Yummy Yummy Yummy I've got Love in my Tummy

These "Tummy Time" photos were too cute not to publish- Enjoy.....

"Some people don't know that there are angels

 sent down to make sure you don't get too comfortable,

 fall asleep and miss your life"

 

 

Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea...

Saturday Carter, Vivi, Jill, Alina and myself went to the Tennessee Aquarium. I was not too enthused to visit the fish ,seeing as I'm pretty sure its the same fish from our 3rd grade field trip- but its amazing how things change when you have children. ...
My parents and sister have an exchange student living with this this year- her name is Alina and she is from Germany. She will graduate Notre Dame with Jill in May, then (hopefully) Jill will go live with her family for a year. Alina came to Chattanooga in July- since it was summer ,we spent our weekends at our lake house. Now that the weather is turning cooler we are spending more time at home and mom decided it was time to show Alina some sights around Chattanooga...thus the Aquarium trip.

Alina

The night before i was not very thrilled to spend the day schlepping around in the dark aquarium, with my probably screaming 2 month old- but when i thought about my child seeing all of this for the first time I instantly saw the trip in a new light. I was excited to put on his turtle overalls and tell him all about the fish and other animals we would see. I was thrilled to think about pushing around his stroller and see him watching the lights on the ceiling. I was hoping that he would get to touch  stingray or a butterfly would land on him. I know he would never remember any of this...but thats what film is for right ?

Carter made it through the first (old) part of the aquarium, but slept thru the second half. He got to see lots of fish and he even touched a snake.

I can't wait for all of the stuff i get to show him for the first time....

Whatever happened to my Translyvania Twist ?

I suppose I am making it "blog" official...after much deliberation and grief- There will be no Halloween Party this year. Due to lack of venue, we will be unable to host the party I know all of you wait for every year. Since Buffalo Wild Wings moved locations, it was difficult for us to find another location that..well..frankly was free and didn't care what we did to the place. We had a pretty sweet deal at BWW- as before mentioned it was free and there was no way to possibly (with out burning it down) destroy a big empty room with no lighting or heat/air. The back room at buffalo came with cheap kegs, painted black floors and its own authentic cobwebs and spiders. Our party garage had horrible acoustics, slippery floors and a funny smell- but it was OURS! For 5 years, Doug, myself and various other close friends would arrive days before the party - we would sweep up 10lbs of cigarette ash and old chicken bones, overload the outlets with light-up jack-o-lanterns, duct tape ghouls and monsters to the walls and staplegun hundreds of lights to the banisters. (do I need to reiterate they didnt care what we did?)

Our Halloween Party tradition started in 2002 with a simple party at Dougs house in Red Bank, the following year we hosted the party in the club house at Cameron Hill where we lived. In 2004 the party was held at our house on Helen Lane- then in 2005 the BWW  series started. We have several of our close friends who have never missed a Dough/Michele Halloween party and some who have only attended one or two- but I remember them all. I remember all of the amazing costumes and all of the half-assed costumes, I remember the props and I remember the music by DJ Hepatitis G. We had a great run, and maybe if the City lifts the "required security and alcohol permit" rule we will have a party in 2011. But as of now, the garland and skeletons are packed away in a rubbermaid tote, no homemade costume has been started, and Skeletor is hanging in our shed patiently waiting for his next appearance.
Halloween is our favorite (we waiting til Halloween night to take the pregnancy test to find out we were expecting...while watching The Shining...dont judge us...) and we are very excited to share Carters first Trick-or-Treating experience- but a part of us will be mourning the loss of our party. Here are my favorite pictures from the past 5 years! Enjoy!...we sure did :-)

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho....

Carter- Day one at "Daddy Day Care"..he seems to be OK with it...

It's back to work I went :-( I doubt there are few things more difficult than going back to work after having your first child...I literally felt as if I was leaving a piece of my own body at home.
Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I am so blessed to work in a place where I was able to take time off to be with my son for the first 2 months of his life, but going back there....was hearbreaking. 9 weeks off sounded like an eternity before Carter was born, but unless you have children you cannot imagine how fast that time goes.
I have been a Dental Hygienist for 3.5 years now and I truly love my profession. A large part of my choosing this career, besides that I get to wear scrubs and have 4 day work weeks, was that the profession is 99.9% female...Meaning that taking time off for family/children is pretty common and very widely accepted...that and its pretty much IMPOSSIBLE for me to take work home with me ;-)
Carter and I spent our days at home napping, feeding and hanging out with our family. We took trips to the lake house and watched A LOT of TV. I took pictures of him everyday and posted many updates about his progress on Facebook. In the back of my mind..September 13th was looming- but i just kept thinking 'oh, i still have 4 weeks left', '16 more days at home with Carter'- until it was "I have to go back to work tomorrow:-(" WAAAAAAH.
Now, Carter- being 2 months old is not on any kind of sleeping schedule- sometimes he sleeps for 3 hours some times 4, but its never consistent. I tried my best to time that first morning out as best I could, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I ended up having to WAKE A SLEEPING BABY UP to feed him before I went to work- which would have normally been OK, except for the fact that i had to hand a very awake baby to my very NOT awake husband at 7:45am and run out the door.
I will say however; that my husband is an excellent father and I was only slightly worried that he'd try to put the baby in the dishwasher or something...so that took a little of the strife away. I couldn't imagine the heap I would have been in if I would have had to drop him off at...DAY CARE!
The only time I teared up that entire day was when I was on my 35min commute to work and I looked in my rearview mirror. I could see the reflection of an empty carseat base in my "mommy mirror"- I then realized that this day was going to be my longest time away from my child since he took his first breath. Once I got to work, things went very smoothly- we were very busy and I didn't have much time to sit and thing about being away from Carter....oh, except every 2 hours when I had to sit in the bathroom (AKA meat locker) and pump breast milk..but that's a story for another day...

The Start of a Family

When does a 'family' begin ? ...Engagement of the parents? ..After the 'I do's?...At the confirmation of pregnancy?...After the birth of the first child?
Whichever of the above mentioned you believe, The Roberts are now definitely a 'Family'.
Brief summary of the very beginnings....
Doug & I met in June of 2002- while we were both employed by Buffalo Wild Wings. We dated for 6.5 years before getting engaged on December 19th 2008 in New York City.

Rockefeller Center- 12/19/08

Doug and I were married On August 7th &8th ( 2 weddings....don't ask.) 2009 and what seems like instantly - we found out on October 31st of that same year that we were expecting our first child. ....



Wedding #1 8/7/09- happiest day of my life



11 weeks..Sunny lou-who

Much to the dismay of EVERYONE, Doug and I decided not to find out the gender of our baby. So he/she was known as "Sunny" or "Sunny Bee" to those around us. I had a VERY (knock-on-wood) easy pregnancy and only gained 29 lbs. Our original due date was July 6th 2010, and everyone was hoping for a 4th of July baby. But, in true Stone/Roberts (stubborn) and Dearing (..always running behind) fashion. Our little "Sunny" was late.....9 days late to be exact. I tried everything the books and internet told me to try to 'naturally' induce labor...except castor oil, no thank you.- But it was all for naught, our Sunny was perfectly content where he/she was.

3days overdue...trying to get my baby movin

My OB, Dr. Scott Harnsberger AKA my hero AKA best OB/Gyn on the face of the Earth AKA Harry Henderson's doppelganger- decided it was time to medically help me along and I was scheduled for induction at ParkRidge East hospital at 4am (yes, 4 am) on July 14th. Well to save the gory details..and too keep me from tearing up at the memory..I labored for 16 hours, pushed for 2hours ..and ended up having a C-section anyway. I had many many friends and the greatest family in the world there to support me...but it was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do...but it was all worth it because....



Carter's First Picture

...at 1:44 am July 15th 2010- Our World Changed. Carter William Roberts was born, our little boy, our son came into this world screaming at the top of his lungs. I have never seen my husband so proud or moved. After the "it's a boy" and Doug's true confession that he wanted a boy all along-  I laid there on the table thinking that life as I knew it would never, ever be the same.


In this blog- our goal is to keep our friends and family updated on our lives and everyday happenings as a family. Our new life with Carter is just starting and we can't wait to share the joys and tears with everyone. So please follow the link to the right and subscribe to our blog- we promise to keep it honest and hopefully, mildly entertaining :).