Here it is:)

I have lots going on today, in my head and with Lily so I’m not going to post about the house just yet. Wanted to get a picture up for all of you though. More later;)

1.  I apologize that this is so late, but it isss still Tuesday;).  And I apologize for not blogging in a week.  It’s been pretty hectic but I will try to catch you all up:)

2.  We are under contract for a house in Arizona!  I am going to post pictures tonight or tomorrow morning and will give you all of the details on it;)

3.  The trip to Arizona was stressful on a hundred different levels.  But we all managed to have a good time and make it home in one piece.  Lily was amazing on the flights home.  She was awake for both flights, falling asleep within minutes of both landings!  We really couldn’t have asked for a smoother trip!

4.  It is so nice to be back in North Carolina!  I know I will only be here for a few more weeks but I am trying my hardest to enjoy every ounce of this weather and environment! 

5.  Arizona is soooo bright!  I know that sounds silly and obvious but it was so shocking to me.  The heat was wonderful.  One hundred and six on our first day there and I never broke a sweat!  But my God it was bright!  There is no escaping the sunshine.  When we were driving my legs would burn from the sun shining through the windows.  The dry air shriveled my contacts before we left the airport and I had to wear glasses the whole time and couldn’t wear my sunglasses so I looked ridiculous, squinting sooo much! 

6.  But it sure was beautiful!  Flying in all you see are these gorgeous mountains and hills.  We are completely surrounded by them.  It’s brown, that’s for sure!  But there are still tons of plants and trees!  They are bizarre plants and trees, almost like they are from Mars, but beautiful in their own rights!  I saw a covey of quail on the side of the road one day and thought I was going to die with excitement!  And Dirty Devils too!  Those are the big cyclones of dirt that twist through the desert.  I almost died when I saw the first one while we were driving.  I went into total “pull over, get in a ditch” mode for a second thinking that it was a tornado:p  But they are everywhere and not dangerous.  So they just kind of become this peaceful part of this whole new world to me.  I love that I will have to change my way of thinking about the world.  Change my habits and tastes to fit into this new environment.  I’ve never had to do that before and I’m excited about it!

7.  We are back in Fayetteville.  We spent a few days in Jacksonville with our families but drove home early Monday morning so Thomas could get back to work.  It’s strange thinking that this won’t be our home anymore in a few weeks.

8.  We have already started sorting, packing and cleaning for the move.  We have a few inspections coming up and the movers will be here in the 12th to pack up the house.  We’ve already donated a ton of things that we don’t want to move with us.

9.  Tonight we bought a stainless steal fridge for the new house.  The house comes with all of the other appliances so we went out just to shop around and price them at a few different stores.  But once we walked into the first one we found a great open box deal on a top and bottom, french door for under $1,000!  It’s being delivered on Friday:)

10.  Tonight I’m exhausted.   I bought a few books at Target.  “Night” being one of them.  I read it in high school like I’m sure most of you did.  I’ve read it 3 times since but have never owned it.  It’s a new translation… Translated by his wife.  I am really excited to dive into that tonight.  A little apprehensive as well though.  This book always takes me to another level in my heart and in my head.  It drains me and fills me up.  I’m never really prepared for the affect it has on me.

So we made it to Tucson:) I do have to say that it was -and still is, I guess- the longest day of my life though.
We had to leave my parent’s house at 1:30 in the morning so Thomas and I never went to bed. I guess we were to anxious/nervous/excited to sleep. The two and a half hour drive to the airport in Raleigh was tough. We were both pretty tired by that point and I was getting a little edgy:/ Lily slept the whole way but was wide awake and smiling by the time we walked into the terminal. The airport was so wonderful at 5:00 a.m.! No crowd, no rush! We relaxed a little after that and played with Lily at the gate before we boarded. The first flight was packed. We were all the way in the back but we got to sit together and that was all that I cared about. Lily went into freak-out-mode for a few minutes when everyone started boarding.

Thomas got that one and only picture before we had to get out of everyone’s way:p She fell asleep right after the plane took off but that picture pretty much sums up the second flight!
I do want to say that I somehow was smart enough to upload the CD of lullabies that Lily listens to every night at bed time onto my ipod. I held the head phones beside her head while that plane was taking off and she was passed out by the second song:)
The second flight started out fine. We all fell asleep almost right away. But Lily was too uncomfortable and just wanted to lay flat on her back or stomach, which just wasn’t possible. She was overly tired and ticked off that I wasn’t helping her to get comfortable. So, she screamed. And screamed. It was terrible. We were totally “that family” with “that baby”. The poor guy sitting next to us just ignored it all. But people stared. We tried food, juice, toys… it wasn’t happening. I was thinking she was just going to have to cry herself back to sleep because there was nothing more we could do for her. But then God sent me an angel lol. One of the stewardesses walked by and stopped and asked if I minded her walking with Lily!? I handed her over without even thinking twice. Thomas looked at me like I was crazy but I knew it would help and I couldn’t do it so I might as well let the angel do it;) She had her for about 10 minutes. I tried to sleep but just kept feeling bad for having her on a plane. Mom guilt is the worst. I knew there wasn’t anything else I could have done but I still felt like a bad mother. After we got Lily back she still had a hard time but we finally got her distracted by looking at the mountains through the window and eating a cookie. I think the pressure from the cabin had a lot to do with her discomfort so I was glad she was finally chewing on something to help with that.
Once we landed she was fine. We picked up our rental car, checked into our hotel and met our realtor, Chad at 1:00. We drove out to Rancho Sahaurita, took a tour of the neighborhood center and then looked at 4 houses. The first two both had great aspects to them but not everything we were looking for. The third house… well, we fell in love with it almost instantly. It has everything we were looking for. We looked at the 4th house, which was the same floor plan as the third but on a corner lot. We just liked the third house better for a few different reasons. We have one more house to look at in the morning. After that we’re going to re-tour the third house and then make a decision on one of them.
After we left the fourth house we went to dinner and then back to the hotel. Which isn’t really a hotel. We are staying in one of the family suits on the Air Force base. We get a kitchen and dinning room and washer and dryer. Anywho, Thomas gave Lily a bath and then laid down with her and fell asleep [at 7:00 lol].

I am still up, watching King Kong on t.v. and blogging. I have nooo idea why I’m not sleepy. I am exhausted. I’ve been up for over 36 hours at this point. But I guess I’m too excited -or nervous- about tomorrow. But I need to get to bed. I’m sure Lily will still be all out of wack from the time change tomorrow and we have a long day ahead of us. So, I apologize for the horribly re sized pictures. I have no idea what I’m doing outside of photoshop. If i could have gotten away with carrying on my desktop, I would have! In a heart beat! But I will just have to make due until the weekend! I’m going to finish this movie and head to bed. It’s only 9:15 here. This time difference is going to be killer!

Last round!  I promise;)

These are my favs from the shoot.  Just because I felt a little more at home outside!  Nothing spectacular about these, but I think she looks amazing and I loved her shirt! 

I was grasping at thin air when I was trying to think of something cute to do so that the pictures would “show” that she was having triplets! I figured the bow-around-belly was an easy enough way to do it! I haven’t seen it done for multiples before but I think it worked! What do youuu think!?!?

The bracelet Gretchen is wearing is in memory of a friend of theirs that they lost last year. TSgt Will Jefferson was killed in action a few weeks after deploying. His loss was felt through out the entire squadron but fueled the men still down range to complete their missions with that much more passion and determination. Billy and Gretchen’s baby boy’s middle name is going to be Jefferson in honor of Will!

This morning was GLORIOUS! My mom woke up with Lily and took care of her alll morning for me! I was able to get all of Gretchen’s pictures finished! I’m going to post some of my favorites in a few different posts, just so they aren’t overwhelmed!

Gretchen has two sons already. Ryan is 16 and Garreth is 6! Her triplets are 2 baby girls [yay:)] and another baby boy!
Her sons were great at the shoot! Ryan helped me carry everything in and out to the car! And Garreth is such a joy! He was so sweet… well, until he started launching golf balls at my head in the backyard lol!
But like I said in the last post, Gretchen is a wonderful mother and her sons are proof of that! These new three are a lucky bunch;)

Garreth kissing his babies

Gretchen specifically asked for this shot! It’s the whole family’s hands on her tummy! I l o v e it!

Gretchen and Ryan

Gretchen is amazing! Full of spirit, joy and love! She has been so great to me since I’ve lived in Fayetteville and while we were trying to get pregnant with Lily! She truly is a beautiful woman and mother! I can not wait to meet those three little miracles in that ridiculously gorgeous belly of hers!
I worked on the first set of pictures from her session tonight but I’m burned out from a long day in Jacksonville and my contacts are bothering me [:/] so I’m going to post a few of my favs from this batch tonight and then get to work on the rest tomorrow while my mom watches Lily for me!
Hope you all like these, Gretchen and Billy especially! “Studio” stuff is not my strong suit, but I gave it my best shot! It was a great learning experience… thanks for that guys:)

…and many, many more to come:)

Lily had her 12 month well-baby appointment on Friday. Thomas took off to come with me. I knew she was going to need shots and blood work and wanted him to be there with us… and I’m glad I did!
The appointment with the Pediatrician went fine enough. I’m not a fan of her doctor but she gave Lily an excellent bill of health!

12 month statistics:
Weight: 21.2 pounds – 47th percentile
Height: 29.1 inches – 24th percentile
Head: 17.9 inches – 25th percentile

Still on the small side. She’s plateaued a little but looks fine and as long as she rises on the growth chart by 15 months then they don’t think there is anything to worry about. She’s probably just going to be petite!

As far as her shots and blood work go, it was terrible. Lily did great. She screamed and tried to get out of my lap of course but she calmed down really fast after wards. She got 4 shots in her little thighs and had to have ACTUAL blood work done. I was under the impression that they were just going to prick her finger and collect a few drops of blood… and that was hard enough for me to imagine handling! But they sat her down in my lap and tied a tourniquet around her arm and stuck a needle inside of her armpit and drew a whole vile. She was scared… I was surprised! I was so happy when he finished. She looked PISSED! They wrapped her arm and let us go. She was pretty calm when we got to the car but kept pulling on the arm wrap so I took it off and gave it to her and she just bit it and threw it on the floor and cried a little! It was cute. Like she was taking it out on the wrap or something!
Once we got home she was fine. I gave her some milk and she walked around the house singing and talking to her toys with her cute little band-aids on her thighs! All was good.
The next two days were a little rough. I think the shots and the fact that she’s cutting some molars right now caused a bit of a fever and a heat rash on her face. The fever and rash broke after some Tylenol but she was still super grumpy for a few days and pretty much just slept it off. She was very cuddly though! So I loved laying with her sleeping on my chest on the couch! I have really missed that since she was a tiny baby so I really cherished that!
Anywho, here is a quick little shot of her totting around the house after the shots with her band-aids on her legs and sipping on her milk:)

I hope you all had a great weekend! I’m loving this new blog and the freedom I feel like I have to post whenever I want! If you followed the Baby Whitten blog you know I only posted once a week so I hope you are loving the new blog as well and feel like you are getting a little more out of reading it! Anywho, on to the top 10 things in life right now! [in no particular order of course;)] Lots to talk about!

1. LILY IS WEANED!!! It was amazing! Nothing like I had always heard it would be like! Lily was nursing after dinner last week and bit me really hard… blood rolling down her cheek, hard! So I knew it was time to really stop! She nursed Thursday morning for the LAST time! I didn’t know it was going to be the last time or I would have cuddled her a little longer instead of putting her back in her crib:/ That night we were out running errands and got home right at her bed time so we just laid her down with out nursing and she slept through the night. The next morning I got up with her and made her breakfast without nursing her and she never fussed a bit! She slept through the night that night as well. She has woken up the last two nights but I’ve just been taking her into the living room and snuggling her on the couch while she has some water and then I lay her back down in her crib and in the morning she gets breakfast as soon as she gets up and gets a diaper change! She hasn’t nuzzled me or pulled on my shirt once! I never got engorged or had any pain what so ever! It has been amazing! I am sooo verrrry thankful that it has gone so smoothly! I miss nursing. I’ve been doing it for over a year so it’s still my first instinct when she gets fussy or tired. But I am glad to be free of it. It’s so much fun watching her grow into a beautiful little girl. I’m happy to let go of her last baby thing. I’m excited for all of our futures now!

2. And part of that excitement is that we are going to start actively trying for another baby now that I am done nursing. I say actively because we haven’t been preventing since Lily was born but we haven’t been trying either. It took us a while to get pregnant with Lily [20 months] so we decided that we would rather start trying now in case it takes us a while again. We have always wanted our children to be close together so it doesn’t make sense to us to start preventing now. We were very humbled by our fertility journey the first time around and we maintain that humility. This is 100% in God’s hands. We won’t get pregnant again until God deems us ready. But we are going to try and just enjoy this second time around. We are so lucky and incredibly thankful to have Lily. If another baby isn’t in the cards for us we would never be able to complain. I see this new journey with completely fresh eyes. I am excited and hopeful but I am not desperate or bitter like I had been while waiting to become a mother. I feel so blessed right now and another baby would only add to the blessing. Not having one will never be able to take away the blessing we already have! So, we ask that you all respect that this probably won’t happen right away. As soon as it does we will let you allll know! Just be sensitive, supportive and excited for us and with us! That’s all we ask!

3. We leave in F I V E days! With our move to Arizona coming up in a month we have decided to fly out to Tucson to meet with our [wonderful] real estate agent, Chad to hunt for a house for a few days! We are going to be driving to Jacksonville Friday night to celebrate my sister’s 11th birthday, drop off the dogs with my parents and spend all day saturday with my mom and/or Thomas’ family as well. Then we fly out of Raleigh at six on Sunday morning. We are flying back to Raleigh on Thursday night and then spending a few days in Jacksonville with the familias before we head back to Pope!

4. We have been looking at houses in the Rancho Sahuarita community [Google it! It is one of the top 5 neighborhoods in AMERICA! It's amazing! We're excited!] for a few weeks now! Chad is sending us updated listings tonight! We’re going through and making our top 10 list! Keep us in your prayers… if everything goes good we will leave Arizona with a new home:)

5. I am seriously in need of some entertainment ideas and/or prayers for the plane rides! Lily’s never been on a plane. I remember flying to Texas when my sister, Hunter was 1 or 2 years old but I can’t for the life of me remember how she handled it or what we did to keep her entertained! I guess I’m going to be doing some googling the next few nights to try and come up with something for her! But I am strangely calm about it right now. I guess I kind of fall into the “take it as it comes” Mom category! I’m convinced that’s fine but a small part of me just worries I’ll be unprepared. We’ll see I guess.

6. I need to go get ready. Lily and I are going to lunch with Thomas and some guys from his shop to celebrate a birthday. Hooters. Let’s just hope it doesn’t throw Lily back into wanting to nurse:p JUST KIDDING;) Be back in an hour to finish this:D

7. Well, we went to Red Robin instead! Lily played shy the whole ride there since one of Thomas’ co-workers sat next to her in the car. But she warmed up to him and flirted all through lunch! My food was pretty nasty. I’m not a fan of that place. But I did like the bottomless french fries. They made up for the gross burger!

8. We decided to start taking 24 hours every week away from our computers. Wednesday nights just seemed logical since we are going to be participating in a small “connection group” for our church on those nights while we are still in town! So no Internet, gaming or editing for 24 hours!

9. I got a head start on that. I took a few days away from my virtual world over the weekend. Today is really my first day back and all I’ve done is skim my facebook dashboard and write this post. On any given day I am on two photography message boards, gmail, facebook, twitter, and check about ten blogs. Plus any other research I do that day or editing and or posting on here. I noticed that I have really been taking advantage of Lily being so self entertained lately. I think it is great for kids to be able to get along with themselves and not be solely dependant on their parent’s or siblings to be entertained. But just because she can do it doesn’t mean she should do it all the time! I was really convicted and my eyes were opened to how much time I was spending on my computer and I knew that I just needed to step away! It wasn’t very hard at all! I even turned my blackberry to “phone only” alert mode so my messages just started piling up on themselves. I think that since most of my time on the computer is more like work/school to me that it wasn’t very hard to step away from it. Almost refreshing! I loved laying around with Lily and had a pretty busy weekend any ways so I actually enjoyed not worrying about what I was missing on my boards or what was going on in everyone else’s lives!

10. I did a maternity session this weekend for a friend of mine! Gretchen was one of the spouses in Thomas’ squadron when we moved here and took me under her wing and made me feel welcomed! They have since moved to another squadron and to a house off base but it was great to get to catch up with her and do pictures for her! She tried for a number of years to get pregnant and was finally successful with IVF! VERY successful! They are expecting Triplets next month! I will be working on her pictures tonight and tomorrow and will have a little sneak peak up soon:)

Wooo, that was a lot!  Thanks for sticking it out and reading it all;)  I’ll get some pictures up soon!  Have a great week!

Like I said in a previous post, Thomas has had to work late a few nights a week lately.  So our days are pretty long around here!  I tried to break it up for Lily a little yesterday [especially after Tuesday's t.v. incident] and took her out into the field behind our house.  She usually hates grass but I think she’s finally coming around.  Shoes help a lot I think! 

It was a great lazy afternoon.  Lily walked all over the place talking and squealing.  She would plop down and play in the grass for a while and then hop up and keep on going!  She loves to explore.  A kid was crossing the field behind me and Lily started waving and took off after him!  He crossed in no time but Lily kept in his direction at her cute, slow pace until she couldn’t see him anymore and then sat down and played with her shoe!

She really is the sweetest baby!  We are so lucky to have her!  Sometimes I wonder where she came from… could there really have been that much good in Thomas and myself to make such a sweet child together!?