Hey girls, I thought I'd ask on here --

DH is setting up a webpage and we wanted to put a stats counter on it.

I had one that I really liked WAY back in the day on diary-x, which as far as I can tell is no longer around.
Can anyone recommend a good, free stats counter?

Thanks,
Melissa

I can't believe that I dropped Emily off at school for her first day of preschool today.

It was bitter sweet.  She didn't even say goodbye to me or give me a kiss --- just walked right in and settled down at a table to play cars with a group of BOYS!!!! 

Things are good here --- I just celebrated my 30th Birthday and I am a SAHM now. I left school in June and so far I am very happy with the decision.  I am enjoying being with my little girl, being less stressed at the end of the day and also having some time for myself, which I haven't had in years.
 
I am going to try and post a picture!

I guess I should update and let everyone know how things are going?

Really, nothing major has happened. Emily is growing and is getting smarter and smarter every day. She is our excitement. She has such a funny, hysterical personality. She is very talkative and loves to sing also. She's all about Christmas this year. We took her to see Santa last night, and although she was shy, she loved sitting on his lap and is talking about it so much this morning.

I am still working in the city, teaching 2nd grade special education now. I will probably be having a major career change in the summer, since my certification has run out, but I am not sure what yet. Part of me wants to continue teaching, part of me does not. I really don't know what else I can do though!

Here are a few photos from this Christmas so you can see how big my little girl has gotten!!

...what would happen if I posted to this thing.....

it's been a while!

I just got an e-mail saying that MissJen passed away.

She was an online friend that I've known through nervousness.org as well as LiveJournal for a number of years. We're probably talking about 6 years or so.

This makes me so sad.

Please everyone, whether you knew her or not, pray for her. Her story is so sad.

I'll update later with pics of Emily and what's going on in our life here....but this is just on my mind right now.

Melissa

Ok -- I'm in a sharing mood...





and the three cousins -- not the best picture in the world:

I haven't shared Emily with you all in a long time. She is getting so big! She is 7 months old now, and has hit so many milestones in the past few months ... rolling (she now uses that as her main method of travelling can roll from room to room), sitting up, pulling up into a sitting position from laying, stands up holding on to something, and feeds her self fingerfood.

She also likes to growl, a LOT.

See??

Just wanted to quickly share some Emily love....

The holiday season is here!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Today a friend came to our house and took some amazing photos of me and Emily in our backyard. I am so happy with how they came out. I thought you all might like to see them, so I will share them all with you -- all 90 of them!! I'm putting the link to the Kodak gallery in this post so you can click and see them all.

Photos of Melissa & Emily Elizabeth

I am also going to post a few of my favorites here for those of you who don't have time to go and view them all right now. I am just so happy with them -- even the ones where Emily is fussy -- because she was a "fussy crankypants" today -- I think that's Monkeybride's term, lol ... but I even love those pics -- it captures her today, and I want to remember every moment with her -- even the cranky ones.

Hope you all like them!
Melissa

I had a friend come over today and take some photos of Emily and I. She has only e-mailed me one so far, but more are on thier way. Here it is -- both in color and B&W.

We finally ordered Emily's birth announcements last night from ofoto.com. We wanted to do something WAY fancier but it was just too much money. Ofoto had an announcement we liked and thier prices were reasonable. She'll probably be a month old by the time everyone gets them! We're such slackers!!!

Here it is!

I also wanted to share the wooden block letters that I painted to hang above Emily's crib:

I'm so glad Emily was born in the Fall. This is my favorite time of year. The other day we went shopping and so she got to go for a car ride and it was just so nice to know that even though she's too young to look out the windows, the world was looking beautiful out there just for her -- with all the leaves changing color and stuff.

So being the first-time-mom that I am, I dressed her up in her Halloween outfit last night and posed her with a Pumpkin and fake flowers and took her picture. I'm also having fun dressing her up in fun warm clothes and her awesome hats from Baby Gap that some friends and family have gotten her.

Here are some more pics of my beautiful baby girl.

Bill finally took some pics of me and my Emmy girl today. Usually it's myself behind the camera!!





I love my little girl so much!

-Melissa

Okay, without trying to brag too much, I just have to share something with you all.

I only gained lbs during the entire pregnancy, and it was right at the end when I started swelling after I went back to work at 35 weeks pregnancy, so it may have been all water weight.

When I left the hospital on Monday I had lost 14 lbs from when I went in for my c-section. That put me 11 lbs lower then when I got pregnancy.

Then when I went to the doctor for my 1-week follow up, I was down a full 25 lbs from when I went to the hospital for the c-section. That means I was down 22 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight.

I just weighed myself now and I'm down another 5 lbs. That puts me at 30 lbs lost from pre-c-section, and 27 lbs lost from my pre-pregnancy weight.

Breastfeeding is a wonderful thing!!!

-Melissa

Okay, I just e-mailed a few friends some pics from tonight of my little beauty girl, so I'll give you all the link in case you want to see more of her. The pics basically follow from getting her ready for her first bath, to bathing her, then her after bath all wrapped up in her towel, to Bill feeding her (which he LOVES to do) and then her Grandpa holding her.

Enjoy =)

Pics of Emily's Bath!!