So since we try to alternate holiday locations, this year we headed south to bask in the warm Fort Lauderdale sun! We had an all-too-brief (but very wonderful) Christmas celebration with Rich’s wonderful parents and then left the next morning for 11 hours in the Pilot with our little ones. And let me just say that we are SO proud of these two! The trip from Chattanooga to Fort Lauderdale can often be 12-13 hours depending on the number of stops we make, and of course the traffic, but we actually made a beeline there and arrived in just under 11 hours! The girls did an amazing job of tolerating the drive, and are turning out to be fabulous little travelers.

It’s actually been a little over a week since we have been back in town from our 3 weeks in Florida (yes, 3 whole weeks. Running our own business requires a ton of hard work, but it also allows for some flexibility in the off-season). The latter half of our week home has been spent sick. Well, let me rephrase: the girls have been sick and Rich and I have been waking up in the middle of the night for 3 nights straight to clean up vomit So I’m feeling sorry for the girls and going a bit stir crazy myself. And if I do another load of nasty laundry, it is highly likely that I will go completely insane.

So hopefully I’ll get through this blog post: it’s the kind of mommy day that makes me feel the need to go to the loony bin. Sierra is soooo fussy, clingy, needy, and clearly just doesn’t feel completely back to normal yet. As I type, she is loudly fighting a nap in her crib. Give in, baby, just give in. Mommy wants to blog. An overdue blog, at that.

Most of our Christmas vacation was spent in absolutely beautiful weather, in the 60′s, 70′s, even 80′s, which allowed the girls to play outside and have a blast. The pool water itself is actually really cold in the “Florida winter” even when it’s warm outside, so the girls mainly played with the sand and water table and enjoyed all of the pool toys.

Examining the sand…

And deciding to eat some. 

And deciding that it doesn’t actually taste good at all.

Alana has an absolute blast hanging out by the pool, even when she doesn’t go in the water. She has always loved it out here.

Her own little pink net for cleaning the pool – she loves it and hey, she helps the pool stay clean. Nana is brilliant  

Go Miami Heat  

Thank you so much to Rich for these photos of the girls (minus Aunt Pixie, whom we eagerly awaited the arrival of on Christmas Eve)!!!

I loooooove this series…

This was Sierra’s adorable little Christmas Eve dress – too cute

Thank you for the Christmas Eve family photo, mom! 

Christmas Day was just the sweetest thing. Since it was Sierra’s first Christmas, Alana wanted to properly introduce her to the wonderful presents. She was a little smothered, but hopefully she felt loved

Since Aunt Pixie had flown in late the night before, the girls had not seen her yet. So when we’d all waited as along as we could handle, we snuck in with the girls and let them crawl onto Amber to wake her up. It was so cute. Sierra was only 6 months old when Amber moved to South Dakota, so it had been 6 months, but her reaction was adorable and we all deduced that she totally remembered Aunt Pixie

We ate a delicious Christmas morning breakfast together and then began opening presents. 

I love my “I’m taking a picture of her taking a picture of her taking a picture of him” image  

Sierra didn’t actually make it too far before she needed her morning nap. So most of our gift opening was spent sans Sierra. But at least we had a happy baby later on! 

I put Sierra down for a nap and the opening continued! 

I made fun of my mom for getting dad – among other things – socks for Christmas. But dad reeeeaaalllly wanted some new socks. And the fact that he’s rubbing them on his face, well, that’s a really funny family joke going back a few Christmases  

Dad surprised mom with an iPad for Christmas – so cute! She was so excited! Mom and I found the MOST hilarious slippers for Amber – they looked like the abominable snowman – we were pretty happy with ourselves. Sadly, they shed like crazy! Might as well have a pet!

Gifting dad some happiness:

Ya, you really can’t go wrong with cash.

Alana sporting Aunt Pixie’s new slippers  

Yep, Rich got the coal in his stocking – I think he may have gotten it last year as well He and my mom have a special (i.e. feisty) relationship. But don’t feel bad for him, he can dish it out!

Stockings!My adorable mom, checking out her new work toy! 

Sierra woke up in time to have stocking fun – she kept putting candy canes in her mouth with the wrapper on, probably wondering why in the world we like them  

Then we let Sierra open her Christmas gifts that had been left unopened while she napped. Oh, she did not disappoint. I’ve come to expect babies to have more fun with the paper and boxes than their gifts, but Sierra, on Christmas Day, was an exception. She let Alana help her with the opening, but then she would hold up her gifts, give Nana a HUGE smile, and then proceed to play with and enjoy her new toys. Really, I was so impressed with her! It was the most rewarding baby gift opening episode I’ve ever seen  We might be the last young family on earth who did not yet have Sophie the Giraffe, but Nana got her for Sierra!

Both girls LOVE to be on Papa’s shoulders, mess up his hair, slap his head, giggle while he runs around the house…

And giggle when Nana comes to get them!

Then, once Amber was in town, we needed to take a few more photos with all 3 girls! Thank you again to Rich for these photos! They make me so happy  

Soon I will be able to blog Sierra’s first birthday party because the one and only Amber Holritz flew down to document it! We are so excited to share those photos as well!

Last year, we went to a really adorable and quirky local Christmas Tree farm to take some photos, have some family time, and cut down our own tree. This year, we didn’t need our own tree since we were going to be spending the holidays in Fort Lauderdale with my family. But we still wanted the festive family time and the holiday photos for our Christmas card, so we went anyway

It’s surreal to look at the photos from last year when I was 9 months pregnant with Sierra, and now we’ve known her for almost a year! This Christmas I’ve found myself constantly reminded just how blessed I am. I love my family!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

The really fun part is that Meghan then photographed us as well! Here are a few of my favorites, but head on over to her blog at Soli Photography to see even more! Meg, we love you, appreciate you, and are so thankful for these images of our family! We will treasure them FOREVER!!!

I think we are going to try for a pumpkin patch next weekend, so hopefully there will be another installment of fall-related family fun very soon

In addition to the general busy-ness of life lately, last week I got my very first sinus infection. And oh my gosh was it a doozy. I have zero frame of reference for what a normal sinus infection is like, so I don’t know if this one was altogether typical or not. Regardless, it was absolutely unbearable!

I had an intense, scary headache for about 4 days before I knew what was going on. It was a throbbing, severe headache unlike any I’d had before, that quite frankly, made me think I was about to have a brain aneurism. I called the doctor on day 3 of my headache, and scheduled an appointment for the next day.

That night (why do all the worst symptoms always hit in the middle of the night???), I began to have a fever, chills, and nausea. The headache migrated into my face – my sinus area – and made me feel like my head was about to explode into a million pieces.

It was this combination of symptoms that made my infection so unbearable. A fever and chills, on their own, are unpleasant. Nausea, by itself, is miserable. A headache of this magnitude is terrible. But put it all together and it resulted in a crying, moaning, gasping for breath Heather. Rich was helpful, but obviously felt helpless. We were up for a while in the middle of the night, making warm compresses for my face, sipping ginger ale for the nausea, using the Netti Pot for my sinuses, getting extra blankets for my chilling, etc.

The next day at the doctor I was diagnosed with a severe sinus infection. And amid my absolute misery, somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I was incredibly thankful that I wasn’t dying of a brain aneurism. As much as I long for heaven, I feel like 30 is too young to go.

For the rest of the day I threw up. Including in the car on the way home from the doctor. You know that cloth shopping cart liner for babies to sit in? Ya, that was the ONLY thing in the car capable of catching my throw up, so that has since gotten a really, really good washing. Once we finally got my antibiotics and Sudafed, I was so hopeful that I was going to get some relief. But I couldn’t keep anything down, so I was getting a bit panicky. And can we please talk for a moment about how extraordinarily painful it is to throw up when you have a sinus headache? Oh my. Eventually, the next day, with the help of gatorade and Saltine crackers, I was able to keep my medicine down. And eventually, I could feel the effects of the antibiotic and the Sudafed. I’ve ben getting gradually better since then, and while the antiobiotic is making me feel nauseous, I’ll be done in a few days, thankfully.

Now to figure out how never to get another sinus infection Any comments on this are more than welcome!

Rich had taken Alana to spend the day with Randy and Susan so that we only had one child to care for, and the following day Rich’s parents took Alana while I was recovering. FAMILY TO THE RESCUE! Thank you so very much to Randy and Susan for allowing Alana to have a blast with her cousins and to my in-laws for taking Alana on a bunch of fun errands! She would have had NO fun here and we SOOOOO appreciate you all!

But I digress. The REAL reason for this blog post is happiness, not misery! It’s to post these awesome photos that Rich took while we were at the apple orchard yesterday! The girls are growing like crazy and some days I can’t even believe how quickly this year has passed. Here are some of our favorites from yesterday!

There were some adorable, tiny apples on the ground, just Sierra’s size  

Happy fall, everyone!

I mean, seriously, wow.

I cannot believe it’s been nearly two months since I last blogged. That MUST be a new record! I don’t think I’ve gone two months without blogging since the inception of my blog in October of 2005.

It’s been busy, to say the least.

After my last blog post (from our trip to Dauphin Island), we returned and had only one week left with my sister and Nick before they moved to Rapid City, South Dakota. We spent as much time with them as we could, and then had a little bitty going away party for them. Here are the last couple of photos we took with them before they left. We miss them terribly! We are hoping VERY much to be able to see them around Christmas time. Any longer and I don’t think I’ll make it

After Nick and Amber moved away (boo!), we had Sierra’s six month session with the phenomenal Amber Holritz.

As usual – not to sound cavalier – she blew us away with her ability to capture moments and memories for us that will grow in value as time passes.

Here are a few of my favorites from the session, but be SURE to head over to Amber’s blog and see the whole post, including a slideshow! 

When Amber arrived, we were giving Sierra her first few bites of solid food ever! It was squash and she wasn’t a fan. But with the knowledge that I have in writing this blog post a month past-due, I can say that Sierra has been doing great, eating like a little champ, and she now enjoys squash (along with lots of other fruits and vegetables

Another funny thing about waiting so long to post this blog, is that at six months exactly, Sierra was still toppling when she tried to sit. Like in the hilarious image below. Now, she’s been sitting for over a month and is doing so brilliantly. AMAZING how much she’s changed in a month! 

I love all of these self-portraits too much for words  

After we had this session with Amber on June 27th, I left for Fort Lauderdale to help take care of my mom post-surgery and ended up staying for a whole month! Thank you to everyone who prayed for her and brought meals! We are so thankful for all of you! Her surgery went well and she is mostly recovered, though she still needs to take it easy.

To Amber, for another incredible baby session. We are always at a loss for words to describe our gratitude for the family treasures. You are a treasure.

To my sister and Nick: We love and miss you more than we can say. You’ve taken part of our hearts with you.

To my mom: I love you and it was an honor to help take care of you. You’ve always taken incredible care of me. Pleeeeaaaasssseeee take it easy so you can heal!

And to my blog readers, sorry for being MIA, and I hope you are all doing wonderfully!

So, after a bit of morning relaxation…

We headed off to see what we could see

At the public beach, I loved the tall reeds, the rickety wooden fences, and the strong wind that blew. We had so much beautiful sunshine throughout the week, but in the mornings and evenings it tended to be overcast…and that happens to be when we did most of our photographing!

So, while all the sunshine was beautiful, I also like the soft, cloudy feel these images have! It started raining around the time we decided to leave, so I’m thankful for the half hour we had here! 

We have a saying in our household. It’s from the movie “Madagascar” which Alana has never seen, but Rich and I love. When she gets all crazy like this and she runs around like a nut and gets really goofy, Rich and I look at each other and say, “The penguins are psychotic.” That pretty much sums up this photo

I’m soaking up the snuggly stage because I know it won’t last long! Before long she’ll be running around with gobs of energy like her sister! 

Um, can this image win an award or something? Rich captured it and I’m pretty jealous that I didn’t take it myself. LOVE it.

I love Rich and Sierra’s interactions…so super crazy sweet. 

We played “red light, green light” on the pier and it made for some fun photos. Why haven’t we thought of this before?!?

“Red light!”

“Green light!”
Sierra seemed to love being outside! I loved carrying her around on the beach knowing she was so content.
After a storm blew several rafts and inter tubes into our portion of the beach one night, the kids had fun playing with them the next morning. Alana was too nervous to take her raft into the water with me, so she opted to play in it on the shore.
I think it was her personal goal each day to become as covered in sand as was humanly possible. She succeeded. I’m pretty sure all 3 bathing suits I packed will have sand in them forever.
One day for lunch the four of us visited a local bakery (which has the best cream cheese danishes EVER) and enjoyed some more family time.

Ooooh. I love these photos. Sierra had been to the beach in Fort Lauderdale when we visited my parents in March, but I hadn’t brought her to the water. Because the ocean temperature at Dauphin Island was so moderate, I decided to bring Sierra down to the shore and let her feel the sea for the first time.

So, with her new little rash guard and her chubby baby legs, Sierra met the ocean.

One wave came in pretty strong and caught me off guard so I swept Sierra up and Rich captured it! I love it! 

By the end of the week, Alana, who has always been apprehensive about the water, had become so confident near the waves that we borrowed her cousin’s life jacket for some peace of mind! Even though we were right there with her, she was getting VERY brave in the water and it started to make us nervous! 

Rich and Alana having some more fun…

Uncle Ron (a phenomenal pilot) offered to take the kids up in his plane during the last two mornings of our trip. All 6 of the older kids went up with him and loved it. Rich and Alana went up and I was so glad that Rich took his camera to document their time since I was back at the house with Sierra! 

And this was my view of them flying overhead while I was on the beach!

A few last photos before our vacation came to an end…

I took a couple photos of Alana playing out in front of the house…

And Rich took a few at the sand dunes near the public beach…

Group shot! I love this photo! We were SO SAD not to have gotten a photo with Ron and Kathleen that morning before they flew out…but I’m thankful we got everyone else. The 3 brothers, their wives, and all 8 kids!

We decided to leave the island on a Ferry that took us to Gulf Shores, Alabama and drive back a different way. So, this is both girls’ first time on a boat of any kind, I believe!

Our last vacation photo: a squinty-eyed family self-portrait

Ron and Kathleen had been to Dauphin Island, Alabama, before and it was their idea to introduce all of us to the area. None of us had been there before and it was a wonderful break in the craze that has been our lives lately! It is a very small island, very calm, and not much to do but relax on the white sand beaches. Again, a welcome break from a busy season of life.

This was the water tower that greeted us as we crossed over the bridge onto the island…

And this is the very large home that greeted us for the week! It was situated DIRECTLY on the beach and could not have been more perfect for us for that reason. With little kids, it was SO nice to be right on the beach so that Alana (and her cousins) could go in and out a few times a day without being too long in either place. Rich and I took turns inside while Sierra napped and outside playing in the sand and water with Alana. She was in HEAVEN all week.

I loved this onesie that I’d bought for Sierra a few weeks back and figured our little vacation was the perfect time to put her in it. How cute, right? “Ready for fun!”

For the first few days, we relaxed, roamed the property, snapped a few photos, and tried to get the girls to sleep later than 6am (to no avail)

One of the kids favorite places to play (besides the shore, of course) was under the house! Because it was on stilts, the kids had a blast collecting sea shells and playing in the sand. I took this photo of Alana the morning after we arrived before she’d even had a chance to put on a swim suit! 

This is Alana’s closest-in-age cousin, Addie. She is hilarious and adorable, as you can tell  

Rich and Alana had SO MANY fun moments at the beach, and while I was mostly occupied with Sierra, I tried to grab the camera here & there to capture some memories.

Five month old Sierra:

Across the street from the beach house was a very cool sandbar where Rich had taken Alana the day before. They wanted to go back and bring me and Sierra with them, and they were excited to show me all of their discoveries. We had such great family time around the sand bar, and here are some photos of our time there! 

I love this little drool factory! 

Hermit crabs!!!

The next day at the beach I was determined to get some photos of Alana playing. She’d been having fun on a contagious level and I wanted to remember her running around so happily. She grabbed her straw hat on our way out the door and it made for some fun photos. Truthfully I can’t believe I got a single useful image – Alana did not stand still for a split second all morning. I got dizzy just trying to photograph her activity and I’m thankful for high shutter speeds! 

Cousins! Alex, Addie, and Alana! Rich and both of his brothers had a girl for their firstborn and all 3 happen to be “A” names. These girls play SO well together and I love their relationships! Both Addie and Alana look up to Alex so much. She’s their hero  

The cousins playing a jumping game on a little sand hill…it was so cute to witness  

Up on the porch, Sierra relaxed and completely seemed to enjoy the sights and sounds of the ocean. I sat on the back porch with her quite a bit and we loved feeling the ocean breeze on our skin. She was a joy…with a few moments of overtired screaming and not napping well.

I thought this was a funny image with her tongue…

Stay tuned for part two! Coming right up!

Sierra will be five months old on Saturday, so I think I’ve waited a bit longer on the rice cereal than I did for Alana. It was a funny little event, and I was happy to have Rich here taking photos, Amber here taking an iPhone video, and Alana to be our entertainment.

I was the designated spoon-feeder, and here are the results of our collaboration!

I put Sierra in the bouncy seat because I am holding off as long as I can in bringing the high chair upstairs…baby stuff takes up so much space and I reeeaaaallly don’t like bulky clutter! Plus, Sierra isn’t quite ready to sit up yet, but soon – she’s so strong!

Here are a few images that I thought were funny.

Wondering what is going on…

She’s normally SO expressive but I think she was really confused and not sure what to think because she just stared at me like, “What???”

Pretty awesome what-the-heck face:

As is typical of a baby’s first spoon-feeding, way more cereal ended up on her face and bib than what was actually ingested  

Alana was pretty excited about the special occasion

I had to work pretty hard to pry her little fingers off the spoon handle. Every time I tried to give her a bite she just grabbed the spoon and wanted to play with it. Silly baby. 

Fun times. Love my little family!!!

Rich and Alana decided to take me to breakfast at Cracker Barrel in the morning, so off we went to enjoy some time together and yummy food. I grabbed a camera as we walked out the door because I wanted for Rich to grab a few photos of me with my girls on Mothers Day.

I took this image below because seriously, it kills me that Alana treats every walk to the car like a leisurely exploration of the yard. In this photo, she is walking AWAY from the car, probably on her way to check out some rocks, bugs, dirt, or something. It’s hilarious – and sometimes totally aggravating – that she almost always “stops to smell the flowers.” I’m so task-oriented that I usually have to FORCE myself to have a conversation with her about the wonderful tiny rocks (or what not) before asking her (again) to get in the car!

Once we got to Cracker Barrel there was a bit of a wait so we relaxed on their rocking chairs. Rich and Alana are buddies. It’s adorable.

Sierra just hung out and failed to nap

Thanks to Rich for this shot of me and the girls. Alana’s smile is a little creepy but hey…

Silly girl time

While Rich and Alana ran to the store for ingredients (to make me a New York Style Cheesecake!), Sierra and I attempted to self-portrait. I could not stop laughing because she just kept trying to eat me! She needed a paci or something because she was slobbering ALL over my face. Hysterical.

Rich and Alana returned, set the cream cheese out to thaw, and we all headed out the door for some Smith Family time. For Mothers Day, Rich’s Uncle Ron flew Memaw into town for the weekend. The last time we saw Memaw (Rich’s precious grandmother) it was Christmas time; just a few days before Sierra was born. It was fun to introduce them, and I made sure to take a few photos of them together

Memaw is 90 years old and as sweet as can be. I am so glad I have had the opportunity to know her and take some photos of her with both of our girls as babies! There have been some sweet moments!

We saw Memaw and Uncle Ron off at the Chattanooga Airport and headed to the mall. I had a coupon for Gap and Rich wanted me to be able to do a little kid-less shopping. I have a few more pounds to lose before I am in many of my pre-pregnancy clothes again but it’s already getting so hot that I desperately needed a few pair of shorts. It’s so frustrating to shop for “in-between” sizes but I refuse to diet while I’m nursing. I’m always hungry so I’d rather eat enough and not love my body for a little while than to feel deprived and ravenous!

Anyway, that was my mothers day in a nutshell. Relaxing with people I love is the perfect way to spend a day.

Alana has had her first ever ear infection for the past three weeks and has been on her first ever round of antibiotics

In order to help her get better, we have been keeping her home a ton and away from groups of kids…so that includes her Mother’s Day Out program, my women’s bible study, our home group, church, etc. Not only do we want to avoid making anyone else’s kids sick,  but we want to keep Alana away from additional germs while she is SLOWLY recovering. We’ve had lots of cancelled plans and events, and we’ve done a lot of resting and tylenol-taking. It’s been very sad around here, and poor Alana hasn’t felt like herself for what seems like a very long time.

On Saturday, Alana really seemed to be feeling great. Finally. Thankfully. We enjoyed taking her to her cousin Addy’s birthday party and then to a VERY fun easter egg hunt and cookout with her other cousins. Sadly, by the time the kids started their easter egg hunt the sun was going down and we didn’t get any decent images. So to make up for the lack of photos on Saturday, we took a bunch on Easter Sunday, as per my mom’s request

So here you go, mom! I hope you feel like you got to spend Easter with the girls!

We started the day with a couple of family self-portraits:

And an Easter Basket from Nana to Alana  

The newest member of Alana’s Beanie Boo family  

This face cracked me up. Opening Easter eggs is intense! 

Then we took a break, spent some family time together, and when Aunt Pixie came over, Alana enjoyed some more surprises: 

Thank you sooooooo much to my sis for these completely NON traditional family Easter portraits! 

I love this image of me and Sierra. She is hilarious. Her current M.O.? Open mouth, insert fist

HA! This photo makes me laugh out loud. I love it, Amber!

Happy first Easter, Sierra. 

SO MANY entertaining faces. 

And then we had an Easter Egg hunt for Alana, which was equally as exciting as the Easter basket presentation. She LOVED it.

Rich and Amber hid the eggs, and Rich took these photos. I just followed Alana around with a huge grin on my face. 

(Note the Easter egg in the background)

These photos are brilliant. Rich captured Alana running at full speed across the lawn to get her other Easter Basket when the lambie one was full. It was a perfect moment. 

Success! Now with an empty “princess” basket, she was ready for round two – there were still more eggs to find! 

This is one of those photos that we could never have staged even if we had thought to try, but it’s just perfect! I LOVE the energy and youthfulness in this image! I love Alana’s body language, crazy hair, and even the fact that the basket is facing the camera perfectly. Awesome. 

She took several “candy breaks,” even though we told her there were still eggs to be found and that she could have some candy once we got back inside. I don’t think she heard us  

Then when Alana had found all of her eggs, she and Aunt Pixie had some chill time in the grass. I love these two so much. 

Happy, happy Easter, friends and family! We love you and are so thankful that you are in our lives!

Are you happy, mom?