October 2009

The last few months have gone by so fast! Having two little girls is so much fun but the days are non-stop!! Basketball practice started officially on October 15th so Jonathan's schedule has gotten more hectic recently. We are adjusting to our new home and being back in Columbus. Anna LOVES her preschool and goes two mornings a week. It gives me a little extra time with Emma and time to work on my online classes (also a chance to go jogging with only the single stroller two days a week). Anna is really into playing pretend these days. It's quite entertaining to watch and often she wants her daddy and I to play right along with her pretend friends. Of course we join right in! Emma is such a blessing! She is a very happy and content baby. Thankfully she is ok with just going with the flow. I drag her around with me on all my errands, jogging, chasing Anna around, etc. and she doesn't seem to mind at all. She's a chubby baby and really looks more like a 6 month old than a 4 month old but I love all of those little rolls and could just eat her up--she's a doll. Anna loves her too and thankfully is really sweet to her and not showing much jealously even up to this point. We are so blessed to have a happy, healthy family! Our sweet little pumpkin, Emma (4 months).
Anna dressed as Snow White; not the best picture of Emma but the only one I got with Anna smiling.
Sweet sisters!
Jonathan loving on his baby girls. He is such a sweet daddy and takes every moment he can to love on these two!! This one was not on Halloween but Anna loves to dress up like a princess :) we think she makes a beautiful one!
A rare picture of me with my babies!

Anna's 3rd Birthday

I'm trying to play catch up a little with my blog. Anna's 3rd birthday was on September 20th. She had a princess birthday party this year (that she'd been planning since last year)! We rented an inflatable for her and her friends to jump in. The origninal plan was to have her party at our house but there was rain that weekend so we ended up having it at CSU upstairs in the basketball gym. It really worked out great and since Jonathan ended up having a stomach virus that same day it was ideal not to have everyone at our house. The one glitch was that the blow up we rented was supposed to be princess but the company gave us the wrong one. We were all disappointed at first but it didn't stop Anna and her friends from jumping their little hearts out! I still can't believe how fast three years has flown by with her. She is a beautiful little girl but not so little anymore. I don't know where she gets her height but she looks more like a 4 or 5 year old. She's already outgrowing the new fall/winter tops I bought her. Not b/c she's big around but b/c she's so long in the waist. I guess if she keeps her height she'll make a great basketball player at some point :)

Anna with her cousin Sarah and a couple of friends who came to her party.

Anna (sweaty after jumping) in front of her cake.

Our sweet little angel. This was the morning of her birthday party at her pre-school.

Meet Emma!

Our sweet little Emma Kate Norton was born June 29, 2009. I'm finally getting around to posting a slide show of her. I will have to post new pictures soon since she's already 5 weeks old and of course already changing so much. She has dark hair and blue eyes and we aren't sure who she looks like yet. Anna had dark hair as a baby too so we're thinking there's a good chance she'll be blond like her sister!

Tyler Jacob Miller born June 3, 2009

My brother and his wife Abby welcomed their sweet baby Tyler on June 3rd. Jonathan and I were able to take Anna to the hospital to see him the day he was born. She was very excited about holding him; great practice for her new sister! He is adorable and we are so thrilled about our sweet little nephew!!

Creative Discovery Museum

We took Anna to the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, TN a few weeks ago. We all had a really fun time! Anna's favorite part was the water play area. We went back to it several times while we were there. The pictures show all of the other fun areas we got to play in as well!

Pictures of Jonathan's Press Conference

The proud new coach of the CSU Lady Cougars!
Jonathan and his close friend (now boss/athletic director), Jay Sparks. Coach Sparks started the women's basketball program at Columbus State and was the coach for 20 years. Jonathan worked for him as an assistant for 7 years.

Our sweet little family.

More family--with Jonathan's parents. They are so supportive!

It's official!!

I'm finally able to share officially that Jonathan is now the new head women's basketball coach at Columbus State University. He will finish his contract at Berry College until the end of May and then get started with his new responsibilities. We are very sad to be leaving Rome. We've made some really sweet friends here, love our church and our home, my job, Berry College, Anna's pre-school, etc. However, we have prayed about this for quite some time and know that God is leading us to Columbus. I am so thankful for God's word and the peace he has given me as Jonathan and I have been making this decision. This will be our third move together as a couple and it's always a challenge for me to get readjusted, meet new friends, settle in a church, etc. but each time we've moved the blessings just get better and better so I have no doubt that will be the case again this time. Jonathan and I both graduated from Columbus State with undergraduate and graduate degrees so we are very excited about seeing old faces and reconnecting there again. I'm very proud of Jonathan and all that he has accomplished to get to this point. There are really nice write ups on him on both Berry's website (www.berry.edu) and Columbus's website (www.colstate.edu); both are under athletics and then women's basketball. I will post pictures from his press conference soon. I wish I had a copy of the video of that. He did such a good job of speaking! Anna did great too and sat quietly during the entire speech!! We spent all day today looking at houses. I'm exhausted!! We didn't find much but crossed several areas off of our list so I guess that is progress. Please pray for us as we try to get our house sold here in Rome and find one in Columbus--preferrably quickly since we only have 10 weeks before sweet little Emma gets here (yikes!)!!

Happy Easter 2009!!

What a fun Easter morning! Anna woke up to a trail of easter eggs the Easter bunny left from her crib to her easter basket in the den. She was so excited and really enjoyed looking at all of her goodies this year. We went to church this morning, out to lunch as a family (plus Amy), naptime, and then had egg hunts outside and played this afternoon. It's been a wonderful family day. Of course we haven't forgotten to include Jesus in our Easter tradition. We've tried to make sure Jesus was mentioned just as much, hopefully more, than the easter bunny as we've prepared for today. How thankful we are that we serve a risen Savior--that He lives and we can look forward to eternal life in heaven with Him. We are truly blessed and so grateful for salvation. Thank you Jesus!! The "trail of eggs" started at Anna's crib.
Here she is after picking up the first two eggs!

Checking out her goodies.

I think she was pleased!

Ready for church!

What a cutie!

Me and my girls (can't see the other one yet)!

Daddy's little angel.

Amy tried to get one of all of us.

End of the Year Banquet

Wednesday night we attended the end of the year basketball banquet hosted by Berry's president. The banquet was outside behind Martha Berry's house on the lawn and was catered by the Varsity (french fries, onion rings, hot dogs & burgers). The weather was pretty cool but it was nice to be outside. We toured Martha Berry's house and the grounds which we hadn't done in the 4 years we've been here. It's beautiful especially this time of year with all of the trees and flowers starting to bloom. Anna had a blast playing with the girls and Coach Haarlow's little girl, Molly. The award ceremony was simple but it was nice to get to see the players again after the season. We are going to miss all of them very much! The FOUR of us!
The Lady Vikings

Jeff, Molly & Casey Haarlow.

No more cysts!!!

Emma's brain looked healthy today and the cysts were gone! God is so good and we are very thankful!! She is breech right now but the doctor said there is still time for her to turn. So turn Emma, turn!! I'm 28 weeks so we still have a little while for her to get into position before we have to worry. The 2 week appointments are beginning--can't believe we are getting this close. Thanks for all the prayers up to this point!!

I'm being outsmarted by my 2 1/2 year old!!

I'm laughing tonight at my own failures as a parent but I'm at least doing it while my sweet Anna is asleep. We took the front piece off of her crib last week to convert her bed into a "big girl bed". Ever since it has been a nightmare trying to get her to sleep and stay in her bed. We've tried spankings (she began asking for them last night to get us to stay in her room--don't think that's working too well), reward charts, and finally I thought I had the best idea tonight...making her sleep in a baby bed (the pack and play). I threatened with it last night and she finally calmed down and she went to sleep. Tonight after she got out of bed twice I got up in the attic (with mom's help since Jonny is out of town), took the pack in play in her room and set it up. My thought was that she would be really upset with me and get in her big girl bed for the night. NOT so! She got really excited and gathered her pillow, babies, etc as if we were having a camp out in her room. I continued to set it up and explain that this was not playtime and that she was sleeping in the baby bed tonight b/c she disobeyed...yada, yada, yada...I don't think she soaked any of that up. I told her she didn't earn her sticker tonight for the choo choo train ride and she just said, "that's ok mommy I'll try again tomorrow night". Mom and I laughed hysterically after I came out of her room. She went sound asleep. Not exactly the way I planned but she's sleeping! I think the crib front will be reattached tomorrow. She may just not be ready for becoming a big girl quite yet!

We've picked a name!

We've decided to name our sweet little girl on the way Emma Kate (probably will just call her Emma). We debated between Emma and Ashleigh (my middle name is Leigh) for a long time but decided she'd have a much easier time spelling her name and finding things with her name if it was Emma. Plus I really liked it better!

My OB appt this morning went well. I had the glucose test done but won't know the results for a few days. Hopefully my blood sugar levels are fine. Emma's heartbeat was strong, and my weight, blood pressure and measurements all were fine too. Next month I will have another ultrasound to check the cysts but we've had lots of prayers going up for Emma and I'm confident they will be gone.

God is so good and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be the mother of two precious little girls!

National Tournament Time!!

After an 0-7 start to the season the Berry Lady Vikings will be playing in the National Tournament next week in Jackson, TN. They played in the conference tournament finals on Saturday but lost to Lee University in a tough game. We were so proud of their effort! I'm very excited for the team and especially for Jonathan and Amy (his assistant). They work so hard for such a LONG season and this is quite an accomplishment. Please pray for them as they prepare this week and especially for their saftey as they travel next week (and for Anna and I as we have two more weeks of missing daddy after a busy season). GO BERRY!!

Little Miss Sunshine

Today was absolutely beautiful here! I've been sick this weekend so I stayed home from church so I could rest but this afternoon we all went outside to soak up some sunshine. Of course, even on the cloudiest day this little face lights me up whereever I am; she truly is my little sunshine!

Just being cute!

I was having Anna try on a new dress I got her for spring this evening before bed and she was quite the little model. She said she was a princess and starting dancing all around and then asked her daddy and I to take her picture. Of course I dashed for my camera and was happy to honor her request! She's showing off her pink finger nail polish in the first picture. This is another new thing for her. She begged me to paint her nails on Saturday and has been showing them to everyone; she's so tickled with herself! She's becoming quite the miss priss lately but I love that she likes to be pretty and girly. She is growing up so fast and we are loving every minute of her precious personality!! Look at my pink finger nails!

I feel like a princess!

Family Moments

My mom was here for a visit this weekend so she was able to get a rare family shot of the three (actually 4) of us before church Sunday. Anna is so full of personality and I just love her smiles and facial expressions. She is really interested in my belly lately and asks constantly where my big belly is. I show her and then she sweetly says "it's just a little belly right now mommy". Guess I better enjoy that while it lasts! She is also so sweet about patting my stomach and giving sister hugs and kisses. I'm hoping she loves her sister as much when she actually gets here. She has also been asking to hold her and I've been trying to explain that she'll have to wait a few more months before she can do that. We use a baby doll as a substitute for now!
I finally got Anna to wear her new dress coat to church on Sunday; blue is her favorite color! It's too big but I bought it that way on purpose so she'd have it for next year. She looked like a little princess!

Another GIRL!!!

I had my ultrasound today (I'm 20 weeks). We're very excited to be adding another girl to our family (due on July 4th)! Anna was convinced all along that she was having a sister so no surprise to her! She did go to the appointment with us and when we left the ultrasound lab to wait to see the doctor she asked me where the baby was. Guess she thought we'd be bringing her home today! Wish it was that easy!!

The baby looked good but they did find two choroid plexus cysts. These are fluid filled cysts in the brain that are markers for trisomy 18. Fortunately, the doctor said that most of the time by weeks 28-32 they will disappear with no negative consequences to the baby. They will do another ultrasound in 8 weeks. Please pray with us for a healthy baby girl!

Sunday morning photos

It was such a pretty day here on Sunday! We were a few minutes late to Sunday school (of course that's not really new for us) because we went outside for pictures before church. Anna was very cooperative and I was pleased to get a few updated pictures. I didn't think the ones of she and I turned out well but I included one anyway.

My little sunshine! She's growing up way too fast!!Jonny is having to squint b/c of the sun but I thought this turned out good anyway. Aren't they sweet?!

Big squeeze from mommy! I could do this all day long!!

Princess Anna

Anna got a Snow White dress up outfit from Santa for Christmas. This morning she decided that she would try it on for the FIRST time for her daddy & I. She looked adorable and I think she thought she was quite something herself. She posed very willingly for these pictures and then immediately asked to take it off. She's not really into dress up yet but I can't say that I'm too anxious for it. I know she'll be wanting to get dressed/undressed all day long when the time comes!! We did enjoy seeing her pose as a princess for a short time this morning though. She is such a blessing and more fun each day!!

Christmas 2008

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! Jonathan was able to spend a few days here with Anna & I just hanging out without basketball practice before Christmas. That's always my favorite time! We headed for our parent's houses the Monday before Christmas and Anna & I stayed until the following Sunday evening. We were busy while we were there seeing all of our family but did have a few relaxing days which was nice too. My dad, Marty, my stepsister Leslie & her family & Kevin & Abby came to our house for an early dinner and then to J's game the Tuesday after Christmas. We had J's basketball team over to the house for breakfast on Jan. 2nd and then more company that Saturday for another basketball game! Our life rarely slows down during basketball season but we certainly can't ever say we are bored! Anna & I left this past Thursday to join Jonathan's team in SC for games on Thur & Sat. On Friday we made a stop in Greenwood, SC (where we lived prior to Rome) and got to visit with several of our friends. The trip wore me out and I was glad to have a few minutes to rest on Sunday after church before starting a new semester of teaching this Monday. That about wraps up what we've been up to lately! Here are the pictures from Christmas!!