NC State Fair 2017

We left Merritt at home with my parents and took Emma to the fair....it was a great and special day with her!

We started with the ferris wheel because Emma really wanted to do it, and the line was really short...

I immediately regretted this decision because I am afraid of heights.  Yes, I am a grown woman and afraid of heights.

I was fine once we started going, but the loading and dangling there was torture.  I definitely had some panic moments and shortness of breath.  Sorry to all those around me who had to witness this.

Emma wanted to play all the games and rack up on the cheap toys.  Better than riding rides....

She milked her first cow!

The Village of Yesteryear is my favorite part - I love the bluegrass, the ice cream made by the John Deere tractors, and the new NC wine and beer section (which we sadly couldn't go into with kids - BOO)

We had a GREAT time there and I was really glad to give Emma this memory and ALL our time.  I know it has been hard to learn how to share with a new sister, so I was very grateful for this time:)

Life lately...

Just a little bit of random to start the week!!!

Matching dresses for church!  Merritt does great in the nursery - haven't been paged at all yet:)  And Emma is finally going to Children's church and loves it!  I actually get to sit in church and listen to the sermon!

Merritt loves to show her hiney!

I mean, who doesn't love a baby booty????

Since the weather has been so nice, we take advantage of walking.  Photo credit - Miss Emma:)

Merritt is quite the shopper.....always standing up in the cart.  Pretty soon, she will be too big to do this without me worrying about her falling out.....sigh.

Brent and I had a rare date night last month and went to Stoney River.  First, this wine is AMAZING.  Second, the food was AWESOME.

The girls and I went to the new Chick-fil-A in Durham one day...Merritt was beyond enthused!

The girls love the race carts at the grocery store...and I love that too.

We do go outside a lot....I have really tired to limit Emma's TV time, and make her use her imagination outside (eye roll), and Merritt is so content outside too.

We were super bummed to see that Jordan Lake was too low for one last boat trip a few weeks ago:(

This girl...she is stubborn....very hard headed and loves to test the limits, but when she loves, she LOVES BIG:)

And this one....while she is quickly becoming smitten with daddy....she's still attached to me most of the time.....and I'm not complaining.

Whoa....

...I am SOOOOO behind!!  I have so much to catch up on here, so I'll do my best.  Ironically, only my mom has reached out to see if I had any new posts because she hadn't seen any lately:)

I think the most note-worthy piece of info for sharing would be our monumental victories with Merritt's sleep!!!!!!  About 2 weeks ago, I finally realized that we would have to let her learn how to sleep on her own/cry it out/etc....  She had 4 nights of getting up EVERY 2-3 hours, sometimes more, and I was DONE.  I finally decided we had to implement the sleep plan we paid sp much money for:) If you remember, I paid for the plan, then immediately she started sleeping better, so I never even used it.  But she progressively got worse and worse and we both hit our breaking point:)  The first night, I put her down awake after nursing her and she cried for 45 minutes then SLEPT ALL NIGHT!  The second night, she cried for 25 minutes, and SLEPT ALL NIGHT.  The third night, she cried for 20 minutes, and SLEPT ALL NIGHT.  Do you see the pattern here?  I was astonished and kept waiting for the crisis to hit - could it have been this easy?  Why did it take us 11 months to do this?  Am I the biggest idiot ever?  Should I be allowed to even raise kids??  We are 2 weeks in, and she has only gotten up in the middle of the night twice - after 2pm, and I nursed her very briefly then put her in her crib awake, where she then had to cry herself to sleep (which only took about 15 minutes).  I am like a new person - I have an evening!  I'm not super anxious all night, fearful of letting my guard down and falling asleep.  It has been so great.  I feel like the light at the end of the tunnel is finally here.  The first year is HARD....especially when they aren't sleeping and you're nursing (because your diva baby won't take a bottle).  I almost got sad....it was bittersweet.  I now see some freedom in my future - I could go out to dinner, stay out past 7pm, even maybe go away for a night!!!!

We have also made some strides with naps.  Merritt consistently would fall asleep to or from preschool, and not transfer well. So I would just drive around or leave her in the car in the driveway.  While that was ok, it wasn't the best.  We have been working now on letting her nap in her crib.  We've done well...although nap jail is real.  She does good for the morning nap....but normally doesn't do the afternoon (shorter one) here.  Which is fine, because we have places to go, yo!

I can't even describe how grateful I am for this new stage and strides we have made.  I know I sound super lame because I was enabling my baby for 10 months, but whatever....I do the best I can.  I have my evenings back, I'm not anxious all the time, and I feel so rested and less stressed...which is helping parent Emma better:)  I almost don't know what to do during nap time because I'm not used to having free time!!  So, cheers to being able to enjoy fall, and getting a little bit of ME back!!!!

Beach trip

The last weekend of September, we headed to Duck for a family beach trip.  The weather was actually really pleasant, and while we didn't swim in the ocean, Emma loved the pool at the house.  

We actually had a very uneventful trip down...and I was REALLY worried about it.  It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would, and Merritt did fine, despite leaving later afternoon, which was not optimal.  She slept for the first hour and a half, then I scooted back to entertain the girls.

We celebrated with a trip to Brew-thru when we arrived.  Why are these not in Durham/Chapel Hill????!!!!! (Don't answer that...I know why...because of people LIKE ME)

We went driving on the beach the first day, all the way up past Corolla on Hwy 12

And weirdly enough, there is a whole community up there only accessible by 4WD.  It's crazy!!!

It was too cold to be on the beach, and too windy and rough, but I took advantage of hanging out by the pool for a bit.

And we did walk to the beach, about a block away

Merritt doesn't nap well, so we took a walk one afternoon, just me and Brent.  It kind of felt like a date!  We really enjoyed walking, talking, and a sleeping babe:)

Emma enjoyed being with her cousins!!

and we tried for a family shot...

Saturday was Brent's birthday, so we got up to watch the sunrise and have Duck donuts:)

We had a blast for summer's last hooray!

First Lost Tooth!

(Alas....this happened about 3 weeks ago but I'm pretty behind these days in blogging...)

Emma lost her first tooth!!  Everyone says it's an official rite of passage into being a big kid, which makes my sad:(  She's so grown.....

   

She was completely freaked out at first - it had been wiggly but while eating pizza, it really came loose and was hanging by a thread.  There was blood everywhere and Emma was screaming.  Brent was, of course, late coming home.  It was really wiggly at this point and I really wanted it to come out before bed....mainly so it could be done with!  I knew Emma wouldn't sleep well and would worry about it, and Lord knows she wasn't going to eat until it came out either.
When Brent got home, Emma had calmed down but she DID NOT want him to pull it out, so he just kept asking to see it and finally pulled it out.  She didn't even know it but when he showed it to her, she got all upset...but only for a minute.
I was totally unprepared and only had a $10 bill.....so the Tooth Fairy gave a special gift for the FIRST tooth....which we emphatically explained:)