Just the Facts: Part 2

We pick up around the middle of December with Andy finishing his first semester of teaching. I love getting back to the college schedule. It’s wonderful. We packed up the gear and gifts and headed to Andy’s side of the family for Christmas in Charlottesville. It was a great week and a half full of laughs and fun. It was great to watch the kids together (Rhett and his cousin Grace who is 5 months older than he is).

Some Highlights from Christmas with the Geffkens:

-Family photo shoot: My mother-in-law set up a great photo session where we took some big family shots but also got some really great pictures of our individual families.



-Family Trivial Pursuit: Andy put together a ‘family edition’ and I highly recommend every family to do this. It was so fun! And it was a great way to get to know each other. For example, my father-in-law got a perfect score in a gymnastic event back in college and we were supposed to name the event. What hidden information is just waiting to get discovered in your family?

-Christmas Eve pjs: Rhett and Grace got to open one present Christmas eve and get their matching pjs for the night. Of course, Rhett liked the wrapping paper better than the gift but he looked cute in the pjs. Dressing your children like Dr. Seuss characters just never gets old.

-Santa presents: Rhett got his first, non-wrapped present from Santa this Christmas. It was a Black & Decker tool bench that Santa happened to find for only $2.50 at the Goodwill on 221. Thrifty Santa. Santa got out his hot soapy water and Clorox wipes and that thing was as good as new in no time.

-Toys!: Rhett received a lot of toys and he has loved every single one. He plays with all of them throughout the day taking turns. He’ll play with his car toys in the morning then banging toys in the afternoon. He received some hammer toys and drum toys and anything else he received has become a banging toy as well. I’m just PRAYING our downstairs neighbors are non-confrontational…

-Moose Hat: This thing is unbelievable. We thought he was a people-magnet before….

To wrap up the Geffken Christmas, it was a lovely time with everyone. I love seeing how the family grows and expands. It is just going to keep on getting better and better.

Smith family Highlights:

A few days after Christmas, we loaded up the car and drove down to Myrtle Beach to spend New Years with some of my side of the family. We hadn’t been to the beach in over a year and a half and Rhett had never been so it was exciting to think about him experiencing all the classic family things for the first time.

-The Christmas tree: My parents are in transition mode right now so lots of things are in storage so Christmas decorating was a little different this year. My innovative mother decided to save space and keep the huge Christmas tree in storage and instead opted to decorate the palm tree in the living room. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of it but use your imagination. Palm tree. Christmas lights. Ta Da.

-Fireworks at Broadway at the Beach: Kids all around are crying, asking to leave, and Rhett “the Moose” Geffken is sitting there like ‘what’s the big deal?’.

-Time at the beach: Rhett has decided that he loves the outdoors. He will grab your finger and walk you to the front door to go outside now. He had a great time digging in the sand and throwing the football. He even got a little daring and ran to the water a few times. This summer is going to be awesome.



- The arcade: In downtown Myrtle there is this old arcade called “Fun Plaza”. Creepy, right? Yes, a little but this place is great. Our family has been playing the baseball machines forever and they are a tradition that runs deep. It only takes a quarter to play but you’d be amazed how quickly you can burn through $10. It’s a pinball machine so my mom and Rhett decided to play a round. Rhett would push the button to “pitch” the marble and mom (and sometimes Rhett) would use the joystick to “swing”. You need 28 runs to win a stuffed animal but most of the time you are lucky to get to 5 runs. Rhett, with Nonie’s help, not only made it to 28 runs but got 47 runs. 47! That’s unheard of. A family record. People say the force is strong with him. And they are RIGHT.

-Seafood: Rhett got some Calabash shrimp, clams, and devilled crab while on this trip and loved all of it. And little man can put away some hushpuppies. It’s fun to watch him try some of your favorite foods.

We spent lots of time out at the beach (the weather was pretty great) and the rest of the time was spent relaxing or shopping at the outlets : ). It was a great Holiday break and it just another reason why I love the college professor life. We got back in town and I actually took all Christmas decorations down that weekend. It was a record for me. I’m usually that person that keeps Christmas up till St. Patrick’s Day but I needed to get all the storage stuff organized so it had to go… Way to go, Erica.

Just the facts: Part 1

Rainy day: Check.
Hot cup of Jasmine Green Tea: Check.
Rhett down for a nap: Check.
House (relatively) in order: Check.
Glasses on to make me feel intelligent: Check.
Fireplace app on iPad for ambience: Double Check.

Time to blog.

It is shocking to me how much time passes between my posts. I would have guessed my last post was only a month ago but it was more like 3 months ago… So, a lot of life has happened in that time.

Highlights:

Early October, Andy and I went to New York City as part of the Senior Theatre trip for Liberty. This meant Rhett got to go to Camp Nonie and Papa. We missed him and sent my mom lots of pictures of us to show Rhett. I went into the Toys-R-Us and discovered a few things: 1. I may have a serious crush on Iron Man… 2. The new trend of monster dolls and ugly dolls creeps me out. 3. I love being a mom. 4. I would totally be okay having a girl someday in the future.

Somehow, by a power not of my own, I left the store only purchasing a Geoffrey Giraffe dressed as the Statue of Liberty. I was proud of myself.

Various October things: Trip into VA Beach for a show and to visit friends, friends and family visits,a Homecoming game at Liberty, and Run 4 Their Lives (PLEASE visit their website:http://www.freedom424.org/).





On to Halloween. Last year, we set the bar pretty high by going with Star Wars.

I had been anxious about meeting my own expectations since Nov. 1st 2010… We decided to try and continue in the classic movie category but with very. little. success… We chose Ghostbusters and I tried to make Rhett a little Slimer costume but it didn’t quite get there. Mind you, the goal is always to spend as little as possible so cut me some slack. Anyway, we went to a Halloween party the night before with some of the students. Andy went as Venkman (Bill Murray), I was Janine Melnitz (the red-headed secretary), and Rhett went as Slimer. The first sign of failure came when few people had even heard of or seen Ghostbusters. Second, the guesses for Rhett’s costume were: Dinosaur, caterpillar, dragon, frog, a VeggieTale’s character, and finally, Peter Pan. So, we took the reviews of this preview and decided to go a different direction for actual Halloween night. Plan B was a member of the 1992 USA basketball Dream Team.





I can’t really remember anything from November except for Thanksgiving so we’ll just go there. This year, all the family came to Lynchburg and we had a ton of fun. It was a lot of people but somehow my cousin Tammy managed to host all of us. The dinner was great, the time with family was wonderful, but the main event was the Family Olympics. Each family gathering usually involves some sort of tournament and it has included everything from Risk to Karaoke to 3-legged races on the beach. This year was no different, although I think the competition may have been kicked up a notch… We started with teams for Kickball, then moved to street hockey, then four-square, basketball, and finally ping-pong. At the end of the ping-pong round it was clear that my cousin Ronnie had won the Olympics and so the rounds of football and foosball were cut from the tournament. I have never moved so much after a giant turkey dinner before. Bleh.




The first part of December flew by. Rhett and I did a lot of shopping trips and he was always SO good. I am still shocked by his resiliency to keep on a smile. I was offered a role in a show coming up in the Spring (Yay! More on this later) AND I won an iPad 2. Both on the same day. Emily suggested I run for President with the luck I was having. I’ll pick up the next post with Christmas and New Years.

Rhett, the one year old

I would like to introduce to you a sweet, yet feisty, one year old name Rhett. He’s in the 50th percentile in weight, 5th percentile in height, AND (drum roll) off the charts in head circumference (like, over 100th percentile). At his one year check up the doctor said “Aw, has he always been a little guy?” and I about took out the doctor right then and there. I guess that defensive gear runs deep in moms…. She wasn’t even being rude or anything but it still made me mad. “How dare you call my nearly 2ft tall child small. You must be in the 5th percentile in perception…and… and…95th percentile in doctor’s I won’t be visiting again... How do you like those statistics?!”


Over-reacting is something I can do remarkably well when given the right opportunity.


Oh, and don’t let Rhett’s blonde hair fool you. He has red-head genes that are starting to show. That I can say he probably gets honest. His temper is starting to come out and I always remind him “YOU AREN’T TWO YET”. During diaper changes he likes to kick the diaper and diaper cream out of your hand. His kicks are usually accompanied by an angry face and either yelling or growling. That same combination can be seen when he is done eating and tries to grab the spoon to throw it on the ground (usually while it is still topped with food). Not the most charming quality I’ve seen from Rhett but we are working on it. I am trying to see it as a head-start on discipline. The hard part is that he is so passionate about kicking the diaper wipes or tossing his sippy cup that it is just funny. It makes me laugh, which is TERRIBLE because then it is a game. I am doing my best to give him a stern “No” face and then turn or quickly get out of the room to laugh… Also, he thinks my ‘serious Mommy face’ is funny. That’s no good either. My mom had a killer discipline face. She has this one eyebrow that can go clear up to her hairline that screams “try it one more time, I dare you”. Me? Apparently I’m as intimidating as a golden retriever puppy. Maybe I need to start channeling my inner Michelle Pfeiffer (a la Dangerous Minds).

Rhett is very good about playing in his room alone. I put on a mix of songs (free from amazon.com in the children's section. Check it out)and he will entertain himself while I get some much needed time to do chores. As I have mentioned before, we have a gate that blocks him from the dresser and the door so I can still see him and hear him. He has a musical Winnie the Pooh rocker that is on loan from his cousin and every time the song plays he stops what he is doing and bounces along with the song then goes back to his activity when the song is over. He has a lightsaber and swashbuckling sword from his birthday so he can have inter-galactic pirate battles in the comfort of his own room. He also has a giant dinosaur toy that he feeds his farm animals to (I wonder who taught him that…his father?). The basketball hoop in the corner of his room gives him some good b-ball practice. He’s our little “Larry Bird meets Muggsy Bogues”. (Yes, Space Jam is one of my favorite movies:)

Rhett has a toy from Ikea that is one of those ‘put the right shape in the right spot’ toys. It has a square, a triangle, a circle, and then there is this hybrid shape that is a square on bottom and has an arch on top. Apparently, it is a shape in Sweden… We call it the ‘mailbox’ (and I pray Rhett never writes ‘mailbox’ on his geometry quiz in first grade). Anyway, when he successfully puts a shape in the box he takes the lid off to make sure the shape is in the box. He does this for every shape he puts it in. For some reason he is leery of the box and is afraid it will steal his toys. He’s learning object permanence but it makes me laugh every time. I wonder if he’ll be like that with his first bank deposit.

Throughout Rhett’s first year of life we have made predictions of who he will be when he grows up. He went through phases of sticking his fingers in your nose and mouth which naturally led to the prediction of ear, nose, and throat doctor. He is still in a phase of talking out during prayer so the Pentecostal Minister is still a possibility. One thing he has done consistently is turn things over so he can see the bottom. He flips anything he can lift. If it’s too heavy, like a table or bouncy seat, he crawls under and lays on his back like a mechanic to examine the item. He loves to turn over his toys and look at all the screws and plastic underneath while ignoring the dancing, talking, flame-throwing monkey on top of the toy. This leads me to believe he may have some sort of engineering future. But then again, maybe he will be an actor and play an engineer in a movie. Or better yet, land a soap opera role where he is all of those things plus Susan’s baby daddy (but don’t tell Carl cause he thinks it’s his).

This is just a snapshot of the lively happenings in our house each day. Rhett is discovering how to make us laugh so he is starting to try new things to achieve the much-desired laugh. And he doesn’t have to do much. He’s a born comedian and loves people. A winning combination, I think. I love my little man and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

He's One!

Dear 26-year-old Erica,

Rhett grows up really fast. You think you are going to remember every little thing he does but you won’t. You’ve got to start writing it down, even the small stuff. Those day-in and day-out details will be precious memories when he is older. So quit wasting time. Sit down and write.

Sincerely,
56-year-old-and-still-fabulous Erica
p.s. You will go grey early just like you thought you would.
p.s.s. You know nothing about cellulite trouble so quit complaining.

Ok. So I get the point. When I get into the pattern of regular days I forget to take the time to sit at my computer and remember funny things from that day or the day before. At the time, I really think one more load of laundry is more important but I need perspective every now and then to remind me that preserving the memories of Rhett’s childhood is much more important. I know some friends have a little notebook where they jot down little stories of the day but for some reason that doesn’t work for me. I have a hard time just scribbling notes, I like narratives which of course require more time. I also lose things…I just do. Posting online is a way to never lose that little journal in the mess on my nightstand.


Rhett turned one back in September and we threw a farm themed birthday party for him with family at my cousin’s house. His actual birthday was on a Saturday so we spent the day with some of the family that was in town and ended the day with his first live football game. He loved it and it was amazing to see how he followed the action on the field, cheered when the crowd cheered, and maintained such a happy demeanor through the whole game (even through the fireworks at the end of the night). He is a trooper. At subsequent games, he learned the signal for “touchdown” as well as the one for “incomplete pass”. I tell Andy that this is not exactly what I had in mind when I said I wanted to use baby sign language…


Rhett enjoyed his birthday party but I’m sure he was mostly unaware of the décor and theme. All he knew was that his Fisher Price Farm house was there and that there were lots of potatoes and apples to throw around the room. He loves his family so he enjoyed smiling and playing with everyone that came. We got him this ‘walking’ pony balloon that was really cute. He was indifferent towards it but my niece was basically terrified. I hope there was no permanent damage done. But hey, at least she won’t be asking for a pony anytime soon, right? Bethany, you are welcome :)

The main attraction for any first birthday is the tearing apart of the birthday cake and Rhett did not disappoint. He started out very calm and only took little bits of icing on his finger but by the end the whole cake was in shreds. At one point he was literally ‘spanking’ the cake. I have no idea why he had the inclination to do that but he did and it was hilarious.

In the month following his first birthday he got 4 top teeth, showed signs of a milk-intolerance, and started walking. Yowza. Rhett went into his first birthday with only his two bottom teeth with a hint of top teeth just below the surface. About 2 weeks later they poked through and now he has 4 almost completely in. Now, the milk issue is not as fun… We gave him whole milk for the first time on his birthday. The night of his birthday party I noticed his bottom was a just a little red which I thought could be from the cake because he had never had that much sugar before. Monday it got a little worse but still not bad. On Tuesday it was a much bigger rash and he was cranky. By Wednesday, he was screaming through diaper changes and it was clear this was not your average diaper rash. I got online and did some research and found that what Rhett was experiencing was a common reaction to the first introduction of milk. I had never even considered that Rhett could have a reaction to milk since he had no problems with regular milk-based formula, yogurt, and cheese. Turns out that the milk proteins and lactose is already broken down (or sometimes removed entirely) in the afore mentioned products. So, his first taste of milk was the first time his body was taxed with the job of breaking down the proteins or sugar on its own. Poor little guy. They say it is common and that he’ll grow out of it with slow exposure to it. Needless to say, we are keeping an eye out on this. For now, he is enjoying soy milk with lots of full fat cheese and avocados on the side to make up for the loss in fat content from whole milk. Thus ends my PSA about milk. I had no idea about this so hopefully my ignorance can save someone from a few horrid diapers and fussy days.

On to the happier topic of Rhett walking! He is a little champ. He started walking on my birthday (happy birthday to ME!) and has kept it up. He will still crawl but is getting much more confident in his walking abilities. He can start his walking all on his own. He can stop mid-way and pick back up again. It’s just amazing. He showed no signs of interest in walking on his own. He would walk if he was holding your hand but if you let go he would just sit down and crawl the rest of the way. The first few days of walking, he would yell through his journey from A to B as if he was on some sort of thrill ride. Now, there is much less yelling and more of a smile of accomplishment. Yes, he still looks like an intoxicated little human trying to walk a straight line but he’s getting there and bringing Mommy and Daddy lots of laughs along the way.

A Non-Earthquake Day in the Life

I wanted to do a post about a regular day for us in the Geffken household so you can see what Rhett has been up to these days but first a segment I like to call “How Rhett and Mommy Survived the Earthquake”. (Everybody is talking about it so I just need to get it out of my system then move on).

On Tuesday, we had been out to the library and the grocery store and we were back in the apartment enjoying some lunch. Sometimes I switch up Rhett’s lunch routine and let him eat in his bouncy seat and Tuesday was one of those days. I was sitting on the floor enjoying my lunch while feeding Rhett his lunch when we started feeling the building move. Rhett, in his shock-absorbing bouncy seat, noticed nothing. In about 20 seconds this was my train of thought: “Wow, the wind is crazy today. The trees aren’t moving. I hate my loud neighbors doing something crazy next door. Is my washing machine on? They must be drilling at the construction site(next to us). Is our building collapsing? I better grab Rhett-“ and then it stopped. I went on our porch to see what was happening outside and then ALL my neighbors popped their heads out too to figure out what just happened. I live in an apartment complex so it was very much a la Brady Bunch/Hollywood Squares with everyone trying to lean over and talk to people on different floors. Anyway, from that discussion I figured out that it could have been an earthquake and then went to Facebook (which was amazing by the way). I told Rhett that he just felt an earthquake (!!!!!) and I think he was just frustrated that I had changed the channel from Curious George to NBC… And that is how Rhett and Mommy survived the earthquake. The End.

So, on non-earthquake days, this is what life looks like for us. Rhett usually wakes up between 7:30 and 8. How he wakes up is definitely an indication for how the rest of the day will go so we always pray for the happy chattering wake up and not the alternative. He has oatmeal with banana and some watered down apple juice and takes in an episode of something (usually Curious George or Sesame Street). He is very interactive when he watches anything on tv. He laughs and jabbers at the characters which is hilarious to watch sometimes. After he is done with breakfast he goes to his room to play. His current interests are pushing cars around the floor, whacking anything with a bubble wand, opening and closing the stable doors on his toy barn, and ‘reading’ his books. The last one is the most fun to observe. He will sit facing his little bookshelf and flip through the pages of his board books and just babble away. It is entirely too precious to handle sometimes. He has alone playtime and then I go in and play with him, too. One game we’ve been learning is ‘rolling the ball’. He likes to get the balls but doesn’t like to roll them away. The other day he had one in each hand and I cupped my hands out in front of him asking him to give me one. He thought for a moment. He wondered what I could be asking for. He looked at each of the balls in his hands pensively and then came to a conclusion. He stuck both hands in the air and then leaned over and put his face in my hands. (???) According to his reasoning, that was the only logical thing I could have been asking for. I laughed so hard.


At around 10:30 he goes down for his morning nap which is about 1-2 hours long. He is usually very cheerful after this nap even if his morning wasn’t so good. It is like a reset.

We then move on to lunch. This is when I rabbit trail off onto to the topic of making baby food. It is really fun for me and I love LOVE how much money we’re saving. When he was much younger it was really basic food but now we can really mix things up and give him some good flavor. I think I have mentioned this website before but www.wholesomebabyfood.com is a great resource. Yesterday I made a really killer mix that he loves. It has (ready for this) corn, carrots, green beans, peas, chicken, garlic, parmesan, and spinach. He eats it up so quickly. My child is eating spinach and through deductive reasoning that makes me an awesome mother. When should I be expecting the award in the mail? But seriously folks, I use frozen vegetables so everything is healthy and cheap so about 2 weeks worth of lunch and dinner costs me about $4. One jar of baby food cost $.96 (The meal option kinds. The single vegetable packs are cheaper) which makes it about $2 a day. So, $28 for 2 weeks of baby food or $4 for 2 weeks of baby food?

I also buy frozen fruit and make chunky purees to add to yogurt. (Mixed Berry and yogurt is featured all over his face). The website listed above gives great recipe ideas but once you get into it the ideas just come. I’m making some chicken noodle ‘stew’ today with noodles, carrots, peas, and chicken. Super quick and much tastier.

After lunch is when I do any errands for the day. He is usually his most happy and content during this time. I try and squeeze in a trip to the library a few times a week to give him a change of scenery. He is a big hit at the stores and I always hear “what a happy baby!” “Is he always that happy?” “What a cutie”. And I get this look from Rhett that tells me he knows exactly what they are saying which is why he doesn’t mind going shopping with mom. When we get home he has a formula bottle and takes his afternoon nap usually by 3 pm (but no later than 4). After his nap he gets more playtime and then eventually gets tired of his room and wants to explore the rest of the house. This usually coincides with me finishing the last 20 minutes of dinner, right when everything can burn… SO, I came up with little piles known as “Time Piles”. There are non-toy things around the house that I let him get into because it buys me some time. Yes, there is usually a mess to clean up afterwards but did my pork chops burn? Then it was all worth it. ‘Time Piles’ include: the bottom drawer of dish towels, rubber coasters and old remotes, clean laundry, hangers, Wii remote accessories, etc. Stuff he can’t break, stuff that won’t hurt him, and most importantly, stuff he thinks he can’t have. I keep up the charade, too. (Slow, dramatic, real damsel-in-distress like) “Oh no, Rhett. Please don’t get all my folded neat towels. Whatever shall I do! You are getting ALL this stuff I don’t want you to get. Woe is me.” Works every time.

We end the day with dinner, bath, and storytime. I got a bunch of foam letters for his bathtub and we are working on the letter ‘A’ right now. He says it but it’s got a real Fonzie feel to it.

After storytime, he gets another bottle and is off to sleep around 8ish. And that’s it. A day with Rhett. Scattered throughout the day are things like hugs, kisses, waving bye-bye, and his latest crowd pleaser, “You da man!” featured here:

I’ll end with some progress shots of the apartment. I am usually doing something around the house to keep unpacking while Rhett plays in his room. I could be making a lot more progress but what I always heard from friends was nap when the baby naps… and I would feel just awful if I ignored their advice.

Getting Comfortable

We are back in Lynchburg and couldn’t be happier about living in the Hill City again. Actually, we are technically in Forest which is more like “Mountain view” city. I love it. I feel like I’m back at my home church and it just feels right. Lynchburg is such a family-friendly place and I can’t wait to raise Rhett here. With all that Lynchburg has to offer to young families it’s no wonder that every other woman here seems to be pregnant. This is the one place where people use the saying “there’s something in the water” and I’m pretty sure they’re right.




We moved into our apartment about 2 weeks ago and have been steadily settling in. It is a very pretty apartment but my favorite part, by far, is that Rhett can have his own room. It is such a novelty and I am grateful for it every morning. Rhett’s room at our old apartment was also the guest room and also the office…. I’m all for multi-tasking but not in room function. He has his own space to play and sprawl out. He loves it. I love it. We are happy people :)

Rhett has become fascinated with drawers and doors lately…..yay….

After the third time pinching his fingers in his dresser I decided that was the day I would find some sort of contraption to strap the dresser drawers close. I set off to Babies-R-Us and then remembered, oh yeah, Lynchburg doesn’t have a Babies-R-Us. How depressing. Spend 10 minutes in this town and you realize Babies-R-Everywhere. For a town that definitely has ‘something in the water’, I think we have earned a Babies-R-Us. Somebody get on that.

Anyway, I went to Walmart and couldn’t find anything that would work but this story has a happy ending. In an act of desperation I put up his baby gate in front of his dresser which also conveniently blocks the door. Two birds. One gate. It makes the process of getting clothes from the drawers a little trickier but no finger pinching is totally worth it.

True confession: I am a huge fan of PBS kids shows. My current obsession is The Electric Company. If I ever heard of open call auditions for that show I would probably drop everything to get there.

Erica, you are 25. Erica, you are 25. (This is my mantra anytime I start daydreaming about kids shows).

One that we watch is “The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That”. The show always starts with the Cat telling the kids that they should all go to some crazy place to meet some crazy animal; ‘the land of whirly hullamazoo to met a biting jungle bat named Barry’. Anyway, the kids always ask their mom if they can go and the mom always says yes. ( I was watching an episode with my 7 year old cousin and he turns to me and says despondently ‘they can always go’). I had noticed this before and I thought how bizarre it was to have such an irresponsible mother character on the show. The mom always smiles and says “Sure, just be back in time for your peanut butter snack” or something like that. No regard for the danger her children are facing on their adventure. I was judging this cartoon mom on her parenting skills… Then just the other day I made an astonishing realization. The mom always says yes because she thinks the kids are just using their imagination to go to these crazy places. I blame this miscommunication on the animators and voice actors for this character because her intentions were not clear in her delivery. I felt a little shame for having judged this character wrongly. AND then I felt shame for having thought about this so much.

Erica, you are 25.

Rhett is so close to his big 1 year! Time really goes fast. I had no idea how much a blur this all would be. I look at him now and I don’t see a baby anymore. He is definitely a little boy and I enjoy this new stage but I still miss his babyhood. 5 minutes with some of his early baby albums usually gives me my fix and I’m good for the week. We have nicknamed him a “getter” (pronounced gitter). He just likes to get things. Cords, phones, Tupperware from cabinets, sunglasses, earrings, rolls of wrapping paper from the store aisles (that happened today: two huge rolls, one in each hand, all in a matter of seconds. Michael’s aisles are entirely too small…for babies named Rhett). He’s a curious little guy, which makes things a little tricky sometimes, but it is totally worth it to see his mind working and discovering things.

My final thought for today is one of immense gratitude. I am just in a place right now emotionally where I am happy and grateful for everything. Getting up at the same time everyday. Brewing coffee in MY coffee pot. Sitting at a desk to work on my computer. Playing with Rhett in his own room. Having a cute little seat in my closet to sit on to put my shoes on (and it’s purple). Going to bed in my own bed. I know these things are so mundane but having spent the summer as nomads, without a clear picture of what the Fall was going to look like, these small signs of stability and comfort just fill my heart with joy and gratitude for my God. Things could have gone very differently and I know there is a lot to learn through struggles and hard times and I find myself humbled that God chose to teach us about His love and His mercy through blessings.

I will end with a fun fact. Tomorrow night will mark the most consecutive nights spent in the same place and same bed since April. A whole two weeks.

Previously on The Baby Show

I’m sitting at my new desk, with a cup of coffee and my child playing quietly in his room, and I suddenly had the urge to blog. I pulled up my page thinking ‘it’s been a while’ and is that not an understatement? Last post was FEBRUARY. So I dust it off, spruce it up a bit, and now we are ready for the ketchup post. And by ketchup I mean catch up.

Since February this is what has happened:

In March, my brother-in-law got married so Rhett attended his first wedding. Of course he had a tux BUT the shirt was 6-9 months, the pants 12 months, vest 3-6, and his shoes were fives even though he was wearing threes… And it only cost me about $13 for all of it :).


In April, we did some packing and organizing and I got to perform in a one-act festival at Regent. It was so awesome to perform again (more on that later). It was a dark comedy and yes, I am trying to hang myself with twine in this picture.


In MAY, life exploded. We started the month with a trip to South Carolina for a few days for a funeral on my Dad’s side of the family. It was an awful reason for the trip but it was nice to see everyone and introduce them to Rhett. I also got to meet some new cousins I hadn’t seen yet.


Then we had Andy’s graduation from Regent.

THEN Emily’s graduation from Liberty.

And then we took a break from the expected and went to a pirate festival on the waterfront. Andy was performing in a show that was part of the festival.



To wrap up May, we moved Memorial Day out of Va Beach and put our stuff in my parent’s basement.



JUNE: We spent one week with Andy’s family and then one week with my family. We tried to just relax and enjoy the summer and celebrate surviving the MFA.




Middle of June we headed up to Plymouth, MA to do a summer theatre with really great friends from Va Beach. First road trip with a car top carrier.

We did two shows while in Plymouth. The first was And Sarah Laughed and then we performed Private Lives. We were up there for roughly a month. It was an amazing experience and you can find out more about the company and what we did at www.Americanatheatrecompany.org. Check us out!

Rhett was our practice audience member for rehearsals.



While up there we did lots of little excursions to places. Here are a few shots from around Plymouth and Boston.








With shows and rehearsals still going on, we moved into JULY and got to celebrate the Fourth of July in Boston. It was a bucket list item for my family so we were thrilled to be able to make that happen this year. Here are some shots. The concert pictures are from July 3rd (a dress rehearsal performance) and then the rest of the pictures are from the river on the 4th.







While in Boston, we heard that a position at Liberty for an Assistant Professor of Theatre was approved and so Andy got all of his paperwork in for the application. He did a few preliminary interviews and had his official (and final) interviews on August 1st. He received a contract for his position on the 3rd and we moved to Lynchburg on August 4th.

That is what you have missed since February. My next post will pick up with life here in the hill city. It’s good to be back.