simondssays

First Day of School

2011-08-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today was Janie's first day of school! After a quick photo shoot with one of her best little friends, Maeven, we headed to drop her off. There were a few tears when we left (surprisingly, only from her) but they didn't last too long. After 3 hours of what I imagine was a highly organized lesson with 12 children under the age of 2, I drove through the car line to pick her up and she got into the car singing 'You Are My Sunshine'. I'd say she had a pretty good day. While she was studying past participles and predicates, Finn, my mom and I met Kori at First Watch for breakfast. After hearing about her adventures in NYC, I am planning my trip to go visit her this fall. Here are some photos of our day.

summer

2011-08-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

We have had such a great summer! Here are a few pictures to recap all that we have been doing.

swimming in gigi and poppy's pool.

dress up.

finn meets great-grammy.

janie shopping at the dirty* children's museum in atlanta.

showing off balance skills at the clean* children's museum in atlanta.

splash pad fun.

new smyrna beach.

sun bathing baby.

ride on a heffalump.

safari at busch gardens.

the mountains of north carolina.

*In case you're ever in Atlanta, you should know that the dirty museum is ink, and the clean one is Imagine it! Children's Museum. Unless you are interested in lots of filthy stuffed animals, broken toys, and stickiness, I would advise you to pass on a visit to ink.

slow mornings

2011-06-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

Another thing that has changed with 2 kids is the pace of my mornings. Gone are the days of being up and ready to leave the house by 7:00am. Even if I had no where to go, as of a few weeks ago the thought of being in pajamas a minute past 7 stressed me out more than anything so ridiculous ever should. Even for the first few days after coming home from the hospital I attempted to keep this schedule going. But then Andy went back to work and my mom went home and I realized a shower is a luxury that may or may not happen before noon each day. So with that realization, I have begun to enjoy lazy mornings, reading books on the couch or unmade bed, in pjs with my two babies. Janie seems to be enjoying them as well.

welcome finn!

2011-06-02T16:58:00.001-07:00

Two weeks and one day ago, Finnley Jameson Simonds was born. It is crazy how quickly the first 15 days of his life have flown by! After a few hours of labor and 5 super fast minutes of pushing, Finn made his debut at 3:35pm on May 18, weighing in at 6 pounds, 4 ounces and a giant 19 inches tall. We (Andy and I) are so in love with this little man, it's crazy. Janie still isn't too sure about him, though she loves touching his tiny toes and when she is feeling adventuresome she gets within a few feet of him and repeats over and over again "bebe" in a sweet French sounding accent.

So far Finn is a super easy going guy, which is slightly different than what we were prepared for after Janie. If you don't remember, she screamed from about 4pm until midnight every. single. night. For four months straight. That takes some real strength. Finn seems to cry for three reasons: because he is hungry, because he needs his diaper changed, or because his sister has clawed his face in attempt to show us how skilled she is at identifying his eyes and nose. In her defense, it is pretty impressive that she can point out every body part, including eyebrows and ankles.

Adjusting to life with 2 kids under the age of 2 hasn't been as difficult as I imagined. The biggest adjustment so far: The amount of extra time needed to get out the door. I had really just mastered getting from the house to the car without having to make additional trips inside with one child, so adding another baby with lots of gear to the mix has been a little bit of a challenge. Every time I leave the driveway I look in the backseat about a dozen times to make sure that I really have both kids in the car, in car seats, buckled in. And I usually forget diapers for at least one kid.

We are so grateful for wonderful friends and family who have brought us meals, helped out with Janie, shared words of encouragement and dropped by to keep me company. I am sure that the transition would have been much harder without all of your help, so thank you! I plan on continuing to update the blog with pictures (which means I will start actually taking pictures) more frequently, but you know how that goes...

update

2011-04-27T18:48:00.000-07:00

at one point in time i heard about a stay-at-home mom who made lots of money writing a blog about her kids,what she cooked for dinner, and the crafty things that she did in her free time. i thought that was a dream job. how hard could it be? i now know that if i got paid to write a blog, we would be broke.

here's what we have been doing instead of blogging:

moving furniture and random junk that we can't seem to get rid of from one room to another in preparation for the great bedroom swap. months ago, it seemed like a great idea to move the guest room to the office, janie's room to the guest room, and the new baby's room to janie's old one. we are getting close to finished with all of the shuffling of belongings, but it hasn't been quick. pictures to come soon!

reading 'brown bear, brown bear' over and over and over and over. i keep trying to throw some new books into the mix, but janie is a smart little thing and i can't fool her. she knows what she wants.

continually being amazed at the new words that janie seems to pick up on every day. my all time favorite is when she exclaims "bless!"any time she hears something that resembles a sneeze. i sort of hope she never adds the "you" to the end of that phrase, because it is so stinking cute.

making pizza on the grill at least 2 times a week. my parents have made pizza this way for years, and it always looked so hard to do. last time we were in atlanta, we took very thorough notes and have been working on mastering it ever since. i am convinced that grilling pizza and topping it with lots of vegetables (and cheese) is way healthier than ordering it. if it's not true, please don't let us know.

lastly, and perhaps most importantly, counting down the days (20 or so) until our little man's arrival! it is crazy how quickly this pregnancy has flown by. while we are enjoying long nights of uninterrupted sleep for now, we are so excited to meet our boy.

happy spring!

2011-03-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

the first day of spring is apparently up for debate. whether it is the 20th or 21st depends on where you look, but according to janie's closet, today is the day. it has seemed pretty spring-y in orlando for a few weeks now, and we have spent a good deal of time outside. we took janie to seaworld for the first time, which was a great success. i was hoping that she would be completely amazed at the dolphins or at the shamu show, but it turns out she was most impressed by the sting rays and the tourists screaming on roller coasters.

checking out the sting rays.

watching the roller coaster fly by for the 100th time.

no better end to a day at the park than a real ice cream cone.

last summer, we spent many hours packing for the beach, driving to and from the beach, and unpacking from the beach, only to spend a total of about 1 hour actually on the beach. this year, i am determined to make these trips worth the time it takes to prepare. last monday, we headed to new smyrna with some friends and most of our belongings. it was perfect. we brought a huge play pen for the babies, every beach toy imaginable, a little blow up pool, snacks to last us a week, multiple changes of clothes, a tent and pack n' play. we managed to get in 4 hours of beach time, followed by a lovely dinner at JB's. now that we have a day at the beach mastered with one baby, we will probably spend the rest of the summer learning how to make it happen with two. by the summer of 2012, i will be knocking out at least a novel a day, oceanside.

back to the blog

2011-03-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

for real this time.

life at our house has been fun, crazy, and is flying by! baby #2 will be here in about 9 weeks. he is currently the weight of four oranges, and about 16 inches long. i think we have been too busy for the reality of having another baby in this house to sink in. i forget i'm pregnant at least 4 days out of the week. the other 3 i spend dreaming about mcdonald's filet-o-fish sandwiches and shamrock shakes, which makes it easy to remember that there is a little person growing inside my belly. (i have yet to give in to the filet-o-fish)

there is a lot to be done before this little guy arrives. currently, he has no room or definite name. we are in the process of getting what used to be the guest room turned into janie's new room, and once that is complete, we will transform janie's chandelier adorned nursery into a nice manly space.

old news

2010-12-29T18:10:00.000-08:00

once again months have passed and we have been terrible keepers of a blog. the good news is, it's not for a lack of exciting stuff. the bad news is, the people reading this already know everything i'm about to write.

in short, janie is on the move, the holidays were great, and in may there will be 4 of us!

amazingly, we captured janie's first steps on video, making it only about the 6th video we've taken of her since she was born. luckily, grandparents are really great at documenting their grandkids lives and so we have plenty of photos. for christmas janie got a tricycle that she loves. it looks like a rocket ship, complete with a phone, sun shade and handle for us to push until her feet reach the pedals (although by then she will probably be ready for a 2-wheeler).

we are expecting simonds baby #2 in may and it's a boy! we were both really surprised to hear it (both that i was pregnant, and that is was a boy). for some reason we really thought it was another girl. i felt exactly the same as i did when i was pregnant with janie, craved all the same things, and this baby's heart rate was exactly the same as janie's was at every appointment we'd had until the ultrasound, so we just assumed that it must be a girl. we are so excited about having a little man around and are quickly accumulating boy things. we probably need to start thinking about replacing the super girly chandeliers and crystals in the nursery with manly things like lanterns and metal.

next week janie will be 1! i can't believe that it's been a whole year. that sweet little girl has brought us more joy in 358 days than i ever could have imagined experiencing in my life. everyday her personality is a little bit more hilarious, adventurous and feisty. she has no fears, except for the vacuum cleaner, and is smarter than we often think. we are so grateful that we get to be her parents.

the beach

2010-09-13T06:17:00.000-07:00

i love the beach. i could spend every day there. luckily, janie seems to share the same affinity for sun and sand. we have been able to get out to the beach a number of times in the past month and it has been so great. we used to travel to the beach with a towel, a few bottles of water, and a book. things are slightly more complicated since the arrival of janie. now we pack most of our house into the back of the car for a two hour beach day. this is just one of the two cars that we took to the beach loaded with gear for four adults and two babies. we forgot water bottles, remembered one towel and i can assure you that reading books at the beach is a thing of the past and we did not waste any space transporting them in this trip.

the husbands headed out early to do a little fishing before we arrived with the chaos. it is a new kind of adventure going to the beach with babies, but it is so much fun. janie could happily play in the sand and water all day without food or naps. we usually conclude the day with an early dinner at JB's or a stop at frozen gold for some ice cream. this weekend we chose the filthy, but wonderful JB's and it was perfect. even with an extra hour of packing and unpacking in order to make it a beach day, i'm already anticipating our next trip back.

on the home front things are good. janie is crawling, standing, waving, clapping (perhaps on accident), has at least one tooth (she won't open her mouth long enough for us to see if there is a second), is eating all sorts of finger food and getting into everything. it's crazy that in just 8 months she has learned all of these tricks. she is great. we are blessed.

tonight!!

2010-08-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

Join us tonight for an open house at Hunter Vision. Eat good food. Enjoy watermelon lemonade. Talk with great people. Ask questions. Tour the office. Schedule your appointment. It will be so much fun. Come check it out!

nashville

2010-08-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

last weekend andy and i took a trip to nashville to celebrate our second anniversary. it's crazy how fast two years can fly by! it has really been an awesome 730 days. i am still just as glad i married andy as i was the day i said "i do". he is a fantastic husband and dad. to celebrate the fantasticness, we flew to atlanta and dropped janie off with my parents and drove to nashville. andy finished college at belmont and spent a few additional years there after he graduated, and many of our friends have lived in nashville at some point in their lives so we started the trip with a long list of restaurants, venues, coffee shops and stores that we had to check out. a few friends have asked what we did while we were there. i'm not even exaggerating when i tell you that we ate. the whole time.

we started with lunch on friday afternoon at satco (san antonio taco company). according to andy, nothing much about it had changed since he was there 12 years ago and that was a good thing. the tacos were great, the queso was even better and we left feeling happy. after much deliberation, we ended up staying at the hutton hotel, and it was great. our room was on the 15th floor overlooking vanderbilt. i would definitely stay there again.

friday night we met up with my friend natalie and her boyfriend. natalie and i became friends when my family moved to california and my mom had connected with a lady who had a daughter my age. i had no friends, and wanted some so i boldly arrived at her doorstep unannounced, introduced myself and asked if she wanted to play tennis. she kindly agreed, and our friendship began. she now lives in nashville, so she took us to one of her favorite places, patterson house. it was a great little bar/small plate restaurant, clearly catering to the locals and not tourists. we were glad we had some regulars with us because otherwise we may have been thrown out. there were a serious list of rules in the foyer, which you were required to follow if you wanted to cross the teal velvet curtains to the bar. this place makes EVERYTHING from scratch, including their own cola! if you're ever in nashville, you have got to check this place out...just don't use your cell phone or try to peek behind the blue curtain, or you'll be black listed.

sadly, andy's two favorite restaurants in nashville, rotier's and barbara's were closed for the weekend! our plan for lunch on saturday was to hit one of those places, but instead we took a friends recommendation and went to burger up. the burgers were awesome and the atmosphere was really fun, and the best part of it all was that it was located right next to las paletas. a few weeks ago on the food network bobby flay challenged to owner to las paletas to a throwdown. las paletas serves only popsicles. amazing popsicles. the flavors are ridiculous: hot chocolate chili pepper, avocado, hibiscus honeydew, pineapple-strawberry-banana, and lots more. we headed over there for dessert and enjoyed a blueberry-peach and pineapple-strawberry-banana popsicle. they were so good, especially since it was 106 degrees. (next year we will celebrate our anniversary in alaska, or in january).

i won't bore you with any more detailed descriptions of where and what we ate, because i could go on for a while longer. some of the other places we went were bongo java, eastland cafe, pancake pantry, 1808 grille, marche. every single one of them was great. some conclusions from the weekend: i love the city of nashville, we can eat way more than normal people can, we would have far too much time on our hands if it weren't for janie, and we have a lot of fun together.

while we were packing on the pounds eating our way through nashville, janie was burning major calories learning to crawl, stand, and swim at my parents house in atlanta. by the time we got back she was chasing my parents dog, rascal, all over the house and standing up in her crib. she is completely mobile and so much fun. i noticed when i was getting her ready for bed last night that a pair of pajamas that were getting snug around her chubby little thighs are now loose. i'm kissing her cheeks more than ever now, because i know that pretty soon they'll be history too! her personality is becoming a little more clear every day. that little girl is confident, feisty and well aware of her cuteness. not a day goes by that i don't thank god that he picked me to be her mom.

better than 20/20

2010-07-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

for the first time since third grade, i can see better than the perfect eye. it's amazing. in the third grade my friend jenna got glasses. she was really cool and i wanted to be like her, so when i went to the nurses office for the annual vision and hearing test, i lied. and then i got some pretty awesome tortoise shell plastic framed specs. from that day on, i've been wearing some form of corrective lenses to see pretty well. yesterday at 2:00 this is what i saw when i looked at the eye chart without glasses or contacts:

at 2:30 i underwent SBK, the next generation of LASIK, at Hunter Vision. Dr. Hunter and all of his techs were so wonderful. Dr. Hunter explained everything he was doing, and what i would hear, feel, smell and see the entire time. it really can't believe how easy it was. the whole procedure took about 15 minutes and by 7:00 last night i was seeing as well as i did with contacts. for the rest of the night things got progressively clearer and less foggy. this morning i woke up at 6:30 wearing the most awesome goggles ever, and instinctively rolled over to grab my glasses off of the bedside table. i don't think i will ever forget that zephyrhills water is made only from the carefully selected natural springs. those were the first words i read with my new eyes this morning and it nearly made me cry. even with contacts i would have squinted a whole bunch and still struggled to see what that water bottle said. i got in the car to drive to my post-op appointment and realized that this little logo on my dashboard that i thought read "dsc" in fact says compact disc mp3 text. it means equally as little to me now as it did when i thought it said dsc, but man, is it incredible that i've been driving that car for over a year now and have never known what it said! at my appointment this morning i was reading the 20/15 line already, and it should only get better from here. i never realized what i was missing out on all these years. everything is so crisp and clear, and colors are even brighter. i could go on about this for the rest of my life and probably will. everyone should check out Hunter Vision. you will not be disappointed.

half a year

2010-07-16T19:48:00.001-07:00

janie celebrated her half birthday last week, and celebrate we did. in her honor, brianne and i had frozen yogurt from menchie's for lunch.

on the left you see healthy bri's dole pineapple whip with gummy bears and some fruit and granola. and on the right is my tasty creation/trainwreck: 1/3 chocolate-vanilla swirl topped with cookie dough & peanut butter chips, 1/3 dole pineapple whip with mango and mochi, and 1/3 mint chocolate chip with chocolate covered sunflower seeds and crushed thin mint cookies, all topped with whipped cream. contrary to popular belief, it tasted amazing.

thanks to aunt bri, janie's half birthday was remembered.

we headed to downtown sanford on monday for janie's 6 month photos with callahan photo. they are great photographers and awesome friends. it was 99 degrees out but we had a good time and they captured some really cute stuff.

today janie had her 6 month doctors appointment, and like usual she is excelling in all areas. after her 4 month appointment when our pediatrician informed us that we should not be feeding a baby heavy cream just yet, we revised janie's diet, started counting her ww points and she successfully dropped from the 95th percentile to the 60th (she started at the 10th, which is what led her doctor to kindly tell us we were overfeeding her). next on the agenda for that little lady (janie, not dr. lim) should be a tooth. we look forward to that with great anticipation and lots of baby tylenol.

refrigerator friends

2010-07-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

over the past few days i have spent a lot of time with the guys and ladies of our summit connect group and it has reminded me of how grateful i am for those people. they make up the majority of our blog readers too, so refrigerator friends, this one goes out to you.

i had been in a number of "small groups" and bible studies in my life, and they had all been pretty good. we met once a week. we talked about the bible, god, life. we prayed for each others grandmas. and then we left and went to meet up with our real friends to have fun afterwards. i expected about the same when we joined our summit connect group, but now 2 years later i am amazed at how my perception of a small group has been changed. together we have walked through a wedding, moves, job changes, pregnancies, babies, painting projects, foreclosures, tough family situations, holidays together, and so much more. the folks in our group are the people who received text message updates, practically by the minute, on the day janie was born. they are the friends who walk straight to the refrigerator upon entering our house, because i'd be offended if they felt like they had to ask for a drink. they are the ones our kids will call aunts and uncles despite there being no blood relation. they are the people with whom we have been given an opportunity to live life together and they have done a pretty rocking job at doing just that.

as most of you know, about a week and a half ago sweet ava hunter was diagnosed with brain cancer (you can read more about that and know more specifically how you can pray for her and her family on her dad's blog). while the rest of us 'fridge friends can't possibly imagine what josh, lisa, noah and ava are going through, we will walk the long road ahead beside them, praying all the way and learning a lot in the process. i think i speak on behalf of our entire group when i say that already, we have been amazed and challenged by josh and lisa's strength, grace and faithfulness in all of this. seriously, they are absolutely incredible. we are so blessed to be a part of this community of people and i hope i never forget it.

4th of july continued

2010-07-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

a quick addition to that 4th of july post. lindsay just sent me this photo. as you can see, i'm not lying about my family's love of this day. my grandmother gave me that hat about 10 years ago. it's awesome. if i had to guess what was happening at my parents house in atlanta right now, i'd say that my dad is lighting $200 worth of fireworks and my mom is serving every red, white and blue food you could imagine while cheerfully exclaiming, "happy birthday, america!"

happy 4th of july!

2010-07-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

the 4th of july is without a doubt one of my top 3 favorite holidays. growing up we celebrated it really big, with red white and blue everything. my sister and i always had crazy huge american flag bows in our hair, along with stars and stripes bathing suits. maybe bostonians are more patriotic than the rest of the country, because as i write this i realize that sounds quite over the top. one year, before the days of SPF or UPV or whatever was built into clothes, lindsay's white and red striped bathing suit left her little body with striped tan lines. we thought it was hilarious and referred to her as the "little jail bird" until the tan lines faded.

2 years ago, tim and shannon were in malawi over the holiday and they entrusted us with their dog, lucy. as a great aunt and uncle should, we took sweet lucy to lake eola with us for the fireworks. the poor dog was terrified! she shook and hid in the bushes the entire time.

last year we spent the day at the beach and got home in time to watch the fireworks here. it was about 107 degrees out i was freezing due to the ridiculous sun burn i acquired during 6 hours in the blistering hot sun without sunscreen.

this year, weather permitting, we will attempt to walk down to the lake with janie for her first fireworks display. hopefully she doesn't have the same reaction as lucy did. at least she will be dressed for the occasion.

we missed may. and most of june.

2010-06-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

about 3 weeks ago my friend shannon called and informed me that i had missed may and i decided i needed to get on it. so here i am, in almost july taking care of business. janie is just finishing a breakfast of pureed apples and a sippy cup of formula. she has mastered (and by mastered, i mean she gets at least half of the formula in her mouth 70% of the time), the sippy cup, which means feedings are fairly hands free for us these days.

i have really enjoyed the past 5 1/2 months of being home with janie, but recently thought it would be nice to have somewhere to get out to a few times a week. i thought that if i found a part time job it would have to be something that i really loved, with people i really loved, and a schedule that worked for our family. i thought it would be a long stretch if i found anything to do that would meet all those requirements, but would keep my ears open for something. i shared this idea with a group of ladies one evening, and within days i was in the process of joining the Hunter Vision team. i am so super excited to have the opportunity to be a part of what's starting here and could not have asked for a more perfect job. in the past few weeks i have learned more about eyes than i ever imagined possible. i saw a lady in a restaurant the other day holding the menu 6 feet away from her face (she had really long arms) and practiced great self restraint in not approaching her to tell her that i was afraid she had presbyopia. i officially start on july 6th and i can't wait.

enough about me. janie is growing like a weed. she does all sorts of tricks including, but not limited to:

rolling over both ways

sitting up for very extended periods of time

eating just about everything

reaching the 95th percentile in weight, but holding strong at the 25th for height

passing objects from one hand to the other

growing enough hair to wear a bow sans headband

scooting on the ground, mostly in circles

every time i say, "she couldn't get any cuter!", she sure does. we think she is teething because she is drooling like crazy and chewing on everything. i tried giving her a little kiss yesterday and next thing i knew she was gnawing on my cheek.

our friends are becoming famous left and right. you can see joey, lauren and henry's lovely little house featured on design sponge. another one of our friends, who must remain anonymous has gained great praise for his blog you're a grown man. there is no doubt that he will play a large part in changing 30-year old boys into grown men with the wisdom he shares each morning. and finally, sarah got to wait on the entire cast of the harry potter movies when they were in town for the grand opening of the wizarding world at universal. we are quite honored to be friends with such a crowd. our friends are awesome, celebrities or not.

today begins our spring cleaning, just a little late since it's summer. if you're in the market for lampshades, a very large box shaped tv, or a 'now that's what i call music 6' cd, stay tuned. garage sale coming soon.

lobstah in new england

2010-04-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

we traveled up to boston/new hampshire last weekend to see all of our extended family, and especially for janie's cousin gabriella's baptism. we just kept feeding janie to keep her quiet and so the plane ride went way better than we ever could have imagined. she's a good little traveler, and i was pretty impressed with our ability to make it all the way there without forgetting anything too important. upon arriving in manchester we did realize that the wardrobe we had packed was not quite appropriate for the climate, but luckily there is someone for each of us to borrow clothes from up there.

janie got to meet her great grandparents, great aunts & uncles, and few great-great aunts & uncles (if there's such thing), cousins, friends and her dog-cousin, riley. here are a few photos of the meetings.

on friday night, 8 of us packed into the healey's sequoia and headed up to petey's in rye beach for clam strips, haddock, clam chowder, steamers and more. i rate janie's liking for things based upon her crying, so judging by her unusual silence the entire meal i'd say that she is a huge fan of new england seafood. here she is with uncle chris and auntie andrea, proof of what happens to your chins when you eat too much tartar sauce:

we went to gabriella's baptism at the church that we grew up in in massachusetts. it was exactly the same as always. same 55 people, same watered down kool-aid in the fellowship hall, same service order, even the same bibles that we circled letters in as kids when our parents weren't watching. there are lots of memories in that place and i was glad andy finally got to check it out, though i left thanking god for summit.

we concluded our trip with a stop for andy's favorite meal of all those he's had in the boston area - clam chowder and a lobster roll at atkinson cc. my theory on janie's feelings towards seafood held true, as you can see here.

of course janie couldn't leave the state without something to prove her new england blood, so gigi sent her home with a sweet little red sox onesie and a green monstah tee-shirt. she's ready for fenway this fall.

it was a great time despite the cold and rain. we're looking forward to another trip up north sometime in the near future. thanks to all of our great family for the baby gear, rides to and from the airport, beds to sleep in and especially for the 10 extra pounds we gained!

not so magical magic game

2010-04-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

what were we thinking? bringing a 3 month old to a basketball game is a terrible idea. and an even worse idea is getting a ride home from a basketball game in a rickshaw-bicycle contraption with a 3 month old. since we think janie still has a fine sense of hearing and we all got home alive, i'd say it wasn't a total failure. we will remember janie's first magic game and that babies should always travel in car seats forever.

monica and brackston were kind enough to give us the less terrifying seats, with our backs to the traffic. that way we could just judge how much time we had left by the looks on their faces.

dinosaurs, dunes and dwight

2010-04-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

i'm getting worse at this as time goes on. the weather has been gorgeous, which has meant tons of time outside, and very little on the computer. here's a quick update of what's been happening with us.

as you can see, we finally have a halfway decent family picture which has jazzed up our blog quite a bit. you can tell that we watched zoolander a lot while i was pregnant based on janie's facial expression.

janie, caroline and i took a trip to atlanta to see my folks a few weeks ago, but not before stopping at disney world. who knew that the turnpike exit came far before the disney ones?! it was a ton of fun, and janie was surprisingly well behaved for most of the car ride. we listened to raffi's bananaphone album on shuffle for approximately 16 hours of our round trip drive.

janie and i took a trip to dinosaur world to meet up with becky, david, and grammy. yes, the place that has a giant dinosaur under the billboard at about exit 17 on i4. if you've driven by the sign, you have seen it all. becky and i had been joking about going ever since we learned of our mutual love of the movie clifford. it was not at all like the dinosaur world in the movie, but i am glad to be able to say i've been.

we went to the beach on monday and it was probably the nicest day we've had all year. it was wonderful until it came time to fold up the special UV blocking baby tent, which according to andy is like trying to squeeze a blown up balloon into a coffee mug without popping it. after 45 minutes of wrestling with the thing, we ended up carrying the tent to the car and shoving it in the backseat in a half open/half squished form. needless to say, onlookers (possibly including myself) had a great laugh.

i have been feeling crafty, which has resulted in our kitchen sink being temporarily dyed purple, a few articles of clothing being transformed into a lovely shade of florescent yellow, and a constant pile of ribbon, fabric and paper on the dining room table.

the first time i visited summit was easter of 2005 and there were maybe a few hundred people meeting at winter park high school. it was the best easter service i had ever been to (with the exception of saddleback's sunrise service at john wayne equestrian arena, when a baby was born in the stands. i think they planned that). this easter sunday at summit was even better than that. almost 4200 people worshipped across three different venues and it was awesome.

tomorrow will mark a very memorable day in the history of janie. she will be attending her first magic game. i'm hoping if i dress her like stuff (he's the magic dragon, celtics fans) she will get some air time on the jumbotron. we will surely update you on that soon!

here's what janie thought about dinosaur world...

janie's first trip to alpharetta.

relaxed look on andy's face = pre-tent folding experience

auntie jody arrived to the easter party just in time to receive two fussy babies.

happy st. patrick's day!

2010-03-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

today's blog is mostly for my very irish grandmother. if she had had her "druthers" (her word, not mine) my name would have been erin riley rosentrater. on monday my dad was in st. pete for some golf disguised as work, so andy, janie and i spontaneously headed over for dinner. we ate at ted peter's famous smoked fish house and ordered exactly what our friend eddie (a 30 year st. pete beach local) told us to. it was probably one of the greatest cheeseburgers and root beer i have ever had. the highlight of the trip was for sure the fact that my dad was wearing green, and we conveniently had janie's shamrock pj's in the car. we are all very in touch with our irish roots, and for that i knew my grandmother would be proud. these pictures are for you, grammy. grampa, let me know when the next german holiday is and i'll be sure to get janie her very own pair of lederhosen.

as you can tell, janie really enjoyed ted peters.

since janie is too young to eat green pancakes, and follow gold coin trails to gifts left by leprechauns, i made myself a fancy breakfast of oatmeal with brown sugar and then we ventured out for some st. patrick's day shopping with lauren. liberty of london just designed a whole line of things for target, and lauren and i had marked the date on our calendars months ago. janie told me that it would make her happy if i used a target gift card she received in the mail for being born on myself, which was very sweet of her. so, we got some super cute storage bins and a dress..or two. when we got home, this handsome man was waiting for us in the driveway.

laundry and other exciting things

2010-03-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

i strategically just put a load of laundry in the washing machine on the heavy duty cycle, not because they were extra dirty, but because it will buy me a few extra minutes to waste time on the computer without feeling like there's something more important to be done. i think i forgot to mention anything about our wonderful new washer and dryer. we rang in the new year by getting rid of our 25 year old machines. we had talked about getting new ones for a while, and our decision was made when andy got to work with a giant hole in his shirt from the dryer drum made of nails.

in other news, janie is already 2 months old. her doctors appointment was a great success...she cried a lot when she got her shots, but i didn't, which came as a pleasant surprise to us all. she is growing like crazy...more horizontally than vertically. she weighed in at 11 lbs 2 oz and is 21 inches long, which puts her in the 55th percentile for weight, and 10th for height.

a few nights ago we realized that she seemed really mad at us for waking her up every night at midnight to feed her, so we decided to see what would happen if we just let her sleep. it was a miracle. she has slept 9 hours every night since. it's amazing what a full night of sleep can do.

our good friends goose and minta welcomed their second little boy, eli, into the world on thursday morning. he is a charming little fellow just like his big brother, matias. since goose is a good husband, he wouldn't even consider leaving minta home with the boys to attend a magic game. and since he is a good friend as well, he kindly gave andy and i the tickets for sunday nights game, so we went on our first real date since janie's arrival. all week i looked forward to (in this order) spending an evening with andy sans baby, enjoying a gourmet dinner of hot dogs and nachos, and watching the magic dominate the bobcats. we sat next to a nice young man celebrating his 21st birthday. from what i observed, all he really wanted was for "his man j will to know it was his birfday". despite the challenge of sharing a very limited amount of space with a highly intoxicated 7 foot tall guy, the magic's loss to the bobcats, and the shortage of nacho cheese at the concession stand, we had a really great time. we've decided that when joel and lizzy move back we should go in on a pair of season tickets. then lizzy and i can go to games and eat hot dogs while andy and joel supervise janie and luke back at home.

hello again

2010-02-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

if you had asked me 7 weeks ago if i planned to continue updating this regularly, i would have said, "of course! do you really think a baby is going to stop me from sitting down and typing for 30 minutes every few days?". now, seven weeks into janie's life i have realized that when there are 30 spare minutes, there are far more important things to do than sit at the computer. our monitor gets really static when i'm in the office, so that is another deterrent. also, there's not nearly as much exciting stuff to write about as i imagined there would be. i mean, it's super exciting to andy and i, and janie's grandparents, but to most others the fact that she sneezed 4 times in a row is pretty boring.

that being said, here are some of the highlights of the past few weeks in no particular order, which is a great example of how my mind works these days...

janie loves to exercise her little lungs every evening from about 7:30 until midnight. if she ever takes voice lessons, we will be sure to remember that those are her optimal hours. the only cure for her screaming seems to be walking around while bouncing her up and down above your head, which is making me contemplate canceling our gym membership.

she has become a pretty good sleeper, giving us at least a 5 hour span on most nights.

she started smiling every now and then, but we have yet to really capture it on camera.

here is the best we could do at capturing a smile

we celebrated her first valentines day with our good friends the harmon's, helms' and l-t's, and lots of great food.

andy and janie on valentine's day

we have spent a significant amount of time watching the winter olympics over the past 2 weeks, though we usually change the channel when the biathlon comes on. the proctor and gamble commercials make even andy cry, and janie is fascinated by the blinking screen. i would guess her favorite event is ladies halfpipe, judging by how well behaved she has been each time it is on.

janie and brianne share a strong affinity for the olympic games, as you can see from their team usa spirit

last saturday we drove out to new smyrna because the weather was nice, but mostly because i really wanted frozen gold. it made me look forward to warm weather and beach days with much anticipation.

this week caroline was in town and so like the good ol' days we stayed up until 2am, spent a lot of time at starbucks and the mall, and watched youtube videos galore. i'm really looking forward to the day that she moves back to orlando.

my favorite thing is how alert she's getting. she has started to focus on things more and it's so fun to be able to play with her. she loves looking at lights, which never gets old to us. had we known she'd be so easily amused, we could have saved ourselves quite a bit of money by passing on swings and exersaucers.

here she is very focused on the chandelier above our dining room table

2 weeks already!

2010-01-22T08:19:00.000-08:00

yesterday was janie's two week birthday. we celebrated by taking her to see dr. lim and giving her her first bath. i don't think she will be a big fan of birthdays in the future is we continue to celebrate in those ways. she was actually really great at the doctor-didn't cry a bit, not even when they put a freezing cold stethoscope on her naked little body. she is going to fit into our family well, as she is big fan of eating. weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz yesteday, she has already gained almost a pound. the doctor told us that she's absolutely perfect, which we already knew, but apparently it becomes official when someone with a phd says so.

on wednesday we had an appointment with a lactation consultant, and as i was feeding janie in this lady's office i noticed that she had remnants of poop caked onto her leg from a major disaster that had occurred at 3:00 that morning. i prayed that the milk lady didn't see and report us to social services, and decided that there was no better time for her first bath. as you can see in the photos below, she loved every minute of it.

not so happy about it coming to an end.

her first two weeks have been filled with much activity. at just 5 days old she enjoyed her first trip to starbucks with daddy. a few days later she braved the millenia mall, and it became clear that she will love shopping as much as her mom. on wednesday she spent 6 hours posed in boxes, bowls and suitcases for her first photoshoot, thanks to callahan photo. (photos should be up on their website sometime today). she wasn't loving it at the time, but she will be so glad to have great pictures of herself when she gets older. we are really fortunate that she has been such a great sleeper after all that we've put her through. she graduated from the bassinet last weekend and now sleeps in her cozy crib every night. and, we made it 15 days without a pacifier.

(aunt becky, we tried to take picture like this for your birthday as well, but the paper cuts were making her a little upset and she didn't last very long. we celebrated you both all day on tuesday!)

andy blogs

2010-01-18T18:48:00.000-08:00

i've been trying to get andy to write for some time now, and he was worried that his material would be far too melancholy for our lighthearted blog. after janie's baptism yesterday, he was inspired to write his first blog ever, and i think it's great. so here it is, a little something from the much more intellectual third of the simonds', along with a few photos from sunday for good measure...

In the late fall of 1998 I sat down in a big leather chair in the office of the Dean of the School of Religion at Belmont University. I would be graduating in a few days with a degree bearing his signature, and I was there for my exit interview. He asked questions about my educational experience, and my answers probably more than his questions led us to a place where we were talking about why I wasn’t sure anymore about the existence of God. I told him that there was something deep inside me that just wouldn’t let me walk away from my faith either. I was still surprised by the warmth in my heart and wetness in my eyes that would well up upon hearing some old hymn or reading a story in scripture that I thought I knew well. I remember him saying that this was a good starting place for rebuilding my faith and theology, and I remember thinking that was a nice sentiment. But more than that I remember struggling with this disturbing thought: Maybe that something deep inside me isn’t some mystic connection with God, or the Holy Spirit at work… Maybe it is just stuck in my subconscious because I was brainwashed with it as a child! Maybe it became true for me before reason became part of the equation and maybe that’s why reason still couldn’t really touch it. I remember brushing all this under the rug and deciding to forget I’d left it there.

Tonight I was reading Janie’s picture Bible, and I was surprised by the warmth in my heart and the wetness in my eyes… and with a lump in my throat I became suddenly grateful for the stuff my parents told me before reason became a part of the equation.

Proverbs 22:5-6

5 In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares,
but he who guards his soul stays far from them.
6 Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.

janie caroline simonds

2010-01-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

she's here! after what seemed like an endless 9 months of anticipating and preparing for her arrival, janie was born at 12:30 am on january 7. she weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. we think she is absolutely perfect - no matter what she does it's the "cutest thing ever"...yawning, sneezing, stretching, even screaming.

it is amazing to me how much we loved her from the minute we laid eyes on her. parents tell you all the time that this will be the case, but it is so unfathomable until you're actually in it. the entire process of being induced, being in labor and delivering went so smoothly. i am grateful for all of those who shared their horror stories, because i was prepared for the absolute worst and it wasn't so bad at all. i wasn't sure how i would know when the right time to get an epidural would be because i don't really know how to rank my pain on a scale of one to ten. i can assure you that i quickly learned the difference between discomfort and intolerable pain, and luckily was able to get an anesthesiologist in the room pretty shortly after to give me an epidural. i googled the inventor of the epidural in hopes of being able to track him down and write the most sincere thank you note i've ever sent, and in doing so i learned that it was exactly 68 years ago to the day on january 6 that an epidural was first given to humans. once the numbness kicked in, andy, caroline, my mom and i celebrated the birthday of the greatest drug around by listening to and laughing at the screamer in the room next door, reminiscing on things we stole as children, and sharing other ridiculous stories that i wish i remembered because i don't know that i've ever laughed harder in my life. had i been able to move my legs, i would have been running laps around the hospital.

in a nutshell, at around 11:30 things started progressing much quicker than they had been all day. our wonderful nurse, ashley, called my doctor to let her know that we were getting close to starting to push, and within minutes it seemed there was a flurry of activity around our room as nurses prepared the baby warmer, biohazard bucket, a tray of lots of intriguing silver tools, and smelling salts, juice and ice for andy. dr. thatcher arrived just as we started pushing, and within 30 minutes janie made her appearance! andy remained conscious the entire time, and he even watched as our sweet baby girl came into the world. i cried as soon as i saw her for the first time, and still cry every time i look at her in my arms and think about how amazing it is that she is here and that she is ours. we can't wait for everyone to meet her!

on our way to the hospital...

14 hours later!

first family photo

our wonderful nurse and friend, ashley.

proud daddy.

today is the day.

2010-01-06T04:56:00.000-08:00

we are on our way out the door, so this will be quick! we are heading to the hospital in hopes of being induced at 9:00. apparently there are lots of babies being born this week and the hospital has been super busy, so there's a chance that we could get pushed back to later. we are super excited, and i think after two weeks of thinking that she was coming each day resulted in us wasted all of our anxiety/worries, so we are both feeling pretty great. i used each day as an excuse to add some forgotten item to my bag, which means we are prepared with mad libs, 4 different lip gloss shades, multiple coming home outfits for janie, real simple's january edition, and lots of extra contacts (perhaps the only practical thing in there). if you want something to pray about, you could pray that andy doesn't pass out 17 times, that we are able to get in and get things started, and that she arrives before my doctor's shift is over. and of course that she would be healthy and things would go smoothly. we can't wait for everyone to meet her and will keep you all posted. perhaps andy will even write his inaugural blog.

still waiting for a baby

2009-12-30T06:45:00.000-08:00

on the 18th, my doctor sent us to winnie palmer for an ultrasound to be sure that janie wasn't getting too big (since i've been measuring two weeks ahead consistently). everything looked great and the doctor there estimated that she was weighing in at about 6 pounds 4 ounces, which they consider normal for where i was at that point. my doctor also thought it was average, but insinuated that she hoped or thought things were going to move along pretty quickly from that point. this is what she's looking like these days. we think she must be pretty bored and ready to eat some real food if she's resorted to nibbling on her toes.

over a week ago i started having kind of regular, but painless contractions, and as the week went on some other things started happening, which in all of the books we've read signal labor is right around the corner. we packed our bags and scrubbed the house top to bottom so that we were ready to go whenever the moment came. ten days later, it still hasn't happened. apparently, i am experiencing nearly every false labor symptom, and a few true labor ones, but no pain or discomfort. each time i start to have contractions, i tell myself that if i can sleep through them, it can't be labor. lucky for me, i am still able to sleep soundly through the entire night, no matter what the muscles in my stomach are doing. yesterday at the doctor there was no further progress really, but she did decide that if janie doesn't make her appearance by next week, they will induce me on the 6th (assuming there is availability at the hospital). we will see what happens between now and then, and promise to let you know as soon as she's here!

christmas fun

2009-12-30T06:01:00.000-08:00

the holidays were so good to us. starting a few weeks ago, we managed to fill almost every day of our calendar with holiday parties, dinner with friends, and time with family.

we met luke for the first time when joel and lizzy were in town. it was quite a memorable experience. he came over decked out in the camo onesie that andy picked out a while back, and he took the title of first baby janie ever shared her toys with (which is good practice since they will be sharing many more things once the prearranged marriage is final). he even brought a photo from his first bath to be sure that as soon as she is seeing more than 12 inches away from her face, she will be able to look at her dresser and fall in love with luke. he is an awesome little guy, and joel and lizzy are really great parents. sometimes new parents enjoy sharing all of the negative stuff about the first few weeks, but joel and lizzy make parenting look easy and were able to put a positive spin on all the usual horror stories about labor, sleepless nights, and screaming babies. we are so glad to have friends like them.

our summit connect group just recently grew from eight people with two kids to twelve adults and five and two half kids, if you include the ones in bellies. we had our holiday dinner and white elephant gift exchange the week before christmas and i learned that our friends are wonderful cooks and even better gift givers. among the most coveted of gifts were a dog snuggie and an authentic russian fur hat.

i also attended my first cookie exchange at bri's house. while it was great to spend the evening surrounded by sweets and good friends, the preparations for the event were not so enjoyable, probably due to my missing ingredients in multiple recipes. in short, i made enough dough for 180 cookies and ended up with approximately 50 edible ones. bri has already decided that next year she's stepping things up and we will be required to bring 8 dozen cookies, so i'm starting to practice now.

i hosted my second annual gift wrapping party the next day, so a bunch of ladies came over and we wrapped christmas gifts and ate lots of dessert together. i was quite impressed by the wrapping skills of the majority of my friends, and was proud to have improved my bow making from last year. It became very clear to me that people with kids have much more challenging shaped items to wrap, santa should never use the same wrapping paper as mom and dad if you have observant children, ikea has surprisingly fine quality wrapping paper, i have no self control when it comes to chocolate mint brownies and the delicious pretzel/rolo/pecan treats that shannon left behind at my house, and i am so blessed with a great group of girl friends.

we wrapped up the week at the summit staff christmas party. i'm pretty sure that summit has claimed the greatest 40-something people to make up their staff. i truly don't think there is one staff member or significant other who isn't completely awesome. i am so grateful to have the opportunity to serve alongside of all of them, and to watch what god is doing in our community through summit year after year.

on christmas eve both of our families came into town and we went to christmas eve service. it was my family's first time at summit on christmas eve, and it surely was not a disappointment. a few years ago, we had just moved to connecticut and didn't really know of any churches in the area, so we randomly chose this cute little methodist church in the center of town to attend for christmas eve. well, there were about 20 people in attendance (they were all one family), the pews were about six inches deep (i thank god every sunday for the nice, cushioned seats at summit), the service lasted for 3 hours (and there was no sneaking out), and didn't really touch on the christmas story much at all. i was so glad that this year was the best music and christmas sermon i have ever heard, and was even happier that my entire family agreed.

christmas day was shared with both sides of our families, great friends, and an extreme abundance of food. i'm not sure who we thought we would be dining with, but we cooked enough to feed an entire football team. it was a good day.

progress

2009-12-05T10:11:00.000-08:00

after months of hard work on everyone's part, a lot of (or a lack of) patience with furniture companies, and three amazing showers, janie's nursery is complete! we have been so blessed with great family and friends who have helped us to make all of this stuff come together. we spent most of last night moving tiny little outfits from one drawer to another and sitting in the super comfortable glider while admiring our work. i think that room is my favorite one in our house, which i hear is a good thing, as i'll probably be spending the majority of my time in there over the next few months.

i'm already finding that parents will do really crazy things for their kids. we would have had very little motivation to get that room done had it been for any other purpose than our sweet little girl. andy spent countless hours pulling rodent and termite poop infested insulation out of the walls, repairing wood floors that had holes big enough to reveal the dirt underneath our house, sawing/sanding/routing wood to frame doors and windows, and lots more. i, with the help of andy's mom, even learned how to sew (sort of) to make roman shades for the windows, something i thought i had no desire to ever learn. we both were excited to consider the new yellow minky dot glider our christmas present to each other, and can now easily pass up a dinner at our favorite restaurant if it means janie gets another cute little outfit, hairbow or toy. we already know, we are going to be in big trouble once she arrives.

here are a few pictures of the room!

here's a reminder of what it looked like before.

and after...

i'll leave you with a few great pieces of unsolicited advice from strangers, all of which start with a phrase similar to, "if i could give you one piece of advice, it would be...":

1. "buy a baby bjorn carrier so you can nurse the baby where ever you go" this was followed by an in depth description of exactly how you go about completing such a task while grocery shopping, doing dishes, or going for a walk.

2. "eat a lot of slippery foods if you want her to come early." this is not a joke, someone really said this and believed it to be true.

3. "don't let your kids out number you..they're vicious."

4. "get some blue things too, in case it's a boy."

5. and this, from husband and father of the year: "don't be expecting your kid to be the cutest thing you've ever seen...my baby was really funny looking until he was about 6 months old. i think that's why my wife had that after birth depression thing."

seeing horses in a new light

2009-11-28T06:02:00.000-08:00

those of you who know my sister lindsay and i, know that perhaps our biggest difference is her love of horses and my desire to keep my distance from the animals. lindsay has been riding for for 15 years and has owned willie for about 4, and the closest i come to touching him is about like this...

i think he is scared of me too. growing up, every time lindsay got to choose what to do for a birthday or special occasion, we could all bank on going to see horses in some form...arabian nights, birthday party at a stable, donkey rides, and other things and places that really stink. i cringed on the inside, and maybe sometimes on the outside, plugged my nose, and went along for the ride.

well, this month cavalia came to atlanta. it's directed by the same guy who helped get cirque du soleil going, and incorporates horses with all of the other crazy acrobatics that make the show famous. since i did dream of being an acrobat at one point in my life, and since lindsay wouldn't miss any local event that involves her equine friends, mom and dad took us all to see the show at the big top last night.

it started out a little slow and i (and i'm pretty sure andy and dad) were feeling a little skeptical, but before long, acrobats were flipping on the backs of cantering mustangs, flying down from the ceiling and landing in the saddle, and amazingly bouncing around the ring while artfully missing the piles of poop that were being produced by the stars of the show. i didn't think it was possible, but for the first time in my life i have decided that horses are really quite pretty and brilliant. it's impossible to explain how talented some of these trainers, acrobats and horses were but here are a few photos so you can get an idea...

this was my favorite part, but since we couldn't take photos, this is the best i could find.

this girl, sylvia zerbini, somehow got 8 horses to all walk in formations together like the rockettes, using her pointer finger and horse language. she was amazing.

after seeing the show, i feel confident that we can have a family act traveling the world...lindsay can do the horse training and i'll work on my acrobatics. andy can sing, dad can set up our tent and mom can sell water during intermission and make trips to publix to get apples for the horses. i think it will be a great success.

welcome to the 21st century

2009-11-12T19:47:00.001-08:00

a few months ago we made enough money at our garage sale to purchase a new television. the one we have in our house is about the size of a refrigerator, and somehow the screen is only 19 inches. we were really excited about our new piece of technology, watched our entire dvd library (which consists of the chronicles of narnia, zoolander, juno, fever pitch and how to lose a guy in ten days) in it's entirety at least two times, and got completely caught up on all five seasons of the office. after much debate and many nights at the harmon's watching lost, we gave in a got cable this weekend.

i think the final decision was made on wednesday night when we were watching the magic game via espn.com's gamecast. this is not actual video footage of the game, it's x's and o's on a court that shoot little bubbles out every now and then to tell you about a rebound, foul, or timeout. it was working really well for us, until we realized that it was about as reliable as listening for the cheers and boos coming from the bar down the street to get a real time idea of what was going on. so on wednesday night andy made friends with the man on the other side of the phone at direct tv, and scored not only an awesome deal on cable, but also 2 free $100 visa gift cards!

so far, we have thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of cable. yesterday i learned how to make an entirely deep fried thanksgiving dinner, thanks to paula deen, and we also refreshed our knowledge of wwii events with a documentary on the history channel. i thought we were missing out on much greater things. maybe there will be better stuff on during the week. until next time, if you have any questions regarding the american's sneak attack on the japanese military at guadalcanal on august 7, 1942, you can feel free to give me a call.

happy tuesday

2009-11-03T06:06:00.000-08:00

today is a good day for a few reasons.

starbucks released their christmas drinks and red cups. when i finish writing this, i am walking to starbucks to have a white peppermint mocha with caroline on the phone. despite the fact that she lives in north carolina, we will always drink our first seasonal beverage at the same time.
we had an ultrasound and got to see janie at a much fatter stage than the last time we saw her. in fact, seeing her size (3 pounds 12 ounces, which is far ahead of where she should be at this point) gave me hope that she may have a chance at surpassing a height of five feet.
the weather is cool, which means for the first time in quite a while, i am not sweating.
a lady told me i looked nice, which really beats the rest of the comments i've received over the past few weeks. some of them include "you're enormous!", "that's gonna be one HUGE baby!", "has your doctor mentioned anything about you gaining too much weight?" and many, many more.

this weekend we traveled up to atlanta where the summit christmas album was mastered. it is a masterpiece indeed, and i can't wait for everyone to hear it. all of the folks that contributed to it (including the hand clappers) are so super talented! luckily, we returned home in time for halloween with some good friends. here are some photos to document the evening.

juno and paulie bleeker...we went into publix dressed like this, and the helpful store clerk told me i should be sure not to drink any alcohol wherever i was going, then laughed and said, "i'm just kidding...i know it's just a costume". apparently my stomach looks fake. we fooled him, alright.

this is simon simon, explaining all of his eagle scout milestones. he earned badges for saving lives, tying knots, catching fish with his bare hands, and wearing worlds greatest knee highs, all before his eighteenth birthday.

you're probably thinking, 'this costume wins the contest hands down. she even brought her own horse to the party!' turns out, it isn't a costume at all. my little sister lindsay rides on SCAD's equestrian team and had a few shows this weekend. of course she came in first in all of the events she rode in, which has led me to ponder if it's too late for me to excel in some form of an athletic event. lindsay informed me that the "ribbons" i won during my days on the swim team were merely honorable mentions given to make the losers feel like winners. with that heartbreaking news, i have decided that once janie arrives i am going to challenge myself to rightfully earn a real award by training for (and completing) a half marathon. anyone with me?

butternut squash

2009-10-22T10:51:00.001-07:00

this week marked the start of the third trimester! i've been getting mixed reviews about whether the next 11 weeks will fly by or be the worst two months of my life (thanks, to those of you who suggest the latter). currently, janie is the size of a butternut squash...about 15 inches long and 2 1/2 pounds. we are so excited to meet her, and the preparations are coming along nicely. i found out last week that the crib and dresser won't be here until late november, which i reacted very irrationally to. in fact, it was so absurd, i'm not even sure i can blame that scene on pregnancy. anyways, i've come to my senses and realized that there is no need for a crib until january and managed to turn my anger about that into excitement about these wall sconces and chandelier that we found on super clearance at lightstyles down near lake ivanhoe.

here are a few of my favorite janie things...

this is one of my favorite little outfits.

lauren found these adorable little shoes on etsy!

clearly, andy's child must own a pair of cowboy (or girl) boots. thanks mom and dad!

our friends monica and brackston bought these awesome headphones so janie can accompany her rock star dad to shows and recording sessions, and have her little ears protected.

as you can see, janie already has what it takes to be a pretty awesome little girl. andy's hoping she takes after me and spends the majority of her first 15 years playing baby dolls, swimming with floaties, and showing little interest in boys. for her sake, i'm hoping that she is way cooler than i was and finds something better to spend her babysitting money on than babies r' us gear for her dolls. no joke, i really did that.

alright, i'm heading to drop my computer off at the apple store to be fixed, so don't be expecting any exciting updates for the next week or so. i'm flying up to boston in the morning for my shower. despite that fact that i will probably be freezing from tomorrow at noon until sunday at 2 since i don't have a single jacket that will button over my belly, i'm really looking forward to seeing everyone. sadly, andy will not be joining me because he is opening for the blues travelers with mike dunn and the kings of new england tomorrow night at house of blues. in closure, this is the wife of a rock star, signing off.

hello, delaney harmon!

2009-10-18T04:23:00.001-07:00

5:45 am - i'm practically typing this with one hand, as i keep my phone in the other, anxiously awaiting tim or shannon's phone call...at 12:30 this morning she called to say they were on their way to the hospital because shannon thought (though wasn't positive) that she was in labor. all i know as i write this is that delaney downey harmon is here!

the last time i had such intense butterflies in my stomach was the night before our wedding. if you know me, you know that it is a real stretch for me to stay awake for a movie or television show in it's entirety. well, over the past 6 hours i have watched approximately 8 seasons of the office. that should be a good indicator of the level of excitement i'm experiencing.

in between jim and pam's romantic love story (i'm still on season 4), i found myself having a conversation of sorts with god. events like this always lead me to be reminded and amazed by the fact that he knew, well before anyone even considered our existence, the exact moment that we would enter into the world, the exact number of hairs that would reside on our little misshapen heads, and the journey we would take throughout the rest of our days on earth. we hear it often, but i think the past 6 months have made it a much more real concept, being able to apply it the the little girl that is growing inside of me.

welcome to the world, delaney! you are so loved, and until janie arrives, you are my favorite little girl on the planet!

3:37 pm - yep, favorite little girl indeed. i just got home from the hospital and can assure you that delaney is one of the best looking babies i have ever seen.

"for you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, i know that full well. my frame was not hidden from you when i was made in the secret place. when i was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." psalm 139:13-16

my 23.333333rd birthday

2009-10-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

i should start this blog out by introducing you to some of our great friends, brianne and eddie kaufholz.

brianne is a coupon cutting, free food finding, mall madness winning, green element driving superstar. and she is hilarious. her husband eddie is a beer brewing master and has been featured on many great blogs. he is commonly referred to as an angel here on earth. well, i'd like to give eddie a break from the spotlight and focus in on his other half, bri.

last friday evening was a night worth writing about, and we owe it all to brianne and her coupon cutting skills. striving to be a good steward of all that she has, bri purchased a $50 gift certificate to SEA Thai for just $4. (if you're as interested in free things as brianne, you should check out her blog). upon printing out the coupon, there of course, was fine print which read "$50 off a $100 purchase". most people (me) would be super frustrated that they got tricked into such a deal...after all, what two people can consume $100 worth of pad thai and praram? bri's optimism and generosity led her to view the mishap as an opportunity to invite joey, lauren, andy and i along for the great coupon redemption. surely six of us could reach the $100 minimum. if you aren't familiar with SEA Thai, you should know that this is what it looks like...

as you might imagine, i was quite hesitant to enter into this place to eat, especially since it would be my first thai food experience, but eddie and brianne have never let us down.

turns out, the inside is really nice and it was totally packed. we finally got a table and our waitress, K, asked us immediately what the occasion was. in not-so-perfect harmony, eddie and brianne answered, "oh, no special occasion" and "it's her birthday!" (while pointing at me). i'll let you guess who's response was who's. great. we've started out on a good note. after the wave of embarrassment subsided, we enjoyed a 2 hour single course meal. the food was great, service not so great. or so we thought...

we had asked multiple times for our check, but to no avail. just as we were losing our patience, the whole kitchen crew came parading out to our table with a platter of birthday treats, complete with a candle glued to the center and "happy b-day" scrawled in chocolate sauce, just for me. i was serenaded by the SEA Thai staff and good friends and then consumed more fried bananas and thai donuts than one could imagine. it was the best birthday i've ever had 2 months after my birthday. thank you bri, for making it all possible.

and then there were two...

2009-10-14T18:42:00.001-07:00

for the past 6 months i have enjoyed being pregnant with two of my favorite people on earth, lizzy and shannon. well, today, october 14 2009, lizzy moved on to bigger and better things, leaving shannon and i counting down the days until we join her as ladies with babies outside of our bellies, rather than in. fortunately for shannon, her countdown is just 12 days.

luke joel hunter made his grand entrance into the world this afternoon, and boy, is he good looking. we are really hoping that janie and luke fall in love and get married.

congratulations, joel, lizzy and luke! we love you guys a whole lot and can't wait to meet your sweet little man.

one room becomes two.

2009-10-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

this is what the back room of our house used to look like:

actually, it looked even worse than that with awful carpet and peach paint

still one room, free of all the drywall and insulation that rodents and termites called their bathroom.

this is how you build a wall

future home of the washer and dryer

i don't think i meant to take this picture, but i'm glad i did. this is what was underneath the carpet

after seeing white painted floors at door sixteen, i was determined to make it happen in the nursery. luckily for me, andy is really patient and good at sanding, so janie will now have awesome white hardwood floors in her room.

this room is really difficult to take pictures of, and my photography skills don't help the matter, but here's an idea of what it looks like today.

so there you have it, without moulding, furniture, or a baby. all of that should be coming soon. i'll keep you posted.

it's not easy to blog from your phone

2009-10-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

(for some reason this didn't post when i actually wrote it...probably because i attempted to do so from my phone, so here it is, a few days late)

a few months ago i thought i really wanted a dog, but yesterday morning, when i spontaneously decided to drive up to atlanta with my mom, i realized that andy was absolutely right in his decision to not get an animal.

my cousin chris ended up in atlanta on his way down to pensacola for some hockey business, and so i thought it would be fun to get to hang out with him for a little while before he turns into a professional hockey player. chris and i spent the majority of our childhood years together writing literary masterpieces, organizing extravagant carnivals for our siblings, fighting for what we believed in (which came in the form of chants and protests when we thought we deserved to go to the mall or disney) and making plans to start businesses like "come and eat a fajita" and "241 sports". so in memory of the good old days we spent our 24 hours together talking about chris' real business plans, carving pumpkins, and winning a nintendo wii. if i weren't already a member of my family, i would definitely pay to join.

sassy cat and moon cricket (the pumpkins, not chris and i)

i am almost positive that my mom is looking at this and cringing at the open cabinet in the background.

i just boarded the plane and got kicked out of the exit row seat for being pregnant...i have yet to experience the benefits that come along with carrying a human in your belly. at least i still have three more months. i'll be in tampa in about an hour, just in time to catch rob bell on his "drops like stars" tour. super excited.

welcome fall!

2009-09-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

this morning i woke up to a slightly chilly tile bathroom floor , which means fall is here...even if just for a few hours. in anticipation of this "cold front", the girls from my summit connect group came over last night to make apple pies. katie's family recipe proved itself to be one of the best apple pies that i've ever tasted. i'd post the recipe here, however, i'm pretty sure the only thing we actually measured was the flour and i wouldn't dare let someone else's family secret loose. :)

apparently green was the theme of the evening...hello, shannon's belly.

katie brilliantly suggested making mini pies for us to test before digging into the big ones. my belly somehow snuck into this one, and conveniently matched as well as shannon's.

this is my masterpiece...i think it's almost worthy of publication on cake wrecks. thank goodness katie is a professional pie baker (see below photo for proof) and came to the rescue.

worst looking and best tasting apple pie ever.

i still have patty griffin's "making pies" stuck in my head after singing it all night long. i'll leave you with this...after making my first pie from scratch, i learned that a lot more work than you can imagine goes into it, so next time someone gives one to you, be sure to express lots of thanks. happy fall!

first blog ever.

2009-09-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

well, i have been contemplating starting a blog for a while now and have finally decided that enough has happened in our lives over the past year that it was worth writing about. in a nutshell, here's what has been going on with us since we got married last august:

we purchased our first home...a 1923 arts and crafts style bungalow in downtown orlando with the interior painted entirely pink. needless to say, we (andy, our dads, and manly friends) have spent about 80% of the past year working on painting and other major and minor construction projects. more on that later...

before :(

after!

we took an awesome trip to seattle last january with some good friends. it became my new favorite city (2nd to boston, of course).

on june 18, 2009 we became aunt ashley and uncle andy to david palmer mcswain. we spent seven hours in the colorful waiting room of manatee memorial hospital waiting to meet this precious little guy, and fell in love with him instantly! i had his pictures all over my computer, facebook, phone, etc., until i got tired of people asking me if he was my baby. so here he is, our nephew david, though i'd claim him as my own any day.

andy was ordained as worship pastor at summit church.

i have continued to enjoy working as a wedding coordinator with eventfully yours.

i am on month 10 of my successful 2009 new years resolution: to correspond with more people via snail mail. grammy and i agreed on this together, and she has well surpassed my quota for the year, however, her gift of writing about the mundane in such an exciting way is partially what led me to start this blog. i think that sort of correspondence is becoming a lost art and i'm determined to hang on to it.

perhaps the most exciting news of the year for us is that we are expecting a sweet baby girl in january 2010! (although we really wouldn't mind if you arrive in december, little janie...). i have been blessed with a super enjoyable pregnancy and have a lot of friends who are also expecting which has made the journey even better. in fact, janie's best friend (little girl harmon), future husband (luke hunter), and cousin (baby de pena) should be arriving any day now. some of the preparations we have made include:

nearly filling our guest room closet with little pink outfits and shoes
turning the so called in-law suite (more like a large, useless room) into a nursery and laundry room
studying our family trees, baby name books, and naming technique websites to arrive at janie (after my mom's mom). we are leaning towards caroline for the middle name, but andy has the final say on that
learning about the endless amounts of equipment required for a 7 pound human

janie is this big today and moving around a lot!

i think that brings you up to date on the simonds' for now. i'm planning on posting some of the nursery pictures soon. it's still a work in progress, but i'm expecting all of her furniture and bedding this week!