So much time has passed!

Wow! It has been a long time since I have posted anything on my blog. A lot has happened in our adventurous life. I will take the time later to update this. It has been a very trying and difficult year for us. I lost my dad May 6th 2009 and then we moved out to New Mexico where I felt so far away and sad. The one thing I have learned is that God is with you no matter how far away you may be from home and everyone you love. We found an amazing church where God reminded us to fully put our trust and focus in Him. And even though I felt so far away from family and friends, I found myself spending more time with the Lord and growing in my relationship with Him.
Finally, we have made it to our assigned base Moody Air Force Base(after 3 years of training)! We are currently looking for a house to buy so I will have to post later about our past year!
Love y'all.

~Syd

I'm 4 months old!

Emery turned 4 months old Dec. 4th! Her personality is definitely comin out!

She drools alot more now so maybe she will get some teeth soon.

She likes to talk to herself when you put her in front of the mirror.

She can recognize mine and eddie's faces amongst other people.

She laughs when I tickle her ribs, chest, or neck.

She likes to watch tv.

She likes to swing her arms around and then hit herself in the tummy.

She has also discovered her feet so she grabs for them alot.

...love the baby leggins in this picture

It is startin to get chilly here so we really don't go on any walks with Bella. I finally made myself decorate for Christmas even though we will not be here for Christmas! Christmas time just makes ya feel all good inside. It makes me wanna drink some hot apple cider and watch Christmas movies. I like Elf, The Santa Claus, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Christmas Story, The Holiday, and the famous Christmas Vacation. I love to hear Eddie laugh like a hyena when we watch that. Eddie bought the Charlie Brown Christmas movie for Emery.

I try to motivate myself to exercise but it is hard to make myself. I wish I could go to the gym here. Maybe I can strap Em into the baby backpack carrier that I have and go to the gym...just kiddin. This is what I do to work my abs...

Emery was scootin around on the floor and I was filming her and she said, "Mama"!

Thanksgiving

Emery's first Thanksgiving was in Austin, TX with our friends, Ryan and Alia Jensen, at their parents house. It was the first Thanksgiving away from our family, but we enjoyed our stay with our friends and their family. We had lots of good food! Eddie smoked a turkey this year. We love smoked turkey! This year it didn't turn out too good cause we cooked it too long and it was dried out. I cooked sweet potato casserole, crunchy squash casserole, and lima beans. We had lots of food left over. We were also introduced to Guitar Hero. Eddie loved it and it took me awhile to get the hang of it but I liked it too.

Alia found something new that Emery likes...She would dip Emery's pacifier in some ice cold water and give it to her and Em would gobble it up!

We went shopping at a big mall and Cabela's but didn't find anything worth buying. At Cabela's, there was an aquarium and we took Em in to see the fishys and she liked them. Her eyes would follow them as they swam. We also went to downtown Austin to walk the main strip. Alia's family babysat Emery while we were gone... (I missed her). It kinda reminded me of memphis with all the pubs and music playing in the streets. Then we walked a few blocks to visit the capitol building. It was a short trip but we had fun seeing are friends!

Thank you God for our family. Thank you for Emery! Thank you for our friends. Thank you God for loving us so much and for blessing us. Thank you for our wonderful life!

The End..........I'm Stuffed!!!

"Party in my crib, 2:00am!"

So Emery is 3 months old now and is gettin heavier! She rolled over for the first time Nov. 4th! Now that's all she does when you put her down...she's a holy roller! I have been reading a book called "The no-cry sleep solution" by Elizabeth Pantley because I have decided that ignoring her while she is screaming is not the right way to get her to sleep, plus I feel like she thinks I have abandoned her and I don't like her to cry. When I try to just let her cry-it-out it just makes things worse and she is wide awake and upset. Now I don't run to the crib at every noise I hear and sometimes I let her whine for a little bit, but loud crying...NO, not for me. The book just informed me of how babies need to be taught to fall asleep on their own in a peaceful way by starting a bedtime routine and getting them use to the comfort of their own bed in a good way. Emery normally goes to bed after fighting sleep around 2:30am and then wakes up once to eat and then we are up around 11:00am. And she sleeps with us, which is fine for now but we don't get good sleep when she is in the bed with us. I am constantly worried if she might get squished or roll off the bed or something. I get so frustrated when she won't go to sleep and wants to fuss and kick the covers off of her! But then of course she looks at you and grins! Little stinker. So after trying some easy and caring techniques and patience, she is doing pretty good. We start off with our bedtime routine: She gets a bath, a massage with lotion, I play with her, she gets her tummy full, and then I rock her to sleep and then put her in her own bed in her room. She wakes up about 20 minutes after I put her down and then I just rock her to sleep again and put her back to bed. We have a baby monitor in our room with a screen so I can see her and hear her when she wakes up. The book also says that it is good to play with them in their crib during the daytime to get them use to it and like it instead of it being a scary place. Also, it's good to put them down for bed as soon as they show signs of sleepiness then let them drift off to sleep themselves. So far Emery has gone to bed at 9:30pm in her own bed for 4 nights straight! We are so proud of her. No crying! She does wake us up once to eat around 4:30am and then goes back to sleep. I know it's only been 4 nights but I thought she would never even sleep in her own room and to be honest I kinda miss her little body snuggled up to me and her feet and toes wiggling on my belly. Last night I just couldn't stand it, I was watching her sleep on the screen and I just had to go get her and put her in bed with us!

Now that I am not working I have alot of time at home to spend with Em which can get boring sometimes so I have been into reading books, which I never thought I would have an interest in. I also have lots of time to research things on the internet which is not always a good thing...somethings I come across I wish I never knew, although I have been reading about "going green" and I never really thought about recycling and stuff like that, but I think it is good to help the environment and not be wasteful. But I don't want to go too crazy with it and start living all natural and growing my armpit hair out! Just kidding! It all started with me researching products that would not irritate Emery's skin cause she has break outs with the regular good smelling baby products. Then I came across a website that talked about all the toxic chemicals that are in our everyday products. Now I do think that using natural ingredients in products are good but I don't think I could go completely "green" or organic and get rid of my make-up, hair products, skin products, and such, and buy everything organic (it is expensive!) but I have considered "green" cleaning products and soaps and detergents...stuff that's not harsh to our skin. I don't know...I am for sure going to recycle though.

I also read Jon and Kate's new book and I really liked it. It was easy to read and it really showed how they both had to trust God through their tough times. I like their show.








Oh yeah...I have been trying to get a picture of her pouty lip so here it is. So cute!

Fall

So this was Emery's first halloween. She was a kitty cat and a pumpkin! Of course we really didn't go trick or treating anywhere but we had a few come to our house. Eddie was night flying that night so he didn't get to see her in her cute costumes but I did take pictures. I took her to see the neighbors and I met a new couple while walking to the mailbox. They are from Columbus, MS (my home town)...can ya believe it! They are really nice and hopefully we can hang out and I won't be so bored!!!

The next day we got up and drove to San Antonio to see Eddie's family: mamaw, papaw, great aunt carolyn and uncle larry, aunt kim and uncle cliff and his cousins makenzie, pearson, and andy. Cliff and Kim live there now and everyone else drove or flew in to all be together for Cliff's change of command ceremony and because he is leaving for iraq for 6 months. Me and Eddie walked around town and walked on the riverwalk. It was nice but crowded and I now understand how handicapped people feel cause we had to go to certain places and try to find an elevator to get down to the riverwalk with Emery's stroller. We also saw The Alamo. It was cool and there was lots of big old trees with huge branches. I love old trees. While we were walking around we actually witnessed a couple praying for a young man on the sidewalk and they were leading him to Christ. It makes ya feel good inside to know that there are still good Godly people in this world, even in a big city, and that God and christians are out there trying to save the lost people of this world.

...the riverwalk.

We stayed the night with the family and spent some time together. We went to John Hagee's big church. I spent most of the service in the hallways with Emery but they had tv's so you could see the preacher.

Here are some more pics...

My Girl

Emery makes some of the cutest faces. She is very alert and likes to try to stand on her legs all the time. She likes for you to walk her around the room so she can see everything and if you sit down with her she starts fussin. We need to get her set on a sleep schedule cause right now she goes to sleep at 2:00am and then gets up once at 5:30am then sleeps till 10:30am. I am pretty much on her schedule so I am not that tired. She is a good baby though...just what I prayed for. She has been making lots of sounds and has been "talkin" to us alot. Watch this cute video. Eddie can really get her goin...he sounds like mickey mouse at one point!

RIP papaw "Duck"

Well sad to say my other grandfather, "Duck" we called him, passed away quick due to a heart attack. So me and Emery hopped on a plane to Atlanta, GA to be there for my dad. We got to visit with alot of family that I havn't seen in years. They all liked Emery too...she was again a comforting angel to everyone. In the midst of all the sorrow there was a little humor present: The preacher was a little off...especially when he said in his prayer that "Jesus died on the cross 4,000 years ago"...ha ha and that "heaven had RED streets of Gold" he was trying to incorporate heaven with my pawpaw's fav color, red. Oh yeah and while we were all at the grave site, a huge arrangement fell on the casket that was suppose to look like an eagle (from skynyrd, freebird i guess) but it looked like a baby chicken with gold wings...it was a sad day but hey ya gotta smile soon or later. It reminded me of the funeral clip from the movie Elizabethtown..... you only have to watch the first minute of the clip to get what i am talking about...it's funny.....

Here are some pictures of my aunts and cousins in atlanta.....

Beach Baby!

One of the great things of Corpus Christi...the beach! We decided to pack up the jeep and take emery to see the beach. She liked it i think. She likes to hear the waves and feel the breeze. Eddie spent most of the time boogy boarding in the ocean and I was on the beach under an umbrella with my toes buried in the sand...sure wish i could have worked on my tan :) No we didn't take bella this time...she loves the waves too but also likes to chase the little mexican kids all over the beach!

Daddy Date Night...

Me and Emery wanted to do something nice for daddy so we surprised him with a date night just for him. We went to eat at one

of Eddie's favorite resturants...guess....

Then we went cruisin down the beach side with the windows down as the sun set, listening to Emery's favorite song..."Forever" by Chris Brown. We parked our jeep on the beach and then we started a campfire and roasted marshmellows and made smores. Then we just relaxed and enjoyed the stars and sound of the waves crashing. We even saw a shooting star. Thank you God for creating such things.

She's a Traveler!

Aug. 31st Me and Emery flew to Plant City, FL to visit Eddie's family in Florida. I was nervous about flying with a newborn but I had Ashley and Nana with me. They flew to Corpus to see us and Ed for a few days-we took Emery to the beach for the first time...see pics below, and then were off to Florida. Emery did great on the plane. She slept the whole time. The airlines gave her those cute little plastic wings for her first flight. When we were in Florida we went to the mall, ate Hungry Howie's bacon pizza and greek salad (a must have yummy), road the 4-wheeler with nana, visited family and stayed up mosty till 2:00am watching LOST...I got every body addicted! ha ha

I got to sleep in alot while everyone else took care of Emery. She was the center of attention for sure!

Emery also turned 1 month old!


Here are some pictures of Ashley's and Nana's trip to Corpus and our trip to Florida... Emery's first time to the beach in Corpus Christi.

On to Mississippi...

On Sept 5th, Me, Emery, and Mrs. Tammy flew home to Mississippi. Mr. Eddie picked us up in Birmingham and we went shopping! for Emery of course. We found the cutest kids store...
We went crazy in there and bought her a cute church dress for her to wear her first time at church! She liked the praise and worship. I was nervous and my palms were sweaty because i was afraid she was gonna poot loud or cry during the sermon when it was really quiet. She did grunt but she did good.

We went to Atlanta to visit my grandparents and my friend of 15 years, Melinda and her boyfriend Ben. My cousin Chris stopped by! I havn't seen him in years. We're all grown up now...it's wierd. Emery even slept in the same crib that I did when I was a baby. It was a good trip.

Back to Mississippi!

While in Columbus we were constantly busy visiting family and friends. It is hard to try to squeeze in time with everybody all in a short time. We even stayed longer than I normally do but it still wasn't long enough. We were gone from Eddie for 2 and a half weeks though so we needed to get back. Emery got to meet her little cousin, Jayden. We took their pictures together in these nice smocked outfits that a hair client of my mom's made for us. They were precious!

We even made a trip to Meridian, MS to see Belinda and her family. Little miss Emery had a photo shoot!

Well it was a good trip all around. Her great-grandparents weren't able to see her when she was born along with alot of other family and friends so it was good that they all got to see our sweet little Emery. I hate leaving everytime I visit but it was good to get back home to Eddie and Bella. They spent a few days in San Antonio with his uncle Cliff and aunt Kim because he got evacuated cuz of hurricane Ike...it didn't even rain in Corpus, Ha. but thank God it didn't hit us like it did Houston. We would have lost everything because our house is right on the water.

Check out these pictures of hurricane Ike damage...

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html