Random day

Well, the day started off with this...

Ike and Julianna put on their bathing suits and jumped in the shower with Lucy to give her a bath. Last night, we let her out for a potty break at 6pm. Our babysitter was here with Julianna and we headed off to our movie. At 830pm I got a text from the babysitter saying that she had not realized that Lucy was outside and she saw her sitting at the front door waiting to be let in. Ike let her out the back door.... at 6pm. She is an INSIDE dog! He forgot to let her back in before we left. IT WAS POURING DOWN RAIN the entire time she was out there (2.5 hrs) and she NEVER gets left out that long. She figured a way out of the back yard though the fence and decided that maybe someone would notice her at the front door. Unfortunately for her, the babysitter was upstairs the whole time playing with Julianna and getting her ready for bed. POOR LUCY. We felt horrible and she was FILTHY. The sweet babysitter asked where her bath stuff was so she could have her all clean when we got home. We just told her to put her in her crate and we would take care of it when we got home. She dried off and was a little less stinky when we got home but she desperately needed a bath. So.... she got a full service shower this morning with Ike and his assistant, Julianna. She, by the way, thought it was hilarious to be in the shower with the dog and in her bathing suit! ha


Then, the day got even crazier when it started to snow in the afternoon.


We got 3-4 inches of snow today. Memphis weather is so confusing. 2 days ago it was 72 degrees and beautiful.



The backyard does look pretty when it snows.


Then, Caffrey decided to help me do laundry. He's not that helpful. He did find a nice warm place to nap though.

Julianna is FAMOUS!

They just posted one of Julianna's portraits on the photographers website. To check it out (there is only 1) go to: http://www.haljaffe.com/ at the bottom go to "Jaffe's Journal." To the right it says "Most Recent Photos." If you scroll down there is a picture of Julianna standing in a light pink dress, hair in pony tail. I wish there was more than just one. We got to pick up her pictures today. I love them!! Precious and worth every penny! (and it was a lot of pennies!) haha

Back to reality!

My sweet little baby is sick again... or still sick depending on how you look at it. She still has an ear infection and is on new antibiotics for that. Now she also has bronchitis and the worst sounding cough. She had to have a breathing treatment at the doctors office today. She was so good.

She did really good. She held the mask up to her face and hopefully it helped. She also got sent home with an inhaler.


What a precious baby girl! She was so hyper after the treatment was over. She was going crazy all over the room. She was singing the ABC's at super fast speed. It was pretty funny.


But she crashed in the car. Her doctor wanted her to have a chest x-ray just to be sure it wasn't something worse. Daddy had to meet us at the hospital because they don't like pregnant women in the x-ray room! Hopefully it's just bronchitis and the antibiotics will help with that.
Prayers for baby girl!!!

OH BOY!!!... (or girl)

Yes, this means what you think it means!!! Julianna is going to be a big sister. And what a GREAT big sister she is going to be!!!! It's been hard to keep a secret but it helps that I live no where close to home. It makes it easier to keep my mouth shut! But now the secret is out. I am 12 weeks and am due the first week in September.


I am going to try to be better about taking pregnancy pictures this time around. Here is the little baby bump that has started to appear. If I didn't pull the dress back you can't even see it, but it makes me excited and makes the pregnancy feel more real when there is physical proof! At this point, I think Julianna's belly sticks out more than mine does! haha


Julianna already talks to my belly and "tickles the baby." I am so proud of her and know she is going to be such a big helper for baby brother or sister. If you ask her it's a sister... we'll have to wait a little longer before we know for sure.
Please keep us in your prayers. Everything has gone well so far and hopefully it will continue to do so. We couldn't be happier!

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

I decided to spice it up this year. Literally...

Ike got a nice assortment from Penzeys Spices. It is a really neat store. Ike loves to cook and I think he was happy with his present.

I wonder who picked out Daddy's birthday balloon?

We love you!!! Happy 30 something. :)

See ya later, Pacifier!!! (I hope)

We decided it was time to give up the pacifier which Julianna calls her bippy. And by "we" I mean, "I." She only used them in bed so it never really bothered me that she had it, but... she has started biting through the rubber part and you are supposed to throw them away after that because of germs, etc. I couldn't bring myself to go to the store to buy new pacifiers for my 2 year old so I decided they were just going to go. I am very hopeful that this "Bippy Fairy" theory will work. She was ok with it tonight. She took her nap and went to bed without her "bip" today so we'll see how it goes. We put the all of her bippies in the box and the "Bippy Fairy" is going to take them away and leave her a present in their place. Fingers crossed!

Dear Bippy Fairy,
I am a BIG GIRL now. You can take my bippies away!
Love,
Julianna

Saying goodbye to the beloved bips!

Kentucky Burbon Trail

We had the best time this weekend. We took a romantic trip (ha) to Kentucky to visit a few of the bourbon distilleries in the Louisville area. We went with our friends Wade, Ellen and Cory and had SO much fun. I think we had just as much fun being goofy in the car as we did with the bourbon. We visited Wild Turkey, Four Roses, and Woodford Reserve. They were all very different and it was really neat to see. Of course, they also offered tastings which was fun for those interested... I'm not much on bourbon.

First stop... Wild Turkey. A lot of the buildings were not opened on Saturdays, but we could look in the windows while the tour guide told us about it. HAHA We didn't have the best tour guide at this distillery.


Next stop, Four Roses. This tour guide was WONDERFUL and it was a really neat facility.



Ike and Wade tasting the "high wine" before it is put in barrels which is about 140 proof. Pretty much smelled like rubbing alcohol.



Wade, Ellen, Cory and Ike tasting Four Roses.



On our way home the next day we stopped by Churchill Downs just for a picture. I wish we could have seen the inside track area but it was still impressive.



When we got home we got the sweetest welcome from Julianna. She was so excited to see us... "HIIIIIIIIIIIII MOMMY!!!!!, HIIIIIIIII DADDY!!" Nana and Papa took us out to dinner for Ike's birthday which is on Thursday. We went to the Melting Pot and had a wonderful time right up until Julianna accidentally touched a hot part of the table and burned her finger. We went to bed with a band aid and were feeling much better. This is obviously a before picture! ha
Thank you for babysitting, Nana and Papa. Thanks for driving all of the way to Kentucky and back, Wade! We had a wonderful weekend.

Valentine's Party

Julianna had a Valentine's Day party at school yesterday. I think she had a great time if her sleep schedule afterwards was any indication. She came home from school and went down for a nap at 2:30 and didn't wake up until 5. We were worried that she might not sleep well through the night after such a nap, but she went down regular time and didn't even make a peep until 7:30 this morning. Hallelujah!!! This is even more of a miracle considering the spread of food she had at lunch.

Oh and I almost forgot, Julianna got a big girl hair cut today. We'd really had been letting it just run wild, but she got a little trim today. Such a big girl! She has a baby bob now instead of a baby mullet!

Doe a Deer or something like that...

Had to post this. I just love how she puts all her heart into it even when she can't remember the words (nu nununu nu nu NUUUUUUUUU!!!!!) haha

She makes me laugh.

Our Weekend and Wonderful Weather!

We started off our Friday at the zoo. The weather was pretty and getting warmer and warmer as the day went on. When we first got there it was a little chilly, but by the time we left the sun was out and it was wonderful!! We went with our friend Joey and his mom.

The polar bears are always a big hit. They love to show off!


Julianna, Joey and some zebras.


Then we drove over to Decatur and visited with the Stutts Family on Saturday. We were celebrating Nana and Papa's birthday's. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We went over to Bridge Street for dinner.


Cousins being silly at dinner.


I love you, Cousin!!! (look at EH's smile!)

This is the life...

Where do I begin??

So, while my parents were here we decided to do a little trip up to St. Louis to do a little touring around. It is only about a 4 hr drive and we thought we could leave Thursday morning and get there around lunch time, stay over night and drive back on Friday morning. The moral of the story before we even get started is... no matter how much gas you have in your car, just fill it up before you leave town! We left town with about a half of a tank no biggie. Drove about 2 hrs and stopped for a Julianna potty break in Tennessee just before we crossed over in to Missouri. We thought about filling up there (I was down to about a 1/4 tank) but figured we would stop again for lunch soon anyway and would just fill up then. Usually, that is no problem. However, maybe you have heard about the ridiculous ice storms that hit Missouri last week. Yeah.... we forgot about that. So we cross over in to Missouri and are amazed by the destruction, power lines snapped in half, trees down for miles and miles. Then it dawned on us... if the power lines are on the ground there probably isn't any electricity. GAS??!!!!! Crap. So, my handy little car said 41 miles until empty, we went to the first gas station. Closed of course. We headed back south about a mile because we saw a police car we thought we should ask him where the closest open station was. "Hmmmm", he said. If you passed an open station on your way up here you might want to head back south. We explained to him where we last noticed an open station and he said... "well, it might be about the same distance north. I guess just keep going, try to get to exit 67. If you break down dial #55 and someone will come to help you out." GREAT!!! Nothing I would enjoy more than running out of gas on a stretch of highway that has no electricity for 40 miles with a toddler in the car! My car now said 0 miles until empty. My heart sank. We prayed, to ourselves and out loud.... 10 miles later we were still going and got to Exit 67 but where the heck was this open station. We drove and drove. Finally we saw some people and some open restaurants but no gas. It has said o miles til empty for at least a half hour. We finally see a gas station with a line wrapped around the corner. YAY!!! We made it... we just had to wait our turn and we knew we could push the car that far if we had to (and by "we" I mean not me or Julianna ;) ). We come to our place in line and sit and look at what the tiny little church sign we were sitting in front of said...

"If you are looking for a sign from God, this is it!" HAHA How hilarious and perfect was that. We should have run out of gas so long ago but look how far we made it. Right here to this little "sign."

Here is what it looked like all around us.

The ice was so thick on everything.

We finally made it to St. Louis and were very happy to be out of the car. We got to our hotel and headed to the Arch.

It really is an amazing thing, and pretty difficult to get a picture of!

Trying to be creative with my camera angles!

We rode the little egg looking elevator all the way to the top to look out of the tiny little windows.

Julianna liked it. I had not been since I was about 9 years old.

It was cold and there was snow on the ground. I look about 250 lbs in this picture... it's just extra layers! ;)

Bundled up and happy to go along for the ride!

Pretty snow, trees, and you can see the bridge in the background. Very pretty.

View of the arch from our hotel.

On Friday we headed to the City Museum. It was kind of a weird place but fun for kids. Pop Pop enjoyed playing with the blocks in Toddler Town.

Julianna being a statue. I asked her what kind of statue, she says "A real statue!" duh!

Pop Pop's girls!

Sweet girl. Having a good time.

This was a huge slide that went from the 3rd floor down to the first. They have another one that is 7 stories long.

Then we went to the Anheuser Busch Brewery Tour. We saw the Clydesdales and they gave out free beer at the end! lol

Julianna slept through the first half of the tour.

Our ride back home went much smoother. Saturday morning Nee Nee and Pop Pop packed up their car and headed back to Maryland. They got home this afternoon safe and sound.

We had a fun trip and were really glad they were able to come. Mom is so lucky to enjoy jury duty for the month of February so they got their trip in just in time. Thank you for coming. We miss you!!!