Miss Independent

...sort of. So Little Miss Sullivan has been doing really well playing by herself lately, in our den, in her crib, at the table, in the car seat, babbling and ordering her toys around, asking them questions (Like, "pipi? No. popo? No. {Asking if they need to use the bathroom!} Yum,yum. {feeding them}) and trying to give them food or drink. It is really endearing and a joy to watch and I've been eager to capture it on film. This is challenging, however, as she is so eager to watch the video, she won't allow me to actually take it. But, yesterday I found a chance to sneak a video while I was making dinner. Amazingly, she had been "having a tea party" for almost 20 minutes and I snuck in to catch what you see here. This is clearly not Hollywood footage, nor exciting, but to those who know and love Sullivan, you may have the patience to enjoy this. In all of our moments of frustration these days, these precious moments help me focus on her "Sullivan-ness", her pure, innocent and beautiful personhood. I hope that this finds you all well.

Spring in Greenville

We've been enjoying some amazing weather here lately, cool mornings, pleasant days, crisp nights...and we've been out and about in the outdoors! Here we are enjoying our incredible Falls Park with Daddy and then hitting our zoo with playmates!

All is well on our end...Baby Girl #2 is doing just fine and growing nicely at 19wks. We are having fits trying to think of names!!! Sullivan is lively as ever, talking up a storm (in both languages!) and loving life in general! Her latest cute phrases are, "Mommy, hold you!" (to be picked up) and "Mee-house!" (for Mickey Mouse). She loves to play outside and gets so filthy almost daily digging through dirt, sticks, mulch, etc. Lee delights in her not-so-girlyness.

Lee is also thriving more these days as he is on less-hectic research rotation until July 1, which is such a welcome thing! He has more time with us almost each afternoon, can workout and sleep more and in general, soak up life a bit more! And my classes are finishing up in a few weeks... I will leave teaching traditional classes for a good while and transition to teaching online solely. Although not my preferred method to teach (or learn!), this way will allow me to work AND be the wife and mother I desire to be, as it will provide more flexibility of my time and talent.

I hope that this finds you and yours doing well! Happy Spring!

Happy Birthday and Happy Easter!

It has been a big last week and a half or so, as we celebrated Sullivan's 2nd Birthday on March 28, went home to AL for a week during Spring Break and came back to celebrate Easter with Lee. Thank you to Gigi, Waylo, Honey, Murph, Lauren, Golson and Mac and Josie for a fabulous visit!!!

First, Sullivan: It is hard for me to realize how much our girl has grown and changed over the last 2 short years...children really do change and develop so quickly. She is a true joy to us, bringing us more smiles and fufillment than we could have ever imagined! And what a pleasure it is to bring our parents so much joy through her also.

Lee has just transitioned from a difficult rotation on spine to research! We are so thankful to have a more relaxing next 3 mos! Although Lee doesn't love doing research, we are all celebrating his less-hectic schedule, earlier afternoons and just having him with us more often.

And finally, we just found out that Baby #2 is a little girl! Two girls! How nice that they will have each other and share in sisterhood as Lauren and I have...but most of all, we are so thankful for a healthy baby. Maybe just as Lee and his college friends have predicted, we'll end up with a basketball team full of girlies! :)

Videos

I finally am able to upload these videos from the last few weeks. Check them out when you get a chance...

Snow day, play days!

I finally have organized myself with my new computer and now can thankfully upload and access my photos from my digital camera! So, here are a few recent pictures of the snow day as well as a fun morning with Sullivan in the new Children's Museum in downtown Greenville. More pictures and videos are on the way. Hope that you are doing well!

Bought!

Many thanks to those of you who helped me navigate the waters of my computer purchase with your suggestions and comments! I appreciate them! I, too, love macs (and have had one since grade school), but unfortunately, my means don't love the mac price. So, after some research, I purchased a new DELL Inspiron 15 and it seems like a good fit for me with teaching online, my basic needs and my humble budget. My dad was stunned at my PC conversion! Ha!

And thanks to Shane, Danielle, Beth and Lauren for a great Mom's Night Out last night! We missed all of you that couldn't be there and hope to see you next month.

Recently

Hope that this finds you all doing well this week! We are trucking along here...doing quite well. Recently, the last weekend in January, my mom visited and Lee and me were able to get away to Charlotte for the weekend. It was a wintry, lazy weekend, just what we needed! This past weekend we celebrated Lauren and Ben Barden's first baby, coming in a few weeks, at a lovely shower at Beth's house. We also were able to celebrate our friend Cammy's 30th birthday at her house. A very fun couple of weeks, indeed. And in baby #2 news, we had our first appointment at the OB office, and the baby is doing fine and due September 15 (my dates were way off-oops!). Lee was able to be there and see the sonogram, which made it extra special. I hope that you and yours have a fantastic Valentine's week!
PS- See Sullivan's hands, above. I showed her how to use rubber stamps not long ago and now she thinks all drawing utensils are for "stamping" hands and (of course!?) her feet as well. So, above you see her hands covered with markings as a sign of this new artistic outlet. Ha!