Merry Christmas!!

From our house to yours, wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Vacation: Myrtle Beach, part 1.

So, on to the second leg of our trip....MYRTLE BEACH

After visiting Fort Sumter and Charleston, we make the trek up to Myrtle Beach! Such a beautiful area, and it was a great time of year to visit.  As it was late September, it was still warm but the masses were not there.  Kids were back in school, so the off season was PERFECT for Addie's first vacation.  We really did not do a whole lot, except relax and enjoy being away from the Texas heat.

Jason's mom, Toni, flew up to vacation with us.  And to allow Jason and I to golf! You haven't golfed until you've golfed in Myrtle Beach! 

I want to go ahead and post a few pictures, but I have a few videos and photos I need to get off my iPhone that I want to share as well.

Adelai & Dad about to hit the beach...

"Oh no, where is he taking me!!!"

"Maybe this place isn't too bad..."

Loved this one of Jason and Addie!

First time in the ocean!!!

Look at that cute swimsuit & hat!

Getting ready to ride the ferris wheel!
I am thinking Addie has her reservations!

Grandma Toni and Adelai

Vacation: Charleston, South Carolina

I snapped this while walking back up to Adelai and Jason, I found it so sweet...

Well, as I predicted, school and life has gotten in the way of updating.  I apologize...but tis life!

So, here is the beginning of a series of posts about our wonderful vacation!

Jason, Addie, my Mom, and I left Wichita Falls on Sunday, September 18, 2011 to head to Plano to stay with Tori, Colin and Brendan before we headed out on vacation.  After two days of pure madness in preparation, where murphy's law hit the Merrills in every conceivable way.  First, I ordered a new golf travel bag from Amazon with two-day shipping.  Come the Friday before we were to leave, it still had not shipped.  Yet Amazon in its infinite wisdom would not let me cancel said golf bag order, so it arrived a week after we even left.  (Let's just say that it was returned with a strongly worded letter...) Then we found a golf travel  bag in Wichita Falls, got it home and it was covered in MOLD! Seriously.  So after taking it back and having to get the display model, as it was the only one left..we were finally set. Or so I thought, as a storm rolled in Saturday night, which caused a leak in our dining room.  Water was everywhere...only to us folks, I tell ya.  Only to us.

Anyway!!! We just happen to be visiting on Colin's birthday! So the 7 of us, naturally, had to celebrate Colin's birthday! We wound up going to Top Golf in Allen, and we had a blast.  This place is possibly the coolest golf driving range ever, it is hard to explain it, but needless to say we enjoyed ourselves.  And Colin had a wonderful birthday!

Tori, Brendan, Addie and Mom hanging out at Top Golf

On Monday morning, after a night of not sleeping due to a) Addie sleeping in Brendan's crib and Sly (their cat) constantly threatening to hop in the crib with her, b) excitement over Addie's first big trip and c) fear of missing our plane, we finally somehow managed to make it to Dallas Love Field.  Where all insanity set in.

Imagine me and Jason with Addie in hand trying to carry two large suitcases, her carseat, a small suitcase, a golf bag, a diaper bag, and a backpack with both of our laptops (as I am in school right now and Jason is in over his head in fantasy football).  We did not really think it through and thought Colin could just drop us off curbside.  Yeah, that did not work at all.   Colin had to park and helped us get checked in...thank God!

Getting through security with a baby was not as bad as I expected.  We got sent to the front of the line, and everyone was so helpful.  Except TSA decided to open Addie's bottles of breastmilk and proceed to spill some on their table.  I found this kinda funny, but the TSA lady was pretty grossed out.  It is what she gets for opening it...

One thing that was pretty fun was strolling through the airport keeping Addie entertained.  She was pretty happy watching everything.  And it was pretty awesome having everyone comment on how cute she is.  Something I know, but is still fun to hear everyone say it repeatedly.

Addie was not even bothered by the airplane.  As soon as we took off she passed out.  I was worried she wouldn't sleep on the second leg from Houston to Charleston, but she did:

Addie is a fan of Southwest Airlines and their free baggage allowance!
It puts her at ease and allows her to relax while flying!

We landed in Charleston and took off to see the sights! Our wonderful friends the Broussards were stationed at Charleston AFB, and were incredibly jealous we were visiting.  But Dallas was kind enough to recommend some good eats and fun places to visit! I am in love with Charleston and it would be wonderful if we could be stationed there someday--I doubt it will happen, but I totally get why Dallas wants to live there forever and ever amen.

Now for some pictures of Charleston to conclude this post about Charleston!

Fleet Landing, some of the best seafood I have had in forever!

Another pic of Fleet Landing..

Jason taking Addie up to the water fountain, she was pretty amazed by it!

Addie & Daddy!

Random Bird!

Uh oh! Whatever will we do with no lifeguard on duty near the water fountain...?

She looked so sweet!

Jason trying to stuff Addie into a cannon...

Addie thinking "Seriously Dad?"

Addie & Mommy

Arrrrgggh! Getting ready to see the ECU Pirates!

I felt horrible keeping a bib on her so much, but she was
beginning to teeth and was DROOLING everywhere!

At Fort Sumter...sorry her giraffe is in Addie's face..

Thought this was a pretty shot..

4 months already!

Addie turned 4 months today! It really is hard to believe that my little Bug has grown so much in the short span of 4 months.  It feels as if she just arrived, but at the same time feels like she has always been with us.  As though we cannot imagine a life without her...such a departure from just a year ago.

This week has been pretty good! Addie has been doing well with her reflux, and has been rolling over like CRAZY! She loves it and is pretty much rolling all over the house.  I am afraid she is going to be mobile wayyyyyy too soon.  School started back up and was pretty easy this week, so I am not stressed out too much.

We are gearing up for our vacation pretty soon, but we will see if Hurricane Irene puts a damper on our trip to Myrtle Beach, SC, and to visit Grandpa Dave and Grandma Toni in Chesapeake, VA.  We may have to change our plans and visit Seattle instead! I hope, for everyone on the east coast at least, that Hurricane Irene is pretty tame.

So, I started going through the pictures on the Hubby's phone.  Since I always have my phone in my hands, looking through the pictures on his feels foreign.  I feel like I am seeing completely new pictures even though I have seen them all...   His images are a little different, so here is Addie from her Daddy's eyes, or, well, his Blackberry. Happy viewing and happy 4 months to my Addiebug!

Jason took this beautiful pic of us meeting for the first time.

I actually remember taking this now, how I did this I have no idea
because my hands were still numb from the drugs.

I guess Jason was trying to stick his thumb in her mouth,
or she was trying to eat his thumb.  One of those scenarios...

This is my favorite pic of her while we were still at the hospital. So sweet!

One of the first days we had her home. Gosh she was tiny!

I am pretty sure that this was one morning before Jason left
for work and we had passed back out.  

One of the first baths Jason helped with!

Daddy's idea of a toy...

And she's 4 months old now!

I also found this on Jason's phone...our first babies.
He won't admit it but he kinda likes them!
I just feel bad because since we have had Addie, they don't get as much attention...

Hello World...

It is odd to get back into blogging.  While in college, I did the trite blogging thing. (Anyone remember xanga! haha!) Life is so different now, and so wonderful.

I actually setup this blog while in North Dakota, when our little family was just two people strong.  I simply never got around to writing anything, because I felt our lives were boring. (And I was pretty bitter that I lived in North Dakota, and did not wish for that bitterness to overshadow our blessed lives.) That may still be the case, I feel like with our new little addition things are much more interesting.  At least interesting enough to write about!

Since Adelai Evelyn entered this world at 6:31 p.m. on April 26, 2011, we have been happy and extremely sleep deprived.  Learning so much a long the way, and still feeling inadequate at moments but gaining confidence...or at least pretending to have confidence in what we are doing as new parents.  Hoping that that faked confidence can lead to true confidence!

I promise to try to keep this blog updated as much as possible.  On Monday I begin yet another semester at UND, and will have to get back into the books.  Oh, and that whole thesis project that I have done absolutely NOTHING on since before Addie was born. 

So I am just going to post a few pictures of my favorite thing in the whole wide world, and we can begin this new blogging venture with my wonderful Adelai saying hello to the world.