Matt's Christmas Tree Farm

This past Friday, Kyle and I had the privilege of traveling to our family's Christmas tree farm in Munford, Alabama to help cut and load trees. My mom kept Caroline so we got to enjoy a beautiful day outside with my family. We had such a great time and I wanted to share a post about Matt and share my family's story.

On March 28th, 2011, tragedy struck our family when we lost our cousin Matt Embry in a car accident. My Uncle Harry, Aunt Lyn, and cousin Greg were grief-stricken and we were all deeply saddened, and we still miss him daily. Through this great loss Harry, Lyn, and Greg started a beautiful thing- they took over Matt's Christmas tree farm that he had and contributed the money towards scholarships in his name. Several of the family have went down to help over the past couple of years and it is nothing but pure joy to watch families pick out trees for their home. Especially knowing the vision that Matt had for his farm and seeing his parents and brother work so hard to preserve it. 

This is my cousin Matt- a genuine, wonderful person who accomplished so much in his short life. We are so proud of the person he was on his time on Earth. 

And here are some past and present pictures of the tree farm and our family. 

Remembering Matt Embry- Cannot wait to see you again in Heaven..it can't come soon enough! 

Nine Months Old

Nine Months Old

22 pounds, 4 ounces

29 1/4 inches long

Brown hair, Bluish-green eyes

Here we are nine months into Caroline's life and boy are things ever changing! One week shy of turning nine months old she took off crawling and did she ever take off! She is into drawers, corners, and all things electrical. Long gone are the days when mama and daddy can watch TV or read while she plays in the floor.

One morning after she turned nine months old, I put her outfit on and tried for a photo shoot. She wasn't having it. I literally only got to snap a few iPhone pictures in between the crawling away, fussing, and reaching for the phone.

 Caroline's nine month appointment was on her nine month birthday, November 19th. My mom was watching her that day so she met me at the pediatrician's office and I got to leave work to be with her at her appointment. We were informed that she was 98th percentile on weight and 96th percentile on height. Dr. Chupp gave her two-thumbs up for passing all tests. No shots for her that day!  

 As of today, Caroline is cutting her bottom two teeth. I discovered them last night and this morning their little sharp edges were palpable. She hasn't been too irritable but I also have kept either Tylenol, Motrin, or teething tablets on board every few hours. All she is getting for Christmas is her two front teeth. And a few presents. ;)

She is sleeping through the night in bed with me and I am loving our cuddle time. She naps twice daily in her crib, usually around 1.5 to 2 hour naps in the morning and an hour nap in the evening. The evening one is much harder to get to.

She eats everything we feed her and even tried some dressing and green beans on Thanksgiving. She does not like taking her bottle and does not try to hold it. I have introduced the sippy cup for a couple of weeks now with some diluted juice and she isn't interested in drinking, just chewing. Haha. 

She LOVES the television. She watches Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse all the time in the floor and in her walker. She has progressed to running down the hall in her walker and following us into the kitchen and living room. She also enjoys going into the kitchen in her walker and turning the trash can over (usually with coffee grinds on top.) 

Her most favorite words are "Guh" and "Uh-oh." Most everything she sees is "Guh" and Libby is considered "GUHHH!!" It has become quite the joke between Kyle and I. This morning Libby walked by her and Caroline whispered "guh" under her breath and we died laughing. This age is so much fun.

And here is some more fun from this month!

Needless to say, we love this girl very much and are having so much fun with her watching her learn new things every day! Can't wait for month number ten! 

There Is So Much More

There Is So Much More...

to being a mother than you would ever imagine. 

to the tears hidden behind her smile.

to life than the clothes we wear, what we drive, or what kind of house we live in.

than appearing to have it all together.

than spending all our time on social media.

that we don't know about the reason behind people's actions.

meaning to life than what we give it.

than worrying about how we dress our children.

that we could be praying for besides our own concerns.

we should take into consideration before we judge.

to the holidays than just gifts and food.

that we could teach our children about love.

that we could do without.

little things we could do for our marriage.

to being a parent that you don't understand until you have children.

than making sure everything looks perfect in our pictures for the world to see. 

that we could be talking about besides gossip and slander.

that we could do to reach out to others.

to life than this world.

October

The month of October was such a fun month for us that I thought I would write a blog post about it. In June my mother kept insisting on taking a family fall vacation and I was super hesitant and nervous about it considering the fact that Caroline wasn't sleeping well at night and we stay tired all the time. We ended up booking a three night trip to the mountains in mid-October and to be honest, I kind of dreaded it.

The time for our trip got here and we had a great time. Caroline was actually pretty good with the exception of night time. Kyle, Caroline, my mother, and I left on a Thursday night around 7pm. Caroline slept the entire trip there and woke up when we arrived to our cabin in Wear's Valley at 10:30 pm. Since she was a little thrown off waking up at 10:30pm , she didn't go back down until 1:30am and slept until around 7. 

Since the rest of the family couldn't drive down until Friday night, the four of us spent the day relaxing, buying some groceries, and I even took a two hour nap. That evening we loaded up and went to the Old Mill and shopped/strolled for a couple of hours. Caroline was so good and loves to shop in her stroller.

We took a few pictures before leaving. 

The weather was a perfect 55 degrees and felt like fall for sure! I love these three people sooooo much.  

Uncle A, Victoria, and my dad arrived late Friday night and we woke up Saturday to go shopping at the Five Oaks Outlets.

Caroline took her a good one hour and thirty minute nap in her stroller. It must have been a great nap since she pulled her headband around her neck.  

    

     

  

We changed to warm, comfy clothes for our trip to Gatlinburg Saturday night. We had dinner at our favorites- Bubba Gump's Shrimp and of course it was fabulous. 

After dinner it was very cool and Caroline stayed warm and cozy in the stroller, sleeping another hour while we strolled the streets. 

 The rest of the month we had some fun times as well. We went to the park and rode the swings for the first time and it was a big hit.

We met a beautiful Santa and Mrs. Clause at Sandy O'Dells (because its never too early for Santa) and nana snapped a picture of us before going. I had to get dressed too, in case she didn't do so well but no worries here- Ms. Sandy handled it like the professional she is and Caroline loved Santa.

On Halloween we had plans for Kyle, Caroline, and I to run the Pink Pumpkin Run that MMCN does every year, but it was too cold and rainy for a baby. So nana, Caroline, and I went to Sparkman High School to watch the Arab cheerleaders in competition! Mandy (my good friend from work) and her husband were going to watch Alyssa, her daughter. I also knew that the Fyffe cheerleaders would be there and I wanted to watch my old Alma Mater cheer as well. So no…. we didn't go trick or treating even though I had two different costumes for her. 

r

And here are some more random snaps from October….

Bottom line= this little girl is so much fun. As of right now while I am typing this, she is walking around the entire house in her walker saying "Uh-oh, uh-oh uh-oh" and my heart is smiling so big. So thankful to God for this live I live!