Hey Opp Knockers!
I wanted to give you all a heads up that we will be making this blog private. We know we have a great group of readers and don't want to leave any one of you out. Please send either Brent or I an email if you want to still be able to access the blog.

You can also just leave a comment here and I'll get your email address - I'll make those comments private so that your email address won't be public.

I will be turning the blog private by next week.

Thanks everyone!

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. - Frank A. Clark

I love the concept of a "play date." They kind of baffled me until I had been home for a few weeks and needed some adult interaction. I quickly realized that no matter the age of your child, you are eligible for playdates. Why? because 75% of the time they aren't really for the child, but they are for the moms.
We had a fun playdate this past week. I think I'll just start calling all of my adult interactions play dates. I mean what's really the difference in how we used to just hang out with friends? food. laughing. conversation. maybe some games. a movie. I mean really they're not that different from what we used to do with our friends.
Oh wait.
Now we have a munchkin to add to the mix. THAT'S how they're different. And the fact that all my pictures now are just of little ones instead of adults and my adult friends.

You know you have a baby and they have ROCKED your world when...
You're feeding her for the night. Your husband enters the room and through silent, forced movements he understands VERY clearly to not take one more step in your direction. He then understands through the look of your eyes that he is to sit in the floor at the foot of the bed with all the lights off until the feeding is finished.
Yep. I have a very alert 5 month old.
Feedings are very smooth until someone. something. anything. enters the room.
makes a noise. makes something that sounds like a noise. she thinks it made a noise.
the dogs bark. the dogs move. the dogs raise their head.
brent enters the room. brent leaves the room. brent's in the other room and moves.
i have to scratch my noise. Get the picture?

but of course...I still love her!

When Brent and I were in Gatlinburg last year while I was pregnant, we visited our favorite little bookstore and I bought "Everything About Baby Food."
I'm going to write the authors I think and suggest a few additions to the book:

1. When changing your baby from a milk-only diet to a cereal and veggies diet, expect for what comes out to look a little like what is going on....

2. Be prepared that EVERY. SINGLE. movement will become a distraction to eating. EVERYTHING. Including your own husband who just walked in the door...
3. Invest in a full TRUCK load of really really big bibs. As in they cover the entire baby while they eat. Otherwise you will be doubling the amount of clothes you're already washing.
4. Finally - the most rewarding part of introducing new foods is the sweet smile of satisfaction that comes after having so much fun with food!

I think we all have those friends that you may not talk to every day - maybe not even every week, but when you do get together it's as if you've seen each other every day, you talk all the time and you just pick right back up where you left off.
When I left the credit union 2 years ago, I had just developed two really great friendships with two girls: Kelly and Cherie. It was one of the toughest days I've had when it was my last day and I had to tell them and my other coworkers good bye. I never imagined it to be so difficult. When Kelly & Cherie came for a visit last year when we were in our apartment, we had such a wonderful time.
This visit was no different. We did a whole lot of nothing besides laugh, eat, play silly card games, listen to Kelly & Brent be hilarious...you know - the typical stuff. Here are lots of fun pics from the weekend! Enjoy...


Gabbie LOVES her toes right now -

Everyone reading - pretty funny!Yummmm
Who can't withstand the humor of Kelly? Even Gabbie thinks she's funny
The girls hangin' on the couch. Fiona felt left out so she had to hop into the moment.

Fiona has to be involved in pretty much anything!

Amazing quote I read today:

Before you speak, listen.

Before you write, think.

Before you spend, earn.

Before you invest, investigate.

Before you criticize, wait.

Before you pray, forgive.

Before you quit, try.

Before you retire, save.

Before you die, give.

- William A. Ward

Fun Christmas Pictures from this year - the above is with Santa (obviously) and this one is us with the BABY frames we gave to tell our parents, sisters and brother in laws last year on Christmas when we announced we were pregnant. They have my original due date on them as well. No, it does not mean I'm pregnant again...

I remember when I was a teenager my dad telling me that as you age, your life goes by faster. That's hard to understand when you're a freshman in high school praying that you can fit in.
It seems like as soon as I got pregnant and started measuring time in weeks ("I'm 22 weeks") that my life suddenly hopped onto the fast forward button and it hasn't slowed back down. Now I'm measuring life in months ("she's 4 1/2 months") and every time I blink, we're in a new month. I've decided that my dad definitely knew what he was talking about way back then (I'm sure he'd love to know I'm admitting he said something wise and true), but it doesn't always make it easy.
I could post about how wonderful Gabbie's Christmas was, but I mean come on - will I ever really say it wasn't good? It was fabulous. She got WAY too many toys. If that's even possible at 4 months old. So now Brent and I get to decide what we're going to do about it. If you've ever been to my house you know I cannot stand clutter. My friend Kelly is amazed when we have yet another yard sale - it's truly because I don't like opening closets and having a bunch of stuff. (By the way, all of our pictures from Christmas and New Years are in an album on the right instead of in this posting)
Dear Lord, please help me figure out how to cope with the clutter that is about to come known as toys. YIKES
What a thing to complain about though, right?
(side note: if you gave Gabbie a toy for Christmas, please know we are SOOOO grateful and appreciative. And no, it will not end up in a yard sale....this year at least - just kidding)
Quick rundown of our Christmas events:
big Christmas party at our house with the UTC clan, Tre and Brittany spent a few days with me, then we were in Chattanooga for Christmas: Joel & Judy's one night, my grandparents the next, then Christmas day with my parents; I visited my friends Gena and Chad in Knoxville to meet Ariana for the first time, got to see Stephanie and Loni who came in from San Francisco, came back home to Nashville where my sister, brother in law, niece and nephews came in on New Year's Eve - we all celebrated together and hung out on NY Day, then the next day we drove to Birmingham to have Christmas with one side of the Whitakers, then drove to Hartselle the next day to have it with the other side of the Whitakers...whew...now we're home for a few days and we're not going ANYWHERE in the month of January. It's been crazy to say the least. But through it all, I still have the best little traveler EVER!!

We have been reflecting on 2009 and all that was accomplished, goals we achieved, some we just missed, and others that we'll return to for 2010. Instead of fretting over those goals we didn't achieve in 2009, we've decided to revisit them for 2010 and know that if you meet all your goals, maybe you're not pushing yourself enough to do things greater and bigger.

Brent and I have been working on our goals for 2010. We have a lot of exciting things in store and have asked God to lead us and guide us in our planning. I read great perspective on goal planning the other day: instead of making plans and asking God to bless them, seek first HIS plans for your life and ask for the direction and guidance you need to achieve those goals.

And while I didn't mean for this to turn into a motivation about goal planning, I would love to encourage you to sit down with your spouse (or even if you don't have a spouse, do it by yourself and find someone to hold you accountable) and make goals for this year. Just don't confuse them with resolutions. And because Brent and I are nerds, we actually have all our goals from every year that we've been married. We're able to go back and see how much our goals have changed from each year.
I will admit that it's not always as easy for me as it is for Brent. He always seems like it comes naturally for him, but for me, it takes time. That doesn't mean we don't do it. He sets his, I set mine, then we come together share our individual goals and determine goals we want to accomplish together, as a couple. Maybe it sounds cheesy to some of you, but look at it this way: if you don't have a road map, how will you ever know where you're going? (maybe we should think "if you don't have a GPS system...")
Instead of wandering through life looking for purpose and direction, use the month of January every year to decide where you want your life to go.