The Cutest Blog on the Block

Monday, February 20, 2012

Happy 3 Months, Emersyn!


These months have started going by a little too fast! If you have a secret to slowing them down, I would love to hear it :) 
Little girl is not at all a "little" girl anymore but quite the healthy, chubby little one. I just love her sweet fat cheeks! After all that we went through the first two weeks with E not gaining weight, then losing weight I will gladly take my sweet, chubby girl. She is wearing 3 month clothes but busts out of the legs, so 3- 6 months has been the more desirable option with her long legs :) 
Her little personality is starting to shine and she is SO MUCH FUN! I love play time and look forward to every second of it. She hates not being able to sit up all the time, and constantly tries to pull herself to a sitting up position, even in your lap :( I try to tell her to just relax and be a baby, but she is quite hard headed and determined! She absolutely LOVES her Einstein bouncy toy (we stack Lance's thermodynamics books under her feet so she can bounce!) She will bounce in it, then pull herself up, play with her friends for a minute, then start the sequence over. She has started babbling at her little sea friends on her bouncy and her play mat, and it is so funny to listen to. Little girl has a lot to say already :) Her sweet smile lights up the room, and I keep holding my breath waiting on a giggle to come out!
She has settled back into her good sleep routine of  8-10 hours of sleep at night, a long (about 2 hours) nap, and  1 or 2 shorter naps during the day. She is absolutely precious to wake up to, so happy and smiley :) She still sleeps with me, and I'm in no hurry to move her to her big girl room. I will definitely not try anything until we are settled in Pennsylvania- too much change for a little girl! For the first time this past weekend, E put herself to sleep while Lance was holding her. This child has NEVER just fallen asleep. We had a moving company at the house to give us a quote, and Lance was walking around with Emersyn in his arms and she just fell right to sleep. She didn't fuss, didn't need her mommy, nothing- I was so sad, she is growing up too fast! Later that day, I went to buy groceries and she did it again- such a daddy's girl! She LOVES her daddy to pieces and has him tightly wound around her little finger :) 
Mommy loves you so much, E, and is having the time of her life watching you grow up! You are so much fun and the greatest blessing I have ever received. I lay in bed every night and  thank God for giving you to me to love and raise- you are wonderful and I love you SO MUCH!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

The Haney's Are on the Move... Again...

We bought a house... in Pennsylvania! And, yes, we will be living in it in a few weeks. What's been happening in the Haney house? Well, besides sleepless nights since E has reverted back to a newborn sleep pattern at night, Lance was offered and accepted a phenomenal post-doc position at Penn State. He will be doing cutting edge research on some really cool stuff. Since I write this blog, in my words and understanding, he will be making things invisible and bending light on a flat lens that has properties like a curved lens (and we aren't talking about sunglasses lenses :) ) But, seriously, he will be doing a lot of extremely smart research that could improve technology leaps and bounds over the next 10-20 years. The university gave Lance many responsibilities while he is there that will only further improve his resume' and make him a very competitive candidate for a professor position after these 2 years are up. Of course, we are praying night and day for a position to be in preparation for him at Auburn. However, after making this compromise, we have agreed we will search for positions at schools in the 2011 South Eastern Conference :) (before Texas A&M and Missouri were added in!) 
Lance went to school all these years and earned his doctorate to have a job just like this and eventually be a professor. When this opportunity presented itself, it would have been silly to turn it down. I would love more than anything to be back in Auburn, where so many of our friends and relationships are.  I miss the gym I taught at and the members, our precious small group that is irreplacable, my sweet friends who I worked with, and just the charm of the town itself. I would do anything for us to be able to have a fighting chance at being back there, hence agreeing on this northern adventure.
So, we are going North- WAY North where a Yankee accent is prevalent, stay at home moms aren't in existence, sweet tea can't be ordered, and "y'all" is replaced with "you's guys". Am I ready? Nope, not hardly. I have my stereotypes as I am sure they will have about me but hopefully we can live amongst each other in peace. I will carry my southern charm with pride and maybe, just maybe, spread some cheerfulness to the northern folk :) I am going to miss my mama, my daddy, my sweet baby brother, my dear friends, and sweet home Alabama more than words can express. I keep reminding myself this will be a short stay and God willing we will be closer in a short time. My mom and I have mapped out a travel schedule for a remainder of this year already, we do not do very well apart. I have never been so thankful for the genius mind behind Skype as I am penciling in Skype dates with my dearests daily! A large piece of my heart will be in this sweet state, but another huge piece will be with me in Pennsylvania. 
I am looking forward to the adventure living in Pennsylvania will bring, it will be something I have never experienced before and hopefully a chance for our little family to only become closer and learn to depend on each other even more. E will surely have snowmen pictures to look back on and we are campaigning for a trip to NYC to see the tree at Rockefellar Center be lit. 
Speaking of the fun news, our new home :) We purchased a beautiful Victorian home in a rural area outside of State College. We are both in love with it, and have always wanted to own a beautiful Victorian :) It was built in 1890 and is full of charm. The community is full of restored Victorians and has a nice neighborly feel about it. The town has sidewalks running all through it which we hope to take E for jogs on. We have a list of projects that should keep us busy to help spruce the house up a bit, but nothing serious has to be done. We close on March 15th and will be Pennsylvania residents then.  Here is a picture the current owners sent us during one of the latest snow storms. I plan to deliver cookies to all of our neighbors once we are moved in and greet them with a nice "Hey, y'all we are the Haney's :)"

Please remember our family (both immediate and extended) as we prepare for this move- with our sweet little Emersyn who will not quite be 4 months old when we make the move. I am rather terrified, but pray God is preparing special friends and a dear home church for our family to help ease the home sickness. I pray that in this and everything else our little family embarks on is following with God's will for our lives and we remain Christ-centered in it all. What a journey we have ahead of us :)

Sunday, February 5, 2012

10 and 11 weeks

Our sweet Emersyn has been growing like a weed and getting to be such a big girl! Everyday it seems she has grown more and has a new trick. She is such a sweet joy to be around and has shown me more love than I ever knew was possible. Her precious smile is the most beautiful sight my eyes have ever seen, and we are on the brink to out loud laughing :) She laughed once this past week in her sleep and it was absolutely adorable, then once again at her Gran during bath time.
Sweet girl is becoming very active! She has even started to become less of a fan of her bouncy seat because she can't move her arms and legs as freely as she wants :) She spends most of her time on her Baby Einstein mat kicking her legs and holding onto her octopus friend. Tummy time is starting to transition from rolling over time to trying to crawl time. No, we are not ready for this! Now, on her tummy she gets her hands in place, pokes her booty in the air and starts moving her legs. I'm sure we are probably a couple of months out from mobility but still that is a couple of months too soon! Where has my baby gone??
In the past couple of weeks, one of E's favorite new habits is chewing on her hands. She has found her thumb and fingers and thinks it is the greatest thing to have them in her mouth. She wakes me up most mornings sucking on the side of her hand :) She has also started grabbing things and moving them towards her mouth...uh oh! 
I have a feeling E and BoJackson are going to be the BEST of friends. They absolutely adore each other. Since we lost our sweet angel Max, I think Bo has really found a friend E. He gets so excited when she wakes up from a nap and he starts dragging his toys out. We got him and Max each a huge squeaky bone for Christmas and Bo loves bringing them to Emersyn when she is playing. Play time for E means play time for BoJackson :) She smiles so big when he jumps up in her face to give her loving. We can't wait for her to get big enough to hear stories of her brother, Maximus.
I can't believe we are getting this close to a 3 month birthday. I am in complete denial, but enjoying every second of bliss with sweet little E. Here are some recent pictures of our little angel!