More baby...

Cute face :)

There is something about the two of them together that's always soooo cute!

Getting ready one morning half asleep and kind of smiling.

Another cute face :)

I can't get enough of this girl!

Disclaimer: I totally know that my blog is ALL about our baby and I'm OK with that right now:)

Thankful

I just felt like I needed to post and say what I am most thankful for...and that is family. I have so many friends who are not able to be around their families on a regular basis, yet I sometimes forget how much of a jewel it is in my life to have them ALL so close.

J's mom and dad, sister, one brother, both Grandmothers, and an aunt and uncle all live in either Greensboro or High Point. My mom, step dad and 2 sisters, dad, Grandma, one aunt, one uncle, and about 6 or 7 cousins live right here in Greensboro or High Point!

It's comforting to know that we are all here to help one another out and that the drive to do so, at the most, would be 30 minutes!

I love you guys and I hope you feel that love from me all the time!


Other things I'm thankful for...

1. Grandma's candied yams, mac and cheese, and dressing (good thing I'm nursing this year because it's an excuse not to watch the girlish figure)

2. My AWESOME, incredibly SEXY husband! He really does anything me or DD need him to do...thanks Jerms!

3. My Dancin' Diva!!! She really does give me purpose. I don't have the words to explain what I feel for her...I just know I LOVE her and I am grateful that she is healthy and so much fun!

4. The jobs that J and I have. I have been in turmoil lately about having to work, but since I have to what can beat... off at 3:45 and summers off with BOTH DD AND J!!! I'm a lucky girl:)

5. Cozy socks and my blue fleece robe (I hate being cold!)

6. Hugs from J

7. DD's little legs...they make me giggle:)

8. Friends that make friendship easy

9. The Gospel

10. Desire...desire to do anything...be anything...and help create the future I want for my family!

I hope all of you got to spend Thanksgiving with the ones you love!!!

One Month :)

Our DD is 1 month and she's amazing!!! She had her 1 month check up and she's PERFECT! She is 8 lbs 13 oz and 21 3/4 in long. Here are a few pictures of our DD. Enjoy!

Our Ladybug on Halloween!

Looking cute ;)


and the cutest thing ever that she started doing...

SMILES:)

Win a FREE handbag!

Register at www.handbagplanet.com to win a FREE handbag!!! You get to select the bag you would want too:) Very cool!!!

Dancin' Diva's Birth Story

We finally have our Dancin' Diva in our lives and we are sooooo happy:) Parenthood has been amazing thus far and I can only imagine the adventures our little family will go through.

To make a long birth story short...

I thought I was in labor Saturday morning (in the wee hours) and they sent me home:( So, I thought there is no way I'm going to know when it's the "real deal." Well on Sunday morning (in the wee hours) I knew it was the "real deal" and at 12:56 in the afternoon we had our baby girl:)

The hospital stay was great and the EPIDURAL WAS MY BEST FRIEND!!! I had some pretty serious back labor so I needed the relief. This little girl has changed me! Ey, I cry now! Things have always touched me, but it's different now:)

She is a joy and she is thriving and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her to bits!!!

Check out the pics below...Enjoy!

So in love!

Preggo Photo Shoot

Here are some pictures that my fabulous little sister took of J and I a couple of weeks ago. She did a great job and we love them all!!! Enjoy:)

We are total Blackers... Sorry

So, I was sitting around thinking of how we haven't posted in forever, and how we're huge blog slackers, and trying to figure out some type of clever combo of blog and slacker I could come up with. Unfortunately the only one my Summertime Brain could come up with is Blacker. So, sorry to all of you faithful blogging friends out there who are not blackers... things have been busy around the Holmes Home.

E is doing great. She is at cheerleading/dance camp this weekend for her UNCG girls. She still cannot be stopped, I can only hope to contain her.

Dancin' Diva has got to be the cutest little baby waiting to be our daughter there is. She is very active right now, just like her Mamma, and likes to kick Daddy in the face when he is saying family prayer at night... just like her Mamma?

I'm doing very well. I'll be trying my hand at teaching English 9 and 12 this year at Ragsdale, and I've been hanging out with the Golden Vlazny all week becoming good buddies with Caden. I even got to babysit for about a two hours yesterday and we had a great time.

E will have some more to post about soon. I will try to get her to stop long enough to do that soon. Love you guys.

Light Saber War...Holmes Style

So we've been in Ohio visiting family and let's just say when you mix 4 kids, a Rottweiler, and an uncle who the kids LOVE you get a very exciting and eventful week. The video below shows just a small bit of love that the kids have for Star Wars. Everyday we play some form of game including dueling with the light sabers, but this particular morning we randomly started an all-out light saber war and caught it on video. It is complete with light sabers (of course), a soundtrack, and producers commentary. We hope you enjoy!

Singing Kids

Here are our nieces and nephew singing one of Grandmom's favorite songs:)

My Growing Tummy:)

Different family members have asked to see my growing tummy so below is a slide show of my progress:) I waited so long because I thought it would be more impressive if you could actually see a difference. I am currently in my 25th week so as I continue to grow I will add to the album until it's complete and the baby is here!!!

Enjoy!

On Writing...

So, two days down in my summer vacation, two days closer to my book being finished. Don't any of you go getting your hopes up too much. I still have a loooooooong way to go. But, my goal is to write 2000 words a day for the remainder of the summer, roughly 3 single spaced pages. So, in the last 2 days I have written over 4,100 words and I'm feeling good. I decided, while I'm writing to give those interested a little taste of my adventure story in the form of a picture detail of my main character Mychal. This is an origional pencil sketch by my great friend, Oren Ralph. He's an amazing artist, and I'm very lucky that he has a lot of interest in my story and drew this from my descriptions to help to motivate me. A character that looks this cool is just begging to be written about don't ya think?

That's the face of determination.

I've got a bunch of pics to post in the near future, so stay tuned.

A Poem for the baby

I'm usually pretty ridiculous. I know. I try to be witty and look at things from a slightly different perspective. But, every once in a while I get serious and do things that are a little more meaningful. Last week, I taught a mini lesson on Greek lyrical poetry to my sophomores. As my assessment for this quick unit, I had my kids try to write their own lyrical poem about someone or something that is important and personal to them. I decided, while they were writing, I would do it too. Here's what I came up with, a poem for the baby.

You May Forget to Remember

You may forget to remember,

But I loved you long before

I ever knew you.

When you’ve grown

And let go of the simple trappings of youth,

And put aside your childish things,

Hair bows and princess evening gowns,

You may forget to remember when you’re mad at me

Because I’ve had to say, “No.”

But I’ve loved you since before

You could draw breath,

And I’ll love you still long after I’m gone.

I don't really consider myself much of a poet, but sometimes I get touched.

Registry Rodeo

So, Last Wednesday, or Humpday, if you prefer, we decided to have an impromptu date night consisting of fine dining and shopping. We don't have to schedule date night yet since the baby has not yet arrived, so we like to just go sometimes without really planning all the details.

The evening started with a bang as we both got home from work without wanting to kill anyone, and we were in great moods. So I says to E, "Ay, Yo E, yous wants ta go for a ride?" (Jersey accent added for spice.)
"Why I sure do my handsome husband. You are just the greatest and most gorgeous man on the planet," she says. (Okay, so maybe I'm paraphrasing a little.)
With that we hit the road. First stop, food. Can you believe we got seats at Arby's at 5:00 pm with no reservations? It's good to be loved.

Fine dining at Arby's. None but the best for my Puddin'.

After the wonderful feast provided by the gourmet chefs at our local Roast Beefery, forces conspired against us to prevent us from the second part of our date, a shopping spree to end all sprees. We walk out of Arby's and get in our chariot to drive to the store and I turn the key. A series of clicks from under the hood told this car wiz that something was wrong. So, I get out, open the hood, and tell E to try to crank it up while I stand there peering into the nether regions of the engine like I know what I'm doing. She tries fire it up and, sure enough, more clicking. So we immediately resort to our contingency plan which is... calling Mom.
Luckily RT, my favorite mother-in-law, was on her way home from work and was able to pick us up and take us home to get our other high performance vehicle. We drive back to Arby's and I do the only other thing I can think of and try to jump the Honda. Luckily, it works and I end up looking like a genius. We take the car to Autozone and get the battery checked and it's bad, but it's under warranty so we only have to pay $20 for it, but I have to drive from High Point Rd to Guilford College Rd to get the right battery.

The fruits of my labors. Isn't it a thing of beauty?

Finally, undeterred, we arrive at the shopping location of choice, Babies 'r' Us. While wandering around the store registering for all kinds of stuff for the baby, we were under constant assault from vicious hoards of ninjas who, apparently, have nothing else better to do but mess with us. However, little did they know that we are each class 5 marksmen with our super awesome scanner blasters. We made short work of both the registry and the ninjas.

We can't be stopped. Why do they even try?

The ninjas are masters of stealth. If you can't see them, I can't help you. But, believe you, me, they're there. Don't be mad just cause you can't see them.

This post was written to the soothing strains of Ben Harper.

J's Weekend Without Erks

For Memorial Day weekend, Erks had to go away.
J was sad.


No matter what he did, He just wasn't happy allllll weekend.


Playing video games, he was sad.


Eating NY Strip and corn on the cob, he was sad.
(Although it did help a little.)


Reading books, he was sad.


Even sleeping with the penguins, he was sad.


But, finally Erks got home!!!!!
(Acutally quite a bit earlier than she was posed to!)


We made it in time for a cookout with friends and everything was alllllllllllllriiiiiiiight!


I love my Erks.

Lord of the Cribs

One crib to rule them all
One crib to find them
One crib to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
In the land of Nursery when babies lie.

This is a story about cribs and other baby things.

Life was good to Benli Miles and the Holmes's. Erksladriel was pregnant with little Princess Ballerina, and Benli and Jagorn had become fast friends, hanging out often and stamping out terrorism one virtual terrorist at a time via XBOX Live. However, unbeknownst to any of them, their good fortune was fated to change.

You see, the crib changed everything.

It was a Friday night like any other. Benli and Jagorn had finished their workout and had returned to the house to perform what seemed to be a simple chore to make Erksladriel's week. Who knew there was an evil so malicious lurking in the depths of a large card board box that had been festering in the basement for a fortnight.

(Cue Sinister Music....Duh duh duh duhhhhnnn!)

Never has there been a crib so nefarious.

At first Jagorn and Benli were stymied by the criptic runes which accompanied this ominous artifact out of it's cardboard tomb.

It are hard too read stuff.

Jagorn soon set about the task of unleashing the power of the crib by opening up all of the little gibblets.

Huuuuuurrrraaaaghhhhhh!!!!!

But, it was no use. The warding magic was too strong and Jagorn did not know the elven word to open it. Benli however had another plan.

"Hold still..." Benli said.
"You have done this before right?" Jagorn inquired.

After reattaching his left ear... and a couple of fingers... The work was well underway.

Good thing there was an Allen wrench to reattach that ear.

Halfway through, the tension grew palpable.

Back to work, but there was treachery in Benli's eyes.

Oh snap!! What did I say??

Benli had the drop on Jagorn and a life and death struggle ensued. After several cunning strikes by Benli were parried, Jeremyagorn was able to regain his weapon.

They waged war with such ferocity the very house shook with every strike.
For hours they fought.
Jagorn began to tire as Benli was fortified by the power of the crib.
His onslaught redoubled as Jagorn finally made his fatal mistake.

At last, Jagorn was left defeated.

The crib stood silent but within the depths of it's evil sentience, it was pleased.

Thanks Benli.

Nursey Ryhmes

So just a quick note on how dorky or just darn cute J and I are now that we are preparing for parenthood.

My mother-in-law got me a nursery rhyme CD to play for the baby for Mother's Day and so I decided that I would start listening to it so I could sing to her on the way to work. It was really fun and the songs are really jazzy...ha! Being the dancer that I am I could totally see a group of 3 year old kids doing a acrobatic/dance routine to the version of Humpty Dumpty on the CD. Anyway, J and I were on our way to our friend's house for dinner Tuesday night when I thought I would let him listen also and it was fun times from there. Both of us went crazy singing parts and dancing! I am sure that the people in the cars next to us were wondering what was wrong with us, but we didn't care:) It was all for the baby!

Sooo...

I just wanted to share this moment because it's is one of the many reasons I love my husband so much. He allows me to be silly and he joins in the silliness with me and it makes for lots of laughter in our home. I'm sure when the baby gets here she's going to get a kick out of her mommy and daddy because we can be downright dorky sometimes:)

Toodles!

Mother's to-be Day!

I had so much fun for Mother's to-be Day/Mother's Day:) On Saturday J made a wonderful breakfast for me, my mom, mother-in-law, and and sister-in-law. He wouldn't let anyone lift a finger and it was sooooooooooooo worth it. I don't have pictures of that part of the day because it's on my old camera and I don't have the proper equipment to get those pictures downloaded. However, the omelets were beautiful! We all felt as though we were eating at a gourmet restaurant. Before we ate, Jeremy gave a wonderful prayer and it made each of us feel as though we were the most precious woman on earth. I love my Jerms!

He also got me a card that was pretty and purple:) I asked him if he was boycotting pink and he kind of said yes. We aren't really pink people, but I have definitely started to like it more since we got pregnant and even more since we found out we're having a girl!

On Sunday, we got up to go to church and when I came out of the bedroom Jeremy had made some cinnamon rolls that I mentioned wanting the night before (yum). We NEVER eat breakfast before church so this was huge.

J and I really want Mother's Day and Father's Day to be more about the small things and spending time with family...not about money. I was very pleased with the entire weekend and I am looking forward to many, many more Mother's Days to come.

I love you J and thanks for one the best days of my life!















Me (19 weeks preggo) and the bestest guy in the world...my hubby, J:)

The results are in...

We are having a...GIRL...

...and we were so excited to see her today. She already steals our hearts and she's so calm and for those of you who know me, you know that this is AMAZING because I am anything but calm. We are now on a mission to get things ready for Dancin' Diva and to get to know her better:)

We'll be back soon with some ultrasound pictures and to report on the latest with the Holmes crew.

Toodles!

Sorry

Hey guys! I am sorry we haven't posted in a while. Since we found out we were preggo we have been chillin' out. Up until last week, during spring break, I haven't wanted to do anything but come home and snuggle up on the couch. I am so glad I'm out of that funk and that I kind of feel like myself again. We are 14 weeks pregnant and things are going well:) I feel like I should be planning and purchasing, but I'm not showing that much and somewhere in my mind I've decided that showing equals having the right to shop for a baby. I think next month, after we find out if it's a boy or girl, we will start to actually nail down when we're going to go purchase our nursery furniture. Right now I just knit my blanket and read my Baby Bargains book to pass the time so that I won't go to Baby's R Us every spare moment I get:) I know, I know...I am a first-timer and I'm proud!

Well, I promise I'll get better at blogging consistently.

Have a great day!

We're Expecting!!!!

We just wanted to share our news with everyone and let you know that we are expecting a little baby Holmes!!! There are no cool stories as to how we told everybody...sorry. We were so excited that we just made phone calls and sent an evite announcement so that everyone could know at the same time:)

It's early so please keep us in your prayers!

Tag...I'm It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How long have you been together? 1 1/2 years
How long did you date? 10 months
How old is he? 29
Who eats more? J
Who said I love you first? Me...although J doesn't remember it that way
Who is taller? J
Who sings better? I dunno
Who is smarter? It depends on the subject
Who does the laundry? J washes and folds and I put it away after we leave it in the basket for 3 or 4 days
Who does the dishes? J because growing up it's the one thing my stepdad would make me do so I HATE doing dishes. However, when I'm in a mood and nothing seems clean enough I'm not above doing the dishes
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I sleep closest to the door so I don't have to hit the alarm when it goes off
Who pays the bills? Me.
Who mows the lawn? J...I've never used a lawn mower
Who cooks dinner? Me and J
Who drives when you are together? J
Who is more stubborn? Me
Who kissed who first? It was a joint effort. I gave the proper open communication signals and as he leaned so did I:)
Who asked who out? J asked me, but I couldn't because I had to take NC State to camp (I know...always about cheer and dance with me) but when I got home we talked for a couple of hours and he said, "I'd much rather talk in person if we're going to be on the phone this long." I said,"Well I told you an hour ago I wasn't doing anything." So basically he missed his cue to ask me if he could come hang out with me, but I still let him come over:)
Who proposed? He did on Friday the 13th! It's a very lucky day for us:)
Who is more sensitive? J
Who has more friends? We're about equal I guess
Who has more siblings? J
Who wears the pants in the family? We try to make things as equal as possible so we take turns depending on what needs to be taken care of in our family