Home Sweet Home

It has been about a month and a half since we have been back in Spring Hill and in so many ways it feels like we never left!! The hardest thing so far?  Getting Charlotte to stop saying "my old... such and such" and just call it her library or park or grocery store.  haha The only "old" thing she has in SH is her old house she spent her first 2.5 years in. We talk about that house and drive by it often :)

One thing I was worried about is that life for many friends in SH would have moved on and we would feel left behind - I'm very thankful that that isn't the case!  Yes, kids are grown up a little more and life has changed, but thanks to social media and the fact that we visited SH and The Bridge so often while in AL, it really helped to bridge that 11 month gap.

Something I was really looking forward to getting back into when we moved home, was doing 'life' with friends and family on a daily and weekly basis.  Boy have we!  When we moved to Huntsville, I was done unpacking and decorating in about 3 weeks (I had no reason to leave the house!) Now with this house, I'm not even finished and we have been here over 6 weeks!  Charlotte and I have had play dates, park visits, library story time, gymnastics, bible study, House Group, visits with Nan and G - and we have LOVED every minute of it!!  We also love having Jeff working from home again :) On his slower days, we have enjoyed lunches out, trips to the park, shopping, and just hanging out as a family.  It's great to be home.

Even though the house is not 100% done (and probably won't be for months or years with all the things we want to change!) I am finally at a point where I'm happy to share pictures with the world wide web.  I know many of my friends across the country, and across the world, have been wanting to see our new digs!  I'll post some here, but most will be over on Facebook, so visit the album there too :)

Some details on the house: it's a 5 year old, 2 story house with a  french country style exterior. We have 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a bonus room, and loft. Charlotte is very excited to have her own playset outback too!  We have enjoyed our neighborhood so far -all the homes are unique, it's a great location (just about a mile from our old SH place) and a lot of  young families live here.  All the room colors remained the same except for Jeff's office. I may want to change some at some point, but for the most part, I'm glad we only had to do some touch ups - even that took a full weekend.

We are currently in a bit of a unexpected battle over the remainder of the neighborhood with the developer - there are only 30 homes built and another 70+ lots left to go - and he wants to build rental town homes/aka apartments!  That's a whole long story but there ya go!  Totally not excited about this coming about a month into our home ownership, but it's been a great way to meet the neighbors :)

Anyway, on to what you want: pictures!! I'll walk you though the house

First up - the front of the house





Walk through the front door into the Living Room, I love the 2 story ceiling with loft! We still need window treatments, want to change out the furniture, and will eventually hang a tv down there, but I'm happy with it now! You can see the dining room behind... the empty dining room! Need furniture for that one too :)  (everything looks very yellow in the picture, it's a tan paint)





The next room is the kitchen. I like that it is open enough to the living and dining room but my dirty dishes aren't "in your face" when you walk in the door!  We love bay window and our new kitchen table and chairs and the new fridge! And yes, still need window treatments (you'll see a theme soon...) Pardon the crock pot and paper products, our House Group was at our house the night I took the pictures.  (and yes, this room is a yellow/golden color)







Down the hall from the kitchen is the half bath and garage.



 

Then further down the hall is our Master bedroom.  This room needs a total re-do!! I love the new bedding that we got (it's chocolate in color, has a "ruched" effect) and the tray ceiling with rope lighting.  We need furniture, window treatments, artwork, and maybe new paint.  Total project room.  I do like the master bath, it is a chocolate paint color with subtle glossy stripes.  I have drapes to hang and need to add a few more decorative touches.





 

Heading upstairs!! Love the view from the top.  It also is great for sound - I was a little worried about the 2 story thing, I really loved how connected we all felt with our 1 story in AL, but it is so open I still feel connected whenever we are upstairs or down.  And speaking of sound - one of Jeff's favorite features?  In home audio! I love having speakers throughout the house so we can enjoy it room to room.



 

At the top of the stairs, on the other side of the half wall, is Charlotte's playroom. Another reason I love this floorplan - all the toys are upstairs and out of the way but I can hear her and talk to her when I'm in the kitchen and such.



 

First room down the hall is Jeff's office.  He chose a great blue/grey color for the walls.  It's very cozy :)  All he needs is some window treatments - and maybe a new high tech desk.



 

Next up is Charlotte's room!  It was already painted the lime green color, and it perfectly matched the bedding that we got for her 3rd birthday/big girl room.  How adorable!



 

We have a full bath upstairs, need to find another piece of artwork but otherwise I'm happy with it.



 

Across from the bath is our guest room.  I'm so glad to have an official guest room!  We have had a sofa bed in the loft, and a twin bed in the playroom in the last 2 houses.  I have drapes and side table/shelf thing to put in still, but for now all my pictures for the hallway are laid out on the bed until I hang them up! :)  The guest room will be better put together than our master!



 

Finally, our favorite room!  Our rec room/theatre/TV room/bonus room. Jeff wants to get a projector, we still have window treatments to get, and some new chairs. Oh, and our door! The entrance is a doorway that has a step down in the hallway, so it's an odd 8ft or so high.  Our solution is hopefully going to be a sliding "barn door" type thing. I'll def post pics once it's done!  But, I LOVE our couch and the bookcases we put behind it!!





 

That's it for the inside , the final pics are of the back (unless you visit my FB album!) - We inherited the swing set from the previous owner, Charlotte calls it her playground :)  I enjoy the fenced in backyard - I can send her out to swing and slide while I am cooking dinner with the windows open.  I know it seems silly, but I love our back patio - it is raised like a deck, but is poured aggregate with a vinyl railing so it is totally maintenance free (which is totally what we need!!)



 

So there it is! Love our new house, being back in Spring Hill - can't say it enough :)  :)  :)

 

We're Moving Back to Spring Hill!!

Hello blogging world - if you are still around!  I know it has been forever - I seem to be very hit or miss with House of Lyons!  I had to get back on today to share some fabulous news - We are moving back to Spring Hill, TN!

As you probably know, my little family moved to Huntsville AL from Spring Hill in Oct 2011.  Jeff had a great job offer and we couldn't turn it down.  We have enjoyed our time in Huntsville - it hasn't felt like almost a year at all.  Jeff enjoyed working for Baron, Charlotte and I joined a local MOPS group and got to know some fun places in Huntsville, and we enjoyed living in the home we are renting. But after about 6-8 months, we realized how much Spring Hill really had become our home, how much we missed it, and that we really wanted to find a way to get back.  Then an opportunity presented itself to Jeff and we just couldn't say no!!  Jeff will be resuming full time self employment with his company Light and Story and has some great contract work for a current client heading his way. Charlotte and I are very excited that Jeff will be working at home again!

If you are on twitter or facebook, you saw that we purchased a house yesterday!  We are moving to 1095 Achiever Cir - it is in Port Royal Estates.  We love the home inside and out and can't wait to move it.  Speaking of moving in - September 1st is our move in day! Just 10 days away!  It may seem like sudden news that we bought a house and are moving in just 10 days, but believe me, it has been quite the process!!  Because of the social media we all know and love, we just weren't ready to announce our plans until we were able to make proper notifications our landlord and Jeff's Huntsville employer.  And we couldn't do that until we knew where we were gonna be living and when his new client would be great to start working together.  Can you tell there were a lot of cogs in this little plan!?  Regardless, they are all settled now and ready to go!

We are ready to get back involved with The Bridge Church and it's small groups and bible studies, C and I will be joining a local MOPS group, we'll spend more time with our Spring Hill family, be closer to our KY family and friends, Charlotte is also hoping to start gymnastics soon, and of course we can't wait to reconnect with our friends in TN!  I know things have changed for us and everyone else over the past 11 months, but in so many ways I am ready to step back in to our life in Spring Hill.

I think that is probably about it for now - follow me on twitter or FB for updates.  Now that I can finally start talking about the move, you better bet I will be updating a lot!!  And I'll post pics of the new house with all our stuff in it once it gets pretty looking :)  For now, I'll post a couple photos from when it was listed for sell (with the sellers items in it) and you can check out this video as well.  Talk to you soon!

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Emotional Day of "lasts"

Today has been the most emotional one (thus far!) for me.  It is Thursday.  We move on Saturday.  Where did all the time go?

I had to contact the Williamson County Animal Shelter just now.  We haven't been able to find any other options for Brady.  He has driven me crazy lately, but still the thought of him not being around and even worse, being in a shelter with tons of other dogs waiting to be adopted... That awful ASPCA or whatever commercial with Sarah McLauclan is playing over and over in my head.  The lady I spoke with was very positive that being younger, and a small dog, with a specific bread, will find a new home easily.  Plus, they will make sure he gets all his needed shots and whatnot updated.  I think this could be a good thing.... Its just hard to actually do.  I don't want to take him and drop him off tomorrow.  Not one bit.

Charlotte and I went to our last story time at the library today.  Oh, I'm sure we'll find another one at the Huntsville library or Barnes and Noble, but still, this one is familiar and C loves going to Her library.

I have a friend coming over today to pack the last 2 rooms - the kitchen and playroom.  Once those are done, we'll literally have most everything packed.  I'm not ready for it to be done.  That means we have to move to unpack these things in a whole new house. I think the excitement of a new house, a new challenge, etc had taken over the last few weeks but it's a little more daunting now.

Charlotte spend her last night in this house tonight. Ever.  That make me extremely sad.  She has slept in her room since the night we brought her home.  2 years and 9 months of that being HER room and now it won't be.  C is very excited about her new house and her new room, etc.  She doesn't grasp the concept of what that means and what will change, I'm afraid for the time when it does sink in to her that we won't live in the house she remembers anymore.  We won't go to the Home Depot where her Nan works, won't go to the Bridge anymore, won't go to her favorite Target store, won't have her Daddy home every day.... won't, won't, won't.

We had our weekly play date with Allison, Hazen, and Laney Combs yesterday.  Had a great time at their house, and then at the park for lunch and time on the playground.  It wasn't until we were leaving that I realized that's the last time we'll see them as Tennesseans.  We have already talked about plans for them to visit us in Hville or us to make SH trips, but still... it won't be the same as living less than 5 minutes from each other and just getting together to play during the mornings.  Because I didn't realize that this was the last time I'll see Allison for a while (she is leaving to ATL tomorrow and won't be back til after we move) I didn't get to actually saw bye like I wanted.  Maybe that's a good thing...

Our last Sunday at the Bridge was Sunday.  Eesh.  The Bridge is what brought my family and Jeff down to Tennessee/Spring Hill in 2003.  (Jeff and I weren't part of the Bridge for a few years as we leaved in North and East Nashville, we came back in 2008)  Josh recognized all the website, video, and tech work that Jeff has given to the Bridge over the years... it seemed so final.  There were so many people I wanted to say goodbye too, but then it just felt like a normal Sunday and I know we'll be back to visit so in some ways it didn't seem necessary.   And then we were done.

The night before, we had our last "hoo-rah" with a bunch of people from church to hang out and watch the UFC PPV.  We love hosting these events.  I had a moment during the night where I just stood and looked at the full room as we pulled chairs in from all the different rooms so everyone had a seat and I wondered... when will this happen again?  How long will it take us to find a new group of friends, a new church, a new UFC bunch ;0), to fill up our living room?   As my mom pointed out, I love playing hostess, and the thought that I may not do that again for a while was a little depressing.

My dearest and oldest (old like we've been friends forever, not that she is old!) friend Sarah also came down Saturday afternoon and stayed the night and went to church Sunday.  Sarah lives in Bowling Green KY, which is only an hour and a half or so away.  It's totally close enough that every 1-2 months she'll come down for a weekend, especially if it is a birthday or special get together.  And she is friends with Josh and Jana Howerton and loves the Bridge, so that's an added bonus for Spring Hill visits!  Now with us being in Huntsville, it is going to double the drive from BG and not have the Bridge and the Howertons to share a visit with.  We've already talked about how she can still come to Huntsville, but I know it won't happen near as frequent.  I'll miss our times together!

Jeff's parents came down Sunday afternoon for lunch and to watch the Titans game.  They live in BG as well, but sadly we don't see them near as often as we should!  I'm hoping that we'll be able to get a full or queen size bed for a guest bed instead of just a twin, and then they can actually come down and stay a weekend! We will be much more intentional about visits with them.

We had a last dinner with my parents too.  They took us to Pancho's mexican restaurant to celebrate Jeff's birthday.  I'm so used to my parent's being 10 minutes away.  We can just decide, hey, lets do dinner. We see them at church, they stop by the house just to say hi, we go out to the Ridge to use their hot tub.  It's easy and comfortable.  Plus, we have built in free and reliable babysitters that charlotte loves!  I know I'll still talk to them all the time, and we'll make many visits. But it won't be the same.  It won't be the same for my Nana either.  We would make pretty regular trips on Wednesday to play at her house and eat dinner (she lives in Nashville, about 30 minutes away from us)  We are all going to miss our time together.  She has already talked to my parents about making plans for her first trip to Huntsville, so that makes me happy :)  I love my sweet family.  Hannah has already moved to Cincinnati so I know I won't see her til Thanksgiving probably, but still, it feels different now.

Wow... this post went long.  I was just gonna write about Brady and our last story time... oops!  I guess is this probably more of a journal entry than a blog post that people will actually want to read!  So don't worry if you aren't reading this, or if you are and you skipped right over a bunch of stuff!

Oh and no, I didn't read over it and do any type of proof reading so no judgement!!

Our Crazy Car Carousel!

If you have been following along the last month+, you will have noticed a few changes in our automobiles!  The last 2-3 years we have been driving a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix and 2008 Dodge Magnum. These were really great cars, fit our family very well, and were in great condition.





This really should have been a blog post on it's own about a month ago but I'm too lazy, so here we go: The past 2 years, Jeff has been fully self employed and working at home, so having 2 cars was really unnecessary on most days.  So we decided to sell my Grand Prix and just be a 1 car family!  It's a much longer story than I'm sure you want to hear, but it ended up being more financially beneficial to us to sell both of the cars and get a new 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited!

Taking a ride on the open road!

Jeff had a fun yellow Jeep before Charlotte was born but we traded it in for the Magnum, had to have a more responsible "family card" right? Well, Jeep runs in his blood so he has always wanted to get one back.  With the 4 door Jeep option, it really worked out for us to get one at this season of life!  Charlotte LOVES her Jeep - she says that exact thing just about every day.  And she will correct you, it is not a car, it is a JEEP!  Charlotte loves having the top down, and enjoys off roading more than I even do!  Even better, we haven't really run into any major issues with having just 1 car. Yay - it works!

Enjoying the breeze!

Charlotte loves wearing her "jeep hat" and sunglasses!

Then comes Huntsville!  Not only will Jeff be working outside of the home now, he will be commuting starting Wednesday for the first 3 weeks or so of the job, so we are back to needing 2 cars!  I'm sad that our great experiment only lasted about a month and a half :(   We decided to get a nice, reliable car that can hold some miles, and have better gas milage too.  Jeff can use it for his work commute, and we can use it for our trips back to TN and KY (which will probably happen monthly!)  In comes the Toyota Camry!  We found a couple options, crazy enough 2 of them sold either right before or right after we looked at them, so when we saw the 3rd one that we liked, we felt like we needed to jump on it!  We picked it up last night, and so far have really enjoyed it.  It is an 06, has only had one owner that took great care of it so it is just about spotless. It reminds me so much of my old 93 Camry, it's almost like coming home.

It's so shiny! When we picked it up, they put it in a rooms with a disco ball and lasers - ha! Quite fun :)

So it's a long story, but I thought you might need a little help wondering why you have seen us driving 4 cars in the past 45 days or so!

We found a house!

We found a house in Huntsville!  We spent many hours, looked at tons of houses, and had to decide between renting, buying, or building.  We finally decided that while it's more fun to buy, especially a brand new house like the ones we were looking at, it would be best to rent for a bit.  We'll get to know the area better, make sure the job is gonna stick ;), and save up some more money for a better downpayment.  We would also have the flexibility to then build the house that we really want in the subdivision we really want and have plenty of time to get that going.

All that said, we are looking forward to the house that we are going to call home for the next year!  It isn't perfect, I think we'll have some creative space planning things to decide, and it's a little further drive from things than I'd prefer, but it's a really nice place.  It is by far the cleanest we have seen (and boy did we see some icky ones!) it is cute as a button from the outside, its got a great yard, deck, and long driveway for Charlotte to play on, and has some great features like a fireplace, hardwood floors, tray ceilings, big bedrooms, and a lot of storage.  It's a little smaller than our house now - 2100 sq ft vs our current 2600, but it's 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, and has a nice sunroom. OH, and one FANTASTIC thing I'm finding in Alabama - most homes are 1 STORY!  I am so looking forward to being on one level and not having tons of stuff piled on the stairs to go up or downstairs. :)

Here are a couple pictures - of course it will look different with our stuff in it :)

Isn't it cute!  109 Tanglefoot Huntsville AL 35811

It's 1.23 acres... Jeff's gonna love mowing this one!

Kitchen is a bit smaller and not open to the living room, but it's nice and clean and laid out well.

Nice LR with hardwoods, tray ceilings, and fireplace. Our biggest challenge is gonna be figure out furniture placement :)

Stay turned for our next blog post: we'll take a trip on our Car Carousel!

We're Moving to...

Huntsville Alabama!

Now some Q&A!

What's in Huntsville Alabama you ask?  Jeff's new job!  Jeff has been fully self employed with his video work for the past 2 years and while we have thoroughly enjoyed this season of life with him home every day, it's time for a change and a little more stability :)  After looking around at multiple jobs around the country, we feel pretty lucky finding a job that is just an hour and a half away from where we currently live in Spring Hill, TN!  We are still going to be close to our family and friends and dear city of Nashville and that is a big advantage to Huntsville.Now for some Q & A!

So what's this job?  Jeff will be working for Baron Services, a Huntsville based company. I'm gonna steal this tag-line from their website because they explain it best: Weather monitoring technologies and applications for broadcast, public safety, aviation, marine, ground, and government.  All that said, you've probably seen their technology and don't even know it!  They have a great video team within their marketing department, and Jeff is excited to be part of a creative team instead of going it alone like the past few years!  Baron is a family company that will only continue to grow as long as there is technology and weather, we look forward to becoming a part of this great company.

Jeff has had a great saying while we have been making this decision over the past few weeks: We are excited to go but sad to leave. I think that nails it to a T!  If you know me, you know I HAD to make a Pro/Con list and we had so very many things make this list.  We are looking forward to the change and excitement of learning a new city and moving to a new home, the financial stability, no more child-care work for me, the benefits (like health insurance!), the fact that it isn't too far away from friends and family, and Jeff's excitement to join a creative team like this.  Huntsville also seems like a great city - it's the 2nd smartest city in the US with tons of bioengineering, aerospace, NASA, and on and on.  It's also made several top 10 lists of best place to live, work, retire, raise a family, and on and on.   It's big but not too big!  The Cons list was of course longer: leaving family, friends, missing our church, having to do the actual move (so much work!), moving a 2 year old from all she knows and loves, potentially being unhappy with our new place, and on and on!  But even with the cons list being longer than the pro, we felt like there were enough major pros to accept this position and move on with our next season of life.

So when do we leave? What comes next?  Well, we are not sure exactly.  Jeff and Baron have talked about the option of starting sooner rather than later and doing some work at home and commuting 1-3 days a week.  We have to look at the ins and outs of that actually working out.  We also have to find a place to live!  We have lots of options open to us right now between renting and buying - and yet more pro/con lists of course.  Jeff and I hope we can get down there 1-2 more times in the next week to two and really make that decision so we can move onto other decisions - like what to sell, what to pack, what about our dog Brady, and on and on and on!  The decisions are a little overwhelming right now but we hope that we can take it step by step.  In general, we are thinking that we'd move in about a month.

So what can you do?  Pray for us!  For these decisions we have to make, for our stress levels, for what this my do to our 2 year old, and for our family and friends that are sad about this transition.  Also, if you have any advice about moving with a toddler, or any knowledge about the Huntsville area, I'd love to hear it!!  We also need more boxes and packing paper if you have any laying around your garage or if you see a neighbor moving in let me know and I can take the boxes off their hands!  We haven't decided what to do about the actual moving - like hiring movers, do it ourselves, etc.  So we may be calling on our church family to help us move... thanks in advance?!?  And finally, we may or may not be able to take our dear Puggle, Brady. So if you would love a sweet 5 year old pug/beagle mix, we may have one for you.  If you are interested in our house... my parents will be looking to either sell it or rent it, so let me know!  I hate leaving them in a possible lurch like this.

Thank you all for being such wonderful friends and loved ones and thanks in advance for supporting us through this new phase!

*photo Credit http://www.Huntsville-Homes.com all rights reserved.

Then and Now! June

So I got inspired by my friend Parker and her blog to do a "then and now" post to see what we have been up to the last couple Junes - here we go!

So June 2008 - when Charlotte began her existence and we didn't even know it!  Jeff and I went down to Destin and Panama City Beach for vacation and for Jeff's sister Ashley's wedding on the beach!  I was a little emotional and not feeling the greatest - who knew, it was because I was pregnant!



A couple weeks later, we bought a test - voila!  (funny story, this test was taken in Super Target!  We had one at home that we did but didn't want to just take one so we both called in sick to work, headed to Target, bought the test and a drink and off I went! lol  We have always loved Target so I guess it's fitting! Plus, we got to go straight to the baby section and get all goo-goo baby crazy!)



June 2009 - Charlotte made her arrival in January and is now 5 months old! She was such a very very happy child and pretty easy to take care of too! (and still is!)

And of course being June the pool was open so we spent lots of sunny days relaxing in the cool waters :)

June 2010: Charlotte really had fun this year in the water since she was able to walk around with the sprinklers and go down the slide at our rec center pool!

And here we are at June 2011! We haven't made it to the pool yet this summer, but I know Charlotte is gonna have a blast when we do get to go!  For now we are enjoying being indoors in the AC and playing with fun toys like the tent! (and the iPad of course!)



And a new favorite food: Cantaloupe! but it HAS to be on a big fork like momma and daddy!



So far June 2011 has been a good one! We are looking forward to a week of vacation that will include a trip to Owensboro and Bowling Green Kentucky, and some good ol' summer fun!

What about you?  What was June like last year or the year before that?  Amazing what changes a year can bring!

Nana and Poppa Visit!

Charlotte and I had a very long but very enjoyable morning yesterday!  We got to spend some great time with Nana (my Dad's mom) and Poppa (Dad's dad)!  We used to go up to their house every Wednesday evening and meet my Dad and we would all have dinner together.  Both my grandparent's health declined over the past few months so we had to stop these Wednesday visits.

My grandmother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and has been going through treatments and surgery for that for the past few months.  She has handled it all with the best spirit and hopefully just one more surgery then a titch of radiation will be needed and she'll be cancer free.  My grandfather has a myriad of issues relating to his heart, diabetes, and spinal stenosis. Because of these issues, plus the fact that my grandmother cannot care for him any longer, he is currently residing in a long term health facility.  Unfortunately the facility he is currently in is in Smyrna, about 30 minutes away from Nana's house.  Because of these things, we haven't been able to visit as often, but hoping to remedy this soon!  Now that I have my Wednesdays off (and soon will have Thursdays too) I'm looking forward to making the visit to Nana's and the trek to Poppa's more often.

Anyway, back to yesterday!  We played some at Nana's with all the toys in the toy box, then loaded up in the car and drove to Smyrna.  Charlotte was a little freaked out at first as we wound through the halls towards Poppa's room, but after a few minutes in Poppa's room and making friends with a little bunny stuffed animal he had on his window sill, she warmed right up.  We got to spend some great time with Poppa!  He is looking and acting better than he had in a while, he was actually sitting in a chair vs. the bed, carried on conversation with us, and ate his lunch well too. (all things that haven't happened that well in the past few months)  We stayed for about 30-45 minutes until Charlotte was ready for lunch and Poppa was almost ready for an after-lunch-nap.  All in all, it was a great visit and I was so happy to see Poppa doing well.

For those of you that know Nana, you can see how much weight she has lost! She is a whole different woman!

It was difficult to get all 3 of us looking and smiling while Nana was trying to work the iphone camera! :)

At this point poor Charlotte was past her lunch time and almost at her nap time and we still had a 30 minute drive and had to pick up BBQ for lunch.  By the time we got to Nana's Charlotte was just about fed up and ready to eat some lunch!  We had a great lunch of BBQ and was able to enjoy a few minutes of outdoor time with Nana before we headed back home.



I'm so glad my grandparents/Charlotte's great grandparents live so close that we are able to have visits like this!  I'll cherish these memories that Charlotte is making with them.

This is Charlotte after a short nap once we got home at 2:00 - you can see she is still tired!  We had a lazy rest of the day and watched Tangled :)

C is for Concussion

Well, we have had an eventful couple days!  A very special thank you to all those who have prayed and sent "get well soon" wishes to Charlotte.  The world of Twitter and Facebook is amazing at keeping friends, family, and our support system that spreads across the world updated at the push of a button.  As much info as I have been able to send out in 140 character bits, I know some people want to know what actually happened!  So here's Charlotte's story:

Yesterday, Tuesday March 1st, Charlotte and two of her little friends that I watch during the day were eating lunch at the table.  I was feeding the baby over on the couch with my back turned to the big kids.  Charlotte sits in a booster seat that is strapped to our wooden kitchen chair, she has tried before to scoot her chair back from the table by pushing off on the table top with her feet.  She has been told "no" multiple times and usually doesn't get very far.  This time was a different story!  She pushed hard enough that she tipped the entire chair backwards so it landed on it's back on the tile kitchen floor.  Thankfully Charlotte's head hit the wooden chair back and not the actual tile, but it was still a very hard fall.  (she was strapped in the booster seat so she did not actually fall out of the chair)

She was shocked at first, then started crying and didn't really want to be comforted.  Jeff was on his way home from a meeting at that point, but even with Daddy arriving she cried more on than off for the next hour.  Then the throw up began.  All her lunch came out in 3 successive throw up events - ugh!  She handles throw up like a champ but man oh man.  At this point we are worried about a possible concussion but I also had to send home 2 of the kids I watch for a stomach bug at the same time all this was happening so there was a possiblity the head bonk and the throw up was unrelated.  I went ahead and called her doctor and we talked over the signs to watch for: continuous throw up, irregular pupil size, and changes in balance, personality, or mental awareness.  They did say that she was allowed to sleep for up to 2 hours, since it was already past nap time at this point we went ahead and laid her down.

She slept for just over 2 hours and woke up throwing up again :(  At this point, she was crying, pretty docile, and while she could answer questions like she normally would - what color is this, who am I, what is this, etc - she seemed to be a little out of it.  We decided it would be best to head to the ER and get her checked out.  A huge thank you to Shelley Stedman who was over here in less than 5 minutes after my phone call to watch the 2 remaining kids for their last 45 minutes of care until they were picked up.

Once we got to the ER we did all the needed paperwork, registration, and triage care and were placed in the "Fast Track" with 2 people ahead of us.  All in all we waited about and hour and 15 or so to get back into the actual ER.  At this point Charlotte was still throwing up - in the car, in the waiting room, and then in our little hospital room.  We spoke with a physicians assistant and he seemed amazed by how many times she had thrown up, so that combined with her lethargy and docile behavior, he ordered a CT scan for our little bug.  This was to check for any brain bleeds, which could be either serious or something that would heal on its own.

This was the worst part of all this, in my opinion.  Once we were in the CT room, it took forever to actually get started, we had this one tech that was super loud and overly excitable which was making Charlotte more uncomfortable than making her feel ok with laying down on this bed thing.  They did bring Charlotte a little bear to take home so that helped calmed the waters for a minute.  The crying and kicking started when we had to lay her down, wrap her in a lead blanket, and hold her head still.  Ugh. Jeff and I were both holding her and singing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Rock-A-Bye-Baby" over and over while the machine moved her back and forth.  Prayers were answered when the 10 most important seconds of the scan, she held perfectly still and seemed mesmerized by our singing - thank you Jesus!

The next bit draaaaaged on for 30-45 minutes (Jeff wouldn't let me keep track of the time cause he knew I'd drive myself crazy)  So we all just sat in the little room and watched House Hunters and waited on the doctor.   We finally got the good news that the CT Scan came back totally normal!   Her diagnosis was officially a concussion, so we went over what the next 24 hours would hold, what to watch for, and were even told that she could show effects of the concussion for the next 2 weeks!  Amazing.  Charlotte was giving some anti-nausea meds which she threw up at first (at this point we were 3 hours into our ER stay and would have loved to have these meds a little earlier!) But we tried again with another piece of "candy" aka the anti nausea meds and a purple popsicle!  She scarfed that thing down and actually held it down!  We were given the all clear at this point to head home, boy were we all beat! (here is the only photo I took of the entire ordeal)



Charlotte watched tv and cuddled for about 25 minutes when we got home at 8, then she was ready for bed.  She crawled right into bed and we didn't hear a peep from her til 7:45 this morning!  She woke up crying, but hadn't thrown up.  She was hungry and thirsty so we started her out with an anti-nausea pill and juice.  Too much!  The juice all came right back up :(  I won't give you every detail of our day today, but we did have a little more throw up, but then were able to move into 3 hours of non-throw up time, so she had some snacks and some more juice, held it all down, and went for a nap. Unfortunately she only napped for about 45 minutes and woke up crying :(  I think she was too hot and sweaty to nap, she hadn't thrown up, maybe her head was hurting?  She has some ibuprofen in her, some crackers and apple juice, and while she is tired, she is playing some and watching tv, so that's good!

We already had her 2 year check up scheduled for today, so we are keeping that appointment and doing a concussion follow up as well.  So thankful that our CoverKids FREE insurance for Charlotte went into effect yesterday, March 1st!  Again, we have amazing friends and family and are so grateful to have you all praying for a quick recovery for Charlotte and for Jeff and I as we take the best care of her as possible.  Be watching twitter and facebook for updates!

Lost :(

Well, sad news. We lost a year and a half of blog posts :( We switched hosting companies and went back to get the data but the company had been sold and wiped all their stored data. or something like that. Anyway, the posts are gone. I had grand plans of making a book out of the posts documenting charlottes first couple years. Well, I need to stop talking about it all cause I'm gonna cry.
Onward and upward we go.

The seasons may change...

The last 2 weeks have been very interesting for the House of Lyons.  Jeff is working at home now! This is a very exciting opportunity for Jeff to be able to do freelance video production full time out of our home.  Charlotte and I love having him at home with us to make us laugh or get a hug anytime!  It is a huge adjustment for both Jeff and I because this means that we both work out of our home.  It has provided it's tense moments for sure as we inadvertently overlap and have different needs for food, or quiet, or help throughout the day.  We get so much more time together now - no commute, and we can make lunch together!

The only downside to this new work arrangement... it was not our choice for timing!  Sadly, this decision was made by Jeff's former employer NorthStar Studios 2 weeks ago and that was that.  Doing freelance video full time was always something that Jeff wanted to pursue within the next year or so, but not this month!  The biggest downside to this is obviously financially.  We are not as set as we'd like to be with savings, and while Jeff has gained many clients in the past months, they do not bring in enough to be his only source of income.   Jeff is working very hard to bring in new clients and new projects, as well as pursue possible full time positions with other companies.  Only God knows where Jeff will land!

While this change brings lots of uncertainty, we are both experiencing a seemingly strange sense of calm.  When Jeff came home with the news, we were both amazed at how easy I took the news and didn't cry! (for those that know me, that is saying a lot!) I have complete faith in my God and my husband and am excited about the opportunities that this may bring Jeff and our family.  I love you babe!

Ironically enough, Jeff just got in his new MacPro set up in the week prior to his being let go from NorthStar.  We consider this good timing as we would not have spent this money if the timing had been off by just 2 weeks! Now Jeff has all the equipment he needs to produce the best videos he can - let's hit the ground running!

Here are a few photos of his new set up!  The pictures don't do it justice - the walls were painted a steel blue, the far wall has an clear acryllic dry erase board that is just awesome, and Jeff's displays are very impressive! Of course you can't have an office without the two loves: Titans and Gaming!  Jeff really brought his personality into his office and made it very comfortable (good, since he'll be spending 8+ hours a day in it!)

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Car Seats have arrived!

I was talking with a friend recently who borrowed my "baby bargins" book to shop for son's new car seats (he is 1 year old next week and just hit the height limit). Just for kicks I measured Charlotte and looked at the restrictions on her infant carrier... she was almost an inch too big! Nooo!!! My baby is getting too big! Here I was thinking we'd do car seats for Christmas or even Birthday, but no 8 1/2 months old and she outgrew her infant seat.

I went into furious research and looked online, in Target, and talked with friends about brands, features, all that Jazz. We finally settled on the Britax brand and found a seat that while semi-expensive, would last her til booster seat age and got rave reviews. We went ahead and splurged for 2 because one, they were on sale at amazon.com, and two, I did not want to have to swap it from car to car or end up forgetting to get it from Jeff when he left for work etc. Can you tell which one is mine and which is Jeff's? (hint: check out this post...)

I do lament the end of the infant carrier - it was so easy to just carry her into places, give her a bottle in a store or restaurant, and let her keep sleeping straight up to her room. Now we will have to get her in and out and use a highchair and stroller or cart where ever we go. I know this is the life you will live for years to come, I just didn't think we'd be at this stage short of 9 months! My skinny string bean of a girl... so big.

Anyway, they arrived today and I can't wait to put them in!   For now, Charlotte and I played with them and tried them on for size!  She enjoyed them - climbing on them, sitting in them, eating them... ah the joys.  (and don't forget the fun boxes they came in either!)

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Ring Farm Trip

Fall is here!  With Falls arrival it was time for us to get out in the fresh air and enjoy some corn, cotton, and pumpkins!  There is a farm just a few minutes south of here in Columbia called 'Ring Farm' that is run by a family.  They have a 12 acre corn maze that they cut in the shape of a county in TN with cities and points of interest along the way.  This year was Rutherford county - oh the things you can learn about Murfreesboro and Lascassas :)  The had other festivities like cotton picking, a hayride, a 40 foot slide, corn shooter, playground, and more.

Sunday afternoon me, my mom, sister, Charlotte, and our friend Tracy and her son Nathan all loaded up and headed out. We had  a wonderful time on this sunny yet cool and windy day.  The photo ops were plentiful as you can see below - no better opportunity for some fall photos!

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I'm behind... Let's catch up!

I am so behind this week!  So many things have been happening the past week or so, I'll give you the short versions.

First, Charlotte is standing! All on her own!  Her max right now is 10 seconds - pretty good for an 8 month old if I must say it myself :) She is gonna be off and walking so soon I'm sure.  Here is a little video of her first standing moments.

She Stands! (Video isn't working :( Vid and Pics soon to come!)

Gulf Shores Vacation

A few weeks ago we took a wonderful vacation to Gulf Shores Alabama.  We were long overdue for a vacation and were excited to take our first one with Charlotte Bug!  The trip planning was actually my mom's doing.  A friend of her's has a boss with a condo that he rents out on a vacation rental website.  Mom jumped on and looked at it and it was 3 bedroom and 3 full bath - perfect for all of us! We worked it out so that Mom and Dad went down August 16th (Sunday) for Mom's birthday and their anniversary and were on their own from then until we (Jeff, me, Charlotte and my sister Hannah) drove down Wednesday. We had a great couple days as a family and then Mom, Dad, and Hannah left Friday and me, Jeff and Charlotte got the condo to ourselves until Sunday. (Our anniversary was Thursday the 20th) Shew! It took a lot of planning out all the details but it worked out perfect - and we got a cheaper rate for staying there so long!

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Find our "more" about our condo and the beach!

Labor Day

Sunday! This post continues from the previous post in Owensboro... Mom, Charlotte and I left Owensboro and headed to Bowling Green after lunch on Sunday.  Mom left Charlotte and I there and she kept driving south while at the same time, Jeff drove up from Spring Hill to meet us there.  We met up at his parents new house in Bowling Green! Jeff and his family are pretty much from Bowling Green but a couple years ago his parents decided to move down to Gallatin TN to be "empty nesters."  They were not as happy with their new "downsized" home or its location and really missed Bowling Green.  All that to say, they decided a few months back to go ahead and move back.  They found a wonderful home that is perfect for them and perfect for all the family!  All their kids are married now and grandkids are starting to pop up so more space is a must!  Jeff is of course the resident tech go-to-guy so he was called upon to set up their entertainment system so that was his main job Sunday.  All this back story to say, Jeff and I were at their house Sunday to spend the night and spend some of Labor Day with them.

Charlotte had been much better during the morning and early afternoon on Sunday but by later afternoon she was getting a little fussier and snuffy so we laid her down and she fell asleep early - about 6:45!  The grown ups had a wonderful home cooked pot roast for dinner and then Jeff and I had a date night!  We took advantage of Charlotte's sleeping and having someone there to watch her and took off into the big city of Bowling Green!  We drove around for a good hour partly looking for something to do and partly seeing what has changed since we had lived there and of course reminiscing our youth years!

Owensboro Visit

The Lyons and Shoopman Families were totally wiped out from our busy weeks and dad's birthday party on Friday night, but Saturday morning came early and Mom, Charlotte and I packed up and headed up I-65 for Kentucky.

Owensboro was our first big stop and we got to take Charlotte to her first Dove Hunt on the Rudy Farm... oh yea baby. She loved being outside in the breeze and being loved on by her great aunts, uncles, and cousins.  She surprised me and was not at all bothered by the shot guns going off in the field around us (we were safely tucked inside the "shop" but I still had to work on calming my "momma nerves" with guns being around my baby!)  I was upset by seeing the poor little birdies shot out of the sky... even more so when I was shown their decapitated heads... needless to say we did not stick around for the grilling time. *shudders*  I love my family and love that they love what they do, but I am for sure a city girl and that is reinforced in me at times like this!

Anytime we are in Owensboro we stay with my Nana.  She is technically my mom's step-mother but as she became a Rudy when mom was just 11 they are very close and the only Nana Rudy I know.  Nana is approaching 85 and is in wonderful physical health but is showing signs of her age when it comes to her mental state.  Her short term memory is at times very very short, but regardless she loves seeing little Charlotte bug and gets excited for her visits. It was wonderful seeing them play together on the floor.   If you see the photo below they are playing on the floor together on the quilt that Nana embroidered for me when I was born.  It meant a lot to all 4 generations of women in that house to have them share moments together on that blanket.  Nana read Charlotte's book to her, Charlotte talked back and just smiled at her Nana - even showed her how she is just about ready to take off crawling.  It was precious time spent together.

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Here is "more" about the wedding

Dad's 50th!

Well we did it! We pulled off the surprise party for my dad's 50th birthday! After deciding months ago that we (mom and I) wanted to do something for dad's big 5-0, we procrastinated enough that it came down to just a couple weeks to get out the invites, buy the decorations, plan the food, and pull together the all important embarrassing photos! It was a very busy couple weeks for us, but totally worth it. We decided to have it at my house on the day after his actual birthday and invite everyone from the bridge (at least everyone we had emails addresses for!) as well as some "old friends" and family. All in all we filled the house with about 40 people for cake and ice cream and lots of laughs.

Dad showed up about 20 minutes after everyone else and had no clue what hit him! We did put a sign and balloons and such up outside so he had a minute to get used to the idea before he walked in the door and was bombarded with people. We could see him walking up the driveway (I think he would have run away if it wasn't for mom) and he was already red in the face and rubbing his hands down his face in either awe or embarrassment one!  Once he finally made it in the door we greeted him with "surprise" and noise makers and lots of hugs. He made his rounds of hellos and thank yous, blew out the candles on his yummy cake, and opened his very inventive gifts and cards.  Thanks to everyone that brought all the singing cards, "old man" gifts, and rolls of pennies :)

As much as my dad said he did not want a party and will kill my mother and I, I think he enjoyed seeing all his friends and family and appreciated the love and care that came with the party. Enjoy some photos of dad though the last 5 decades and of his party. (Some were too big to upload here, check out facebook for more!)

Here's to the next 50!

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And We're Back!

We are back up and running! I'm excited to be able to start blogging again. One of the fun new things in the Lyons' house is the new 13" MacBook Pro - among other things this will help with my being able to blog more consistently.
My desire in all of this was to be able to keep up with Charlotte's growth and development - that means I need to post more than once a month! She is changing so much now that she is 7 months old, it's only going to go faster from here.
I'll work on short but sweet posts to cover the last couple months of key events and of course put up a few photos too! Keep us on your radar!

Charlotte is 4 Months Old!

Charlotte turned 4 months old on Saturday!  I cannot believe how much she has changed and grown in just a few short months.  We had her checkup on friday she is now 13 pounds 10 ounces and 24 3/4 inches long.  She grew 3 inches in the past 2 months!  I think she is gonna be a tall little one.  They say that if you double their height at 2 years old that is how tall they will be when they grow up - I'll have to try and remember to do that in a couple years! She got her monthly shots, but she was a trooper and only cried for a minute or two.  Overall the peds appointment was all good news! She is developing wonderfully and the doctor is really thrilled at how much she has caught up to other babies her age even though she was 3 weeks early.  She started in the 5th percentile when she was born for her height and weight and now she is in the 53% for weight and 70% for height!