Mimi and Livi come to Charlotte!

Mimi and Livi came to stay with us over their spring break. Livi adores Fin and I honestly think that Livi could take care of Fin completly by herself. She is truly the most trustworthy and sweet 5-year-old I have ever been around. I had such an agenda for them while they were here. There is SO much for kids to do here in Charlotte. We rode the light rail downtown to the Kids museum. I asked Livi to pose reading a newspaper and she did it perfectly! She is such a ham and will do anything I ask her to do...

My girls....

Olivia and I painted pottery. Livi's bunny was beautiful, of course.

Everytime Livi visits her Aunt Dizzy, she knows she'll be making a trip to "Sweet amd Sassy." There, they do her hair, put make-up on her and paint her fingernails. EVERYTHING is pink or purple and glittery. Every little girl's dream! She LOVES it!

I can't wait until I can take Fin and Livi at the same time! Fin's got some hair growin' to do!

Mimi had to go back home, but Livi got to stay with us until Torie and the boys came a week later. On the first night with us by ourselves, Olivia literally threw up ALL OVER our bathroom (I think I had given her too much junk food, oops). It reminded me of the story that my family told me of the first time I stayed with my Aunt Cindy. Apparently, I told Cindy that my mom let me eat potato chips and grape kool-aid for breakfast. So... Cindy let me eat it. Needless to say, I made a mess at her house too. I guess every Aunt needs a story like this....

Our Trip to Utah

In February, we were asked to come visit Marcel's friends, Sean, Kim and their little boy Cole who live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Marcel played hockey with Sean in Arizona (among other places). I was really hesitate to accept at first, but Kim called and said she had everything we would need for Fin. We had so much fun. I HAD to take a picture of the first plane Fin ever rode on. She also got to meet the pilot, but I couldn't get to my camera on time to get a picture of him holding her. Fin FINALLY fell asleep on the way there. We pulled out the meal trays and made her a little bed on them. She was precious. We bundled Fin up a million times!

This is the view from Sean and Kim's kitchen window!!!

We celebrated Fin's first Valentine's Day while we were there!

Fin and Daddy...

First time seeing and touching real snow!

We really did have a good time with the Wilmert's. Fin had so many firsts while we were out there. She stayed with her first babysitter (well, if you don't count Kristin here in Charlotte). She did wonderful! We also rode the red-eye back to Charlotte. I won't be doing that again and don't recommend it to anyone. I have never been that sleepy in my WHOLE life!

My Canadian Baby!

Who'd have thought that this southern girl from the HEART of Dixie would be married to an Canadian retired pro hockey player??!!! Since Marcel is Fin's daddy, she is considered a dual citizen. I think that is so neat. I want to do my best to make sure she knows her roots while she is growing up. She has a wonderful family way up there that misses her. I try and send pictures all the time and most of them have made their way down here to meet her. Hopefully, we'll be able to take her up there later this year! Aunt Julie brought her this shirt! "Cute, Eh?"

Fin and her best bud Trevor "looked" like Canadians on this stroller trip. I think that Kristin and I went a little overboard on making sure they stayed warm here in Charlotte.

During the first week in January, Marcel had his 10 year reunion of when the Cottonmouths won the cup in the CHL. I wish that Fin and I would have been able to see him play back then. From what I hear, he was pretty talented and still holds some records there! (who's proud?)

Fin watching Daddy play....

The whole family came!

There's Daddy!

War Eagle!

During the month of November, Fin experienced her first Auburn football game! It was so cold! I worried about her, but she stayed in the snuggly with Mimi the whole time, so she was warm. She was so sweet, like always, and smiled at everyone! We got to see Jeanna too! Fin didn't quite fit into her cheerleading outfit, so I put her in the only blue shirt she had. Wasn't the right color blue, but everybody knew she wasn't pulling for the Tide!


Mimi and Finley!

Torie and I decided we wanted to do a portrait of all the kids for Mimi and Papa. It was an experience, to say the least! We only got one that everybody was behaving at the same time!

Crazy pic that makes me laugh every time....

Tyler thinks he could take care of Fin without anyone else's help!

Fin's 3 month pics turned out great too!

We had a mini highschool reunion in December. It was so much fun! Everyone still looks so young.

Happy Halloween and Merry Christmas!

This is the first year that Marcel and I have been married that we actually had trick-or-treaters! Marcel decided that he HAD to answer the door in his Elvis mask along with a "monster" that he created out of a hideous mask, broom stick, old jacket and a duvet cover. The poor little girl down the street who REALLY didn't want to go knock on stranger's doors and ask for candy was terrified. I think we were her last stop.... Fin was a precious ladybug, but really didn't care too much. She said she was hot!

Two of my cousins, Allison and Denise, had babies around the same time Fin was born. Mary Grace and Ellen will be able to play together at future family get togethers!

Marcel's good friend, Doug, also had a baby a couple of months later than Fin. Hopefully, when we go back to Columbus in the future, Blayd and Fin will play together too.

Fin has had an on going affair with Trevor since she was a couple of months old. Trevor is a gorgeous blue-eyed little boy that belongs to Kristin and Adam Nightingale. He's moving away in a couple of months, but they've promised to keep up a long distance relationship.

Auntie Jeanna was able to come see Fin during a layover on her way to New York. She loves me too!

Fin did awesome at her 6-week photo shoot. We got so many fabulous pictures! It was hard to pick which ones we wanted. The photographer was great at photoshopping the photos too! My double chin disappeared!

Christmas was spent at the Rabren's house in Auburn. We had SO much fun. Fin goes to bed around 7 o'clock, but she stayed up extra late because her cousins were so excited! Daddy was playing Santa that night and when he got back from getting the presents, he swears that Fin looked at him like "Look at me! Mommy said I could stay up late!"

Fin's loot!

Aunt Torie and Fin were pooped Christmas afternoon! So, they decided to take a little rest!

Bringing Home Baby...

We brought Fin home on September 11, 2007 (her original due date!). I am obsessed with TLC "Bringing Home Baby" and "A Baby Story," so I was terrified of our first night home with our girl. Her Mimi (my mom) stayed with us for 2 weeks (thank goodness)! To my surprise and delight, I NEVER had a hard night with Fin. She is the calmest, most content baby I have ever been around and she's MINE! Mom says that I'll get payback during her teenage years, because to this day, I have never missed a night of sleep! ALWAYS so sweet!

Fin's first bath was crazy and funny. We had no idea what we were doing. She HATED it! She was cold! But, she LOVED her second one because we put her right under the faucet and she stayed warm!

Fin's first doctor's visit. We are so blessed that Dr. Smith is her pediatrician. She is so gentle and talks so sweetly to Fin. Plus, the doctor's office is literally across the street. We can ride in the stroller, which Fin loves every minute of!

Catchin' Up!

I randomly decided today that I wanted to start a blog. Lots of my friends are doing them and it's a great way to stay caught up with everyone.

That said, I wanted to catch everyone up on the past year of our lives. Slowly....

On January 4th, 2007, we found out we were pregnant. We were THRILLED! I posted pictures of me holding a pregnancy test on Shutterfly and called my mom and told her she had to check the pictures now! She screamed when she saw them. My dad said "What the hell is that?" Needless to say, they were excited too! Here's the pic.... We decided we didn't want to know the sex of the baby. It was REALLY hard, but so much fun. I would recommend it to everybody. Since my husband is French Canadian, the whole family called the baby "Pierre." Torie, my twin sister, knew the sex because our ultrasound tech wrote it down and mailed it to her. I wanted to make sure that if I had a boy, he wouldn't be wearing a dress home from the hospital. To everyone's suprise, Torie keeps a secret VERY well. Not even one hint came out of her mouth the entire 6+ months she knew and I talk to her nearly every day! We painted the baby's room a beautiful shade of green. Mimi (my mom) made all the gorgeous bedding, gave me my great grandmother's beautiful crystal lamp and set up the beautiful Rabren (my sister's) crib and changing table. Each of my sister's children used them and I can't think of a bigger honor to be able to lay each of my children on them also. It's the most beautiful nursery I have ever seen. A friend of mine said I should enter it into a magazine (which one, I don't know). It's all thanks to my talented mother, for sure!

Look at how huge I was... Geez! At 5:30 a.m. on Septemeber 7th, 2008, Marcel and I headed down to the beautiful Presbyterian Hospital to finally get to meet our baby. At an ultrasound the day before, my wonderful doctor, Sarah Yavorski, decided that I needed to have a c-section. "Pierre" was estimated to weigh 10 lbs. 5 oz.
We couldn't take the camera into the operating room, but it was the most wonderful experience I have ever had. She actually weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. So.... it was just ME that was big! Ugh. Words can't describe how happy I was to have a gorgeous, healthy little girl. Her hair was the most amazing color. EVERYONE commented on it. It wasn't red, it wasn't blonde it was GOLD. She was the only baby in the nursery that day that didn't have jaundice, but the nurses told me she wound all the babies up when she came in screaming. That's my girl....

We had decided that if we had a girl, her name would be Finley. Marcel overheard someone talking to their little girl named Finley while we were trying to choose names. He claimes that that was the only name that I didn't turn my nose up at. Hall is her middle name, which is my wonderful grandmother's maiden name. Olivia is her first name, but Torie already used it.
While I was still in the recovery room, Marcel got to bring "Fin" into the waiting room to see my family. My grandmother, dad, mom, brother, sister, brother-in-law (Jon), Tyler, Olivia, Cade and Kristin were all waiting to meet her and find out that she was a GIRL!! Olivia asked Marcel "Do you work in the lunchroom?"

I had to post the below picture. My grandmother called everyone she knew right in front of the sign that reads "Please turn off all cell phones etc.."

Marcel shaved off his goatee so he could snuggle with his new baby. He looks so much younger without it!

Torie's girl holding my girl. Makes my heart melt! I hope they'll have each other forever, just like their moms......