4 month check-up

(I snapped this picture of our tired girl post-shots; I tried propping her on her side so she wouldn't move to feel her leg pain! :(

Emery weighed in at 11 pounds 11 ounces at the doctor today! And she is 22 inches long! For her weight, she's in the 10-20 percentile now and in the growth curve! Regarding her height, she's catching up and on the brink of the chart. Poor thing had to get three shots and right in the middle of her nap time, so she was worn out! Dr. Green said within the next two months we could start introducing some food, since "the ultimate goal is to teach a child to eat table food by age one." And everything else checked out perfectly with our girl!

Our girl is just growing right before our eyes. We had taken some short videos of our babe in her first days back in the NICU and the other day Seth was watching one on the computer. So many emotions flooded back and overcame us almost more than the first time seeing Emery so small. Probably because we were in such unchartered waters and on auto-pilot four months ago, which now feels so long ago. The short video brought tears to both our eyes in amazement of how God has strengthened our precious girl and grown both of us as well. We are so blessed by this little life and so thankful this week and always that she is ours.

Birthday fiesta

On friday, one of our hispanic workers, Chente, invited us to his girlfriend's birthday party. Chente told both Seth and me about her birthday, so we felt thankful for the invitation and that we should attend the Mexican Fiesta de Compleanos. We ventured to Lenoir City midday, along with Mike, to find a slew of family and kiddos gathered in Chente's little abode. Chente's girlfriend, Roberta, had cooked such a feast! (I tried to include the plate of food in the bottom photo.) I bet there were almost two dozen people there, including kids, so that's a ton of food to make for your own birthday party, even though Chente grilled all the meat. It was flank steak, fresh quacamole, of course, rice with carrots, and pasta with ham and corn in it... delish! It was a lot of fun to be introduced to a similar but different world, see Chente in his own element, and meet his girlfriend! Seth trying to imitate Chente in his own clothes. (It felt like we were going to a date party back in ol' college days!)

Mike, Chente, and Seth

Roberta wanted to hold Emery, and the language barrier made it interesting asking her to wash her hands first. We just didn't want to offend her but hard to explain germs, her early arrival, and NICU.

We also enjoyed a so nice dinner date night friday, Seth went to Downtown Grill and the UT game with some fellas from church saturday night while Emery and I soaked up a visit from Auntie Mollie, and sunday we thoroughly enjoyed a nap for all three of us after church before meeting our small group at Abuelos for dinner! It was another great weekend with lots of fun fellowship!

Saturday breakfast

Shelley and her new hubby were in town for the last UT home game and to visit with family as new newlyweds. We met up with Brooke and Dave at Longs for a delish saturday morning breakfast! We all had a great time catching up and visiting! And Emery enjoyed the fun wearing her cute warm hat from Brooke and adorable outfit from my friend Beth!

Smiling

Hard to believe that Emery is already 4 months old and only supposed to be 8 weeks! We've really been enjoying all her smiles and even exclamations when she can't contain just a smile! The other day, I snapped a quick video of some of her smiles and squeals in a very low quality video, before knocking the camera on the kitchen floor!

Milk

I may cry over my spoiled milk. When Emery left the NICU, we took home plenty of frozen milk. Three months later and it has to be discarded. We should've donated it or taken advantage of the supply by having five date nights a week! I hate to waste things and just wish we could save it longer. However, selfishly, I will enjoy more room in the freezer.

Lunch date

Midday friday we drove to Athens to meet my mom halfway at our Ruby Tuesday's meeting place for lunch. It was a wonderful time for visiting and some Grandmother lovin'!

Sunday Dress

Everyone in our house has endured a stinky stuffy nose and cold this past week. Even poor Emery has had a clogged nose and watery eyes. I snapped a cute picture of her sunday morning before church since she was wearing an adorable dress from her cousin Josie's wardrobe. A cute outfit can always make a girl feel better, and because it was such a warm day, we were able to take advantage of the dress and matching bloomers. However, the bloomers were dirtied before we left for church, and luckily we had a replacement! Seth had two back to back flag football games so we soaked up some sun to help dry our noses! Auntie Mollie joined us in cheering for Seth and entertaining Emery with a stroll. What a great way to beat the cold blues with some warm weather!

Famous Folks

Seth got to see Mike Huckabee, a past republican presidential candidate, and some of the Duggar Family, TLC show stars, at Books a Million today at Huckabee's book signing! Seth got a signed book copy of "A Simple Christmas" by Huckabee, and the Duggars seemed to just be close by in Clinton visiting a fellow family of 17 kids. Both are Arkansas natives and maybe friends. It was a neat celebrity sighting for Seth in Knoxville!

Lawn Butler Bowling

The whole Lawn Butler bowling crew The winning team with the highest cumulative score- Josh, Mike, Alex, Eric, Brett, and Louie

Brett and Seth giving Louie a celebratory dance for his first strike!

Seth's 2nd place team- Chris, Carlos, Johnny, Lucio, Seth, and Chinte

Lawn Butler had a team outing tuesday night bowling! Two teams challenged the other for a paid day off at stake! We were missing Juan, but everyone else competed intensely wanting to win! The highest score also won ten bucks, along with the lowest (Bunco style) because the hispanics were at a disadvantage by never playing before! Eric won the high score and Lucio scored a 66 also earning him ten dollars! The fellas had a great rainy night bowling in the cosmic setting, and who knows, maybe a competitive team will result!

Girls' Weekend

Friday night picture with Val as an engaged gal to her fiance JP Emery, me, Brooke, Jamie, Jessica, Emily, and Valerie

Liam, Emily's cute little boy, and Emery in their cute car seats side by side all weekend

Staci was able to join us saturday, but we missed getting a picture with Val too

Valerie debuted some of her boutique clothes in a Brentwood store called Spruce and we all attended saturday to shop and see; Lauren also joined us for shopping and lunch

Liam "playing" with Emery or just drooling on her

We had such a great girls' weekend in Nashville this past weekend! It was hard to leave Seth at home, but he at least enjoyed some truck test driving, wings, tailgating, and attending the UT game with his pops, even though he missed his little girl! Our girls' weekends are more rare now that an available weekend for seven gals is difficult to plan around babies, jobs, family, events, travels and such. When we do get together, it is as if we just saw each other the day before. Each of these gals are so amazing and such precious friends in my life. All so different but all so marvelous for who they are and what they mean to me. Unfortunately, Staci's uncle passed away last week and she was unable to make it to Nashville until saturday, so we definitely felt like our weekend was incomplete until she arrived. It's just not the same without all of us! We enjoyed lots of yummy food, shopping, chats on the porch by a fire, and good quality time with Jamie as our lovely hostess! It was a rejuvenating weekend that went by too fast and still left me feeling like I could've spent at least another 48 hours with these girls since one weekend was not enough! I miss them already but will look forward to another weekend soon! I just love them so much and thank them for also loving on me and Emery this weekend!

Mimi's Chair

Quite a few weeks ago, Seth's mom spotted this cute upholstered rocking chair at Home Goods and snagged it for their living room. It matches their den perfectly and is a perfect size for a cute little girl! Emery enjoyed her first glide relaxing in her nice chair!

E and Baa Baa

Emery and her baa baa at week 14 and getting longer and bigger by the day! She goes for her RSV shot on thursday and maybe we'll get a weigh in while we're there. Emery is smiling a lot now and can even get on a roll with multiple smiles! She's so fun and starting to have some longer awake times but still sleeping so well! She's still enjoying fans, shadows, and car rides. Emery can hold her head up so strongly and really enjoys sitting up assisted. She is a joy to have in our lives and we love her so much!

Emery and Roman

Emery in her Mary Jane socks from her great aunt Lea, attempting to hold Roman's hand, and looking bigger than someone for once.

Studious

Emery reading two really artistic, great books by Charley Harper from our friends Nathan and Melissa. She got bored the other day and curled up with these little reads. I think she enjoyed the ABC's over 123's, which means she'll take after her mother if that's true, but we'll see.

Halloween

Emery the bee at Cafe 4 on saturday morning for brunch with her daddy and Stacey, Mimi, and Pop PopEmery the Bumble Bee with her Mimi, who found her first Halloween costumeMy mom in her GranWitch costume on HalloweenFriday night Halloween party as Lane Kiffin and his playbook that is always in front of his mouth; poor Lane Kiffin's pinky.Emily, as Angelina Jolie, and me at the partyJulie and Chris as Ace Ventura and his UPS box, and SethJennifer and Adam as a perfect Angela and Dwight from The OfficeSome of the fellas: Seth, Sean, Andy (as Andy himself with his wife as Raggedy Ann), Adam (as Dwight and wife as Angela), Jeff (as Steffi Graf and his wife as Andre Agassi), Chris (as Ace Ventura and his wife as a box), and Hunter (as Brad Pitt with wife Angelina)Jeff standing up with the hosts- Samantha as Batman and Carson as the Joker, and a Chiquita Banana in the corner

We went to a fun Halloween party on friday night after a delish dinner at Don Gallos with Andy, Cameron, Chris, and Julie! It was fun to dress up and get together with friends! We didn't invest too much in our costumes since Seth has been told on countless occasions that he resembles the UT coach Lane Kiffin and figured that would be a sufficient Halloween costume. We fashioned some head phones, borrowed some Tennessee gear, and them made a shirt into a playbook for me. It was a fun night out! We dressed Emery up as a bumble bee for most of the day saturday until she got too toasty in her fleece outfit. She did look pretty cute, especially when Seth would fly her around! We meant to snap a picture of her in front of a sign in Knoxville that says "Local Honey" but forgot, even though it would've been super cute! Seth went to the late UT game saturday night while I got visited by my mom as a witch and my sister. It was a fun first Halloween!