2010 here we come...

It's been quite a few weeks, as my waistline can attest to. Christmas has come and gone, and we are just working a bit this week, getting ready to go to Hawaii 10 days from now!

December was great. While I was in Tampa, the Emster and AM were in WP for B'fast with Santa. She just stared at ol' St. Nick wondering who is this fuzzy dude? The following wknd we were here wrapping presents, getting last minute gifts, and AM and I had a night out by ourselves as a little Christmas present to each other (went to Old Vinings Inn for dinner...good, but don't need to go back). The wknd before Christmas we were down in WP, and had a great time with B&S, and the 'rents. Helen, as usual did a great job with the Christmas Cantata, and lil' Emilie survived the nursery for an hour! Supposedly she cried for about 10 minutes, and then was fine, but very quiet afterwards.

For Christmas eve, we were out at the Dooley's, then back home late that night. We had Christmas morning at our house...Christmas breakfast at the Dooley's...Christmas lunch and presents in S'ville with J and B and fam...and Christmas beer's at night at Pete's. Then it was time for Christmas sleep. Next morning, we were off to Callaway Garden's to celebrate the Dooley's 40th wedding anniversary, and take the trolley on the Fantasy in Lights. A little chilly it was, but we had a great time. Toasts were abound late night (I didn't) with Kevin bringing down the house with his short, well-stated toast to "Dave and Una". It was a classic.

We took the kiddo to the butterfly center on Sunday, and I think she got a kick out of it.

We're back here this week, and woke up yesterday to the sound of chainsaws as they are finally starting on our sidewalks. I have a little video of this that I need to upload.

That's all for now, see all 2 of you in 2010!

Emilie's coming out party

The Edwards ladies were featured in some videos for CHOA. I've attached the link here. Don't go to a lot of trouble to watch these...they're each a few minutes long and AM and Em are in them for only a very little bit.

http://www.choa.org/default.aspx?id=8433

And how 'bout those Jackets! ACC Champs...suhweet.

Where have I been?

Well, it's been over a year since we've posted anything here...pretty terrible. I am going to try and do much better going forward.

I'll keep this kinda short, but there's a lot to get to. First, little Emilie is not so little anymore. She's 14 months now, and has just recently started walking all over the place...she started crawling about 4 months ago, when she was 10 months. It has seemed that she could walk for a couple of months now, but like crawling, just took her time with it.

She's a trip for sure. She can say a few words - up, hi, bye - and can say momma and dadda but I am not sure that she totally knows the meaning of them. We think she's also saying "what's that?". She also is very good recently at answering every question with "uh-uh". Thanks to our nanny May, she also can sing Barney. Needless to say, we're having a blast with her.

This year has been a lot of fun. We've had fun trips to the beach (SSI 2 times, Seagrove for a week, Destin once), a trip to the mountains, a Masters practice round, and a lot of time spent down at the lake. We're also getting excited to be going to Hawaii in early January. The three of us, and Aunt Noe, will be in Kapalua for a week, which we are fired up about.

We also continue to do some work on our house. We had it painted this past spring, and have renovated, finally, a bedroom into an office. Construction work is starting as we speak on sidewalks that are going to run through our front yard. We're excited about these too, so that it'll give us some safer travels on our walks/runs. Next on the list is to redo our "backyard" and possibly tackle the bonus room...2010 goals that is.

Other than that, not a ton of news to report. This fall has been a lot of fun keeping up with GT football, who at 10-2 has had a great year, aside from a loss last wknd to UGA. I'm headed to Tampa this wknd for the ACC Championship game, as the Jackets attempt to make it to a BCS Bowl for the first time ever. Big stuff!

I'll certainly be posting more often, and hope to add some recent pics and video clips. Hope the two people that read this are doing well!

She has arrived!

Though most all of you who receive this blog as an email are already very well aware that our sweet little daughter Emilie has finally joined us, I am told by Matt to treat this more like our "Family Diary" so this post will be a bit of repeat for most of you! All the same- our best post yet- as we get to announce the birth of Emilie Newell Edwards who joined us on Monday, October 6,2008 at 8:59pm. She weighed 8lbs, 13 oz, and measured 21 1/2 inches long. And while it was a long Monday at Northside Hospital, it could not have ended better!

We now have our sweet bundle of joy at home with us and are enjoying every second with her! She spends most of her time sleeping, eating and gazing up at us with a curious look on her face. But we are noticing changes every day. We've certainly lost a little of the sleep we used to get but are adjusting surprisingly well. It's amazing how much less you can get by with!

It's been great for me being at home and spending time with her. We even ventured out of the house w/ mommy driving for the first time this past Monday. We didn't go further than a two mile radius from our home but I think she really enjoyed getting a look at Pike Nursery, Steinmart, Publix and Limetree! And each day we go a little further- or at least go somewher new. Yesterday we went to Chastain Park and took a long walk around the trail there, followed by a few more quick errands. I've become a real expert at popping the carseat in and out and getting Emilie into her stroller. She is a great shopping/errand running partner too. She agrees w/ everything I say. : )

I've attached just a few recent pics from this week, as most of you have seen the collection from the hospital and her first week. (I'll attach a couple of those too though).

While I'm home, I(we) are going to try and keep on top of our "blogging" a little bit better now that we can share things about Emilie, so if you get tired of hearing from us-feel free to take yourself off the email list- then you can just check in as you wish at the blog site. Til next time!

Emilie and Mommy in the hospital.


First ride in the car on the way home from Northside.


Just a cute picture of the little lady.


Emilie's first "playdate" with Parker Troughton- Danielle and Phillip's little boy.


Emilie and Daddy hanging out after work

Just days away...

So we had a great doctor visit today, and there is news! If the baby doesn't decide to arrive before Sunday evening, our doctor has me heading to Northside Sunday night, to be induced on Monday! As he put it, the baby is "cooked".
We are so excited and really just can't wait. I think we're ready- as ready as we'll ever be at least! We'll keep you posted as much as we can! Since a few people have asked, below are a few photos of the nursery- future home of little our new baby boy or girl!

Week 36-almost 37!

Well here's me, at week 36! Several of you have asked for some more recent pictures so here they are(mostly for my international friends). : ) Didn't think I could get bigger but I am!

As Matt mentioned, I'm on weekly doctor visits now, and the doctor told me last week that we are definitely close! Obviously there's no telling when but he said he expects that the baby will either come a little early or right on time. Who knows though! I go back again on Thursday for the latest update!

Another addition to the family is our new car! We purchased it on Labor Day, and have been driving it for a few weeks. We had to say good bye to my trustee Volkswagen, which I will admit was a little bittersweet. I'm sure many of you heard me complain about that car, but in the end, it gave me almost 130,000 miles and not a ton of trouble really. Here's a tribute photo of me getting ready to hand over the keys. A shout out goes out to the ole Passat-I'll miss you! And... of course a shot of the new car that I must say is making the transition much easier. I'm having so much fun driving it! Poor Matt is not getting nearly as much time behind the wheel!

That's all for now, I'm off to buy some more orange shirts. ; ) (I didn't realize I owned so many). I'll be back to write more on Thursday-take care!

More Random posts from Matt...

Saw this monster outside of our house this evening, according to Wiki it s a Black and Yellow Argiope. Supposedly, harmless to humans, but scared the beejeezus out of me. Since last year's version was Fred, we'll call this one Wilma. See how long she stays with us. Fred was with us for a couple of months.

We also received 3 packages today, from all three major international shipping agencies, Fedex, UPS, and DHL. I find this humorous, so I took a picture of it.

As you all know, AM went to the dr. on Wednesday. They say that the baby might even be a little early, which I know excites her! I'll let her comment on that more.

VT 24 - GT 17....boooooooo. Just don't have a ton of confidence in this one.