Adventures in Babysitting

Tonight was a special night! David and I went out on a real date -- alone!

Our dear friend Heather, who we've known for over a decade now, came up from Florida to meet Daisy and see some friends here in Blacksburg. One of her missions was also to make David and I go on a date. She and her friend Angie, who traveled with her from Florida, babysat for Daisy tonight while we went out.

Heather and Daisy



David and I decided to try a new restaurant near Fairlawn called The River Company. It had big beautiful wood trusses with a fantastic view of the changing leaves and Radford city. The atmosphere was fantastic and the service was great. David liked the tea so much he drank six large glasses of it! The food was good as well but I forgot to take any pictures until we got to dessert. For dinner David had garlic cream sauce linguini with tiger shrimp and I had a lump crab cake sammy with sauted veggies which I enjoyed very much. For dessert we split homemade pumpkin pie with fresh whip cream and drizzled with carmel sauce.











After we ate we ran some errands in Christiansburg and then came home. Heather and Angie said Daisy did well and took part of a bottle after some fussing. When we got home she was zonked out!



That sums up Daisy's first adventure in babysitting. :)

Fall leaves...

Today I drove Heather and Angie, friends up from Florida, down 460 to Giles County to enjoy the scenary. We drove up Mountain Lake Road and stopped to take some pics. Being from Florida, they don't see a lot of leaves changing color!

Heather and I



The trees on the mountainside






Daisy's view



Daisy not happy she couldn't get out while we took pictures



Heather sat in the back with Daisy, who gazed out the window when not sleeping. On the way back, Heather gave her a bottle, and she took it pretty well.

We then enjoyed lunch at Macados while Daisy slept against my chest in a baby carrier.

Tonight we're going on a date and I'll do another post then!

Until then, a few other pics from the past few days at home:

Weekend

Well a lot has happened since the last post...

First, our excitement over the bottle was a little premature. She struggled this weekend to take bottles from David and I, until late Sunday night when finally we decided to allow the bottle to warm to room temperature. Then she took it. Let's hope she just dislikes cold bottles.

Saturday was a very cold day, so we spent it indoors. We watched a lot of college football. Our friend Jen came into town and met Daisy.


Jen brought Daisy a gift -- a really nifty pink Nike outfit.

Daisy was ready in her Hokie gear, but unfortunately, they weren't able to come away with the victory. It was the first VT loss since Daisy was born.

The loss definitely made for a down evening. To help us forget about it, we broke out the Wii.

Later, I stayed up to watch the Angels game, which they blew in extra innings to the Yankees. It wasn't my a good sports day for my teams.

Sunday, we took Daisy to church for the first time. Here she is in her dress that Rachel gave her.


Daisy with Daddy at church.

In the afternoon, we invited our old student homegroup (bible study) over to meet Daisy and play the Wii (which we got through their generous gifts).


Daisy peering over Colbi's shoulder.

Jen saying goodbye to Daisy before she drove back to Ashburn.

Daisy had two "blowouts" while the crew was here, so we had to change her outfit several times. Here she is sporting her "I love Daddy" onesie from Aunt Lisa.

Here, we decided to give her a bath after her second blowout, so I took a few pics of her just in a blanket. She seemed content. :)

Tonight, we are watching the Bears play on Sunday Night Football. They are losing at halftime, which is a bummer. (The Grilled Cheesers are losing again, although David's fantasy team, the Darlins, are winning again. At least one Chinn is a good fantasy football player.)

I guess we'll see how the second half goes... Bear down, Chicago Bears. Please?

Success!

Today was a day when Daisy succeeded at several exciting events! She had her first bath without crying today, thanks to the bucket tub that Aunt Cheri brought. She also took her first bottle as mommy tried pumping for the first time! (Yay Medela Freestyle pump!) Finally, she had her first successful nap in the Moby Wrap carrier while mommy made dinner.

Also, my mom, sister and nephews came into town late last night to visit for today.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Daisy still asleep

Grammy holding Daisy

Jonas (and Asher in the background) showing off his Blokus creation

Asher holding Daisy

The boys playing Mariokart on the Wii

Daisy in the bucket tub -- she isn't crying!

Asher watching Daisy's bath

Daisy in the ducky towel from Aunt Lisa

Daisy snuggled up to Mommy in the Moby wrap

Daisy taking her first bottle

Overall, it was a great Thursday! :)

Low Key Rainy Wednesday

Well it was a rainy Wednesday here in Blacksburg today, and since yesterday was so busy, it was a low-key day for us here at the house.

I gave Daisy a bath in the morning for the first time by myself... and she hates the bath anyway.

Her tub:

Her afterwards:

Once I got her dry, with a new diaper, and in new clothes, she was happy.

That is, until she had a diaper blow-out five minutes later and I had to change her clothes again. :)

We discovered she likes to lay under this light/musical toy for a few minutes now and then.

In the afternoon, we ended up making a trip to the store to get some different diaper rash cream that the pediatrician's office recommended since Daisy has had a rash that hasn't improved much the past few days.



She fell asleep in the car and was super cute.

I enjoyed talking to my dear friend Shawnea once I got home, and she provided a bunch of wisdom to me on various subjects related to motherhood! I can't wait for Daisy to meet her, Chris and Hannah.

A few other pics:

Daisy with Daddy when he got home.

Daisy after Daddy laid her down because he had to use the bathroom after holding her for a few hours.

New Faces, Familiar Voices

Today (Tuesday) was a day of meeting new people for Daisy. I headed to Eastern Elementary/Middle out in Giles County, to introduce Daisy to the teachers, students, and my FPS coworkers.

While their faces were new to Daisy, their voices should have been familiar to her. These were the voices she heard 40 hours a week from the time her life began up until a week before she was born! :)

I spent half a day at school, waiting until lunch when I could show her off to my favorite 5th graders (last year's 4th graders that I worked with every day). They had a great time meeting Daisy.

I was so busy walking around with her that I forgot to take any pictures for the blog. Oops.

When we got home, she was definitely wiped out...

Later in the afternoon, Daisy got to meet another new friend -- Terri. Even though Terri has officially moved as of September, her voice should be another familiar one to Daisy, as she got to hear it in the womb a lot. Terri was in town she was in town at the end of a road trip and came by to meet and hold the little one. :)