Other People Holding My Baby*

We've had a steady stream of visitors over the last few weeks, besides just the grandparents.  I haven't been super on top of things when it comes to taking pictures of everyone who came to meet Charlotte (and bring us food, in most cases... I seriously have not cooked in a month), but fortunately Mark seems to have the camera ready at least half the time.  (Daddy for the win.)

our friend and neighbor Mary (and brother Hayes came too)...

EMU came with her daughter Annie and her unborn baby U2...

Another Nathan (remember when he could barely hold *one* baby?)...

Renee, who apparently makes Charlotte want to swan-dive...

Mark's Clemson roomie Jeff and his wife Crystal (and two of their boys)...

my friend Sally from church choir...

our friend and super-sitter Leanna (and Dan!)...
and their new daughter Gabby (Charlotte's future bff)

One of my Furman roomies, Betsy, also came to visit, but somehow we didn't take pictures.  And Mr. David (of orange shoelace infamy) was also in town and spent a few minutes sweetly soothing Charlotte (impressive especially considering he's apparently never really been around a newborn before).  Also no pics. 

And the handful of church friends who came with dinners seemed to sneak in and out before we could bust out the camera either.  So you'll just have to trust me... Charlotte has lots of new friends and we've felt very loved and cared for by everyone who has come to meet her.

*My Furman friend LP once joked that she could make a whole facebook album of pics of herself holding other people's babies.  So our friend Kelley actually did make an album of other people holding her babies.  I'm joining the bandwagon.  Look what you started, LP.

Another Child of the Covenant

Anneliese was baptized this morning. I have pondered and prayed about this baptism a lot since some friends had an incredibly thought-provoking discussion on the subject back in September. We knew we wanted to have Nathan baptized, and his baptism was a wonderful and sacred experience for our family. But this time around, I feel so much more grounded in what I know and believe about the sacrament.

Anneliese's baptism is an outward sign of an inner conviction that God is already at work in her life, and will continue to be. Her baptism is by no means the beginning or end of her faith walk, it's simply a sign to mark her as as being child of the new covenant brought by Jesus. We believe that being a child of God is something God makes happen, not something we make happen. So while Mark and I did make a vow to love Anneliese and nurture her in the ways of our faith, her baptism was not as much a dedication of our child to God (although it is that, too) as our affirmation that she's already God's.

Today was also special because the pastor who did it (Clark, our Sunday school teacher, who's our age and is more like a peer-pastor if there is such a thing) had never done a baptism before. He didn't even know how to hold a baby; we had to practice beforehand. :) But he did great, and I liked that Anneliese got to be his first one. She did cry, but only a little. And the congregation laughed! I'm not sure what happened actually, maybe they just thought she had sort of a funny cry. :)(Or maybe it's just what Clark said -- everyone likes to see pastors sweat, which is probably true.) You can see the baptism in the video below:

It was also nice that my Bible study teacher for three years, Robert, was the assisting elder. And our good family friend, Mary, was the youth service assistant today. (No, that wasn't a coincidence.) Here are the people who came in support of Anneliese:

The Canavos family (our neighbors), my dad and stepmom, my mom, our pastor Clark, Uncle Nick and Aunt Barbara, Mark's mom, Mary, and Robert... all supporting our little family!

For some reason the rest of the Cham-fam ducked out of the picture, but Mary's parents and brother Hayes, who are like our family away from family, were of course also there. And our friend "Another Nathan" was there but he was busy with music stuff so he isn't in the picture. And my sister planned to come but she was sick this weekend so she couldn't make it, which is a bummer. But we know she's supporting Anneliese in absentia. :)

Afterwards we had everyone over for pizza and cake and kool-aid (oh yeah, I'm the hostess with the mostest). I feel blessed to have so many people who love and support our family and our daughter.

Meeting Grandparents and Friends

The past few days have been busy with a plethora of visitors. Everyone wants to meet the new arrival! (Though I think Mark and Nathan and I were the ones who cared most about the visitors!)

Most importantly, Anneliese got to meet three of her four sets of grandparents. Mark's mom came on Thursday night but only got to see the baby for a few minutes before she went down in her crib.... for six hours. Amazing. (The rest of the night was awful, so don't get jealous of me too quickly.) I felt kind of bad since I knew Grandma wanted to play with Anneliese, but nothing (nothing) is worth waking a baby who is learning to sleep for extended amounts of time in her own crib. So instead Nathan got all Grandma's attention for most of her visit. Anneliese did get a little snuggle time before she left too!

Then my dad and Cathy came up and brought lunch and stayed for the afternoon. We had an incredibly pleasant and relaxing visit with them (so relaxing that I think at one point all four grownups had dozed off!) even though Nathan skipped his nap for the first time in his life (yikes, that better not be a habit already). We ate chicken and I even drank some sweet tea for the first time in several weeks. I didn't worry about caffeine too much when I was pregnant, but both of my kids have proven very sensitive to it in breastmilk (trust me when I say the results are not pretty) so when I have it now I have to dump the milk -- something I don't like to make a habit of -- so real tea is a very rare treat! They also brought a few matchbox cars for Nathan, which made him crazy happy and he's barely put them down since they left. Doesn't my dad look sweet with his grandkids (and a lap full of cars)?

And then my mom came up. I was so glad to see her! I think there is something about being a new mommy (even for the second time) that just makes you want you own mom around, you know? And mom was nice enough to leave her house at like 5:30 in the morning (she would have been up anyway, don't feel too bad for her) so she could hang out with Anneliese while we went to church -- and that meant I got to sing with the choir. (I don't mind taking Anneliese into worship with me, but I can't really bring her into the chancel to sing, of course... and we're not quite ready to leave her in the nursery yet, considering it's flu season.) We figured since we know now that she can take a bottle if needed, we should take advantage of mom's willingness to help out. Mom also fixed us an awesome homemade lunch (chicken pie and baked apples and green beans and brownies).

Anneliese also met a few of our church friends this week. The Chamblees, who -- if you recall -- came down with H1N1 the week Anneliese was due, have recovered and were very anxious to finally meet her. Of course Nathan was super-stoked to see Hayes too!

And our friend Nathan (who happens to share a first and middle name with our Nathan -- isn't that weird? We didn't even know him when Nathan was born) came to meet her too. He hasn't been around many newborns, but he did fine and he even held her for a little while, though he seemed hesitant at first (he wasn't sure about the whole neck support thing, apparently). And our Nathan was very happy to see his friend "Another Nathan" for a little while outside of church!

So it's kind of been a tiring week, but since we don't have much else going on besides learning to adjust at home with both kids (and that's actually going fairly swimmingly), we were glad for the company and adult conversation!

For more pictures of our week of visitors, click below on Ashley and John with Anneliese.

by mgoetts

All Around the Tarheel State

Nathan and I have spent the last day and a half gallavanting around our great state. Because apparently the first thing I just had to do when I stopped work this week was fill up my time with lots of things to do and places to go.

I wanted to bring Bowden and Simon to my mom in Huntersville since we're going to DC this weekend and hey -- she barely notices two more canines in the bizzare canine alternate universe known as her house anyway, so I scheduled some other stops too.

I mentioned last weekend that I was desperate to get my hair done. It was too long, highlights needed highlighting, bangs had all grown out, and the split ends were out of control. Nathan also was looking sort of like a ragamuffin. It was a bad situation. You can take my word for it, or you can check out this shot for proof. Anyway, I do still drive "home" to get my hair done by the same woman who has been doing it since I was in high school (a friend of the family), since I don't trust anyone else to prevent my hair from looking tiger-striped or something crazy, or to not charge me a million bucks (do you know how expensive it is to get highlights in a salon?)... so even though she's two hours from me, just north of Charlotte in Mooresville, I still make the drive. Clearly not as often as I should, based on how my hair looked last week, but whatevs. The result of finally getting around to it is that my hair is blond again (and almost eight inches shorter!) and Nathan looks significantly more clean-cut, with nary a tear shed.

Then today mom and I met Jenny (and her gorgeous daughter Katie) for lunch in Winston-Salem at the Village Tavern, which is one of our favorite places. They have the best she-crab soup (yes, even better than what I have had in Charleston) and despite the fact that this location has apparently stopped making it due to cost (is there anything this bad economy doesn't affect?), my food was still fabulous.
It's a nice-ish place, but we braved it with two toddlers and they did as well as could be expected. Which is to say -- just fine, although not quiet. It was a very enjoyable meal and visit for all of us.

On the way home from lunch, I stopped at Jenny's house in Kernersville to sort through her masses of baby girl clothes, and I left with the car so weighed down that I seriously could tell a difference in how quickly I could accelerate. Amazing. In case I haven't mentioned it recently, I love hand-me-downs. Nothing makes an outfit cuter than a price tag of free. And Jenny really hooked us up today -- Beanie will be set until at least next spring. She had more to share, but I ran out of space in the car. Honestly. She offered to let me come do another run and swap some stuff out when Beanie outgrows what I took this time. Aren't friends awesome?

So after driving all over the state (on one tank of gas, for the record; I love my little Honda! --even if I did pull into our driveway on fumes alone after nervously watching the gas light beaming at me for the last 45+ miles of the trip) I now need to unload, get some rest, then pack and re-load to embark on a new road trip tomorrow.

Brace yourself, DC, we're on the way and we have an (almost) 2-year-old to celebrate! Bring on the dinosaurs and airplanes, here we come!!

When Toddler's Away, Parents Will Play (...or Work)

Nathan has spent the majority of this week with my friend Jenny (remember Jenny? friends since fifth grade) and her family in Greensboro. Mark and I both had extremely hectic work weeks, so this was our version of childcare.

It's been a mix of stressful and relaxing during Nathan's time away. I miss him like crazy. Being non-parents again, even for a short while (this is the first time we've done it in our own house), is kind of peaceful, though. It's annoying that we've both been working like crazy (Mark has 12-hour shifts, and I've put in 9-10 hour days which is double my scheduled norm) and haven't used the quiet time for something more fun, but... that's life. We did have a date tonight, which was an extremely good end to an extremely unpleasant day.

I've been thinking about little Nathan, and how he's doing with little Katie (Jenny's daughter, about six months younger than him). Besides a few post-nap breakdowns (that's his way, unfortunately), it sounds like he's doing just fine. If there's anyone who can handle two toddlers, it's Jenny, I know that much.

Thank goodness for facebook; I can see what they've been up to this week!

Nathan has learned to accessorize.

When they're older, they're going to kill us for making this picture public.

This picture is sweet but I'm mostly distracted by the fact that Nathan apparently had to accessorize his pajamas as well.

He looks so old in this picture! How did that happen in just three days?

We have missed you Nathan, and we'll be glad to see you tomorrow! We're glad you're having fun and seem to be embracing the idea of having a sister around to play with!

Reason #1087 Why I Need a Daughter

I should prefare this whole post by saying the following:
I am not pregant.
I do not want to become pregnant.
I am not (even a little bit) ready for another child.

Disclaimer aside, sometimes I want a daughter so badly that it causes me physical pain. This is how I know that my family is not yet complete. Maybe someday I will have the same feelings about another little boy, but for right now Nathan completely satisfies the mommy-and-son desires in me. But the mommy-and-daughter itch? Not so much satisfied.

There's a sense of 'otherness' between a mom and son, I think... I know Nathan loves me, and I know I love him, but at the end of the day he will have more in common with Mark than with me. He will look up to Mark more than he does me. He will confide in Mark in ways he might not be comfortable sharing with me. All that's fine - it's how it's supposed to be, and I don't resent it. But it does make me long for the 'sameness' I might experience with a daughter.

I know that all mother-daughter relationships are not great, but for right now I need to believe that mine would be. All cute clothes and dresses and swimsuits and sandals aside (why are there always more girl clothes than boy clothes in baby sections, anyway?), moms and daughters share a bond that a son or dad could never understand. My mom knows how I felt walking down the aisle to marry Mark. My mom knows how I felt when I freaked out the first time I had to use a tampon (at a swim meet, for the record). My mom knows how I felt when I got discouraged by the lack of jeans that fit me well enough to make me feel confident. My mom knows how I felt pushing my child out, and how I felt watching him nurse for the first time. She understands my inner mama-bear when someone tries to cross my kid. I will support and love all my children, how ever many God plans for our family to have. But a daughter would bring a special bond, I think.

So you understand when I look at this picture of Jenny and Katie, and it pains me a little. It's beautiful, because they are both beautiful. But it makes me so jealous.

Anyway I went to write a 'happy birthday Jenny' post, and somehow I went on and on about mommies and daughters. So the short version is: Happy birthday Jenny! Your first birthday as a mom! (Kind of makes you re-think what birthdays are about, huh?) We love you and your little family!

On the Democracy of Ground Balls

Our family has had quite the sporty week.

Sunday morning - Nathan and I cheered Mark and my mom in the Triangle Triathlon here in town. We got there late (Nathan slept until nine... I actually had to wake him up for a change!) so we missed the bike-to-run transition (and swim-to-bike, but we sort of assumed we would miss that one).... I can't make any sense of Cary on a normal day (I'm pretty sure Ryan can attest to that), but when half the streets are closed because of the event, I should have allowed way more time to figure out where to park and how to get from wherever I would park, to the event itself. Anyway we must have done some good cheering, since mom finished second in her age group, and Mark had a new best time for the run! Yay Mark and mom!

Sunday afternoon - mom and I got a couples massage at Iatria. Ok, so it's not that sporty. But it was awesome. And she deserved it, anyway!

Sunday evening - Mark, Nathan and I went with our neighbors Amy and Drew, and Jim and Renée, to a Durham Bulls game. Remember the movie Bull Durham? Yeah, it was made 25 years ago. Don't you feel old now? Anyway, if you didn't know, the Durham Bulls are a real team, and it's a great place to see a game. There's nothing like a baseball game, a hot dog, a cold drink, or some cotton candy (or d.- all of the above, if you're preggo Renée) on a hot summer night. Nathan hadn't been to a game like that before (church softball hardly counts, when he and I are two-thirds of the crowd!), and he was thrilled by all the people and all the cheering and the noise. He's recently started pointing at things he wants (or wants us to look at), so he spent the whole game pointing at everything in sight. It was super-cute. Especially for me, since I don't care as much about who wins and scores as I do about Nathan's antics.

Monday evening - I forgot about workout class and eat Mexican food! Hey, we talked about the missed workout class, so the dinner counts as sort of sporty... right?

Tuesday evening - Nathan and I went to cheer Hayes and Mary (friends from church) in their swim meet, the last of the season. Wow, did that bring back memories. Six-year-olds who can only swim halfway across the pool, kids with heat and lane numbers markered all over their arms, teenage girls flocking around the younger boys as their "mascot" for the summer (yep, that was Hayes), belly flops masquerading as dives off homemade starting blocks, kids with heat ribbons in one hand and hot dogs in the other.... it was sort of nice to re-live the fun and nonchalant part of the swimming world, especially after watching the serious Olympic trials a couple of weeks ago on TV. Anyway, Nathan and Hayes had fun playing in between events, as you can see.

Wednesday evening - I remembered to go to workout class! But just five minutes in, they paged me from the nursery upstairs since Nathan was hysterical and no amount of hugging or games or books would distract him from his fury. The clingyness continued all night, with nursings and bottles and hugs dotting the hours of wailing, until he finally cried himself to sleep (something I try to never let him do) around 10. Whew! I have no idea why he was so traumatized - he's stayed in the nursery (there and at church) many times, with hardly a problem. And he seemed fine today. So who knows... I'm just glad it's over! So in lieu of my missed workout last night, I made a batch of brownies and drank some red wine. Not as bad as the Mexican that replaced Monday's workout... but not great.

Bonus I-love-you points for anyone who can tell me what are as fascist as ground balls are democratic.

If you want to see more pictures of the Bulls game, click on our family, below.

by mgoetts

Visit with Sarah

Nathan had another good homecoming surprise - a visit with Sarah! She was in town shopping for wedding dresses with Katie and spent one night with Nathan and me before she went home. I know I have said this before, but Sarah is really good for me... the foundation of our friendship was a pattern of looong late-night conversations in the hall on Gambrell 300, and this weekend we talked (and talked and talked) just like old times.

One fun (new) part of our friendship is her comfort level with Nathan. Every time she is with him, they pick up just like they're old friends themselves. Sarah is passionate and knowledgeable when it comes to working with children, and it is so fun to see her playing with Nathan. In a few years, she'll have children too, and I can't wait to see all the kids playing together. She gets a lot of hugs from the children she teaches, I'm sure... but for this one weekend, I'm glad Nathan got all the snuggles she had to give!

In other weekend news, we sang the Schubert Mass in G as a Lenten offering, and it went quite well. I won't say I loved it as I was learning it, but after singing it twice on Sunday, I have more of an attachment to it. I know many elite musicians ascribe to "higher callings" than church music. But I'm really starting to buy into the mindset that there is no higher calling for musical gifts than to praise God.

Now that Sarah has gone home, our house seems suddenly emptier. But I am sort of glad for the complete halt in chaos... especially after the hospital, I think the whole family is happy to be back into a boring routine!

Washington DC

Nathan and I had a great weekend together visiting Betsy (and seeing Merritt for the first time since her wedding in 2004) in Washington DC. We found out on Friday that Nathan will have to be hospitalized due to his weight loss, but his doctor was kind (and rational) enough to recognize that there was no emergency before Monday, so we had a nice, sane, hospital-free weekend on the road visiting with friends.

I am pleased to report that we did not get through the weekend without saying "a bag? like, a plastic bag?" which means it was truly a weekend with Betsy. I am a little bummed that no one, at any point, said "Dang, Gina!"

I am also pleased to report that Nathan slept through the whole night. After the disasterous non-sleep at my mom's house a few weeks ago, I was kind of worried. But we put him in his pack & play the night before we left for DC, and he fussed but eventually settled down... so I think it was a little more familiar by the time he had to sleep in it in Betsy's room. I felt sort of bad that he took her rooom while we camped in the den, but I figured at least we slept that way. Better than being awake all night, even with a real bed. And you know Betsy can ball up and sleep anywhere (I don't mean that as sleazy as it sounded).

I really needed a weekend of connection, and Furman memories, and good dialogue with someone who really, really gets me. We talked so much I lost my voice (imagine how much *I* would have to talk to strain it!) but it was worth it!

For more pictures of Nathan and me in The District, click here.

There's Something in the Water...

Part of our Christmas celebration was a trip to Millers Creek to see my Grandpa and the Church family. This is one of Mark's favorite parts of Christmas, since he loves all things redneck. And there's a lot of that to be found in Millers Creek. He gets my Grandpa's home-grown green beans (Grandpa wasn't even a little bit surprised that they were Mark's favorite and he didn't like other green beans anymore... Grandpa just noted that - obviously - no one else knows how to can them right) and hear peopletell funny southern stories. My aunt's best friend from high school (who also dated my dad) stopped by for an awkward (for me anyway) visit - her last name is also Bumgarner. Weird? Not in Wilkes County (my Grandpa's "lady friend" is actually some sort of cousin, people). Grandpa also sat Nathan on his lap and gave him a short background on the proper way to refer to people of other races... through the ages (I won't type out all the terms he went over). I'm not sure that Grandpa is the one who should be teaching Nathan about the history of race relations in the south, actually. But it's always nice to see my cousins (I only have 2, and we only get to see them a couple of times a year) and Justin, LeAnn and baby Lucas too.

But on this visit to Millers Creek, there was good news - Lucas is going to be a big brother! And we got home to even more good news - another of Mark's roomies, Jeff, is expecting his third in late summer as well. I think there's something in the water. I am now officially paranoid that (men stop reading here) the spotting I had a few weeks ago wasn't the real thing. But the smart part of me knows that I'm not pregnant, I can't be pregnant, and I honestly don't want to be.

Still - this is a BUNCH of babies! So far it's all been boys, so we're (and by we I mean LeAnn and me, since clearly the daddies don't get a vote) hoping for a girl.

We joke that Nathan, Lucas, and James could all be roomies at Clemson, since they'll be in the same class (and Matthew just a year ahead of them) - now there will be 2 more, just one year behind. Whew that's a lot of kids who know how to spell C-L-E-M-S-O-NNNNN before their own names!

Anyway congrats to Jeff & Crystal, and LeAnn & Justin, and to big brothers Matthew, James (who's about to be a middle child!) and Lucas!

And since I finally got my act together, here are some pictures from Nathan's first Christmas at home (I can't get the slideshow to work well, so you have to click on the thumbnail):

by mgoetts

For the Millers Creek pics, you'll need to click on this icon for Mark's webshots album:

by mgoetts

Child of the Covenant

We had Nathan baptized today. As Presbyterians, we baptize our children as infants (sprinkled, not dipped), as a sign and seal of belonging to Christ. The ceremony involves dedication of the child to God and a reaffirmation of faith by the parents, looking forward to the day when the child can affirm his own faith.

Nathan is so loved! We had friends from school, friends from in town, and lots of family members there to support Nathan. These are some of the people who came to our church today, just to show Nathan that God loves him and they do too.

After church we headed back to our house for a joint celebration of Nathan's baptism and Mark's 27th birthday. We ate lots of pizza and two very special cakes (click the link below for pictures). It was the first time Mark and his Clemson roomies had all been together since 2004 (when they drive through a hurricane to see Clemson play at Texas A&M).

You can't tell in this picture, but Justin really did look nice when he was at church. I think Lucas threw up on him though, hence the fast change right when we got home. I have no such excuse. I just wanted to wear comfortable clothes.

For more pictures, click here.

A New Day....

Today was so much better than yesterday.

1.) I didn't have to work.
2.) I got to sleep late since Mark's on night shift and could do the first morning feeding when he got home. Do you know how rarely I get to sleep late?
3.) I got a massage.
4.) It was an hour long and only cost $39.
5.) Nathan learned to suck his thumb sometime in the last 24 hours and it's really precious.
6.) I get to go watch antm before I go to bed.
7.) Kelley emailed me some beautiful pictures of Kiran and Nathan when we were at Furman last weekend. (I'm sure if you go look her blog you'll eventually find a fabulous picture of Kiran - I won't steal the glory of her photographic genius by posting it here yet.)







8.) I got to have dinner at church and visit with Dot and Ann, two friends I never seem to have enough visiting time with. Plus, the meatloaf was soooo good (taking notes, Ryan?) ...
9.) I found a fun present for Mark's birthday next week.
10.) I made dinner plans with Sarah and Neil for Friday night. Hooray, grownup night at PF Chang's!

Congratulations, Amy and Drew!

In honor of their recent nuptials, here is my review of Amy and Drew's wedding last weekend (in list form in no particular order, since that's my way):

1.) the sweet tea was in my top 5 tea experiences. Ever.

2.) their ceremony program was 11 pages, and contained such pertinent information as Drew and his brother's band geek history (yay Drew!), a recounting of how Amy's ancestors were charged with "'frolican', such as fiddling and dancing" by the church in 1879 (and were forgiven, of course), a lovely poem about a violin (which the musician in me really liked, actually), a list of similarities/coincidences about the McFadyen and Hartsell families, and the scientific specifications and measurements of the tree out front. To name a few. I have never seen such a ceremony program. Everyone was so busy reading that the church was virtually silent before the ceremony started. That never happens at southern weddings. Kudos to the happy couple for providing lots of entertaining reading material! Or something.

3.) The gathering music, processional, and recessional were played on the violin, fiddle-style. It turns out I like fiddled hymns.

4.) The bagpiper played Amazing Grace before the ceremony. After I jumped out of my skin at his entrance (he was approximately 12 inches from the back of my head, and it was not a large building) and got over the sounds-like-a-funeral thing, it was really nice. I think maybe Amy's family has Scottish heritage? Ahh, yes - here it is in the program. Her ancestors come from the Isle of Islay in Scotland.

5.) Drew and his mom danced together at the reception. I was standing off to the side, and Nathan was on my shoulder, awake but relaxed. I cried when I thought about how someday it will be his wedding, and he will be taller than I am, dancing with me before he leaves to be with his bride. It made me kind of happy and sad at the same time. Which, of course, is cause for tears. It was a very touching moment. By the way, Nathan looked ridiculously cute in his suit (from Lucas, of course).

6.) During the Charge to the Couple in the wedding ceremony, the officiant read a scripture passage that contained the word "carcass" more times than Lindy, Allen and I could count. Together. There are certain words that don't belong in a wedding ceremony, and I'm pretty sure "carcass" is one of them. Come on - it's a wedding! Gimme some "love is patient, love is kind" and we'll all feel less uncomfortable. And carcassy. Awk-ward!

7.) Amy, who is always an attractive chica, was stunning. Perfect hair, classy dress, award-winning smile. Funny thing is, she's traipsing around Europe right now (and by that I mean jet-laggedly clearing customs in Rome, wearing my backpack, jeans, and a ponytail) and she probably looks just as great as she did Saturday night. She's one of those. Don't you want to hate her just a little?

8.) I am proud to say that Amy and Drew took the following suggestions, made or affirmed by Mark and me: no best man or maid of honor (too political to choose), plastic cups with their names as party favors (people will actually use those!), and the singing of The Lord's Prayer (by Malotte) by Amy's mom (beautiful, appropriate, but not so personal she couldn't get through it without crying).

9.) I think my favorite part of the whole thing was halfway through the ceremony, when Lindy noticed that she was listed in the program as a wedding director. While she did come the day earlier to help out with logistics, she did not, even a little bit, direct the actual ceremony. She was seated right next to me on the pew, as a general congregant. Nothing like going to a show and finding out halfway through that you're supposed to be in it! Typisch Lindy. :)

10.) Congrats, Amy and Drew!

visit with the Church family

Our friends Justin and LeAnn were visiting for the past couple of days, which meant that Lucas and Nathan finally got to meet. All of us parents are hoping that they will become great friends, like their dads. And it's shaping up to look that way - Lucas was quite curious about the baby. Although Nathan slept through most of it, Lucas found great fun in mashing Nathan's face with his hand, rubbing his belly, using his body as a handrail to stand up, and throwing diapers at his head (oddly reminiscent of Justin throwing a full bottle of gatorade at Mark's head... which he also slept through).

for more pictures of lucas and nathan, click here.

We also ate fried chicken with the Goettsch version of...
Southern Living's macaroni and cheese (Mark and Justin's favorite):

8 oz elbow macaroni, cooked
2 cups milk (I use skim)
1/3 cup flour (but I don't really measure it)
some onion powder
some salt
10 oz medium cheddar cheese
10 oz monterrey jack cheese
soft breadcrumbs (4 slices of bread, crusts removed, cut into chunks)
some spray butter or melted butter

while macaroni is cooking, shred cheese and toss with a little flour (that way it doesn't all sink to the bottom of the dish when you bake it). In a casserole dish, whisk together the milk, remaining flour, onion powder and salt. slowly add cheese and macaroni to casserole dish. top with breadcrumbs, and drizzle or spray butter on top. bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

It's (going to be) a girl!

The Calhouns found out today that their expected baby will be a daughter!

Jenny is one of my oldest friends... she was like another sister to me growing up, and was like another daughter to my family (a good daughter, who did chores and stuff... she's like a parent's dream).

If there is anyone in my life who was built to be a mommy, it's Jen. I have seen her practice parenting on her (six!) siblings - yes, even the older ones. And Dan is one of those rare humans who (like us!) adores his dog (the tenacious Obi) as he would a human child. They will be super parents to their daughter, I'm sure. I am so excited that I have another friend in the starting-a-family phase.

For old time's sake, enjoy a picture of Jenny and me in Washington DC, when we were in middle school. We've come so far, haven't we? From elementary school band geeks, to middle school beta club geeks, to high school drama geeks (her, not me... though she would prefer the term "thespian" but don't get me started on how I feel about that word) to world travelers in college, to young professionals trying to start an adult life in new cities. And now we're grownups... we have husbands, houses, pets, yards, and we're making babies. How weird is that?

Congratulations, Jenny and Dan! And future Baby Calhoun!

visiting with Clemson and Furman friends

For us, this weekend was full of reconnecting with friends from college. It's really good for us, seeing as we live in Raleigh, where very few of our fellow alumni seem to be located! These are people who know us best and really get us (let's remember they knew us when we were straight out of high school - yikes!), so it was very affirming to get to spend some time with them.

On Friday night, Katie came over for dinner and a visit. Klutz that I am, I managed to spill a diet coke all over the floor, and since it was easier for me to clean it up than have Katie do it (seeing as I knew where all the towels, mop, etc. were and could get to them quickly) I handed her Nathan so she could keep him happy while I rectified the mess. She seemed quite surprised to have a newborn flung in her arms with no notice - I wish I would have had a camera when she was holding him out from her body, under his armpits, asking "how do I do it?" - I think she needed some reassurance that she wouldn't break him. But if course she did fine, and I think she was even comfortable with it after a few minutes. So now I know what Sarah meant when she got excited and said, "yay for Katie holding babies!"


And speaking of Sarah, she also joined us on Friday night, and stayed until Sunday. It was so, so wonderful to see her. I can't describe what a beautiful, kind, strong woman Sarah has become in the seven years I have known her. She holds me accountable to my faith (and now to my mommyhood too!), and ever since we bonded over late-night discussions about love and God and friends in the hallway of G-300, she has really known the real me.

She also got to bond with Nathan, which was really fun to see. Sarah has a passion for children and a calling to nurture them, so she knows more about babies than I do (and I live with one!); her reassurance that I'm doing ok by Nathan means more than most people's would.

Sarah was also present for Nathan's first swim. He likes his bath so much that I thought he had real Bumgarner genes and would take the to water like the rest of us do. But apparently, it was a little too cold... and as you can see, he wasn't a fan.



For more pictures of Nathan's first swim, click here.

On Monday, we headed down to Greenville so that Mark could go to the Clemson-FSU Game (Bowden Bowl IX). Since I am still on maternity leave and didn't need to work today, I decided to tag along.

First we stopped to visit with Jonathan and Kelley Caskey, who are also friends from Furman. They have been M's in India for the last several years, so it had been a very long time since we had seen either of them. While in India, they had a beautiful daughter, Kiran... who I think didn't know what to make of Nathan!


It was neat to see Kiran toddling around - she can practically RUN! I do enjoy this time with Nathan as a newborn, but seeing Kiran explore and climb and interact with her world was amazing, and it makes me ready to see Nathan do the same!

See that purple shirt I'm wearing? That was shirt #3, and it wasn't even lunchtime. I think I go through clothes faster than Nathan goes through diapers.




On the way to the game, we stopped by the Jones house. Jeff was one of Mark's college roomies, and (despite Jeff's love of all things Toby Keith!) we really enjoy both him and his wife, Crystal. They have two boys - Matthew (22 months) and James (10 months). Jeff is one of the few people in Mark's life who is happy to honor Mark's "only wear orange" rule... Mark tends to bring extra orange shirts and jackets to Clemson games, in case the people he's going with somehow (gasp!) wore clothing that was some other color. Apparently Jeff understands that Real Fans Wear Orange - as you can see. For more pictures of our visit to Greenville, click here.... and of us with the Jones family, click here.

Before Nathan braved his first night in a hotel, I was able to catch up with another Furman friend, Ryan, whom I adore. One can be sure that an evening with Ryan will be filled with hilarity (you know how you have those friends that always make you laugh? Ryan is one of those for me), brutal honesty, good food, probably a cocktail or two, shopping (this time at Barnes and Noble! my favorite...), and amazingly stimulating conversation. It was good to get my fix.


You can't see it in this picture, but Nathan's PJs say "my dog likes bones" with a puppy on the leg. Hmmm.

And that's the story of how we survived our first overnight road trip with an infant, two dogs, and more orange clothing stuffed into two bags than any one family should own.