So Very Sad...

This week I have to go to camp for a few days and Josh has been very busy at work lately. My mom was visiting for a long weekend and had to go back to Florida for my sister's doctor's appointment on Monday. On Saturday, she came into the kitchen and said, "I have a proposal for you." She then went on to outline EXPLICITLY how she could HELP JOSH OUT (since I'd be at camp and he'd be alone to take care of Kassidy) by taking her back to Florida with her. We were going to FL for a long weekend anyway, so she would only have Kassidy for 3 days by herself. Needless to say, Josh didn't want Momma to make the 9 hour drive home with a baby by herself so he said no. After much deliberating, praying, and begging (on Momma's part), we finally said yes. You should have seen the joy in her eyes when I told her Kassidy could go. It was like she'd just received entry into Heaven and was on her way to meet Jesus Himself....she was ecstatic!! I, on the other hand, got very little sleep on Sunday night because I was spent half the night scared and half the night praying!

The following pictures show them leaving me Monday morning! What the pictures don't show is me, after the car drove down the driveway, collapsing on the ground screaming and bawling. (That didn't really happen, but I thought about it!) We'll be back together in just 2 days, so I hope Kassidy is having a good time with her Grandma and Aunt Sarah!! Miss you, Princess!

There they go...for three days in Florida WITHOUT MOMMY!!

I wanted to scream, "Wait, come back!!!"

Kassidy all bundled up in her seat with Dolly, Dragonia, and Snailey.

Do you see the look she gave me? She was plainly saying,

"Mommy, why are you sending me away with this strange woman?"

It broke my heart!!

(Sorry, Momma...I know you're not strange to her.

But that's what the look said to me. LOL!)

After the car was loaded and they were ready to leave :(

Let's stretch before getting in the car for 9 hours!

Got her "Off to Grandma's" outfit on for the trip to FL!

Kassidy's newest friend is Dolly, a "Baby's First Doll," that our friends Shorty and Sharon got her!! Thanks, ladies :-)

Why is this picture upside down, you ask? This is Kassidy and her daddy's newest ritual. For some reason, she likes to hang upsidedown. Josh started doing this a couple of weeks ago and noticed that she would giggle while she was hanging. At times he can't get her to stop crying, regardless of the warm bottle in his hand, playing the soft music she loves, taking a walk, or rummaging through a basket-full of toys. For some reason, if he tips her upsidedown and lets her hang there for like 3 seconds, she's happy again. Who knows why? Maybe she's related to the possum family!

Our dear friends in Australia sent Kassidy this cute like onezie from the Australia Zoo. You can't tell it from the picture, but the little eyes on the koala bear glow in the dark. SO ADORABLE!!! We got Kassidy dressed for bed and put her little nightcap on and took a picture just for you, Carolyn! That is the cutest outfit....thanks so much! Love you all~

I LOVE AUSTRALIA :-)

My friend, Kim Gumbiner at the FL 4-H Camp Office in Gainesville, sent me this precious little onezie. I'm thinking Kassidy has to be the youngest 4-H'er eva!!! Thanks, Kim~

For those of you who know ANYTHING about Josh Middleton, you know that he's a Florida State Seminoles' fan. Unlike me (the one with the brains in the family) who is a HUGE Gator fan. During baby showers, we got an enormous amount of Gator clothes and this one little piddly FSU outfit for Kassidy to wear. In honor of Gator football starting, I dressed Kassidy up and made Josh put on an orange and blue t-shirt on so we could have a couple of family pics! What a shock that he didn't fuss TOO MUCH!!! Maybe he's seen the light and knows which team is better! I mean our coach isn't 182 years old now, is he? :-)

Can you see what the rain does to my hair? I have a fro!!!!

Here I am teaching Kassidy how to say "Go Gators!!"

Pretty little outfit Grandma bought her :)

Can't get enough of this....

Kassidy has been spending more and more time with Daisy. It's like all of sudden she realizes that Daisy is here...and I'm so glad because Daisy LOVES her so much!!!

She is EXTREMELY protective of her and it's so sweet how patient she is when Kassidy plays with her!

It's probably been a month since Kassidy found her feet, but all of a sudden they've become a new fascination. Josh and I have decided that as long as she has her burp cloth, her feet, some paper, and Dragonia (her dragonfly that my college friend, Kelli, gave her), everything will be just FINE!! Who needs toys you actually pay money for when you have those things?

When Kassidy caught the smiling bug last month, it hit big!! She now smiles at EVERYTHING!!!

I swear we could tell her we're gonna toss her out of the window at high speeds and she'd smile! Here's a quick little video of us having a smiley session at home in bed :-)

ENJOY!!!!

Kassidy's First Visit to Our Summer Home

This was a fun weekend for our family. Josh and I absolutely love the Biltmore Estate, so we packed up Kassidy (and her 5 tons of baby stuff) and headed to Asheville. We walked thru the house (you gotta do that anytime you visit) and then had lupper at The Bistro. Kassidy really seemed interested in all of the shiny objects to begin with, but after awhile it was obvious that she'd had enough. She settled into her daddy's neck and fell asleep. We walked through the Winery and rode down to the new Antler Village. On the way home, Kassidy slept about two and a half hours...what an exhuasting day for the little girl :-)

She tried to catch a bumble bee buzzing by her...

thank God she wasn't fast enough!

There was a whole field of sunflowers...wish Grandma was there to see them!

Ooh, so this is Grandma's favorite flower! It's pretty...

Isn't this what all Daddies are for?

He's wrapped so tight around that little pinky!

Can you see the sweat dripping off of us? YUCK!

She's so entertained by the beautiful sights, I mean, by her paci.

Daddy's girl

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Today was my day's birthday...August 9, 1939. It's hard to believe that he would have been 70 this year and even harder to believe that he's been gone almost a year. Where does the time go?

In honor of Dad, I thought we would do some special things. Here's my plan:
A) Go to church and thank God for the years we had with Dad,
B) Go out to lunch and have a celebratory birthday dinner for Dad,
C) Tell Kassidy some hilarious stories about her grandpa,
D) Have a Publix cake and remember who got us started on them in the first place (thanks, Dad)!!

I'm sure he would approve of all of those things, especially us telling Kassidy about him since they never got to meet. I can't wait until he gets to hold his little princess on the day we're all reunited in Heaven!!

Happy birthday, Dad!! Miss and love you more than you could ever imagine!

NOT FEELING SO GOOD...

Well this weekend isn't starting off the greatest...

On Thursday, Kassidy woke up very sick (I'm talking projectile vomiting) so we went to the doctor. She was wheezing and coughing, so they gave her a breathing treatment and told us that she had an ear infection because of the drainage. So we ordered a breathing machine to use at home, bought the $75 medicine to use in it, and started doing treatments every 4-6 hours. Come to find out later, she also had a viral infection and guess what....Mommy, Grandma, and Daddy all got sick!!! Thank goodness for the fact that there are 3 bathrooms in our house...just enough for everyone to have their own :-)

I'm really disappointed because we had plans to grocery shop, go shopping, do the 127 yard sale (world's longest one spanning 600+ miles) and relax for awhile. When everyone's sick, even relaxing is off the table. It's not relaxing to run to the toilet every 5 minutes....

Please say prayers we feel better tomorrow and maybe we'll get some things done after church!!!

Another busy month...

July has been another busy month. The second weekend of the month, we went to a family reunion in Lakeland, GA and visited with some extended family. Kassidy had her 4-month checkup and her pediatrician said to start her on cereal. The day she turned 4 months, she started holding her bottle by herself. We took her on a picnic to Parksville Lake and she seemed to really enjoy herself. This past weekend, Josh's mom and brother, Travis, came to visit and we went to Ocoee Beach to swim and picnic. Had lots of fun and enjoyed seeing family. Uncle Kolby and Aunt Amanda will be here next weekend, so we're excited to see them!

Daddy and his 2 best girls!

Uncle Travis is my favorite uncle ever!!!

Hanging with my daddy...

Love my Ga-Ga!

Such a happy baby!

Napping with Mommy at the lake!

For her 4 month old birthday, we took a picnic to Parksville Lake.

She likes being outside!

4 months old and holding her own bottle now.

Kassidy's first time eating cereal...she wasn't crazy about it!

Kassidy and Grandma

Our family!

We visited Kassidy's great-grandma's grave in Ray City, GA.

Kassidy with a flower in her hair!

4th of July Weekend

The 4th weekend has always been a busy one for us, so this year it was just nice to chill at the house. On Friday night, we drove down to North GA and bought a new truck. Just let me say how much Kassidy loves the new truck....that rumbly diesel puts her to sleep every time :-) Here's a pic of Josh's newest toy! He absolutely LOVES it!
On Saturday (July 4th), we rearranged the house. I know, I know...it was a holiday weekend!! But I've been wanting to move our bedroom upstairs, so we'd be next door to Kassidy when she starts sleeping in her room. So we moved furniture around during the morning and grilled out in the afternoon. Yum....ribs, slaw dogs, and potato salad! They weren't shooting off fireworks in Cleveland and we didn't really want to brave the crowds of Chattanooga, so we stayed at home and watched the fireworks in New York and Boston.

On Sunday, we slept through church!! Can you believe it? When we finally got up, we ran some errands around Chattanooga and did some shopping! That night, we watched "Fireproof." It was good, but not as good as I'd expected. There was a lot of hype about it, so I was a little disppointed...but, yes, the storyline was good!

Yesterday it was back to the work grind. Since daycare is closed this week (in observance for July 4th---who gets a whole week off? It's not like Christmas!), Miss K is hanging out with Mommy. She's gone to work with me today and so far, so good!!

Hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday weekend! Will try to add some new pics this week sometime!

BK vs. AK

Now that you're caught up on Kassidy's growth in pictures, I thought I would share some other things with you!

On Sunday night, Josh and I were standing in our kitchen and out of the blue he said, "Ya know how people said we'd forget what our life was like before Kassidy came along? Well I think I'm there now!" Apparently we've made the transformation from young single couple to Mommy and Daddy. For the rest of our lives, we'll refer to Kassidy's existence as BK (before Kassidy) and AK (after Kassidy).

As you can imagine, BK seems so luxurious when I look back on it. Ahhh....there was time to sit in the bathtub with soothing music and aromathatic candles. Or time to read a book that wasn't about raising a baby. Or time to get a haircut, massage, pedicure, etc. Or time to drive a 4-hour drive in 4 hours, instead of 10. Or time to sit on the beach and fall asleep. Now the days of just sitting around doing nothing (though honestly those days were rare even back then) are gone. Poof...up in a cloud of smoke!!!

Now we live in AK. Most of our time is spent: 1) making bottles for Kassidy, 2) feeding Kassidy, 3) changing Kassidy, 4) loving Kassidy, 5) trying to figure out Kassidy's upets, 6) working, or 7) sleeping 5-6 hours each night. (For those of you who know me well, only 5-6 hours of sleep = GROUCHY LYNNE!!!)

I can see your shackles getting raised because I'm saying horrible things about my daughter. But before you get your panties in a wad, you need to understand that I would NEVER, EVER trade AK for BK. I am exhausted, yes, but I also look forward to seeing our princess at the end of each day or when I wake up each morning!

She is growing so fast and is already reaching milestones that I never envisioned at 14 weeks old. Kassidy has rolled over (that actually started happening around 6 weeks old...IT WAS SCARY when we put her to bed on her back and woke up to her on her stomach), has said "hi" repeatedly (we know she's not mimicking us because she initiates it lots of the time), and now appears to be cutting teeth (I do not look forward to this stage. I've never done well with anyone drooling on or around me and it hasn't gotten much better with Kass. All those people who said, "It's different when it's your child" must not have had an affinity to drool running down their back, neck, arm, or any other exposed body part).

But when she smiles or grasps my finger, my heart simply melts. It amazes me that God brought this little girl into the world with mine and Josh's help. So to wrap up, would I go back to romantic evenings with just Josh and me? Or to pedicures anytime I looked down and said "Ooh, I don't like this color anymore?" Or to jumping in the car or on a plane and traveling wherever we wanted? Or to having extra money to spend on whatever we wanted? ABSOLUTELY NOT...I wouldn't trade this little girl for anything in the world. Thank you, God, for our little blessing!

June has been a BUSY month!!!

The day Grandma got back from FL...seems like it's been a year!!

Aunt Sarah trying to teach Kass to walk! A little early still, Auntie S~

Mommy picking Kassidy up after her first day at daycare with Ms. Sabrina and Ms. Kelly.

First day at daycare...with Ms. Kelly, Ms. Jennifer, and Ms. Lynne

Mommy picked some flowers for her!

That cold water wore her out!

She DID NOT like that cold water!!

First swimming outing with Mommy and Grandma

A dress Chrissy Killian made for her....finally a hat that fits!!

Grandma reading to Kassidy

Holding her keys

Love those chickens...

Meeting the chickens with Daddy for the first time

The worst one yet!!!

Kassidy had a stomach virus...which caused the galloping doodies!!

In one of Mommy's favorite outfits

Kassidy in the yellow dress Crystal gave her...

thanks Crystal!

Grandma and Kassidy back at home

Kassidy's first smile

Daddy and Kassidy down by the creek

Grandma went along to nanny :-)

First trip to the Smoky Mountain National Park

Daddy and Mommy at Vacation House

First vacation home...Gatlinburg

Kassidy in her first Gator outfit!