Raisin Toes

Could there be anything cuter than raisin toes?

Yes.  When those raisin toes are attached to one of two of the cutest babies in the world, peeping out her window watching daddy mow the grass, squealing "Da da!  Da da! Da da?? Da da!!!!"

Maddie sure does love her Da da!

Daddy's Birthday

So this year was Chris' very first year to celebrate a birthday as a father. The girls did everything they could to make a special day! They started with surprising him with his new Beatles Rock Band game for the Wii...drums, microphone, guitar and all. This was not only from the girls but from all of their daddy's extended family too!

Madeline bringing her daddy her card!



Madeline trying to eat her daddy's birthday card...

Savannah so excited to give her daddy her birthday card!!

Savannah saying Happy Birthday Daddy!

Playing the Beatles Rock Band Wii game!

Next the girls surprised him with a golf shirt....they knew that blue was a stunning color on their daddy, and they were right. One day soon they want to go out on the golf course with him and learn the game....but for now, they just wanted to be sure their daddy looked good when he went out to play without them!

Daddy lookin' good in his new blue golf shirt!

Finally, Uncle Jon came to visit for the weekend, and the girls surprised Daddy with a bunch of his former youth from Greeneville as well! Allyson, Cassia, Christopher and Rochelle all showed up at our church in Cartersville to surprise him on his birthday! Afterwards, they all came over as well as their Aunt Robin who drove down from Greeneville that day. We celebrated with birthday cake and ice cream....all while the girls snoozed away back in their room. Let's be honest here, planning their first birthday surprises for their daddy would wear anyone out! So, Happy Birthday Daddy! The girls sure do love you and are sure happy you are their daddy!!

The big birthday lunch with Allyson, Christopher, Jon, Robin, Rochelle, and Cassia


And there I am!! Glad I could make it to the party. :-)

After the big birthday celebration, the girls, my sister Robin, Chris' brother Jon took Chris to Atlanta for the Braves game. It rained the whole way down....in fact, it rained so hard the next two days that there was flooding in this region like there hadn't been in a very long time. However, we made it. The girls sat through their second Braves game and were little troopers. They are amazing travelers and adventurers. I know their daddy was happy they were there with him to enjoy his favorite team play!

After the rain delay, Chris and Jon scored some pretty sweet seats......








I would say all in all, Daddy had a great first "I'm a father" birthday!!!

Father's Day

"I Love Dad" and "Mommy and I agree: Daddy's Charming"

From the moment I met Chris, I knew he would be an incredible dad. In fact, I still remember it very clearly.....he was at the pulpit preaching and talked about how he knew that it would be an amazing feeling one day to hold his newborn baby in his arms. Actually, I had not even officially met Chris because I still lived in Nashville and was just visiting my dad and Patti that weekend. I just remembered thinking "aw, how sweet." I was, of course, equating his sermon to the love my dad has for me and his children. At the time, there was no other man I could ever really imagine as being a great a father as my very own dad. I had no, absolutely no idea that the newborn baby Chris was talking about would one day be ours, and not be just one newborn baby, but two....at the same time. I also had no idea that I would one day find myself blessed by marrying a man who made me as proud at seeing someone be a father as my very own dad makes me.

Being married now to that man I saw at the pulpit so long ago, watching him hold each of his newborn babies in his arms for the very first time, and then watching him grow into his new role as a father is sometimes more than I can handle. God has blessed our two daughters with Chris as their dad. To see him interact with them and play with them and love on them reminds me over and over why I fell in love with him in the first place. For Father's Day, the girls and I gave him a picture that says "The righteous man walks in his integrity. His children are blessed after him. Proverbs 20:7." Madeline and Savannah are so blessed to have a daddy like Chris, a Papaw like my dad, a Pa Pa like Chris' dad, and a Papa Bob like my step-dad. We are so very, very blessed by the special men in our lives.

Happy Father's Day, Chris. The girls and I hope we made your day as special as you have made our lives.

"King of the Grill"

Diapers and Spiders

This morning I was cradling Madeline in my lap when I heard it. The explosion. It was fierce and loud...and I knew that if we didn't change that diaper fast, it would soon be all over me. With the fragility of the situation, I handed Madeline off to Chris while I stood up. He headed to the babies room to make the change.

Before I had even stood all the way up, I heard "Bridgett! Get in here now!" As I was making my way down the hall, I heard "Get the bath water ready. She's going in. Clothes and all!" I walked in the room to find Chris on the verge of throwing up, and sweet Madeline just playing with her hands and grinning from ear to ear being held up in mid-air. Sure enough, there was poop down her leg and up her back and of course, all over her clothes. Chris just kept yelling "She's just getting dropped completely in the bath!" with this sickly, nasally sound...he was holding his breath and certainly not breathing through his nose.

We headed to the bathroom and as I started the water, Chris still held Madeline out at arms length while she just cooed and grinned. Suddenly I realized Chris was serious about putting her in, clothes and all! I looked at him and said, "honey, we are not putting her in with her clothes on." I slowly took the clothes off, wiped the poop off her legs while Chris just watched in shock. A little got on his hand and he said "It's on me!! It's on me!!" I looked at him and said "Babe, it's all over her too..." Somehow, SOMEHOW I was the one not grossing out!

Why is it that men have such a hard time with dirty diapers? Why is it that so many men out there so rarely change them? Why is it that the sight of poop can send a man cringing...in the same way the sight of a spider can send a woman cringing.....?

As he put her down into the tub to give her a quick bath, he said "I don't know how you just did that." It was at that moment it hit me. I am terrified, absolutely terrified of spiders. Chris always kindly and sweetly comes to the rescue with me when I think I see a "huge" spider that he'll say is not really that huge. My mother-in-law was very humored by my fear when I called her in to kill a spider that I spotted on the ceiling during my shower. I have always felt a little embarrassed at my fear. However, in this moment of watching my husband react to Madeline's explosion that I found so funny, it was at that moment that it really hit me. There is the point where motherhood and fatherhood meet and compromise is found! I looked at him and said "You take care of the spiders, and I'll take care of the poop." He promptly said "Deal."

Music in the House

Unbelievably so, Chris has not brought out his guitar to play for the girls since they've been born! It is not for a lack of wanting to do so, it is merely due to a lack of time!! SO, Saturday night, Chris brought out his banjo - yes, his banjo. He suddenly got the inspiration to re-learn how to play it...he is GREAT on the guitar, but the banjo is of course a completely different ballgame. However, for not playing it in years, he did great on it too! But most importantly, the girls LOVED it. By the time we videoed the moment, they were a bit worn out...Savannah, who had been cooing non-stop to his playing is starting to fall asleep in this one as you'll see. Madeline had a little bit more energy in this video. We will video it again when they are both wide awake and active because it is toooo cute for words. Enjoy!!

Talking Girls

A couple of weeks ago we took the girls to Greeneville to visit family. This is a video of their daddy telling them who all they were going to be seeing....they are becoming so alert and interactive with us now! This is a great stage in their development!!