FaceTime

With Mooma & Grandaddy wearing the Halloween outfit from Mooma. AND sitting on the coffee table. She's got our hands full.

Sisterly love

No pictures please.

Rain strikes again

Ryan & I are beginning to wonder if Georgians have ever driven in wet weather before. Just since I've started this post, we've passed three more accidents, not including those in these next pics.

Jack...knife

Thanks buddy for crashing your semi, causing us sit in standstill traffic for over an hour with a toddler past due for her nap and a fussy baby who's not exactly fond of her car seat. Oh and a cat that's been drugged but still going strong. Thank you. Very much. PS- I hope you're okay.

Blackmail

Blue? Green? Brown?

Will Cora's eyes stay blue like Ryan's or turn brown like mine or turn green like this crazy wackadoo? I asked Elayna to turn towards me so I could take a picture. And she gives me this crazy face. She mentioned she was hungry. Maybe she was expecting food with the photo shoot? Who knows.

Hot Fuzz

Check out this way too cool hairdo.  It's nearly a mohawk.  (I know, I know.  She's already a month old-- TODAY!!!-- and still no birth announcements.  I'm waiting for the acne to clear up some before I send them out.)

Nice shiner!

Now that the cuts and scrapes have kinda cleared she's left with a nice black eye. And of course she had a doctor appointment the day after she fell. The doctor saw her and said, "WHAT happened?" One of my more embarrassing parenting moments. So she's a whopping 27 pounds and healthy.

Hmm...

Tommy Boy--I mean Elayna Girl...

We went to the park this evening so Elayna and Mati could run off some energy.  Where our human child got into a few fights...

Once with a swing...

and another with the slide...

When Elayna was "all dee" swinging she let go before Ryan had her and planted a nice one on the mulch.  Her poor face.  And then she had a run in with the slide, which reminds me of one of the more hilarious scenes in Tommy Boy after David Spade whales on him with a 2x4:

Tommy: "Man, my face really hurts, is there a mark?"
Dick: "Nope, looks fine."
Tommy: "Are ya sure? Not so much here, or up here, but right here!"
Dick: "Nope, nothing."
Waitress: "Can I take your order... What happened to your face!!"

Haha.  Now I'm in a Tommy Boy mood.

Prayer

My 2 year old daughter has a better prayer life than I do. I think I may need to step up my game.


Not even kidding.  Elayna is constantly in prayer.  And like the cutest little girl, she puts her hands together and bows her head.  (Is that a trick you taught her, Mooma?)  Every night she wants to pray before going to sleep.  So every night we pray for O-pa, Crrr, Didi, Aaa, Mooma, and Bala.  In that order.  Sometimes for Mati and Juju or the baby too.  


I really need to get some pictures or a video of her.  It's just too precious.  The fact that Elayna talks to God more than I do makes me realize how not-good my relationship is with Him.  This needs to change.  Every day she is teaching me something, usually about myself, that makes me stop and think.  Having children is one of the most difficult things I've ever done.  But it's also the most rewarding... so all of the lack of sleep and dirty diapers and screaming and whining and headaches are totally worth it.  Totally.

Horse Cake

This is a close up of Elayna's birthday cake.  I found it on A Garden of Cakes and it was the cutest, least obnoxious horse cake out there.  I immediately fell in love with it, as you probably remember from previous posts.  Anyway, I never gave appropriate credit to the artist and would like to now.  Her name is Elaine Jones of Katherine's Cakes.  Here is the link to her facebook profile where you can find more photos of her work.

Birthday Pictures

Just a little late! Better than never though, right?

Chuck E. Cheese

Before Cora was born, we took Elayna to Chuck E. Cheese. Riding this horse is what she did MOST of the time. It's a good thing Mooma & Grandaddy were there. Having extra eyes on her made me feel better. Not to mention that left Ryan and me free to play games. And I think WE had more fun winning tickets so she could trade them all in for a mini-tootsie-pop and novelty box. 

I don't think she's a fan of the giant mechanical rat and his friends, but I definitely see another visit in her future.

Fusser

That's what we have on our hands if Cora's not being held or fed or changed. Seriously. The only exception is at night, thank goodness. So here she is in the moby wrap... strapped to me.  Elayna was a little clingy at times but nothing like this lil' miss.

Perkins

The only outside storage.

The duplex as a whole.  The tree is covering our mid-point.

Our single drive, side door, and kitchen window.  There's a dining room window next to the side door.

Our front.  The windows on the outside are as follows: kitchen, front door, utility door, common bathroom, master bath, bedroom.

This is what you'll see walking into the kitchen from the side door.  The electrical box is behind the door next to the fridge.

This is our catchall room.  I suppose it could be used as a walk-in pantry, but we use it for kitty litter, so nope for us.

This door leads to the dining room.

Pantry next to the kitchen door that leads to the hallway.

Front door.  To the left is the hallway to the bedrooms and to the right is the kitchen.  Directly behind leads to the living room.

Do a 180 and you're heading into the living room.

That's the door that leads to the kitchen/laundry area.  (I said the house wasn't picked up.  just wait, it's even worse when we get to Elayna's room.)

The hall entrance.  To your immediate left is the first bedroom with a double closet.  to your immediate right is a double closet and then the common bath. 

The 1st bedroom.  Sorry, I deleted the other side of the room.  It's literally just a double window, similar to the one you'll see in the master bedroom.

There's just enough room for a half-pedestal sink and the toilet.  Above the sink is a mirrored medicine cabinet from the 60's.  The ONLY outlet in the bathroom is attached to the lightbulb above the mirror.  And the light has to be on for the power outlet to work.

After the 1st bedroom, you've got a linen closet to your left and then another double closet to your right.

Then you'll be at the bedrooms.  To your left, you'll have bedrooms 2 & 3 perpendicular to one another, and then the master bedroom directly at the end of the hall.  Next to the nightstand is a single closet.

The master bath and double closet.  Hallway.

The awfully messy third bedroom.

And I had a video of the second bedroom since Cora was asleep, but it won't upload.  It's smaller than the 3rd bedroom.  About the size of the 1st.  

You're definitely welcome to walk through our house when you get to Benning.  Just let me know when.  Hopefully the house won't be as embarrassing as these photos.  And if you want any other photos or more details, let me know.  I can get them for you.  Either about the house or anything else.  When were you guys heading this way?  Sometime this month?

I'm excited you'll be heading this way.  It's neat to be able to see people we've met early on in the Army. We just ran into one of Ryan's friends from ROTC at the vet the other day.