I am outrageously tired tonight, so it’s going to be a short ToT.  Lily has been a ball of energy all day… I’m glad she’s in bed, even though she’s still awake somehow.  I can hear her in there giving her bear kisses and singing to her music<3

1. 
Thomas deployed yesterday. Finally. We’ve had over ten different departure dates over the last month so it was nice t finally see him go in a way… because now we can start counting down the days until he’s home!
We had to drop him off at the airport at 4:00 in the morning. Lily was in high spirits [as you can see in the crappy cell phone picture] until I told her to tell her daddy bye-bye and turned to walk away. She is very big on having both of us hold her hands when she’s walking and loves to snuggle between the two of us on the couch. Thomas took her to check the mail the other day and she cried because I was staying behind. So walking away from Thomas was hard for her she whined all the way back to the car -which took a while because I got lost in the airport:p

2. It’s highly doubtful that I got pregnant before he left. Which has been kind of hard on me over the last few days. A good friend of mine just gave birth to her second child and while I am over the moon happy for her and her family it was kind of a kick in the stomach. I’m all too familiar with the feeling and am proud of myself for being able to recognize it and deal with it in a much more positive way than I could have when we were trying for Lily.
I guess now I spend my summer running around with Lily and laying by the pool in a bathing suit instead of being sick and tired from growing a little person. We are beyond blessed with Lily and I will wake up every morning and know that I will never want anything in the world as much as I wanted her. My life is so rich and my heart so full because of her. And once I think of all of that it’s hard to be sad about it anymore:)

3. I’ve been working on a new design for the blog [again]. If you haven’t noticed I’m one of the most indecisive people when it comes to designing. I’m just really eclectic and once I fall in love with something I find something else that I love just as much and can’t decide between the two haha.
But the design is done [it's nothing special, but it's what I like right now haha]. The only issue is that I haven’t figured out how to edit my blog from my laptop. I have to go through FTP and all of that and it’s all set up on my desktop. Not a big deal, just a few file swaps via thumb drive… except that my desktop decided to not turn on and just wants to flash its little green light at me. I googled it and it looks like I just need to buy a new power cord for it. Fingers crossed. So be on the look out for that over the next few days and I hope you all have a wonderful week:)

1.   I am going to try and get back on track with these and blog a lot more often.  I’ll get some new pictures of Lily up tomorrow.

2.  Our little girl is growing up so fast!  I can’t believe it sometimes!  We took this about a month or so ago but it just proves that she’s not even riding the fence between Babydom and Littlegirlville!  She can slide down the big kid’s slide all by herself!   VIDEO

3.  Here are two more videos of our big girl singing, dancing and talking up a storm:)  VIDEO #1   VIDEO #2      Cute huh!?

4.  You can see her little band-aids in those last two videos.  Lily had to get her shots today.  Never fun.  I talked to my mom on the phone while we were driving to the clinic and SHE was heartbroken that Lily had to have them done lol.  My mom came with me once to a shot appointment and vowed to never do it again lol.  I can understand though… it’s hard to watch.  Thomas took her today and held her while it was happening.  I’m glad I didn’t have to hold her down.  Never a good time:/

5.  Lily’s talking a lot now!  I’m just going to be obnoxious and list all of her words for you;)

•     “Momma”
•     “Da” for Dad/Thomas
•     ”Bubba” or “BubBub” for Rocco
•      “KeyKey” for Eva
•      “Dog Dog” for the dogs
•      “Mow” for meow
•      “Oh no”
•     “Uh oh”
•     points and says “Baaa baa”  telling Mya she’s a bad girl and pointing to her dog bed, a personal favorite;)
•     “Dow” for down
•     “Mil” for milk
•     “Beer” for bear, like her teddies
•      “Baby” for her baby dolls
•       ”Ba” for ball
•      “Daa” for dance
•       “Go” she sings this a lot.  “Go” is in a lot of songs on Nick Jr. lol
•      She can moo, bark, and snort like the animals

 6.  I ran across this beautifully gut wrenching birth story last week and wanted to share it here.  It isn’t a sad story at all but it is filled with this mother’s pain and grief.  I cried like a little baby.  But it was a beautiful story and it really changed me in an amazing way!  Nella Cordelia’s Birth Story

7.  And while we’re on the subject of babies… I’m not pregnant.  We were definitely hopeful with all of those beautiful OPKs I posted about… but this wasn’t our cycle.  I had a pretty rough day on Saturday.  I’m basically just scared.  I went through a lot before I got pregnant with Lily and as much as I am thankful for everything that I learned during those times… I’m scared to have to go through it again.  I was letting myself  live in some little dream world where it would be easy for us this time… that we learned “enough’” last time and that I could just do what we did to get Lily and that that would magically be what we needed this time and there would be a new life inside of me.  I didn’t want to think about going down that road again… so I lived in that world until Saturday.  Then it became a reality that we were going to have to wait until after Thomas gets home.  Lily will be two.  Who knows how long it will take for us to become pregnant.  What if we have to do treatments this time.  I was angry that I wasn’t getting what I wanted and that I was going to have to step out of that dream world and face a reality that to be honest, I would do almost anything to not have to face again.  But that has passed.  I snuggled my baby that night and talked to a good friend and I know that I will do whatever it takes to make my little girl a big sister one day.  I will face my reality and I will fight through it just like I did all those years ago.  I will hope and pray, every month that it will be the last month but I will know in my heart that every day is worth it and that I will only be better for the struggles we face together to grow our family.

8.  And on that note… we got some good news on Monday.  It looks like Thomas will be in town for a few more weeks before he has to leave for his deployment due to some paperwork not being done right in Washington.  So not only are we all loving the fact that we get to spend more time together… we are also hoping that he’ll be around long enough to get one more shot at getting pregnant:)  Here’s to hoping!

9.  Lily turned 18 months old on the 20th.  I didn’t even realize until tonight!  I’m a slacker:p  I’m going to take her downtown this week and do her pictures so look forward to those next week:)

10.  Thomas and I have started a NetFlix account!  We have spent our nights in bed watching movies and the first two seasons of Dexter this week!  I am addicted to that show.  We can’t watch season three online so I have to wait a few days for the first disc to come in the mail:/  But, if you haven’t seen it… Please do!  It’s a great show!!

1.  Well, it’s definitely not Tuesday!  It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a ToT though so I figured I’d just throw one together for you guys:)

2.  Some big news, that if you follow me on Facebook or have talked to me in person, you should already be aware of.  But for those of you that solely follow here I wanted to mention that Thomas will be deploying in a few weeks.  This will be his 4th tour overseas and it won’t be his last.  He will be gone for just under 6 months and though I can’t say where he’s going it won’t be to Iraq or Afghanistan this time! 

3.  Since we found out about this deployment MUCH later than we ever did at his last Squadron we didn’t have a lot of time to get used to the idea.  But we sat down and talked about everything and decided that we wanted to try for another baby with the last cycle we had before he left.  If you’re new to the blog you probably don’t know about the struggle we had to get pregnant with Lily.  We tried for just under two years and conceived her on our last cycle before Thomas’ 2nd deployment!  So to say that we are clinging to hope this time is an understatement.  To cut trying down to just one cycle and be serious about our chances is a little silly to most people.  But with everything that we went through last time we know our chances, we know what worked for us in the past and we are no stranger to disappointment.  We have one AMAZING daughter that we were so blessed to be given.  We will never long for a child like we did before.  We decided to try for a second baby but if that isn’t in the cards for this cycle then we will just spend the next 6 months loving the one we have and start trying again when he gets home:)

3.  Being the fertility nerd that I am, I got online the night we talked and ordered an Ovulation Predictor Kit [OPK].  They are little test strips that can detect the hormone that your body releases around Ovulation.  They are amazing.  I have always been a fan.  When you’re trying to get pregnant and month after month you stare down at a stark white space on a home pregnancy test where that second little line would be if you were, in fact pregnant… it is such a positive feeling to look down at these OPKs and see that second line.  Even though they in no way guarantee that you will get pregnant, it’s just like a little positive affirmation for me… They fill me with so much hope. 

4.And this month was no exception:) 
As you can see, each day that I took a test the second line [the one on the left] grew darker and darker asI neared my time of Ovulation. On CD#16 you can see that both lines are of equal darkness… that is a “+ test”. That indicated that I would ovulate in the next 24-48 hours!

5. So, I appologize if this was off-putting to anyone. I am a strong advicate for Fertility Awareness and don’t believe that it is anything that should be shameful or hidden. Thomas and I are both very excited about the prospect of having another little life added to our family. And though there is a wonderful chance that that life is being formed inside of me as I sit here and type all of this out… there is a chance that it isn’t. And so I just ask that you keep us and this dream in your thoughts and prayers over the next week. What’s done is done. There is nothing that we can do to change the outcome now… But positive thinking has never hurt anything;)

1.  Only 54 more hours until Lily and I are sitting on a plane heading for North Carolina<3. 

2.  I am growing increasingly nervous about the flight.  I think I’m having mini internal panic attacks during the day thinking about the plane crashing and me having to save her all by myself.  But these aren’t new.  I get them going over long bridges too… imagining having to save her under water.  It’s so scary being a mom sometimes.

3.  But I know that things will be fine.  It’s only 6 hours of our lives.  Of everyone on the plane’s lives.  It will all be ok.  Even if she is THAT child and screams relentlessly the whole time.  I can deal with it.  And everyone else will have to as well.  I’ll just have to remind them that it’s only 6 hours of their lives and when they are over they will never have to see us again lol.

4.  I have a massive amount of laundry to do before I leave.  It’s amazing that all of my bad habits followed me to Arizona.  I was almost certain that they were purely Carolina bad habits.  I guess they are skilled adaptors or something!

5.  We have managed to lose a whole box of Christmas decorations.  And not just any decorations.  Our Christmas tree ornaments.  All of the special little ones that we have collected over the last few years are gone.  I am praying that they are misplaced in a box that we haven’t unpacked yet. 

6.  Speaking of years… Thomas and I just celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary on the 3rd.  Thomas was out of town but we spoke on the phone for a little while that night.  It’s been a rough year for us.  Our roughest out of the eight we’ve been together.  But things are looking up<3.

7.  I am a DAMN LUCKY WOMAN to have him at my side.  He has this amazing ability to love me in spite of the person I am right now and love me for the woman he knows I will be.  He is able to see my struggles and still hold me through all of them and never let me go.  He sees something in me that I don’t.  That I can’t.  He supports me and encourages me to look to the future and promises to hold my hand and take things one step at a time until that future becomes my present.  He has [and will only continue to] love me in a way that I have never experienced and in a way I am quite certain that I do not deserve.  But he’s still here.  With a confirming kiss every night before bed.

8.  And speaking of the future…

9.  I’m getting that itch.  That Baby-in-my-belly kind of itch.  I thought I wanted to wait until next year.  Maybe I still do.  But… Baby fever has settled inside of me.  God help me.

10.  I’m Verrrrrrrrrry excited to get the business up and running in February.  It looks like we will be in Jacksonville for my birthday [the 5th] and to visit with everyone all together.  So the “launch” might be pushed to the second week of the month.  But it is still very much on track!   I will be getting a few things in order at the end of the month and make an announcement and start booking sessions in January!  I can not wait!  Fingers crossed;)

1.  Today has been rough.  I’m running on three hours of sleep and I’ve been throwing up.  [I'm not pregnant.]

2.  Lily’s rash is rearing its ugly head again.  We did the medicine for the full 10 days and ran out and the rash never cleared up.  I’m taking her in to the clinic tomorrow.  This is just ridiculous:/

3.  Thomas left today.  He has to be a witness in a trial back at Pope.  We dropped him off at 6:00 this morning.  He’s going to be gone until Friday.  This is the first time I have ever been out of North Carolina with out anyone!  I think it’s pretty funny that I’m a mother of an entirely other human being and I still feel like such a child sometimes:p

4.  I have driven the most I’ve driven in over a month today:)  Drove home from the airport and to and from Wal Mart to buy groceries!  I missed driving!  I’m excited that I get to do it all week!  How lame am I!?!?

5.  Mya is missing Thomas like crazy:/  She is searching all of the rooms for him.  She either lays in front of the door or right under my feet.  And, of course Rocco decided that he needed attention tonight as well, so he curls up under there with her.  Oh the joy:p

6.  I met another neighbor tonight!  I guess her Yorkie likes to escape and run into our backyard.  So she came over to claim her!  We’re going to have to figure out a way to black the fence so she can’t get in anymore.  I am having terrible thoughts of Rocco tearing that cute puppy to pieces one day. 

7.  Our Thanksgiving went pretty well.  We slept most of the day away:)  I cooked a turkey breast, mashed potatoes, corn and green beans.  Oh and Deviled eggs.  Lily loved the sparking white grape juice.  She had it dribbling all down the front of her… her skin got a little irritated by it though.  It was strange.  All in all, I would write it off as a success.  Not a terribly exciting success.  But success nonetheless;)

8.  Jacksonville in 10 days:):)  I am BEYOND thrilled:D

9.  Lily likes to play in the toilet!  I mean REALLLY likes to play in the toilet.  Any time she can escape us she heads straight for our bathroom.  It’s disturbing.

10.  I don’t know what else to write.  It’s 3 til midnight.  So I guess I’ll just pat myself on the back for actually posting a ToT on a TUESDAY and get myself in bed!  Love you all… thanks for the support;)

1.This week has flown by:)  And I’m not complaining at allll!  Haven’t been able to get as much done around the house or with my pictures as I was hoping to but it’s been a really great week so far!

2.  Lots coming up in the next few weeks!  My sister, Haley is turning 22 on Saturday!  I’m beyond proud of her as you have all heard a hundred times and so bummed that I can’t be in Greenville, NC to celebrate with her!  BUTTTT, I will be in North Carolina sooon:)  My mom decided that she’d had enough and needed to see her grandbaby but couldn’t work out a time to fly out here so they are flying Lily and myself to them in December!  I’ll be in town from the 11th to the 17th and I am crazy excited! 

3.  The trip is going to be stressful, flying with Lillian all by myself.  But, my mom worked the itenerary so that we are on the shortest flight to and from possible.  And I will be bringing the DVD player in my carry on;) 

4.  While I’m in NC I’m going to be doing some pictures for my sister and her room mate and working on new logo and branding designs for the business launch in February!  Verrrry excited for that ball to start rolling!

5.  Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  I have decided that this Whitten household  w i l l  be celebrating traditional style!  I’m going to attempt to cook my first ever Thanksgiving dinner for my little family!  I bought a little turkey breast [no need to be wasteful and cook a whole bird;)] and a small ham.  We’re pretty picky eaters so we’re just going to have some corn on the cob, green beans and mashed potatoes as sides.  Deviled eggs as an appetizer since they are my favorite part of Thanksgiving.  Anddd I will be making my first apple pie.  From scratch.  With some brownies, from a box just in case i fail miserably with the pie;)  All in all I’m praying for success!

6.  I’m tossing around a few ideas for the blog.  I’m wanting to do more weekly posts.  Like Ten on Tuesday, I’m thinking of doing a Macro Monday, Family Friday and a Self Portrait Saturday.  These are all subjects that I want to high light more in my photography.  I have a gorgeous macro lens that was gifted to me that I barely touch.  Being so far from all of our family now, I’m wanting to dust off my trrpod and wireless remote and start taking pictures of the three of us together.  And the self portrait one… well, that’s the one I’m the most hesitant about.  I feel like I get lost behind the camera and notice that I don’t have many pictures with Lily, or of myself in general.  Some weeks I’ll be done up with hair and make up.  Some weeks I’ll be cuddling or playing or cooking with my little girl.  Who knows.  But, there will be pictures of me that I hope my baby girl will cherish many years from now.

7.  And speaking of cherishing someone.  I need to give my hubby a shout out.  2009 has been a rough year for us.  This move has been rough on us.  But without a word, every night, my husband is in the kitchen cleaning up and doing dishes after I cook dinner.  He is a rare breed of man.  I honestly think that he has become a man all on his own.  There is no one to credit for who he is besides himself.  He has decided what he thinks is right, what he thinks is wrong, what he will and won’t live with, what he wants from his career, his family and ultimately his life despite the life he had as a child and he does what it takes to make things happen.  He is an amazing provider for his family.  He loves Lillian like I have never seen a father love a child ahe loves me in spite of everything about me that no one else could ever love.  He is an amazing man and even though I lose sight of it at times, I’m a damn lucky woman to still have him at my side<3

8.  It’s 2:00 in the morning.  I’ve had two all nighters in a row and I think my brain is a little mushy and it’s spilling out into this post.  Sorry about all of that.  But he reads this and I needed him to know all of that.  [love you<3]

9.  Onto lighter things. . .  Lily is even more amazing with every new day.  She is learning so much these last few days.  She knows where her nose, eyes, ears and belly button are now!  She dances a lot.  She loves to put things together, like bowls and lids or tops on water bottles.  And she’s getting the hang of eating with utensils pretty well.

10.  But, she’s a screamer!  She’s at the stage where she loves to hear her own voice.  And the louder the better.  She doesn’t really throw fits, but you would think someone was branding her or something the way she screams!  And it’s almost constant at this point lol.  But I’ve been told that every kid does it and that it will run it’s course. 

11.  She’s also pretty annoying about following me around the house saying “mam” every 2 seconds.  Or “Bop”.  For a while everything is a “bop”.  She’ll just walk around “bop”ing and “mam”ing at anyone or anything.  Thomas gets a laugh out of it.  But the silly man isn’t home with the Bop Monster for 10 hours everyday.  And luckily, he realizes that after a little while and helps distract her for me.

12.  Hmmm, number 12!?  I think I’m going to call it a night.  Go crawl in bed without having gotten any work done besides this post and read New Moon for a little while.  Then I’m going to spoon my handsome husband and actually get more than 3 hours of sleep before I have to wake up:)  [and yea, I'm reading New Moon for the 2nd time because I won't be seeing it until I go to NC and I'm bummed about it and need to read it again so that I feel like I'm not totally missing out, even though I am!  And yes, my handsome husband likes to be the "little spoon" sometimes!  You didn't think he could get a whole topic gushing about him without something at the end to let out some of that air I just blew into that ego of his, did you!?  silly;)]   GOODNIGHTLOVES<3

1.  I’m not sure how interesting this ToT will be for everyone.  I think I just need to type and get things out of my head.  Bare with me.  and thank you<3.

2.  I don’t know what I’m waiting for with this photography business.  I am itching to shoot so badly.  But I just continue to find one reason or another to put it off.  I’m scared I think.  I know that business in North Carolina would have been fairly easy for me.  I was comfortable there.  I had contacts and support and locations!  It is beyond beautiful around here but I have no idea where I am half of the time or what area is safe or restricted or teaming with poisonous creatures.  Locations are my number one fear. 

3.  There is so much that goes into starting a business.  Licenses and taxes and finding a lab to print through and marketing materials.  I have a million ideas running through my head… almost daily.  But I still have no real timeline so they just sit in my head.  I’m getting antsy;)

4.  The goal was to launch in early February.  A nice 24th birthday present to myself.  I have been doubting it though.  With the move and the slow pace we are taking getting the house set up.  But I know that I just need to commit to it and get my butt in gear.  I am done second guessing myself.  I know that I have a million things to learn.  There will always be a million new things to learn in photography and photo editing and business owning.  But I can’t put this off any longer.  

5.  So, I am officially announcing that Heather Whitten Photography will launch in February of 2010!

6.  Yay!

7.  Now, onto the regular stuff.

8.  Lily has started  R U N N I N G !   My God, it’s ridiculous!  She is fast and agile.  She still stumbles once she starts really picking up speed but you should see her go!  It’s truly amazing. 

9.  Here’s a quick snap of Lily being silly at lunch last week.  She was trying to crawl under the table but couldn’t reach:)

10. Hoping to finish the living area this week. Have all of the painting and decorating done so I can get some before and after pictures posted for you all to see! I’m excited. I think it’s coming together really well! So stay tuned for those anddd I hope you have a beautiful week<3

1.  Better late than never I hope.

2.  We’ve moved in!  All of our things were delivered yesterday!  But they are all still in boxes.  That is going to take a few days to wade through.

3.  We’re in the process of repainting.  The living room and half of the kitchen have been done.  The house is so much bigger than the one we moved from.  It’s taking us quite a while to get it done.  But I am so happy that the living room is finally finished.  Now we need to get things hung on the walls:)

4.  Lily’s room is next.  I’m really excited about it.  I bought a drawing on etsy.com that we are going to project onto her wall and paint:)  Really looking forward to getting the ugly blue paint out of that room and make it feel like home for her!

5.  Lily is doing great.  Loving all of the extra room to run around in.  Getting along with the dogs great!  Learning a million new things everyday.  It’s scary how grown up she is now.  She figured out how to walk in and out of the front and back doors.  For a while she couldn’t figure out the ledges and door jams.  But she figured it out on move in day!  I was pathetically proud of her and annoyed at the same time.  I was enjoying her just standing at the opened doors and not being able to walk through them.  Not anymore!  She takes off now lol.

6.  Our neighbors have a three-legged black cat!  He is so friendly.  A little too friendly maybe.  Last night he walked into our garage and started eating some spilled dog food and this morning he was crying outside of our front door!  Lily is in love with him though!

7.  The computer is up and running here.  Internet and all!  So I plan on blogging and working a lot at night this week.  I feel like I’ve been holding out on you all.  I know I hate it when the people I blog stalk don’t blog in forever [cough, Kassi, cough].  So as things start to settle and I get a little more comfortable I’m sure I’ll pick up the camera more and hop on here to share everything that’s going on in our lives!

8.  Arizona is perfection right now.  The weather is wonderful.  The scenery is gorgeous.  The sun sets out here are awesome.  And I mean that as the word should be said… Awe inspiring!  I can’t wait to take Thomas and Lily out and do some silhouettes:)

9.  I think I’m handling the transition pretty well.  I get pretty lonely with only Thomas and Lily to talk to.  I am trying not to call everyone a million times a day like I actually want to.  I met two people Tuesday that were from North Carolina.  Our cable guy was from Charlotte and the cashier at Barnes and Nobles was from Ashboro.   They were both  just as home sick as I was and they’ve lived here for years.   North Carolina is just thaaat great I guess!!

10. Oh, and building a home isn’t as fun when you know that no one you love will see it for months and months.  We have plenty of space and a guest room that needs a reason to be repainted and decorated.  So, pleeeeease come visit!  We miss you all and January just isn’t soon enough to see your beautiful faces again.

1.  It’s not even Tuesday yet.  It’s only 11:00 here.  This time zone is going to be the death of me.

2.  Three weeks without a picture update.  I think that depresses me more than it depresses any of you because I know how much work I have piling up!  I miiight connect my computer this week andstart working.  Or, I might just spend the week chasingLily around with the camera and add to the pile with a happy heart.  Stay tuned;)

3.  Well, we’re in Arizona.  The drive went amazingly well.  I cheated a little though and bought a portable DVD player and a few Nick Jr. DVDs for Lily:p  They worked like a charm.  She never cried.  I remember driving to Texas when I was six or seven years old.  I was old enough to understand that we were driving across the country and that the drive was going to end eventually but I still remember whining and crying about having to be in the car.  So I was very happy that Lily took the car parts so well!

4.  We spent Friday night and all day Saturday in Amarillo, Texas with some family.  We staied at my Grandfather’s house and got to see one of my aunts and her family.  Then I took Thomas and Lily to meet my Father’s mother.  We’ve had the worst luck with timing trips.  every time I’ve seen my Nana since I’ve been with Thomas he has either been deployed or in training andcould never make the trip with me.  So it was really special to have her meet my husband and her great granddaughter for the first time!  I absolutely loved spending time with everyone in Texas and am really glad that we are only a 10 hour drive from them now:)

5.  With that being said, I do have to say that I was mildly miserable the whole time.  I woke up on the second day of the trip with a lame head cold:(  Thomas was a little under the weather as well but I took the cake.  I think I sneezed every 30 seconds for twenty-some hours and then it progressed to a cough and then a horrendous hack:(  I slept a lot.  I tried to stay awake for Thomas while he was driving and avoided the NyQuil at all costs.  But I slept a lot. 

6.  So, that means that there aren’t many “cross country” pictures:/ For one thing, the states we drove through weren’t all that exciting or pretty.  We drove through the NC/TN mountains in the middle of the night.  I slept through TN.  Arkansas was ugly and boring.  Oklahoma was beautiful but I was asleep for most of that.  Texas and NM, asleep or too miserable to remember that I had a camera and/or fingers to use it.  So, there will be a few.  But don’t expect anything spectacular;)

7.  Arizona.  It’s hard to think of this place as “home”.  It’s going to take me a while to stop thinking about “when we get back to NC…”.  Or to wrap my head around the fact that I might never live in North Carolina again.  Bizarre.

8.  But, we have a home!  We finished all of the paper work at 7:00 this morning and the loan has gone through, so the house has been paid for!  We get the title tomorrow:)  We do have to wait to move it.  That won’t happen until the 2nd.  But I am very excited about moving in and getting settled!

9.  Halloween is coming up, fast!  Lily is going as a bumble bee:)  We are pretty excited about taking her Trick-or-treating for the first time!  Thomas is buying her a wagon this week and can’t stop talking about pulling her around in it!  Hopefully there will be nice weather that night and we’ll have a good time!

10.  Ten.  It’s still not Tuesday.  I watched CLOVERFIELD tonight:)  Love that movie.  LOVE special features for movies.  These ones were pretty lame.  But I’m listening to the director’s commentary while I’m typing this and there’s a ton of neat information.  I likeie:)  They mentioned CHILDREN OF MEN and now I really want to see it again.  I think I might have to go out and pick up some movies this week:)  Hope you all have a great week.  Thank you for all of the love and support through our move.  I’ll get some pictures up here for you soon:)

1.  Sorry I’ve been MIA.  Last Tuesday my house was being loaded into an 18-wheeler to be taken to Arizona.  I meant to blog earlier than this but things have been hectic. 

2.  My parents came to Pope for a quick visit last Monday.  They ended up leaving withboth of our dogs andd Lillian that afternoon.  We figured it would be a great way for Thomas and I to be able to focus on everything we still needed to get done before the move and for all of our family andfriends in Jacksonville to spend a little bit of extra time withLily.  It turned out great.  The first few days were hard for us.  It’s really not easy to go back to the “single life” once you become parents.  But we enjoyed having some alone time together.  Lily got to spend nights withboth sets of grandparents and see all of her aunts and church buddies:)  She handled the time away from us like a champ.  But everyone was happy to be back together again on Saturday morning:)

3.  Miss Lillian is 14 months old, as of yesterday.  It’s amazing to see how much she has changed even since her birthday in August!  She is walking so fast now… teetering on running and can say a handful of words [mumma, dada, Mya, kitty, dogdog, stop, don't, no, yay, and nose].  She also knows what a nose is and will point to yours if you ask her to:)  I’m verrry proud of her for that lol.  She loves purses and spoons still.  She is ridiculously busy and energetic.  She talks and sings and screams and dances and explores all day long.  She sleeps wonderfully and is still a very sweet little girl although, we are starting to see streaks of her mommy’s stubbornness and determination coming out in her these days.  All in all we count our blessings everyday.  We are beyond lucky to be that little monster’s parents… and we know it!

4.  I <3 Phoenix!  “Rome” just popped up on my iTunes playlist and I thought I would share withall of you that I love that band:)  Band of Horses, The Avett Brothers and M. Ward are amazing as well, just saying;)

5.  Back on track…  Lily is still batteling her diaper rash.  It was horrendous Saturday and Sunday.  We’ve tried a million different diapers and ointments/creams/pastes and home remedies.  We have stopped using diaper wipes and started using just warm, wet wash clothes to clean her.  We slather her up with Neosporin and are using 7th Generation diapers [which are chlorine free disposable diapers].  That combo seems to be working.  We are still going to take her in this morning to have it checked out and hopefully get an antibiotic or something to clear it up completely.  I can’t imagine her sitting in her car seat for the trip to Arizona with the rash as it is right now.  So fingers crossed for her.

6.  Lily got to spend the afternoon with a set of her Great Grandparents yesterday!  Thomas’ father’s parents drove down from Eden, NC to see us before we had to leave.  It was wonderful to see them again andfor them to get to spend a few hours with Lily.  She was tired and her bottom was bothering her but we all enjoyed the visit very much.  She’s about to see 3 more Great Grandparents later this week when we drive through Texas:)

7.  Today is the day!  I have lived in North Carolina since December 1986.  I was 10 months old when my parents moved here from Texas.  Twenty-three years.  And it ends today.  We will be pulling out of my parents driveway tonight around 8:00 to start our cross-country trip to start our new lives in Arizona!  I have a million feelings about the trip and the move.  Most are positive but it’s so hard to think about leaving all of my family and friends here.  I know that our lives will go on and I just pray that that doesn’t mean that our lives will grow apart.  I struggle when I think of my daughter growing up in a completely different environment and culture than what I grew up in.  I hope that what ever lays ahead for her is beautiful and wondrous and loving… and safe.

8.  So far everything is on track with the Arizona house!  Our loan was approved a few days ago and we are set to close on the house on Monday the 26th:)  I can not wait to move in on the 2nd and have all of our things delivered on the 4th.  I’m ready to make a new home with my little family:)

9.  I’m also ready to add to my little family!  I have had Kitten Fever for a few months now.  My great friend, Debra has a litter of kittens right now and I want one of them so badly.  I have definitely learned that I am more of a cat person than a dog person.  Though I love my dogs, I miss having a cat.  Thomas talked me out of taking one of Debra’s fluffy little cuties.  It would be pretty stressful on the kitten to be in a box for 4 days, cross country and then to live in a little hostess house with 3 people and 2 huge dogs before finally moving into our home.  So, we’ve agreed to wait and get settled in before we add a new family member. 

10.  And, of course, since I’m talking about new additions I have to bring up my latest!  Saturday my sister, Haley and I got new tattoos together!  I have two small tattoos already.  One that I got a few nights before my wedding for Thomas and another that I got with Debra andanother friend of ours the month before I got pregnant with Lillian.  Haley had never had one before and I was so happy to be there with her while she got her first one!  It was a great day together and something that I will always remember.  I’m looking forward to the day our other sister, Hunter is old enough to join us:) 

11.  Lookie lookie, bonus rounds:)  New Moon comes out in a month!  That’s the second movie in the Twilight Saga, in case some of you aren’t as crazy as I am and don’t know that already;)  I’m pretttty excited to see this one!  Thomas isn’t very thrilled and I’ve mentioned going by myself on opening night if he really didn’t want to come with me!  I have no problem with that!  I’m sure there will be plenty of great women standing in line for hours with me:x

12.  Last but not least… Pictures are coming soon!!  I have 4 memory cards full.  I will get them dumped onto the computer tomorrow and will work on them once I get to the hostess house in Arizona:)  There are sure to be some great ones coming your way!  Stay tuned and say some prayers for us as we make this huge trip together!