. Really this is the worst that room has ever looked by a longshot. It's my favorite room in the house so it's the only one I actually enjoy being perfectly picked up every night. But proof is in the chaos above that God can totally get a family through some rough sleepless sicky times with a big green smile!

A fun day!!

I love this little man!!! He so just does his own thing and look out cause he's quiet but can get into trouble faster then Sue can talk!
can't you just see Sue saying "no seriously Hamilton, you're in the street we need to move!" Go super mom!!

I think Alexander enjoyed Abigail.... I know he was a huge hit in her little world, her big cousin was just too cool to not hug....a LOT
Yeah....sorry buddy she's a poker, believe it or not she was laughing not screaming here!

My sweet and wild sister Sue shot into town for a quick visit while her husband deliberated a ground breaking case about Franklin County cows. No joke! Poor Dave, he moves to civilized VA Beach and winds up back in Franklin Co arguing in court w/ a man about an out of control cow vs. a fence. I love it!!! Anyway..... we had a fast blast with most of the Ratz fam. We hit some shops and a quick lunch with the wild youngins and Mi-Mi. Such a great time just too stinkin short!!! Love you Ratz's so much and wish you were 5 min away instead of 5 hours!!! Smooches!! Dave we get a squeeze next visit when your not being busy and important!

Could not get enough Hammy love, so stupid cute!!

Run Forest Run!!!!!!!!!

Well thanks to our wonderful Aunti D Abigail is officially exposed to 80's music and is a big fan!!! I finally broke into D's Christmas present of kids singing 80's music...(I know, sounds a little annoying kinda right?!) NO it was sooooo stinkin fun and not at all annoying! I was singing along and movin and groovin right along with her (thank goodness no photographic evidence of that exists!) And as you can see, the Bit started shaking her baby groove thing...and then couldn't stop running laps around the laundry basket until the whole CD played through! So thank you Aunti D, your introduction and passage on of traits to your niece now includes love of sparklies, shoes and 80's hits!! We love you!!!!

Indoor winter carnivale

Well winter sucks but we're making the best of it. We found an indoor carnivale that we had a good laugh at this weekend. The Bit was much too small for everything but we let her run around anyway so long as the older bigger kids didn't step on her. (only a couple times but her tough Daddy took care of that big time fast!) She couldn't ride the rides cause she was too small and they wouldn't allow parents to go with her. And they had those big inflated jumping boxes but the kids were way too old and large for her to get in with them. So she opted to giggle and watch from the screen while pushing on the outside of the tent so she could participate. Soooo pitiful so we imediately headed off for a round milkshakes! To end a great family day we hit Chee burger Chee burger (sorry Bridget) and had milk shakes and fries. After she finished most of Brian's chocolate strawberry shake got into the cheese sauce and ketchup which she ate with a spoon (proof in the photo). Strange but a great day together. Hopefully sunny days and swimming are in the near future. Come on spring time!!!

This is sooooo not from my side....

Look at the size of this sandwich!! Given that she does have the Nonee, Sam, Allison size gargancho mouth... the onions, peppers and tomatoes is all her daddy's. Brian and I had our fill of leftover Bellechino's sandwiches and noticed that the Bit was not happy with our plates vs. her little mac and cheese with weenies meal. As a joke we handed her ours and to our delight and much amuzement she tackled it like a pro. :) Brian was so proud! You'd have thought she won an olympic medal or something.

Working late

Brian had to pull some crazy late hours last week working on new homes teams literature. Preparing for a hopefully booming year in Real Estate, well it will be if our man has anything to do with it! :) Things are getting exciting with the Daleville Towncenter getting underway. Peek at the plans, looks really cool! http://dalevilletowncenter.com/

Abigail was a super supportive help running like a wild woman around his office and banging on his computer. We delievered supper with a smile and Brian worked diligently while I pushed the Bit around his hallways in his office chair. Lots of grins and giggles. Good times, good times!

Well.....I tried....

I guess this is the way my princess prefers to deal with winter, warm from the inside looking out!

Ok, today I confirmed that Abigail is DEFINITELY her Aunt Honey's niece. Today I tried soooooooo hard to have a special day in the beautiful snow with my daughter, lets just say I failed miserably! She would have nothing to do with the pretty white stuff. I got half way through making a snow man, but couldn't complete it because it's impossible to make a snow man while holding a toddler, she wouldn't let me put her down.... then I tried taking a nice walk...nope, not happy.........then I tried bringing toys outside and even a blanket so her baby bootie wouldn't get wet....nope.......I tried blaring elmo music from the car.....nope, tried actually putting her in the warm car while I played at the window....nope. After an hour of effort and some cute photos to capture her misery I gave up. But instead of totally chucking the day up as a complete loss, I pondered..."what would make her Aunt Amy happy instead". So.....we decided to boycott the whole winter thing. I cranked up the heat, put us both in tank tops and shorts, set her noise maker on 'ocean waves' and had ourselves a lovely pedicure together on the floor. She was a new kid and soooo happy! We read books and danced in the warm nursery together. She even attempted to both paint her teddy's toes and read him a book. Once her precious 'peddi' was dry she insisted on putting on some good shiney shoes and playing. What a funny memory of a day and Amy I know you can relate. Every time she'd look up at the snow this morning instead of joy at the beauty she would start crying all over again as it fell in her eyes. Poor kid. I guess it's good we live in Virginia not Maine huh!!?!?!?

Spring time and warm weather can't get here fast enough for this baby. Sorry Bri! I know it brought you strange but adorable joy as you shoveled the walk this morning with that huge smile on your face! :)