Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Chompers!

Landon got his first tooth on Saturday! Oddly enough, it broke through the day after he turned 8 1/2 months - the exact time Addie's first tooth came in. This is his bottom right tooth. I was changing his diaper and noticed a little white in his mouth, and sure enough, there it was! Then Sunday, I was tickling him and noticed that his top two are right there at the surface! I'd expect them within the next week (and they are cutely as far apart as Addie's - if not moreso). The funny thing is that I can neither see nor feel the other bottom tooth at this point. He's been fussy the past few days, so I hope these teeth hurry up! Pictures will come as soon as they're visible to the non-mommy eye/hand. :)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

It's official!

I'm official! An official attorney! Scary, huh? I attended the swearing-in ceremony this past Wednesday, November 18, at the War Memorial Building. It was AWESOME! Okay, admittedly, when I first got there, I thought it was a crazy mess and wished I had gotten sworn in locally. But being there with the Supreme Court Justices was amazing. I think the Chief Justice mentioned that 140 people were being sworn in that morning. Each individual got introduced by a "sponsor," so it did take about 2 hours. After each motion was made, one of the Supreme Court Justices would say, "Mr./Ms. [Sponsor], your motion is granted, and Mr./Ms. [New Lawyer], congratulations and welcome to the practice of law." It was pretty cool.

My wonderful boss, Shauna Billingsley, was my sponsor. She made her motion (which was so very sweet and personal) and introduced herself and mentioned that I have accepted the staff attorney position at the City. At the time my motion was made, Justice Gary Wade was granting the motions, but after Shauna made hers, Justice Connie Clark interrupted and said that she would like to take mine. She said (something to the effect of...), "Ms. Billingsley, I know that you come from a long line of wonderful Franklin City Attorneys - me being one of them - so I am honored to grant your motion. Ms. Corn, you have chosen an amazing career path. I welcome you to the practice of law - and the politics - of Franklin, and also to the bar of the state of Tennessee." Of course, the audience laughed, and it was very, very cool. At that point, I was so glad that I had done the ceremony. It was awesome to receive a personal welcome from a Supreme Court Justice! Shauna and I both guessed that she would say something personal because she was smiling pretty big at us when we were in line. AWESOME. Still kind of on cloud nine from that one ;)

And...I know I'm a dork. :)

Anyway, one thing that I believe all the justices pointed out in their speeches at the end was that none of us could have gotten where we are without the support of our family and friends. Although I do think that's true for everyone, I think it was especially true for me. I have THE MOST AMAZING family and friends and I certainly don't even pretend like this whole long, drawn-out mess of the past five years was anything but a joint effort. I am so very blessed.

Again, anyway...

It was dark in the auditorium, so the ceremony pictures didn't really come out, but here's a few (the first two are from before).



Daddy, me, Mommy and JMC
(oops - for blog purposes, I guess I should say: PawPaw, Mommy, Mimi, and Daddy :))



Shauna and me



Okay, I know it's hard to tell what's going on here, but you can see the Justices and the back of my head. :) Shauna was making my motion (the back of her head is to the left of mine :)). The man standing up is the Clerk of the Appellate Court System.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Three-and-a-half

I am also late on this post, but only a week. Look at me go! Slow down, Kristen!

I really can't believe that my baby girl is now closer to four years old than three. I used to roll my eyes at my parents when they would say, "Seems like just yesterday, you were..." and now I know what they're talking about. It really does seem like just yesterday that we were finding out we were expecting our first baby...then that she would be a girl...then welcoming her into the world. And now, here we are with a beautiful, smart, sassy little miss. I don't really know where to begin with my sweet girl. She is so full of herself and is well aware of how stinking cute she is. She is so exhausting with her little attitude, yet I am so completely overwhelmed with love for her and can't get enough of her. She is a little *girl* now and not a little baby, and SO MUCH FUN to be around! Her teachers still brag on how smart she is, and how "overall" she's such a good girl (yes, their words - ha!). She has started getting "sad faces" at school every once in a while, and although I take it seriously and we sit down and discuss why she got her sad faces, I get such a kick out of her explanations! My favorite one was this:

Me: Addie, why did you get a sad face today?
Addie: Because I wasn't listening.
Me: Did you not have your listening ears on?
Addie: No.
Me: Why not?
Addie: Because I didn't like the ones they had at school today. I was looking for some Princess ones.

[She also often tells me that she left her listening ears in the car, her toy bin, in bed, etc. :)]

Addie says the funniest things and is very into pretend play lately. I overheard her bossing around her stuffed animals a few weeks ago and asked her who she was talking to. She said, "Emma." When I started to look concerned (yes, I know imaginary friends are normal, it just surprised me), she said, "Don't worry, mom, I'm just pretending." Hehehe. She also thinks she is hilarious and now likes to fake laughing after she'll say certain things. She cracks herself up.

Along with keeping us in tears from laughter every day, Addie also amazes us with how smart she is! She is getting really good at writing her letters and loves to write "mom" all over everything. She can also write other small words if we help her spell them, but she is great with her name on her own (but has a little trouble with the 'e').

She is still a great big sister. She's really started getting upset with Landon when he gets her toys and has started occasionally wanting to pretend she's a baby. As long as she doesn't start truly regressing, I'm okay with that ;) Addie is also very good with Landon when he's upset. Sometimes all he wants is to be held, and she'll give him a hug or just say "boo!" to him, and both make him giggle immediately. I am so excited to watch how they play together as they get bigger.

There's so much more I could say about my sweet girl, but it'll get way too sappy. She is my pride and joy! Oh, and I'm well aware of how hellacious her teenage years may be ;)



Helping Daddy make dinner - she is such a good helper in the kitchen!


Mess of curls!


Love.




JM was trying to get a movie of Landon standing up on the dollhouse and got this instead - glad she's so concerned ;)





How old??


Monday, November 16, 2009

Eight months

Okay, a teeny bit (almost two weeks...) late, but no big deal! I'm not quite sure where to begin with my sweet boy. He's growing too quickly! He is still such a happy, sweet boy, even if he's a SQUEALER! He's been getting in "trouble" at school the past couple of weeks for waking up the newborns with his squeals. He thinks it's so funny. His teacher, Ms. Jen, says that he'll squeal really loudly then look at her to see her reaction. He loves school SO much but is quite happy to see mommy at the end of the day! That's good, because picking Landon and Addie up is the best part of my day, too! So, here we go again...at eight months, Landon is:

* still heavy :) He won't be weighed again until his 9-month checkup, but we did the non-scientific step-on-the-scale, step-off-the-scale technique the other day and it said he was 20.5 pounds. I'm guessing that he's a little over 19, realistically
* in 9-month and 12-month clothes (but can still fit in a few of his 6-month - mainly Carter's brand, as they seem to run bigger)
* as mobile as ever with his army crawl. I'm not sure he'll ever "officially" crawl since he is so successful with his current technique...
* pulling up to stand a lot lately
* sleeping from 7 p.m. until somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. (and that's the only time he'll nurse!)
* still a paci baby, like big sister was!
* expanding his "vocabulary," including "mamamama" and "momomomo" to his babbling (and these honestly seem meaningful sometimes for "mama" and "more"!)
* a wonderful eater - he has had almost all of the prepared baby foods and loves them all
* loves his big sister so much! He thinks she is so funny and always wants to be near her.
* showing some signs of curly hair! YAY!!!!



Attempting to get an "8-month-old" shot...


And there he goes...


Still moving...


Landon "camping out" in the living room



Always running his fingers through his hair (after he puts them in his mouth and gets food on them...yummy...)


Cutie.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Happy Halloween!

(Okay, is anyone else just blown away by the fact that we're officially in the holiday season? AAAH!)

We had an exciting Halloween weekend! Thursday night we went to Addie and Landon's school's Trunk or Treat. Addie was so excited to go and wear her costume! That lasted all of two seconds once we got there. It was outside in the parking lot (duh) and I'm not sure if it was the darkness or what, but she wanted to be picked up and held the whole time! So our exciting outing ended up lasting about five minutes. Oh well :)

Friday, JM and I both had Halloween parties at our offices. He took Landon up for his (since their outfits kinda had to go together :)), and then I picked Addie up and we all went to mine that afternoon. Addie had a BLAST trick-or-treating between the departments in City Hall. She was a doll. Landon was a hit, too! Everyone loved his and JM's outfits.

Saturday started off kinda stinky - we went to get our H1N1 vaccines. From the time we got there til the time we left, it took about an hour and a half. Thankfully we had Mimi's help to keep the kids entertained! Landon didn't even flinch when he got his shot, but Addie flipped out! I was surprised because she didn't even whimper for her seasonal flu vaccine. Not so much this time. Poor punkin! We cheered her up by taking her over to see Holland and share some of his Krispy Kremes! Mmmm. Then we walked downtown to Franklin's Pumpkinfest. It was madness, but it was fun!

We then went home and got ready for Mimi and PawPaw to come over to have dinner with us and go trick-or-treating. All was going well until Addie had to take a bath. Oh my goodness - that set off the biggest tantrum she has EVER had. Ever. It lasted almost an hour. There were tears, there was screaming. Whew. She was screaming that she didn't want to be a froggy anymore, she wanted to be a princess! I put it off as long as I could, but finally gave her a little spanking (y'all know that means she was BEYOND BAD for me to do that - not that I'm against spanking, it is just my very last resort with Addie), and she shaped up practically immediately. We sat and talked about why she got her spanking and what mommy and daddy expected of her, and she was her sweet self from that point on. She later came up to me and said, "Mommy, I'm so sorry I had a fit." Hehe. *Sigh.* Little stinker. It was definitely one of those "she's lucky she's so cute" evenings ;)

So, all said and done, Halloween was great. Our little froggy and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man were precious!


The White Rabbit and Froggy Princess, on the way to Pumpkinfest!



Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and a Ghostbuster



Tantrum Princess



Jumping the day after Halloween :)



John Michael taught Addie how to do bunny ears - silly!


p.s. Before you guys think I'm a slacker and am just now getting this up, I really did start it the day after Halloween (like it's dated), but Blogger froze and lost most of the post and I just now got around to being motivated to re-type it. :)

Friday, October 30, 2009

Before I get disowned...

Okay, because I think my mom is taking applications for new daughters, I figured I had better get a post done! But we've had a fun couple of weeks! I found out on the 16th that I passed the bar exam which has been both exciting and terrifying :) I spent two and a half months worrying and it was a huge relief to see my name on the site! However, going from paralegal to attorney is quite a scary transition! I have to keep reminding myself that every new experience has an adjustment period, and I just have to make my way through this one!

We left the same day to go to Miami because I had a conference for work. I was so lucky to be able to have John Michael, Addie and Landon come along with me! We left our house to go to the airport about 20 minutes after the bar results were posted (I'm still not sure what I would've done had I not passed...thank goodness I didn't have to find out :)) and got into Miami that evening! We checked into our hotel and within 20 minutes decided we needed to upgrade our room. I can't imagine us all having stayed in that regular hotel room for five nights! It didn't even have a refrigerator! I was trying to figure out what in the world I would do with my milk when John Michael called the front desk to see if we could move to a suite. The only downside was that we were three floors lower in the suite, but still had an amazing view!

Anyway - I had a training seminar all day Saturday, but that evening we went out to dinner with my boss, Shauna, and her family to Bubba Gump's. I must say that for a chain restaurant, the food was really good! I was pleasantly surprised. And it was kid-friendly, which obviously is what we were going for. The next day we went to the Miami Zoo - AMAZING!!! I loooove our zoo here, don't get me wrong, but this one blew it out of the water. It was awesome. Addie loved it and was such a good girl! Landon was a joy, too. Monday, I had class again and right now I can't remember what JM did with the kids (and he's asleep right now so I can't ask him!). I think he had a blast with them, though, and was SuperDad once again, handling them on his own. Thankfully, both kids were really great the whole trip. We got a short trip to the beach on Tuesday but it was super windy. Landon was loving sitting in the sand and Addie was loving kicking it (*sigh* :)). We left to come back home on Wednesday! We had a great "becation" (as Addie called it). JM and I ended up with at least one baby in our bed every evening, but besides the sleeping issues, it was great. Oh, I also have to add that both babies were PERFECT on the airplane rides. I could not have been prouder. We got tons of comments about how good they were, and questions as to whether they are always that good. I, of course, said yes. HEHEHEHE!

Anyway, we celebrated my birthday last weekend and had Addie's last soccer game. Landon and I ended up not going because it was cold and drizzly, but Addie refused to play. She did have a good time tumbling on the sidelines! The other mommies got a kick out of it (they told me at her team party, which we did all go to right after the game). She's definitely a free spirit!

Saturday afternoon we watched a little of the UT-Alabama game with Lynn & Kris and then went over to Mimi & PawPaw's for my yummy birthday dinner. Sunday was fun, too, as we got to see Uncle Nate & Aunt Rissa and Gran & Pop at Nana & Papa's. I only wish birthday fun-time could've lasted even longer :)


Movie Star Addie in the hotel room


(Loved her hair in this picture!)



Too cute








Sissy was exhausted after a fun day Monday and fell asleep watching CareBears on her little DVD player!


The view from one side of our room. We had a corner room so we had great views all the way around! It was a great hotel - we'd recommend it (and the upgrade to the suite) - Hilton Downtown Miami.


Addie getting her first trophy!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Seven months

Landon turned seven months old last week. My goodness! And so far, this has been the most eventful month (especially considering we're only 5 days into it). Phew! He came down with a little cold last weekend but seemed to be doing okay. Then on Wednesday morning, he seemed a little wheezy, so we gave him a breathing treatment, which helped. We took him to school, assuming the treatment had done the trick. Not so much. Around 1:30, I got a call from the daycare director that his teacher had called up to the front desk because she was really concerned about his breathing. The director said, "He's wheezy. Like, concerning wheezy." Goodness. After what seemed the l o n g e s t drive of my life (well, up there, at least), I got to my sweet boy. When I opened the door to the classroom, he was sitting on the floor with his teacher playing and laughing. BUT - I could hear him wheezing immediately. From the door. That's how loud it was. We went straight home to do a treatment (these are supposed to last at least four hours) and headed up to see the doctor. By the time we got seen, he was having a hard time breathing again. He was still smiling and laughing, so I wasn't too terribly freaked out, but it was still worrisome. Dr. Hood did a "super-dose" of an oral steroid and he got another albuterol treatment while we were there. Also, bad/good news: Landon will start a daily steroid breathing treatment, just like Addie. I say bad news for the obvious reasons, but I say good news because (knock on wood) I am hopeful that this will keep him from having another serious episode again. I'm especially cautious during this flu season (I had a young, healthy co-worker pass away from H1N1 about three weeks ago - it turned into pneumonia), and hope we can keep future colds from settling directly into his lungs.

Anyway, he's been doing...okay...since then. Not great, not bad, still smiling, but not quite my sweet Landon. But this morning he woke up with two VERY gunky eyes. Yup, pinkeye. It's by far the worst case I've ever seen. My mom assures me I had worse as a child, so that made me feel good :) We got eyedrops called in as soon as our pediatrician's office opened this morning, so hopefully that'll be cleared up by tomorrow. Poor sweet baby!

Back to the stats...at 7 months Landon is:
* getting heavy. Not sure how much he weighs ;)
* in size 3 diapers still
* in 6 month clothes but can also wear up to 12-month
* army crawling like a mad man!
* pulling up to stand with the teeniest bit of help
* not really content to be held but always wants someone nearby
* still in his mommy phase
* sleeping much better and now putting himself to sleep with NO cry-it-out phase! HALLELUJAH!
* enjoying his solids. He has had peas, green beans, squash, applesauce, pears, carrots, apples & prunes blend, squash & corn blend, vegetable blend, and tonight, he tried (and adored) whole milk plain yogurt (I'm super excited about that one - it was Addie's favorite :))
* still only drinking breastmilk, but I anticipate having to supplement a little with formula at some point this month. *Sigh.*
* INTO EVERYTHING! I mean, seriously! I thought Addie was into everything, but he puts her to shame. I know all my friends with boys are now saying "toldja so!" :)

Okey doke...looking for the camera. I'll find it and get pics posted asap, I promise!