home again. home again.

wheew i'm tired.

i drove to greenville (hometown) friday night. i tried to time it so that loralai would sleep while i drove - you know, like settle in for the night in the car. right. bad idea. only she didn't let me know it was going to be a bad idea until about 15 minutes into the drive. that's when the crying started - 20 minutes later i breathed a sigh of relief when she fell asleep. but 45 minutes later when she woke up, i knew i was in for it b/c i still had an hour left in the trip. and there i was, alone with a crying baby. my baby. and there wasn't a thing in this world i could do. she was just p.o.'d that her mama had her in the car and not her crib. this baby love love loves to sleep in her crib. the car, not so much. but we made it to greenville - alive. and me, a little less sane.

todd went to the mountains to be w/ his family. his sister's getting married in november and this was the only weekend all of the men of the family could get together to do a bachelor weekend, of sorts. it was just a bummer that it happened to be the weekend that my brother's wife was being induced to have their baby - their third - a girl - finally! they have two little boys - precious. and this third little babe - oh, what a sweetie. she's so precious and just girlie girl girl. i think she's gonna look like her mama. time will tell.

our weekend and week ended up being really great - despite the start. loralai ended up settling in easily at her gigi's. and she started all sorts of new stuff: she loves food now - oh how she opens that trap wide like a little birdie. and now she doesn't reach for the spoon to push it away. now she reaches to bring it closer to her lips - or "yips" as my nephew wyatt would say. he's sure to tell me that his new little sister, carly, can't eat food yet b/c she just has yips and a tongue.
loralai is also really really loving her super cold teethers b/c she's growing her very first - very sharp - tooth. i can't even imagine what her smile is going to look like with teeth. i'm totally amazed at how fast i feel like she's growing. it seems like just yesterday all of her could fit in my two arms. and now it takes all of my two arms just to keep her above my waist. and, it's going to continue to take all of my arms and my legs and my energy to follow her while she crawls - b/c that's the next feat on her list of things to do. and she practiced hard while we were in greenville. she followed turner and wyatt anywhere they were - and then she went after maddie dog. she wasn't so sure about the whole moving baby thing. i think the dogs feel a little ripped off - i mean it was one thing that we brought home a crying baby who needed all of our attention. but at least the baby was out of their way - now their territory is the back bedroom - they hide back there and run for peace and quiet.

here are a few pictures of the past few days. it's been a good time. more writing later. for now - it's bedtime. yea i know - it's only 8:00, but this mama is pooped. (and oh yea - loralai slept on the way home today. wheew.)

the sweet new addition: carly elizabeth

our excited squealing baby in her bikini.
you should hear the sound that comes from this mouth. it's hilarious.
she fell so in love with her cousins: turner and wyatt.
workin' at the crawling.
loralai with the boys.