Introducing...

Baby Kate! My best friend's daughter was born on Thursday, January 12 and I am proud to be an "aunt" to her! :-)
I went that Friday to the hospital to meet her, but we didn't take a picture. Finally last Tuesday I got the chance to hold her, get a picture, and let my kids meet her.

This picture makes me laugh.....it looks like they got "busted" for doing something they shouldn't have been doing. (Really, this picture was taken about 2 seconds before Kate made it loud and clear she needed a diaper change!)


Here we are - my best friend of over 20 years and our kids. It's so crazy that we have been through so much together since middle school and now we have babies only 2 months apart. Love you Mere! You are going to be a wonderful mother....baby Kate is a lucky girl.

2 months!

Time is flying by! I took Fielder to the pediatrician last week for his 2 month check-up. He is now over 12lbs (75th percentile) and 24 inches long (90th percentile).

Claire has been busy taking care of her baby doll (the name changes, but currently Claire says her baby's name is "Kate") Actually, sometimes this doll really freaks us out because Claire will leave her swaddled in the crib or bouncy seat and she looks kind of real! (In the picture below, we are headed to breastfeeding support group and Claire brought her baby to get weighed too)

"Southard Christmas"

We were so excited to "host" the Southard Christmas gathering this year! (Which was actually a Southard/Barnes/Harwell/Gammon/Harris/Mason gathering!) To be clear though, we barely hosted.....I organized it by email, but we had it at Mom's house and everyone contributed to the food. Now that's the way to host a party! It had been a long time - too long - since we had seen everyone and it was so great to all be together.


Fielder was passed around all day and got to be held by quite a few new faces.



We couldn't believe the beautiful weather we had! One year we had to reschedule for snow, but this year we were out sitting in lawn chairs and playing games in the backyard!
Claire had so much fun with Brooke and her boyfriend Will. They were so sweet and spent a lot of time playing with Claire.

More presents!


This is the look Sally gave when Mary Lynn handed her a gift (they weren't supposed to buy each other gifts). Although Sally looks perturbed, she then turned around and handed ML a gift too!

We had a great day with everyone and were so thankful that we could all be together! (We missed you Jake!)

All smiles!

Right before Christmas Fielder started giving us some real smiles and we finally captured it on film. I just love to see that happy face!

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year!

For New Year's Eve, we went to a friends house to watch the UVA bowl game, have some good food, and enjoy some good company. We had lots of fun, but had to pack it up early to get the kids home and in bed. Once again this year, I didn't make it to midnight (didn't even try really!) Fielder and I rang in the new year sometime around 2 or 3am and watched the ball drop thanks to the DVR. We are excited for all that 2012 will bring! Happy New Year friends!