baby emerson is here!

Aunt Giggie has a new little one to snuggle!  Emerson Reese Kane, you arrived quite unexpectedly!  Your mommy texted me all day telling me that she thought she was having contractions.  I kept begging her to go to the hospital, but she didn't leave school until 2:40, and didn't leave for the hospital until around 4.  Your mommy was 9 cm dilated!  Nana called Aunt Giggie and I rushed to the hospital right away so I could see your mommy before you came.  A few hours went by, and you were here!  I love you so much, little girl.  We are so blessed!

dance school!

Ellie is big enough for dance!  She is in the Tiny Tots class and is loving every minute of it.  We originally wanted Cam and E to dance together, but that didn't work out and it turned out okay.  Ellie absolutely loves going and wants to dance all of the time.  I love seeing her do something that she enjoys so much!

Someone is excited!

Maddie is in E's class!  They love dancing together!

At dance orientation... love these girls!

So cute!

cam is five!

We celebrated Cam's party a few weeks early at the Clarksville Family Aquatic Center!  It was so much fun.  Cam and I went down the water slide no less than ten times and she had a blast.  It was great to see her have fun with her friends and just have a great last swimming moment with the girls  We closed the pool down on their last day :)  Here are some pictures of our fun time!

Love the way Cam holds Ellie's head toward the camera :)

Enjoying some hot dogs at the party!

Happy birthday, C-Monkey!  Your Aunt Giggie loves you more than you'll ever know!

preschool time for ellie ann!

How can our baby be going to preschool?  She is now at St. Anthony's and loving every minute of it.  I was a bit nervous at first because she has really only stayed with Mamaw and Papaw and Lisa during the day and she is quite attached to all three of them.  I was wondering if she would be able to make it without crying, being homesick, or just not liking it.  I am very thankful that none of those things have happened, and she is just super in love with school.  Here are a few pictures of her first day!

So cute!

Her big girl backpack!  A cupcake :)

the new pele?

Eliot Ann is a soccer player.  And by soccer player, I mean she chases all of the other kids around who have no clue what they are doing, either.  Welcome to three-year-old soccer!  The funniest, craziest thing you are likely to see.  Ellie really likes it though, and she wants to play in the next season.  I am proud of her for getting out there and trying so hard.  It is good for her to be able to play with other kids her age, even if she doesn't have one competitive bone in her body.

snow days!

Well, we thought we had gotten out of some major snow because January was pretty mild.  We were wrong.  We are now up to 8 snow days to tack on to our summer break.  Delightful.  Check out some of our snow day fun, though!

Nick got to play on one day, too!

The girls were loving it!

Check out the golf net.  They created a new game, Snolf.

Loving breakfast in bed with Mommy.

Winter naps with Mommy at home :)

potty training

Well, potty training is going.  Not overly well, but going.  We have now had to bribe and beg the little one not to poop in her pants.  Currently, what is working is the iPad every night at 9:00 so that she will go and we have also promised her a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese and to see the movie Paddington if she continues to try to go.  Here's to hoping!

a new member of our wolfpack!

Our wolfpack is growing by two feet!  Baby Kane will be here sometime in mid to late September and we are so terribly excited. I cannot wait to love on a little squishy again.  I will never forget my excitement the day that Cam was born and how much love I felt instantly for her.  Can't wait for that feeling again!

 

How we were told on a Pizza Friday.  Love it!

swim lessons

Ellie Ann started swim lessons in October.  She was doing so well during the first two lessons and then something spooked her out.  We are now in Mom and Tot classes each week, but she is loving the water more and more.

how has it been a year?

Life has kind of gotten away from me this past year with keeping up with the blog.  My hope is to backdate as soon as possible on all of our milestones and accomplishments!  Ellie Bellie is getting so big and I want her to be able to look back on this for some amazing memories :)  Now, since I wrote this one, I have to go back and update, right?!?!

ellie turns two!

Ellie is TWO!

How can our precious baby be two years old?  Mommy didn't take off work this year because I was off so much with Grandma Mary in the past few months, but Aunt Lisa and Bailey made sure she had so much fun that day at Chuck-E-Cheese.  We actually had two parties for Ellie since my grandmother's passing happened really close to her birthday.  We had our close friends and family over on her actual birthday for pizza and party hats, and then we had a bunch of our friends and family over for her themed birthday party.  Pretty sure this momma isn't have a big birthday party for a while :)

Our original party date was supposed to be the 10th, but we pushed it back a couple of weeks to give my family a little time to recover.

One of her two year old portraits :)

 

She made everyone wear party hats.

Love this little munchkin to pieces!

 

 

we love you, grandma mary!

Grandma Mary had been in the hospital for the most part of the year, with only a few days at home.  She was getting sicker and sicker.  On February 17, she had open heart surgery and a quadruple bypass.  She was diagnosed with congestive heart failure back in December, and nothing really positive happened since then.  It was so hard to see her in so much pain for most of the time.  At one of her many stays in the CVCU (Cardiovascular Care Unit) in Floyd Memorial, we sent Grandpa Bud home and I spent the night with her.  I will always treasure that night and her waking me up every half hour because she had fallen down in the bed and her toes were on the edge.  After Easter, it was decided that she would go home under Hosparus care and out of the continuous hospitals and rehabs.  I spent the next week pretty much working, and then staying with my grandma.  Finally, on April 30, she took her final breath.  I am such a much better person for knowing my grandma and for her helping raise me.  I will never be able to thank her for everything she did in shaping my life, but I know she knew I loved her with all of my heart.  The days were really rough, but I have such an amazing support system of family and friends, and her funeral services were a testimony of how much she was loved.  We truly are a blessed family unit.

At my baby shower in March 2012... She loved Eliot so very much.

 

new house!

We closed on our old house and new house on January 10th!  We are so very excited to be so close to our best friends and to have so many other blessings that come along with a bigger space.  We got our closest family and friends together to paint our entire upstairs (minus the kitchen and extra bedroom) the first weekend of our ownership, and we moved in on January 18th.  So exciting!

The only picture I took... Ellie's brand new big girl bed in her big girl purple room.  She is still mad at me for painting it purple because she wanted pink :)

sold?!?!?!

Well, our house sold within six days on the market!  We only had three showings and we got $1,600 more than our asking price.  We are so very blessed.  With that blessing also came a huge bearing on us of finding our forever home.  The house that I had originally fallen in love with in Sterling Oaks (Chris and Amie's neighborhood) already had an accepted offer, and that has left me pretty heartbroken.  However, we went and saw a house two houses down from the first one and put in offer in and they accepted that day!  We are set to close in early January, with a move in late January.  This has all happened so fast, but I am so excited to be able to be within very close distance of our BFF's. I know this is the right move to be making in the long run, and I am so happy to have Ellie grow up in a beautiful home, neighborhood, and great school district. 

The flyer that Troy sent out to our neighborhood after our house sold so quickly :)

 

 

back to school

This mom survived her first week back at school, all while missing her baby girl so much.  So very blessed and thankful for amazing family members to watch her while I fulfill my dream of being a teacher.  I have to share this funny moment before I forget it forever.  On the first day of school, we always wear a Wilson polo shirt so that we can be identified by parents, students, etc.  I was in a rush to get to school to finish a few last minute things (and to get out of the house without waking E) and as I was walking up the steps to my classroom, this is what I notice:

Yep, first day of school with two different shoes :)  Hope this isn't an indicator of what my year is going to be like :)

 

ellie's first haircut!

Well, it was finally time to cut the mop.  Ellie's hair grew in quite funny, with some pieces much longer than others.  Thank goodness for Dee Dee and her awesome patience and haircutting skills!  Shout out to Aunt Caitie for helping us out and keeping Ellie entertained.

Wow! Look at both of our long hairs :)

Trying to sit still for Dee Dee!

danger, danger!

Ellie has turned into quite the little monster on the move around here.  She is into EVERYTHING!  She now has a playroom full of toys but her favorite hangout spot is my little two foot area of "office space."  This has been a tough stage for me so far because I never feel accomplished with anything.  I know these moments go by all too fast, but for this multi-tasker, the weekends are just too short and I hate having to constantly pick up.  However, I do love how inquisitive she is with everything.  She "reads" books constantly and will want you to read them to her over and over.  She seems to have conversations with you, as if she knows exactly what she is talking about.  I just can't get over how much this little girl has changed our world.  It makes me cry everytime I think about how sweet she is and how proud I am to be her mom. 

Wild Child!

sick, sick, sick

January was probably the roughest month of my life... My grandpa passed away on the first, we left Florida early to come back for the visitation and funeral service, and then after only being back at school for one day, I came down with the worst virus I have ever had.  I had planned on taking off Tuesday and Thursday to be with my Grandma Sandie (helping clean up stuff, clean out closets, just spend time with her, etc.), but when I woke up on Tuesday, both Nick and I had really high fevers.  My mom came up and got Ellie (she was still on bereavement leave) and ended up keeping her all night.  Nick felt better on Wednesday, but I was still really sick, so I headed off to immediate care.  After my flu test came back negative, they sent me home with amoxicillin and told me it should be better in a few days.  The weekend came and went and my fever still had not gone down (it would break but then be right back up again).  I tried to go to class on Tuesday (a full week since being sick) and it was too much.  I didn't even make it half way through.  Finally, on Wednesday, my dad took me to another immediate care where I was diagnosed with pnemonia and bronchitis.  It was terrible!  I am so thankful that I am usually a very healthy person.  I missed a full two weeks at work, but thanks to my amazing student teacher and co-workers, I didn't have to worry about my classroom while I was so sick. 

I am also so thankful for the people who helped take care of Ellie.  I didn't leave the bed for nearly two weeks, so being a great mommy was out of the picture.  She was floating from house to house so that we could try to avoid getting her sick (which we did :)), and was so well taken care of.  Amie, Lisa, Mom, and Denise were life-savers while I was trying to get better and Nick was trying to take care of me.  Of course I didn't take any pictures during that crazy time, but here is one of my girls playing while I felt like I was on my death-bed!

And here is one of Ellie at Lisa's getting spoiled rotten with her new Princess chair:

Nan took her on the first day we were so sick with her bear coat :)

 

daddy's new job

I like love to make fun of my husband, but the truth is, I have one of the best.  He is such a caring and kind-hearted individual.  He definitely makes me a better person.  This is why I am so proud that he has patiently waited for a career opportunity, and the perfect one made itself present.  He is now the new Redevelopment Director for the Town of Clarksville and we are all so proud of him.  Even if this means that he will sacrifice our summer vacation while Ellie and I head out of town with the Kanes and Murrells, he knows that this is what is best for our family.  He is already doing a great job and we are so very proud of him and all that he does for us!  We love you Nick/Daddy!

blessed...

To have had all four of my grandparents until I was 26 years old.  My Grandpa Dave (Mom's dad) passed away on January 1st around 9 in the morning. He has had a multitude of health problems over the past few years and was confined to a wheelchair the last three.  He dealth with prostate cancer some years back and it came back this past summer.  This time, it spread quickly and ended up going to his lungs and bones.  It is never easy losing someone, but I know he is in a much better place now. 
I was lucky enough to have him be around for the first few months of Ellie's life, and she visited them at least weekly with me or my mom.  Here they are when Ellie was just a few weeks old:

As much as I hate funeral home services (for obvious reasons), it was amazing to see so many people that I hadn't seen since I was younger.  The support that was shown to my family still blows me away and we are so thankful for everyone in our lives.